Autopsy Round 13, 2025: Positives and Negatives vs North Melbourne

[Avalor]

Pardon the intrusion, but I am staggered at what I watched last week, a committed, passionate player tackling, bouncing off the ground after a contest and snapping a goal, poking the tongue out in celebration and really getting up and into it, compared to what Oscar Allen has been most games this year, where he just doesn't seem to get near the ball. He was the generator that got the Eagles right into the game last week against Geelong with his four goals, to the extent that we were less than a goal in front early in the last. But against North, he's goal-less, and just isn't any presence at all? I am genuinely confused, and it must be hard having a senior player be so inconsistent. It's not like North's defence is all-conquering I'd have thought.

Should not have been playing - has a bung knee, didn't train all week. Stupid to play him. Cripps and Ryan also could have done with the week off , having to pass fitness tests at the last minute. I thought we had learnt our lessons on that.

 

[BSD]

My biggest concern is I feel our game plan is too taxing on the players. By the 4th quarter they are spent.

Think it needs a bit of tweaking in that area.....

What frigging game plan there isn't one. Yesterdays effort was weak, piss poor and disgusting. Badly failed with basic skill errors and outcoached.
Clarko flooded our forward line in the first half and we continued bombing high balls in, which played right into Norf's hands. Bombing in the high ball has been going on for weeks on end. What is our ex Crows forwards line coach teaching our players. It must be a pure coincidence that the crows became a higher scoring side once he left. Sack Mello and get in J.K.

Twice our players tried to pick up ground balls in the square instead of soccering the ball thru for goals. Both were talls where were our small crumbing players ?

Ryan and Oscar were obviously still carrying injuries and shouldn't have played, their total contribution was 1.2

I find it absolutely disgusting that players who are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars can't kick goals from 20m straight in front. We should have beaten Norf by at least 4 goals. Archer Reid is careless in how he drops the ball, this has been going on all year and nothing appears to have been done to remedy his kicking, it's getting worse not better. From 20m out he almost hit the point post on the full.
Apparently we spent a lot of our training time last week practicing our tackling and then forgot how to kick the ball. How much time is spent practicing kicking from straight in front versus dribble kicks and around the corner kicks.
We can't blame the umpires this time because we received 10 more free kicks than norf and Harley got more than he gave away.
This season is shot and we look like we have secured the number 1 draft pick, any way so why not give Shanahan, Cross and Grecco games instead of some of the list cloggers we've got like Kelly, Hunt and Cole. The young guys are our future and we need to get them up to 50 games asap.

 

[ThePuma #9]

POSITIVES

+Elijah Hewett is all class.

+ Edwards working into the season, he’s definitely a confidence player. Just needs to string games together.

+ Our pressure was top notch for 3 quarters. Just need to build bigger tanks.

+Learning the new game plan quickly. At least quicker than I thought we would.

NEGATIVES

- A season of poor starts and fading finishes. Too often have to peg back a score and as a result run out of legs in the fourth.

- Mini really doing Bo dirty. Picks him as a sub in-front of his home crowd and brings him into the game for the last two minutes.
Send the kid back to the WAFL and let him develop.

- Goal kicking. So many poor shots on goal. Felt contagious and definitely got in the boys heads.

- Jamie Cripps

15

Jamie Cripps

Age

34

Ht

184cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.7

3star

K

7.9

3star

HB

4.8

3star

M

3.6

4star

T

3.9

5star

G

1.3

5star

D

10.3

3star

K

6.3

3star

HB

4.0

3star

M

2.4

3star

T

2.4

3star

G

0.4

3star

D

6.4

2star

K

4.2

2star

HB

2.2

2star

M

1.0

1star

T

2.4

4star

G

1.4

5star

. This is why you don’t rush players back. Looked massively underdone.


I thought best to let my frustration die down before posting and I’m glad I did. The loss is disappointing and I won’t say it doesn’t matter but it’s not the be all and end all.

This has been the year of nearly there and not quite yet.

A year further down the road we beat the Lions, Tigers, Bombers, Kangaroos.

