WC midfield...

[ROK Lobster]

...absolutely shat all over ours. Goes to show how important class in the middle is.

I thought for a little while last night Davis' class might have been enough to get us over the line but it could not match Judd, Cousins and Kerr. That was the difference between the two sides.

The umpiring was atrocious, granted, but WC got themselves in it before that. The Kennelly miss - LRT balls up -Goodes miss was the period we lost the game. We let them back in and they had the talent to finish to us off. We remain a blue-collar team. We remain an honest, disciplined, hardworking team. But, again we have to rely on bruising our way through a finals series, and again we have shown that we cannot respond when a more talented side starts to flex its class. Willo is too old, Jude and Kirk are not skillful enough, Monty is too hurried, Ablett is progressing but slowly and I really do not think he has great vision. They are all good footballers, and all are capable of playing very good football. I thought Kirk's game was outstanding. But we need some talent, someone who when they get the ball they automatically seem to be in space with the rest of the game going in slow motion. Put one of Cousins, Judd or Kerr in our midfiled last night and we would have won by 4 goals.

[punter257]

yeah i'll agree to most of that and this is why we play the way we do.

that 1st goal of the last qtr was so bloody important. i thought luck was on our side when sampi missed early but those kennelly and goodes misses hurt bigtime

judd is just bloody awesome

[satchmopugdog]

Their quickness of release of the ball and decision making is fantastic. Judd's footwork is unbelievable. Fred Astaire would be proud. He puts 2 or3 little steps in that are perfectly balanced with the trunk of his body perfectly in line over his feet and off he goes. Genius.

[Xie Shan]

All good points, but I thought it was also our much-vaunted forward line that let us down on the night. It was very similar to the Adelaide game in fact. The midfield does seem at least to be able to hold its own against such star-studded talent - I reckon the closest we've got to a Judd, Cousins or Kerr would be Goodes when he's on song (sadly he wasn't last night :( ) or Kennelly bursting through the middle.

[NMWBloods]

Our midfield was well beaten for most of the night. If they had a better forward structure then they would have been well in front given how much they dominated the game. At one stage in the second qtr they had 14 I50s to our 4.

I really think, yet again, we need to put Kennelly onto a wing. When the game was there to be won, Kennelly was not there to provide our drive because WC had dragged him back to the last line of defence, as oppositions do every week.

Kennelly is also one of the few players we have with a combination of good awareness, a good long kick and ability to run.

As well as J Bolton has played this year, I thought he was ordinary last night (brave but not so effective) and was guilty of his old habits of throwing the ball on his boot too quickly without thinking.

Ablett is also bad at that - needs to recognise when he has time (and deliver the ball well, not over the head of the leading forward) and when he needs to rush it forward. He has poor vision and awareness.

Kirk and Buchanan were good, but they can't lead a midfield.

Also, our kicks out of midfield into the forward line were terrible - good leads came undone due to poor kicking.

[Snowy]

Originally posted by sydfan83
All good points, but I thought it was also our much-vaunted forward line that let us down on the night. It was very similar to the Adelaide game in fact. The midfield does seem at least to be able to hold its own against such star-studded talent - I reckon the closest we've got to a Judd, Cousins or Kerr would be Goodes when he's on song (sadly he wasn't last night :( ) or Kennelly bursting through the middle.

Hall was down and the forwards only kicked 10 goals but if you look at how well their midfield went and the number of their inside 50's, especially early, the forward line held their own. Their big forwards, especially Lynch, really let them down.

[ScottH]

Agree, ROK. They just had too much class in there. If they had our forward line, they would romp in this year.

They just found space by themselves far too often, and nearly always had a teammate running in support.

Jolly seemed to win a lot of taps early, but the Coasters won the clearances, too too easily somtimes.

[barry]

Its funny when you compare the top 4 sides, in the areas of midfield, defense and attack they all lack one component.

eg:
WC: Gun midfield, Good backline, Poor Fowards
Sydney: Gun forwards, Good backline, poor midfield
Adel: Gun defense, good midfield, poor forwards
St Kilda: Gun forwards, Good midfield, poor defense.

History has suggest you need your defense in order to win a flag, but St Kilda probably have the most on field talent of all teams, so its a very interesting finals series.

[liz]

Yes, their midfield was better than ours. But it is their great strength.

I also think that our midfield had its worst game, collectively, since the Richmond game.

All teams have their strengths and weaknesses though. Our strength is a forward line that scores with remarkable efficiency when it gets even half decent delivery, even without that much of it.

Hall struggled yesterday, yet we had Davis (especially) and O'Loughlin who were pretty effective. It is that teaming and spread of talent that makes it good, much like WC's midfield.

