Post Match. Pies dumped by Eagles. All comments, please.

[qldmagpie67]

Cold light of day after another mixed performance
Q1 we went well all parts of our game were in harmony
Q2 lost JDG and Howe and we fell apart. When we needed our leaders most they went missing badly. Pendles Sidey Grundy were all horrible in Q2 (and big parts of Q3)
Q3 those 3 goals in 3 minutes to Sheed killed off any chance we had
Q4 we fought it out and if our kicking across 4 quarters had been better we might have got within a couple goals and who knows what happens then

Overall another disappointing night with the exception of the debutants who both showed enough to give us some hope
The break until Anzac Day will help because we have to find 22 players who can compete for 4 quarters

Hard to make many changes no matter how many should be dropped we just won’t have the personnel to do it
No Howe JDG Elliott Adams that’s 4 of our best 10 players gone

For mine Greenwood is to slow to play the modern game. He’s a warrior but outpaced. Pendles looks like Father Time has caught up with him. He seems pressured every time he gets the ball and rushing his decisions for whatever reason. Grundy started on fire then was basically a passenger for the next hour before being ok in last term. Crisp had a night to forget. He’s normally pretty good by foot but last night he just couldn’t hit a target.
Brown tries his guts out but just isn’t up to AFL level. Keene had moments but looked lost at other times. Magden on a wing still isn’t a long term option for mine. Sidey had another night to forget (that’s 3 out of 4 games he’s been well below a acceptable standard for a guy closing in on 250 games) he like Greenwood doesn’t have the pace to play in the midfield. Leave him as a small forward and hope he finds a way to contribute there. Daicos needs to be on a wing and create not played as a small forward.

We need to decide now with Howe likely to miss a extended period whether Moore is a forward or defender
For mine he’s a defender now because we need his aerial skill and intercept marking and direction with a young backline.
We have options forward even though they mightn’t always work but if we get into a shootout we will lose

For next week I would go with the following
Out JDG Howe (both injured) Cameron Brown Mayne/Greenwood omitted
In Cox WHE T Brown Bianco Ruscoe (if any of the other rookies are ready for a run why not give them a go as emergency or on bench)

Play only Cox and checkers as tall forward and rotate the rookies and stalls through
Give all the rookies some time in the midfield (use there enthusiasm) and on a wing

I would even contemplate playing Grundy as FF next to Cox (twin towers) and forget the ruck contests and try and win the ball from there taps (reverse what happens now) might as well use Magden as ruckman really considering we won’t be winning the clearances without JDG Elliott and Adams in the middle
Why not make it hard for them to match up on us ?
The injuries to key players is going to hurt
Defensive general gone our best 2 mid/forwards gone our clearance beast gone

[BazBoy]

[Pies4shaw]

Since Buckley said after the game that he's going to continue with Moore up forward, is there really much merit in speculating about who goes out of the team for him to go back?

Also, assuming that Buckley is not just talking drivel, that is the second time I have heard him say that they believe Keane has the capability to play that role. If they believe that, they need to give him a few games in a row to show where he's at. It's not too fair pitting a green tall defensive player against West Coast with Allen, Kennedy and the Pea Heart all playing in the forward line and then just dumping him again. West Coast isn't much of a team but they do have the best tall forward set up in the competition.

[David]

Thomas and Brown both stood up and did well tonight... Putting Moore up forward was a shockingly bad decision

Que?

I thought both were really good in patches; Thomas in particular was a real presence in the contests. Both get a tick from me.

If you think Moore up forward was a good idea, not sure what to tell you. Not against experimenting when the situation calls for it, but it was the wrong game to try it and the mistake was compounded by Buckley’s refusal to change things up when we lost Howe and our defence were getting towelled up.

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

Worst 32 possession game ever! Crisp butchered it in the main tonight...speaking of Mayne, what exactly do we get out of him that Murphy could not provide?

If you don’t dare to win you’re never going to win. Personally I’ll take a team full of Crisps than players who do nothing.

[BazBoy]

[Ronnie McKeowns boots]

Since Buckley said after the game that he's going to continue with Moore up forward, is there really much merit in speculating about who goes out of the team for him to go back?

Also, assuming that Buckley is not just talking drivel, that is the second time I have heard him say that they believe Keane has the capability to play that role. If they believe that, they need to give him a few games in a row to show where he's at. It's not too fair pitting a green tall defensive player against West Coast with Allen, Kennedy and the Pea Heart all playing in the forward line and then just dumping him again. West Coast isn't much of a team but they do have the best tall forward set up in the competition.

Why doesn't the same argument apply for Murphy? Why play the Irish rookie instead of the high draft pick? Or both?