A year down the road we don’t fade out in the last against the Cats, Blues, Giants ….etc

The new game plan is enjoyable to watch when we are on and the players seem to enjoy playing it. I don’t think a loss like yesterday makes them lose confidence in it. I think it bolsters the confidence we’re on the right track and if we just keep working on it we’re going to be a dangerous side when it all falls into place.

Bring on the Blues.

 

[DorothyG]

My biggest concern is I feel our game plan is too taxing on the players. By the 4th quarter they are spent.

Think it needs a bit of tweaking in that area.....

Disagree.

We just don't have the base fitness level to sustain it.
And the way they train/load manage etc during the season, its not something that can be fixed within the season.

The base build comes with the work they do in the preseason. We seemed to have fixed the injury issues, a huge focus on next preseason seriously needs to be on both increasing the base level and improving skills.

 

[DorothyG]

What frigging game plan there isn't one. Yesterdays effort was weak, piss poor and disgusting. Badly failed with basic skill errors and outcoached.

Mate, we basically keep them scoreless for a half of footy, while we kicked something like 4-12 (and a few out on the full).

Reverse that or even halve it and you are saying something completely different.

Clarko with the big flood is big brained move, problem is they were unable to generate any sort of sustained ball in the forward half for 2 qtrs of footy (probably 3 if we include the 1st). You ain't winning many games like that.

Yes poor kicking is poor footy, sometimes for what ever reason it happens

The tackle intent was insane, not weak.
If you can't see the gameplan we are running with, I dunno, I can't help you. But maybe go back and watch any random game from the past 3 years and compare it to yesterday and tell me which one is better/more attacking and suites to winning games.

I'm as filthy as the next with the loss, but I can see past that and acknowledge that we were the far better team for 3qtrs and have improved as a team massively from where we were at 9months ago.

 

[Big_Birdy]

Unfortunately over run again but of course, North came off a 15 day break and were more experienced.

 

[Ruben Grubarb]

Pardon the intrusion, but I am staggered at what I watched last week, a committed, passionate player tackling, bouncing off the ground after a contest and snapping a goal, poking the tongue out in celebration and really getting up and into it, compared to what Oscar Allen has been most games this year, where he just doesn't seem to get near the ball. He was the generator that got the Eagles right into the game last week against Geelong with his four goals, to the extent that we were less than a goal in front early in the last. But against North, he's goal-less, and just isn't any presence at all? I am genuinely confused, and it must be hard having a senior player be so inconsistent. It's not like North's defence is all-conquering I'd have thought.

It's hard to play well in a shit team.

 

[Wooshaaaa]

My biggest concern is I feel our game plan is too taxing on the players. By the 4th quarter they are spent.

Think it needs a bit of tweaking in that area.....

Nah. Scoreboard pressure does a lot for energy levels. We should've been 6 goals up all day. Kick straight and we would've defended the lead.

 

[Dark Sharks]

+ Hewett was awesome, another career game for him but it was disappointing to see him fade so badly after such an intense 3QTRs. Pretty sure he didn't get a disposal in the entire last quarter? Perhaps one?

+ Thought our backline held up very well. Brock was serviceable against Darling and Hedwards dominated Larkey.

+ Jack Williams played well in an awful forward line. Still missed a set shot or two he'd normally kick but had 6 grabs (team high) and kicked 2.1 (team high). He looks very comfortable playing as our focal point in attack. If he played a full season he'd kick 40-50 goals easily IMO.

+ Baker was solid again. He's in a good patch of form. Deserves to win our B&F. Not perfect, i don't think the bloke will ever have a polished game, but fights like a madman when the ball is on the deck. Led the team for contested posessions (16) as a midget. Only monster Xerri (18) had more.

+ Watching gimp Wardlaw rack up an 9 disposals at 44%DE was pretty good. Sheezel was his usual prolific self but i rate the impact of Ginbey and Hewett in this game over those 2 frauds.

+ Dewar played 4 quarters which was good. For a bloke who can disappear during games i thought he contributed from start to finish. Prefer him moving the ball from defense than Maric. 21D at 90%DE is tidy enough.




