Eagles v Essendon-GBU

Mead

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From the Book of Woosha Chapter 2, Round 10
And as the maggot issued forth with a dodgy decision to give Essendon a goal, Woosha said: '**** THAT!!! You have ****ing got to be ****ing kidding, you ****ed up piece of ****ing ****head maggot!!!'
And Suma, who was sitting next to Woosha heard this, and said- 'Did you not say that we should take the good umpiring with the bad?' And Woosha heard this, and looked at Sumich. And Sumich sat still for some time and said 'I shall just shut up now, shall I?'



The Good:
Oddly enough, given the final result, our big name midfielders had an okay day. Cousins and Kerr were good, the latter particularly outstanding in the first half before rolling an ankle, whilst Cousins did everything you could possibly ask of a captain in the final quarter. Fletcher and Judd also came to the party, whilst Wirrpunda had an okay day, and Chick did some good things. It seems a bit of a conundrum as to how we could have lost with that sort of spread, see 'the bad' for what I reckon.

Up forward, Haynes was very good indeed in the first half. He took some outstanding marks, kicked okay, and continued to show good signs. 2.2 is an okay return for a FF, but there was another side to his game- see below. Embley had another impressive outing, presenting well and kicking truly. He also definitely came to play in the final quarter. Gardiner enjoyed an interesting cameo up forward, but seemed under the weather, meaning Cox shouldered the bulk of the rucking, which he managed serviceably.

In defence, Glass did a creditable job at CHB against good opposition.

If you're reading this, hopefully you'll agree that all of the above is relatively well balanced and realistic. Maybe you should do both of us a favor by not reading any further, because there's a lot of pent up bitterness behind this keyboard, which will no doubt start to find its way out about now.


The Bad: Still with me? Maybe its just because this nipped a promising winning streak in the bud, but I am livid at this loss. We were a good enough team to win, we should have won, there are just no bloody excuses. At the risk of sounding like Lleyton Hewitt, we were up against a second rate side not exactly overflowing with talent, we just didn't do enough to deserve to win. The Bombers found an awful lot of guts at the right time and made us pay. There were a few people who simply did not show up when the going got tough. Time for some changes.

For a couple of weeks now, I've been saying that our midfield is being spoilt by dominant ruckwork. Put simply, we've been getting such good service from Gardie and co. that the midfield unit is happy to let the opposition run free. When the opposition breaks even in the ruck, we get ripped to shreds on the rebound, and that was what happened for extended periods today. When Cousins and Co. got their hands on it they were still doing good things, but when it went the other way Essendon had a paddock to work in, as evidenced by the uncontested marks tally. Basically, our ruck failed to dominate, and because of that we got pantsed. On top of that, outside the 'big name' brigade, we got absolutely nothing
from the backups. Braun, Humm and Munro did absolutely nothing of note. Up until the final quarter, I was confident that our fresh legs would see us home, but we got nothing from them when the chips were down. The 'front runner' tag is hovering- its very easy to get 15 touches in a winning side.

Up forward, Rowan Jones had a poor game. He found a few touches, but completely failed to convert, missing some bad ones. Sampi showed what happens when Fido isn't there to take the best small defender, and had absolutely no impact on the game. Jakovich was humbled at CHF, completely failing to provide a focal point, and getting burnt on the rebound time after time. Haynes' otherwise decent game was marred by a truly monumental choke late in the game. Essendon by 9 points, 7 minutes to play, and poor David dropped an uncontested mark 30m out in front. If he had have taken that... but I digress. We also had a chance to kick away in the third quarter, and missed a number of opportunities.

In defence,much as it pains me to say so, McIntosh was totally and utterly humiliated by Lloyd. What upset me about this contest was that our coaching staff failed to react to this- as far as I'm concerned, once an opposition forward hits the 4 goal mark before the main break, its time to make a change. Glass, Hunter, even Chick would have been worth a go on Lloyd, because they'd at least be able to stay with him on the lead. Time after time Milli was well led to the ball, and more than any other matchup, this cost us the game. Green and Banfield had okay outings but also got a bad case of the fumbles on occasions.

