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Training Are they really unfit?

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Yeah and then in the real world, form is temporary and class is permanent. Putting those types in the VFL will achieve nothing and you know it.

When did patience and not throwing every toy out of the cot become such an evasive virtue?
 

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The ANZAC day match is the test of how they are going fitness wise due to the long break allowing them to freshen up.
Wouldn't mind seeing a few of the older returning players such as Watson rested for the Melbourne match in round 6 due that being an incredibly short turn around after playing ANZAC.
 
Not overly worried.

Hooker showed signs in the second half and took a couple of stronger marks. Give him time. No point swapping with Hurley, think Hurley will be no better at this stage and has proven not to be a long term option. Hooker back with Stewart forward is weaker than Brown/Hartley back with Hooker forward.

Hurley and Heppell will be fine.

Stanton hasn't been a world beater for years. His form has been above what I expected this year. For me, he is a best 16 - 24 player.

Watson needs time before we write him off as finished. How can people be saying Jobe is finished, when clearly a bunch of these returning players are struggling? Let's wait til midyear before we write any of these guys off.
 
Capt Hindsight said:
The ANZAC day match is the test of how they are going fitness wise due to the long break allowing them to freshen up.
Wouldn't mind seeing a few of the older returning players such as Watson rested for the Melbourne match in round 6 due that being an incredibly short turn around after playing ANZAC.
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I wouldn't be making wholesale changes any week but we do have scope for a bit of rotation. If one best 22 player were to miss in a given week, we can cover to some degree.
 
Bunk Moreland said:
I wouldn't be making wholesale changes any week but we do have scope for a bit of rotation. If one best 22 player were to miss in a given week, we can cover to some degree.
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Yeah not wholesale changes but try to avoid playing players that are physically drained from the previous week and can't run out the match.
Watson played very well in the first 3 games games but only managing 67% time on ground (The least of all Essendon players) against Adelaide.
The Carlton game probably had taken a lot out of him. Its way better for the team to give him a rest for a week and bring in a fresh player, then play him underdone.
 
yodellinhank said:
2007
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Peter Jackson was wrong though. We can't just expect flags every seven years because we're Essendon. The landscape has changed, and the club has gone through a major trauma.

I'm not against managing the returning players if they're looking burnt out by any means. But wholesale dropping isn't the answer, either from a morale perspective or from the perspective of playing them back into form.
 
We'll be up and down. Not overly concerned right now.
 
* Carlton played 50-70% better to us in the wet.

* Have we ever travelled well in the last 10 years? (Brisbane game excluded)

I'm going to go with the mental lull after the hype, rather than fitness issues. The coaching staff would have to be wary of mental toughness on the blokes coming back after 12 months, along with the shift in perception from the group who played last year. There will be a period of adapting back to the pace of the game, along with a grace period from Woosha as the bits all fall back into place.

Essentially, we're better for the run(s). It's great to have a few wins at this stage to go with the losses, as the last two games hurt... but not 0-4 hurt. We can still build a season from here. I expect some form improvement over the next 6 weeks and a much better back half to the year.
 

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Where's the bloke who claimed in the preseason, that after an extended break and loss of fitness, all you need is a couple of runs to get the run back in the legs :rolleyes:

The boys will get better as the season goes on. It's a long season, let's relax a little.
 
Towno78 said:
Where's the bloke who claimed in the preseason, that after an extended break and loss of fitness, all you need is a couple of runs to get the run back in the legs :rolleyes:
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Mate it's no big deal. A couple laps of the oval and you're right as rain.

It's not like one on one body contact and being savagely tackled and crunched makes it any harder to keep going and it's not like you can't just return to coping with all of that well after no games for 18 months. Preposterous idea!
 
It is another year added to the saga unfortunately, but I think that was always the case.

The thing that can be salvaged is getting more games into the kids and getting a good look at Franca,Stewart, Clark, Begley and these guys.

Whether Woosha sticks to his word and starts to drop some of the underperforming seniors is another story.


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we are 4 rounds in to the season. Talls generally take longer to do most things so it's understandable they are also taking more to get back into match fitness.

Colyer, Heppell have shown good form (Heppell could be cleaner but that will come)
Stanton doing pretty much what I expect of him, he has lost a yard but hasn't been horrible
Watson doing some great things still but I still think we should play him forward more, doesn't help with our lack of inside mids I guess
Hooker and Hurley look lost. I think Hooker needs to go back, but we can't put him there before we decide who plays forward. It's easy to just scream "Play STEWART" but if his form isn't allowing it then he shouldn't be played just because he's tall.

Maybe we play Bellchambers as FF, but we still have no idea what his form will be like.

I think we just need to suck it up for a month or so, let them gain match day nous again. It's all about 2018 and onwards
 

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84859300 said:
* Carlton played 50-70% better to us in the wet.

* Have we ever travelled well in the last 10 years? (Brisbane game excluded)

I'm going to go with the mental lull after the hype, rather than fitness issues. The coaching staff would have to be wary of mental toughness on the blokes coming back after 12 months, along with the shift in perception from the group who played last year. There will be a period of adapting back to the pace of the game, along with a grace period from Woosha as the bits all fall back into place.

Essentially, we're better for the run(s). It's great to have a few wins at this stage to go with the losses, as the last two games hurt... but not 0-4 hurt. We can still build a season from here. I expect some form improvement over the next 6 weeks and a much better back half to the year.
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Interesting re mental lull

More what I'm getting at - is it really fitness? Or something else?

