Post Match. Pies down to Giants. All comments.

[lazzadesilva]

I feel like I've come pretty attuned when watching us to know when we're totally switched on, having a red-hot crack and when we're simply off and our intensity is not what it needs to be.

If that’s the case, I worry about them not bringing their A game into their first game. They treated it like a practice game. I know they won’t win every game in a long season and it was not the loss per say that worries me, it’s that I desperately hope it’s not a malaise that’s going to last a while. If we lose to Sydney this Friday, I will start getting a tad worried

[Take_a_Screamer]

[piffdog]

^ the laziest thing I saw on the coverage was Lyon’s commentary…

[matrix10]

^ the laziest thing I saw on the coverage was Lyon’s commentary…

Bravo!
Commentators loving sinking the boot in to us- we make them $$$
We played poorly and lost- despite having more scoring shots
Mirror imagine of Brisbane game last year up there- a few crucial outs- inability to convert our early dominance and bad goal kicking (and they’re goal kicking was unbelievable)

I rate GWS as the best team in it- phenomenal list- strong, skilled and very well coached

We have a hard first month but if we can be at least 50/50 by midway through the year- have no doubt we will come home strong and be ready to have. Crack at back to back

[K]

Is it me or did Schultz look over weight?

He does look fat.

It's strange, 'cos I didn't think he looked fat in Freo colours. Don't black and white vertical stripes make you look thinner?

...
Giants Callum Brown was a sight...they are gonna be hard to stop if he has a big year. Who would have thought the giants would be 9 goals up against the reigning premiers with him not having kicked a goal?

"Him" meaning Toby, right?

[Piesnchess]

Watched the replay again (I’m guessing I like torture)

Mate I agree with everything you say. That's a brilliant analysis of how we lost this game. Yes GWS were very good, but we were also very poor in almost every facet of the game.

Now the true test of Fly's coaching comes to the fore. He's been cruising in the honeymoon for the past two years. He's a players' coach and after the Buckley era the playing group thrived on being given more freedom and responsibility. But now comes the real test. Will 2024 turn into our dreaded 1991? The question is wide open and if we lose to the red hot Swans and Grundy next week the alarm bells will be ringing.

In fact I can't see us beating the Swans at all next week. There are just too many holes to plug and our list is not as good as we thought it was. We won the flag on system alone (congrats to Fly it was his system). But now he has to find a way to get around the gaping weaknesses in our list (no KPFs for a start - GWS has how many? 3 or 4 if you include Toby Greene - OMG).

Jeezus, one loss and its all pessimism, bloody unreal. Mate that "not good enough list " won the bloody Premiership,or do you forget that, what an inane statement., GWS are a 4 goal better team up on their shithole ground, we lost by 5, and had more scoring shots, we were minus Howe and Murphy, that alone gave their big forwards a holiday. GWS were primed for revenge, their big mouth CEO said this himself, its one loss, thats it. No way will we lose to the Swannetees, red hot my arse, they beat a disunited team in Melbourne, racked by internal fighting,up at their tiny chardonnay ground. WE play then here, on OUR MCG, we will be in a filthy mood make n mistake about that. As Fly said, we unfurl our flag, then get down to hard work, real hard work. We wont lose this one, make a couple of changes, and be a very differnt team. We had least 9 players down on form last week, way out of sorts, including Pendles, that wont happen again, Woods by 20 points

[piffdog]

Here's another take from the key guy at Champion Data. I know stats can be used to make a whole host of arguments, but this provides a different take on the performance.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2024/03/12/ ... dispelled/

(spoiler: he's not too worried. Says we needed to kick straighter and that the rest of the game wasnt horrible). Not sure that matches what I saw with my eyes, but should provide a little more balance to some of the discussion on this thread.

[shawthing]

^We don't have a KPF. If we swapped our forward line with GWS we'd be on track to win four flags in a row. At best we have the 10th best forward line in the comp. Even last year we struggled to kick goals and had far too many games decided by a goal or two. Our backline will improve, but where are our goals coming from? That is down to poor recruiting. We should have thrown the kitchen sink at getting Lynch or Cameron a few seasons ago.

One more thing. We are still too short. The Giants really are giants!

