AFL Autopsy JLT 1: 9 point loss to Carlton

[Howard Moon]

I know it's not the done thing to take a JLT game seriously but I'd like to make a few points.

I reckon the new rules make getting first hand to the ball at the centre bounce cruical...we didn't have a competitive ruckman imo, tbell will improve us immensely on that performance but look out if he goes down.

Same with hooker in, Hartley out. Hartley looks like he's to busy playing the clown sometimes, you going to piss a career away m8! Knuckle down.

Feels like our mid and small defence are too geared up to set up for the sling and less ready to actually defend first. It'll mean we look great on the break but will still get scored on frustratingly.

No change to kick outs, bomb to 70, on the diagonal.

Francis leg is an absolute weapon, spots up players on the most weird of angle short or long.

Ridley must be best 22, composure beyond his years, great disposal.

Brown will continue to get under teams guards, great hands, good movement, safest goal kick.

Tippa, McGrath gone up a cog, stringer fighting fit.

The rumours of JD's death were greatly exaggerated, seems fit and able.

Devon changes our entire team dynamic, the only real pressure chaser and tacker with a touch of class and mongrel.

Heppell looks great.

With the amount of high end picks Carlton have had they should be gws by now, (even without their players) it beggars belief why they are not a better team.

All in all it still looks like we want to do everything on the break from the back half and get over the top to an open forward line rather than the accepted new method of getting it forward and locking it in with numbers and pressure.

Takes a brave team to go against the current, will it prevail? It's impossible to stop when it's on, but how long will it be allowed to happen for til we need the plan b option.

Maybe it's not been unveiled too early in the JLT, keep powder dry til the real stuff.

Good hit out.

 

[Don Won]

At least they didn’t play as bad as that preseason game last year against Geelong.

We’re working our way into it. That’s next week.

 

[BrunoV]

Let’s just say it wasn’t good. Not disastrous like last year, but not good.

We didn’t look fluent and again look behind the 8-ball at this stage. Hopefully it’s not too far.

There’s always the “forget it all, it’s pre season!” mob who steadfastly refuse to pay any attention at all to pre season results.

Personally I disagree - it’s not like years ago when you’d have 4 preseason games and genuinely ease into it. You have two competitive hit outs and then the real stuff starts - it’s 20 days away now. You don’t just flick a switch in a couple of weeks and go into beast mode. These two JLT games are played at very high intensity and most players are tuned up. They’re a good form guide.

Last year was a perfect example. I couldn’t believe the people who stuck their heads in the sand after Richmond - who should’ve been 4 weeks behind us due to playing in the GF the year before - absolutely blew us off the park to the tune of 100-odd points. A result like that clearly shows you have massive issues. People thought it meant nothing. But it showed precisely the terrible state we were in and 6-8 weeks into the season, our year was over. Before we took unprecedented, drastic steps and had a coaching shake up after 8 weeks.

So this wasn’t good. Again, nothing like the pathetic shit from last year, and I expect Carlton will have improved a bit. But we need to have as well. Have we? Who knows, but we were underwhelming. We’re in better shape than this time last year, but that’s not saying much. We need to hit the ground running and not just wake up in round 7 or 8 again.

And the other thing is that were not a Roos era Sydney group of hardened pros you would trust to turn it on at will.

We're a flaky pack of front runners until its proven otherwise.

 

[Zach Package]

Interesting game in that both sides won and there were no losers.

They took it seriously and gave us a competitive hit out and we managed to get some minutes with some kind of intensity into guys that have had limited preseasons.

 

[eth-dog]

Let’s just say it wasn’t good. Not disastrous like last year, but not good.

We didn’t look fluent and again look behind the 8-ball at this stage. Hopefully it’s not too far.

There’s always the “forget it all, it’s pre season!” mob who steadfastly refuse to pay any attention at all to pre season results.

Personally I disagree - it’s not like years ago when you’d have 4 preseason games and genuinely ease into it. You have two competitive hit outs and then the real stuff starts - it’s 20 days away now. You don’t just flick a switch in a couple of weeks and go into beast mode. These two JLT games are played at very high intensity and most players are tuned up. They’re a good form guide.

Last year was a perfect example. I couldn’t believe the people who stuck their heads in the sand after Richmond - who should’ve been 4 weeks behind us due to playing in the GF the year before - absolutely blew us off the park to the tune of 100-odd points. A result like that clearly shows you have massive issues. People thought it meant nothing. But it showed precisely the terrible state we were in and 6-8 weeks into the season, our year was over. Before we took unprecedented, drastic steps and had a coaching shake up after 8 weeks.

So this wasn’t good. Again, nothing like the pathetic shit from last year, and I expect Carlton will have improved a bit. But we need to have as well. Have we? Who knows, but we were underwhelming. We’re in better shape than this time last year, but that’s not saying much. We need to hit the ground running and not just wake up in round 7 or 8 again.

