Game Day Freo vs Indigenous All-Stars - Optus Stadium Feb 15 - Live now.

[Dale147]

 

[mattis117]

That's just modern AFL speak for we don't want our player to miss games because he wasn't stretchered off.

Since the mandatory rest from concussion was introduced coaches are terrified to use the word concussion in press conferences so they don't rule a player out.

Rubbish.

 

[Retzlaff]

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Did Jackson really play midfield?

 

[freo1]

Only part of the game i didnt like was when Jye Simpkin took things too far with Liam Reidy. Reidy was very clumsy in his bump, i'll give that, but Simpkin didnt need to start what escalated into more than it should've been. Simpkin should be old and wise enough - hell he's a club captain - to just laugh it off and give some lip. Reidy is just a big, young bloke who made an innocent error. Happened right in front of me.

Anyway, was a fantastic afternoon for a pre-season game, just wish Simpkin had of kept his emotions in check.

 

[freo1]

Did Jackson really play midfield?

I dont have a count, but yes Jackson lined up in the centre square on a few occasions, roving to Reidy.

 

[Retzlaff]

I dont have a count, but yes Jackson lined up in the centre square on a few occasions, roving to Reidy.

Surprised Longmuir let that one out of the bag

 

[FD2646]

Good points made - my thoughts are included under each point.

1) Freo will struggle if they ever have to play a team featuring the top 20 fastest small forwards in the game.

Speed across the ground at Optus will worry us.

2) Cox is already looking better than the whole of last year.

Yes, but still needs a bomb put under him intensity-wise.

3) Hayden Young is crucial.

Yes, especially delivering into the F50 and/or kicking goals himself. I am concerned however about his stop-start preseason and am therefore not convinced he can hit the same heights as last year.

4) Draper is bigger and stronger than last year but hasnt lost speed nor agility and with Ryan and Moose coming back and Chappie lookin fit, this causes a massive selection headache.

Yep, great to have genuine competition for spots.

5) JLo has nailed the “Vanilla style” which gives me hope that one day he can master the spearmint with choc chips on top style too.

Agree and I am convinced after the past 5 years that JL is not our man for these reasons, specifically, we are still hoping after this amount of time that he can produce a contemporary gameplan.

6) Ras needs at least 8 full games this year at the top level, preferably in a row, to see if he can adjust to the pace before we make a judgement on him. Its crucial to know for sure, by the end of this year.
Agreed.

7) I do suspect we are one Horne Francis type or A grade midfielder short of a flag, despite Young and Bolts coming into that midfield for Round 1.

Agreed....and it's why we need to prioritise the acquisition of Warner above Pickett.

 

[BREATHLESS_987]

My take on vanillagate is JL was basically saying - we were never going to beat the IAS by taking the game on, given their pace and skills - so we played a more defensive, slow the game style than we usually would have / how we've been training.

The holding back the behind goals vision comment was a bit strange, but coaches are a weird bunch.

 

[2big2strom]

one of my fave moments from the game was Jackson roving the ball in the centre square, lifting his arms so the ball stayed clear of two tackles and then accelerating while turning away and out of the contest. it was beautiful to watch - the way Jackson & Treacy (& Draper too) can gather the ball below knees, dodge tackles and turn with pace doesn't feel like it should be possible at their size.

 

[Joao]

one of my fave moments from the game was Jackson roving the ball in the centre square, lifting his arms so the ball stayed clear of two tackles and then accelerating while turning away and out of the contest. it was beautiful to watch - the way Jackson & Treacy (& Draper too) can gather the ball below knees, dodge tackles and turn with pace doesn't feel like it should be possible at their size.

I think I take Jackson for granted in this space, but agree 100% on Draper watching this game.

 

[theGav56]

I'm just excited that our game plan is so innovative that we are going full stealth mode until the Cats game.

 

[gungho]

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Seriously, who does these ratings? Clark and Erasmus had shockers. They both turned the ball over more than once in the first half. Also, Reid barely had an impact and Reidy should have dominated a ruckman with no AFL experience.
On the flip side, both Draper and Chapman should have scored higher than 5. (Particularly Draper).

 

[mightymouse75]

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Nathan, Jackson, Amiss & Freddy are named that have me excited on this score card.
All had question marks against their names from last year.
Liam Reidy will be a necessity to start the season if we don't want to mess up our structures.

Not bothered about others having a quiet game.

