Autopsy Positives and Negatives vs Richmond

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Oct 8, 2007
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After kicking 7 in the first quarter and ******* up the rest of the game

Good teams respond and that is what Richmond did ..There was plenty on the line for them as well..
Did you just expect Richmond to roll over and get a tummy tickle..
Take some solace out of the fact that Wce responded and lifted to another level when Richmond hit the lead ..
It may be a good loss to have before the finals as a wake up call after winning 4 games in a row ..


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Karim Abdul Yeo

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Jul 30, 2013
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Firstly, I come in peace. Second of all, was having this discussion with an Eagles mate after today's game but as a genuine question I asked him what he reckons the Eagles best win has been in the last 9 rounds or since the Eagles bye in other words. He didn't really give me an answer. Granted, you guys are the defending champs and are entitled to a bit of arrogance, and you can only play the teams in front of you (and maybe I'm looking at it from a position of bias), but I couldn't see a resume-defining win that would put the Eagles well ahead of the Lions. Nonetheless, great game today and hope we see you guys in the finals 👍
Firstly, I also come in peace. Secondly, let me address your question in best way possible.Eagles Holding a winning record of 15-6 losing 2 of the last 10 games post bye by under a goal on the back of a premiership year with limited pre seasons is all you need to know.Hunter versus hunted mentality is well and truly a thing, so our 15-6 record is way more valuable than your 16-5 record tbh. Those results alongside last year winning a flag, making finals 4 years in a row with 2 GF appearances in last 4 seasons. Replicate half of that then your Lions can be in conversation to be compared to this current Eagles. Until then, you have basically done nothing so far. Maybe a minor premiers.Hope that clears few of your concerns. good luck next week and beyond.
 

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Moley27

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Sep 15, 2017
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Positives:

1. That first quarter was the best footy any team in the league has played this year, we were intense, the ball movement was elite and the goal kicking was flawless. A lot of other teams would have crumbled under that pressure, fair play to Richmond for responding
2. Yeo is a contested beast, Dusty was stand out individual player in the first half of the game but Yeo was the one Eagle that actually lifted once it got wet. He's a wrecking ball when he plays like that and so important to our team
3. Darling wasn't able to maintain his first quarter performance for all 4 but he still showed he is as good as any KPF at the moment. His desire to get something on the ball at every contest is elite and really helps bring our small forwards into the game

Negatives:
1. Individual errors in the back line, Barrass is the obvious target here due to the three clear, goal causing errors but I'm not going to hang him out to dry. He's still an elite key defender and I'd rather he make those mistakes now than in September, Simmo will be making sure he doesnt make the same mistakes again. Also, he was far from alone in making mistakes at the back, Shuey, McGovern and Hickey all made some very questionable decisions that resulted in Richmond kicks on goal. Contrasted with the composure that the Tigers showed in defence it highlighted a general poor day at the office in our defensive 50.
2. Shuey in general had one of his poorer games for the year, you can never knock his intent but ball use was down.
3. Pressure drop off in the 2nd and 3rd was concerning, long before the rain came we let Richmond play the game on their turns. It ain't pretty but their scraggy, get the ball forward at all costs game plan worked when we stopped matching them at the contest.

All in all a disappointing one to drop from the position we were in but I think we will learn a lot from that game at an important stage of the season.
 

Wadsworth

Fold the Eagles
Jul 21, 2015
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I'd like to introduce you all to a concept called The Paradox of Skill.

The more time, effort and resources go into outperforming peers often makes it less likely that you will achieve outperformance. Because everyone else is also dedicating the additional time and resources into achieving superior performance. When watching elite sport, it is easy to have unrealistic expectations. It's easy to forget that the opposition is also an elite sporting organisation that has put everything they can into beating us.

