A little bit to digest. As with Mikeh am disappointed about the result but not discouraged.
It was danger signs early as East Perth scored easy goals and a dominant Jones gave his mids first use. Swans were staying in the contest but each time we converted the Royals replied instantly. With such a quick game and if that flow of game continued we were never going to be a real chance of winning because they were too efficient and Jones wasn’t getting any shorter. He also covers the ground really well!
I thought Erceg struggled early, as predicted, and it may take him a week or 2 to settle into a different role/system, too often caught trying to zone off. The strength of our back 6 could actually be our biggest weakness. I much prefer Ehlers and even Stephens down there as lock down defenders. Both may get a run next week as Pasini was moved fwd with a suspect hammy and Collins looked sore in a knee. In any case having Medhat and Tedesco kick bags should be a wake up call to that back 6 although more pressure on the ball will help.
Which brings me to my next point.
Playing a more up tempo and direct game is great but at times, especially early, it was too quick and we need to find a happy medium. 35 tackles simply isn’t enough against a contest team and especially needs a lift from Hewitt, Cartwright, Edwards and Kohlman who had 1 tackle between them. It will then allow our mids and backs to catch a breath and set up defensively.
The ruck issue is going to be a constant this year. We all love Doc but he’s not up to WAFL standard and neither is young Smith. It will be a real shame if our quality mids have to go at it all year on the back foot. I watched Germs yesterday and he simply hasn’t developed as we’d have hoped and it’s more about his footy iq. GM played fwd/ruck in the 2’s and looked rusty, personally I think he’s a better key defender and played better in that role last season after rucking early on. That being said though I think there needs to be a call made and we play both Germs and GM in place of Doc and Smith with GM the fwd/ruck option.
Odonaghue played a full game of reserves yesterday and looked a class above however he did look prolly on a leg late in the game, hopefully just a corky When he is ready to go he has to come straight in! His aggressive approach will help with our tackle pressure and if he can do a run with role each week then I’d like to see Clarke and Chalcraft rotated fwd for periods.
All games are important but a massive game coming up at Lathlain with both teams looking to rebound. Need to be heading into the first bye ahead of the ledger and with a super tough game to follow against EF.
