Autopsy Positives and Negatives vs Geelong

[Wedgetailed Westerner]

Well im gutted but am really proud of the boys' resilience tonight. It was clear that there were some tired legs in the last there. I wouldnt be surprised, like Simmo, hardly any of them slept.
I've mentioned it before, but ill say it again. Even Clarko had to change his game plan after he won that first premiership before the 3 peat. Never write this group of players off. We have a fantastic coach and a great culture to keep our sustained success. Sure a few changes will be made, but overall the foundations are there for us to continue to dominate in the future.
Here's to 2020 and all you campaigners better be back here with me.

 

[frenchconnection]

We haven’t won a close game this season against top sides we have no hunger:

Richmond
Collingwood
Geelong

Hawks game

Not surprised it’s are we get into a grand final without top 2 even rarer to get anywhere outside top 4

Don't think any Eagles Premiership side has won the flag without having 2 home finals, which was why when we lost that Hawks game knew we would be battling uphill to make inroads into the finals. Even in 2006 when we lost the first final we still got a second home final being the higher placed team and then went onto win the flag by a point.

 

[Priddis Is Done]

I've got so many ramblings to make but so flat.

Another night

 

[garlic munchers]

Negatives:

Confirmed Gov is playing no where near the level he should be for his ability and & needs to go away and come back in the physical condition his paycheque demands.

Confirmed we Can’t have Masten, Nelson and Hutchings in the same side.

Confirmed we aren’t ahead of a number of contenders & need a lot to go right against them.


Positives:

Flying had a dip.

Hurn continues his beast mode.

Avoid getting embarrassed by the Tigers.

Confirmed Simmo needs some help from someone who will tell a few of our players some home truths.


What an opportunity lost this year!!!

 

[frenchconnection]

Go through our losses this year, any pressure we fold. It’s ok as it’s just who they are.

Wouldn't say that we folded exactly but more to the point the hunger just wasn't there this year following a flag. Too many players in their comfort zone. Even though out with injury for a fair whack of the year, was particularly disappointed in Barass this year.

 

[frenchconnection]

Negatives:

Confirmed Gov is playing no where near the level he should be for his ability and & needs to go away and come back in the physical condition his paycheque demands.

Confirmed we Can’t have Masten, Nelson and Hutchings in the same side.

Confirmed we aren’t ahead of a number of contenders & need a lot to go right against them.


Positives:

Flying had a dip.

Hurn continues his beast mode.

Avoid getting embarrassed by the Tigers.

Confirmed Simmo needs some help from someone who will tell a few of our players some home truths.


What an opportunity lost this year!!!

That's why Mitchell was so valuable last season and a shame we had to lose him. Thought our midfield in general was a bit down this year when compared to last.

 

[BartBart]

Negative - not doing a concussion test on Schofield

Positive - improved draft picks for Kelly

 

[frenchconnection]

How did they run out of legs? 8 day break?
Don’t make excuses. They got beaten in heart it’s that simple.

IMO they ran out of legs due to using up too much juice trying to get back into the game after a sluggish start, and then couldn't sustain it. I would imagine the emotion of the last couple of days re Rioli would have drained their energy levels a bit.

 

[ep2018]

Tall poppy syndrome. Dont go on social media eagles fans. We're being attacked.

 

[frenchconnection]

Story of the year really, pi$$ weak early efforts , a spirited fightback but lack the class and hunger of a real top line team.

Kennedy is done, I couldn't care less if he comes out next year and kicks bags against the likes of norf. Play him him strategically for one last tilt next year and then bye bye. A champion very close to the end. He walks away a west coast and afl legend. We win the judd trade.

Unsure what happens now, we can either coast along to 2/3 years of early/mid finals exits because the core group have a flag and don't give a sh!t now, or we can go hawthorn of 13-15 and dominate the comp.

