Review Rd 1, 2019: Win vs Sydney - autopsy. 82-65

[Norm De Guerre]

How good would Bont have looked in an actual cape as streaked into an open goal.
Must be a tech boffin on this board somewhere who can make that happen.

I expect Norm De Guerre is working on it right this minute.

The Thont!*



*Forgive me if Ive gotten the villains of the Thor universe wrong. This massive movie geek tired of and then stopped watching Super Hero movies completely after The Avengers Age of Voltron.

 

[dogwatch]

Except we smashed them out of the centre for 3 quarters and did well from stoppages. Wouldn't call it a comprehensive hiding.

Yes I acknowledged elsewhere that we won the clearances despite losing the hit outs. And Timmy might have a had a hand in some of those clearances with second efforts.

However I'd still call it comprehensive in the hit outs department. Happy to retract the word "hiding" if that sounds too strong a term for it.

 

[dogwatch]

The Thont!

View attachment 641284

Brilliant.

 

[Yojimbo]

Round 1 (The wash up) kick to handball ratio, disposals, result:

Carlton: (+73), (403)
Richmond: (+78), (358), Win 33 Points.
Collingwood: (+66), (380)
Geelong: (+62), (374), Win 7 Points.
Melbourne: (+87), (333)
Port Adelaide: (+36), (426), Win 26 Points.

Hawthorn: (+82), (368), Win 32 Points.
Adelaide: (+18), (440)
Bulldogs: (+60), (374), Win 17 Points.
Sydney: (+45), (369)
Brisbane: (+82), (382), Win 44 Points.
West Coast: (+102), (294)

St Kilda: (+80), (388), Win 1 Point.
Gold Coast: (+53), (355)
GWS: (+88), (370), Win 72 Points.
Essendon: (+64), (308)
Fremantle: (+81), (381), Win 82 Points.
North Melbourne: (+20), (390)

 

[Substance]

Alright it’s time to wake up from some post 2016 bigfooty posting slumber, can only stay observant on forums for so long. Been a good last few years, graduated from Chem Engineering and started working at NAB last year (yay) discounted members reserve if not using my membership. Finally got Foxtel last year too so watching everything footy is fun; not just for everything dogs, but everything footy.

Great round 1 buzz last night, all about that live atmosphere and looking forward to the half time 2 pies and chips regardless of winning or losing. Like a lot of games this round, could not pickout if we’d win or lose going in, in the same light as Sydney because on paper they’re always ‘good’ but they’re getting old and brought in a supposedly underdone Buddy. Onto the observations.

Was quite an ominous looking start. Heeney took what should certainly be mark of the round and would be a contender for year again, and found it again a minute later straight out of the centre. But the team pulled it together well and gave them nothing else for the rest of the half except for Sam Reid’s 20 metre infront miss. So, there were some really early defensive concerns at how the backline would stand up after that start but to their credit, they held up considering unsuited roles/undersized/missing personnel. Nearly fell apart in that last quarter but what a team effort to pull through and get a well deserved win.

Personally didn’t notice Libba too much but at the end of it all, realised the (many) small influential touches he had and what a return it was where that final kick at goal would’ve topped it off. He’s one of those guys where his off-field antics matches his unconventional playing style e.g. his running technique; but it’s the kind that is moulded growing up with footy, contested beast and finds a way to get his kicks away to clear congestion. Welcome back where you belong.

When CD is playing unhampered, his hands are serious glue. To me that’s been his niche ever since he joined the team ontop of his smart disposal which is strongly the reason he’s been able to get games at such a small stature. There have been times previous when it’s off and many question the value he brings to the team; which is fair enough because if it’s not on there’s not much else he can influentially bring. But games like last night showed those glue hands that can gather and dispose in a game changing microsecond to release the play.

