I thought there were a few other factors that may have contributed to our defeat yesterday:
i. GWS looked as if they had been told to put extra pressure on our defence. In our wins against GC and Essendon our defence was brilliant, constantly rebounding with long, accurate kicks or sharp short passes through the centre (via Wilson, Ryan and Blakely), allowing our midfielders to run forward and our forwards to lead up to the ball. Yesterday Wilson and Ryan made mistakes under strong tackling pressure and had fewer possessions. Our backs were also out-bodied by GWS forwards, the mark by Toby Green on Hamling late in the game being an example. Hence we had multiple turnovers.
ii. We missed Langdon, who gave us pace and run against GC. He would have made a difference, as would have Brad Hill.
iii. We tackled poorly and didn't win enough contested possessions or marks. Our forwards hardly nailed a tackle or contested mark, whereas GWS applied a lot of forward pressure.
iv. GWS had an edge in class.
v. McCarthy played a shocker, rarely offering leads and doing his 'chicken with its head cut off' routine, and trying to out-body stronger and taller opponents. That was disappointing given his great form of the previous week. Tabs was also below par, though still got a good number of possessions. We need more creativity from our forwards.
vi. Roly seemed not to make any changes to counter GWS's methods, but that's speculation on my part.
vii. Ultimately we appeared to be out-coached but the players also seemed over-awed and too frequently panicked, eg Neale shooting for goal instead of giving Ballas a simple opportunity. We still lack composure, even when we win, and our decision-making forward of centre is poor.
viii. Brayshaw and Cerra hardly contributed, though at this stage that's not a big concern, but it meant we were a couple of players down. And Fyfe had an ordinary day by his standards.
I think we can do better in these areas, but Roly needs to get his act together and develop some flexibilty (?not possible).