What I am sure of is we need top 2 to have any shot. These pr!cks shat the bed in round 23 and the chickens have come home to roost. Can't really say anymore than that.

See you next year.

PS willie rioli you utter idiot, go and get fcked

Would like to see us groom whoever is going to replace JK next year - Brander or whoever? Perhaps just play JK for home matches. He really fell away in spades this year - just think his mind and body are no longer in sinc. .Perhaps he's got to thatstage wherewhat the mind desires the body no longer follows.

 

[Monocle]

Biggest question ( AKA The Elephant In The Room ).

Why cant we play for four quarters of football in a game ?
Mr Simpson thats a question that you and your brains trust should be seriously looking at and ASAP.

Did it again tonight, team showed up at quarter time ..... and .......... sadly left at three quarter time.
Great half of football, but you don't win many finals only showing up for a half.

Another annoying issue that has be obvious all year, we have a few players who tackle well, but by fu(k as as collective we are weak in that aspect of our game.


Bottom Line for season 2019, IMO is this.

Had we played for four quarters of football in the game on a more regular basis then we would have ,both bolster our weak % and more specifically, this season we would have beaten Collingwood at home , Richmond away, and had we done this , then we finish top two.

History show when we finish top two we usually make it to the Big Dance.

Our best this season was as good as it gets and we are capable of beating anyone.
Harsh reality, we didn't do that often enough, or for long enough.

Win a flag and you become the hunted and rightfully so.

But if we are brutal with our honesty with ourselves, we need to acknowledge that we didn't have the same hunger in 2019 that we had in 2018 and it showed.

There is a very VERY fine line in a lot of the points that matter in a successful season, but be off just 5 % and things change very rapidly.

JK was sub par over the course of the season and Gov and Harry High Pants both had a less that optimum ends to the season.
All three contributed, don't get me wrong, but the output was not as it could have been.
JK gets cut some slack IMO he is in his twilight years , but the other two need a kick up the arse.
Granted NN for a full season would have been nice, but thats now the exception rather than the norm.
Midfield still needs bolstering..........Over to you recruiting and drafting Department.

Lets be honest here we have all been waiting for ( and had an expectation that ) the team to go up a gear and put the foot down..........it never happened and actually never looked like happening.
We were hoping like hell it would, but alas it never did.

We are in a good position to bounce back in 2020, but a bit of soul searching won't go astray.

 

[wc_eagles_since86]

I'd like to see us really make some players earn their spot. With so much new talent, we really should focus on that rather than a premiership. Sure, do both if we can, but I don't think we have the juice for next years premiership.

I know it's probably counter-intuitive considering we were close, but our newer players really need more ground time and some of our older players haven't stood up in the second half of the season.

McGov
Barrass
Redden
Sheed
Kennedy

They're all looking down the barrel as far as I'm concerned. They were pretty awful for the 2nd half of the year.

Something else I noticed is that our players took far longer than usual to come back from injury to play well. I don't mean the usual 1 or 2 games, I mean once they were injured.. they were never the same. Kennedy, Barrass never came back after injury to perform at all and Hurn took ages to get right (tonight showing his former self). Cripps took a good while and remained pretty quiet thereafter. The year before, we bounced back from injuries quicker if I remember correctly.

Lastly it seems our play style has been figured out by quite a few of the coaches and maybe it's main features have become redundant. The league this year was tight as *, very close competition. When we needed those inches, we were miles off and lost some of our key matches for advantages we could ill-afford to lose.

Edit: Lastly, we have some amazing skills with kicking, especially some lovely bullet kicks etc.
BUT and this is a big but, we all have to acknowledge that our tackling skills and ground ball skills are shockingly poor.
These two skills are essential to the game and yet we're visually inept at doing either of these- with some players more egregious than others. We desperately need to address those fundamental skills issues.

 

[kane249]

If we land Kelly, Redden and Sheed should come under pressure to retain their spots in the rotation.

