Review Freo Just not Quite Good Enough - Rd 23 Review

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It's too slow. They can't kick. Brayshaw can't even handball well most times. They don't kick goals. Their decision making is average. If we can improve it we should. Johnson looks ok but tries to do too much at the moment and Erasmus doesn't help with our pace or skills atm.
Young looked tired understandably but he isn't quick. All our pace is in the forwardline.
Watching Butters, Rozee and Horne-Francis burn us was sobering tbh.

We have to be able to match them at worst or we’re going nowhere.
 
We’re never going to consistently go deep into September until we can make Optus stadium a fortress.

I remember Subiaco was like that for a while and it’s become a real issue that teams can come and beat us on our own deck too easily
Well compare freos success from 1995-2010 compared to the other 5 non vic sides, it's damning.

Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and west coast made finals at least 8 times out of 16, made 2 grand finals and won a flag .

Port Made 2 grand finals, won a flag, made finals 7 years out of 14 from 1997-2010.

Dockers only made finals 3 years out of 16.

Only time we looked decent was 2010-15.

Last year Freo won 8 games at home and lost 4. We won 7 away games.

Teams that make finals get 12 wins. Usually 8-10 wins at home and 2-4 away wins.
 

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It's too slow. They can't kick. Brayshaw can't even handball well most times. They don't kick goals. Their decision making is average. If we can improve it we should. Johnson looks ok but tries to do too much at the moment and Erasmus doesn't help with our pace or skills atm.
Young looked tired understandably but he isn't quick. All our pace is in the forwardline.
And yet it was none of those things in 2022. It was dynamic; Serong had one of the best handballs in the AFL and Brayshaw won an MVP. We miss Mundy massively, and also Brodie, who I hope can fix his defensive side and make sure we get first hands on the footy. We also miss four players (Darcy, Mundy, Serong amd Brayshaw) having played together for a few years and knowing where each other was at all times - the magic of synergy.

This season they all have less time on the ball, and the need for an extra second decision making due to lack of synergy - this flows on to less options at this level. This will improve even if the players don't.

I'd put my house on us having one of the best mids in the comp by 2025. It'll be quick enough, hard as nails and composed.

On SM-G955F using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
Well compare freos success from 1995-2010 compared to the other 5 non vic sides, it's damning.

Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and west coast made finals at least 8 times out of 16, made 2 grand finals and won a flag .

Port Made 2 grand finals, won a flag, made finals 7 years out of 14 from 1997-2010.

Dockers only made finals 3 years out of 16.

Only time we looked decent was 2010-15.

Last year Freo won 8 games at home and lost 4. We won 7 away games.

Teams that make finals get 12 wins. Usually 8-10 wins at home and 2-4 away wins.
We should be winning 9 games a year at home from the 12 we play.

I generally allow 3 slip ups across the season at worst if your a finals bound side. If you want to make top 4 or top 2 you probs have to win 10 or 11 at home and go 50% on the road.

Last 2 years we have won in Geelong and MCG against the Dees in both seasons. Some of the tougher road trip in the game.

Yet pissed away some easy home games in that time.
 
We come up against a better clearance team, we lose. Simple
This. Our inability to score from chains launched out of our defence has been our weakness through JL’s tenure. Last year we at least had good forward half pressure. Now, if we lose the stoppage game then we cannot kick a winning score. It all comes down to ball movement, not “the contest”, as JL likes to think.
 
It's too slow. They can't kick. Brayshaw can't even handball well most times. They don't kick goals. Their decision making is average. If we can improve it we should. Johnson looks ok but tries to do too much at the moment and Erasmus doesn't help with our pace or skills atm.
Young looked tired understandably but he isn't quick. All our pace is in the forwardline.
Yep, but Johnson is quick as tested with his 20m sprint times.
Another quick mid with size would be
ideal.
Ports mids are just that little more mature, and Horne Francis is a jet.
Port were in the same boat as us last year.
Adding Carr to their roster is what we
need to fast track the kids.
 
And yet it was none of those things in 2022. It was dynamic; Serong had one of the best handballs in the AFL and Brayshaw won an MVP. We miss Mundy massively, and also Brodie, who I hope can fix his defensive side and make sure we get first hands on the footy. We also miss four players (Darcy, Mundy, Serong amd Brayshaw) having played together for a few years and knowing where each other was at all times - the magic of synergy.

This season they all have less time on the ball, and the need for an extra second decision making due to lack of synergy - this flows on to less options at this level. This will improve even if the players don't.

I'd put my house on us having one of the best mids in the comp by 2025. It'll be quick enough, hard as nails and composed.

On SM-G955F using BigFooty.com mobile app
I’m not as optimistic but I think we definitely have a good enough midfield. Giving the Port midfield their dues isn’t the same as saying ours aren’t good enough. The best midfield doesn’t win a flag every year, there’s a whole heap of things that go into it. With Jackson in there and in their primes, I’m comfortable it’s as good as Geelong last year, WC a few years before that, hell, pretty much anyone this year unless Port win it and now Collingwood don’t have Daicos
 
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It seems to be an excuse when we lose its because we are one of the youngest teams in the comp. Look out in a few years time with the young talent we have though.

But it feels like grounhog day after the past 4 years hearing similar things.

How did we get to that stage and allow it happen. The rebuild should have been close to complete now similar to Port Adelaide list and age profile.

Instead it seems we are still in the thick of a rebuild with our age profile being one of the youngest in the comp.
How many times does this have to be explained?

