Autopsy Round 16, 2025: Positives and Negatives vs Collingwood

[Jukes]

Adding Jobe to the list of “must play every week for the rest of the year” along with Bo Allan.

Hough is building as an out and out long term midfielder. The way he moved through traffic was a stand out last night. Thinking back to his first couple of games in there, he got caught HTB quite a bit so seeing the improvement in such a short space of time is refreshing.

 

[Obeanie1]

+ Hewett and Ginbey over Wardlaw was a god damn master-stroke

100%

Wardlaw unfortunately out again with another concussion from a reasonable bump that was somewhat innocuous which is concerning.

Can see us splitting pick 2 again after using pick 1 in this draft.

 

[SAweagle]

Brady Hough is starting to believe, bro was sidestepping and pivoting in traffic like a pro

Mano a mano he is a nightmare matchup, agile strong quick thinker and polished disposal, elite tank and gets into goal range

Next VC and then the top job is his

 

[southjoy]

Game of two halves really but that first half was top notch, second not all bad.

Positives:

Edwards, Hough, Baker exceptional. Many others very good including Mac, Maric, Graham, Hall

Kelly, Brockman, Ryan all did good things in their own way. It's a good looking forward half with all 3 of these blokes moving through there and not to typecast but honestly it may well look even better with Champion thrown into the mix relatively soonish.

Duggan gets top marks for effort, to cut him some slack there probably isn't a player in the side who's struggling more with the change of system. Still looking to find his niche.

I'll take a game like that from Jack Williams. Disappointing in front of the big sticks and a brain fade but these are the challenges you want to face on the journey to 50 games. Important thing is you can't really ever say he goes missing. He'll be better for it.

So pleased for Jobe. Both that he got a rare full game to debut and that he kicked a goal, took a decent clunk or two and looked comfortable at the level. Hopefully he plays out the season.

Mixed bag from Sandy Brock and Bailey Williams. I'll cut both some slack. Ones what 5 games into a career and holding down CHB and the other looked a bit lost in a forward line thats never played together as a trio of talls and probably never expected to- they need time to bed down a routine.

Negatives:

Without doubt Harley is umpired to a different standard but at the same time there's not a player in the game who spends more time out there chirping at the umps. Chicken or egg? Vicious circle? One things for sure giving them an earful every time a decision doesn't go your way is unlikely to improve the situation. Makes it a bit hard for the coach to have a whinge on your behalf as well if you are out there carrying on like a spoiled Auskicker. Needs to get it out of his game.

Flynn, I guess we're just stuck with him. And thats ok. I'm in team don't sell the farm for a replacement we need that draft capital for other things. He's not setting the world on fire by any means but at least it gives Bailey a break from the main job to find his feet as a forward. Not sure I'm ready to throw Archer Reid to the wolves as a permanent replacement so I'll cop it. That is my preference going forward though, maybe.

Not activating the sub until 10 minutes left in the game. [But at least he's consistent.]

People whinging about Hunt having 1 possession and it being a turnover. He played for 10 minutes. The bloke he replaced played for 70 minutes for 7 possessions and had 2 turnovers himself [including a handball that went directly to a Collingwood player for I guess they are even there] and out of 44 players who started the game was ranked first for disposal inefficiency @42.9%. He's also only kicked 1 goal in his last 3 games. But suggest at half time he might be the man to sub today and you get the heroic threadmod invent a narrative around "so your saying that if he wasn't playing we be beating the team thats 10 points clear on top of the ladder?" No, thats not actually what I was saying. Tiresome.

Not sure about the whole Harley brings it on himself thing. Yes I agree I've seen him question the ump, but I get that because 5 minutes earlier he's been scragged and it's play on. Also last night I'm pretty certain i saw Daicos, Pendles and Sidebottom all whinge to the ump.

 

[Obeanie1]

• That non-HTB call against Collingwood to only immediately call it against Duggan really leaves a bad taste in the mouth after what was a terrific games from the boys.

Even the Vic commentators were stunned with that terrible call.

They all stopped commentating and then.....

"Um......the Collingwood player was caught twice and spun 360 ...... had much more opportunity than Duggan...."

Crickets......

"Strange non call that for the Eagles........"


Now if that happened against the Pies in Perth the Vic media would be frothing all over it and it would be a back page story about Noise of Affirmation at Optus.

 

[southjoy]

Personally the Negative for me is the continuance of Umpire Bias towards Harley. I swear i heard the umpire blow the whistle before Nick marked on the defensive wing as Harley was about to make contact...why...because it looked like Harleys intention was to bury him.
No doubt about it. Since Adelaide last year when the Vic Centric media complained about Harley pleading for kicks. The ratio is massively gone towards. harleys an evil person.

