Autopsy Round 3, 2021: Essendon v St.Kilda *STEELE 100TH* *CLARK 50TH* *CROUCH DEBUT*

[Stan_Darsh72]

I have been rewatching the wire and this scene stands out



Came Done Changed.

 

[bergholt]

What have I just read

Has anyone else seen that infamous thread on some bodybuilding forum where they argue for about 5 pages about how many days are in a week?

Feels a bit like that in here

That one is an internet classic which could only come from overdosing on roids.

 

[Geary Is GOAT]

Getting depressed again watching Carlton dominate and there young key forward getting Joe the Gooses and Free kicks at will and looks like kicking 10.

Carlton are doing some weird stuff in the coaches box though like playing their best forward deepest. Can't expect that to work every week

 

[triggering bro]

That one is an internet classic which could only come from overdosing on roids.

You must be one of those neck beard fear grimace guys

 

[SAINTsincebirth]

Kosi was a very good set shot for goal.

He was mind blowing until the St kilda curse got him hurt.

 

[bird_man]

And Fischer MCasey will be on our list next year, not Carlisle

Doubt that, think he's off the Dogs

 

[stfan]

That one is an internet classic which could only come from overdosing on roids.

Or it would now seem, from melting after a St Kilda loss.

Looks like StKilda players are now meant to consult psychics, or read the tea leaves etc, before having sex.

 

[scotteydog]

You do know a child is in the womb for 9 months, right? It was born in October, you do the math.
Or were they somehow supposed to predict the pandemic that extended the season significantly?

Keep arguing mate, because that seems to be your main point. I made an opinion only, which has turned into a bully boys club.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

After McKay has kicked a bag, ban all bombing on Kings head.

Get the bloke into space and the goals and wins will come.

 

[scotteydog]

Tell me when the best time to have a child as a professional footballer is, then.

Any time, thats obviously your answer, not mine, time to get over an opinion yeah.

 

[pebblesofsand]

Steele was very good, Carlisle and Membrey were both good - after that it fell away dramatically

But jeez there's lots of players overated to hell on this forum. King is a worry, I'd play him higher up the ground, he's getting monstered atm.

Playing Battle on the wing shouldn't stop a "good" player from actually finding the ball. Didn't seem to bother Nik Cox.

Actually thought DMac showed a bit of what we need - a bit of dash of the hbf - had the most i50's of any defender this year.

Weird idea - could we start him in the middle occasionally.

 

[scotteydog]

Steele was very good, Carlisle and Membrey were both good - after that it fell away dramatically

But jeez there's lots of players overated to hell on this forum. King is a worry, I'd play him higher up the ground, he's getting monstered atm.

Playing Battle on the wing shouldn't stop a "good" player from actually finding the ball. Didn't seem to bother Nik Cox.

Actually thought DMac showed a bit of what we need - a bit of dash of the hbf - had the most i50's of any defender this year.

Weird idea - could we start him in the middle occasionally.

McKenzie showed abit more, I might not get too carried away with him, just yet though. But currently he's not the laziest

 

[moirae42]

Surely Dunstan gets a crack.

At least he puts in.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Man oh man, despite The fact that they had a whopping 117 more disposals than us, and had the ball in their possession for 49% of the match (to our 35%), their pressure rating for the day was an elite (or at worst above average) 190, while ours was an absolutely dismal 154!

In the first quarter theirs was at a definitely elite and finals-like 201, while ours was just 160, then in the 2nd quarter ours dropped to a sickeningly low 137, which is the first time I remember having seen a team below 150 for a quarter. We managed to do it again in the last quarter, with just 147 (to their 194!).

Only 3 had over 34 pressure points for us for the match, with Crouch having 56 (a good effort from just 73% game time), Steele 50 and Clark 39.

 

[bird_man]

Surely Dunstan gets a crack.

At least he puts in.

You would think Bytel is ahead of him still and I can't see Crouch getting dropped after one game.

I don't like the look of all of Steele, Crouch, Bytel and Dunstan, especially now with a less congested, faster game.

 

[bird_man]

Man oh man, despite The fact that they had a whopping 117 more disposals than us, and had the ball in their possession for 49% of the match (to our 35%), their pressure rating for the day was an elite (or at worst above average) 190, while ours was an absolutely dismal 154!

In the first quarter theirs was at a definitely elite and finals-like 201, while ours was just 160, then in the 2nd quarter ours dropped to a sickeningly low 137, which is the first time I remember having seen a team below 150 for a quarter.

Only 3 had over 34 pressure points for us for the match, with Crouch having 56 (a good effort from just 73% game time), Steele 50 and Clark 39.

