Analysis : The final stoppage

[Grantysghost]

Love to do this more often, if i get motovated.

The last stoppage last night where we had a chance to steal it, I thought i'd have a good look and see if there was anything we could have done differently and open it for discussion to the wise minds here.

There's about a minute on the clock, we just won the centre clearance through English and Libba, Bont scrubs it forward, Stanley has it knocked out of his hands by Laith and there's a secondary stoppage forward centre for us.

Shot 1.

Not a lot of time to setup, we have the usual suspects at the stoppage. Treloar, Bont defensive side, Macrae attacking side, Libba neutral. Lots of space towards our f50 top right of shot.

https://i.postimg.cc/qvH52PNk/i-Markup-20240407-083807.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Shot 2

Ruck contest, honours go to Stanley just and the ball heads Geelong's way towards our defensive mids Treloar and Bont v Bowes and O'Connor. Richards has cleverly moved into the space unchecked.

https://i.postimg.cc/d0572Ktp/i-Markup-20240407-084032.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Shot 3

Bowes reads the drop best and his positioning means he gets there first and takes possession
He puts some contact into Treloar (might be a jumper tug). Bont who is moving into the contest anticipates this and defends Bowes brilliantly and forces a smother/another loose ball, leaving O'Connor unmarked.

https://i.postimg.cc/GtwXvfK0/i-Markup-20240407-084250.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

https://i.postimg.cc/6QVq92Pd/i-Markup-20240407-084402.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Shot 4

Ball spills, ground ball is anticipated by a moving O'Connor who gathers, Treloar flat footed and not impacting.

Bont is out of the contest after the brilliant smother. Bowes is still unmarked.

https://i.postimg.cc/ryR1kgJW/i-Markup-20240407-084531.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Final movement

Bowes accepts a handball from O'Connor, he clears with a hack kick and that's the game. Dale gives away a high free on close and the Cats retain possession.

https://i.postimg.cc/L8JYt8bP/i-Markup-20240407-084608.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

So, how did we lose it woofers?

Firstly, it's hard to be critical i dont think we did a lot wrong and it was late and a very quick ball up.

The bad : English losing the tap, Treloar too easily rendered useless and not impacting in any way, Libba in a nothing position.

The good : Bont, he sees the game unfolding so quickly. It's not until you pick it apart you see the enormity of his contribution to the death.
Ed, moved into a dangerous space.

Summarising when watching it live I was critical of Treloar. Unpacking it, I'm not sure what more he could have done considering where the ball fell. Maybe being in motion would have helped he did seem flat footed Bowes defended him really well.
Once Bont commited to the smother again a random ball drop / ground ball fell in the Cats favour and they had a two on one.

Credit to Bowes and O'Connor they played it well.

Anyone else think we could have done something differently to win that critical clearance?

[The Bulldogs Bite]

This is where English's average ruck work hurts. Stanley is bog ordinary yet he broke even with a player some believe is worth $1m a season.

English is a good player but he will never be a good ruck. We simply can never be proactive in the same way that others side are. It's why we rarely see us bursting from stoppage - the opposition ruck isn't going to hit it our way to allow for forward momentum. We generally win stoppage defensive side, making it difficult to do anything other than flick it around and/or hack kick it forward.

Not saying this is why we lost, but there are plenty of these examples across games and in tight games against good opposition it matters.

[Grantysghost]

This is where English's average ruck work hurts. Stanley is bog ordinary yet he broke even with a player some believe is worth $1m a season.

English is a good player but he will never be a good ruck. We simply can never be proactive in the same way that others side are. It's why we rarely see us bursting from stoppage - the opposition ruck isn't going to hit it our way to allow for forward momentum. We generally win stoppage defensive side, making it difficult to do anything than flick it around and/or hack kick it forward.

Not saying this is why we lost, but there are plenty of these examples across games and in tight games against good opposition it matters.

Stanley is a similar type to English isn't he. It's the kind of player the Cats get and they become super important role players on sustainable wages. He also hit up Henry for their last quarter goal.

[SonofScray]

English isn’t reliable in the clinches. He simply needs to be stronger and more aggressive in those moments, but it’s not part of his natural game. Still, by the time that contest rolled around, the margin for error was far too slim for me to put it solely on one player. I’d just love for him to recognise these moments and find something outside his normal routine.

