AFL Autopsy Round 7. Essendon def. by North Melbourne

[hurlygurdy]

People calling for JD to go back to the twos are delusional. The kid has played 33 games as a KP. Some of you guys want him to be a 250 game superstar straight out of the box. Give us a spell.

Need a GIF of that Hurley dont argue on Waite! Hurley is a beast.

Most weeks I'd rather a combination of Carlisle and Mckernan for the balance of the team both up forward and in the ruck. I'm not complaining that JD is not a superstar right now, but i do want this side to compete for top four this year. I don't think JD is physically capable of that this year week in week out. If he was to play 50/50 AFL VFL with Carlisle playing a few games in the backline etc, we might get some more runs on the board. We have to realise that while he is a decent forward already, he is a weak link in a top shelf team. There are a few others as well, but his position is one that we may have a better option for. His time is coming, but i don't think we should sacrifice the teams season to his future.

 

[srobbo]

Coped ok with the loss last night - hurting today.

Long night, got there early, wasn't drinking, had to get a train home from southern cross with the masses.

Didn't get home till about 11:30 pm but couldn't sleep until about bloody 4 am.

Just woken up - really hurting from this loss.

Thinks it's the missed opportunities/umpiring decisions although I guess it was a game that could have gone either way......

Feel your pain. Got home 12.15, was so bloody wound up after game didnt get to sleep till 2.00am.

 

[QueenslandRoo]

Question. Laser Show. What WAS that?

 

[lysp]

Feel your pain. Got home 12.15, was so bloody wound up after game didnt get to sleep till 2.00am.

Ditto for me too. Took me quite a while to wind down to be able to sleep. Probably was around 2am also.

 

[Ambrosia]

Watch the segment on the AFL phone app that goes over Scott talking about Thomas' ducking. It shows each free kick paid to him. Poster above is right, you can't really try and tackle him lower. The second he takes possession of the ball in congestion he immediately begins to fall whilst going head first towards the direction of contact. He's good at it, but it makes the game extremely frustrating to watch.

Its an absolute joke of a way to play the game. You have to laugh at the North fans who complain about him not getting the same recognition as Eddie Betts and the like.

 

[MarkG]

Jesus the saints have some cracking young players.

We have a big black hole in the development of our midfield

Brisbane is similar to Saints. Would not surprise me if they trouble us with pace this week.

Having Harvey on the coaching staff will be invaluable (if Hird listens to him... word is that Hird is not much
of a listener).

 

[MarkG]

It also doesn't help when we use our 2nd round draft pick to draft a 29 year old player that's past his best.
Very short sighted and bad list management imo.

Wouldn't write off Cooney. He will be invaluable over the next 4-5 weeks.

 

[MarkG]

Most weeks I'd rather a combination of Carlisle and Mckernan for the balance of the team both up forward and in the ruck. I'm not complaining that JD is not a superstar right now, but i do want this side to compete for top four this year. I don't think JD is physically capable of that this year week in week out. If he was to play 50/50 AFL VFL with Carlisle playing a few games in the backline etc, we might get some more runs on the board. We have to realise that while he is a decent forward already, he is a weak link in a top shelf team. There are a few others as well, but his position is one that we may have a better option for. His time is coming, but i don't think we should sacrifice the teams season to his future.

Joe is a potential superstar of the game. He just needs minutes in the seniors to server his apprenticeship.

Last thing I would want to see is for some thug to injure him in the 2's and he missed 6-8. And this happens!

Joe continually gets knocked and blocked when running to marking contest. You see the Hawks and other clubs help their forwards out and block.

Have a close look at North Melbourne (Petrie and others) protecting the player going for the mark up forward.

Who is doing this protection role for Essendon?

Interesting hearing Fletcher talk about Wallis and Harvey protecting him whenever he played and made him walk tall.

Who could play that role to assist Daniher?

The great Essendon sides also had 2 players marking in tandem (Madden behind Van Der Haar). They are getting knocked out of the contest
far too easily which is preventing this.

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

It also doesn't help when we use our 2nd round draft pick to draft a 29 year old player that's past his best.
Very short sighted and bad list management imo.