West Coast lost to Freo by plenty in JLT last year.

 

[Howard Moon]

And the other thing is that were not a Roos era Sydney group of hardened pros you would trust to turn it on at will.

We're a flaky pack of front runners until its proven otherwise.

I think the term you are searching for is a winning mentality

you don't switch it on and off like a tap, when you have turned that corner from thereabouts to genuine contender to heavyweight you walk out every game with an air of invincibility about you - with that half the battle is already won.

We haven't found that gear yet, every game is still a doubt as we come into it, which team are we going to get? which intensity will we bring?

until we find that winning mentality, when every game needs to be won with desire, im afraid we will continue to frustrate, JLT or otherwise

 

[thedreamisreal]

and I thought your best player was going to show up without crap tattoos and family links to criminal activities

Some things never change.

You thought he was going to scrub his tattoos off and get a different family? Okay then…

At least he fixed his hair when he was old enough to know better.

 

[BrunoV]

I think the term you are searching for is a winning mentality

you don't switch it on and off like a tap, when you have turned that corner from thereabouts to genuine contender to heavyweight you walk out every game with an air of invincibility about you - with that half the battle is already won.

We haven't found that gear yet, every game is still a doubt as we come into it, which team are we going to get? which intensity will we bring?

until we find that winning mentality, when every game needs to be won with desire, im afraid we will continue to frustrate, JLT or otherwise

No, our base brand of football is weak in an around the ball and based on the players we select to play midfield it just doesn't appear to be a side of the game we respect, surprising as that might be.

We're probably the best team at playing when left to do as we want. Problem is that no serious team leaves you to play as you want. If only we could play St Kilda and Port every week.

 

[Howard Moon]

You thought he was going to scrub his tattoos off and get a different family? Okay then…

At least he fixed his hair when he was old enough to know better.

shave off a few strands of recreational activity

 

[Howard Moon]

No, our base brand of football is weak in an around the ball and based on the players we select to play midfield it just doesn't appear to be a side of the game we respect, surprising as that might be.

We're probably the best team at playing when left to do as we want. Problem is that no serious team leaves you to play as you want. If only we could play St Kilda and Port every week.

I guess that's what football is nowadays - trying to manage the ground in a way to allows you to play your style ahead of the other teams style.

Guess the main point is, most other teams factor into their strategy the novel idea that taking away something from your opponent can advantage you as much as being alke to play your way.

We don't ever seem to take anything away from our opponent, we are 100% focused on getting our way of play working

 

[Jesse Custer]

I’m sick of these mediocre performances in the preseason. Who cares if it’s 30 odd degrees out there and it’s their first hit out. The boys are supposed to be professional athletes these days. Spoon for me.

 

[Jesse Custer]

Lol you wanna go down this road? I wish I could but I already had a comment and its replies instantly deleted by your mods.

You want to go down a road? Take the highway out of here.

 

[Howard Moon]

Lol you wanna go down this road? I wish I could but I already had a comment and its replies instantly deleted by your mods.

pace yourself man!, its only the JLT

plenty of regular season trolling to come, don't peak too early

go back to 50% tog

 

[eDPS]

You'll get a better show at the footy.

RHCP where great btw, Flea and Chad are still killing it.

 

[JayJ20]

Let’s just say it wasn’t good. Not disastrous like last year, but not good.

We didn’t look fluent and again look behind the 8-ball at this stage. Hopefully it’s not too far.

There’s always the “forget it all, it’s pre season!” mob who steadfastly refuse to pay any attention at all to pre season results.

Personally I disagree - it’s not like years ago when you’d have 4 preseason games and genuinely ease into it. You have two competitive hit outs and then the real stuff starts - it’s 20 days away now. You don’t just flick a switch in a couple of weeks and go into beast mode. These two JLT games are played at very high intensity and most players are tuned up. They’re a good form guide.

Last year was a perfect example. I couldn’t believe the people who stuck their heads in the sand after Richmond - who should’ve been 4 weeks behind us due to playing in the GF the year before - absolutely blew us off the park to the tune of 100-odd points. A result like that clearly shows you have massive issues. People thought it meant nothing. But it showed precisely the terrible state we were in and 6-8 weeks into the season, our year was over. Before we took unprecedented, drastic steps and had a coaching shake up after 8 weeks.

So this wasn’t good. Again, nothing like the pathetic shit from last year, and I expect Carlton will have improved a bit. But we need to have as well. Have we? Who knows, but we were underwhelming. We’re in better shape than this time last year, but that’s not saying much. We need to hit the ground running and not just wake up in round 7 or 8 again.

I hear you. Carlton already had an extra game last week and it showed in the first half. We improved as the game went on so I’m not too concerned. It was evident by this time last year that something was wrong with us. We’ll see how we go next week.

