Review Dees v Bombers: the Good, the Bad and the Fugly

[Fork n Hell]

An alternative take here to some (most)...

The other Demon I’ll single out is Koltyn Tholstrup. This is a young man still finding his way in the game, but today was undoubtedly the best performance of his young career. Playing mostly as a roaming half-back, Tholstrup gathered 22 disposals, with just two turnovers, had eight intercepts and four defensive rebounds. Efforts like that should ensure that Tholstrup remains firmly entrenched in Melbourne’s best 23 going forward, because he has all the tools to make himself a long-time AFL star.

Gather Round - Essendon v Melbourne... Live! - The Mongrel Punt

The Bombers chalked up their first win in 18 tries, running over the Dees at Adelaide Oval in Gather Round. Matt Oman was there to witness it

themongrelpunt.com

i thought most of his game was good but he just made a couple of dumb mistakes that really stood out though as they cost us goals, like the deliberate OOB and the missed mid air kick. i think he's the sort that's gonna have to keep working hard to get that stuff out of his game.

 

[Demon Attack]

Midfield got embarrassed and I still haven't seen a good reason why they have Langford rotting out on a wing. Give him a go in there ffs it's what he was drafted for.

 

[Crusty Demon]

Midfield got embarrassed and I still haven't seen a good reason why they have Langford rotting out on a wing. Give him a go in there ffs it's what he was drafted for.

Yeah it is a bit bizarre they haven't thrown him in there. He's been ok at best on the outside. I'm sure they have a plan for him to get in there at some point.

 

[Dory_77]

An alternative take here to some (most)...

The other Demon I’ll single out is Koltyn Tholstrup. This is a young man still finding his way in the game, but today was undoubtedly the best performance of his young career. Playing mostly as a roaming half-back, Tholstrup gathered 22 disposals, with just two turnovers, had eight intercepts and four defensive rebounds. Efforts like that should ensure that Tholstrup remains firmly entrenched in Melbourne’s best 23 going forward, because he has all the tools to make himself a long-time AFL star.

Gather Round - Essendon v Melbourne... Live! - The Mongrel Punt

The Bombers chalked up their first win in 18 tries, running over the Dees at Adelaide Oval in Gather Round. Matt Oman was there to witness it

themongrelpunt.com

Find this a weird take. As a defender he seemed very loose and lost his man too often. He's only played/trained there recently so fair enough he's not perfect but #ATG he seemed to make the wrong choice of going the ball or the man very often when the Bombers were attacking.

May as well persist with him for a bit and see if he can improve (the whole team was shit defensively yesterday), but wouldn't think he'll be entrenched if that performance becomes the norm.

 

[schmuttt]

Can we play Melk/Fritta in the same team? Not sure if it didn't help Mihocek/JVR were shit, but we lose so much at ground level with them in the side.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Turner needs to know his limitations, I like a long kick across goal to change direction but hes ****ed up quite a few of them the past couple of weeks.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Can we play Melk/Fritta in the same team? Not sure if it didn't help Mihocek/JVR were shit, but we lose so much at ground level with them in the side.

Was thinking the same going into the game only to discover Petty was in the F50 as well. So strange.

Melk was running round on one leg yesterday though so that played a part in making us even slower and allowing Essendon to rebound with ease.

 

[schmuttt]

Was thinking the same going into the game only to discover Petty was in the F50 as well. So strange.

Melk was running round on one leg yesterday though so that played a part in making us even slower and allowing Essendon to rebound with ease.

Yep, we are too tall. You could make the argument to drop Melk/JVR/Petty and bring in Kentfield/Heath plus a small.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Yep, we are too tall. You could make the argument to drop Melk/JVR/Petty and bring in Kentfield/Heath plus a small.

I dont mind Petty as a second ruck and roaming but stuffing him into an already too tall forward line was a bad call. Not sure what you'd do with Heath, doesnt seem a fit having two pure rucks.

The VFL is run by ******s, shame that Kentfield and co havent had a chance to show what they can do.

 

[schmuttt]

I dont mind Petty as a second ruck and roaming but stuffing him into an already too tall forward line was a bad call. Not sure what you'd do with Heath, doesnt seem a fit having two pure rucks.

The VFL is run by ******s, shame that Kentfield and co havent had a chance to show what they can do.

I get they're probably trying to experiment with Petty in a utility type role like Leigh Brown was for the Pies years ago, it isn't a bad shout with the 5 man bench. Just think the bloke is completely cooked mentally.

Either way no matter who goes in and out we need to drop a tall.

 

[Dory_77]

Based on Casey's instagram there was an unofficial scratch match against Essendon today. Hopefully get some blokes pressing for selection from that

 

[Bluelegs]

Was thinking the same going into the game only to discover Petty was in the F50 as well. So strange.

Melk was running round on one leg yesterday though so that played a part in making us even slower and allowing Essendon to rebound with ease.

I know it was his game but he should have just sat out once he did his ankle. Became a total liability.

 

[schmuttt]

I know it was his game but he should have just sat out once he did his ankle. Became a total liability.

Reminded me a bit of the game against the Dogs last year when he had a horrible last quarter and just looked so slow.

Love what Melk has given us but probably shouldn't play much more this year.

 

[Lord Nev]

Find this a weird take. As a defender he seemed very loose and lost his man too often. He's only played/trained there recently so fair enough he's not perfect but #ATG he seemed to make the wrong choice of going the ball or the man very often when the Bombers were attacking.

May as well persist with him for a bit and see if he can improve (the whole team was shit defensively yesterday), but wouldn't think he'll be entrenched if that performance becomes the norm.

