Autopsy AAMI Community Series, 2022: Essendon v St.Kilda

[L_W_P]

Ratts is gonna love NWM and I rekon he plays round 1.

Battle needs to tighten up defensively, otherwise it seemed to work well between he and Howard.

Steele is gonna have a massive job carrying this midfield again. Time for Bytel & Byrnes to get plenty of reps in the middle.

 

[Ephemeral Hope]

Winx sealer at the end capped off a great night

Goal assist from Owens too. Not the biggest quarter but from that little game time 4 touches 3 clearances and a goal assist is pretty nice. Also 3 tackles.

 

[lewdogs]

Dunkley did it last season and it was a 10-12 week injury from memory.

Yeah if he needs surgery then it's 3 months.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Hayes battles hard but can see why he hasn’t been picked up TBH. Real lumberer for his height.

That and his footskills. In other words, he’s Jason Blake Mk 2. Dead-ringer.

Or at least that’s his ceiling.

He looks handy at this stage.

Seems like if King and Skunk are there, we only want to play two of Hayes, Wood and Sharman.

 

[Ephemeral Hope]

In normal circumstances I wouldn’t want to move Sinclair at all, but it’s a reflection of needs. Is our objective to prioritise Sinclair or to prioritise winning? Midfields win games. Half back is an easier position to play, but it doesn’t dictate results in the way midfielders too. We’re not winning many games with Steele, Crouch and Ross as a core midfield. It’s low on class and low on speed. We don’t have an ideal fix at the moment.

Who could replace sincs though? He’s a pretty special back line player.

 

[Plugger35]

Gresham is so crucial to us, he's a matchwinner like King and like King I just hope he doesn't get injured again.




That goal he slotted in the first quarter and the point to the crowd, I knew he was back, the Gresh Prince.

 

[g_TRAIN]

We need more mids.

Team.is actually quite strong forward, back and ruck bit we have zero midfield depth once we lose our starting players.




On Pixel 4a (5G) using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[longlivelenny]

Based on seeing the indecent I would say Clark is a broken collarbone which these days is a 4-6 week injury. Probably a better outcome than dislocation as that may lead to needing a reco which is most of the season done.
Hope for good news because he was playing very well in the middle

On Pixel 6 Pro using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[George]

Would be insane from where I’m sitting but nothing would surprise me

You looked pretty surprised when I fronted up to you at the game tonight little man

 

[Saintos The ITK]

Was one of the ones subbed off.

Too valuable to waste.

 

[Jade Buddha]

Oh and Hill……elite

 

[Ephemeral Hope]

Happy overall. I wouldn't read into Sharman getting low game time. I think he'll be best 22 (even more so now Billings is one less forward available). I think Bytel needs to come in for Clark (Really flat about that injury. Hopefully it's not as bad as it looked).

Hayes looks handy, NWM looked very nice considering he's only seen intraclub and VFL time. Owens got some good touches. In fact, I think there was a passage that was Owens clearance/kick to Sharman, Sharman kick I50 to Windhager who made the contest and caused a boundary throw in. I chubbed a little at that.

Defence looked strong. Battle and Hill the pick of them, with Dougs a close third. Would like to see a little more from Higgins, Butler and Byrnes.

King gets interfered with worse that Roo ever did. Dead set, he's going to Barry Hall someone some day if the umpires don't open their eyes.

Speaking of umpires, what happened to stricter holding the ball interpretations? And abuse? Time wasting calls seemed pretty spot on though.

King’s last goal was a direct Owens goal assist

 

[aussierulesrules]

Hill finally looks like the guy we sold the farm for. Should really make the AA squad at a minimum if he stays fit. Looking mint.

 

[Ducky Tie]

Who could replace sincs though? He’s a pretty special back line player.

Webster could go back to a more offensive half back role with Paton back in the team now. Rotate McKenzie through half back or play Long down there if they have to. It's not great, but I just don't see how we can go with the current midfield set up. Unless they are happy to play Gresham in there full time, which doesn't seem to be the case.

 

[Ephemeral Hope]

I think Ross is going to be really important especially early in the year. He did a few decent things tonight where he stopped and gave the hands. He was ok; we need him because he can win the ball and reads it well. Our midfield is so bare especially now with Clark down.

I think his biggest strength is his veteran experience getting to where the ball will be. We all know his kicking isn’t amazing but he gets to the ball all the time. New players find themselves a bit lost or on the wrong side of the contest

 

[Ephemeral Hope]

Webster could go back to a more offensive half back role with Paton back in the team now. Rotate McKenzie through half back or play Long down there if they have to. It's not great, but I just don't see how we can go with the current midfield set up. Unless they are happy to play Gresham in there full time, which doesn't seem to be the case.

