The Soaring

The Wrap

Fremantle 3.2 8.5 10.8 12.15 (87)
West Coast 3.5 5.9 8.10 10.13 (73)

Before the Bounce
Changes aplenty; the Eagles brought in second-gamer Ben McKinley in place of the unlucky Josh Kennedy. Whilst the Dockers swung the changes with McPharlin, Ibbotson and Tarrant all out. Scott Selwood made his AFL debut.

The weather clears after raining all day but the ground is in good nick. No wind at all.

The Whiteboard
Nothing unexpected in the match-ups throughout the day, it was all pretty predictable stuff. McKinley obviously played forward, mainly deep. Waters and Ebert were rotated through the centre. Scott Selwood played exclusively in the backline.

Unfortunately, our predictability was not our greatest downfall this week. But it certainly didn’t help our cause. Positive signs from McKinley in the forward line to go with the generally good midfield play of Kerr, Priddis and Cox. Apart from that we have heaps of work to do across the ground.

Our game plan needs serious revision if the last three weeks are anything to go on.

We don’t seem to possess the runners we did in the past and the tactic of handballing at every opportunity is only as good as our teams willingness to run and run in support. Handballing to a stationary team-mate creates nothing but confusion and frustration. The opposition can apply pressure on the ball and the forward further up the field get stuffed making lead after lead without reward. It is a recipe for disaster and today’s game proved the recipe works.

The truth is if we were playing a side with more confidence and precision than the Docker’s we would’ve received another thumping like last week.

Where it was won & lost
Week one was a win, although the worrying signs were there. Last week, was unacceptable but we could write it off as an aberration. This week, however, says the problems could be a lot more systemic than we realise.

No one likes a prophet of doom talking about their footy team but we need to face facts; we’re struggling.

1. Lateral play is only good if you ACTUALLY switch play and go forward. Too often we go lateral and get no forward movement. Mainly because the run of past years is not there.

2. When we move the ball more quickly, surprise surprise, the much maligned forwards look miles better. The truth is we don’t have any plan B pack markers down there capable of bailing us out (like Pavlich did for Fremantle).

3. A lot of our senior players are well below par. If Glass is injured, he shouldn’t play. It simply demoralises the team to see their captain limp around and cop a flogging from his opponent. Get Spangher in or someone else and at least see if they can play.

4. The number of players who have been “off” is unacceptable. Don’t be put off by the high possession counts a number of our players were deplorable today. Andrew Embley looked all at sea running in between contests and having zero impact on the game.

5. Somewhere at Subi Oval today Rowan Jones was chuckling to himself as Chad Fletcher has assumed the mantle, unopposed, as the Eagles number 1 whipping boy. He should give McNamara or Masten a run next week.

6. Our tackling and defensive pressure is way below par. We need to ramp up our efforts in pressuring the opposition. Too often the Docker’s had all the run through the middle of the ground and when they did they punished us on the scoreboard without fail. When we did harass it was much more even contest.

7. What did we do differently pre-season? Something has happened to our running capacity as our tanks aren’t what they were. Players with hands on knees, strolling instead of chasing, stopping instead of turning. Is it effort or ability?

8. Some how we need to release our running players to run. Hurn looks brilliant when he gets a run at it but he only had 10 touches today. Nicoski is another who’s pace we miss in the middle of the ground. Embley was lost as mentioned. Rosa we need to come in and fire. Braun was below his best. Whatever we’re doing with those guys now is depriving the team of a much needed asset - attacking run.

9. Our key forwards have zero defensive pressure. McKinley chased well on a couple of occasions but I am wondering if we can sustain Seaby, Lynch and Hansen in the same F50? None of these guys have the agility to back-up with second efforts or apply the pressure needed when the ball hits the deck. Although not a classical crumber, we miss LeCras and I think Kennedy needs to get a run in there.

10. Talking of forwards we desperately need to clear out the space and get the ball in there fast. It may come out again fast but it’s doing that anyway. If we go with the foot when we get space or a mark we at least don’t have our forwards trying to guess when the ball might venture towards them. If we don’t get a clear run, pack-down Sydney style and retain possession backing our mids and rucks to win the contested ball. We might not have Judd but Kerr, Priddis, Cox and co are still our strength.

Line of the Week
Matt Priddis shows no sign of the second year blues. You have to admire the way he goes about his footy; hard, tireless, strong, smart. Another brilliant effort from Matty:
28 possessions, 15 kicks, 13 handballs, 4 marks, 4 tackles, 11 contested possessions, 6 clearances, 5 inside 50 and a goal

The Soaring Chocolates Award
Can’t go past Daniel Kerr. Shadowed by Josh Carr, Kerr was the highest possession winner on the day with 33 disposals and 6 marks, and consistently won the hard-ball in tight (14 contested possesions, 6 clearances). Kerr’s run also couldn’t be faulted and although on occasion his disposal was not as precise as we have come to expect, some brilliant gives like the handball which set up the first goal of the game to Wirra were unmatched on the park. Kerr gets the chocolates for Round 3.

???
In the first quarter Dean Cox received the ball about 60 out from goal, he ran to 50 only for Wirra to inexplicably run across his line as Cox was in the process of kicking the ball. The result was the ball hit the deck and Cox kicked something (it wasn’t the ball) and had him hobbling for a few minutes. Sadly it told the tale for the rest of the game.