Great game by the club. Just missed a couple of opportunities to kick goals.

 

[Obeanie1]

Loved Halls game, brings so much pressure and intensity around the contest.

Needs to stay in and not as the sub.

Strikes me as a player who grinds and builds through games and can hopefully accumulate. His pressure and tackling adds up accross 4 quarters.

And play him on ball in the action, not wing.

 

[southcoast]

Big positive for me was Mini being prepared to send an underperforming senior player to the subs bench.

Young guys might lack a bit of polish but gee, cannot question effort.

On the other hand our seniors - while I was sceptical about Baker and Graham you can’t question their intent and consistency and leadership by example qualities.

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

3 behinds for Jack Williams is deflating.

 

[Grumpyshades]

Even the Vic commentators were stunned with that terrible call.

They all stopped commentating and then.....

"Um......the Collingwood player was caught twice and spun 360 ...... had much more opportunity than Duggan...."

Crickets......

"Strange non call that for the Eagles........"


Now if that happened against the Pies in Perth the Vic media would be frothing all over it and it would be a back page story about Noise of Affirmation at Optus.

same thing in our fwd pocket..Cwood player deliberately knocks the ball out of bounds..even the vic cheer squad in the comm box said it should have been a free

Literally 2 minutes later in the other pocket, the ball ricochet's off an eagles player..Same umpire calls deliberate

FMD

 

[FKASC]

Reckon we could throw him in at the CBD's as well if we needed.

Could be the Big Bodied Inside Bull We’ve Been Looking For

 

[Obeanie1]

Just read elsewhere The Hough had 27 touches at 100% and a goal.

 

[The Cobra]

Pardon the intrusion.

Ball movement last night was at times excellent. Looked liked a decent up & coming footy team. Like all young teams bad mistakes at critical times cost you.

Certainly a big improvement since the start of the season. If they keep working hard coaches and players certainly on the right track.

 

[Cainozz]

Harley gets umpired differently. There's zero doubt there.

Hope he doesn't get too frustrated

maybe the frustration he has is a good thing for us.

Maybe he sees the us vs them side of things and wants to see this side rewarded. He’s the kind of guy that doesn’t seem to back away from hard work.

 

[Wce17]

Needs to stay in and not as the sub.

Strikes me as a player who grinds and builds through games and can hopefully accumulate. His pressure and tackling adds up accross 4 quarters.

And play him on ball in the action, not wing.

I think one of the positives on Hall when he was drafted was that he could play inside but he also had enough pace and play outside which we saw tonight. Makes it easier to give him games while his body develops enough to play inside for longer periods.

The play in the 3rd that Reid fumbled really impressed me.

 

[Donkers]

Biggest positive is that the club took it up to the ladder leaders away from home and kept grinding it out. Even once they knew it was no longer winnable.

Jobby Shanahands will be an elite KPF. Clubs go decades without finding KPF of that level. He outbodied and outpositioned Darcy Moore

30

Darcy Moore

Age

29

Ht

203cm

Wt

100kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.1

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

4.1

3star

M

4.8

5star

T

1.6

4star

MG

169.1

3star

D

13.9

3star

K

7.3

3star

HB

6.6

4star

M

4.9

5star

T

0.7

1star

MG

182.0

3star

D

6.8

2star

K

4.2

2star

HB

2.6

3star

M

2.6

3star

T

1.8

4star

MG

87.4

2star

on at least 3 occasions. Sure he tired but he's 18 years old, unreal.

Brady Hough has me questioning my ability to judge talent. That was some performance as a midfielder. It seems no matter what role we give him he just rises to the level. He is still an elite shutdown defender but he could well be a Redden level or a touch higher mid. What to do....

Bar 1 mistake I thought Edwards was absolutely superb. I really didn't think he had close to this level in him and he just keeps building.

On a night when Reid & Hewett weren't as effective as they have been in some of our better games others stood up. Makes a huge difference.

McCarthy is like a free first round draft pick, who just happens to be 24 and entering his prime. 24 months ago was playing Div 2 amateurs........

Jack Williams if he had of kicked straight would have had an outstanding game.

Negatives:

Will leave the negatives alone this week, I think that was the best all round team performance of the year.

 

[TheHumanShoe]

100%

Wardlaw unfortunately out again with another concussion from a reasonable bump that was somewhat innocuous which is concerning.

Can see us splitting pick 2 again after using pick 1 in this draft.

