- Nov 23, 2015
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- 17,769
- AFL Club
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- #1
Well, the Carlton game has brought us back down to earth, with a short turnaround before the ANZAC Day match against the Lions. At one point in the third quarter we hit 4 goals ahead; despite losing in the contest, our pressure, turnover and run seemed to have clicked. Then it just stopped. We got fumbly, we continued to lose the contest, but lost our running game and allowed Carlton to find theirs. We couldn't stop Curnow, McKay and even TDK. who caused a run of 6 goals in the third quarter, which extended to 8 in a row mid-fourth quarter. We got frustrated by Carlton, and did some dumb stuff, and Hogan and Greene are at risk of missing the Lions game. It's our first really short turnaround between games, so interesting how we deal with that. The only good thing is that the Lions have a similarly short turnaround, and aren't in the best of form themselves, and had to play in the rain last night so might be a bit heavy legged.
So, the biggest issue for us comes down to the ruck. Briggs has been less effective this year than at the end of last year. While he had a couple of good games round 3 and 4, he got monstered by Marshall last week, and took a bath from Pittonet and TDK last night. Our inside mids - lacking Cogs last night, but the start of the problems preceded his loss - did not handle the assignment against Cripps, Walsh and co very well at all. We have seen that in the past, and Kingers just didn't have a gameplan to prevent it happening, although as he said in the press conference, he wasn't happy with the performance of midfield. I'm unsure that we have an option to replace Briggs, which we'd probably only do if he's actually injured (rather than just banged up). Preuss probably isn't good enough to go yet, recovering from his back injury, while Madden probably isn't ready yet to be solo ruckman, though he's developing well in VFL. I think the midfield could do with some reinforcements. Harry Rowston isn't a high disposal mid, but can get a clearance so might be a worthwhile inclusion. However, there's not too many other levers Kingers can pull. I do tend to think that the boys need to focus on the footy, and that the recent social media stuff - while funny and great for fans - might have distracted them.
Elsewhere, our key defence fell apart in the third quarter. Without Taylor, that was always a possibility. While there have been some calls for Aleer to be replaced by Haynes, to be honest, I don't think that Haynes would have done a better job. And in fact, Aleer had McKay's measure with some decent spoiling (although often trailing too far behind him), and it was actually when he was taken off him in the third quarter that McKay started kicking goals. Idun had a bit of a nightmare trying to be that extra tall defender, giving away marks and goals to his opponents. However, I'm not sure we can fix that without Taylor, and there's really no-one in VFL otherwise knocking down the door (Keeffe, Haynes or Derksen).
If we lose Greene, then you would have to think that Toby McMullen gets a call up. He's played already this year, and continues to do well in VFL. 14 disposals for 4 goals and 5 clearances yesterday, so can be used in a hybrid forward/mid role to cover both Toby forward and some of our midfield woes. If we lose Hogan, then do we look at Gruzewski, who while having a quiet day yesterday, did kick 4 goals the previous week? The case against would say that he's too close in style to Riccardi and Cadman, but what are our other options? Is there a case for Madden to debut, based on replacing Hogan with a big-bodied player - less concerned about him kicking goals (although did you see his booming goal from outside 50m against Werribee?) than being able to bust packs and bring the ball to ground. If we did that (through necessity), then we could provide some assistance to Briggs without replacing him outright. Not sure about the idea, myself - what do others think?
Elsewhere, down back I would not be making changes, so Leek stays IMHO. May as well give him another chance to play and develop. Up front, Harvey Thomas was a bit quiet - does he make way for say Rowston to provide more grunt in midfield, or should it be O'Halloran, who was quiet against the Blues? Does Peatling get a run, given his cameo performances as sub? Arguably, though, he's a more balanced player to be a sub than say a pure mid (e.g. Rowston), but we need more grunt in the middle IMHO, so a pure mid should come in rather than Peatling.
