Finals Pressure - Are we up to it.

[bornadog]

Finals type of games don't come around often in the H&A season, yet this year we have played two big block buster matches against Geelong and Collingwood and failed by a few points. In both games, when the pressure was on, we made mistakes, our kicking was not accurate and several players seem to panic. We got behind in both games by over 6 goals but eventually we got back into the game with the help of the older more experienced players.

Questions, do we have the personnel to win these final type of games, considering Hill, Harbrow, Higgins, Picken and Williams are all inexperienced? How should we approach these games in future, ie should we make sure our most experienced team is playing, or am I just worrying for nothing.

[The Coon Dog]

It would help if we didn't get so far behind, but when the result is by less than a goal, you could look back on the whole match & say if this did or didn't happen the result would have been different.

[Mantis]

Questions, do we have the personnel to win these final type of games, considering Hill, Harbrow, Higgins, Picken and Williams are all inexperienced? How should we approach these games in future, ie should we make sure our most experienced team is playing, or am I just worrying for nothing.

We don't have a lot of experienced players playing for Williamstown so I don't know who you are thinking of playing ahead of these guys.

[dogman]

I believe we are far more equiped to handle the preassure this year then last year.

[Remi Moses]

Definetly improved that aspect. Didn't help last Friday with a lack of midfield defensive pressure.

[bornadog]

We don't have a lot of experienced players playing for Williamstown so I don't know who you are thinking of playing ahead of these guys.

I guess we only have Callan, Addison and Tiller and Gia is a big loss.

[Mantis]

I guess we only have Callan, Addison and Tiller and Gia is a big loss.

Gia is a loss no doubt, but we had 13 players in on Friday night who had played over 100 games & another 3 who have played more than 80. If that team doesn't have enough experience I don't know which team does and these players alone should be able to carry the load.

[Sedat]

Questions, do we have the personnel to win these final type of games, considering Hill, Harbrow, Higgins, Picken and Williams are all inexperienced? How should we approach these games in future, ie should we make sure our most experienced team is playing, or am I just worrying for nothing.
The biggest knock on our structure from those outside the football club is that the pressure of finals football doesn't allow for precision of skill, hence teams need a bail-out option up forward to be able to make the most of imprecise delivery into the forward 50. To me this is a very simplistic argument because if there is a lack of precision going into forward 50 on every single occasion, no team is going to win in September - realistically, how often does the bail-out option come into play in a game? Maybe once or twice a quarter at most I'd have thought, which is not insignificant, but certainly isn't the be-all and end-all that the media scribes make it out to be. Of far greater importance IMO is the ability of the midfield to win the contested ball, and if it cannot do so, 9 times out of 10 you are not going to feed your forward line enough to be able to kick a winning score. Everyone talks about premiership winning teams all having a big key forward but tell me a premiership team in the last 20 years that didn't have a kick-arse midfield?

Apart from our disgraceful effort in the first final last year, I thought our around the ground contested ball winning ability against Sydney and Geelong was as good as you could reasonably expect. We have progressed in leaps and bounds in this key area since 2007, and that is arguably more critical to September success than having a gorilla up forward that can clunk a couple. Which leads me to Minson...

Minson's efforts up forward get pretty heavily scrutinised, but if he was able to spend say 60% of his time up forward instead of 30%, I think we'd be pleasantly surprised by his forward line output. So maybe Hudson's ruck output might be the issue here and not Minson's forward output? There's little doubt that Minson is a more effective tap ruckman to advantage, and we seem to look more dangerous in the middle when Minno is in the ruck - I have no evidence to back that last statement up, just observations during matches. I certainly don't want to incur the wrath of the BHBAS but just throwing it out there that possibly we could maximise the output from Huddo when he's in the ruck, which will allow Minno to provide that bail-out target up forward often enough to make a difference (and hopefully he can mark out his run-up better in order to clear the man on the mark).

[Go_Dogs]

Which leads me to Minson...

Many people would have found it ridiculous to suggest we needed 2 Minson's at the start of the season, but gee, it would be handy to have one in the ruck and one at FF. Will's had a good year again, and continues to improve.

[bornadog]

So maybe Hudson's ruck output might be the issue here and not Minson's forward output? .

Huddo's ruck work has been down a bit over the past 6 or so weeks but I thought against Collingwood he was the best big man on the ground. Lets hope he has found some form and he will go on with it.

[Ozza]

Behind Sydney, we are the 2nd oldest team in the league - so surely we have the experience. I think there has been reasons on both occasions that we have gotten behind and played catch up. The fact that we do catch up and have nearly won both of those matches - for me - is a good sign.

I still think if Hargrave and Murphy played against Geelong we'd have won. I know the Cats had some players out - but I felt those two being out was particularly crucial for us.

Overall I'm fairly convinced we are in much better shape this year than last to approach finals - and its mostly because of the improvement out our ( I guess) 'bottom 6'.
- Harbrow is a much better player and is suited to his current role.
- Farren is no longer there - but replaced by Picken who is a better fit for us.
- Minson has become a very good ruckman at teh bounce and has added some contested marking to his game.
- Higgins has gone from being out, to be back in and underdone, to an out and out gun who bolsters the midfield.
- Callan Ward > Stephen Tiller.

[Mofra]

I still think if Hargrave and Murphy played against Geelong we'd have won. I know the Cats had some players out - but I felt those two being out was particularly crucial for us.
Cooney was no where near match fit either after his non-preseason, and Ottens is looking less likely to be a factor in the finals with each passing week.

Our game against St Kilda will be a very interesting one - they are probably the best pressure side in the comp, and we were playing poorly before we met them (and were subsequently beaten all over the paddock, even if we scored more than anyone else had against them). That will probably tell us more than any other how we cope with finals-like pressure.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

My concern doesn't lie with the lack of experience/younger players - it's with those that are experienced and have played 150+ games. Over the last year or two, Cooney/Griffen/Hill/Harbrow etc. have proven they can play in Finals.

Unfortunately, a few of the older players haven't been in the best of touch. Johnson, Hahn, Welsh, Eagleton and Murphy really need to be at their best and leading from the front if we're going to have a serious impact. Most of them were well down last year, including several other names.

IMO we're in a better position to challenge this year. Picken and Harbrow have improved this side dramatically. Murphy and Cooney still have plenty of time to improve. Minson has had his best season yet.

As Rocket has explained, it's the middle aged group of players that have to perform to take us to that next level - a Grand Final. Hahn, Murphy, Gia, Hargrave are absolutely vital. Johnson/Aker/Hudson/Eagleton are too.

[boydogs]

Huddo's ruck work has been down a bit over the past 6 or so weeks but I thought against Collingwood he was the best big man on the ground. Lets hope he has found some form and he will go on with it.

Agree - had him in my votes this week and am looking forward to him giving it to Paddy Ryder


Finals type of games don't come around often in the H&A season, yet this year we have played two big block buster matches against Geelong and Collingwood and failed by a few points. In both games, when the pressure was on, we made mistakes, our kicking was not accurate and several players seem to panic. We got behind in both games by over 6 goals but eventually we got back into the game with the help of the older more experienced players.

Questions, do we have the personnel to win these final type of games, considering Hill, Harbrow, Higgins, Picken and Williams are all inexperienced? How should we approach these games in future, ie should we make sure our most experienced team is playing, or am I just worrying for nothing.

I seem to recall Ward and Picken leading the charge against Geelong in round 9, and I think Higgins kicked a nice one to help us back into it against the Pies. I think we do need a few players to provide a spark and get us going at times but I'm not sure the inexperienced players have been a liability