Rd 17 Vs GWS - Smurf Review
Not a good game.
We were flat from the get go, our structure was lacking, our intent was mostly lacking. Everything that we've been use to watching us do, just didn't work.
We were bad, GWS were very good.
I don't like saying that teams are good because we were so bad, because that's not how it works, at least most of the time.
We were bad, but we were bad because of the way GWS played us.
Our defence setup was almost non existent at times, which meant players like Stringer were getting free, we weren't thinking defensively like we usually do.
Example below, in no world should Cox go up and take the mark there.
His man is then free behind him, Pearce has to pick, Cadman or Stringer?
And even he picks wrong when he usually wouldn't. Worner can cover both Cadman and his man off there, stringer gets a paddock on Pearce and its over.
https://reddit.com/link/1uoitz6/video/d6zflpf04ibh1/player
One thing that really stood out to me, was our reluctance to take the space in front of us if it was given to us. Numerous times, and i have 2 examples of it, theres a paddock in front of us, and we just kinda either stand there, or go sideways.
Fucking channel your inner Christopher Columbus and take the fucking land in front of you. Its been given for free! take the extra 20 meters you'll get on the kick. It usually opens up another option as well, defenders scramble back faster meaning a player can lead up into the space. At worse case you kick it long which is what we end up doing anyway.
Wondering if this reluctance was because of the pressure applied from GWS early. Doesn't bode well if we go into our shells that much when that pressure is applied.
Also, kicking back and sideways, the fuck are you doing Judd, fucking run. You've shown you can do it, back yourself! There mightn't have been anything up the ground. But kicking to where he kicks to just ends up clogging that side up. Its a nothing kick, you get nothing out of it.
I'm writing it down as a once off, something to learn from.
Below examples of what i mean.
https://reddit.com/link/1uoitz6/video/mjewjerf6ibh1/player
Fuck this was a tough watch, it really was. Especially cause i'm so defensive minded. Seeing all the little misteps, poor setups, lack of effort in the press etc. Fucking hurts.
Ive never seen us lose so poorly in the transition stats this year, GWS blitzed us.
And thats why stringer, brown, cadman all on repeat looked so free. If you can't hold it up further up the ground, its a defenders nightmare to try and defend. And credit to our defenders tbh, they managed to keep it close still, somehow... Cause as JL said at half time, something along the lines of 'scoreline flatters us, we are being dominated'.
Below are 3 clips with examples to what I'm saying.
We were just off.
- Amiss, I've mentioned in the past that its a directive of ours to go right up to the point of the mark. It pushes the opposition back off the mark which gives our defence a few more seconds to setup how we want. He doesn't do it. You can see worner coming across late, if amiss holds the man up on the mark then worner can get across. Fortunately freddy does a decent job regardless.
- Switta running with Ash. Good. Switta stopping? Has he been told by the next line to hold, if so, why the fuck did someone not go up to ash. Bad look.
- This one is so egregious. I hate it so much. Pause the clip right at the start, we have Reid and brayshaw on top of each other. Voss just genuinely ball watching. Youngy was either way too far off the setup or voss had to be onto that to cut it off. Then it just gets worse, Brayshaw in no mans land again, like you aren't stopping anything there, quick kick over the top to a 2 on 1 and theyre away. Attrocious.
https://reddit.com/link/1uoitz6/video/b6t4ibp29ibh1/player
So the above was part of the reason transition was so easy for the giants. We weren't setting up properly, and effort wasn't there.
Then there's another portion of this, that was maybe a mixture of not setting up correctly, and a good strategy from Kingsley. Which is utilising Taylor on rebound. Which is something Brisbane now do with Harris, so we need to ensure we can shut this down going forward.
But Treacy was blitzed in this area, which is such a strange thing this year for me to be writing.
But you'll see what i mean.
https://reddit.com/link/1uoitz6/video/i9srckqaaibh1/player
But it wasn't just our defence that was off setup wise either.
Something clearly wasn't clicking with the forward structure as well. Because there was a few times (heres 2) in that the ball was held up, and we'd either kick to, or needed a small forward to go for a mark?
- Switta has to go up for the mark. Amiss maybe couldn't get to it because it held up in the breeze. On that, Pearce won the toss, and we went against the breeze in the first? Bizaree decision. I digress, switta going up to bring the ball to ground means he isn't at the fall of it to crumb so theres a lack of crumbers. GWS pick it up and theyre off. Jacko is just kinda meandering around the middle of the 50 as well which is.... odd?
- Nod has to give the hands to Reid. I think Thomas is ahead of reid but I'd still be giving it to murph almost every time he runs past. Instead he kicks it to the smallest man on the ground in Dudley who surprise surprise, gets outmarked. If the hands were given to Reid its moved quicker, less chance Ash gets to where he does to defend the kick.
https://reddit.com/link/1uoitz6/video/qbhee1ciaibh1/player
I mentioned in my last review that we hadn't peaked.
I'm sure most would see that now.
We were fucking shit. But we still got within 20 points. Few small things like tightening up the defensive transition and there's a chance we win that. The pressure was there from a couple, we had 4 of the top 5 pressure act stats. But then we also had 6 of the bottom 10 for pressure acts.
I absolutely have to give credit to GWS though, their pack run was elite. Their ball use was great, their pressure on us forced us into a shell. And as much as i hate Stringer, he was immense.
0-1, plenty to learn from the review.
Onto the next at home, hopefully a massive bounce back.
Also, Karl fucking worner. You're a jet mate.
