AFL Autopsy One of the worst losses of the year vs weagles.

[Dynos]

End of season Heppell loses captaincy, Hind, snelling and guelfi get the sack as turn it over or don't turn up and Rutten axed as for a defender he has no idea how to coach defensively. Reid should be in for every game to learn as only one with height and is the future down back.

 

[Nuts4Bolts]

Not sure if serious. Sauce?

Sorry, should clarify I have no idea if we'd entertain it, but I'm told (from AFL House) that Clarko is keen. His management has been in touch.

 

[ghostdog]

how was barrass great?

had wright kicked remotely accurately he would have had 6 on him in a half. Even still When your opponent player kicks 4 on you. That isn’t a great night.

His second half was great. Kept intercepting and getting in front, something none of our defenders could do to stop Kennedy.

 

[eth-dog]

I said in the preview thread that with a defensive group like ours tonight the pressure had to be on. Well, it wasn't. Please start playing key defenders Truck

 

[ghostdog]

Sorry, should clarify I have no idea if we'd entertain it, but I'm told (from AFL House) that Clarko is keen. His management has been in touch.

Xav. Did you just land?

 

[ghostdog]

End of season Heppell loses captaincy, Hind, snelling and guelfi get the sack as turn it over or don't turn up and Rutten axed as for a defender he has no idea how to coach defensively. Reid should be in for every game to learn as only one with height and is the future down back.

None of those three players are going anywhere.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Kelly and Heppell have to play 2nds. There just isn’t any reason to play them anymore. Disposal just isn’t up to scratch. Redman, Lav, Ridley are enough medium types. Bring in the genuine talls and McGrath when he’s fit.

 

[JT_the_Man]

Xav. Did you just land?

Just landed. Rumour has it we are pulling Ablett out of retirement. Watch this space.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

This Eagles team isn’t a bottom side. Good effort, as someone else said, we really missed McGrath. Should have played Zerk as their height hurt is as did Ridley’s injury …we wasn’t right after that. Take our chances first half and we may have won this.

 

[Nuts4Bolts]

Xav. Did you just land?

O.K.

 

[Dynos]

Kelly and Heppell have to play 2nds. There just isn’t any reason to play them anymore. Disposal just isn’t up to scratch. Redman, Lav, Ridley are enough medium types. Bring in the genuine talls and McGrath when he’s fit.

Spot on

 

[MiguelM]

We really missed the drive of McGrath out of HB. His run and carry and creativity with the game in front of him was missing. Would have been helpful.

^^ In spades.

 

[MiguelM]

Everyone talks about defence but the turnovers & scoreboard pressure are bigger issues.

At least 5 goals directly from turnovers. No team defence can defend forward running turnovers we make. Everyone is out of position.

Add lack of scoreboard pressure and it sucks the life out of the team while giving the opposition a leg up.

 

[TheGrizz]

Stewart is injured. Plantar fascia in the VFL last week.

Reid has apparently got an ankle injury...

It's like Zerk-Thatcher or Brand which Zerk is serviceable and well-liked but he's no blue chip and Brand hasn't even debuted yet

If we aren't going to play Zerk-Thatcher now, of all situations, then what the hell is he doing on the list?

Like, he was drafted in 2017, if after 4.5 years of development they aren't going to play him when we have 0 KPDs in the team then what the hell is he doing here?

 

[citizen-erased]

Everyone talks about defence but the turnovers & scoreboard pressure are bigger issues.

At least 5 goals directly from turnovers. No team defence can defend forward running turnovers we make. Everyone is out of position.

Add lack of scoreboard pressure and it sucks the life out of the team while giving the opposition a leg up.

The issue is we push too far up. At one point i think we had 4 times the intercepts.
West coast kept hurn, barass, duggan and rotham largely at home.

Our fwd was always crowded. Theirs quite the opposite and that was the game

 

[eDPS]

If we aren't going to play Zerk-Thatcher now, of all situations, then what the hell is he doing on the list?

Like, he was drafted in 2017, if after 4.5 years of development they aren't going to play him when we have 0 KPDs in the team then what the hell is he doing here?

The problem is who do you take out of the backline now to get him in? We added D’Ambrosio for more run and skills so won’t be him, not Hind or Redman and Heppell is the captain. I had him in the bests but I feel Jake Kelly has been a terrible addition to the backline set up as his role is the one that Laverde or Ridley should be playing.

 

[Lore]

If we aren't going to play Zerk-Thatcher now, of all situations, then what the hell is he doing on the list?