[piffdog]

^ We did throw the sink at Lynch. Cameron was never going to anyone but the Cats. We also haven’t had the cap space to go hard.

We have just snatched a flag - whatever the limitations on the squad are.

[Pies2016]

How is it “ supporters “ still don’t understand we are bound by a salary cap. You can’t have it all ! If we had a million dollar forward like Charlie Curnow ( you know the one who doesn’t fire a shot during finals ) then we most likely don’t have DeGoey ( the one who single handedly beat the Giants in the prelim ) if we did still keep DeGoey and have Curnow in the team, then we couldn’t possibly afford Hill and / or Mitchell ( remember them, two of our best players in the G F )
If people are going to keep banging on about the reigning premiers not having any key forwards, that fine but at least stop and think about what we would’ve had to give up in order to secure the messiah.

[RudeBoy]

Here's another take from the key guy at Champion Data. I know stats can be used to make a whole host of arguments, but this provides a different take on the performance.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2024/03/12/ ... dispelled/

(spoiler: he's not too worried. Says we needed to kick straighter and that the rest of the game wasnt horrible). Not sure that matches what I saw with my eyes, but should provide a little more balance to some of the discussion on this thread.

Thanks piffdog. It's a great article.

[Ronnie McKeowns boots]

Is it me or did Schultz look over weight?

He does look fat.

It's strange, 'cos I didn't think he looked fat in Freo colours. Don't black and white vertical stripes make you look thinner?

...
Giants Callum Brown was a sight...they are gonna be hard to stop if he has a big year. Who would have thought the giants would be 9 goals up against the reigning premiers with him not having kicked a goal?

"Him" meaning Toby, right?

Yes, should have been clearer there...and he had kicked his goal by the time they were 9 goals up upon reflection....but I think the gist of the point remains valid

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

How is it “ supporters “ still don’t understand we are bound by a salary cap. You can’t have it all ! If we had a million dollar forward like Charlie Curnow ( you know the one who doesn’t fire a shot during finals ) then we most likely don’t have DeGoey ( the one who single handedly beat the Giants in the prelim ) if we did still keep DeGoey and have Curnow in the team, then we couldn’t possibly afford Hill and / or Mitchell ( remember them, two of our best players in the G F )
If people are going to keep banging on about the reigning premiers not having any key forwards, that fine but at least stop and think about what we would’ve had to give up in order to secure the messiah.

For years I've been going on about the need to draft young key position players. All our high draft picks have been on mids. One more year and we could have got Shultz for nothing under free agency. Instead we throw away high draft picks on seasoned players who help us out in the short term, but does nothing in the longer term. Fly is one of the great coaches who has done wonders in the two years we've had him, but he's not a genius. Elite sport is talent versus talent. Nick Daicos is an elite talent. Where is our elite talent in the forward line once you take out Bobby Hill and an aging Mihocek. A mid to late twenties Shultz who's another small forward to go with the others? Spare me. Ash Johnson has had enough chances. Our hopes now rest with McInnes, or with McStay returning early from his ACL.

[K]

How is it “ supporters “ still don’t understand we are bound by a salary cap. You can’t have it all ! If we had a million dollar forward like Charlie Curnow ( you know the one who doesn’t fire a shot during finals ) then we most likely don’t have DeGoey ( the one who single handedly beat the Giants in the prelim ) if we did still keep DeGoey and have Curnow in the team, then we couldn’t possibly afford Hill and / or Mitchell ( remember them, two of our best players in the G F )
If people are going to keep banging on about the reigning premiers not having any key forwards, that fine but at least stop and think about what we would’ve had to give up in order to secure the messiah.

P16, I reckon folks are painfully aware of the salary cap...

We busted it on a greedy, dopey ruckman who can't mark or direct hit outs to teammates. Last year Buckley said that Eddie interfered with the footy department when they wanted to let that ruckman go. We are still paying him $300,000 a year to play for our next opponent.

BTW Sam Landsberger in today's Hun writes:

"Sydney is facing a salary cap squeeze, as it can be revealed ... Brodie Grundy will be paid close to $1.1 million this year...

... it can now be revealed the Swans must shell out about $700,0000-$750,000 this season for Grundy, with the Pies covering the final sum of about $300,000."