So in summary, the following players can go home with their heads held high: Cousins, Kerr, Fletcher, Wirrpunda, Embley, Haynes, Judd, Chick, Cox, Gardiner, Glass. The rest need to do a bit of soul searching.

The Ugly: *deep breath* About that umpiring. ****ty ****ty bounces, and a large number of just plain wrong decisions. Lowlights were the utterly ridiculous holding the ball decision given against Cox which resulted in a goal, and Cousins' getting pinged for ball late in the game, despite the replay clearly showing Cupido had him over the shoulder. We certainly got a few bloody wrong decisions go our way down the stretch, but basically, there was a 2-3 goal swing in favor of the dons. Call it home town umpiring, call it plain incompetence, some heads really need to roll from the Umpiring Association. Naturally I'm more bitter about this because of the final result, but there is not a team in the league which hasn't got the wrong end of the stick at one point or another. The fact is, probably every game this year that has been decided by 5 goals or less, you could make a case for it having gone the other way but for bad decisions.
Yes, so, um, anyway. Telstra dome is still as much of a dustbowl as ever. Check the number of times players slipped when not under pressure. Late in the final quarter it almost became a comedy of errors, with an Essendon player slipping and dropping a mark, Carroll going into gather and falling on his ass, Hunter trying to clean up and also going over... and so on. Not Good.

All things considered, this is a bit of a reality check for us, and a relatively painless one given that we hold our spot on the ladder. Any team which shows up and plays with the degree of vigor and determination that Essendon did will be be difficult to beat. Drop your guard, and we're gone. The biggest positive coming out of this game is that we're going back to Subiace sitting in second, with the entire playing group having the mental equivalant of a red hot poker jammed up their asses. I don't think we'll be taking the Dogs lightly after this.
 

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Mead

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Thread starter #2
Originally posted by TheRealBuzz
I agree with all you said, but blaming the umpires is an easy way out.
Which was why I chose it :)

Seriously I thought Essendon deserved to win more than we did and were probably the better side, but that doesn't change my opinion on the umpiring- appalling, even by the current crapulent standard.
 

TheRealBuzz

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#3
What the hell. My mind was on other things, and I just accidentally deleted my original post. Sorry about that.

Oh well, it wasn't anything worth reading anyway. :)
 

ozzult

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#4
Umpiring was pathetic, but it went both ways.

When we were 9 points down and we got that centre clearance, I was certain we were going to win, but we crapped ourselves.

All we needed to do was kick 2 goals in that period to win it. Instead when we were 9 down, it was Essendon who kicked the 2 goals in that period.

A game that we should have won, but in the end our "second stringers" who usually all put in a great effort, did not turn up today.

It's good to see Cousins playing well though.
 

thegur

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#5
welcome to tell it like it is Sunday, and after sitting with the Essendon scum today, watch out, I'm on fire. I'll preface this with I have not seen a replay, and you all know that you see things differently at the game as you do on TV.

BANFIELD WAS *****. Absolute pants, dreadful, and how he was on the ground for 3 3/4 I'm amazed. he did not get within 5 metres of Mercuri all day, then later Johnson, at any stage, and when he did get the ball, twice, hassled on the HBF, and twice coughed it up, left foot on the full ... once, maybe is forgivable, but twice. Mercuri doesn't respond well to close checking, and Banners was just AWOL. But let me continue.

Trent Carroll .... hmmm... did some good things, but HOW LONG WILL THEY STAND FOR HIS UTTER INCOMPETENCE? I have never, ever seen him pick a football up cleanly from the ground, ever. This is the difference between getting free, and being tackled, and week in, week out, he never picks it up cleanly, then there is his decision making. I didn't catch his behind the ball incident but I'd love to know how come the free was against him.

Mead hinted at it, but boy did we have passengers. Humm and Braun were hardly on, but then there was Munro, Sampi, Hunter, Jako, Banfield, Carroll and Jones. Where were they? There are reasons for all these names being there, but he phrase "left too much to too few" is on the tip of my tounge.

Haynes was good, but he needs to convert, end of story, I'm not saying Willow did, but he one he missed in the third, and the mark in the last, really good forwards grasp their opportunities.

