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Analysis Our Backline

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Can we start by playing Hurley on the opposition’s best forward?
 
Old Stuckup said:
Can we start by playing Hurley on the opposition’s best forward?
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Hurley spent most of the night on Cam McCarthy. Matt Taberner and Mundy did the damage, even though Taberner averaged a goal a game last year and Mundy was playing third tall.

Hawthorn yesterday has no better defenders than us, we're probably slightly behind the eight ball at the moment without Gleeson for interceptions, but their team defence was so much better at denying space in the forward line.
 

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Doss said:
I'm telling you that you're wrong now.
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He was right tha Gleeson spent some time in the 2’s. What he is conveniently overlooking is the fact that once he came back in he got better and better and finished the season one of our most reliable defenders. All of a sudden he was taking intercept marks till the early morn...
 
DERO said:
He was right tha Gleeson spent some time in the 2’s. What he is conveniently overlooking is the fact that once he came back in he got better and better and finished the season one of our most reliable defenders. All of a sudden he was taking intercept marks till the early morn...
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Exactly. We were all awash with praise for Gleeson’s second half of the season in particular, and it wasn’t because we are a mediocre side or any of that other puff that seems to get trotted out.

He is a very large loss this season and is a big part of why there will be considerably less flexibility with Hurley’s role.
 
Hate to say it but we are really missing Gleeson. Hurley is much better with him in the side.

Mids were down hill skiers against Freo. Zero defensive pressure.

Spoke with my wife’s cuz at lunch yesterday who played in a few champion Bomber teams during his day, he reckons that winning interstate - especially in Perth is almost mission impossible. So much so that he intelligently backed against us.
 
I think our backline will end up looking something like this by the end of the year:
B: McNiece - Ambrose - Gleeson
HB: Saad - Hurley - McKenna
Hopefully the likes of Ridley and Redman are also pressing for spots along with the likes of Hartley, Brown and Dea.
 
Zach Package said:
Is getting absolutely torched by our lack of midfield pressure.

End thread
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Yeah man.

Most people don't realise...

Great midfields make good forward lines great forward lines.

Great midfields make good back lines great back lines.

Great midfields make average forward lines good forward lines.

And so it goes on.

Our problem is our midfield. It's average at best right now... doesn't mean it can't improve, but we're going nowhere unless it does.
 
It's strange, you know, when I read this thread I did think that the back 6 might have had a really poor night.

What did Matt Dea do or not do to be involved in this discussion? At worst he covers too much for teammates which can result in his man being left open. I agree that Hartley dropped marks that he either starts taking or he'll find himself as no more than depth, though I don't think any resulted in a score (and two or three were in the middle of the ground).

Brown played as expected as the key defender that he is not.

There were some mistakes here and there but this is about the biggest overreaction to a loss that I can recall. The only issue I have at the moment is that we're wasting Hartley on mid-sized players when he is the player to stand on the opponent's number 1 forward with Hurley to play on number 2 and Brown to play in the high possession intercepting role. That best utilizes the respective strengths of the players.

McGrath and Merrett were well down on expected output. Devon Smith and Zaharakis were leading the midfield charge against Fremantle which is one of the best clearance set-ups going around (it's not just personnel it's a feature of Lyon sides). What exactly do we expect? I'm not having a go at McGrath, by the way, I accept that as a teenage midfielder he'll be up and down but that doesn't change the fact that his downs will result in reduced productivity of the midfield.

It was pleasing to hear Worsfold say something insightful about playing too quickly and not giving our forwards a chance to work into the game.
 
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Dunno if I’ve bumped the right thread here but anyway.

Interestingly McGuane rates our defence - which is probably the strongest line in our team - as bottom four. Ahead of only Hawthorn, North and Adelaide.

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15. Essendon
The top liners: Jordan Ridley (17, 102), Michael Hurley (14, 80), Mason Redman (13, 61), Matt Guelfi (11, 60), Brandon Zerk-Thatcher (10. 47), Cale Hooker (8, 68), Aaron Francis (8, 59)

The top-ups: Martin Gleeson (13, 54),

McGuane says: The Bombers defenders played in spits and spurts in 2020. With the personnel they had down there they were disappointing with the one exception being Jordan Ridley. He was included in the All-Australian squad. His great attribute is that he reads the cues of the opposition kicker and gets to where the ball is going to land. He has tremendous upside for the Bombers. He reads the play like Jeremy McGovern and Tom Jonas. Michael Hurley is a very good footballer but he is vulnerable one-on-one so the question for Ben Rutten is what role does he want him to play. Does he want Hurley to be their key lockdown defender or should he be their interceptor? Cale Hooker has been the Bombers’ best option to play on the opposition’s big forwards but more recently he plays forward because of his lack of speed. Aaron Francis has been a bit of a tease, so what is his best position? Is he too undersized to play key position? Brandon Zerk-Thatcher is young but a likely prospect. For Essendon to play finals players like Martin Gleeson, Matt Guelfi and Mason Rodman must take their games to another level. Currently there are more questions than answers regarding the Bombers defenders.
 
Bunk Moreland said:
Dunno if I’ve bumped the right thread here but anyway.