I couldnt get over how we played Crouch. We needed a good start after last week and chose to start him on the bench with Higgins on the ball.

We then threw him in for a stoppage and he was forwa rd within a few minutes.

Didn't make sense

 

[SAINTsincebirth]

What the hell is up with our set up??

It's not hard
Hill wing
Billings wing
Battle Chf if we are playing Jake
If not then battle chb
Max FF
One out, clear it out one on one on the lead
Kick ins, either kick it long or..
KICK IT ******* LONG.

Deadset Muppet set up

How we end up with 3 on Max every game is beyond me

Where the hell are the other two options???? Unless there on the bench, they should be a option.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

I feel lonelier.

Can't shag during footy season.
Cant shag in the first 3 months.
Can't shag if there's any sort of inkling of global catastrophe.

It's a wonder we're the dominant species when you can't shag for most of it and dogs have no problem rooting each other with reckless abandon.

Maybe we should all be like cats and just lord over the place, snake must have been all "I'm shagging now, and this is my workload" before harumphing off and shredding documents then sleepng all day instead.

No wonder no one likes him at the club, lazy sob...

 

[Joffaboy]

Keep arguing mate, because that seems to be your main point. I made an opinion only, which has turned into a bully boys club.

I love it when someone has their argument demolished by logic then becomes a victim and claims they are bullied.

Claim they cant air an.opinion and then sook it up when others have an opinion that the original is crap. Hilarious.

 

[Yawkey way]

I haven’t asked to drop Sinclair once this year before that post, I love the bloke. Before preseason started most people would have had him as an emergency which I think is fair.

Must have me confused with someone else.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Don’t see any reason why he’d go out, covered big klm’s and lacked impact in a team that was thumped.

In his case at least he ran and chased and put in a visible effort, clearly I’ve mistaken you for one of the many who have him as a favourite whipping boy.

Anyway we have very little in the seconds so with Gresham and perhaps Jones out injured the cupboard is pretty empty. Bytel comes in for one of them, after that it’s dunstan and Kent not much else. Long came on as the sub played over 50% and stunk it up.

If the saints are going to turn this around it‘s going to have to come from some of the biggest offenders like hill, unfortunately we just don’t have the players to make wholesale changes imo.

 

[bergholt]

You must be one of those neck beard fear grimace guys

No idea what that is but must say lifting heavy things has never been for me. I prefer triathlons for some dumb reason.

 

[bergholt]

Don’t see any reason why he’d go out, covered big klm’s and lacked impact in a team that was thumped.

Run lots of distance and no impact has been Sinclair’s story his whole career, hasn’t always saved him from being dropped though.

 

[stfan]

Steele was very good, Carlisle and Membrey were both good - after that it fell away dramatically

But jeez there's lots of players overated to hell on this forum. King is a worry, I'd play him higher up the ground, he's getting monstered atm.

Playing Battle on the wing shouldn't stop a "good" player from actually finding the ball. Didn't seem to bother Nik Cox.

Actually thought DMac showed a bit of what we need - a bit of dash of the hbf - had the most i50's of any defender this year.

Weird idea - could we start him in the middle occasionally.

The biggest problem with King as our ff at present though is that he is a poor set shot on goal.

Needs a "Buckets" makeover.

 

[Premium]

Next week

Long - Howard - Wilkie
Coffield -

Perfect time for a professional footballer, now are you serious? Wowee!

I don't know if Carlisle a good bloke or not I don't really care but having one of the best intercept tall markers not playing is just stupid , was Abblett senior a good guy who cares he won games. After one game in the ruck and only a quarter really Ranked 16th in Hitouts Per Game.
Ranked 19th in Stoppage Clearances Per Game , Ranked 3rd in Contested Marks Per Game and had 10 contested possessions - I'm really blown away the guy hasn't been playing from the start and playing where he plays best. This good guy crap doesn't cut it.
Go back to our standard line up and play where the players play best - Crouch starts in the middle , Carlisle at CHB , Hill on a wing , Battle in a fixed forward position.
Coaches did have a shocker but it doesn't help when no effort is shown , what upset me the most was having Ross playing midfield when he was absolutely getting murdered , he should of been moved in the first quarter.
Anyway onto next week and WCE.

 

[The_Steadier]

Very very strongly disagree here. Been reading page after page of these ‘effort’ comments and need to vent (avoided this thread last night as I knew it would be melt city). Roo was repeating the same 'effort' line he always uses too. Was our effort yesterday substandard? Yes. Is this the real issue? IMO absolutely not.