Even though pre-season competition necessity is questioned when things like injuries happen, boy do all players need that run before the season proper; coz Gowers put a shocking 2 JLT games behind him and did what we know he’s capable of last night. I’m sure Dickson will work into it as he actually managed to find those small forward opportunities expected of him but the kicking shape was uncharacteristic. Legit the only player that hurts me when misses because I want his conversion rate to still be renown as the best, but hopefully for his sake, age hasn’t impacted his pace and kicking distance too much, we shall see.
Bont, keep that up and Brownlow talk would be thereabouts; questions can be asked of quiet quarters but boy he never stays down for too long. The handball behind the head to release, the kick to Gowers and the goal against the flow, superstar. Macrae and Hunter, went about business; Hunter a bit more of a quiet game with some howler moments but just like my Foxtel, I call him IQ ever since our premiership year because when he’s on, he does some ridiculously intelligent things no one else would pull off and pops up just when we need a relieving outlet.

Like many have said about Naughton, I’d prefer him back. An absolute winner for us up forward last night and against North last year but his season last year in defence was a standout and perhaps needed now more than ever when we’re going into games concerningly undersized. I admit it may be my continual desire for Boyd to be there when he’s finally back up that makes me think that way; but Naughty could eventually find himself our most valuable go-to swingman; I just prefer him in the backline primarily.

Was very optimistic with the Lloyd recruitment, not so much Duryea. Lloyd was playing some seriously good small forward footy in the period where he kicked the after the siren goal at the Tiges but injury and Tiger’s numerous stocks of viable small forwards would have his opportunities brought to us. Like the 2 JLT matches, last night had many great passages whilst having some agitating almost moments. For example, two dropped marks he should’ve taken; one play it stuffs the attacking momentum we had and needed, the other time he drops but does a clever tap which opened it right up. 2 great goals and the tackler that setup Bonts open goal; a great recruitment in my books and should clean up those almost moments. Duryea, yer he played in 2 premierships and yer that means he should be somewhat good, but I never really rated him more than someone getting by with the big names around him. Last night you could definitely see the Hawthorn nonchalant playing style he’s developed which I believe he needs to use at the right time. At times it comes off well and releases like a good Suckling ball; but the big one for me was from the centre bounce where he played his 1 on 1 superbly well, but then fronted up to 2 tacklers and got done holding the ball instead of taking the handball option behind him. His huge goal really got us going and shows what he can bring but I’ll still be making my assessment on him.

Now, the big topic of the autopsy thread thus far. Easton, Williams and Smith. I’ve been a huge Easton fan over the journey, just check his player toast thread. Whilst he did a great job for majority of the game in a role he generally doesn’t play (undersized and 1 on 1 against Lancelot), there were some moments I think those who are knocking him aren’t successfully bringing to light. The biggest moment watching it live from the stands had me spewing where he just didn’t bring enough alertness to react to the first gamer Blakey’s dropped marked, went to ground and followed up with a poor defensive effort that lead to the open Buddy that got them within a goal. I love the man and when playing to his strengths, he’s our elite aerialist and he battled Buddy valiantly the whole night with some great spoils; but he can’t have too many moments like that as captain because the knockers will be coming. Similarly, I’ve seen too much of Williams and rate his ability and sidestep too highly to be knocking him on this game. To be asked to share Key Defence post between Easton and Zaine was a tall order seeing Heeney get the better of him very quickly. But to both he and teams credit, it was stemmed long enough and hopefully he isn’t asked to play that role too much more but will need to find his damaging form quickly. Young Smithy has a bright future ahead of him, but may need to find some time in the 2s sooner or later. Had some nervous moments in JLT with some grubby kicks (as many first years do) and it was quite noticeable he hadn’t meaningfully touched the footy til the 2nd half last night. Finally got some touches with some smart disposals but may need to be given time in the 2s if his next few games show similar output.

Speaking of Smith, being at the ground for some of those umpiring decisions was horrendous. They officiated well for the majority of the game but there was a string of (non)decisions in the 3rd that caused an absolute uproar. Bont’s mark on the boundary unpaid set it off, followed by Aliir’s freekick for a hold which questionably should’ve been against him and then caused some viewers to wonder why we were booing him. Everyone at the ground knew we were booing him as he represented the bad ump decision which may have been lost to some viewers watching at home and seen as potentially racial (facebook posts). And then there was Smith’s 4th quarter (play on); I understand why it was called in the moment but it was so lineball. The game was close, he arguably didn’t even move off his line; it was the decision that got the whole stadium up out of seats in anger and if we had lost as a result of it, would’ve made his debut a mare. The win is as much relief as joy for all.