 

[ep2018]

If we land Kelly, Redden and Sheed should come under pressure to retain their spots in the rotation.

Kelly would replace Rioli imo

 

[kane249]

Kelly would slot into the midfield rotation, not replace Rioli as a half forward who pushed into the middle.

Cameron is the man to replace Rioli IMO

 

[wolmeister]

Have to agree we had a 8 day break off a fairly cruisey game against the Bombers.

Geelong were desperate to win in the 4th we weren't.

That's been the case every crunch match this season. Beaten by a side that outworked us and were more desperate.

 

[twinkletoes#17]

This thread is pure trash

Did I seriously just read a post suggesting we should get rid of Shuey ...? And that Gov is on the chopping block.

 

[EagleEgo]

Need to have a thread of:
1. Positives and Negatives of 2019 season.
2. How to improve for 2020 and beyond.

 

[PerthBoy86]

I feel much the same. Felt our season ended by losing in round 23. f’ed it up right there. As much as it's nice to be hopeful and think we can pull off 3 away wins to grab a flag, you really need some star-aligning stuff to get the right opponents and the right things happening to pull it off. Needless to say, it's rarely ever done.

Our best chance at winning flags is top 2, get two home finals and then take care of business from there. We could still do it from 3rd or 4th, but we'd need to pull off that first final win. Coulda done it this year, Cats and Brisbane were ripe for the picking first week of finals, but we were just in the wrong spot for it.

5th and lower, it's just finals experience really.

What kinda frustrated me was the way we played today was exactly the same as Collingwood, Hawthorn etc. We either start very well or get jumped early, have a very strong 2nd and look like running over the top, are decent after half time, but somewhere in the 3rd the wheels fall off. How much of it is a fitness thing, psychological, gameplan, I don't know, but it should not happen again and again. I rate Simmo as a coach but some of his decisions are questionable.

So in effect it was this same problem that lost us the Hawthorn and Collingwood gsmes, not the ladder position alone, but that was the cause or finishing 5th. Just that little bit more grunt, being able to finish off games, and we could've finished 1st and challenged for b2b.

Oh well, I really hope it's addressed next season.

 

[PerthBoy86]

Given we are last for contested possessions I'm surprised we finished as high as we did, really. Our tackling in particular was woeful last night. What's so frustrating is when we do tackle we look so dominant.

All year we basically just won games by a few bursts of brilliance. It's like a street racing car relying on boosts. Why are defenders have dropped off so much is definitely a major issue.

 

[fpm84]

Commiserations on the loss, and the Rioli situation which I hope doesn’t take too long to resolve.

You’re still the reigning premiers which 17 teams would kill to be, including mine, and you’ll be well and truly back up there next year.

Naitanui is one of my fave oppo players, so I hope he has a full preseason and resumes his position as the comp’s best ruck.

 

[The wily weagle]

We need to find the meanest, nastiest SOB assistant coach for Simpson that we possibly can

He is so hell bent on being the nice guy and being everyones mate that after so many seasons it's abundantly clear he cannot, or utterly refuses, to give those boys a bake when necessary. And last night was one of those times.

If he doesn't have an offsider to give the team a clip, when needed, it doesn't happen.

 

[JEagle]

Petrucelle made a mockery of Cripps and Hutchings coming off a short break, late call-up, in his first AFL final...only thing he deserves is praise for his effort tonight.

Agreed. Petch played great!!

 

[EagleEgo]

We need to find the meanest, nastiest SOB assistant coach for Simpson that we possibly can

He is so hell bent on being the nice guy and being everyones mate that after so many seasons it's abundantly clear he cannot, or utterly refuses, to give those boys a bake when necessary. And last night was one of those times.

If he doesn't have an offsider to give the team a clip, when needed, it doesn't happen.

Don Pyke?

 

[The wily weagle]

Don Pyke?

Not a silly suggestion at all. I would wager we would welcome him back with open arms if he wanted the gig