It feels like we recruited chappy and cooney, as the club feels we were close to a flag, but these aging former stars always break down, go missing in games....and then occasionally play a blinder which glosses over the problems with these blokes. Goddard has been a win for us....Chappy, i am not so sure and Cooney..who knows yet. It reminds me of when we recruited Justin Murphy and Scott Camporeale. And as for being close to the ultimate glory, its a million miles away

 

[MarkG]

Two good things about Daniher's game apart from the couple of great grabs were:

1. When he couldn't mark, he was tapping the ball down to our advantage (he hadn't done this since the Swans game)

2. He took more of a leadership role in the full forward line (when Carlisle and Daniher played, he looked a but confused as to who goes for this mark)

 

[lenny2013]

Wouldn't write off Cooney. He will be invaluable over the next 4-5 weeks.

Not writing Cooney off, I'm sure he will play some good games for us.

I'm talking about list management, the next 4-5 years not the next 4-5 weeks.

As I said using our 2nd rounder on a 29 year old (who turns 30 this year) was a bad list management decision.

 

[fishardansin]

Question. Laser Show. What WAS that?

Answer: a s**t waste of our membership money.

 

[fishardansin]

Most weeks I'd rather a combination of Carlisle and Mckernan for the balance of the team both up forward and in the ruck. I'm not complaining that JD is not a superstar right now, but i do want this side to compete for top four this year. I don't think JD is physically capable of that this year week in week out. If he was to play 50/50 AFL VFL with Carlisle playing a few games in the backline etc, we might get some more runs on the board. We have to realise that while he is a decent forward already, he is a weak link in a top shelf team. There are a few others as well, but his position is one that we may have a better option for. His time is coming, but i don't think we should sacrifice the teams season to his future.

I think the way around it is to push JD high. That way he can get on his bike and provide a lead target for our mids/halfbacks to play through. It'll get his fitness levels up, it'll get more involved in the play, it'll give him more experience in AFL running patterns and his lack of body strength won't be an issue. We can then rotate McKernan, Bellchambers, Watson and Goddard through a very deep stay at home forward position. Ambrose can provide power and run from half forward and the rest of the forward positions can be filled with quickish mediums or smalls, this includes Chappy and Cooney when available.

Carlisle and Hurley down back means they both play in their best position. It also means we have two options to swing someone forward. Fletch and Hurley are both capable of playing small. If opposition wants to play very small forward line then we can send a mid to the backline, Hurley or Carlisle forward and put Ambrose on the ball.

This means that Gleeson, Dempsey, Hibberd and Bagueley can all rotate between the middle and backline. They will all provide run through the middle that we can often lack. Having them rotate around means the opposition can't settle on who to sit a defensive forward on. With Zaka, Colyer, Cooney and hopefully a few of Laverde, Langford, Edwards or Fantasia can rotate through the forward line as well.

With all the outside running players rotating through the middle like that we can play just a core of inside mids. We desperately need Myers and Hocking back for this though.

 

[Atavistic]

It feels like we recruited chappy and cooney, as the club feels we were close to a flag, but these aging former stars always break down, go missing in games....and then occasionally play a blinder which glosses over the problems with these blokes. Goddard has been a win for us....Chappy, i am not so sure and Cooney..who knows yet. It reminds me of when we recruited Justin Murphy and Scott Camporeale. And as for being close to the ultimate glory, its a million miles away

Chappy was a definite win for us last year and was pretty consistent. Not so much this year. Does anyone suspect he'll be gone at the end of the year?

 

[60sbomber]

First time poster, lifetime supporter. Go to most games. Watched this one from home.

It's so frustrating to see where this club is currently at. A few things from tonight that shows why I honestly feel we won't make the top 8:

Why was it so easy for north to find targets inside 50? When we cant find one? Add to that them kicking goals off the ground #ridiculous

Why can't we stick tackles? So many times north got away from being under intense pressure and in traffic.

Daniher still can't kick for goal properly

Why were north allowed to get gains of 3,4-5 kicks from a kickout, when we have 1 plan. Kick it 15m to the left, then kick long to a pack and watch bellchmabers and daniher get beaten in the contest, or give away free kicks.

How was Petrie allowed to do what he did in the last quarter? Where was the intelligent coaching?

Oh and I rarely complain about the U lies but seriously.......

#disappointed

I've been saying it for a while, and it's not getting any better. Our kick outs stink. Long to a contest either first kick, or straight after a short kick to the pocket.
Opposition, in contrast, get space for the first kick about 30m out or longer, then turn and move it on beyond our zone to space, and we are chasing tail.
Happens all the time and needs work.