- Harley cooked what should've been a dominant game for him. Missed that goal, which was supposed to be a real BSD moment. Gave away his usual free's, then didn't have the greatest 4th quarter either. You can see he was trying though, just didn't have the fitness to back it up. 1 step forward 1 step back.

- Hutchinson was awful yet again. 12 touches at 25%DE means 8 of them missed the target. He also kicked 0.3, including one at walking pace from 30m out with no pressure. Fumbliest player in the team, and for a team that includes Cripps, that's saying something. Needs to be in the WAFL.

- Speaking of, Cripps returning from injury and playing badly is just standard. His performance is on the match committee for making the same mistake over and over again.

- Ryan and Oscar Allen

4

Oscar Allen

Age

27

Ht

196cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.8

2star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.2

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.4

4star

G

1.1

4star

No current season stats available

D

8.6

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

2.8

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.0

4star

G

1.2

4star

were both shocking as well, our forward line well and truly dropped the ball.

- I actually didn't mind A.Reids game for the most part. He compeated well and he looked desperate when the ball was on the deck, that's impressive. Once again though, he fails to kick a goal, went at 25% with his 4 touches and IMO set the tone for the shit goal kicking with his miss from 15M out. Which nobody was even surprised with, lets be honest.

- McFlogs use of the subsitute is just a meme at this point. We all joked about it in the gameday thread but then he goes ahead and made it a reality. Seriously, what is so hard about this.... HALFWAY THROUGH THE 3RD QUARTER AT THE VERY LEAST, YOU SUB OFF THE PLAYER WHO'S HAD THE LEAST IMPACT AND SUB ON YOUR FRESH LEGS. It's really not a science.

 

[Wooshaaaa]

If you cannot see positives in that game, then you are likely to be better suited to don the purple and either ditch AFL and follow Glory or become a Violet Crumble and join Freo.

Believe it or not, crapping your pants in front of goal can be a great way to develop different habits and routines.

Yep, we blew it with poor shots for goals, players trying to win it off their own boot, and poor forward structures/delivery.

I loved the tackle count and not being Corale Kings
Fantastic to be so much ahead of ground ball gets and most of contested football.
Harry Edwards doing a number on Larkey.
Hewett continuing his form.
Brock and Edwards are forming a nice partnership. We still need a CHB but can afford to draft or move one of our KPF down back.

Our forward structures look better when Oscar plays CHF but his body is limiting us him to FF.

Missing our AA crew - no Waterman, no Gov, no Yeo. Norf were pretty much full strength

WTF is happening with Allan coming on as sub with 4 minutes to go yet we looked like we were short on run earlier in Q4

A game like this will highlight to Matty Clarke the need for high volume mids, elite ball use into the corridor and a more competitive ruck

These Norf fuqors have been feeding at the trough 3 years longer than us yet they looked second rate.

Do the AFL want a TV spectacle like that or will they relent and give us priority picks?

Great call. 100%. What I've seen in the last 6 weeks even against the crows and cats was players in tune with the game plan and effort. Yeo imho is the biggest shoes to fill. All the best teams have a Yeo. Dunkley, Cripps, libba, Oliver, rowell, newcombe, greene. Hard ball gets. The forgotten stat in the "contested possession" stat that matters most.

 

[King LeBron]

People acting like Bo Allan coming in earlier would have changes the entire result are deluded - they were all over in every aspect of that last quarter, bringing on Nick Daicos as sub in the last wouldn't have even changed the result.

That being said, I'll take the positives. Didn't expect us to be that dominant over a team that clearly has alot more high end talent on the park than we do. Haven't seen us be that dominant over a team like that since 2019. Bloody hurts to lose given its very rare we get one these days, but I'm optimistic we have finally turned the corner.

 

[Obeanie1]

What frigging game plan there isn't one. Yesterdays effort was weak, piss poor and disgusting. Badly failed with basic skill errors and outcoached.

If you cant see the emerging game plan you arent paying attention.

Out coached? How?

Our kicking on goal and handball skills let us down, no argument.

We dominated inside 50s and we locked the ball in.

Tackling and pressure much improved.

So we need to focus on skills and endurance. That is expected with 13 players under 50 games.

Effort and game plan is improving.

