Review Essendon defeat Footscray by 8 points

[Kaiser Powser]

Umps were ******* pathetic last night. Missus was wondering why i was sitting there looking like i wanted to throw a chair for most of the game. Worst decision of them all was the 50 against Baguley, couldve cost us the game

That's funny because I actually did throw a chair after that decision.

Albeit it was a little kiddy chair and I really just knocked it out of the way as I sunk to the ground in sheer dis-belief at what I was seeing.

That was one of the worst calls I have seen and genuinely thought it would cost us the game.

They were terrible. We got some shockers too. Daniher and Ryder got a few very soft frees.

 

[Jade]

Hmmm.... we really aren't playing well. Seem heavy on our feet, not spreading anywhere near as much. Forward line is struggling and our midfield is 'just' doing the job.

Thank god for our defence at the moment.

If we finally perform at the end of the year for once, this will be seen as the slump we needed to have - but it'd be nice to look a bit better than we currently do.

 

[rines]

Hmmm.... we really aren't playing well. Seem heavy on our feet, not spreading anywhere near as much. Forward line is struggling and our midfield is 'just' doing the job.

Thank god for our defence at the moment.

If we finally perform at the end of the year for once, this will be seen as the slump we needed to have - but it'd be nice to look a bit better than we currently do.

Huge upside though.. huge. If our midfield switches on and forwardline becomes even semi-functional.. we can come good in a hurry. I still believe all the 'elements' are there this year for success..

 

[Doss]

Basically, we should all be kneeling down and promising Cale Hooker everything in the world at the moment.

Oh, and Fletch and Hurley too.

When three tall defenders are almost certainly your best three players on the ground in a game, it generally says a fair bit about how the rest of the team played.

 

[Pweter]

Basically, we should all be kneeling down and promising Cale Hooker everything in the world at the moment.

Oh, and Fletch and Hurley too.

When three tall defenders are almost certainly your best three players on the ground in a game, it generally says a fair bit about how the rest of the team played.

Hooker would have to be leading the B&F at present wouldn't he? He's been a colossus down back this year.

I had to smile when he did that dinky little rushed kick to nobody from the goal square that resulted in a Dogs goal. It cast my mind back to the uproar that would've ensued on here around the "trade him to GC" times, the fact it's flown under the radar shows how reliable his disposal has become when he can be afforded such a massive gaff these days without the ridicule that used to come his way.

 

[Doss]

I would have had Hooker and Stants probably neck and neck prior to the Footscray game, but yes, he'd have to be leading now.

 

[Jade]

I would have had Hooker and Stants probably neck and neck prior to the Footscray game, but yes, he'd have to be leading now.

And we would have traded him and Pick 19 for Caddy.

Dafuq you say??

 

[DonsRule]

And we would have traded him and Pick 19 for Caddy.

Dafuq you say??

I've been thinking the same thing for a while now, thank f'ing god Hooker stayed.

 

[60sbomber]

This probably has a something to do with the crowd....

"this Saturday’s match against the Bulldogs is classified as ‘A-Reserved’so just a reminder that you’ll need to upgrade to a reserved seat from $8.50* at the discounted member price through Ticketmaster."

Please.......A-reserved against footscray....AFL have got to be kidding.

Yeah agree.
I don't know how many people are like me, but I am one who contributes to the high non attendance membership and low crowds.
I vowed after the ASADA fiasco last year that the AFL and the other clubs would never get one cent of support from me.
I am not going to any games now, but I give to the club directly via non attending membership.
The premiums for reserved seats and giving money to Ticketmaster for the privilege of getting a ticket via them just adds more weight to the reasons for not going.

 

[Bomberblitzer]

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Underrated

Tracking for AA has become one of the best intercept marks in the comp.

 

[Despair]

I just rewatched the 1st quarter for entertainment purposes......






Loljks it was to find out why we started so good then turned to shit. My notes:

- Tackles not sticking like they should

- Match started off free-flowing then doggies made it more contested with more people around the ball

- Dempsey still a bit off the pace, 3 bad plays resulting in turnovers, 2 resulted in goals iirc

- Carlisle and Daniher miss two very gettable 25 meter goals

- Heppell's disposal really needs work

- We really need one more clearance monster, Jobe can't do it all the time

 

[Doss]

- We really need one more clearance monster, Jobe can't do it all the time

The absence of Myers really hurts here.

 

[Despair]

The absence of Myers really hurts here.

Very true mate.

Just wish we had someone that could step in when Myers is out and give Jobe a chop out.

Or even take that role and allow Myers to sit on the outside and utilize that thumping left boot.