 

[Doss]

Agree with the above.

My god, we are a frustrating side to watch. My stock standard trait watching is to slap my thighs with some force when we * up. Fair to say they're virtually red raw after the last few weeks.

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Agree with the above.

My god, we are a frustrating side to watch. My stock standard trait when watching us is to slap my thighs with some force when we **** up. Fair to say they're virtually red raw after the last few weeks.

Haha I smack the empty seat in front of me.

 

[Pevers-Legend]

It feels like we recruited chappy and cooney, as the club feels we were close to a flag, but these aging former stars always break down, go missing in games....and then occasionally play a blinder which glosses over the problems with these blokes. Goddard has been a win for us....Chappy, i am not so sure and Cooney..who knows yet. It reminds me of when we recruited Justin Murphy and Scott Camporeale. And as for being close to the ultimate glory, its a million miles away

It's sort of like the draft sanctions never happened right?

 

[Fear Boner]

Haha I smack the empty seat in front of me.

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

It's sort of like the draft sanctions never happened right?

Chappy we got for nothing...L Parker, M Talia, J Newnes, M Gleeson, B Brown and C Gregson were all drafted around the same pick recently (different years) we used on Cooney. Just saying, although we might be a bit more competitive now, cant see us winning a granny anytime soon and we may been better to try and find someone that helps long term.

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

Chappy was a definite win for us last year and was pretty consistent. Not so much this year. Does anyone suspect he'll be gone at the end of the year?

He still dangerous when he is on, cant see us getting rid of him whilst our forwards are not kicking too many.

 

[Blind Turn]

Chappy we got for nothing...L Parker, M Talia, J Newnes, M Gleeson, B Brown and C Gregson were all drafted around the same pick recently (different years) we used on Cooney. Just saying, although we might be a bit more competitive now, cant see us winning a granny anytime soon and we may been better to try and find someone that helps long term.

We've made it our intention to strive for a premiership while Jobe is willing and able. When we recruited BJ, a selling point would've been that we are aiming for the prize. Both of those lads are giving everything for our club and deserve to have their faith in the club honoured. Cooney and Chappy are there to help win finals in the next year or two. They fit the age demographic we stuffed up during Sheedy's later years. Cooney is still a better player than Ryder but not as role-crucial as Paddy was and we got a young gun in Langford to bank for the future. I have no problem with the club's strategy. We just need the injury Gods to help us out a little.

 

[Despair]

I thought I'd not post in this thread until Monday (today) as I probably would have been sent back to Banned Camp. This is by far the most disappointing loss of the season.

Positives:
- Ball movement. Wow, I had to pinch myself, we were actually moving the ball faster than continental drift for a change.
- McKernan. I was a massive doubter due to how spudish he was at Adelaide. It's almost surreal to see a taller player lead at the football. Feels like Ryder 2.0

Negatives:
- Lost
- Umpires. I don't like being 'that guy', but I can comfortably say that the umpiring cost us that game. Did enjoy the square-ups we got in the 2nd half, all across half-back or in the centre
- Lindsay Thomas.

 

[Pweter]

It also comes down to 2 other major factors 1) competent umpiring - only pay the free kick if you KNOW its there 2) Competent tackling - i.e. Melksham should know by know Thomas ducks his head - tackle accordingly

Righto, this comment shits me.

Melksham was virtually on his ******* knees when we tackled Thomas.

What annoys me about Thomas is you'd think he's a choir boy the way he complains about missed frees, but ducking into tackles aside he's also a sniper, more than happy to deliver a cheap shot.

If he took the cheap shots, ducking and complaints about every free he doesn't get out of his game he'd gain a hell of a lot more respect as a footballer as he's good in the air, good on the ground, more often than not a reliable shot for goal and he has good skills in general. There's a very real reason most outside of North Melbourne don't like him.

 

[efcboy]

Went to match and watched replay. Thought we played our best footy for the season (yes better than the Hawks match) and we deserved to win. The umpiring in the second quarter was a disgrace. Cost us 4 goals and momentum. This was the difference between winning and losing in a tight match.

I reviewed the whole match noting the amount of mistakes (umpire errors) and goals cost. 10 mistakes for Essendon and 5 mistakes for north. 6 goals cost for Essendon, 2 goals cost for north. So no the mistakes did not even out and we copped the rough end.