R1 Review vs. Adelaide 2024 – What’s with the late game runs of goals?

I want to start by pointing out that the overall processes that the Suns pursued on Saturday worked like a treat. You could tell that once it started raining the boys new how they would have to play. It’s how they beat Freo last year and it gets them wins in Darwin. Compete like hell and just get the Sherrin forward. It took Adelaide far longer to start doing this and by that point the Suns were out of reach.

At 60-40 the Suns had twice as many scoring shots for just a 20-point lead. That is not a good return. Only a couple of those shots that hit the post have to go through for things to look much more comfortable and reflective of the play on the field. In that sense the Suns don’t have too much to worry about. They also managed most of the last quarter fairly well, they were chipping forward and building slowly and did a decent job of locking the ball in the forward half.

But we have to talk about the goals they gave up. Rachele’s right before 3Q time was very annoying, we have always been susceptible to giving these up and Hardwick would not have been happy with that one. Its from a dangerous corridor ball, Sexton misses a tackle and then I assume Budarick is watching for the ball over the back but it leaves him miles off Rachele’s lead. It didn’t necessarily start the run but it was a bad goal for the defence to give up at that time.

The Crows were playing the conditions better at this point and the midfield battle must have evened dup because the ball was in the Suns back half much more often. Perhap another sign to rotate in the middle a little more, Humphrey was the only player outside the Big Four to get to even 15% of centre bounces.

 One of Rachele’s other goals was also down to poor defence, at the start of the stoppage Macpherson is shadowing him but as the contest for the ball develops Rachele wanders round to the back of the stoppage and there are about four Suns in shot that are ball watching and he takes an easy handball before another great finish.

There are two Crows in that forward line that had to be closely watched at all times and Rachele is definitely one of them. That shows a lapse in concentration that can easily be punished. Its likely the Suns haven’t done a whole lot of work on late-game scenarios but this kind of assignment should be a constant non-negotiable from the first bounce.

The centre clearance goal that follows I couldn’t totally make sense of because I can’t see how Collins ends up being the one chasing down Rankine rather Uwland. Maybe a block was put on. Mabe someone else can tell me? But I don’t know.

I also have to mention that moment where Lukosius gets the ball all by himself about 45 out from goal and he tries to lob it to Macpherson. Why he doesn’t take a couple steps and clatter it through the sticks I don’t know. It was one of those moments where being selfish was the right move. Don’t trust someone else to take a mark in that weather, just leather it home! If I could have picked the player to be in that position it would have been him.

That would have been the sealer but it ended up being far too close. Learning these lessons while still winning the games is the best way to do it. Dimma can bollock them while still celebrating points on the board. Long story short I am not too worried, they played well enough to win much more clearly on any other day. The defensive lapses are a concern but are mostly the fault of less experienced players who usually have to make these mistakes to learn from them. There will probably be a game or two where this sort of thing actually costs us but as long as it isn’t I’ll trust the coaches to iron out the kinks.