 

[The Scales]

If Bomber is to be believed, his comments on 360 last night inferred that he was coaching for the season, not week to week. The impression I got was that he is not really prioritising early to mid-season, just keeping us in the loop, and focussing on peaking at the right time. I hope other EFC viewers came to the same conclusion.

Clearly, we don't have a crystal ball to determine the validity of this strategy at the end of round 7, but I have high expectations of a cohesive team and game plan when we come back from the bye. Here's hoping like crazy that Bomber is on the money - and that the lads buy in.

 

[rines]

4pt is 4pts no matter when you win.

It is very easy to say 'we had a hard start'.. but with the competition being so even (relatively) there is nothing to suggest that any week or group of games will be any less tough. We still have to play Geelong, Sydney (2), Gold Coast, Collingwood again and Port Adelaide.. so 6 more games against current top 8 teams. So far we are 1 win and 3 losses against top 8 sides...

I would also highlight rounds 15-17 where we play Geelong, Port and Collingwood in a row as being the defining moment of our season.

Right now we are in the mix, but I don't think we should count on an easy run home.. we also have 2 games against the Tigers that have a good record against us recently and teams like WCE that can produce anything on any given day.

So absolutely I hope we are peaking at some point this season.. cause we have already dropped 3 games against sides we beat last year... in essence we have turned a mid season slump into an early season slump.. yay for us.

I notice that Geelong, Hawthorn and Port Adelaide don't seem to need to start shitty in order to 'peak' at the right time... they just keep on winning...

 

[Yoda_]

I cannot really accept that it is a personnel issue. The whole point of structure is that it is supposed to operate independently of personnel. The inability to implement a forward system is a huge failing of the Hird/Thompson era. Rodney Eade did not have anything that resembled a key forward in the best years at the Dogs but they were still very high scoring.

Absolute worst case scenario: midfield which doesn't have the running power and/or work rate to go head to head with any decent opposition which requires flankers and other high forwards to join the midfield to clog up the game to prevent sides carving us up but which leaves us without enough players forward of center.

As for everything else, all you can really do is list areas of concern because it gets more confusing by the week:

- Whether it is because we are still hiding the midfield or not we still get too many numbers behind the ball and do not work hard enough to provide options for measured counter attack (unless it is measured the forwards do not have the time to get back to provide targets from half back and the center of the ground).

- Work ethic of most in the side is not really AFL standard. We were initially cheating in attack and lazy in defence so we started to clog up the middle of the ground to get more protection but it hasn't really involved the players working any harder defensively or offensively. The defensive structure has essentially come at the expense of attacking capability because, unlike Hawthorn, we do not work hard on the counter attack.

- We tend to clog the space for our forwards as much as we do it for the opposition. Whether this is inevitable because of the zone or the stupidity of players who jog themselves and their opponents into space into which the (key) forwards should find themselves leading (if Tony Lockett/Ablett Snr was reincarnated into Carlisle on ANZAC day both Merretts would be dead).

- Current obsession with maintaining possession makes it almost impossible to time a lead. It is also clear that the players are either not smart enough to understand the plan to know when to attack or the plan is not capable of being properly understood meaning that all attacking is ad hoc.

- The equally as ugly sibling of the previous point is the blind play on which we've favoured for years.

- Both of the previous points make it nearly impossible to time a lead and following on form this is a general lack of purposeful movement of the forwards when they are forward. Carlisle is the best example, he tends to just jog around rather than genuinely presenting (he needs to have more purpose to command the ball).

- Immaturity of Danhier coupled with the lack of confidence of Carlisle does not help because we need these two consistently commanding the ball. Daniher is not fit and strong enough to do it often enough and Carlisle is re-learning the craft in the most trying of circumstances while the selfishness required to be a success does not seem to come naturally.

- Continued injuries to key personnel is not helping.

- Too many average to poor kicks delivering the ball.

post of the year to date. could not fault any of this

 

[MNC Bomber]

Jsst looked at the replay of this game. We missed 7 very gettable goals , mainly from our old hands. Chappy , Goddard 2, Stanton & Hocking.
Also JD and Carlise in the 1st qtr. Chappy & Goddard in particular would have normally got these.
I know, bad Kicking is bad footy, but just sayin, another 7 goals.....

 

[Doss]

The Dogs missed a few fairly easy ones too.

 

[Rack Watts]

At the end of the season, nobody remembers the start of the season.

 

[Yoda_]

The absence of Myers really hurts here.

And the overlooking of Kurt Aylett all the more baffling after this re - occurring 3 weeks running now