Long review, those are all the main things I wanted to talk about after Round 1, great start makes for a promising season. Plenty I’ve wanted to say about the team over the last 2 years but too often not bothered enough to post about it. 17/18 were both nonetheless disappointing seasons but I take a more understanding approach to how/why we finished where we did and would still take it all for 16’s glory. Thanks if you’ve read all this, been a while since a long post; dunno how many of these I’ve got in me but if you’d like any good player perspective chats, always happy to be tagged and hit a reply to this.

Just a final shoutout I really wanted to give last year, I was incredibly inspired by Crozier’s 2018. I teased him at Freo, I remember we were in drafting considerations after his U18 hanger. Then we got Toby who already showed greater output and not just a one trick high flyer who has already won a premiership. Was ready to heavily critique him, what would he offer? Truly showed what good continuity can do for any player and his backend 2018 was mighty. His game against the Saints was inspiring and I was so happy for his first goal 55 metre launch which was very deserved; and his final minute defensive effort against Richmond against the reigning Brownlow Dusty to give Lynch a chance for the win was Heroic. Quiet game last night but hoping he can emulate his late 2018.

You get a like for the substantive content alone. Thanks for contributing.

But also, you put into words my criticism of our captain, which I was really too lazy to type out on my phone. I probably overlooked his job on Buddy, and focused too much on a few lost contests that he really should have done better in. That crucial one with blakey you mentioned is the most notable.

 

[perro_loco]

The term 'hate' seems to be commonly used these days to describe critical or even analytical comments made about players? Surely this word is totally inappropriate and has crept into the vernacular as a lazy substitute for expressing one's disagreement.

Lazy teenagers thinking that they are experimenting with language.

 

[perro_loco]

Thought Dicko wasn’t bad like most here are saying; presented well, had some good defensive moments and looked super fit. Has never been a long kick of the footy. Such a natural forward, he’ll love the current setup with a couple of talls giving him a lesser defender.

If Dicko had kiked a goal nobody would be whingeing.

 

[Sedat!]

Having libba back definitely makes a difference on today’s outcome

Remember when Matthew Lloyd said during trade week last year that Libba would not get a game in Essendon's midfield? Yep, the same Libba that is a premiership hero and inside mid beast of the competition, who once again schooled Sydney's much hyped inside midfield brigade. And yep, the same Essendon who has the shittest, smallest, thinnest, most outside midfield in the competition, and who just got destroyed by the GWS mids minus Ward and Kelly.

Great analysis there Lloydy

 

[perro_loco]

Can legit say that I don’t miss any of the boys that have left over the last few years.

We were still scrappy as hell last nite. We still need more class and fewer battlers. Dahlhaus doesn’t make us better.

Peak stringer would help, but that player no longer exists.

Roughead? Nope.

Adams injured again.

Hamling would have played last nite. He’s the closest thing to a loss IMO.

Agree. That is called "great list management"!!!

 

[VogonProsthetnic]

Remember when Matthew Lloyd said during trade week last year that Libba would not get a game in Essendon's midfield? Yep, the same Libba that is a premiership hero and inside mid beast of the competition, who once again schooled Sydney's much hyped inside midfield brigade. And yep, the same Essendon who has the shittest, smallest, thinnest, most outside midfield in the competition, and who just got destroyed by the GWS mids minus Ward and Kelly.

Great analysis there Lloydy

To be fair to Lloyd- he may be referring to the 2017 Libba.

He should have known that the 2019 Libba probably was going to be more like the 2016 Libba.

The Libba I'd really like to see is the pre ACL 2014 Libba.

Unfortunately for him the 2019 Essendon midfield looks like being as bad as the 2018 Essendon midfield.

 

[Flags_In_The_Bag]

He only moved west in his teens. From Victoria originally. The pull back to the west is mitigated.




On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Yes i think he was quoted in saying he would like to be drafted by a victorian club, namely the magpies.

 

[Substance]

Remember when Matthew Lloyd said during trade week last year that Libba would not get a game in Essendon's midfield? Yep, the same Libba that is a premiership hero and inside mid beast of the competition, who once again schooled Sydney's much hyped inside midfield brigade. And yep, the same Essendon who has the shittest, smallest, thinnest, most outside midfield in the competition, and who just got destroyed by the GWS mids minus Ward and Kelly.