Interestingly McGuane rates our defence - which is probably the strongest line in our team - as bottom four. Ahead of only Hawthorn, North and Adelaide.

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15. Essendon
The top liners: Jordan Ridley (17, 102), Michael Hurley (14, 80), Mason Redman (13, 61), Matt Guelfi (11, 60), Brandon Zerk-Thatcher (10. 47), Cale Hooker (8, 68), Aaron Francis (8, 59)

The top-ups: Martin Gleeson (13, 54),

McGuane says: The Bombers defenders played in spits and spurts in 2020. With the personnel they had down there they were disappointing with the one exception being Jordan Ridley. He was included in the All-Australian squad. His great attribute is that he reads the cues of the opposition kicker and gets to where the ball is going to land. He has tremendous upside for the Bombers. He reads the play like Jeremy McGovern and Tom Jonas. Michael Hurley is a very good footballer but he is vulnerable one-on-one so the question for Ben Rutten is what role does he want him to play. Does he want Hurley to be their key lockdown defender or should he be their interceptor? Cale Hooker has been the Bombers’ best option to play on the opposition’s big forwards but more recently he plays forward because of his lack of speed. Aaron Francis has been a bit of a tease, so what is his best position? Is he too undersized to play key position? Brandon Zerk-Thatcher is young but a likely prospect. For Essendon to play finals players like Martin Gleeson, Matt Guelfi and Mason Rodman must take their games to another level. Currently there are more questions than answers regarding the Bombers defenders.
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If our midfield actually applies pressure up-field our defenders are good 'enough' for the time being, but there's also a reason we just brought in 2 x KPDs in Reid & Brand for the future.
 

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We draft really proactive defenders that like to peel off and intercept, which is completely fine, but a recipe for disaster when the midfield refuses to run or pressure and the opposition move the ball forward at the speed of sound.

Essentially guarantees that they cannot impact the game at all and they become witches hats through no fault of their own. It's classic surface level reasoning from people that aren't paying true attention.
 
Zach Package said:
We draft really proactive defenders that like to peel off and intercept, which is completely fine, but a recipe for disaster when the midfield refuses to run or pressure and the opposition move the ball forward at the speed of sound.

Essentially guarantees that they cannot impact the game at all and they become witches hats through no fault of their own. It's classic surface level reasoning from people that aren't paying true attention.
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Brand is a stopper, Reid is also a genuine KPD.

Ridley + Francis both are more your third tall / loose intercept types though, yes.
 

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Hmmmm no I think our midfield is better. There's more than one decent player in it.
 
DapperJong said:
Hmmmm no I think our midfield is better. There's more than one decent player in it.
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Our midfield has too many one way runners tbh.

I think by the end of next year we'll be saying our forward line will be the best honestly.
 
DapperJong said:
Hmmmm no I think our midfield is better. There's more than one decent player in it.
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Yeah probably fair. Merrett, McGrath and Shiel are quality. Heppell was, who knows where he’s at after a year off.

Forward we have Stringer and Tippa.

Our midfield leading the way, that’s a strange one.
 
The defence is clearly going to be in transition over the next 2 years and it will be interesting to see how it is managed. I don't see how with the aging of Hurley and Hooker and the loss of Saad and McKenna it can be considered a strength.

Seems to me that McGuane raises more questions than anything else. Hurley is mediocre unless he is playing on an opponent (i.e. locking down). In an intercepting role he's taking game time from someone, be it Francis, Reid or Cox. Hooker also has his problems these days. Add in Ambrose and we're not going to get a look at a kid any time soon.

If we look at the defence as a 7 man team which is what we have tended to play I'd be looking at something like:

SD: Redman | FB: Hurley (Brand) | 3TD: Francis
HB1: Ridley | CHB: Hooker (Reid) | HB2: McQuillan (Guelfi)
7D: Heppell (Cox)

Players named in brackets are alternatives.

I'd like to see Hurley and Hooker rotated in and out of the side to enable us to rotate Brand and Reid through those position. Cox is a little different as he can play multiple roles, including as a mid-sized player.

I've been of the view that we need to move Heppell out of the middle and that half back makes sense given the dilution of experience in defence that has happened and will continue to happen in the next 12 to 24 months. It should be noted that there is no obvious replacement for Heppell in the middle. Perkins is not going to play senior midfield minutes next year and Caldwell even at best is just more of the same. I'm torn and will probably change my mind on Heppell playing in defence in which case it frees up a spot for one of the kids.

I'd also like to see McQuillan play each game he is fit to play but admit that could fall flat. It would not be an indictment if he is not ready having missed out on playing serious matches in 2020 in what was his first year of Australian football.
 
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Bunk Moreland said:
Unfortunately, probably still stronger than our forward line or midfield.
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I'd say our midfield is the strongest area of the ground, which isn't saying much.
We're probably one big bodied inside mid and a decent two-way running mid away from a good midfield.

Draper, McGrath, Shiel, Merrett, Caldwell, Parish, Heppell, Langford. Not bad, but not balanced.

Our backline and forwardline will take a lot more to be decent. I am actually more optimistic about our forwardline than I should be if they can stay injury free.
 

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