I’m very disappointed with you, West Coast. You’ve shown a bit of improvement, a bit of growth this season. I thought you’d come into this game with some confidence, a bit of flair, a bit of ‘nothing to lose’ attitude and make a game of it.
You did not.
I watched this game so you don’t have to – and now I’ve got the burden to write about it. It was bad. It was vanilla. It was … well, it provided some talking points and some of them might even be positive. The Saints had a decent training session – and even had a few moments of class. But let’s face it. Overall, this game wasn’t pretty. Or, it might have a been a bit too pretty for the Saints, as they turned it on before half time, and showed everyone that they can occasionally look like a very good side.
Circle Work
The first quarter was probably worst quarter of footy I’ve seen this year. I’d expected West Coast, in particular, to come out firing, and I thought the Saints would try to make that very difficult for them to do. However, we got treated to some circle work, as both teams took the ball from their backline to their forward line, with very little pressure, only to turn it over and have it taken back the other way.
I never liked doing circle work as a player, and I certainly don’t like watching it as a viewer. It was as though West Coast started in first gear as if to test the opposition out, and the Saints were happy to match them because it seemed an easier game to play. When they realised they were a much better side and started acting like it, the Eagles wanted to keep the game to the status quo, which the Saints absolutely loved.
What the hell was the ARC doing
In what might be one of the worst halves of footy you’ll see this year by two sides, the umpires couldn’t help but join in with the amateur theatrics.
As if needing to provide us with something to talk about, around halfway through the second quarter, play was inexplicably paused. A behind that had occurred around 50 seconds earlier had been deemed by those in control as actually being a mark to Marshall on the behind line.
Play was reverted to that moment, he got the opportunity to slot a goal for the Saints, while we were all invited to watch footage of him clearly taking the ball behind the line. All that effort, all that reset for what was a gifted goal with a very clear mistake.
The AFL are never afraid to embarrass themselves with terrible decisions, but they’ve gone to new lengths this time around. Maybe they were told to, so we would stop talking about how bad this game was.
The Saints should have been further in front earlier – but they got there eventually and they got there big.
The Saints were pretty ordinary, don’t get me wrong, but where they were good was transition the ball from the backline inside 50. Six of their first seven goals alone came from backline transitions, and they seemed to find a target every time they went inside 50. If they didn’t stuff it up so often around the middle of the ground or miss some absolute sodas, they could’ve been 15 goals up by half-time – and we’d be saying how good they are.
However, between trying to bounce the ball while about to be tackled, turning the ball over with very average kicks, deciding to go slow when there was no reason for it, and taking a quarter and a half to realise they were actually the better team, meant they left many chances at a huge score out there.
Just before half-time, after being gifted their ‘arc’ goal (did it perhaps kick-start them?), the Saints started to get their act together. Nasiah got both busy and classy, swapping between time at halfback and in the middle, their forward line started kicking straight, their midfielders started actually running, and players like Hugo Garcia began putting pressure back on West Coast.
Outside a brief spurt after half-time, the Eagles just couldn’t keep up with their run and dash through the middle of the ground. West Coast are building a half-decent backline, but the efforts of Ginbey, Maric, McCarthy, and Lindsay were not enough to stop the barrage of quality inside 50s – the lack of West Coast mids coming back to support them did them no favours either. Higgins ended up kicking five, Ryan who started well early, got himself three goals and a few knocks that he’ll be feeling tomorrow, Sharman provided steady target, and well… the list goes on. Seven multiple goal kickers to the Saints, with 11 overall – the Eagles managed five goals among their 23 players.
Eagles Going inside forward 50
The Eagles looked absolutely insipid going forward. Almost every entry was rushed, hacked, or simply kicked to no one in particular. It was as if their entire strategy was ‘kick it somewhere and hope that Waterman or Shanahan happen to be in the general vicinity.’ Weirdly, neither of those players were in the vicinity most of the time. Sure, they both popped up with a goal here or there, but where were they? Waterman managed five marks but most of them weren’t taken inside 50, Shanahan managed the three.