Great analysis there Lloydy

Essendon would give up a lot for a fully fit Libba. He's underrated because he's missed 2 years with ACL injuries. But look at his 2013,2014,2016 seasons. He's a beast of a contested ball winner, and not only a good kick for an inside mid, he's a high IQ player too.

 

[Werewolf]

Player ratings - surprised to see Lloyd on top (he was OK, but my mate thought he was dreadful!) and Wood wasn't that bad:

 

[Braybrook Son]

If Dickson is truly cooked, who is next in line for the spot? Lippy, Cavarra, or Greene?

Greene for mine

 

[ScottyDogg]

Player ratings - surprised to see Lloyd on top (he was OK, but my mate thought he was dreadful!) and Wood wasn't that bad:

View attachment 641412

It’s easy to see the cause of the swans comback in the chart. Dunkley, McLean, Hunter, Smith all fell off a cliff in the 4th. Hopefully we can manage their rotations Better. That is one of the great advantages of Bevo’s gameplan is that we have so many soldiers who can go through there. Lack of a runner makes management more difficult though.

 

[Substance]

We should have put them 50+ points away in the 2nd half of the 3rd quarter. Then a few blokes decided to do nothing but kick to sydney players for the first 10 minutes of the 4th. That can be cleaned up easily. Just can't be doing it against Hawthorn.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

The most enjoyable trip to the footy in quite some time. Great win. Some thoughts:
Wallis - played ok but not his best. Not entirely sure what the go is with an increased midfield role for him. He's just not as good a mid as he is a forward.
Bontempelli - absolute champion. Not that it really makes a difference but watching him drag himself and the team into an extra gear when it was so desperately needed made his non-captaincy look silly.
Dunkley - played really well but needs to make more of an effort to present an option when he's in front of the ball. A player with such great overhead skills shouldn't be finishing a game with 0 marks.
Smith - he's not ready but we knew that when he was picked. Worked into the game and had some good moments.
Crozier - his overhead skills are brilliant. He seems to be developing a bit of a "two-man game" with Caleb where they support each other and it worked really well. He's a lock in our back six.
Wood - I see a lot of praise for his game but at the ground I thought he was consistently quite poor. Buddy was obviously not fit and spent much of the first half playing 100 metres back from his nearest teammate. Felt he made a lot of mistakes and looked a touch slow for much of the night.
Schache - had a bit of a weird role but despite limited involvement he had an impact. Completely and utterly spent from the first bounce in the fourth quarter but kept pushing hard and influenced the contest. Respect.
Duryea - great first game for the club. Had a few howlers which will happen quite a bit but offers something different to our back end that is quite valuable. Best 22.
McLean - I feel like his game may have been undersold by TV footage. He was enormous. Played the high half forward role absolutely perfectly and was unbelievable in the first half. Becoming a high impact player without needing to get the ball 25+ times, which is huge.
Richards - struggling a little at the moment. Not sure if it's a fitness thing or an extra attention thing but he's not hitting the highs he did early last year. Think he might play a bit of VFL footy this year - which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Liberatore - good return game. Will look for him to use the ball a bit better as he continues to build.
Lloyd - struggled in the first half but built to be really crucial in the second. Showed some good signs. Offers something different to our other forwards in that he actually knows where to run.
Gowers - turned his deplorable preseason form around to play a really important role on the weekend. His leads were brilliant and something I haven't seen from a Dogs forward for a while.
Naughton - wow. Wow wow wow wow wow. We have a gun key position player. Had an impact no matter where he was. Changed the game when he moved back, but was dynamic and influential when he was in the forward line. I'll take three.
Williams - less said the better. Awful game. Extremely out of form. Needs to play VFL and find his way back.
English - he's not ready but he's showing some good signs. Had some really great moments.

 

[Testekill]

I agree with you but Dahl was enormous for Geelong. A revitalized and motivated Dahl would have been great for us this year.

He was never gonna give a s**t for us again.

 

[AFDogs]

He was never gonna give a s**t for us again.