Who else? The umpires were ****e ... they got so many soft free kicks. The holding the ball count was about 5-0. And so many were questionable. As I eluded to in another post, the velvet sledgehammer laid an eagle out with a nice elbow to the head behind the play, he didn't get the free and responded like a thug. Bouncing was crap, but the umpiring, in general just puzzled me ... like the deliberate against Milli, yet twice today, Wellman walked over the boundary at the first sign of pressure, making no attempt to disguise it ....

And on Milli ... who could have stopped Lloyd when he was getting delivery like that? I'd be more concerned about

1. Why Lloyd has so much space to lead into?

2. Why did he get the delivery he did? Where was the pressure?

Embers? and many others ... just did not make enough effort to run back after pushing forward. Hence McPhee kicked four. It's all well and good to run forward when you have the ball isn't it....

more to come as I think about it.

thegur
 

Kenny_01

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#6
Some points about the game and some players in general.

- I don't think McIntosh can be blamed today. Silvagni in his prime wouldn't have been able to hold LLoyd to less than 4 goals today.

- Haynes is great when the ball is delivered well in front of him and he can run at it at full pace, but if he has to slow down at all, his defender will punch the ball every time. He ran under the ball a few times. He has to slow down maybe at the start of his lead and then accelerate. But he has improved so much since last season, I'd go as far to say he is the Eagles most improved player.

- Wirrpunda has taken the next step and now has consistancy in his game. He is best suited to the backline like I have always said and he should stay there.

- Judd looks like he has struggled over the last month to me. He has contributed but hasn't looked as good as he did early on in the season. His kicking has let him down at times.

- Eagles need a tall marking forward as mentioned in the commentary. When the midfield isn't dominating, the forward line is clogged with extra defenders and there is no space to lead into, you need someone that can take a contested mark in a pack.

- Hunter is over-rated by Eagle supporters.
 

scholes

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#7
agree with all of that Kenny
-I thought Macca was average - but the delivery was perfect - no pressure, and noone was blocking his leads - macca needed help from his teammates
-Big fan of Haynes at the moment - played well today, if only he could be a little more consistent with his kicking
-Have always thought Wirra should be played in teh backline - got ribbed for suggesting it last year. He adds class to our poor back half and mops up so well and also helps his teammates a lot.
-Been quite critical of Judd lately - doesn't run when the opposition has the ball and cannot lay a tackle to save his life - just on that the team as a whole was poor in this area today - got killed in teh tackling stats
-I also agree we need a tall marking forward - Jako was very poor today and just doesn't provide enough of a contest consistently. And for a man of his size he gets pushed off the ball was too easily - bring in McDougall or Gaspar or both please
anyways cheers
 

jod23

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#8
Mead, I must disagree regarding McIntosh. I never saw him more than half a step behind Lloyd and it was only poor midfield pressure on the kicker that made Lloyd look so good and McIntosh so bad. No FB in the league could have stopped Lloyd with the type of delivery he was getting.

I would do a mini GBU but their would be too much bad! Ill tell you one thing though, I wouldnt like to be the Western Bulldogs about now. Whoosha no doubt will rip into the boys all week, then we are at home against the last placed side! I expect a win!
 

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#9
Originally posted by jod23
Mead, I must disagree regarding McIntosh. I never saw him more than half a step behind Lloyd and it was only poor midfield pressure on the kicker that made Lloyd look so good and McIntosh so bad. No FB in the league could have stopped Lloyd with the type of delivery he was getting.
but perhaps, Milli could have played him differently ... instead of starting from even, or slightly behind, he could have played five metres in front....

thegur
 

carlyp

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#10
This loss will do us good imo. It'll get us fired up and the boys will have a real crack on the training field this week. I expect that they'll come out and blow the Bulldogs to pieces.
 

Goldenblue

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#11
I don't put the onus all on McIntosh. Many times when Lloyd marked the ball, you could see Macca looking about asking who was there to fill in the holes. The WCE were slack in defence as well as helping out team mates. Umpiring was a shaocker for both sides, though it did favour Essendon a trifle.