For mine, was surprised Magden didn't pick up Darling when things kicked off in the 2nd

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

Firstly a word of caution to Nathan Buckley. Optus oval is one of the hardest grounds to play on. You debuted Keane there last year against Lobb. For his second game you played Keane against Darling last night. If you keep doing this to Keane you’re going to kill him off as an AFL footballer. Secondly I don’t care if you want to say WHE was “managed” last night. When you see the VFL team team sheet with WHE’s name on it facts are he was dropped. I know people have been gunning for WHE all season. However he played well in the second half last week and kicked two goals. Surely he deserved another game last night, particularly when you see someone like Callum Brown out there who plays without any influence. Thirdly why was Sier out there last night. You drop a player. He needs to find form in the VFL, not find some way of getting him back into the side.

Having got that out the way I didn’t mind the effort the boys put in last night. Keane to me is an intercept defender, not a nullifying defender. There’s a lot to work on there. Keep playing him. McCreery looks fantastic. Cheap pickup. Keep playing him. MaCrae is a beautiful kick on either side of his body. We have a 10 year player there. I liked the move of playing Moore on the forward line. 3 Goals is a good effort. Don’t know why stalwarts in Pendlebury and Sidebottom always get blamed when we lose. We don’t have the right mix in the middle. That’s why we keep losing the clearances. We need to bring more leg speed into the middle. If we want to start winning again we need to add players like McInnes and Poulter because they have electrifying leg speed. I’d even look at someone like Rantall who’s not fast off the mark but has the legs to run all day. Sier is a lost cause. Why play him? Greenwood and Mayne are on their last but at least they play their guts out. You can understand why Buckley keeps playing them. Unfortunately Callum Brown keeps being caught because he doesn’t have the leg speed to break tackles. The only answer to me is play him on the half back line where it doesn’t matter as much. Otherwise drop him and bring his brother back into the team. Tyler is both taller and faster and the only way of getting good young players to learn the game of AFL is to play them in the senior side.

[RudeBoy]

I was devastated by the injuries to Howe and JDG, which probably cost us the game. Nevertheless, I thought the whole team played well for most of the game.

I hope we stick with Moore at full forward. It will take a while for he and the team to adjust to a new set up, but he is so much more agile and effective than the slow moving Cox. Time to bring in Kelly next week to play in defence. I'd also play Murphy there and move Quaynor into the midfield, where we are lacking a strong, fast one-grab player.

I remain a critic of Callum Brown, who buzzes around a lot but is rarely effective. I'm also a little disappointed in the output from Daicos. He needs to get his hands on the pill more. Sier did not do much, but we have to persevere with him.

We have a couple of beauties in McCreery and Macrae.

The season is shot, so lets use it to blood a bunch of youngsters, so they can hit the ground running next year.

[Pipes1970]

Cold light of day after another mixed performance
Q1 we went well all parts of our game were in harmony
Q2 lost JDG and Howe and we fell apart. When we needed our leaders most they went missing badly. Pendles Sidey Grundy were all horrible in Q2 (and big parts of Q3)
Q3 those 3 goals in 3 minutes to Sheed killed off any chance we had
Q4 we fought it out and if our kicking across 4 quarters had been better we might have got within a couple goals and who knows what happens then

Overall another disappointing night with the exception of the debutants who both showed enough to give us some hope
The break until Anzac Day will help because we have to find 22 players who can compete for 4 quarters

Hard to make many changes no matter how many should be dropped we just won’t have the personnel to do it
No Howe JDG Elliott Adams that’s 4 of our best 10 players gone

For mine Greenwood is to slow to play the modern game. He’s a warrior but outpaced. Pendles looks like Father Time has caught up with him. He seems pressured every time he gets the ball and rushing his decisions for whatever reason. Grundy started on fire then was basically a passenger for the next hour before being ok in last term. Crisp had a night to forget. He’s normally pretty good by foot but last night he just couldn’t hit a target.
Brown tries his guts out but just isn’t up to AFL level. Keene had moments but looked lost at other times. Magden on a wing still isn’t a long term option for mine. Sidey had another night to forget (that’s 3 out of 4 games he’s been well below a acceptable standard for a guy closing in on 250 games) he like Greenwood doesn’t have the pace to play in the midfield. Leave him as a small forward and hope he finds a way to contribute there. Daicos needs to be on a wing and create not played as a small forward.

We need to decide now with Howe likely to miss a extended period whether Moore is a forward or defender
For mine he’s a defender now because we need his aerial skill and intercept marking and direction with a young backline.
We have options forward even though they mightn’t always work but if we get into a shootout we will lose

For next week I would go with the following
Out JDG Howe (both injured) Cameron Brown Mayne/Greenwood omitted
In Cox WHE T Brown Bianco Ruscoe (if any of the other rookies are ready for a run why not give them a go as emergency or on bench)

Play only Cox and checkers as tall forward and rotate the rookies and stalls through
Give all the rookies some time in the midfield (use there enthusiasm) and on a wing

I would even contemplate playing Grundy as FF next to Cox (twin towers) and forget the ruck contests and try and win the ball from there taps (reverse what happens now) might as well use Magden as ruckman really considering we won’t be winning the clearances without JDG Elliott and Adams in the middle
Why not make it hard for them to match up on us ?
The injuries to key players is going to hurt
Defensive general gone our best 2 mid/forwards gone our clearance beast gone