Yep, sadly. Culture wasn't right for him.

 

[mambavino]

How good was the roar from the doggies crowd when Bont kicked that goal!

The members were really up and about in my area on level 1. I think everybody was just buzzing with the aggressive application the boys showed from the start. The ability to stop and ultimately turn the overwhelming tide in the last qtr will stand us in good stead in future weeks.

 

[ScragCity]

English needs to get better at marking overhead. A few times he ended up on much smaller opponents in a one-on-one marking contest and still failed to clunk it.

 

[Norm De Guerre]

The most enjoyable trip to the footy in quite some time. Great win. Some thoughts:
Wallis - played ok but not his best. Not entirely sure what the go is with an increased midfield role for him. He's just not as good a mid as he is a forward.
Bontempelli - absolute champion. Not that it really makes a difference but watching him drag himself and the team into an extra gear when it was so desperately needed made his non-captaincy look silly.
Dunkley - played really well but needs to make more of an effort to present an option when he's in front of the ball. A player with such great overhead skills shouldn't be finishing a game with 0 marks.
Smith - he's not ready but we knew that when he was picked. Worked into the game and had some good moments.
Crozier - his overhead skills are brilliant. He seems to be developing a bit of a "two-man game" with Caleb where they support each other and it worked really well. He's a lock in our back six.
Wood - I see a lot of praise for his game but at the ground I thought he was consistently quite poor. Buddy was obviously not fit and spent much of the first half playing 100 metres back from his nearest teammate. Felt he made a lot of mistakes and looked a touch slow for much of the night.
Schache - had a bit of a weird role but despite limited involvement he had an impact. Completely and utterly spent from the first bounce in the fourth quarter but kept pushing hard and influenced the contest. Respect.
Duryea - great first game for the club. Had a few howlers which will happen quite a bit but offers something different to our back end that is quite valuable. Best 22.
McLean - I feel like his game may have been undersold by TV footage. He was enormous. Played the high half forward role absolutely perfectly and was unbelievable in the first half. Becoming a high impact player without needing to get the ball 25+ times, which is huge.
Richards - struggling a little at the moment. Not sure if it's a fitness thing or an extra attention thing but he's not hitting the highs he did early last year. Think he might play a bit of VFL footy this year - which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Liberatore - good return game. Will look for him to use the ball a bit better as he continues to build.
Lloyd - struggled in the first half but built to be really crucial in the second. Showed some good signs. Offers something different to our other forwards in that he actually knows where to run.
Gowers - turned his deplorable preseason form around to play a really important role on the weekend. His leads were brilliant and something I haven't seen from a Dogs forward for a while.
Naughton - wow. Wow wow wow wow wow. We have a gun key position player. Had an impact no matter where he was. Changed the game when he moved back, but was dynamic and influential when he was in the forward line. I'll take three.
Williams - less said the better. Awful game. Extremely out of form. Needs to play VFL and find his way back.
English - he's not ready but he's showing some good signs. Had some really great moments.

The difference in perspective between being at the game and watching on TV is always fascinating. I was forced to watch the game on TV after hitting a large rock that was sunning itself in the middle of the road which shattered my front wheel and very nearly punted me into the weeds on the way in. It's hard to disagree with much of your analysis other than to say that from my couch other than his sublime kick in the crucial Bontempelli goal late in the game McLean seemed to be mostly ineffective and absent for long periods of the game. I'll have to take a closer look at Naughtons time in defence when I watch the replay of the game, as my recollections are that he was so spent that he was having a lot of trouble getting to and impacting contests under the avalanche of Swans forward attacks during the final quarter.

 

[mcgleereturns]

Naughton spoiled a mark or forced it to the line at least 3 times in the few minutes he was there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dogsbestfriend]

The things I liked on Saturday night was for the first three quarters we beat them up in the midfield and at stoppages AND our disposal by foot was much better than in the last 2 years.

If we can keep these things up we'll go alright.

 

[stefoid]

Thought Dicko wasn’t bad like most here are saying; presented well, had some good defensive moments and looked super fit. Has never been a long kick of the footy. Such a natural forward, he’ll love the current setup with a couple of talls giving him a lesser defender.

Keep him wrapped up until finals.