Review Round 4, 2019 - Essendon vs. Brisbane Lions

[jjami15]

Stats make for pretty bad reading, which is to be expected in a loss like this:
- Bombers had 30 more possessions than us;
- They had 27 more contested possessions than us;
- Bombers made 12 more tackles than us (and only 4 Lions players made more than 2 tackles for the game);
- They had 27 scoring shots compared to our 20, though the inside 50 differential was only 3 in their favour.

We got out worked and out played.

Did like Hugh McCluggage yesterday. His second goal in particular was a cracker - reminded me of Aker a little.

That’s the game for me right there. We just got our worked and outplayed. We can identify that they had some faster players and so forth but we’re second to ball and always chasing. You can dissect it any which way you want but there is the game right there.

 

[lioninthesand]

I'm extremely disappointed at the amount of negative comment directed towards one player in this Review Thread. Sure there's been some grumbling about Rayner's output, a bit of criicism about Zorko's lack of influence and suggestions that Lyon isn't doing enough either.

But the guy that seems to be copping most of the heat is NRobbo to the extent that the term "scapegoat" is screaming out at me.

This is extremely unfair in my view, as is this idea that seems to have got a foothold that Nick was "playing" on MTW during the entire game and therefore was responsible for him getting off the chain.

For those of this misguided belief , go and have a look at the Highlights or the "Gamebreaker" thing on the AFL website. Apart from MTW's last goal where he beats NRobbo one one one, there is little evidence that he kicked 7 goals "on " the much maligned NROBBO.

The way some have been carrying on here, you would think that if it wasn't for the dastardly Nick Robertson, we would have won by 5 goals.

I get down, depressed,angry and frustrated as any of you watching a game unravel like it did today. I accept that there are individual players that have less than optimal games and that there is justified criticism of their games. There is no justification however for name calling, cries for delistings etc etc.

If I had 10 bucks for every time I've seen over the years "Player A should never play for the Lions again, Player B is "s**t", Player "X" should be de-listed, Player Y is crap and "I told youse he was", I'd be a wealthy man.

Losses are due to the Team under performing in relation to the the other Team

Finger pointing and scapegoating of individual players is totally counterproductive.

Robbo had a mare, there's no two ways about it. Fumbles, zero run and carry, tippa being alone a lot, caught out of position, killed 1 on 1... he was bought in at the expense of others to do a lock down role... and his opponent was the game winner. I actually thought he would get roasted way more than he has in this thread, especially given the debate about his inclusion. Having said that, he had 5 tackles and won a few crucial one on ones where he kept the ball in front of him, that alone keeps him in the team for next week. It was also his first outing and he deserves a bit of time to settle, he was no worse than half the team and he always tries his ass off.

 

[M Malice]

Not enough on here giving credit to the Bombers, yes we were down but they bought the heat and intensity from the first bounce. They cut out our corridor style of play with good positioning and defensive running, we saw a couple of times what happened when we went the inside corridor ball.. they had it covered, no point kicking to Bombers numbers there.

The Bombers are a good side, really good key defenders in Hurley and Hooker, defensive run in McKenna and Saad, Daniher to come back in, as we saw yesterday some great small forwards, Stringer is always a threat and their midfield is serviceable.

 

[Gadzorks]

Every team we play knows the way to beat the lions is start hard, rattle them and it’s game over. Absolutely critical that we get starts sorted.

 

[Gadzorks]

I think McDonald Tip had three or four different opponents today. He beat them all. Was a superb individual performance.

Unfortunate superb individual performance for us. Watched him last week and he was brilliant then as well. Would love him in lions colours

 

[Surly Boy]

That’s the game for me right there. We just got our worked and outplayed. We can identify that they had some faster players and so forth but we’re second to ball and always chasing. You can dissect it any which way you want but there is the game right there.

The other one in particular was the centre clearances which they won 15-9. We won the clearances at the stoppages though...

 

[Gadzorks]

So we already know that a large group put in a massive effort in to improve over the offseason and in spite of the bombers loss we are faster and better.

I read it that that Rayner wasn’t part of that group so when he came back he was already behind the pack, and we know he he actually came back underdone. Might explain why he appears to have gone backwards.

 

[Strato]

I don’t think we played much worse then we did in the last 2 weeks. Essendon played a lot better then any of our opponents so far.

