Autopsy 2025 Rd 13 Shaky Blues Hold on to Beat Bombers

[CarmenSandiego]

Well we had more scoring shots in 2 of the 4 quarters and basically broke even in a 3rd - had 8 more scoring shots for the night and Walsh did find some form.

And Essendon weren't going to just play dead and let us do what we want.

You can be satisfied with the way we played, that's fine.

On my end, I saw nothing to suggest we've improved from bottom 6, which is very disappointing to me.

FWIW I don't think we're a top 4 list, or expect 4-quarter performances every week, but being bottom 6 - and playing like it - is disappointing. If we don't improve on that then we're looking at a 12th-15th placed finish.

 

[Sector 7G]

There was one in the 4th when the Essendon player came forward of the mark. Just a blatant 50, but they pay bullshit ones.

Was the one that we got for dissent?

Walsh got a 50 when ADW ran through the mark.

 

[blue healer]

Yep and that is why I keep saying, if you play that game 100 times that would be the best result the Bombers would get.

Even look at the last quarter again and see how many throws and holding the balls against the Bombers are just let go as the umpires went with the momentum

If you were to play that game again I doubt the Bombers would let us get a start like that either

 

[sweethoney]

Fun fact:

No team scored 100 pts this week.

Lowest scoring round since 1989

 

[JimmyRabbit49]

You can be satisfied with the way we played, that's fine.

On my end, I saw nothing to suggest we've improved from bottom 6, which is very disappointing to me.

FWIW I don't think we're a top 4 list, or expect 4-quarter performances every week, but being bottom 6 - and playing like it - is disappointing. If we don't improve on that then we're looking at a 12th-15th placed finish.

There is a difference between being satisfied and just not being despondent.

FWIW 11th is 2 spots above bottom 6

 

[JimmyRabbit49]

If you were to play that game again I doubt the Bombers would let us get a start like that either

It isn't about changing the way the teams played, it is about pieces of luck, "uncontrolables" or "expected score"

 

[morningbrown]

Coaches' Votes

10 Tom De Koning (CARL)
7 Sam Walsh (CARL)
5 Jack Silvagni (CARL)
5 Nic Martin (ESS)
2 George Hewett (CARL)
1 Xavier Duursma (ESS)

It's interesting, I wouldn't have had Tom in our top five players on the ground. Cez and Ollie very unlucky.

 

[4flagsin5yrs]

It's interesting, I wouldn't have had Tom in our top five players on the ground. Cez and Ollie very unlucky.

yeah, TDK bog is a joke....

 

[Osc1]

It's interesting, I wouldn't have had Tom in our top five players on the ground. Cez and Ollie very unlucky.

Walsh was best on ground.

But tall man with long blond hair stand out.

 

[Stamos]

It's interesting, I wouldn't have had Tom in our top five players on the ground. Cez and Ollie very unlucky.

TDK had 10 score involvements.
2 more than anyone else (George/Gov/Williams 8 each). He had a big influence on the game.

 

[Schoonerman]

It's interesting, I wouldn't have had Tom in our top five players on the ground. Cez and Ollie very unlucky.

Yeah he faded right out of it, he’s done it a bit lately

 

[Beyond Blue]

It's both.
But a stronger system allows for less than perfect execution, and makes execution easier.

The nature of the errors are so catastrophic or unfortunate that no plan A,B,C, D….X,Y,Z can handle them…and it’s been happening for years with this group under different coaches.

 

[JJBagger]

TDK had 10 score involvements.
2 more than anyone else (George/Gov/Williams 8 each). He had a big influence on the game.

Thought Cerra was BOG, but TDK’s first half was extraordinary. He was involved in everything. Was a bit quieter in the third quarter, then was solid again in the last. He was great on the whole

 

[Garters]

Walsh was best on ground.

But tall man with long blond hair stand out.

Walsh got the 3 votes on the ABC for their footballer of the year award.

 

[Garters]

My big concern with the game the other night was Q1 we went inside 13 times in Q1 for 10 scores getting 40 points up effortlessly.
For the next 3 quarters we broke down again and reverted straight back to our old ways of sideways stagnant ball movement and subsequently proceed to go inside 50, 43 times for only 13 scores. Of those 13 scores only 5 goals. Thats for 3 quarters.

 

[carltonchelsea]

So...

Is anyone from the AFL house going to have a word with Gary Lyon about his attack on the Carlton doctors? Are we the club going to ask that he be sanctioned until he apologises to the doctors whose work he impugned by using his position as gameday commentator to attack them at their workplace?

A bloke that ****ed his best mates wife and claimed “mental illness” when his actions were well laid bare to the community?
Hahaha, good luck, he’s a progenitor of AFL misinformation and hatred of CFC, the House is as crooked as he is, that’s why he’s still employed with a microphone in his face, 6/7 days a week.
Equal to a Murdoch shill and worth nothing of anyone that has moral integrity’s attention.