Ran out of legs.

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

Didnt mind the 50's but why are only 1:20 paid?

Umpires have no understanding of the game.

Regularly players do things to hold up play and its all good & dandy. Like not letting a player up off the ground to take their kick or Xerri repeatedly falling onto the ball at ruck contests and forcing another ball up to kill time in the last 60 seconds of ydays game.

But an inconsequential step over the mark or entering into the protected zone by a meter (by the umps estimate, not like there's a measuring tape out there) and they pay a 50m penalty.

Umps aren't just inconsistent - magnified by the fact there's now 4 of them out there with their own individual interpretations - they're downright incompetent in their judgement.

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

People acting like Bo Allan coming in earlier would have changes the entire result are deluded - they were all over in every aspect of that last quarter, bringing on Nick Daicos as sub in the last wouldn't have even changed the result.

That being said, I'll take the positives. Didn't expect us to be that dominant over a team that clearly has alot more high end talent on the park than we do. Haven't seen us be that dominant over a team like that since 2019. Bloody hurts to lose given its very rare we get one these days, but I'm optimistic we have finally turned the corner.

Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is insanity. Bringing in the sub should have been done earlier, if for no reason than to jsut try something.

And on your point about Bo not being able to turn the result. Why do we have a rookie as our sub? We should have an experienced player in that role. Petch, Cole, Hunt.

 

[Obeanie1]

If you cannot see positives in that game, then you are likely to be better suited to don the purple and either ditch AFL and follow Glory or become a Violet Crumble and join Freo.

Believe it or not, crapping your pants in front of goal can be a great way to develop different habits and routines.

Yep, we blew it with poor shots for goals, players trying to win it off their own boot, and poor forward structures/delivery.

I loved the tackle count and not being Corale Kings
Fantastic to be so much ahead of ground ball gets and most of contested football.
Harry Edwards doing a number on Larkey.
Hewett continuing his form.
Brock and Edwards are forming a nice partnership. We still need a CHB but can afford to draft or move one of our KPF down back.

Our forward structures look better when Oscar plays CHF but his body is limiting us him to FF.

Missing our AA crew - no Waterman, no Gov, no Yeo. Norf were pretty much full strength

WTF is happening with Allan coming on as sub with 4 minutes to go yet we looked like we were short on run earlier in Q4

A game like this will highlight to Matty Clarke the need for high volume mids, elite ball use into the corridor and a more competitive ruck

These Norf fuqors have been feeding at the trough 3 years longer than us yet they looked second rate.

Do the AFL want a TV spectacle like that or will they relent and give us priority picks?

Good summary.

So much of what went poorly yesterday was lack of maturity.

Missing Waterman, Gov and Yeo is a big loss.

Kicking inside 50 and electing to take shots from outside 50 was sub optimal and poor decision making.

Our overlap handball and elect8ng to find a player by hand under less pressure is improving. Duggan and others just throwing the ball onto their boot needs to end. Clear by hand, then take territory by foot and kick to a target, not blindly.

Dominated inside 50s.

Kicking on goal was very poor and cost us.

Effort was there. Skills and endurance need work.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

On McWhatsasub and the coaching staff

The use of the sub
Keeps Archer and Hutchinson in the side

On the players

Deplorable kicking for goal.

On everyone

The inside 50 bombs to no one

 

[kranky al]

Perfect result, we thrashed them but not on the scoreboard

One hand on the Duursma cup


Get behind the boys!!


Were the abrams, the west coast leopards and were here to be centurions.

Were the big Sherman’s kings of the big chieftains

Were the tigers were the m60’s

 

[garlic munchers]

+

We didn't take Zac Fisher

16

Zac Fisher

Age

27

Ht

175cm

Wt

76kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.2

4star

K

8.3

3star

HB

7.9

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

3.0

5star

MG

384.0

5star

D

17.0

4star

K

10.0

4star

HB

7.0

4star

M

3.0

3star

T

0.0

1star

MG

384.0

5star

D

12.2

3star

K

6.8

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

1.2

2star

T

3.0

5star

to join our happy bunch of overpaid and overrated , B and C grade cast offs from other clubs.

