Top Five - West Coast Eagles vs. Brisbane Lions - Round 14
Recap
Ok lets get this over and done with.
West Coast Eagles 3.5 6.8 8.10 9.10 64
Brisbane Lions 2.1 5.7 10.9 13.13 91
We got flogged. Flogged by a team we have owned for some time. It was pitiful.
Top Five
Stuff the top five. He’s a stream of thoughts instead.
1. The best adjective I heard post-match to describe our performance - flacid.
2. Matthews out-coached Woosha.
3. Possessions are meaningless unless they take you towards your objective which is to score.
4. The amount of handballs, backwards and sideways, was excruciating at times.
5. Credit Brisbane’s pressure, but our decision making was deplorable.
6. It seems, like a game of Chinese whispers, our game plan has been corrupted over time. Wasn’t it to RUN and handball, not just handball like it is some sort of magic cure all?
7. With all the handballing I think our foot skills have gone off the boil.
8. Forget the stats, a lot of our players are in season low form troughs.
9. At Subi you desperately need good lead up forwards; too often we got jammed in between the edge of the square, the boundary and the top of the 50 arc.
10. Kicking to a contest is fine provided you are prepared to get numbers around the ball and win the contest. We got smashed in the contest tonight.
11. Brisbane should’ve won by 6 goals at least.
12. Good on you Michael Braun for 200 terrific games. If you were ranking them 1 to 200, this one is near the back though Brauny.
13. At half time I thought it was nice gesture to stand and applaud Tony Micale for his fine work behind the scenes. Turns out the cheers were for the suited Ben Cousins.
14. Talking of which, we need to switch on. You don’t lose your ability over night, so it seems our application might have gone walkabout with the media focus on the club this week.
15. Ironically, Cousins is one of our most dogged, determined and unflappable players on-field regardless of what’s going on off it (and apparently in recent years, a fair bit has).
16. I hope the new stadium is not the same dimensions as Subi - I reckon it produces ugly footy.
17. We really need to build some momentum going into the last two months of the season.
18. At this point in time I have no idea what our best 22 looks like. And that is a worry.
19. I like the look of Chad Jones.
20. Le Cras keeps improving, but still plays a bit straight.
21. Lynch is officially out of form. Got flogged by Merritt. Seriously, Daniel Merritt.
22. Ditto Wirra. I know he got 183 possessions but he was sloppy and lazy.
23. Cox was good.
24. I’d love to know what Woosha says after a game like that.
25. I hope Judd’s groin is ok. Ditto Glass’s, courtesy of Jonathan Brown’s leg.
26. What’s the deal with Stenglein? Haven’t heard much about his injury. Likewise Staker, although I think ChoJo has nabbed his spot for now.
27. I refuse to leave early. Do you people have no shame? Don’t you know your back will eventually turn up on TV for all to see?
28. I predict four changes for next week.
29. Based on recent trends we’re still a good chance to win next week back at AAMI stadium.
Jul 9th 2007
Agree with all of that - I’d add:
30. the players are looking for Judd too often with handballs, even when he’s covered.
31. too many static players waiting for the ball rather than moving off the pack or going in after the ball.
32. tackling was piss-weak - last season when you were gang-tackled by the Eagles you knew about it.
33. We officially have the 2005 forward line again - one big man out of form and one little bloke being asked to do too much.
34. too many attacks launched slowly around the wing which gave the Lions time to regroup (since when did we become Sydney?)
I’m beginning to think Cousins is being missed more than we thought simply for the drive he provided. Likewise, we need Hansen back asap to provide a lead in the forward line.
Couple of questions: where is Hurn lining up? what are your predicted changes?
Jul 9th 2007
Can’t argue with that swingdog.
Hurn played primarily half back from memory.
Predicted changes for Port - Out: Wirra, Graham, RoJo or someone unexpected like Waters or Rosa. In: Stenglein, Armstrong, Morton. Maybe Staker if fit.
To be honest that’s probably a pretty poor guess.
Jul 9th 2007
Can I retract my last comment from the team list announcement? FFS. Agree with everything you said there Bruce (and swingdog), and points 4 and 5 probably could have been repeated about 15 times. I can’t see Staker being fit this weekend, and I’m not sure that Morton has had enough time in the WAFL following his last couple of average AFL efforts. I’d be inclined to keep the team almost the same (a fit Stinga coming back in an obvious exception), and challenge each individual player to show that last weekend was an aberration. For at least one more week anyway.
Jul 9th 2007
I have this idea that Hurn should be playing across the half-forward line or in the centre. Given the danger his boot presents to the opposition, I’d rather thave him there than at half-back.
I’d keep Wirra but I’d think about Hunter forward permanently.
Jul 9th 2007
The effort level against Brisbane was very disappointing, however bringing in players that have been left out for poor performance on previous occasions, such as Morton (who I think will one day be a star) will not achieve anything.
The key to the Eagles success has been the need for players earn their spots and bringing them in only when they are in red hot form.
A clear example has been Chad Jones, who was excellent against Adelaide and was unlucky with his shots at goal against Brisbane.
I agree with Fordy, send out the same team give or take subject to availability and see what they’ve got. My tip is they’ll redeem themselves.
Jul 9th 2007
Look who knows what will happen with the team this week. My thinking is along the lines of point 18 - I don’t have any idea what our best 22 is. I’d say there are players in that team who are NOT in our best 22 this season and I was them I’d be playing my guts out to make sure of my place. Not sure we saw that on Sat night.
Jul 9th 2007
I thought you may have made a point about Leigh Matthew’s claims that the Eagles treated it like a “practice game.”
Also, because of the heritage jerseys it looked like Fitzroy was beating Western Australia which is kinda ironic.
Jul 10th 2007
Dunno about that last point Tim - Fitzroy managed to beat the Eagles at the end of 91 when the Eagles were supposedly a state side and Fitzroy were cellar dwellers, and WA sides wearing that guernsey have been crap for quite a while now. Maybe the Eagles got stuck on tradition.
On your first point, I think Matthews was right. I find it interesting that every team we’ve lost to this season didn’t make the 8 last season - might be a touch of complacency and arrogance creeping in that needs to be smacked out of them.
Jul 10th 2007
This was the worst game I’ve seen the Eagles play in about five years. They might have been beaten (even flogged aka. against the derkers in derby2 last year) but even in defeat I felt they made the opposition earn it. Not so on Sat night.
Last season we lost 5 in the h&a, and this season we’ve matched that with 8 rounds to go. Something needs to change, and fast or a top 4 berth is history and back to back flags with it.
RE, point 27. I left at about the 22 min mark of the fourth quarter. I couldn’t stomach any more and was not prepared to listen to La Marseille butchered by the BLFC lyrics. I stayed to cheer Bob Harvey off the ground a fortnight earlier though. I don’t care if my back was on camera; the Eagles stank and staying and applauding them sends the wrong message.