More broadly, Lions are 2-4 and not looking like their 2023 version. However, while they've lost all 3 games at formerly-fortress Gabba, they have actually won on the road, so they'll take some comfort from that record. Their tall forwards, Daniher & Hipwood, are not the twin towers that Curnow & McKay are, so hopefully we can curtail them better, while their small forwards tend to be the ones that trouble us, so our small defenders need to be on their toes.
I really struggle to get a clear picture of this game. With both teams coming off a loss and wishing to atone, it's really going to come down to which side can put aside the disappointment of round 6 and fix their specific issues best.
What are your thoughts on this game?
So, the biggest issue for us comes down to the ruck. Briggs has been less effective this year than at the end of last year. While he had a couple of good games round 3 and 4, he got monstered by Marshall last week, and took a bath from Pittonet and TDK last night. Our inside mids - lacking Cogs last night, but the start of the problems preceded his loss - did not handle the assignment against Cripps, Walsh and co very well at all. We have seen that in the past, and Kingers just didn't have a gameplan to prevent it happening, although as he said in the press conference, he wasn't happy with the performance of midfield. I'm unsure that we have an option to replace Briggs, which we'd probably only do if he's actually injured (rather than just banged up). Preuss probably isn't good enough to go yet, recovering from his back injury, while Madden probably isn't ready yet to be solo ruckman, though he's developing well in VFL. I think the midfield could do with some reinforcements. Harry Rowston isn't a high disposal mid, but can get a clearance so might be a worthwhile inclusion. However, there's not too many other levers Kingers can pull. I do tend to think that the boys need to focus on the footy, and that the recent social media stuff - while funny and great for fans - might have distracted them.
Elsewhere, our key defence fell apart in the third quarter. Without Taylor, that was always a possibility. While there have been some calls for Aleer to be replaced by Haynes, to be honest, I don't think that Haynes would have done a better job. And in fact, Aleer had McKay's measure with some decent spoiling (although often trailing too far behind him), and it was actually when he was taken off him in the third quarter that McKay started kicking goals. Idun had a bit of a nightmare trying to be that extra tall defender, giving away marks and goals to his opponents. However, I'm not sure we can fix that without Taylor, and there's really no-one in VFL otherwise knocking down the door (Keeffe, Haynes or Derksen).
If we lose Greene, then you would have to think that Toby McMullen gets a call up. He's played already this year, and continues to do well in VFL. 14 disposals for 4 goals and 5 clearances yesterday, so can be used in a hybrid forward/mid role to cover both Toby forward and some of our midfield woes. If we lose Hogan, then do we look at Gruzewski, who while having a quiet day yesterday, did kick 4 goals the previous week? The case against would say that he's too close in style to Riccardi and Cadman, but what are our other options? Is there a case for Madden to debut, based on replacing Hogan with a big-bodied player - less concerned about him kicking goals (although did you see his booming goal from outside 50m against Werribee?) than being able to bust packs and bring the ball to ground. If we did that (through necessity), then we could provide some assistance to Briggs without replacing him outright. Not sure about the idea, myself - what do others think?
Elsewhere, down back I would not be making changes, so Leek stays IMHO. May as well give him another chance to play and develop. Up front, Harvey Thomas was a bit quiet - does he make way for say Rowston to provide more grunt in midfield, or should it be O'Halloran, who was quiet against the Blues? Does Peatling get a run, given his cameo performances as sub? Arguably, though, he's a more balanced player to be a sub than say a pure mid (e.g. Rowston), but we need more grunt in the middle IMHO, so a pure mid should come in rather than Peatling.
More broadly, Lions are 2-4 and not looking like their 2023 version. However, while they've lost all 3 games at formerly-fortress Gabba, they have actually won on the road, so they'll take some comfort from that record. Their tall forwards, Daniher & Hipwood, are not the twin towers that Curnow & McKay are, so hopefully we can curtail them better, while their small forwards tend to be the ones that trouble us, so our small defenders need to be on their toes.
I really struggle to get a clear picture of this game. With both teams coming off a loss and wishing to atone, it's really going to come down to which side can put aside the disappointment of round 6 and fix their specific issues best.
What are your thoughts on this game?