I think a lot of it would be getting the team to play as a unit when there's so many guys who weren't around last year. I sort of think that rather than fitness, though the latter is obviously a factor.
 
Sorry to intrude, but as we've got two of the 34 on our list it's an interesting discussion to read about.

I reckon you can't truly judge if they're feeling it already until your game after you play us. You've got a 10 day break before ANZAC day so the players should be fine, the 5 day break before your game against us means you could excuse some tired bodies but your round 7 game will be the best indicator.

Hibberd has had a couple niggles and played his first game in the VFL last week and looked good, if there was going to be any bloke that'd struggle with a year off I think it'd be old thunder thighs piggy so we'll see if they bring him in straight away or let him get some real good form going at Casey. Melksham seems pretty fit but his problems are above the shoulders anyway :mad:
 
Hooker
I'm not concerned, his kicked six in four games, he is contesting, as Scotty said in a video on the club site, he missed eight weeks of the preseason, didn't play any JLT games so the last few weeks have been his preseason matches but more importantly is freeing Daniher up.

Hurley
Again I'm not that concerned, think he has been let down a bit by a lack of support in defense and the way oppositions have been bringing the ball forward, if we start to match oppositions in the middle and one or two other defenders step up then Hurley should be okay.

Hepp
Mixed, at times has been impressive, yet still seems to be adjusting to the new midfield structure, again not concerned.

Jobe
Before seeing the stats which say Jobe is killing it in terms of possessions I was concerned but like Hepp has been good at times, in someways the development of Merrett and Parish lessen the need for Jobe to dominate like his Brownlow year.

Colyer
Has continued with his 2015 form, not concerned.

Hocking and Howlett were good in their matches.

Stanton
Is a concern, I know he is playing a different role but he doesn't seem to be the ball magnet he was, it could be a case of a guy building, one thing with Stanton that has been missing, I can't recall a clanger, his been pretty good with the ball so maybe its more my expectations than anything.

Bellchambers and Myers haven played yet.
 
I think 2 players are unfit right now:
Hooker and Watson.

Hooker: Missed a fair amount of preseason and came in with no JLT under his belt. As Lucas said in his review - "he'll be better for playing the first 4 games now and should see his form improve." Playing forward hasn't been the easiest with new team mates, lacking match fitness, new role and a low amount of inside 50's and losing clearances from the mids. I think Hooker will end up fine.

Watson: Honestly I think the end is nigh for Watson (as in end of this year). Watson actually had a full preseason and played in the JLT. His build up was really good. The fact that he could only manage 67% of game time is pretty sad to be honest. The coaches need to be prepared to rest him regularly through the season. The days of him leading our midfield from the front I believe are over. We probably should look to give him more forward minutes and try to develop Langford and Parish (and later Laverde) more as inside midfielders.

As for the others:
Hurley: Not sure its fitness related or not (but he's definitely under-sized for his role now, having lost a fair bit of weight) and he's also playing with low confidence and he's uncertain in his actions. Its clear he's making the wrong defensive decisions at times - a number of times against Adelaide he left his man and then failed to impact the contest. Those decisions lead to goals against us. I believe he will naturally start to play better if we keep backing him in. I hope we let him build up some confidence playing as the 3rd tall for a few weeks and send the big challenges to Ambrose who is in ripper form right now.

Heppell: Playing pretty well. I think he was one that was genuinely just sore after the Carlton match which is why he didn't attend any centre bounces. I reckon after 10 day break you will see him back to his normal prolific self. A little bit off on touch as everyone has mentioned but that will come. No worries here. Heppell himself addressed Worsfold's comments and he intimated that it was really just Jobe that 'hit the wall' and not the whole team.

Colyer: Playing as well if not better than he ever has. I think he's relishing his role in the team with the support of guys like Fantasia and Tippa.

Stanton: Not playing terrible and in fact his kicking has probably been better this year than ever before. However I feel like he's just taking the spot of a developing youngster without really performing at a level that demands a spot in the team. In his last year in my opinion and like Jobe should be rested regularly.

Hocking: We only saw him once. He's in a lot of trouble career wise. His role as a tagger (which he was average at) has fallen out of favour and he himself is lacking fitness and form. Don't expect him to play many games unless injuries pile up. Reckon his career might end a lot earlier than some are expecting - perhaps the end of this year or the next. He's not one that I particularly rate in other roles.

Howlett: He's always been seen as a fringe player but I think unlike Hocking - he's actually a handy type to keep as depth. Neat skills, can play lockdown forward who tackles a lot and can kick a goal. Decent but not explosive pace. His one game was pretty good and if he hadn't done the hamstring would have kept his spot and it would have been interesting between him and the returning Green.
 
Hocking was a decent tagger when it was more in vogue. I've always liked him around the fifty - normally nails his shots on the run.

But I do agree that he will probably struggle to fit back in regularly and therefore, he's probably on borrowed time now.
 
Doss said:
Mate it's no big deal. A couple laps of the oval and you're right as rain.

It's not like one on one body contact and being savagely tackled and crunched makes it any harder to keep going and it's not like you can't just return to coping with all of that well after no games for 18 months. Preposterous idea!
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im hardly a test case.....

but deciding to play again this year after a huge break, i was training up an absolute storm! running rings around it, bouncing about - doing everything required.

5 mins into the first practice match i was blowing up a storm - half way through first game i had massive lactic acid legs and was useless.

again, not saying i can compare with elite systems and all that jazz, just saying training has zero similarities to actual match play imo.
 

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Training Are they really unfit?

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