We only had 3 less inside 50s.

If we finished better and AMT wasn’t playing at god level we might have had a similar result to the last 2 weeks.

Lyons, Rayner and NRobbo probably the first to be cut. Keays is the only one banging down the door so as a start he should come in for Rayner.

Totally agree. We have no pace and it really showed in the backline. Our disposal into the forward line is vey poor with our tall forwards dropping a lot of marks. We were well beaten all over the ground and they were switched on and we weren't. The 3 players you mentioned need to be dropped due to loss of form or not up to it. Andrews to me is down on form but we still need to play him. With Bailey out we need to injet speed into the backline. If we don't, we will pay the price. I also question some players work ethic at times. Also I don't ridicule umpires because they have a hard job with the AFL continually making rule changes but I have seen better performances by umpires in country victoria in minor leagues. Their performance yesterday was well below an acceptable standard. Love the lions. If we get 10 wins this year, I reckon we have done well. Go Lions

 

[chopperduck]

Our ball use and little care to hang onto the pill is what lost us that game. Bombers used the width of the field and rebounded going coast to coast to create easy scoring opportunities. When the ball moves that fast, uncontested, your defenders will struggle. Mids didnt get a chance to make tackles and slow the ball movement vecause the bombers switched the play and went around us, constantly. We needed to take the speed out of the game and deny giving them the ball back at our HF line and we failed, miserably.

When the ball is ping ponging all over the field like that you will constantly get found out in your transition from offense to defense, and we did that to ourselves. Get the forwards to lead at the ball carrier and tell the mids to stop trying to kick the ball out over the back. There is only 1 player who we should do that with and it is Charlie. Everyone else, if they push up outside the 50, and we win the ball, needs to lead back towards goals then come back to the ball carrier, the mids need to wait for this cue and kick to the lead.

We play like a fast team but we arent. Our mids especially arent fast and need time to set up to defend against rebounds and we cant do that when we just boot the bloody thing inside 50m 3 seconds after winning the ball.

For that scoreline you would expect to see a very lopsided inside 50 count. The fact it was close shows how important the ball use going inside 50 was. Trying to go too fast has been our biggest issue all year, and it finally cost us a game. We have been a good contested ball and clearance side, and score a lot from stoppages, so what is wromg with slowing the ball and bit.

 

[M Malice]

So we already know that a large group put in a massive effort in to improve over the offseason and in spite of the bombers loss we are faster and better.

I read it that that Rayner wasn’t part of that group so when he came back he was already behind the pack, and we know he he actually came back underdone. Might explain why he appears to have gone backwards.

Maybe but I do recall that he did do a fair bit of boxing training by himself before we got back for off season training. The knock on Cam before he was drafted was that his endurance was sub standard so he is coming off a low base, he will take a good 4-5 off seasons to get up to AFL required fitness IMO.

 

[lionsrules]

The team had a bad day. But cmon people. Are we really going to drop rayner, lyons, cameron etc for a blockbuster game and bring in players that are going to try and fit in having not played the first 4 rounds? We are 3:1....
Look at the crows, north and to a certain extent tigers (injuries crippling them). I had us winning 2 games tops before our meet with the suns.
5 day turnaround. Potentially one switch with maybe cutler in for some attack but by reports he certainly didnt set the world on fire.
Consistency comes with consistently playing the players and backing them.
We didnt turn up. Do we honestly believe this team is capable of a unbeaten season? Bombers finally showed why they were touted top 4 at the start of the season.

Lets all calm down, back the boys for the next 2 rounds and then we can all jointly cry over spilt milk.

 

[Football Pope]

Funny how back lines look slow as soon as the side has a poor loss.

One of the hallmarks of our 3 wins (remember them?) was our run and carry off halfback and our transition to our forward line. Our win against Port was more in spite of Bailey rather than because of him. He had a shocker.

Personally, I think this "speed" concept is grossly overrated.

Surely it's more to do with organisation and creation of space, rather than pure speed per se.