Too many of our players did not play their defensive side and because of that we deserved to lose. McPhee is one who should never have had the freedom to do what he did.

The loss will do us good, but we can win every game from here on, meet Essendon in a final and still lose. Sheedy knows how to fire up his players as he does have a hatred for the WC.

Just wish someone would tell the old man that MM is gone. ;)
 

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carlyp

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#12
Originally posted by Goldenblue
I don't put the onus all on McIntosh. Many times when Lloyd marked the ball, you could see Macca looking about asking who was there to fill in the holes. The WCE were slack in defence as well as helping out team mates. Umpiring was a shaocker for both sides, though it did favour Essendon a trifle.

Too many of our players did not play their defensive side and because of that we deserved to lose. McPhee is one who should never have had the freedom to do what he did.

The loss will do us good, but we can win every game from here on, meet Essendon in a final and still lose. Sheedy knows how to fire up his players as he does have a hatred for the WC.

Just wish someone would tell the old man that MM is gone. ;)
Yes exactly, what about when cuzz got pinned for holding the ball, who was there to tell him that Cupido was hot on his tail??
We completely forgot about defence for the day!
I agree with you on your last point, what we have to do is get more fired up than they do and come out and absolutely go mental at them!
 

drexel

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#13
Last year Brad Hardie? says to Woosha, that you should just keep Wirra in the backline. Worsfold looks at him like he's an idiot and says "You don't play players like that down back" A week later Wirra gets 30 possessions and five goals which leads Gary Ayres to say he's our most dangerous player.

Of course he helps our backline, cause he's a ****in great player! We pay him $370G a year.
But there should be others able to stand up back there. We've been let down for two years by everyone we try... Humm, Banfield, Braun, Morrison, Prior etc... Why isn't Wooden back there....least he has speed and kicks 60 meters.

Wirra IMO is the man most likely to be our Mcloud and we need him forward of center.
 

carlyp

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#14
Originally posted by drexel
Last year Brad Hardie? says to Woosha, that you should just keep Wirra in the backline. Worsfold looks at him like he's an idiot and says "You don't play players like that down back" A week later Wirra gets 30 possessions and five goals which leads Gary Ayres to say he's our most dangerous player.

Of course he helps our backline, cause he's a ****in great player! We pay him $370G a year.
But there should be others able to stand up back there. We've been let down for two years by everyone we try... Humm, Banfield, Braun, Morrison, Prior etc... Why isn't Wooden back there....least he has speed and kicks 60 meters.

Wirra IMO is the man most likely to be our Mcloud and we need him forward of center.
But the thing is, at the moment, we NEED him down back cause noone else down back has his speed and his skill and his presence. If we had another player down back like him Id definately play Wirra forward BUT we dont and when we do move him forward look what happens! We lose! The fact is: We need him down back! Theres no question about it!
 

Jabber

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#15
Originally posted by thegur
Mead hinted at it, but boy did we have passengers. Humm and Braun were hardly on, but then there was Munro, Sampi, Hunter, Jako, Banfield, Carroll and Jones. Where were they? There are reasons for all these names being there, but he phrase "left too much to too few" is on the tip of my tounge.
Bit harsh there. Jones & Hunter did OK without setting the world alight. Munro was reasonable, Sampi below par. Carroll was up to his usual standard :( Agreed that Banfield & Jako were crap. Milli didn't look good, regardless of Lloyd's delivery.

One good thing to come out of this game, is that a few WAFL regulars should get a run this week.
 

Sera

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#16
I think Judd is a victim of his own success. Do the words 'self-fulfilling prophecy' mean anything? There are morons like Gerard Healy saying he is the best 2nd year player to ever play the game... well, we all expect so much of him but lets not forget he is still only 19 years old. All young players are inconsistant. As for flinching, lets not forget he has had 2 reconstructions in the not-too-distant past so of course he is thinking about self-preservation. The last few weeks I've seen players line him up and try to take him out.
 

carlyp

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#17
Originally posted by Jabber
Bit harsh there. Jones & Hunter did OK without setting the world alight. Munro was reasonable, Sampi below par. Carroll was up to his usual standard :( Agreed that Banfield & Jako were crap. Milli didn't look good, regardless of Lloyd's delivery.