I reckon our midfield has taken a signficant stride forward this year but there is certainly still room for improvement. I think it will come - maybe not to the level of WC's - in the next season or two. There is plenty of improvement left in Ablett, while I honestly believe we're entitled to expect a few of McVeigh, Moore, Malceski, Willoughby and Schmidt to become quality midfielders.

[ScottH]

MOL did pretty good considering he was getting a bit of treatment from Chick.

[dimelb]

we lack the sheer class of WC in the midfield, but when the matchups are right we can just about hold them and minimise the damage, making it easier for our very good backline to mop up pressure.
For instance, I don't know who started on Kerr (was he running off Goodes?) but when Benny finally landed on him he (B) restored some order.
I agree Goodes had a relatively quiet night - he can improve heaps.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by dimelb
For instance, I don't know who started on Kerr (was he running off Goodes?) but when Benny finally landed on him he (B) restored some order.
Initially running off Goodes, then Fosdike after a few minutes for half the first quarter and then Mathews for the rest of the game.

Mathews did very well holding him, but Kerr was still critical in some key plays. Hard to beat such class.

But even when he was held, the others stood up. Judd, Cousins and Fletcher were good in the last quarter. 23 possessions between them.


I agree Goodes had a relatively quiet night - he can improve heaps.
Yep, and yet surprisingly he had a lot of the ball.

[stellation]

Originally posted by ROK Lobster

I thought for a little while last night Davis' class might have been enough to get us over the line but it could not match Judd, Cousins and Kerr. That was the difference between the two sides.
It might have been if he was put in a position to get more of the ball. It was hard to tell from the television, but according to my father Nicky D spent much of the game leading to the wings and clearing space for rubber-chest Hall and ping away O'Keefe.

[stellation]

The one moment when I realized just how superior the WC midfield was to ours was when (I am sure it was) Cousins was bringing the ball up from the HBF, had nothing offering up front and saw a team mate over to his right on the wing... he effortlessly snapped a left foot kick across his body to the weagle who ran on to it (as it bounced perfectly) without breaking stride.

[Ruda Wakening]

Originally posted by ROK Lobster
...absolutely shat all over ours. Goes to show how important class in the middle is.

They are all good footballers, and all are capable of playing very good football. I thought Kirk's game was outstanding. But we need some talent, someone who when they get the ball they automatically seem to be in space with the rest of the game going in slow motion.

After watching West Coast, Sydney's lack of leg speed is just amplified by not having clean hands.

West Coast seem to find space in traffic because they're clean.

Sydney fumble, stumble and have two and three goes at picking the ball up, run out of time and end up putting themselves under enormous pressure mainly due to not being able to get their hands on it the first time.

[NMWBloods]

Spot on.

J Bolton wasn't the only one, but his fumbling and missing the bounce of the ball, was particularly noticeable.

[ScottH]

Originally posted by Ruda Wakening
After watching West Coast, Sydney's lack of leg speed is just amplified by not having clean hands.

West Coast seem to find space in traffic because they're clean.

Sydney fumble, stumble and have two and three goes at picking the ball up, run out of time and end up putting themselves under enormous pressure mainly due to not being able to get their hands on it the first time. Was unfortunate enough to have lunch in a place that had foxfooty showing WC vSyd again. The leg speed is quite noticeable, but they always seemed to know where a team mate was when the ran into trouble. Cousins was nearly always in space, and Judd made space when he wasn't.

The sight on them running down the wing in numbers when Wirrapunda kicked a point, was scary from an opposition point of view.

[Jeffers1984]

The Weagles ability to stay on their feet meant they had heaps of clean take aways form stoppages. Jude Bolton went to ground alot and didn't adapt too well to the conditions but he wasn't alone.

[ScottH]

Originally posted by Jeffers1984
The Weagles ability to stay on their feet meant they had heaps of clean take aways form stoppages. Jude Bolton went to ground alot and didn't adapt too well to the conditions but he wasn't alone. That too, and Judd was always in the right position to receive or intercept.

[Newbie]

Originally posted by dimelb

I agree Goodes had a relatively quiet night - he can improve heaps.
The game against the Crows few weeks back must have taken some sting out of him. Similiar to Dizzy after the first Ashes test in England some series ago.

I think Goodes should be just about to recover. We should be expecting a big game from very soon now, probably the Prelim against the St Kilda. The force is with me and my feeling on this is very strong :) .

[Xie Shan]

I hope you're right about Goodes - I would be rapt for Goodesy if he could regain his best form against the Saints, it would make up for his shocker against them in last year's semis when Jason Blake gave him a bath. (He had no good knees by then, I admit, but still...) He's like our Judd when on song. But need to get past the Cats first. Should win, as long as the effort from Friday night is maintained.