Wardlaw (and also Sheezel) never wanted to leave Victoria, we were never going to pick either of those mummy's boys.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Something to really think about when you look at teams around us

Lets look at last nights midfield rotiation here

Clay Hall - 20
Elijah Hewett - 21
Harley Reid - 20
Brady Hough - 22
Ryan Maric - 20
Jack Hutchinson - 23

And then rotational pieces

Bo Allan - 19
Liam Ryan

1

Liam Ryan

Age

29

Ht

181cm

Wt

76kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.3

3star

K

8.6

3star

HB

2.7

2star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.0

4star

G

1.3

5star

D

9.9

3star

K

8.0

3star

HB

1.9

1star

M

3.3

3star

T

1.6

3star

G

1.3

5star

D

11.4

3star

K

9.0

4star

HB

2.4

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

1.8

4star

G

1.6

5star

- 28
Tyler Brockman - 22

Have we ever seen such a young midfield like ever? Even GWS had Ward/McDonald and the like when they first came in...

Richmond for example have Taranto (28), Hopper (28), McIntosh (31), Prestia (32), Ralpsmith (24), Jack Ross

5

Jack Ross

Age

25

Ht

187cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.2

4star

K

7.8

3star

HB

8.4

5star

M

2.2

2star

T

2.7

4star

CL

3.0

4star

D

13.7

3star

K

6.7

3star

HB

7.0

4star

M

1.7

2star

T

1.7

3star

CL

2.0

4star

D

17.8

5star

K

8.0

3star

HB

9.8

5star

M

2.6

3star

T

2.8

5star

CL

3.0

5star

(24), Tyler Sonsie (22) and that includes a much better ruck in Nankervis too

I think we are pushing towards the right direction

 

[SAweagle]

maybe the frustration he has is a good thing for us.

Maybe he sees the us vs them side of things and wants to see this side rewarded. He’s the kind of guy that doesn’t seem to back away from hard work.

Interesting perspective, Harley tends to take the extra 2 steps instead of looking to dish it off to better position every time he wins the footy, he is successful occasionally but he would be so much more dangerous giving the first option. He will learn like Dusty and Danger did when he can take them on and when to dish it off if he fully buys into the team first mindset. I reckon Mini gave him a license last night to run free, he tried at least 4/5 hangers

He is also a habitual line stepper, he's a bloke who wants to test authority in his domain every time, the little push on Naicos last night, the constant chirping. Its wasted energy for the big man. Another two years and the software will catch up to the hardware. Or maybe he's another Richo and its just a part of his DNA

 

[Barrybran]

Harley gets umpired differently. There's zero doubt there.

Hope he doesn't get too frustrated

Harley is still too focused on the umpires though. His game will go up another level when he just gets on with things.

 

[bzparkes]

Harley is still too focused on the umpires though. His game will go up another level when he just gets on with things.

Hard to do when you're infringed at every contest and the umps ignore it though.

 

[Bender_]

Pardon the intrusion.

Ball movement last night was at times excellent. Looked liked a decent up & coming footy team. Like all young teams bad mistakes at critical times cost you.

Certainly a big improvement since the start of the season. If they keep working hard coaches and players certainly on the right track.

Please do something to help the Saints beat Freo today. Pray pagan God, feed Viagra pills to a Ross Lyon voodoo doll, I dunno. Do something.

 

[timeforanother22]

McCarthy is a very very solid footballer.

There was a moment in defense where Duggan or someone handballed and it became a loose ball off the deck with a Collingwood player about to pick it up...

"McCarthy will win this..." I told the missus and Tom just out bodies the Collingwood flop off the ball, who was in prime position, with ease and picked it up himself piece of cake.

Your missus is so lucky to have you mansplaining shit to her all game.

 

[Barrybran]

Overall the result probably went as you’d expect.

But I think the thing I was most proud of was our 2nd and 3rd quarter rallies. The WC games of the last 2 years, even earlier this year we would have conceded 8-10 goals in the quarter and not be able to overturn the momentum.

That Allan burst leading to the Hough goal in the 3rd was just about as good as it gets. Going to be really something when we can sustain that ball movement for longer.

It was very clear to me that Collingwood had figured us out after the first quarter. I didn't think we did anything particularly wrong at the start of the second quarter. We then adjusted to Collingwood's adjustments and levelled things out again. Then Collingwood changed things up again in the third, which stifled us a bit, but we kept our chins up and managed to fight through it at times.

 

[Bender_]

Brady Hough has me questioning my ability to judge talent. That was some performance as a midfielder. It seems no matter what role we give him he just rises to the level. He is still an elite shutdown defender but he could well be a Redden level or a touch higher mid. What to do....

It was from either his draft profile or a past coach that said he has an ability to adapt and excel at new roles and challenges. From not playing footy, to moving up levels and changing positions he's always made adjustments and done well. The guy is a mixture of talent and work ethic and I'm really hoping that this midfield role works out for him.