Who should Caff go to this Friday and why?

[Bay Pie]

Heppell. He generates some play off the halfback line. He's a much better kick then Stanton. However, if Goddard plays, he goes to him. Have Bally play a defensive role on Watson in the guts.

Let H go head to head with Stanton.

 

[jathanas]

Caff should take all of Watson-Heppell-Stanton on at the same time, and kick 5 goals as well...

At the very minimum get him to nullify either of Heppell or Stanton.

 

[Seedsfan]

Go to Jobe because if you stop Jobe you stop Essendon

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Off the top of my head Watson's down games this year have coincided with Essendon losses.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I'd almost consider Watson unstoppable, I really doubt Caf can hold him to under 20-25. Go head to head with Pendles, and make him accountable that way..

Watson has had 9, 8, 10 and 10 kicks in the last four weeks despite averaging 25+ possessions. If Caff cant stop him getting the ball he can certainly stop him kicking it, and forcing him to handball instead.

 

[DaicosianMarvels]

Been thinking about this a bit over the last 24 hours and I think they he should tag who ever needs to be tagged on the day. I am sure Buckley will see how the game is panning out after the first 5-10 minutes and put Caff on who is hurting us most in the middle.

Unlike Malthouse Buckley may not be a great coach during the week but he is a much better match day coach. If someone is tearing us apart he doesn't just sit there and watch the bloke do it and hope that plan A will work. Buckley makes the move straight away.

I say start him off on Stanton and if it's working leave him on him. Don't think we should tag Heppell as he is a HB flanker and I am more worried from their midfield. Goddard is the other one but I want Swan to go head to head with him and destroy him like he did on one special day in October a few years ago and as for Watson, Caff won't be able to IMO, he is a monster and he would struggle to keep up with him.

 

[Bard]

Re: the Hibberd mention a while back, I'd love to see Goldsack play a negating role on Hibberd.

Oh, and to chip in on the conversation, I'd say Heppell, Stanton is a passenger so if they other mids aren't getting possessions he won't touch it. I'd personally like to see Ball go head-to-head with Watson, not Pendlebury.... IDK why.

 

[piedpiper32]

Unlike Malthouse Buckley may not be a great coach during the week but he is a much better match day coach. If someone is tearing us apart he doesn't just sit there and watch the bloke do it and hope that plan A will work. Buckley makes the move straight away.

I would've actually said even up to a few weeks ago that Buck's biggest weakness was his in-game coaching. I would not doubt his preparation leading up to a game being the competitive beast that he is, but previously I would never feel that confident during a game that he and the other assistant coaches would be proactive enough or even make the right reactive moves when the opposition coaches threw out some curve balls.

Even as recently as Rd 1 against Freo I saw us sticking with the same game plan to throw numbers at the contest even though we were getting killed. After halftime it was already over and still we stuck with the same plan. I remember thinking it was a bit of a continuation from last season.

The last few weeks have definitely been better and I've commented positively on the coaching a number of times, but of course winning can also influence your views. I'd want to see this continue through the season, especially against the better coaches, before I'm prepared to say Bucks is a good game day coach.

 

[blaze036]

Taggers are most effective on guys who gets lots of uncontested footy and their team relies them on providing lots of drive.

Watson is a huge guy and will be under packs most of the game no point tagging him. Go Stanton and 2nd choice Heppell

 

[Bard]

Even as recently as Rd 1 against Freo I saw us sticking with the same game plan to throw numbers at the contest even though we were getting killed. After halftime it was already over and still we stuck with the same plan. I remember thinking it was a bit of a continuation from last season.

Making positional changes during a game is one thing, but making changes to your game-plan is a whole different can of worms. Considering the reason we've won three of our last four games, and been competitive against the #1 team in the comp right now, is because of throwing players at the contest and it working. If Buckley had of swayed from that in round 1 of the season, deciding all the work done in the previous 6 months was for nothing, then there would have been a serious rift between players and coach.

 

[piedpiper32]

Making positional changes during a game is one thing, but making changes to your game-plan is a whole different can of worms. Considering the reason we've won three of our last four games, and been competitive against the #1 team in the comp right now, is because of throwing players at the contest and it working. If Buckley had of swayed from that in round 1 of the season, deciding all the work done in the previous 6 months was for nothing, then there would have been a serious rift between players and coach.

Have to disagree there. Since the Rd 1 Freo debacle we have in fact thrown the +1 back into defence and no longer at the contest. And it is working very well, having restricted our opponents in our three wins to 69, 72, and 58 points after giving up 116 against Freo who are not known to be offensive stalwarts.