I'll give credit that "hallmark" has been Bailey and Bastinac giving us that run & carry off half back or have been the links in the chain bringing the ball out..From my observation, we will struggle against quicker sides..no biggy we are a developing side. It was evident against the Bombers at the MCG we lacked the speed to go with their leading forwards..Brown,Tipungwuti, Baguely and Fantasia..Their main source of scoring came from centre bounce clearances. Merrett, Zaharakis, Shiel, Parish and Smith all quick so speed killed us...No offence to Robertson as I like the way he goes about it, but I'm not sure he was the right replacement for Bailey.. maybe more time tagging Merrett ..Having said that injuries to Adams and Starcevich sort of restrict who you can bring in as replacement for Bailey.....FWIW on the speed thing once Norf got their running game going they carved us up... Melbourne and the Saints are also other sides that are quick..

 

[eth-dog]

Wanted to pop in to say thanks for an enjoyable week. Yeah you had a bad game, but that happens to everyone. You still have a bright future ahead of you, I've been saying it quite a while now. Neale and Lyons are fantastic recruits.

 

[Scubaveg]

Someone wise once said in footy things are never as good or as bad as they look. On at least three occasions up to three quarter time yesterday there was a 12 point turnaround. One was a bad bounce Oscar tapping to two guys on the run in the forward 50 pocket. Second was Ocasr not being able to gather and goal in the square, third was umpire mistake. Then there was the McCarthy goal which was robbed.

Each time the ball went to the other end for a bombers goal. That’s 48 points right there.

Now I’m not saying we played well, on the contrary I travelled down for the game and was very disappointed. That said we pulled within 4 goals early in the last. If the three 12 pointers I mentioned go the other way we level pegging early in the last.

It’s not as bad as it looks.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[MSB ROYS]

You always looks slow when you're chasing well-structured teams.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Very disappointing performance yesterday. I can't say I wasn't expecting a loss but * I wasn't expecting us to play the way we did. Second to the ball, not running hard and just no composure at all. Some good lessons to learn and we move on. Hopefully we can come out breathing fire against the Pies!.

 

[Lazza16]

So we already know that a large group put in a massive effort in to improve over the offseason and in spite of the bombers loss we are faster and better.

I read it that that Rayner wasn’t part of that group so when he came back he was already behind the pack, and we know he he actually came back underdone. Might explain why he appears to have gone backwards.

Looking at Rayner at the BSO I was surprised he looked a bit chubby compared to everyone else...his skin-folds would be way higher than the rest imo.

 

[Dylan12]

Looking at Rayner at the BSO I was surprised he looked a bit chubby compared to everyone else...his skin-folds would be way higher than the rest imo.

Thought the same. Disappointingly, Rayner is a plodder and playing like one and IMO thinks he can just get by on talent alone based on his no.1 status. Sure he’s had s couple of good games in his 25 odd games, but there are many first and second round draft picks from both the preceding and recent draft class, in addition to his own draft year that have shown way more than he has.

If we’re really honest, if Rayner was anything other than a no 1 pick, based on his output to date, he’d be dropped.

 

[Nunez]

Why is Lyons on thin ice exactly? He's been solid and his pressure has been better than most bar Zorko. I think his defensive stuff is being underrated a bit.

 

[Football Pope]

You always looks slow when you're chasing well-structured teams.

Bombers are a very quick side we didn't chase well at all..

https://www.lions.com.au/video/2019-04-13/postmatch-chris-fagan

 

[Football Pope]

Why is Lyons on thin ice exactly? He's been solid and his pressure has been better than most bar Zorko. I think his defensive stuff is being underrated a bit.

I missed that...I though he was ok..

 

[snooplions]

Thought the same. Disappointingly, Rayner is a plodder and playing like one and IMO thinks he can just get by on talent alone based on his no.1 status. Sure he’s had s couple of good games in his 25 odd games, but there are many first and second round draft picks from both the preceding and recent draft class, in addition to his own draft year that have shown way more than he has.

If we’re really honest, if Rayner was anything other than a no 1 pick, based on his output to date, he’d be dropped.

Rayner had a pretty bad corkie against North, could still be recovering and likely had his training compromised by it in the past fortnight.

 

[jackess]

Why is Lyons on thin ice exactly? He's been solid and his pressure has been better than most bar Zorko. I think his defensive stuff is being underrated a bit.

You must have been Ben Fixter fan

 

[Nunez]

I missed that...I though he was ok..

Thought I was on the latest page when I wrote that... Turns out it was page 3/9. Pardon the lack of context!

 

[greendiesel]

For those that are bagging Rayner.....He is still carrying that big corkie he copped against the Kangas.
His power, acceleration etc is clearly hampered.