We're gonna give Essendon their first finals win in a hundred years or whatever it is lol
Oh geez, can see that coming a mile off now.
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We're gonna give Essendon their first finals win in a hundred years or whatever it is lol
Comments above for what it is worth.May - looks to have lost a yard and is pretty s**t when the ball hits the ground Needs to demand the same standards of himself that he yells at teammates - poor below knees and has trouble keeping his feet
JVR - a potential star but is unsuited to our horrible forward delivery Agree
Salem - has actually played quite well but his auto-selection after a long lay off is symptomatic of poor selection integrity Have been impressed since he came back
Harmes - just a shadow, clearly not one of Goody’s boys. Seems to have dropped off a long way, will he be there in 24?
Petracca - had a pretty good year but his use of the ball is mind bogglingly bad too frequently. Agree
Grundy - solid but not spectacular. Didn’t realise he was quite so weak in marking contests. I am undecided on him yet
Viney - probably our best performer after a poor start to the year. Hard and honest
Lever - pretty average season. A fair way below 21’s form. I think his game is negatively impacted by the depth of the back 6
Spargo - I like him but he’s been quite poor this year and our game plan does him no favours Down so far
Brayshaw - basically can only play half back because he’s a gd liability everywhere else Just can't work him out
Gawn - his marking seems to have fallen off a cliff and he remains a very average forward Freo and Cats came up with the strategy of monstering him whenever he was near the ball. There appear to be no rules in the ruck.
Hunter - one of a few shining lights. A clever, tough little bugger that has settled in well on the wing Impressive since joining the club
Oliver - a solid year but like Petracca it feels as though he could be so much better Kicking has improved but could still be much better
Hibberd - a really solid year, probably still the best small defensive stopper on the list - Consistent
Langdon - a long way off 2021 form and has looked timid out there at times Down year
Laurie - barely had a chance but doesn’t look a better option than an underwhelming Spargo Worth a longer look
Bowey - good little player but he’s at risk of not having a role if the coaches don’t push him further up the ground Agree
Melksham - a good servant who is clearly a coach favourite. About 3 years past his use by. Always know what you get but is it still AFL standard
Schache - trading Weid out and him in was deck chairs on the Titanic. I watched a couple of Casey games and I wondered whether while MacDonald was out whether he was worth some game time
Tomlinson - a few good games and a couple of poor ones. Unlucky to be dropped for Petty against Geelong. Not the most talented but tries hard and unlucky to be dropped
Jordon - in a side with 642 inside mids, he is surplus to requirements He is probably somewhere else in 24
Rivers - one of the most improved. But like umpteen others he can put a ball into orbit Has certainly shown some talent and improvement
McDonald - cooked with a turning circle like the Queen Mary Agree
Smith - has played a role up forward but remains a fringe option He seems worth persevering with as he offers something different
ANB - slightly better season than Spargo Not sure where he is at this year
Fritsch - in terrible form. Still kicks his 2 or 3 but it’s more by default than design Agree out of sorts but still gets on the scoreboard
Sparrow - struggles when Oliver plays a 6/10 sort of year
Petty - terrible start to the season in defence, swung forward with mixed results He seems just a bit off but worth continuing in the forwards
Pickett - outstanding Round 1, been poor since. Can't see why we are not running him through the midfield (not Fulltime) to get him into the game.
Chandler - has slowed after a terrific start I think his dip is due to how the ball is coming into the forward line. Seems to be able to find space
McVee - a shining light this season Agree
Turner - one game with a really bad match up Not sure
Brown - started ok but looks cooked in the VFL Has he gone a year too long?
I love reading the “we’re going to play an away QF v Port/miss the top 4/miss finals” melts on here, it’s the only thing that really makes it feel like 2021 again
Yeah but we have a pretty soft run home. We outplayed Collingwood easily, played like shite and lost to Port away by under a goal when Oliver went down, and ran Brisbane fairly close at the Gabba after getting sprung without Gawn. If we lose to Brisbane at the G and the Saints away it’s effectively curtains but given we’ve taken it right up to the two sides currently sitting clear top 2 by three games we’ve done as well as most teams against the top sides this year, even if we were shite last year.We are though. 2021 we dominated the good sides in the H&A, since start of 2022 we’ve been awful against them.
Even within games there's massive swings in how we play - last 10 vs Brisbane compared to the rest of the night; 3rd quarter against port compared to the rest; last quarter capitulation last Thursday. Even when we're in control in a game we don't have the same ruthlessness as '21 (or even early '22) to keep it going.Tend to agree with both Gys and LD - we have taken it up to top 2 and clearly are thereabouts. Game against Bris and Saints probably shapes top 4.
But we haven't clicked consistently for a block of weeks all year, looked extremely deficient in the forward line and most players are not at AA level bar Rivers who is is in career best form.
This.Kind of never know which Dees will show up - which means the trust really isn't there to perform on the big stage.
I think the one thing to be said is that at least we haven’t lost a game this year with all five of Gawn, Oliver, Petracca, Lever and May fit and firing and playing all four quarters. I know you shouldn’t be relying on a 100% fit list, but all we need is a little bit of luck and those five play all three finals and we win through.Most annoying thing about the Dees this year is that I have barely been able to tip us correctly in games against good teams.
Thought we would roll Bris at the Gabba given our form against them - played horribly
Tipped Swans against us given their form to start the year (on reflection they thumped two shyte teams) and amazing form against us - we then show up big time
Tipped us to beat Dons who were in good form and we don't show up at all.
Tip us against Port in Port and we play 1 good quarter of footy and nearly steal it, despite being thoroughly outplayed.
Tip us to bounce back against Freo at home and once again we don't show up.
Then tip Pies and we outplay them all day.
Go in confident against the Cats given KB and their injuries and we fall apart in the last.
Kind of never know which Dees will show up - which means the trust really isn't there to perform on the big stage.
I think the one thing to be said is that at least we haven’t lost a game this year with all five of Gawn, Oliver, Petracca, Lever and May fit and firing and playing all four quarters. I know you shouldn’t be relying on a 100% fit list, but all we need is a little bit of luck and those five play all three finals and we win through.
If we were losing games with our stars at full fitness I’d basically be writing the season off, but I don’t think they’ve hit their collective peak yet.
That’s the point though. Either we’re fully fit and all of this supposed bad form against the top sides becomes irrelevant, or we aren’t fully fit and then we’re ****ed unless we pull out a KB quality four quarter performance.That's true but problem is it's more likely than not that one of these guys will be injured at any one time. We'd be pretty lucky to have all of them fit and firing for a full finals campaign, Lever ends every second game looking proppy and May isn't exactly robust with soft tissue injuries.
There needs to be an excel formula to determine thisplaying like a bunch of campaigners at the moment,