as has been said, manning up was the problem, but more specifically its the defensive running of the midfield and half forwards. the backs were ok and matera, sampi and haynes had good defensive games (they love blocking it in and creating oppurtunities for each other dont they)
when the ball is in our possession and is going forward, we run and try to create oppurtunities by sheperding or getting into position to help out (either an open marking option, tall pack marking option, at the foot of a pack, or a handball out of trouble), and thats great, but in the event of a turnover you really need to run hard back to your opponent, to cover their offensive run thru the midfield and into their forward fifty. pressure not just on the carrier but especially the run-with players means less oppurtunity for possessions and effective disposal into their forward line. too many times the bulldogs had too much time to deliver well to players in too much space between the arcs, even when the ball had been in their possession for 10 seconds or more (generally time enough for our boys to man up) this was our big problem against the bombers too. ok macintosh got toweled up by lloyd, but essendon had too easy a time finding a player with enough space to get good disposal to him.
its all about fitness and awareness, i thought that we were one of the fittest sides in the comp with our great finishing this year, but maybe we are starting to tire.