Bring it on.

 

[Arcassius]

I thought Sharp was good in the game. Kept his width, had some good tackles and kicked 2 goals. Saw enough of Bruce to be happy - he ran to space and was ignored a few times, did some good things when he had the ball spotting people up. Freddie was good

Our defenders had their work cut out - looked like Walker was cramping badly towards the end

 

[Docker82]

I thought Sharp was good in the game. Kept his width, had some good tackles and kicked 2 goals. Saw enough of Bruce to be happy - he ran to space and was ignored a few times, did some good things when he had the ball spotting people up. Freddie was good

Our defenders had their work cut out - looked like Walker was cramping badly towards the end

Thought Sharp was better than NOD tbh but it's getting tight if we only want to pick one.

I was quite critical of how slowly NOD moved it on after a mark at times. I wasn't there on Saturday so I couldn't see what options were available most of the time but holding the ball up is what stifles a lot of our moves from D50 and that needs to change.

 

[Joao]

Thought Sharp was better than NOD tbh but it's getting tight if we only want to pick one.

I was quite critical of how slowly NOD moved it on after a mark at times. I wasn't there on Saturday so I couldn't see what options were available most of the time but holding the ball up is what stifles a lot of our moves from D50 and that needs to change.

NoD hardly alone holding the ball up.

 

[anchor man]

So who were we supposed to play, there’s only so many people on the list lol. Exactly it was an exhibition game. I don’t understand your post.

It is a simple easy to understand post.
As I said, it was an exhibition game.A game that would not have happened if not for the FFC basically demanding the AFL cut our travel time.
Our team, the team we played with , was just at a guess, seven players shy of our best team.
We fielded young players, Reid, zero games, Simpson 2 games, Sturt, 31, Davies, 2games. Voss, 7 games.
It is not he end of the season, it is not even the beginning.
It was a game Fremantle FC used to try out a few players.A great thing to do. But it was also to play a game under pressure, but give nothing away to the other 17 coaches and their staff about how we will play.
In my opinion, if any other team played this game, they would have copped the same result. The IAS team was tructured to run, run, run and then run some more.Basically, they had no key position players, only runners.And, skilful players.

 

[freoextra]

Had my first look at the game today and perhaps have a different perspective ( from those in the heat of the game).

Whilst Longmuir may have been better off saying nothing rather than vanilla, but I totally understand his reluctance to show case any method, he mentioned the behind the goals cameras but I reckon he was equally reluctant to show much to the two AFL coaches sitting on the All Stars bench.

Erasmus had two howlers that he must remove from his game to play AFL but apart from that was solid with his kicking looking much better, Johnson was not heavily involved but we must keep working these two as they have size and that is the way of the new midfielder.

Wow Worner was a real surprise with composure and neat skills, can’t see a position for him yet but developing well.

Reidy had some good moments, so I was surprised by the comments on line.

NOD and Sharp looking the best on the wings.

Very inexperienced team in the last quarter but glad Davis and co had some ground time.

Happy to wait for the second practice match before being remotely concerned and still more concerned about injuries than anything else at this time of year.

 

[freo1]

Couple extra pointers from the game that come to mind:

I really rated Wagners game. Like everyone, he made mistakes, but his courage to run and carry was what created the opportunity out of the back half. Too often we were too stagnant but he got us moving.

Worner made mistakes, and i dont expect to him to get many games this year, but a few times when he made errors he kept fighting and on a couple occasions won the ball back. as much as it wasnt pretty, i liked his contribution.

I think it was the last quarter where Amiss marked about 50 out. He ended up passing to Banfield who wasnt much closer and ultimately missed the goal. Jye needs to be more bullish here - no way should he even think of passing these off. He's the big doggie and has a nice long kick. Teammates shouldnt even call for the pill in this situation. You'd never see the greatest forward pass these off. I hope the coaching staff drill this into him. He just needs more mongrel and arrogance.

Really liked NOD's game but gee he kicks flower bags. reminds me of how Brett Peake used to kick. very long but it hardly looks sweet.

Jackson didnt show me any improvement in his marking. His snap goal over the shoulder shouldnt have been that. It shouldve just been a mark then set shot. He's reminding me of how hard Sandilands' hands used to be. he could be so much better than he already is if he could just be a 1 touch player. Really hope he can improve this because for me - a Key Position player isnt doing their job if they can't stick marks consistently.