Hate the prick!

 

[Thrawn]

A bloke that ****ed his best mates wife and claimed “mental illness” when his actions were well laid bare to the community?
Hahaha, good luck, he’s a progenitor of AFL misinformation and hatred of CFC, the House is as crooked as he is, that’s why he’s still employed with a microphone in his face, 6/7 days a week.
Equal to a Murdoch shill and worth nothing of anyone that has moral integrity’s attention.

Hate the prick!

He's also scared of cute little mice.

 

[gbatman]

A lot to like and dislike over this win. Essendon apart from some good fast plays weren't great, they didn't look much up forward, scored from our mistakes and the kicked it to Carlton players as much as Carlton players kicked it to Carlton players.

I thought our first quarter was excellent, played fast, direct, ran the ball and we scored heavily. After that the game slowed down and became more defensive and for most of it Essendon probably had the better of us.

We lacked forward targets. When we get going forward there are very few out of the 6 who are genuine targets. A lot of little blokes who sit back and wait and the odd player tagging. We went to Curnow a lot who had numbers on him. We definitely definitely lack that really good medium forward. Rumours of us being into Fritch, in this game you can see exactly why.

Our other issue was the lack of slow play. Our game plan is a dogs breakfast and I can tell more needs to be done at training with it. You can tell we were soo poor at fast play early in the season so we focused heavily on fast play, now we are all about fast play. We need to incorporate slow play into our game and get better at knowing when to use it.

Thing I don't like seeing...

Repeat fast entries when the opposition are already back in our forward 50. There was one moment where we went bang, bang, bang, straight back inside 50 after intercept marks 3 times. I remember Haynes doing it, I can't remember who else.

There is no value at all going forward and getting it in quick when the opposition defence is already setup in our forward line. What you are doing is gassing your forwards and mids and team as a whole. If the oppositin are already back and flooded inside our Forward 50, hold the ball up, chip it around, delay it as long as possible going in. That way the forwards and mids get to rest, that means when you do go in they can put in big effort and chase and run defensively if need be.

We did this in defence at times quite well, opposition defensive structures already setup so we just held the ball and chipped it sideways for a bit. But we do this poorly when we are forward, we are too excited about getting that quick forward entry. This is where we need to learn to hold it up at times, have a rest, let our team rest and prepare for that big effort.

Fast entries and fast repeat entries when the opposition are already back is a no no and part of the reason why we run out of steam. Watch Collingwood, they do this really well.

I thought our rotations were better but forced to be better with Cerra off the field. Still can improve. Midfielders don't just have to run a lot but also tackle, wrestle and chase hard. We just need to rest our key onballers a bit more and rotate more. We rucked DeKoning too much, he was buggered in the last quarter and it cost us at least one goal. For a player who has been injury prone and can play forward, we flog him in the midfield too much. DeKoning should have gone forward more regularly and O'Keefe should have rucked more regularly. Regular rotations are the key for us.

There is not enough trust in our bottom players in our game plan. And this is all over the ground. Not just with rotations.

Acres - He's still a ball magnet. Had some scrappy moments but he was solid.

Carroll - I thought he was good. Mad a couple of mistakes under pressure which is fine. He competes well, pace is good and he kicks well. Just needs to build up towards finding a little more of it but he is not shy about getting involved.

Carra - I thought he was pretty good. He's fitter this season. He ground away all game.

Cincotta - He put on a hrd tage and did it effectively.

Cripps - He was alright but he was restricted. There have been times where he has been good overhead and I think this side of his game needs to be worked on a lot more. Give us that extra forward target and target around the midfield. I like how we rotated him. But training wise, work on his tall craft more.

Curnow - Played as the obvious target for us. Hands did not look as sure as they can be. His game was ok but I am not sure he is not carrying a little too much weight for CHF.

DeKoning - He was great early but I thought we rucked him to death and he was cooked for the last quarter. His marking and play around the ground is really excellent. I want to see him resting forward more.

Docherty - He looked back to his best. His agility is probably something which has gone so midfield for him is out IMO but half back, he looked fine. This is his spot.

Fantasia - First game back. He was ok, not a huge impact. But he contributed.

Fogarty - He competed and worked up and back.

Haynes - He's taken a little while but he has settled in nicely.

Hewett - It wasn't his biggest game but it was consistent with his good form. Found a lot of it.

Hollands - Probably his best game. Ran with and carried the ball and kept getting to contests. His kicking needs to tidy up but he played a solid game.

Lord - Considering he is an inside player who we are playing outside, he is playing well. Neat kick, clean hands, high effort, strong tackling. It's probably good for his development.

