Having to rewatch another shocking single quarter of football to try to figure out where it all went wrong wasn’t a task I expected to be repeating so much when I started this blog. Yet here we are again.
The Suns pulled out a much stronger performance this week for three quarters where they matched up well with Port and controlled proceedings for stretches. But that doesn’t mean much when you give the game away in half an hour.
After halftime the Power came out strong and hard and Gold Coast couldn’t handle it. The midfield lost centre clearance after centre clearance requiring the defence to handle lots of pressure and they couldn’t do it.
Defenders losing their matchups
Under pressure the Suns’ defence doesn’t hold up. At key moments they lose the battle. Collins gave up at least three marks to Dixon in that quarter which is very disappointing. Ballard gave up an easy one to the much smaller SPP and Andrew lost Marshall on the lead and gave up an in the back free elsewhere.
Collins is usually best up against the big physical forwards that he can check and who won’t run away from him, but today Dixon did both. His turnover at a critical point of the quarter for Narkle’s goal is the kind of mistake a team leader absolutely shouldn’t be making. Everybody knows Collins is a below average kick, but he still took on a very aggressive disposal that cost the team dearly. I don’t think there is much point in dropping him, he knows as well as anyone what he got wrong and he seems like the type of player who will work hard to be better and expect more from himself.
Its been an underwhelming season so far for big Sam who hasn’t won those big matchups when it counts. He gets a bit of a rest next week as the Saints are without King, but Daniher and Tex are coming up again soon.
Lachie Weller lost almost every contest he was involved with today in defence. He is not an aggressive groundball player and he wasn’t switched on to his assignments today. He failed to influence the chain that led to the first goal of the quarter. And in the build up to Boak’s snap to end the quarter he ignored his man Rioli who won first use and the ball eventually got out to Boak for the goal.
This is clearer more evidence that he is a pure winger who functions best on the outside. He can help out in defence when the ball is on the move and his running ability can help. But in tight he doesn’t have the grunt of a Long, Macpherson or Lemmens.
Coach-killing mistakes
The most disheartening aspect of that quarter has to be the cheap opportunities given up and wasted. Let me just list some of these errors. Powell’s laser kick-in straight to a Port player, Ainsworth and Casboult falling asleep to let Houston take a chipped mark on 50, Collins’ turnover 45 kick, Casboult missing a kickable set shot, Lukosius muffing two easy marks, Atkins’ kick out on the full, Fiorini’s insufficient intent free and a 666 warning and free.
Some of these come down to good players not performing on the day which you can’t really plan for and is just an unfortunate possibility. Every forward outside of Casboult having butter all over their hands all day is not something Dew can be blamed for.
The really worrying ones are Ainsworth and Casboult giving up that mark to Houston. The exact same thing happened against Collingwood. You would think that a team playing for their beloved coach’s job would be switched on enough to stop that happening. The basic turnovers from Powell, Fiorini, Atkins and Collins are just not good enough for a competing side. Some composure from players with a fair number of games under their belt would be welcome. The 666 free shows the side is not as well-drilled and aware in-game as one coached by the same man for 6 years should be.
Inefficient forward play
The Suns’ forwards look as ineffective as ever against a good side. Outside of Levi clunking big contested marks to keep the Suns in the game and Holman playing like his life depends on it as usual. Everyone else let the side down. King’s subbing was dramatic and a big call in the wider context of the club but in-game he was hurting the team more than he was helping, at least with Farrar you could expect some presence when the ball hit the ground.
The Suns forwards did actually have enough chances to make the scoreline much more manageable. Casboult missed a set shot an experienced key forward is expected to score and Lukosius missed two marks that would have led to golden scoring chances. Along with Humphrey’s miracle goal the Suns should have had at least two more possibly three from that quarter nullifying some of the damage on the scoreboard.
In a situation where momentum is with the other team either your defence and midfield have to stand up and retake control or your forwards have to smash and grab goals with limited chances, and they failed to capitalise on those.
King will be better for having been subbed, it will be a rough week for him given his brother’s injury too but more should be expected from him at this point. Casboult can’t be the only tall presence in the forward line even when there are two others alongside him.
Extremely mid mids
I am as far from an expert as you can possibly be when it comes to this sort of thing, but it seems to me that the Suns mids are playing very reactively at stoppages rather than forcing the opposition to react to them. I feel like I rarely see Anderson or Swallow dash through the stoppage as the hitout is won to take an aggressive clearance . Whether Witts is on song or not the Suns have the cattle on paper to at least break even against any midfield. They appear to play very 1 on 1 so if Rozee gets a jump on his man he can break away like a madman.
Its looking more and more like David Swallow’s days as a reliable stopper in the midfield are over. He has looked slow-footed and hasn’t had 20 disposals since round 10. Swallow has never been a destructive and dangerous player but a reliable extractor and tackler whose effort couldn’t be questioned. He may just need a rest, I would strongly consider getting Davies in to play his role for a spell like Brisbane have done with Gunston and Rich. I don’t think changing up the ruck combination would help, Witts is the man no matter what so Rowell and co. have to learn to win the ball no matter the state of the tap. St Kilda’s midfield is lightweight compared to Port’s so they should take the opportunity to be more daring and ask questions of the opposition rather than just the other way around.
Conclusion
I am asking sincerely that I don’t have to write another autopsy like this for the rest of the year, even if we don’t win another game, can we at least stay in every game till the last 15 minutes or so. Thank you in advance. I will go through the changes I would like to see to the 22 a bit later in the week.
Eyes on the Suns 
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