Originally Posted by
wolftone57
What was most disappointing was the disposal under perceived pressure not real pressure. The players were rushing everything, not composed. But the most disappointing aspect was that it was our most experienced players who were doing this. Kennedy, Cunningham, Parker, Hewett, Heeney, Mills, Rampe, Papley. I thought Aliir, COR, young McInnerney, Ronke, Dawson the most composed. Even Pink who is seen as a development player had more composure than Kennedy & Co.
This falling apart under pressure and then rushing when you don't need to has become a mainstay of our play of recent times. Jude Bolton must grit and grind his teeth in anger and disbelief at the lack of composure of our senior squad.
Clark gets plenty of ball but jesus his ball use is deplorable. Yes Hannas ball use was bad but I don't think I saw him do three underground grubbas in a row with only one having pressure on. The kid just hacks the @@@@ out of the ball. Very disappointing.
Thurlow's disposal was not as bad but he also butchered the ball on several occasions and put players under extreme pressure. If Fox is to take hold of the back pocket position while Smooch is away he had better do two things; tighten up and toughen up.
Sinclair was good around the ground. Yes he got hit outs. But rarely did one go to advantage. His hit outs tend to fall straight to ground or to the side where the opposition set up two players. That gives them a better chance of getting the spill. The other thing is what's all this about not manning up at centre bounces and other stoppages. There were many times the majority of our players were on one side of the contest and their players on the other. That spells disaster when you don't even man up Coniglio and Taranto. I get that we were backing our Ruck in but Sinclair rarely hits to advantage so it is not a good thing. On the other hand his opponents hit to advantage almost every time. If you want to know why they were so strong in the midfield you might like to start there.
The forward line was a mess. They were getting in each other's way, Reid and Blakey were going for the same ball, they were running way out of position and away from the incoming player constantly. At times of they had approached the player with the ball they may have gotten a good contest but they seemed to be getting caught out of position and doubling back all the time. The timing of leads was way off and all the players were getting in each other's way. It would have been comical if it weren't so sad. Reid wasn't just rusty he was comical. He ran to the wrong spots, doubled back so badly at times, the player with the ball was far too far from him to hit him up. He also led to the pockets too often. There is more but...
As for the delivery onto the forward line. It was not helped by a chaotic forward set up but really, can our players stop hitting the opposition backs on the chest with passes and high kicks. Bloody hell that's so frustrating. My school footy team could hit up targets why can't our blokes. The difference in field kicking was so noticeable. Theirs, was superb, ours atrocious.
I think it was amazing we were able to get so close. I really thought we always looked on the edge of a blowout. But there was one thing I had in my mind every time we even got close. They will step it up here and they did everytime. They had our measure, they knew it and we knew it.
Who to persevere with? Dawson used the ball well with his 15. He didn't get enough of the ball but that may have been because Longmire insisted on leaving him at FF one out on three Giants and getting the boys to kick to him. Boy that really works. What about the two boys who were free? What about kicking to them? Oh they couldn't that's right, they were the ones kicking to him and they were too far up to provide forward pressure and punish the opposition.
McInnerney did not get involved enough in my opinion. But then again the backs were in chaos. Nobody seemed to be leading and Rampe was missing for most of the match. He seemed disinterested. He was not giving feedback, giving directions to his teammates and being a backs general. We missed Reg terribly as he controls the backs. Reg & Smithy. Rampe showed no evidence he is going to take that next step. He was thoroughly murdered by every opponent last night and was silent when it came to helping his young backs. Pathetic Ramps. You're supposed to be a captain, then be one. You could have given Melican some tips about playing on Cameron.
Why do we when we get a clearance, one of the rare ones, just bomb the ball in, no direction, no lifting the eyes to see who's available, no composure at all. Even Ollie did it and I was a bit shocked as he is normally pretty composed, even under heavy pressure. George did it too. Bugger. When George is just bombing the ball forward you know you're in trouble.
It was not a very good hit out. Our footy at times would have embarrassed a school footy team. Our disposal was substandard. Our set ups a mess. Our backs confused and loose. The mids were loose and lazy. We can't take this sort of footy into the H&A season. We will get slaughtered on the rebound every time. Hopefully we won't take this style into a real game.
As for the coaching. Again Longmire's response to getting killed in the mids and the opposition getting a run on is to flood the back line. This is so negative. We should have been on top in the second because we had momentum. But as soon as the bit back he goes the full flood and we had nobody ro kick to. The ball kept coming back in again and again. How many times have we seen this and thought I never want to see this again? The problem is nothing much has changed. Still slow movement. Still terrible stoppage set ups. Still terrible forward structure. Still not hitting out to advantage. Still relying on the strong back six and mids to get back and flood. All players to flood. We are not playing modern footy by a long shot. It is same old, same old. If we don't do something to remedy this by round one even the Bullies will blow us away. Stewie Dew gave them the blueprint on how to beat us and every coach will use that if Longmire does not change.
I realise this is not an important match. It is really a scratch match. A Pre season match. But we really didn't show much. In the last few years there have been good signs. Players to be excited about. I'm not seeing this here. In fact several of our blokes have gone backward. Very frustrating. I'm hoping it is just an illusion and everything will come good by the season opener.
But if the coaching does not change nothing will come good. Longmire needs to pull his head in and realise he is the major problem and if he can't change, give someone else a go.
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