AFL Autopsy RND 18: Loss Against The Demons

[Phone]

that's very rude.

sometimes draper tries to take the ball out of the ruck too

 

[Red Black and Blue]

I think the majority of our problems this year have come from not addressing the oppositions plus one. A lot of the time opposition have had it in defense and it's a major reason why we have been able to get high quality inside 50s.

 

[Darealrath]

Felt like there were so many nearly moments that were undone by fumbling because they'd either spent it too early or perceived pressure that wasn't really there.

 

[Ati Tude]

I think the majority of our problems this year have come from not addressing the oppositions plus one. A lot of the time opposition have had it in defense and it's a major reason why we have been able to get high quality inside 50s.

They put someone on the defensive side. Not rocket science. The disappointing thing is Draper either trying to thump the ball or grab it to make a rushed non targeted kick. Virtually all the time.

 

[ghostdog]

We didn't send Duz to Rivers until half way through the third quarter. It woukd be great to see Rivers' possession stats before and after Duz went to him. That, combined with Martin going forward, may have changed the momentum?

Also interested to know how much of what Scott and Jacobs mentioned about players not following instructions, is on Draper's ruck taps.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

They put someone on the defensive side. Not rocket science. The disappointing thing is Draper either trying to thump the ball or grab it to make a rushed non targeted kick. Virtually all the time.

It's the play in the wet if you have an advantage to just get the ball forward. Not hard to man that guy up.

 

[justlookingaround]

I got nervous when players were still posting photos of the W against the Pies on insta halfway through the week.

 

[EnolaGay]

Felt like there were so many nearly moments that were undone by fumbling because they'd either spent it too early or perceived pressure that wasn't really there.

I agree. I didn't watch the second half live, but just watched it now. The run of goals in the 4th quarter that Melbourne got were built off poor execution/fumbles and they maximised on the errors, where we missed our chances until the last 10 minutes.

 

[Rick Ross]

Some against the BF grain commentary from Healy.

Gerard Healy’s good, bad and ugly from Round 18

The best and worst bits from the weekend.

www.sen.com.au

Well, the criticism of the Bombers after one loss is bizarre.

Yes, they lost their game. But the commentary is over the top that, ‘You can’t trust them, same old Essendon, they need Goldstein … not this, not that’.

Yes, they may have got it wrong on the night and they were flat, but it's one bad night in shocking conditions that they didn't handle.

Well, I think they've come a long way the Bombers and deserve a mulligan like everybody else has been given rather than the emotional dummy spits when they happen to lose a game.

 

[Dave]

Problem is most of the other teams haven’t dished up 20 years of shyte the way we have.

 

[mike ross]

Problem is most of the other teams haven’t dished up 20 years of shyte the way we have.

That's the thing. But you've got to think of it this way, we are coming from a long way back and these things will happen.

 

[eth-dog]

Some against the BF grain commentary from Healy.

Gerard Healy’s good, bad and ugly from Round 18

The best and worst bits from the weekend.

www.sen.com.au

Well, the criticism of the Bombers after one loss is bizarre.

Yes, they lost their game. But the commentary is over the top that, ‘You can’t trust them, same old Essendon, they need Goldstein … not this, not that’.

Yes, they may have got it wrong on the night and they were flat, but it's one bad night in shocking conditions that they didn't handle.

Well, I think they've come a long way the Bombers and deserve a mulligan like everybody else has been given rather than the emotional dummy spits when they happen to lose a game.

Well Gerard Healy finally says something intelligent for once.

 

[Dave]

That's the thing. But you've got to think of it this way, we are coming from a long way back and these things will happen.

Oh I do. I am nowhere near as pissed off as my kids. Then, as I've been told, "You've seen flags", we haven't.

 

[Agronomus]

Yeah - painful to take these steps backwards - again.

It should be easier in the wet, not harder! Get back to basics... contest and yardage, not stats!

That rules Parish out then

 

[Squeaky]

That rules Parish out then

Parish can pick it up off the deck. That's better than most!

 

[astrowizzle]

Parish can pick it up off the deck. That's better than most!

Parish plays pretty well in the wet. His hands are glue

 

[Agronomus]

Parish plays pretty well in the wet. His hands are glue

So are his feet

 

[Ess2025]

I look at our list and have a lot of questions about where we are at and where we are going. I expect us to improve quite a bit next year but, then again, so will other clubs.

One of the things lacking this year has been the injection of youth. We tried Davey Jnr and Tsatas a few times and have finally given Caddy a bit of a run. I'm not close enough to the club to understand why others haven't been tried. I can only assume they are just not ready for the big step from VFL level? Either way, it's a concern - they're either not good enough or ready enough.

We probably had our healthiest teams in the past two games. The exception is Parish, who I actually think we miss a lot. I'm more worried about our rucks. The acquisition of Goldy was excellent. In the first 6-8 rounds he was a huge factor in winning games such as those against the Doggies and Saints. That said, as far as I understand it, he's not at the club to be our first ruck - he is there to provide support and help with the development of Draper and Bryan. The guy is, after all, 36 - he's not a miracle worker.

That leaves Draper and Bryan. Draper is too predictable IMO. He either tries to take the ball out of the ruck and kick it or belts it forward. There is not craft as such and the opposition are able to read his taps. This brings us to Bryan. We need to get games into this fella to develop him and see what he can do, but how do we do it? For example, he's not ready to be our sole ruck so that, bringing him in, requires another ruck to give him support. Two rucks is not ideal.

Our backline is pretty solid. They get carved up by easy ball coming in, but what backline doesn't? I like the signs coming from Jones, Caldwell, Durham. I think Langford is suffering because of our usage going forward. Stringer is hot and cold. Thankfully, we have Martin showing great signs. Guelfi showed he has value. It is clear that we have players who are sadly out of form - Redman, Cox, Perkins and others.

We need to start sorting out who our best 23 is going to be next year while getting our out-of-form players up and about.

 

[The Donners]

Some against the BF grain commentary from Healy.

Gerard Healy’s good, bad and ugly from Round 18

The best and worst bits from the weekend.

www.sen.com.au

Well, the criticism of the Bombers after one loss is bizarre.

Yes, they lost their game. But the commentary is over the top that, ‘You can’t trust them, same old Essendon, they need Goldstein … not this, not that’.

Yes, they may have got it wrong on the night and they were flat, but it's one bad night in shocking conditions that they didn't handle.

Well, I think they've come a long way the Bombers and deserve a mulligan like everybody else has been given rather than the emotional dummy spits when they happen to lose a game.

Considering the commentary after the Collingwood win that we were, in effect, the real deal and a premiership threat.

A week is a long time in football…

 

[FlyingV]

The most disappointing thing about this loss was that the Dees were playing lots of kids. So in the wet the bigger, fitter, stronger more experienced team should really bulldozer the win. We just couldn’t seem to do that which is disappointing.