Like, he was drafted in 2017, if after 4.5 years of development they aren't going to play him when we have 0 KPDs in the team then what the hell is he doing here?

That's pretty much what it comes down to yeah. He got a three year extension after his first two years iirc, possibly things would have been different if we'd known 3 years ago that we were going to rebuild and go heavily to the draft for first round talls at the time, or that list sizes would be reduced.

I'm not entirely sure what the knock on him is either tbh. I know he's not super fast and he's a little undersized, possibly a little suspect in his decision making, but if those are your worst flaws you're not doing that badly I think?

It might be more a matter of who do you drop - you'd have to drop a small in order to rebalance the line, but then you lose the creative rebound a bit so it's a tactical decision I guess.

 

[Lore]

The problem is who do you take out of the backline now to get him in? We added D’Ambrosio for more run and skills so won’t be him, not Hind or Redman and Heppell is the captain. I had him in the bests but I feel Jake Kelly has been a terrible addition to the backline set up as his role is the one that Laverde or Ridley should be playing.

If you pull Heppell out and put Ridley in Heppell's role, and then Kelly takes Ridley's opponent, that makes more sense I think?

 

[eDPS]

If you pull Heppell out and put Ridley in Heppell's role, and then Kelly takes Ridley's opponent, that makes more sense I think?

Heppell won’t be coming out though so it’s not even worth discussing, if he retires at the end of the year then yeah it could be an option.

 

[Schnitzengruben]

I hope we get a good wallpaper this week

 

[Lemons_]

Frustrating but it's where we are at. A lot of 'almost'. So many missed tackles, opportunities, set shots.

Actually not the worst thing after last week's win. At least the heat will be back on players + coaches.

On to next week. Go Bombers

 

[Nuts4Bolts]

Just landed. Rumour has it we are pulling Ablett out of retirement. Watch this space.

Yes, watch this space

 

[Lore]

Heppell won’t be coming out though so it’s not even worth discussing, if he retires at the end of the year then yeah it could be an option.

Not while he's captain no. I wonder if they thought Hepp might not be captain this year.

I think the decision to bring Kelly in is a more medium-long term one anyway, and given Redman had OP for like a year, Heppell missed a handful of games last year and in 2019, and most of 2020, Laverde used to be made of tissue paper as well, it's probably a bit unusual that they've all played pretty much every game.

They did say earlier in the year that he's supposed to lockdown Ridley's man so Ridley can get up the ground though... which hasn't seemed to eventuate but in terms of what they were thinking last November... ye.

 

[Lore]

I hope we get a good wallpaper this week

I like the graphic they did for Langford's 100. Maybe they should stick to doing pre-game wallpapers, then it wouldn't be so bad.

 

[TheGrizz]

The problem is who do you take out of the backline now to get him in? We added D’Ambrosio for more run and skills so won’t be him, not Hind or Redman and Heppell is the captain. I had him in the bests but I feel Jake Kelly has been a terrible addition to the backline set up as his role is the one that Laverde or Ridley should be playing.

You see for me that reasoning is backwards.

Flip it around, would any team say 'we have 6 mediums forwards we really like/have to play, so we are just not going to play any key forwards'?
Of course not, the position of KPF is a structural need for the group to function.

Similarly, saying we have too many medium defenders so we don't have room for a KPD makes no sense. Structurally you need KPDs to pick up opposition talls and anchor your defence, it is a structural need to allow your rebounding types and interceptors to reference from.

So the argument of 'we don't have room for a KPD because we like all of Ridley, D'Ambrosio, Hind, Redman, Kelly, Heppell and McGrath (when fit)' seems like a fallacy to me, and it was shown up tonight by two KPFs who took us to task, particularly 1v1. If we aren't going to play Zerk-Thatcher or even Francis now, what the hell are they here for then?

For the record, this isn't specific to you, Lore seems to agree, and Truck himself must presxribe to the same theory you do as seen by the team, but I believe it has shown to be a nice gimmick, but can be exploited if opposition forwards know at all what they are doing and can isolate themselves 1v1.

That's pretty much what it comes down to yeah. He got a three year extension after his first two years iirc, possibly things would have been different if we'd known 3 years ago that we were going to rebuild and go heavily to the draft for first round talls at the time, or that list sizes would be reduced.

I'm not entirely sure what the knock on him is either tbh. I know he's not super fast and he's a little undersized, possibly a little suspect in his decision making, but if those are your worst flaws you're not doing that badly I think?

It might be more a matter of who do you drop - you'd have to drop a small in order to rebalance the line, but then you lose the creative rebound a bit so it's a tactical decision I guess.

See above.