There were a few times when I saw West Coast players simply blazing away whenever they got the chance to go inside 50, Harley Reid the worst culprit of them, but he was joined by Kelly. Willem Duursma showed a bit more composure, but that’s almost a sad indictment on his teammates – a bloke with a handful of games should not be setting the example; he’s the one that could be excused for being a bit too eager sometimes and forgetting the lower the eyes.
What’s McQualter doing anyway?
I don’t want to speak too critically of a new coach, but I am not seeing much of a plan in the Eagles’ game. Usually, when a new coach comes in, he comes in with a clear focus: get the defence right first, play with flair, and run and see what we can do, or let’s work on winning the ball in the contest. Usually, coaches seem to want to work out their defensive structures first – which makes sense: It keeps you in the game, means fewer blow outs, and allows you a firm structure to build the attacking side of your plan on.
Defensively, the Eagles weren’t much better. I liked Tylar Young’s game, and I’ve mentioned the rest of the back line earlier. Those guys try. But defensively, through the middle of the ground, their midfielders are generally pretty inept. Yeo laid a few tackles and Duursma applied some pressure, but they allowed the Saints free movement through all of their defensive lines way too often. This game had a combined 78 tackles – which is about what Ross Lyon used to average for his own team.
Here, the Saints played very vanilla footy, managing just the 45 (and we know tackle counts are lower this year) but the Eagles themselves only had 33. When you have fewer disposals (433-349), fewer clearances (36-28), fewer contested possessions (130-139), are smashed in uncontested possessions (296-233) AND still lose the tackles 45-33, you’re either not working hard enough, don’t have a good defensive structure in place – or both.
In this game, I think it was both. The Eagles just allowed too many uncontested marks. That circle work that they were participating in early just allowed the Saints to find their groove, and then when they got running they could run through a defensive zone that was set up to cut off the short kick, not the handball.
It makes you feel bad for their backline.
But if their entries forward aren’t great, their defensive structures aren’t there, surely he must be focusing on the ball movement? However, that didn’t make sense either. Very rarely did I see a West Coast player look for any other option other than their first option, and that option was usually directly in front of them. They often ignored players in the middle of the ground, or in dangerous positions, opting to switch or go forwards simply because there was a target there. There was no run, no real plan. It was simply, “see person, kick to person.” Good players banging inside 50, switching to players who are under pressure, going to contests unnecessarily.
I’m not sure what his plan was, but whatever it was, it didn’t work in this game.
Back to the drawing board.
Other Points
– Oh Yeo: I’m a big defender of the snap at goal. I don’t see an issue with it, usually. But c’mon man – when you’re 15 metres out, don’t rush it so much you kick the belly of the ball
– Naz is good. Yeah we knew that already, but his ability to kick the ball off the side of the boot is better than most players trying to kick it normally. This is a skill more players are utilising now, and NWM is at the forefront of it.
– Garcia’s pretty good. I must admit I don’t watch a lot of Saints games, but he put in a terrific performance. 32 touches, 15 of which were contested, he played a good inside role, pressured well, and then drifted forward for a couple of goals. Very fine performance.
– Tom De Koning. I am not sure what the point of DeKoning is. He managed 15 hit outs to Marshall’s 12, but Marshall did some other things to contribute. He was pretty soundly beaten by Bailey Williams, who’s no slouch, but not exactly the kind of guy a million dollar player should be losing to.
– Cal Wilkie continues to make his claim for an All-Australian jacket. He was joined well by Howard and Silvagni who both played well down back.
– Duursma is almost too good for West Coast. 25 disposals, 21 kicks – he looked a class above his teammates.
– No idea what Reid is doing. He gets the ball enough (27 disposals) but I didn’t see him cause any headaches.
– Who’s captaining the Eagles? They seem completely devoid of leadership.
The Last Word
This was definitely not one of the games of the season. It was not pretty. It was probably very fun for Saints fans but not so much the rest of us. 101 points is the biggest margin the Saints have beaten the Eagles by and it’s Ross Lyon’s biggest win over them as well. It was a truly dominant effort over a team that really didn’t offer any kind of challenge in return.
IF you enjoyed this article, shout me a coffee. I do these for the love of the game, but I can do more of them if I’m full of caffeine.