[Grantysghost]

English isn’t reliable in the clinches. He simply needs to be stronger and more aggressive in those moments, but it’s not part of his natural game. Still, by the time that contest rolled around, the margin for error was far too slim for me to put it solely on one player. I’d just love for him to recognise these moments and find something outside his normal routine.

It was a very close call on the tap, he affected it but Stanley got slightly better purchase.

If you go back 30 seconds he put it down Libbas throat in the centre bounce.

[Happy Days]

Wow I never knew you actually knew ball?

[ratsmac]

I thought English was woeful in the ruck last night. I say that because English should be monstering Stanley with English in his prime and Stanley in the twilight of his career. If English wins his position we probably win.

We could throw a blanket over a number of players that you could say the same thing, they win their position we win the game. But if players like English and JUH want the big $$ show us why we should make the investment and win the game like Bont and Libba can.

[bornadog]

I thought English was woeful in the ruck last night.

Stanley Hitouts 44 - Hitout to Advantage 11, disposals 13

English HO - 38, HTA 19 Disposals 17

I know who won on the night in the ruck role.

[JanLorMill]

Stanley Hitouts 44 - Hitout to Advantage 11, disposals 13

English HO - 38, HTA 19 Disposals 17

I know who won on the night in the ruck role.
Please add the ruck clearance and I know it’s not always the rucks fault who gets the clearance.
I think the point was the reigning AA ruck should be dominating a journey man like Stanley who is 8cm shorter.

[JanLorMill]

Sorry centre clearances went 15-12 our way and stoppage clearances 38-32 our way.

[kruder]

I think it's the how they won the clearance, I'm not sure of the stats but they always seem to come out front of the stoppage. Even Bevo admitted we gambled too much at the stoppage but it's not just the stoppage we don't seem to have a sweeper at many contests, It killed us last night.

[bornadog]

MJP mentioned this some time ago that our mids hogg the ball, and our lesser knowns are denied possession (not denied on purpose).

Happened last night with three mids getting 107 disposals of the total 385 - ie 3 out of 22 - what were the rest doing?

We need more contribution from the non mids who only averaged 14 disposals if you also add the 23 from Sanders to the 107.

We cant just rely on the few to win us games, we need a team effort.

[Grantysghost]

Wow I never knew you actually knew ball?
Everything makes sense in slow motion

[bulldogsthru&thru]

What the hell was Treloar doing before that final clearance from the cats? Zero aggression to close in to stop the disposal. This was a desperate situation requiring desperation and he looked like he was defending an opponent 10 goals down in the 3rd quarter.....

English shows similar aggression. We have 'good' players but too few that can wrestle a game onto their terms when the going gets tough.

We have way more talent on our list than the cats yet they almost toy with us each time. They're so well drilled. Work together. Play their role. Do the team things required to win.

[Grantysghost]

What the hell was Treloar doing before that final clearance from the cats? Zero aggression to close in to stop the disposal. This was a desperate situation requiring desperation and he looked like he was defending an opponent 10 goals down in the 3rd quarter.....

English shows similar aggression. We have 'good' players but too few that can wrestle a game onto their terms when the going gets tough.

We have way more talent on our list than the cats yet they almost toy with us each time. They're so well drilled. Work together. Play their role. Do the team things required to win.

He didn't really impact, was in a corralling type mode instead of WIN mode that's true. It was hard where to ball fell tbh. English not getting a clear tap meant we were on the back foot from that stage.

[Sedat]

Relying on a clean clearance with 40-odd seconds left on the clock against as well-drilled and disciplined opponent as Geelong, is a million to one shot for us - other teams like Melbourne have shown they can kick 3 goals in the same amount of time. We fluffed our lines earlier in the match.

It's not a game that got away from us - Geelong were 3-4 goals better than us on the night and we did well to keep our heads up and get so close.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Relying on a clean clearance with 40-odd seconds left on the clock against as well-drilled and disciplined opponent as Geelong, is a million to one shot for us - other teams like Melbourne have shown they can kick 3 goals in the same amount of time. We fluffed our lines earlier in the match.

It's not a game that got away from us - Geelong were 3-4 goals better than us on the night and we did well to keep our heads up and get so close.

Yep I'm surprised we actually made it that close. Whilst that's a positive, it's still frustrating that we continue to lose to well drilled teams. Why can't we be disciplined and well drilled?