Kosi Pickett - we need to get this trade done. Absolutely forget Chad Warner, Kosi is the man. Gee he's good to watch. Built like a bag of bricks and so nimble. His fend off on Serong was awesome. Caleb will be disappointed how bad that looked - made him look like a little kid trying to tackle his dad! If we can get Kosi we can push Bolton further up field more into the Warner position andyway.

 

[jerms]

Erasmus has bad awareness he needs to improve or he the next ibbotson

I get what you're saying, although Ibbotson played nearly 200 games and made an AA40 - Erasmus has a long way to go before he becomes the next Ibbotson...

 

[anchor man]

Surprised Longmuir let that one out of the bag

He has played that role before. Nothing new.

 

[DocT]

He's got his detractors, but this is a great take:

Football won on Saturday night, and the other half of the equation is obvious now for the AFL

Saturday proved the right representative formula has a place in league footy.

www.sen.com.au

 

[Big Animal]

my general thoughts about a few of the players efforts in the game (i.e. not going to bother mentioning guys like Serong, Brae and others who did their usual great efforts)

Firstly re the coaching - Graham's first loss as a coach at this level. Unfortunate for him in maintaining his record as I don't think any team would have beaten the IA and that includes a Callum and Charlie-less Brisbane. They were super fast, high pressure, accurate, and JHF has got to be in the talk for top few mids in the league now. Reminds me of a younger Fyfe, swapping out the high flying marks, for goal kicking accuracy. Also, playing the Collingwood play-on fast at all costs most teams have been trying to emulate the last couple of years against the 20 best small forwards in the league would be monumentally stupid. You use your height with more kick to kick. Looks vanilla but obvious strategy.

Ras - good amount of the ball as an inside mid but got caught by some of the best pressure forwards in the league playing limited minutes. Needs to adjust to AFL level pressure and defenders.
Reid - looked promising for a first year. Will be good down the track.
NOD - assume the holding up was a coached tactic because gave the defence plenty of time to get back. Frustrating seeing him miss those two shots. Would be hoping he gets at least one of those in future games.
Simpson - smooth clean moves but rarely seen.
Sharp - looking good for the season. Super fit, thumping kick and has the confidence on his shots on goal.
Reidy - ok. Prefer Darcy back asap but fair back up if we couldn't keep Meek.
Walker - a bit rusty but will has the tools and will improve with game time.
Draper - very impressive. Even better than last year. Looked good against the best smalls in the game. Good decisions making. Ball looked safe in his hands. This guy needs to fit into our 23 somehow. Stupid to leave that out.
Wagner - not a big fan previously but really impressed. Stepped it up from last year.
Johnson - not bad, just something seems out of place and I think it's his positioning. Just doesn't seem to be in the best role for him. Not a criticism of him, more the role he has been given. Ends up looking a little lost sometimes.
Freddie - after some ridiculous comments the past couple of weeks on here, he gave a quick reminder how vital he is, his pace and he can match it with any team in the league. Must strike fear into defenders watching him take off on a rebound on the vast expanses of optus knowing he can kick one from just about anywhere from 50+. 3 confident goals at this time of the year is glorious.
Worner - not going to make our 23 now or in the future or if we have that many injuries, it won't matter anyway. Not bad, just too many better.
Kosi - going to look great in purple

 

[DeanoDocker]

Seriously, who does these ratings? Clark and Erasmus had shockers. They both turned the ball over more than once in the first half. Also, Reid barely had an impact and Reidy should have dominated a ruckman with no AFL experience.
On the flip side, both Draper and Chapman should have scored higher than 5. (Particularly Draper).

Agree on all points and yes Draper looked very good - except for Reid. Maybe didnt impact hugely in possession numbers but what he did for a first game, his decision making and use of the ball was brilliant (several inside 50 deliveries to target) and the most positive thing I took from this game was that picking up this lad was an absolute winner !

 

[anchor man]

Thought Sharp was better than NOD tbh but it's getting tight if we only want to pick one.

I was quite critical of how slowly NOD moved it on after a mark at times. I wasn't there on Saturday so I couldn't see what options were available most of the time but holding the ball up is what stifles a lot of our moves from D50 and that needs to change.

I see both Sharp and Noddy in as starters.
Noddy can alsao go into ruck contest and play the mid role.A much bigger body that Sharp. Or so it seems to me.