Forum topic

Frsnkston vs Tasmania yesterday well done to Tasmania they were outstanding yesterday did not give the Dolphins a chance from half wa thru 2nd quarter. Great crowd too 46143

Port Melbourne vs Sydney today Port Melbourne dominated the first half especially 2nd quarter but inaccuracy kept Swans in the game with Borough kicking 4.8 in the 2nd quarter, after half time Swans  dominates with a 6 goal to 1 3rd quarter and kicked the only goal of the last and deserved their 18 point win, good crowd of at least 2500 I heard it was a good atmosphere.

Well. Going into this game I was thinking that our win against Sandy was looking even better with their wins over Werribee last week and Brisbane this week, and as for the loss to Tassie, we did at least play them closer than their other two opponents so far. Today was rather a step backward. As you say Robbo, Sydney deserved the win. I could mention Port Melbourne's 2.8 in the second quarter and 1.3 for the entire second half and leave it at that (although, naturally, I won't). I don't suppose there's much chance of finding key forwards as midseason signings if we couldn't find any in the offseason...?

Perhaps along somewhat similar lines to your observation last week, NorthPort, about Highmore and Van Es not playing down back making us more vulnerable in defence, I'm wondering if having players moving between defence and forward within a single game (as Highmore did, and also Baldwin late) is throwing things off. The Baldwin move may not have been happened if things were going better, and I wouldn't mind seeing him tried forward for a game, but Highmore's moved between forward and defence in both games he's played, and today he looked a bit off in both positions. I wonder if it would be better for him to play one position and get some consistency back.

Defence on transition continues to be a problem. Too many time there were multiple Sydney forwards completely free within a kick of the Sydney ball carrier. 

The goalkicking, forward 50 entries, and general forward craft were back to the worst we saw last season. The commentators repeatedly noted that the forwards weren't giving the midfielders good options to kick to. That's the sort of thing that's harder to see on a recording since the camera focuses on the ball, so I'll be interested to hear from those who were at the ground, but it's certainly consistent with what the cameras did show and with what we saw last year. 

Hird and Tovey did have excellent games. Hird's 34 disposals is a personal best, and he deserves to get some coaches' votes. His disposal efficiency was down from the first two weeks, but considering the problems with the forward lines, that's not entirely on him. Sparkman continues to be very good at halfback. Rankin and Green were very good, particularly in the second half. Grant again won most of the hitouts. Stubbings has made a generally solid start to the season. Going into the season I was thinking Downie and Rankin should take the wing positions, but although it's still early in the season, I'll go ahead and say that I was underestimating Stubbings and, although Rankin is the more dangerous player overall, I'm happy to have Downie and Stubbings on the wings with Rankin (mostly) at halfback.

Hobbs will be back for our next game, and it wouldn't be surprising to see some unforced changes up forward as well. 

Agree with Northport and also consider Allesio, he did seem to do well pre season.  

You're welcome, NorthPort. Yes, I agree with both of you - as long as they're fit, Farrant, Manton, and Alessio need to be considered for the round 4 side. Of this week's forwards, the only two that I would definitely have in the side playing as forwards in round 4 are Dom Bedendo and Max Rider. Also I don't recall whether George played more midfield or more forward this week, but I would certainly have him in the round 4 side, and with Hobbs returning it may make sense to have him spend more time forward then. This week wasn't Bedendo's best, but overall he seems to our best forward with the possible exception of Clarke, who was good at going on leads last season. But since Clarke's been playing mostly midfield this year it makes sense to keep playing him there next week. And while Rider did have less impact in the second half, and it would have been great if he'd kicked 4.0 instead of 2.2, he did have more scoring shots than any of our other forwards in this game and also led us for tackles with 7.

Definitely a concern... and my second-quarter numbers above were wrong, it was 4.8 for the second quarter and 1.3 for the entire second half. It must be even more painful viewing knowing the final score. Thanks for the reminder about where George played, not sure where he's most dangerous but we have to change something up forward. Good point about bringing pressure onto ourselves. We tried to move the ball more directly late but, with some exceptions (for the most part, a few mistakes aside) in Hird, Tovey, Rankin, and Green, we were lacking composure and sometimes seemed to be trying to force things.