Fremantle Coach, Ross Lyon has hit back at critics of his team’s performance following their 133-point loss to the Cats.
“It was much more competitive than that” said Lyon.
“On general play we probably only deserved to lose by about 110”.
After kicking 3 of the first 4 goals of the game to lead at quarter-time, the Dockers conceded 23 goals in a row without adding another major for the rest of the match.
The usually defensively minded tactician has been slammed for not making the changes required to at least slow the flood of goals from Geelong.
“It’s very easy to be critical in hindsight, but in the heat of the moment, it’s hard to know if the opposition is just having a good few minutes or the game plan needs to change.
“If we decided to go completely defensive after they scored 2 in a row, you’d probably be saying I’m a reactionary coach who should back his players in.
“So, if you don’t do it after 2 goals, when should you do it? After 5 goals? After 10?
“Probably sometime before they kick 23 in a row I guess”.
Lyon also indicated that the umpiring may have played a part in the final result.
“It’s worth noting that Geelong received 6 more free kicks than us during the course of the game.
“Most of them were probably there, but we had a couple of 50/50 calls go against us early in the second quarter, and if they’re called our way, who knows?”
Lyon went on to say that he’s just looking for improvement week to week, which in the case of next week would involve scoring more than 26 points for the game.