GBUM -v- Essendon, Rnd 2 2010

[BeinPurplenGreen]

Good (note: not in that vague Steve Malaxos match report kind of way of using "good" - here, it means the player is worthy of praise for a genuinely strong game)
1. Our resilience under pressure - Essendon were all over us for three quarters, yet we hung in there, kept our heads up, battled hard and stormed away with it in the finish. Still not sure how much of this was because of our strength or the Bombers weaknesses, but great to see nonetheless.
2. The level of quality WA footy players on that field this afternoon. Essendon's side alone had 8 WA boys in it - quality players all, and shows how strong a breeding ground our great State continues to be.
3. Our goal kicking from set shots. Soooo much better than last week. We really took better advantage than we did in round 1. That said, some of the brain fades on the run, or bad play on efforts(especially from Pav) were cringe-worthy. If we can get both the set shots and the transitions/play ons right, we might just find a way to kick 20+ goals...
4. Harvs coaching - yet again, some great gameday moves, highlighted by Silv on to Gumby. A virtual lockdown, which in my opinion turned the game for us. Also very impressed by how he used both Hase and MJ during the day.
5. Balla - what a little mongrel beauty. Just a fantastic terrier, who clearly has the magic of Frodo all about him. Needs to watch the niggle though.
6. MJ and Hayden - how much have we missed these two genius players?? Really made a difference under pressure today. Both had a couple of brain snaps, but these were more than made up for by the number of times that they got us out of trouble, or stayed calm under seemingly vast pressure.
7. Hase - had a great game today I thought - even seemed quick in chasing after some of the Bombers mids. Very accountable defensively, and had a great feeding out of handballs from clearances. Had a couple of critical kicks that set up goals too I think.
8. Mora - Stupendous core strength and pace - and what great long, accurate kicks!! Started slowly, but just kept making an impact - and his long but pinpoint kicks (imagine what it must feel like to kick the thing that far, yet that accurately, at just 18??) were key to turning the game.
9. Barlow. Tagged, yet slowly worked on top and just dominated the second half. The thought of him, Hase, Palmer, Hill, Suban, Mora and Pav rotating through the midfield just ... just... well, it is a hallucination, surely?? Can there be such perfection??
10. Our defensive structure - we were badly outmatched in the first quarter and a bit - Bombers were too big and too fast in some key areas. Yet we were able to make adjustments (through Silv and Hayden) and clamp down hard on them. Even with Taz out, I think Dodd and Roberton would offer the same type of flexibility...

Bad (note: this does not mean 'awful'/'drop 'em'/ bag em - just means that they have room for substantial improvement)
1. Duffman. Had a few possies today, but I thought he was well beaten today, and it was a good wake up call for him for the next two weeks. He is a real key to our defensive rebound, and we were hurting today because he wasn't able to be as effective as usual. His role will become even more important if Taz is out, and we need to see him prove he can compete hard against the Abletts, Bartels and Montagnas. A real test for him over the next two games.
2. Our forward structure at times during the first half. What the heck was with the constant play on at all costs - do we get extra points for goals from play on or something?? I mean, come on Pav, go back and have a shot!! Still, maybe it helped to run the Bombers off their feet in the second half?? We clearly intended to play on at all costs, and so I guess you have to give the team credit for sticking to the plan, even if it seems an odd plan.

Uuuuuuuuuugly(note: this does mean 'awful'/'drop 'em'/ bag em)
1. Our second ruck. We just sucked bigtime in this, all day long. MJ tried hard, and we even had Pav going up as ruck a couple of times, but it was just too ugly. We simply cannot continue to have Sandi play 96%+ game time and expect him to be injury free. I don't care if it is Kep or Clarke, we just have to get a backup ruck in the side.
2. McPhee. Hopefully just nerves, and I'd love to see him bounceback hard. But that was just appalling. Dodd, Scham or Kep would all have been better picks.
3. The Dempsey report - that was just stupid. Balla wants to watch himself, many more of those incidents and the umpies will assume he is the instigator.
4. "The Lloyd end". What a joke. Should be some rule banning the naming of stadia (or parts thereof) with the names of any player that hasn't been retired for at least 10 years. Just a joke of a gambit by Essendon.

Missing
1. Our man on man defensive pressure through the midfield in the first part of the first quarter, and the first half of the third quarter. This week, we were very lucky that Essendon missed a number of easy shots. We need to be able to pressure much more evenly during the key first and third quarters - obviously, there will always be momentum shifts in a game, but it is a worry when our midfield defense goes missing for 20 minutes at a time. Funny thing is, when we cranked up the pressure, both Adelaide and Essendon just folded - so maybe we should have that as the starting setting, instead of switching it on after 20 minutes??
2. Any credit to Elvis or Taz during the first half. I thought both were great, and crucial to stopping some key Bombers attacks - but they hardly got a mention. I guess low profile defenders are better than ones that are in the spotlight for mistakes...
3. Crowd shots of the Freo fans - only about six long distance shots all game, and not any noticeable BF posters. But by Christ we could hear you lot chanting from about halfway through the last term! Lucky buggers - hope you sang the song real loud!!

 

[E Shed]

Nice work BPG, like most of that. Thought the Ruck worked well today. MJ doesn't win a lot of taps but he gives a contest and does well on the ground in the clearances. Certainly had a lot better game than the more fancied Ryder.

 

[silverscope]

6. MJ and Hayden - how much have we missed these two genius players?? Really made a difference under pressure today. Both had a couple of brain snaps, but these were more than made up for by the number of times that they got us out of trouble, or stayed calm under seemingly vast pressure.