The players could have all run around like headless chooks, made 100+ tackles and been ‘strong in the contest’ like it was 2016 all over again. All that would have meant is we got beaten by 6 goals instead of 13. Yesterday was a failure of structure and gameplan. Not personnel (although that didn't help). Not effort (that didn't help either). As a few of us have been banging on for weeks (and late last year too) the root of our problem is actually structure and gameplan.

We are a 10 goal better side then what Essendon put out yesterday (even with injuries). Yes the lack of effort was sickening to watch as a supporter. But effort (or lack thereof) is not the important issue here. Same way the solution to our problem is not ‘try harder’ and ‘lay more tackles.’ This is not local amateur footy, and if that was the solution Richo would be a 6 time premiership coach.

2 weeks in a row, we have been torched by a better coached and prepared side (actually using the new rules to help them). If Leon Cameron could actually coach, it would have been 3 weeks.

As we discussed in last weeks autopsy, Chris Scott found the blueprint to beat us last year. Everyone else is just catching on. Ratts: WE NEED A FU**ING PLAN B for when teams start hitting 20-40 metre short kicks all the way up the field. FFS you and Rath were at Hawthorn when they perfected keepings off. You know how it works. Why do we not play something like the structure Richmond does to combat this?? Clog up the corridor all day long, and put 3 or 4 quality intercept markers behind the ball with a full licence to roll off their opponent (starting from a central position). Give them the 20 metre kick, but make sure it goes sideways or toward the boundary. Concentrate on intercepting any kick with any height on it, and push teams sideways by clogging up central leading lanes. With Howard, Carlisle, Battle and Coff, we have the personnel to run that. Why not give it a go?

Also for the love of all that is good, please please kill the 3 small forward thing dead. NOW!! This hasn’t worked since halfway through last year. We need a plan that is not bomb the ball on Kings head and hope Butler roves it and kicks a goal. We cant just turn up and keep playing as though it was 9 months ago. Sooooo much has happened since then, and we have simply not adapted. Just look at our kickins and compare that to Sydney (or any team that has actually adapted to 2021). Of course this is fixable. But as of today, we are light years behind.

Maybe a 10+ goal defeat by a bottom 4 side is exactly the wake up call we need? No papering over the cracks now (which we might have been able to do if we gave good ‘effort’). Time to get to work Ratts!!

Couple of other random musings as I battle last nights hangover.

Versatility

I was sitting watching at one stage and looked around (think it was the third quarter). Battle was on a wing. Hill back pocket. Carlisle ruck. McKernan FF. Crouch HFF. King bench. Coff standing as a KPD. WHAT THE ACTUAL F**K

I think we have taken this ‘versatility’ and multiple role concept too far. Exhibit 1A Josh Battle. As Brut said yesterday, he should 100% request a trade. Ratten is killing his career with this wing experiment. Why when we have Hill and Billings is Battle anywhere near a wing? Come to think of it, when is the last time anyone saw Hill on a wing. Saw him at full forward. Saw him in the back pocket. Maybe wingman Brad Hill might play like the wingman Brad Hill we recruited if we played him on a wing? Just a thought.

Also, we got Crouch as a contested ball pig. He is very good defensively. Why when Essendon kept walking it out of the middle (like Melbourne did last week), is B.Crouch getting 8 of his touches in the FWD 50 and his heatmap looking pretty similar to King? Even with an injured Gresh, he still played very very limited mid minutes (yet still managed 3 centre clearances and 5 tackles). This just makes no sense

Also, still waiting for someone actually explain to me why Carlisle didn’t play rd 1 & 2?? Mindboggling decision

Leadership

Absolutely right call with the changes to our leadership group. Steele showed yesterday he is our skipper. Now and into the future!! Howard been our best player all year. Membery more then pulling his weight! Got those calls 100% right.

However, looking at our leadership group makes me wonder, are we actually ready to have a conversation about Wilkie yet?? Picked every week since he got here. Contract extension after 6 months. Leadership group this year. Also not big or strong enough for a KPD. Not quick enough for a small defender. Not a regular intercept marker. Been only average 1v1 for a while now. Kicking is solid, but hardly a weapon. Watching live, has had some terrible positioning the last 2 weeks. IMO, Highmore did no better or worse then him in rounds 1 & 2, and they were his first two games. Probably going to get flamed for this, but are we ready to discuss whether we just keep picking Wilkie week in week out without question? Or is this one going to run 9 months behind like our gameplan too?

I find your views enlightening and would like to subscribe to your newsletter please and thank you.