A pretty good summary overall and some interesting ideas for moving forward

I for one thought Brown did well in some midfield contests in the last qtr and believe he would be suited to the in and under midfield role as his field kicking is not great so let him get first hands on it and get it out to the distributors might just work.... that is assuming he has the tank to run through the midfield of course

Daicos needs to play on the wing and be one of those distributors because his field kicking is elite... he can cameo up forward for few minutes a qtr sure but otherwise we need him delivering the ball

I think Pendles is being held to an unrealistic standard. Yes he has made a couple of turnovers/mistakes in the last few games but no one is perfect. And if you watch him at the stoppages in any game especially last night he is constantly being held so the opposition obviously still rate him. The fact he only got one holding free kick last night is a disgrace.

Sier is a major disappointment to me... could be anything... just doesn’t seem to want it bad enough.... I don’t think he is fit enough to play in the midfield and he doesn’t fit anywhere else

As for Moore... you play the All Australian CHB at CHB end of story

If it was me I would of started Howe forward last night and told him to fly for everything no matter what. When he comes back that is exactly where he should go.

If the first quarter showed us anything last night it’s that Grundy definitely needs to spend more time forward

Macrae looked like he belonged and I like McCreery to

There is plenty to be bullish about as we have plenty of upside to chase

We can play without expectation now as everyone thinks we are finished for the year so the opportunity is there for some players to make a leap

[matrix10]

Since Buckley said after the game that he's going to continue with Moore up forward, is there really much merit in speculating about who goes out of the team for him to go back?

Also, assuming that Buckley is not just talking drivel, that is the second time I have heard him say that they believe Keane has the capability to play that role. If they believe that, they need to give him a few games in a row to show where he's at. It's not too fair pitting a green tall defensive player against West Coast with Allen, Kennedy and the Pea Heart all playing in the forward line and then just dumping him again. West Coast isn't much of a team but they do have the best tall forward set up in the competition.

Keane has played 2 games both against Eagles (I could be wrong- he may have played more games) who have arguably the strongest tall forward line, in undermanned sides where the defence has been under constant pressure.
Needs to be given a few games to see whether he can find his feet.

Did a few nice things that showed he could be a player.

Roughy, apart from the Lions game, has been scratchy for the past year and a bit.

Howey out is a harsh blow- particularly given the want to play Darcy forward.

[watt price tully]

Thomas and Brown both stood up and did well tonight... Putting Moore up forward was a shockingly bad decision

Que?

I thought both were really good in patches; Thomas in particular was a real presence in the contests. Both get a tick from me.

If you think Moore up forward was a good idea, not sure what to tell you. Not against experimenting when the situation calls for it, but it was the wrong game to try it and the mistake was compounded by Buckley’s refusal to change things up when we lost Howe and our defence were getting towelled up.

I agree, to judge Keane on a rampant Eagles tall fwd line minus Howe isn’t fair: needs a good few games but when Howe did get injured he should have redeployed Moore back there.

Still, the quicker the board publicly gets behind Bucks the better the club will be with some certainty (dare I say, moving forward)

^ Oops, that was a misdirected quote: thought I was quoting P4S

[Mr Miyagi]

It wasn’t that bad and it wasn’t a flogging. One quarter we got flogged (when Howe and JDG went off) but apart from that it was a fair effort marred by turnovers. Crisp turned it over uncharacteristically. Maynard, Mayne. Just a few brain fades that cost us goals.

[glasseyevfx]

I have another perspective on last nights game.
For those that might remember when Buckley was playing I would jump up and down saying we were too Buckley centric. I see the same thing happening again.
Every time we win the ball in the back or centre it seems our players go looking for the captain. By the time they find him deliver the ball and Pendles finds a target a great almighty wall has been constructed and the ball just bounces back after a couple of possessions.
We need to pick up the pace going forward and invest confidence in players to take the game on.
Pedders, Sidebottom and the rest of the leadership group need to take a good look at themselves.

[pietillidie]

Yep I thought Crisp was awful.

Made some costly errors tonight.

I have been saying that all year. He wasn't much better last year. Don't know what has happened to him. Hw is a liability
in defence.

Yeah, his disposal was terrible tonight.
Maybe should play midfield instead, with Murphy in defence.

No one will listen to you because they like him. Hell, I like the bloke and feel guilty for even pointing this out. It's been two years now, so there's a good few years of denying this to come. Sidey has another three seasons left of being admired as someone who can kick on both sides of his body, and Pendles five as someone who makes time stand still. Crispy not having been able to hit a target for two years is neither here nor there.

The midfield will be on mobility scooters soon to speed it up. Your job is to marvel not that the midfield can't stick a tackle or break a tackle, but that it was not brutally abused in the gym to the point of being able to stick or break a tackle, which is something less moral clubs inflict upon their players.