Seeing Dodger in the backline makes me happy in a special place. He is so important to our structure. Fantastic game by him today.

7. Hase - had a great game today I thought - even seemed quick in chasing after some of the Bombers mids. Very accountable defensively, and had a great feeding out of handballs from clearances.

Really??? I was at the game and thought he was pretty lazy in the defensive chasing aspect of things. In fact I thought that was a huge weakness in our game today. Espicially early, alot of players lagging behind when we didn't have the ball.

8. Mora - Stupendous core strength and pace - and what great long, accurate kicks!! Started slowly, but just kept making an impact - and his long but pinpoint kicks (imagine what it must feel like to kick the thing that far, yet that accurately, at just 18??) were key to turning the game.

Disagree with the accurate kicks. Without looking at stats he bombed high and long... but not to our advantage. He seemed to rush his kick to often, needs to take an extra second to steady and then kick. But was impressed by his ability to stand in a tackle and get rid of it.

2. Our forward structure at times during the first half. What the heck was with the constant play on at all costs - do we get extra points for goals from play on or something?? I mean, come on Pav, go back and have a shot!! Still, maybe it helped to run the Bombers off their feet in the second half?? We clearly intended to play on at all costs, and so I guess you have to give the team credit for sticking to the plan, even if it seems an odd plan.

As I said in the Pav thread. Our players weren't Selfish enough.. to many dickie little handballs in the forward line when they, like pav in the first, should have gone back and kicked it.

4. "The Lloyd end". What a joke. Should be some rule banning the naming of stadia (or parts thereof) with the names of any player that hasn't been retired for at least 10 years. Just a joke of a gambit by Essendon.

Yep, was Pathetic. Don't get me wrong he was a good player but not in the league of Conventry or Lockett.

3. Crowd shots of the Freo fans - only about six long distance shots all game, and not any noticeable BF posters. But by Christ we could hear you lot chanting from about halfway through the last term! Lucky buggers - hope you sang the song real loud!!

Oh how sweet it was BpG! Loved every moment as did most of the kids, SCOS, Barlow, Balla, Mora etc. Lapped up the high fives going down the race at the end of the game!

 

[Sman-21]

thought i saw a crowd shot of silver AGAIN he seems to get shown nearly every game was down near the boundary fence cheering hard.

Bad but good
we had a few passengers today an some that will need to perform better than that to keep their spot but despite that we still came away with a very good win
these "passengers" had very good games last week but were pretty quite today

 

[silverscope]

thought i saw a crowd shot of silver AGAIN he seems to get shown nearly every game was down near the boundary fence cheering hard.

Unless that was the last 10mins of the game it wasn't mean. Was in the nose bleed section for this game, which is rare because usually I'm at ground level.

Every game? I can only remember 2, one with the sign against NM last year and after Murphy kicked our first goal against the saints in the NAB cup. (Thanks to BpG for spotting me )

 

[PapaJ]

Good OP BPG, but I'll an add another 'Bad'.

Suban is great and definitely in my (and I'm sure all Freo fan's) good books, but he had a dirty day. Aggressive as usual but more often than not gave away free kicks and had so little of the ball - nothing major, but not in the game like he can be. Can somebody at the game explain if he had a negating role or something of the like?

10. Our defensive structure - we were badly outmatched in the first quarter and a bit - Bombers were too big and too fast in some key areas. Yet we were able to make adjustments (through Silv and Hayden) and clamp down hard on them. Even with Taz out, I think Dodd and Roberton would offer the same type of flexibility...

Just want to highlight this too. The ability to organise and adjust defensively is as good as I've seen from a Freo side ever. It's sooo good to watch and the sort of thing you see the better teams do week in and week out. Keep on this path and we will be playing finals sooner rather than later

 

[duncs]

Uuuuuuuuuugly(note: this does mean 'awful'/'drop 'em'/ bag em)
1. Our second ruck. We just sucked bigtime in this, all day long. MJ tried hard, and we even had Pav going up as ruck a couple of times, but it was just too ugly. We simply cannot continue to have Sandi play 96%+ game time and expect him to be injury free. I don't care if it is Kep or Clarke, we just have to get a backup ruck in the side.

I disagree, thought Johnson did pretty well when he was in the ruck, and the ability to have another midfield/quick rotating through as a result of not having a spot taken up by Bradley or Clarke is very beneficial. As long as Sandi is fit and not tiring too much from that much game time, keep it as is

 

[The Purple Sox]

I'd like to add a "GOOD" if I may.

The Talk.
Loved the communication between the boys. Every single player was responsible for setting up the zone and making sure Bombers in dangerous positions were manned up.
The bombers just seemed to run around and hope for the best, but the Dockers were constantly yelling after each other, pointing; and regardless of age or experience.
maybe once or twice I saw a docker running into the zone looking lost, but within seconds another docker had called to them, said "That way. Man him up" or something similar.

They really talked to each other and worked as a team to get themselves into best position before ball -ups and throw-ins.

 

[Alfonz]

"3. The Dempsey report - that was just stupid. Balla wants to watch himself, many more of those incidents and the umpies will assume he is the instigator."

Move this from the ugly section to the good section. Damn hilarious watching Balla get under people's skins. Assume he is the instigator? They'd be assuming right ... he knows how to start something within the rules, and waits for his opponent to overreact. Gold.

 

[silverscope]

Should have seen him give Fletcher a little bump while waiting for umpire to bounce the ball in the forward pocket, was funny like an ant going up against a gorilla.