Dmac in the backline I’m not keen on. He’s finally found his place at the wing.

 

[Ducky Tie]

Hill finally looks like the guy we sold the farm for. Should really make the AA squad at a minimum if he stays fit. Looking mint.

He looks fantastic. He has done so in both previous pre seasons though, so I'll wait to see it in the real season first.

 

[Ducky Tie]

Dmac in the backline I’m not keen on. He’s finally found his place at the wing.

Yeah it's not ideal. It's damage control though. There's no perfect solution. I just think the midfield is higher than other positions in importance and needs to be prioritised, even if it impacts other spots a bit.

 

[lewdogs]

Based on seeing the indecent I would say Clark is a broken collarbone which these days is a 4-6 week injury. Probably a better outcome than dislocation as that may lead to needing a reco which is most of the season done.
Hope for good news because he was playing very well in the middle

On Pixel 6 Pro using BigFooty.com mobile app

I thought you could see his shoulder popping out.

 

[Strahany]

Step-deformity evident on Clark’s shoulder + classic mechanism for an AC joint = AC rupture of some severity until proven otherwise

Not great.

Could still have been a dislocation (angle wasn’t exactly a close up) which should be easier to manage.

 

[bird_man]

That and his footskills. In other words, he’s Jason Blake Mk 2. Dead-ringer.

Or at least that’s his ceiling.

He looks handy at this stage.

Seems like if King and Skunk are there, we only want to play two of Hayes, Wood and Sharman.

Love his endeavour, but the issue with playing Hayes over Sharman is he just doesn't look to have near the talent as Sharman does at AFL level.

So it's his pressure and ruck work that has him ahead of him and his ruck work is nothing to get excited about.

Early days but I'd be going for the guy that looks a genuine threat up forward and can pair with King.

I'd actually have both in round one with injuries but if it's one or the other its an obvious choice for me.

 

[Dard Ball Get]

You looked pretty surprised when I fronted up to you at the game tonight little man

I wondered what was under my armpit, looked down and saw you polishing your dome on my Italian cotton, surprising, yes!

 

[gringo2011]

Ratts is gonna love NWM and I rekon he plays round 1.

Battle needs to tighten up defensively, otherwise it seemed to work well between he and Howard.

Steele is gonna have a massive job carrying this midfield again. Time for Bytel & Byrnes to get plenty of reps in the middle.

I wouldn't, he looked promising but looked a bit off the pace of a practice match. I'd get him some form up in the VFL first. Heaps to work with but we don't need to throw him to the wolves for a surge of optimism.

 

[gringo2011]

Love his endeavour, but the issue with playing Hayes over Sharman is he just doesn't look to have near the talent as Sharman does at AFL level.

So it's his pressure and ruck work that has him ahead of him and his ruck work is nothing to get excited about.

Early days but I'd be going for the guy that looks a genuine threat up forward and can pair with King.

I'd actually have both in round one with injuries but if it's one or the other its an obvious choice for me.

Hayes is more chaos over class but I thought he pressured every ball that came near him. I'm Sharman's biggest fan but he's more a pure forward who scores off every opportunity. Hayes causes goals to happen for others through work rate. I can see why Ratts is giving him a go but I really don't want Sharman to stall like he did to Battle.

 

[Premium]

I think our form is solid (did what we had to do in the 2nd half, clearly just going through the motions until the last few mins, when our intensity raised about 3 levels, to ensure the win), but these injuries hurt in a big way. Especially the Clark one, on top of Jones being out. Billings we could cover with Wood. Until he gets injured!

Will probably be another year where we get games into guys that we ideally wouldn’t have wanted to (good for the future, but not so much this year) and we finish mid-table or so.

We don’t have enough elite talent to be able to withstand being smashed with injuries, as we saw last year.

Really really need to win in rounds 1 and 4, then hopefully get some troops back.

All teams have copped injuries , we have players to cover now and as long as it doesn't get any worse we should take it to any team.
Also all the injuries are not season ending , we hope anyway.

Jones / covered by Gresham -- Billings / covered by Wood or Sharman / Clark covered by Byrne , Bytel , Hannerbery , Ross etc.

Big takes out of the game
Marshall is back
Gresham looks to be ready to finally produce his best
Paton showed how much we missed him last year.
Hill looks to of found his best form
Forward line and back line look as good as any running around.