TOPIC:

Well, that was two hours of my life that I wish I could get back.
After East Perth fell across the line against Perth a week earlier, I thought we'd either get an emphatic response from the Royals against Claremont or, as it turned out, more of the same garbage.
However, that would be doing a grave disservice to the Tigers, who have evolved into an excellent football team after a very shaky first month of the season.
I looked at the player stats before the game and the Tigers had an abundance of "medium-talls", with 19 of their 22 players taller than the old "six feet" (183cm), contrasting with EP's 14 out of 22.
In my opinion, having a plethora of such players, who can run all day, is the secret to success in the modern game.
With six teams trying to cram into five spots, no team is yet assured of a finals berth, so I'm hoping that EP can get back in the winner's circle against a West Perth side who'd love nothing more than to again derail the Royals, having done so in the final home-and-away round last year. 
 

Archie Duda Goal Machine wrote:

Well, that was two hours of my life that I wish I could get back.
After East Perth fell across the line against Perth a week earlier, I thought we'd either get an emphatic response from the Royals against Claremont or, as it turned out, more of the same garbage.
However, that would be doing a grave disservice to the Tigers, who have evolved into an excellent football team after a very shaky first month of the season.
I looked at the player stats before the game and the Tigers had an abundance of "medium-talls", with 19 of their 22 players taller than the old "six feet" (183cm), contrasting with EP's 14 out of 22.
In my opinion, having a plethora of such players, who can run all day, is the secret to success in the modern game.
With six teams trying to cram into five spots, no team is yet assured of a finals berth, so I'm hoping that EP can get back in the winner's circle against a West Perth side who'd love nothing more than to again derail the Royals, having done so in the final home-and-away round last year. 

 

I first noticed Archie in our first game against Swans,that they had us on the back foot with there outside run,and although we walked away with a comfortable win we were very fortunate to be in front at 3/4 time.If we fail to play the game on our terms and keep it tight and contested,we appear to be very vulnerable,as we discovered on the weekend,and the last quarter fade outs against the Demons and Bulldogs,where we have been sliced open and struggled to halt the shifting momentum in those games.           The lack of a reliable key forward focal point is also a bit of a concern,and the promising Tom Graham hasn’t really hit his straps yet,and with the improved form of Brad Fullgrabe down back,we may have to experiment using Macreedie up Forward when he returns from injury,as our mids aren’t really hitting the scoreboard as effectively as 2023,and I really believe our ladder position flatters us on current form.

In that early game against Swans, Lucky, we at least finished strongly, something we haven't done in recent games, including last Saturday.
Unfortunately, Tom Graham seems to have lost a lot of confidence, so giving Harry Macreadie (hopefully, he returns soon) a shot up forward is worth another try, although I'd prefer him predominantly in defence where we lack height.
Once he has an extended injury-free period, I'm sure Tom will fulfil his potential in time.
Reflective of our inaccuracy is that in our first 8 games (7-1) we kicked 104.71, while in our most recent 6 games (3-3) we've scored 52.71.
Yes, the conditions have been heavier underfoot, but players who are normally reliable set-shots have missed plenty of sitters.
 

Interesting to note that our main offender in front of goals so far this season, Tom North with 4 goals 15 behinds was our best contributor against Claremont with 2.1 out of a team total of 3.10.  

OTO, when Tom North kicked his second goal (and it was an absolute ripper from deep in the right forward-pocket), few would've predicted that it would be our last six-pointer for the day.