Yeah definitely agree. Would not have though he had a good game by any stretch but it did make me think maybe he wasn't as bad as first impressions suggest.

 

[Johnny Karate]

Can we play Melk/Fritta in the same team? Not sure if it didn't help Mihocek/JVR were shit, but we lose so much at ground level with them in the side.

Should only ever have a maximum of 3 of Mihocek/JVR/Fritsch/Melksham types in the team let alone the same forward line. Even then, you’re asking Latrelle, Sharp and Chandler to do a ****load of chasing.

 

[Lord Nev]

Based on Casey's instagram there was an unofficial scratch match against Essendon today. Hopefully get some blokes pressing for selection from that

Rivers played in that apparently.

 

[TheBoss]

Kozzie is getting off easy in this thread. His disposal hasn't been great this year but yesterday was ****ing awful. 28 touches for 10 turnovers with 48% disposal efficiency. The 2nd lowest on the entire field. It's easy to blame the regular spuds, but they played about as well as they always play. We rely heavily on Pickett and his disposal absolutely killed us

Give him better teammates and the issue will fix itself.

 

[mrmonkey]

Without watching the replay, I was thinking about how essendon were happy to chip the ball sideways until an option opened up. I reckon they did it to force our players up the ground which then created space to kick forward. I think in this situation the players just need to hang back and let them chip away. It reminded me of that hawthorn game a few years ago where they just chipped it around their backline. We just hung back until they eventually turned it over. I know it's a Goodwin tactic but perhaps that's what needs to be done.

 

[Lord Nev]

Without watching the replay, I was thinking about how essendon were happy to chip the ball sideways until an option opened up. I reckon they did it to force our players up the ground which then created space to kick forward. I think in this situation the players just need to hang back and let them chip away. It reminded me of that hawthorn game a few years ago where they just chipped it around their backline. We just hung back until they eventually turned it over. I know it's a Goodwin tactic but perhaps that's what needs to be done.

I know the uncontested mark number was big, but I don't think it was a huge issue IMO.

For context:
Inside 50s - MFC 52 Ess 54
Contested possessions - MFC 115 Ess 142

Hitouts - MFC 39 Ess 21
Hitouts to adv - MFC 11 Ess 8
Hitouts to 1st poss - MFC 43% Ess 62%

And the big one:
Scores from stoppage - MFC 3.4.22 Ess 8.4.52

They only kicked 1 goal from kickins, and only beats us by 8 points for points from turnovers. The defensive half to score/f50 etc numbers were not much different between the teams.

 

[mrmonkey]

I know the uncontested mark number was big, but I don't think it was a huge issue IMO.

For context:
Inside 50s - MFC 52 Ess 54
Contested possessions - MFC 115 Ess 142

Hitouts - MFC 39 Ess 21
Hitouts to adv - MFC 11 Ess 8
Hitouts to 1st poss - MFC 43% Ess 62%

And the big one:
Scores from stoppage - MFC 3.4.22 Ess 8.4.52

They only kicked 1 goal from kickins, and only beats us by 8 points for points from turnovers. The defensive half to score/f50 etc numbers were not much different between the teams.

We definitely got smashed in the midfield and I mentioned that in the game day thread multiple times. There was one situation where we won the ball but essendon ended up with the clearance by applying pressure. Another situation was McGrath just walking it out of the middle with no pressure that made me pretty furious. Anyway I still think if teams are going to play that style against us in the future, I still think we should just push back and make it hard, I know it's Goodwin esq but I think it's the best way to counter it imo.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Not to be cheering on injuries but wouldnt mind Salem and Melksham having to miss next week. Hopefully AMW put in a good game today. Swapping them out for Rivers and AMW would be the way id go right now without thinking about it too deeply.

 

[Lord Nev]

We definitely got smashed in the midfield and I mentioned that in the game day thread multiple times. There was one situation where we won the ball but essendon ended up with the clearance by applying pressure. Another situation was McGrath just walking it out of the middle with no pressure that made me pretty furious. Anyway I still think if teams are going to play that style against us in the future, I still think we should just push back and make it hard, I know it's Goodwin esq but I think it's the best way to counter it imo.

I'm not sure we need to go full Goody, but there's been issues most of the year with our stoppages - We're 14th for stoppage differential, but 1st for hitout differential. I think we're one really good clearance and burst mid short in terms of our list, but I think atm there's just a pretty expected disconnect between a very new midfield group. I'm hoping that improves, but it's a big test for a midfield coach with very little experience.

 

[Lord Nev]

Not to be cheering on injuries but wouldnt mind Salem and Melksham having to miss next week. Hopefully AMW put in a good game today. Swapping them out for Rivers and AMW would be the way id go right now without thinking about it too deeply.

For mine, if Salem is injured, I'd love to see Salem and TMac out, AMW and Taylor in. Makes us just a little less tall and hopefully better then at ground level. We're 14th for D50 ground ball gets (team v oppo).

Similar with Melksham (16th for F50 ground ball gets, team v oppo). I know they'll be itching for Kentfield, but would much rather bring in Henderson or Matthews for the pressure and balance (despite Kentfield being the much better player atm).

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Similar with Melksham (16th for F50 ground ball gets, team v oppo). I know they'll be itching for Kentfield, but would much rather bring in Henderson or Matthews for the pressure and balance (despite Kentfield being the much better player atm).

Maybe we could try Lindsay or Tholstrup forward and put Rivers back too.

 

[Lord Nev]

Maybe we could try Lindsay or Tholstrup forward and put Rivers back too.

I'd definitely be keen to try Tholstrup forward again. Dunno why, but still think if he's ever gonna make it it's going to be as a forward who plays a little mid.