The reason we're still young is because we've got nothing to show for 2012-15.
 
The team just makes too many skill errors to be a finals team. Banfield really showed his limitations today, and Treacy will not make it unless he starts hanging onto his marks.

We need to clean out the solid WAFL grade players.
 

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It's a weird game to overreact over since we were even in a lot today. They got on top of clearances, but had the same amount of scoring shots as us. Set shot kicking was 5.6 to 8.2. That's the game right there. You can't sing the praises of Port when it was something as simple as that that loses us the game.

Our forward line is horribly inexperienced, and that was a big difference today. Amiss couldn't even get a look because he had Aliir on him. No Walters to help lead the forward line. Were playing a player down after banfield came off. It's really not all doom and gloom.
 
Brayshaw and Serong missing those set shots from straight in front doesn't really scream A Grade mid to me

Another game with zero goals from midfielders. It’s a massive problem.

If I was really generous I’d give them Jackson’s goal as he’s the no.1 atm but it still isn’t good enough.

Their inability to hit the scoreboard is massive. It’s not the only issue but 3-4 goals from midfielders rather than the SFA we’re actually getting and we’re inside the top eight.
 
This midfield mix is so wrong and has been all season. I think we can fix it though with a simple rotation, JOM for Brodie.
  • JOM in hindsight was the wrong call. The Hawk supporters literally told us we'll get a few amazing games from him and the rest will be average.
  • Brodie is a clearance beast and being kept out by JOM is a big mistake.
  • Brayshaw is ranked 30th for clearances and centre clearances in the comp. I am not sure he brings enough to justify playing majority in the centre.
  • It is not a coincidence than Brayshaw had a career best season with Mundy and Brodie doing all the grunt work. If we want Brayshaw to play centre permanently, we need to bring Brodie back.
  • Bring in a speedy midfielder like Stanley and suddenly we are a lot more balanced.
 
It's a weird game to overreact over since we were even in a lot today. They got on top of clearances, but had the same amount of scoring shots as us. Set shot kicking was 5.6 to 8.2. That's the game right there. You can't sing the praises of Port when it was something as simple as that that loses us the game.

Our forward line is horribly inexperienced, and that was a big difference today. Amiss couldn't even get a look because he had Aliir on him. No Walters to help lead the forward line. Were playing a player down after banfield came off. It's really not all doom and gloom.
I think when you lose by just not being good enough on talent but give max effort, people get upset. Easier to waive off a loss with no effort as being “out coached” or blame it on a one-off
 
And yet it was none of those things in 2022. It was dynamic; Serong had one of the best handballs in the AFL and Brayshaw won an MVP. We miss Mundy massively, and also Brodie, who I hope can fix his defensive side and make sure we get first hands on the footy. We also miss four players (Darcy, Mundy, Serong amd Brayshaw) having played together for a few years and knowing where each other was at all times - the magic of synergy.

This season they all have less time on the ball, and the need for an extra second decision making due to lack of synergy - this flows on to less options at this level. This will improve even if the players don't.

I'd put my house on us having one of the best mids in the comp by 2025. It'll be quick enough, hard as nails and composed.

On SM-G955F using BigFooty.com mobile app
Serong can't get away from a contest, he isn't quick or strong enough. On occasion he gets a good handball away but often just gets tackled and we get another stoppage. His kicking from the contest is usually just a blind hack forward. Last week was one of the few weeks he kicked well and that was probably because he had no pressure and had more time. Brayshaw has had to compete with a bigger body most of the year and he can't handle it. We agree on Mundy because he was a big body who was an elite kick and decision-maker. Neither Brayshaw nor Serong are that.

Brayshaw and Serong have been in the midfield for many years together, yet they are still not quick, Brayshaw is not hard as nails and they showed today that they are not composed even though Ports pressure was in the mid range. It may improve further but if we don't add pace, skill, and size it won't make any difference. Ports midfield can get out muscled at times but they were tough enough for us and had the pace, skill and smarts to hurt us. We couldn't have gotten a better indicator than today of how our midfield stacks up against a similar midfield and it didn't in some key areas.
 
Our mids are slow, and we have too many passengers.
Switta did well today, but he was still caught with the ball a bit. He's quick, but he's easy to tackle.
Fred may as well play 1/2 a game, just doesn't do enough.
Wasting his talent.
And Treacy needs to stick this marks, otherwise he's depth, and depth only.
Very disappointing season
 
I think when you lose by just not being good enough on talent but give max effort, people get upset. Easier to waive off a loss with no effort as being “out coached” or blame it on a one-off
When the coach can’t shut up about “the contest” in every press conference and we lose on skill execution despite being good in the contest, then that is at least partially being “out coached”.
 
Based on our current midfield stock, see Brodie as a point of difference. He has the ability to extract the ball and feed it out that the others don't have. In times we are getting dominated, it's what we need even if to break momentum and get the ball going in our direction.

Not sure if this still can offset his defensive pressure.
 
When the coach can’t shut up about “the contest” in every press conference and we lose on skill execution despite being good in the contest, then that is at least partially being “out coached”.
Disagree
 
Based on our current midfield stock, see Brodie as a point of difference. He has the ability to extract the ball and feed it out that the others don't have. In times we are getting dominated, it's what we need even if to break momentum and get the ball going in our direction.

Not sure if this still can offset his defensive pressure.
him getting it out to an elite ball user would help, also
 

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Review Freo Just not Quite Good Enough - Rd 23 Review

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