I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t go as hard as we could, especially our midfield group. Consistent effort has always been our downfall. SSSS seemed to perform like it was a regular game. Majority of the rest save for AMT, McGrath and McKenna took it easy. Makes me think of our standards sometimes, but nothing too worrying yet. We’ll get more insight next week.

 

[Runk]

View attachment 627402

RHCP where great btw, Flea and Chad are still killing it.

LOL! GOOD ONE!

 

[faible]

Can anyone with Kayo check if the replay is available?

The AFL LivePass replay isn't up yet and I missed the game last night

 

[DapperDon]

Lol you wanna go down this road? I wish I could but I already had a comment and its replies instantly deleted by your mods.

You're here talking trash in a preseason match your team didn't even play in.

It's pretty sad man

 

[fishardansin]

Ok, I went to the game. Trying to covert a Pom!!

So I came away from the game with a few observations.

Laverde looks big. I took ages to realise who that number 15 was. Is he taller? I know it sounds weird but I swear he was eye to eye with McKernan, even taking the neck into account. I think with Stringer and Daniher both playing Laverde doesn't. I think he is depth for Stringer this year.

McGrath's upper body is huge. I think he should focus on boxing for his upper body this year.

Carlton was much quicker across the ground all night, to a man. Essendon looked like they were running in sand, except for the occasional burst of speed from McKenna and Saad.

Our defensive zone that Rutten has brought over was terrible, save for the brilliance of Hurley and Francis.

So, my more questioning type statements are:

Judging by the difference of movement between the two sides I am guessing that our players are in a heavier training mode for Carlton. Does anyone know if that is true? If we're aiming to push deep into the year we're potentially training further into 2019, whereas Carlton may be freshening up early to jag a couple of wins against sides who are less fresh in the first few rounds.

Does anyone know if our defensive structures changed a lot when we went from playing like a bottom 4 side to a top-four side last year? I get the feeling that even with the best system possible, this type of play just doesn't suit our players. Essendon wins by taking the game on, scoreboard pressure is still pressuring. While it is great to have a defensive focus, structures behind the ball and around the stoppage, we look rubbish when the defensive mindset is part of how we move the ball.

I get the feeling we threw caution to the wind in the last quarter and it showed.

From what we saw out there tonight, Laverde, Ambrose (sorry meh boi), Jok, Long, Hartley, Browne, Clarke, Ridley and Clarke could all be playing VFL most weeks. That will be a very strong team.

 

[eDPS]

I know it's not the done thing to take a JLT game seriously but I'd like to make a few points.

I reckon the new rules make getting first hand to the ball at the centre bounce cruical...we didn't have a competitive ruckman imo, tbell will improve us immensely on that performance but look out if he goes down.

Same with hooker in, Hartley out. Hartley looks like he's to busy playing the clown sometimes, you going to piss a career away m8! Knuckle down.

Feels like our mid and small defence are too geared up to set up for the sling and less ready to actually defend first. It'll mean we look great on the break but will still get scored on frustratingly.


Good hit out.

That was my major take watching live in the first half, and while in that position we where also reactive rather than proactive and we got punished on the scoreboard easily when it happened.

 

[Howard Moon]

that's big footy narrative - if you play sluggishly you are on a heavy training load

id imagine every team has just come out of a heavy training load, its called the pre season

 

[Ambrosia]

Mitch Brown's a smart forward but not sure he's the best fit alongside Daniher and Stringer as Daniher does his best work roaming CHF.

 

[BrunoV]

My impression is that Long has been harshly judged but it's also hard to tell from the ground.

The one thing he did that was genuinely bad was in the first quarter where the nicest thing that could be said about a marking attempt was that he misread the ball. Kicking turnovers in JLT1 are absolutely one thing I'm not even slightly concerned by (frustrating as it can be).

I though he was sound defensively and competed with an intensity matched by only a few on our team.

Hope he plays next week as I want to see him build some confidence. He flew for marks timidly when he would have taken them confidently at a lower level.

My impression of Ridley was just as guilty of overuse and some poor use of the ball in defence and no one was concerned by it (as they shouldn't be).

 

[Squeaky]

I guess that's what football is nowadays - trying to manage the ground in a way to allows you to play your style ahead of the other teams style.

Guess the main point is, most other teams factor into their strategy the novel idea that taking away something from your opponent can advantage you as much as being alke to play your way.

We don't ever seem to take anything away from our opponent, we are 100% focused on getting our way of play working

Spot on I reckon Howie.
In golfing parlance we have a bag full of drivers.

FFS get some variety (and know when/how to implement them)
Such as a Plan B or some thought into denying our opponents some of their strengths.

 

[DapperJong]

Lol you wanna go down this road? I wish I could but I already had a comment and its replies instantly deleted by your mods.

I can smell the fear. You're favourites man, don't worry.