Vs Adelaide 7:45KO, Friday 3rd of March

[kingofhearts]

One of our favourite places to play

2-2 draw

[haz]

Win this and I reckon we have the premiership wrapped up. 

[heart1011]

52 minutes ago, haz said:

Win this and I reckon we have the premiership wrapped up. 

I reckon the same. And with the Wanderers playing Central Coast we can hope for a draw in that game and provided we beat Adelaide we would be 11 points clear with a game still in hand!

[MHFC-FAN]

3 hours ago, haz said:

Win this and I reckon we have the premiership wrapped up. 

Even a draw will ruin Adelaides chances of getting amongst it, as they would need to take max points off us... 

[jw1739]

Big banana skin.

[jw1739]

On 27/02/2023 at 5:25 PM, jw1739 said:

Big banana skin.

.... which it turned out to be. We were caught out on the counter too easily, and again missed easy chances that could have put the match to bed in the first half. The defence is a real worry for me - leaking like a colander.

[belaguttman]

3 hours ago, jw1739 said:

.... which it turned out to be. We were caught out on the counter too easily, and again missed easy chances that could have put the match to bed in the first half. The defence is a real worry for me - leaking like a colander.

Rado has us playing more aggressively in attacking transition: that's great if we can keep the ball; we are far more likely to create attacking overloads. The problem is that we often lose the ball on our second attacking transition pass and are then overloaded ourselves, with defenders out of position. Opposition coaches have realised this and good counter-attacking sides know just when to press us.

we either need to get better at keeping the ball or adapt the tactics. We are still likely to win the Premier's Plate, but unlikely to win the Grand Final, or even win our semi.

[kingofhearts]

This game sucked

[n i k o]

5 hours ago, belaguttman said:

Rado has us playing more aggressively in attacking transition: that's great if we can keep the ball; we are far more likely to create attacking overloads. The problem is that we often lose the ball on our second attacking transition pass and are then overloaded ourselves, with defenders out of position. Opposition coaches have realised this and good counter-attacking sides know just when to press us.

we either need to get better at keeping the ball or adapt the tactics. We are still likely to win the Premier's Plate, but unlikely to win the Grand Final, or even win our semi.

We won't get much better at keeping the ball i don't think. Because as a whole the skill level is just not good enough. 

[belaguttman]

1 minute ago, n i k o said:

We won't get much better at keeping the ball i don't think. Because as a whole the skill level is just not good enough. 

Well, I think that we can get better, were have been better, but that means less freedom for individuals in the team. As always, it's a question of balance. We might do better changing the risk to the third pass rather than the second pass by becoming a bit more structured in our patterns of play into attacking transition

[n i k o]

8 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

Well, I think that we can get better, were have been better, but that means less freedom for individuals in the team. As always, it's a question of balance. We might do better changing the risk to the third pass rather than the second pass by becoming a bit more structured in our patterns of play into attacking transition

That's my point. If we stick with this way of playing we don't have the players with skill level to do that. We can't get better with this much freedom. We need the balance to be a bit more defensively minded. 

[jw1739]

4 minutes ago, n i k o said:

That's my point. If we stick with this way of playing we don't have the players with skill level to do that. We can't get better with this much freedom. We need the balance to be a bit more defensively minded. 

Exactly. Adelaide have put 7 past us in two matches. The smart coach has worked us out - wait for us to lose the ball with over-embroidered play up front and then play the through ball to a couple of pacey forwards and we're likely to concede. We have too much possession at times and become static.

[moops]

4 hours ago, belaguttman said:

Well, I think that we can get better, were have been better, but that means less freedom for individuals in the team. As always, it's a question of balance. We might do better changing the risk to the third pass rather than the second pass by becoming a bit more structured in our patterns of play into attacking transition

In a way, I keep harping on about movement, but it was the biggest difference between the two teams on the night. A lot of our players were just plodding around, where Adelaide were constantly on the move creating blocks or passing opportunities. Total freedom is bad if players are just going to wander around aimlessly, standards must be put into place, Bos, Lam and our subs were the only players who reached standards I expect, not want, everyone else had a bad game.

It's no good if the team doesn't have the tools to use, or the impetus. Games were good in this regard when Rado first came in, but the team seems to have collectively relaxed over time and it's getting towards complacency. This is on the coaching team and they need to rectify it, we'll probably top the table, but not reach the final of the championship otherwise.

[n i k o]

There was some conjecture over feedback on our results and Rado but its interesting looking at the stats and trying to read into what they mean for our future. That's the fun thing about the forum. We can say what we think with no consequences besides anything but our own pride. I'm actually hanging out for us to buck our recent trend and have a tight win without conceding. Let's see what happens.