McGovern - As a forward he is often quite. I was hoping we would use him more. His hands aren't elite but his disposal is very good so we need to get it to him and stop going to Curnow all the time. I don't think we used him well. I am hoping that we stick with him forward and use him better. I have laways thought he was a genuine full forward or he gets lost. Tactically I want to see us go through him more.

Motlop - Looked like he took a step forward. He was initiating body contact, he was playing hard footy and he worked up the ground. This resulted in good things happening for him.

O'Keefe - To me he looks like a find young AFL capable footballer. I don't think we rucked him enough. He was strong overhead and he rucked well. Rucked well against a smart and still quality opponant in Goldstein. He's made some really big strides this season in his football.

Saad - He was really good. Just broke tackles, hit targets, defended. Did what he does well.

Silvagni - Silvagni v Caddy was probably where the game was won and lost. When they went to Caddy Silvagni got the ball back for us. He reads the ball in the air really early and positions and uses his body well. He's playing very good football. He is the CHB we have been looking for for years.

Walsh - Walsh is playing ok. He's a poor man's Dangerfield. Nit quite as big, explosive or a long kick but can really burn it by foot and racks up possessions. He was super prolific but as I have said before, I wish he would just be a little more damaging by foot when he is out in space and has time.

Weitering - Quiet game for him and he didn't have to have a huge game. Just played a role this week and did it neatly.

White - Came on late and got involved. didn't have a huge impact.

Williams - He's class, smart and skilled and also has a marking game. He's valuable to us because of this. He's not just another ground level only small forward.

 

[4flagsin5yrs]

If that's Doc's best, God help us....

 

[ajb72]

thats like reading a player review in the paper when they get done by 10 goals but no player gets lower than a 5/10.

 

[skadoosh]

 

[Juddernaut08]

Thing I don't like seeing...

Repeat fast entries when the opposition are already back in our forward 50. There was one moment where we went bang, bang, bang, straight back inside 50 after intercept marks 3 times. I remember Haynes doing it, I can't remember who else.

There is no value at all going forward and getting it in quick when the opposition defence is already setup in our forward line. What you are doing is gassing your forwards and mids and team as a whole. If the oppositin are already back and flooded inside our Forward 50, hold the ball up, chip it around, delay it as long as possible going in. That way the forwards and mids get to rest, that means when you do go in they can put in big effort and chase and run defensively if need be.

We did this in defence at times quite well, opposition defensive structures already setup so we just held the ball and chipped it sideways for a bit. But we do this poorly when we are forward, we are too excited about getting that quick forward entry. This is where we need to learn to hold it up at times, have a rest, let our team rest and prepare for that big effort.

Fast entries and fast repeat entries when the opposition are already back is a no no and part of the reason why we run out of steam. Watch Collingwood, they do this really well.

Repeat i50s
This x 100 - it makes no sense to bomb it in quick when they're already setup for it. Make them nervous by kicking it around the arc and probing different angles. Make them work.

Player analysis
Saad - can't agree that he had a great game. Thought he was incredibly frustrating, blind kicks, running himself into trouble. He's still elite defensively though.

Hollands/Motlop - both whipping boys for large parts of 2025, but agere both played really really well. Motlop in particular was great to see, because Hollands has been building slowly to this. Hope they both continue.

 

[gbatman]

Repeat i50s
This x 100 - it makes no sense to bomb it in quick when they're already setup for it. Make them nervous by kicking it around the arc and probing different angles. Make them work.

Player analysis
Saad - can't agree that he had a great game. Thought he was incredibly frustrating, blind kicks, running himself into trouble. He's still elite defensively though.

Hollands/Motlop - both whipping boys for large parts of 2025, but agere both played really really well. Motlop in particular was great to see, because Hollands has been building slowly to this. Hope they both continue.

Yeah the repeat inside 50s thing really bigged me. That's rest time. You get the ball forward of centre but the opposition have got back. This is a scenario we really strugle with. The good sides cool it in this moment. They stop and go sideways. Regenerate their energy for the big play when you eventually go in. I watch Collingwood a lot and I see this a lot. They know when to change gears and we don't.

Always trying to move the ball fast and direct. Moving it slow and cautiously and holding the ball when they know they can't.

It's eaither coaching or it's a lack of expierence and game sence from the playing group. Or both.

I just couldn't believe it how they would kick it out and we would go straight back in as quick as we could and on one occasion we did it three times in a row and I think they scored against us after that. What a massive waste of energy.

 

[Sweet Seventeen]

TDK had 10 score involvements.
2 more than anyone else (George/Gov/Williams 8 each). He had a big influence on the game.

Yes and so he should have, playing on a 58 y.o.

 

[Sector 7G]

Thought Cerra was BOG, but TDK’s first half was extraordinary. He was involved in everything. Was a bit quieter in the third quarter, then was solid again in the last. He was great on the whole

6 Turnovers. Thought Cerra butchered the ball especially when we needed composure in that 3rd quarter