The spare in defence has also led to the rejuvenation of Maxwell and our back line. So if anything Bucks has absolutely made changes to the game plan, which is what a good coach should be doing when things are not working.

 

[Bard]

Have to disagree there. Since the Rd 1 Freo debacle we have in fact thrown the +1 back into defence and no longer at the contest. And it is working very well, having restricted our opponents in our three wins to 69, 72, and 58 points after giving up 116 against Freo who are not known to be offensive stalwarts.

The spare in defence has also led to the rejuvenation of Maxwell and our back line. So if anything Bucks has absolutely made changes to the game plan, which is what a good coach should be doing when things are not working.

Maybe we're talking about a different set of throwing players to the contest. We've clearly hunted the ball in packs this year, whether by out-working our opposition, or part of the game-plan I don't know, but we basically always have more players at the contest. It's not necessarily a strategy all clubs will use, because it means you tend to get sucked up the ground, so a fast rebound is possible if you don't gain possession. However it also plays into using an extra man in defence, as if they do win the ball they'll likely want to kick it quickly out of the congestion and get it into space where they should have the extra numbers.

 

[Andronicus]

From the other side of the fence, without wanting to give Buckley any ideas, I'd be most concerned with Caff going to Hepp.

I don't think I'd worry too much if he went to Watson or Stanton, as they would cope better with the tag, but Heppell I think may be limited more with it.

Good luck to you guys tomorrow. Always a brilliant spectacle, and no better team to share a day like ANZAC day with than your mob. To those of you that are going, I hope the atmosphere is as good as always, and to those that are watching on TV, I hope you have a good selection of beers in the fridge.

 

[forwardflanker]

Essendon rely too heavily on Watson to get it out to their runners. If you stop Watson then you go a long way to stopping their mids who can't get inside ball like Stanton. Two birds with the one stone imo

 

[suspect footskills]

I guess it's a compliment to Essendon that there are so many opinions re who Caff should go to. I dont think he would be able to totally negate Watson the way he did Cotchin and Jack. If he can keep him from playing his own game though it would put our mids in a far better position.
I read or watched somewhere that Bucks tells Caff who his man will be at the start of each week so he has ample time to study his opponent. I think this tells us that Bucks wants him taking big scalps and backs him in to do it.
In a couple of hours we'll know who he's been watching tapes of this week. I'm thinking it'll be Watson.
On a side note, big credit to Buckley for playing Macaffer in this way as well as giving Fas a role down back. I wasn't sold on him as a coach (still aren't to some extent) but he's showing himself to be creative and willing to take risks and is well, capable. I'm more than happy to eat my words if it means seeing our side succeed. I'm really enjoying watching the team develop under him and I hope he keeps up the good work.

 

[Green Eggs]

Heppell, because I have Watson in my Supercoach and really need to win this week.

In all seriousness, I think he should take Heppell because he is such a good link-up player it really ****'s with their style of play.

 

[piedpiper32]

Watson DeCaffeinated today - just the 19 disposals vs season average of 27.5.

The head clash with Lumumba didn't help, but he was held relatively well by Caff I'd say especially seeing as many said Watson could not be tagged. Another scalp to add to his growing list. You have to love it

 

[Benkinnear]

Every week we hear "he can't shut down [player X]" and every week he proves the doubters wrong. Jobe got off to a flyer but was almost completely ineffectual after quarter time

 

[Seedsfan]

Every week we hear "he can't shut down [player X]" and every week he proves the doubters wrong. Jobe got off to a flyer but was almost completely ineffectual after quarter time

Are you talking about Jobe or Essendon?

 

[Benkinnear]

Are you talking about Jobe or Essendon?

Jobe, and therefore Essendon

 

[Pendles!]

another scalp!

 

[Tippy78]

I thought Macaffer played on quite a few people today. He seemed to man up Stanton a couple of times and Heppell a couple of times.

Personally I thought Heppell was pretty damaging today and even though Macaffer did a good job on Watson, Heppell would have been a better result.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Watson has had 9, 8, 10 and 10 kicks in the last four weeks despite averaging 25+ possessions. If Caff cant stop him getting the ball he can certainly stop him kicking it, and forcing him to handball instead.

People need to listen to TfT more.

Watson only seven kicks.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I thought Macaffer played on quite a few people today. He seemed to man up Stanton a couple of times and Heppell a couple of times.

Personally I thought Heppell was pretty damaging today and even though Macaffer did a good job on Watson, Heppell would have been a better result.

Collingwood won the match, you cant have a better result.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

I'd try him again on Watson, honestly. He'll still get the ball but Caff can limit the effectiveness of his possessions.

People need to listen to TfT more.

Watson only seven kicks.

TfT and TRS. If you get into the "U"'s you've gone to far.