Darling is on his last legs, (but still does a great Ninja flip, so kudo's to him).

Wardlaw who?

Sheezel is a powder puff.

Harry & Brock, who'd have thought.

Hewett, nice.

 

[AsterixTheGaul]

Interesting to reflect on those critical of the pick split back in 2022.

We could have taken Sheezel who had a massive “go home” about him.

The alternatives midfielders at pick 2 were Wardlaw or Tsatas and I believe The Pieman loved Cadman.

Or

Hewett and Ginbey.



The injured start from Elijah had many booing at the end of 2024. Now fit, it feels very different. And fully understand Reuben is a hbf and not a mid.

Watching the game on Sunday, credit should be given on the split.

 

[Doashuey]

Pardon the intrusion, but I am staggered at what I watched last week, a committed, passionate player tackling, bouncing off the ground after a contest and snapping a goal, poking the tongue out in celebration and really getting up and into it, compared to what Oscar Allen has been most games this year, where he just doesn't seem to get near the ball. He was the generator that got the Eagles right into the game last week against Geelong with his four goals, to the extent that we were less than a goal in front early in the last. But against North, he's goal-less, and just isn't any presence at all? I am genuinely confused, and it must be hard having a senior player be so inconsistent. It's not like North's defence is all-conquering I'd have thought.

Yeah he seemed to have gotten back on track last week but was invisible this week.
It can be hard to tell just watching games on the TV whether that was due to work rate or not but he was in doubt all week with the knee so it wouldn't surprise me if his quiet showing today was due to that.
I'd rather we give him time off to if he isn't right and expose some of our other promising key forwards than have him plod around not impacting the game and increasing his injury risk (and subsequent trade value).

 

[BSD]

On McWhatsasub and the coaching staff

The use of the sub
Keeps Archer and Hutchinson in the side

On the players

Deplorable kicking for goal.

On everyone

The inside 50 bombs to no one

Spot on.

 

[BSD]

If you cant see the emerging game plan you arent paying attention.

Out coached? How?

Our kicking on goal and handball skills let us down, no argument.

We dominated inside 50s and we locked the ball in.

Tackling and pressure much improved.

So we need to focus on skills and endurance. That is expected with 13 players under 50 games.

Effort and game plan is improving.

Ran out of legs.

You can't whitewash shit. Our kicking and handball skills have let us down for at least the last 4 years.
It's almost half way thru the season and we have to work on our skills and endurance, I thought that's what the pre season was for.
So bombing the ball into the forward line is part of the game plan too. Good one.
At least Ginbey has spoken up and taken some responsibility, How about some of his team mates speaking up.
or the coach for playing unfit players..

 

[EagleEgo]

Forward structure is very poor and requires quick improvement and better set play.
Archer Reid needs a goal kicking coach.

 

[davidgoes4wce]

It was a shit game, whatever, but I can't get past Tim Kelly. He's been shocking this year but today was just next level. He needs a month back in the WAFL minimum. His body language, output, everything is a disgrace. Two year contract to be a mentor for the young boys - what, how to be a lazy, uninterested shit?

Beyond farcical how he got a contract extension. Im beyond convinced he wouldn't get a starting spot at any of the other 17 teams in the comp.

My only thinking him getting a contract extension is its a really old school boys network in the Eagles management. And Eagles management have had form on this, think of players that were hung on for too long......

The man is stealing another mans living.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Disagree.

We just don't have the base fitness level to sustain it.
And the way they train/load manage etc during the season, its not something that can be fixed within the season.

The base build comes with the work they do in the preseason. We seemed to have fixed the injury issues, a huge focus on next preseason seriously needs to be on both increasing the base level and improving skills.

The fitness is there, if you make the amount of errors that we currently make then you need to run double what is required because of the error. We constantly are moving forward in good shape then make an error and then all get caught out and look unaccountable. This extra running from mistakes is what is killing us. Good sides don't make these mistakes, handballs to the ground, missed targets, poor decisions to centre the ball and missing targets etc etc. if you keep doing this you will run twice as far as your opponents all day. That is whats happening. It's not a fitness issue.