One good thing to come out of this game, is that a few WAFL regulars should get a run this week.
I agree. Banfield didnt do enough on Johnson and Jakovich didnt do much full stop! Do we drop them or do we give them a chance? I say keep Jakovich in the side but give Banners a week in the WAFL.
 

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#18
maybe a mod can move by gbu from the jesus thread to this one but anyway i will add another couple of things

maybe i was a little harsh on macca coz lloyd was in good form but it just really frustrated me how i'd see lloyd metres in the clear and im just screaming that no ones on him. it really annoys me.

and i believe our players were too hot yesterday they were kicking too late and it was mucking them up and of course the way they managed to pick out essendon all the time...

im annoyed. it ruined my week. oh well.

steve rat
 

carlyp

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#19
Originally posted by steve_rat
maybe a mod can move by gbu from the jesus thread to this one but anyway i will add another couple of things

maybe i was a little harsh on macca coz lloyd was in good form but it just really frustrated me how i'd see lloyd metres in the clear and im just screaming that no ones on him. it really annoys me.

and i believe our players were too hot yesterday they were kicking too late and it was mucking them up and of course the way they managed to pick out essendon all the time...

im annoyed. it ruined my week. oh well.

steve rat
Yeah they did seem to kick it straight to the Bombers a fair bit! I wonder what was going on?
 

jod23

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#20
Originally posted by carlyp
I agree. Banfield didnt do enough on Johnson and Jakovich didnt do much full stop! Do we drop them or do we give them a chance? I say keep Jakovich in the side but give Banners a week in the WAFL.
I dont think Banfield should be dropped after one bad game? Would you drop Cousins after one bad game? Banners is pretty important to our side and I have no doubt that he will line up against the Doggies next weekend.

I wanna know why Braun was left on the bench for so long. Hardly saw him on the ground all day.
 

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#21
Originally posted by jod23
I dont think Banfield should be dropped after one bad game? Would you drop Cousins after one bad game? Banners is pretty important to our side and I have no doubt that he will line up against the Doggies next weekend.

I wanna know why Braun was left on the bench for so long. Hardly saw him on the ground all day.
I don't think Banners bad game has been in isolation. I have a theory on Banners. When he plays on a youngster, he towels them, uses his experience and body size to negate them, and also to run off them some what. But when he plays on some quality, he just isn't up to it anymore.

The replay just got worse for Banners ... asides the one on the full, then there was the mis-kick at the end of the first half, pretty sure both lead directly to goals, and worst of all IMO, he was muscled off the ball by Davies when he snapped that goal! Daives, don't know the kid, but i know he shouldn't be able to do that to a 200+ game player.

Someone has to make way for Read, Fido, Gaspar and IMO Wooden at least this week, and it wouldn't suprise me to see Banners out of the side to make room for similar player to himself. As for Braun (and Humm for that matter). I don't like to see players dropped who spent as much time on the bench as they did, after all, what more could they do? But having said that, why were they on the bench? If their skills, or lack of, are keeping them off the ground, then perhaps they should go..... not saying that's the case, but more a rule for players on the bench....

thegur
 

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#23

Mr Q

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#24
On McIntosh I'm 110% with Mead. He just wasn't up to the task at hand. I spent a good half the game screaming at the Eagles to try something different (usually Glass, but hell, the way Lloyd was dominating I would even have tried Carroll for something different).

The Bombers were sending the ball into the forward line beautifully to Lloyd, but from my perspective I thought Lloyd just plain outthought McIntosh, and was able to get that 50cm start so often that McIntosh had no chance.

I'm not saying anyone would have done better, but not to try anyone was a shocking decision IMO. I would liked to see Glass back onto Lloyd, Jako back to CHB (he wasn't doing anything at CHF after all) and putting Carroll at CHF and see what happened.
 

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#25
I've only just stopped crying! but in my opinion those points we kicked early in the 3rd quarter cost us the game.
Good talking points in this week's GBU. :eek:
 
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