One of the beauties of sport is that there are so many moving parts that can be utilised to try to gain a very small advantage. From the intangible mental side of things, to structures and strategies, to personal. And even when you line things up really nicely and gain a small advantage over your opposition, you still don't guarantee yourself victory but give yourself a better probability of victory. For those that complain about failing to put a full 4 quarters together, you're forgetting that there is an opposition that is dedicating everything they can to stopping us and devoting everything they can to putting in 4 quarters themselves. It's quite naive to expect that we should be able to play at 110% and have a really tough facade as a supporter because we demand excellence and don't settle for mediocrity. to It's probably easy for people to forget that as reigning premiers, opposition teams probably have a slight mental motivation to get themselves up for the game. As reigning premiers, it's probably easy for players to relax even the tiniest amount and feel like they can flick the switch. So keeping ourselves around the mark and ready to impact September is undoubtedly a major challenge that we appear relatively close to achieving.

So in that context, there is one massive positive and one massive negative from the game yesterday.

Positive: We are a genuine premiership contender. We are a strong chance at Top 4 and have shown that we are right around the mark of the best sides in the competition. I don't think anyone (from either side or a neutral observer) would look at yesterdays game and suggest that either side has a clear advantage over the other (even on the MCG). Just as it should be with two elite sides going toe to toe.

Negative: We have slightly reduced our probability of winning the premiership this year by compromising our ability to finish top 2 and giving ourselves an extra home final. As noted, premierships are not certainties for the best side. They are tough to win and giving yourself the best probability is as much as you can do. Short of a lot of things going our way next weekend, we'll finish out of the Top 2 and make our road slightly harder than it otherwise would have been.

Go you awesome Eagles. I love this club. I love the fight they show. I love the professionalism. I love that they are a champion team.
 

MrKK

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I'd love to know if there has ever been a final round with so many crucial spots up for grabs?

Four teams in the hunt for both top two spots.

Two of those teams plus Collingwood fighting for the final two spots in the top four. Technically Geelong not even locked in for top four, but realistically they are.

Four teams battling for 8th position.

It's wristy's all round this week at AFL House.
Also goes to show how farcical the AFL's integrity is that no games are scheduled simultaneously. Big advantage to the teams playing later.
 
We'd take a lot away from that. The Tigers had to play at their absolute best to beat us and only just got the job done. They'll be happy with the win but won't feel like they've got our measure by any stretch. We'll be down at the loss, but we'll have plenty to pick apart for a potential finals match.

"However, while the defeat might sting temporarily on the return flight home for the Eagles, there is a sense this rivalry isn't done yet in season 2019. See you again in September? "
You're right, neither side gained any mental advantage from the game yesterday. I was very happy walking away from the G yesterday, however, I just thought that result could have gone either way. I am sure this rivalry will play out over September and in the next couple of years.
 

King LeBron

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Feb 1, 2013
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Play that game again in September and remove any one of:
Barrass chipping it to Lambert (I think?) directly in front 30m out
Barrass handballing to Tom Lynch in the goal square
Barrass letting a high ball bounce, then refusing to rush it, goal.

And we’re fine.

They’re three moments that immediately come to mind from one player alone. Do you realise how many gears most of our guys have to go to? Hurn was terrible, Barrass was terrible, Gov was bad, midfield was invisible for 90% of the game, Kennedy was invisible, we were a rotation down in the wet.

We lost by a goal to Richmond at the G. We’re sorted.

Yes our backline made some mistakes, but part of the reason for that was there was so much ball coming into our d50, there was bound to be some mistakes eventually. This is the more pressing issue for me - not the mistakes, but the fact of the sheer ease in which Richmond were able to transition through the midfield after quarter time and then lock it into our d50.

62 to 44 inside 50's is not good reading, especially since we were up by at least 5 in that differential at quarter time.

If our midfield dishes that up again in the finals, we will be struggling to win against any team, let alone against the Tiges.
 

Candiru

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Jan 27, 2018
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Agree with what you’re saying but in both those games there were factors out of our control. Collingwood game we had a lot of sore guys, today we were a man down and playing in the wet which is leaning more towards Richmond’s strength than ours. In both games we were still only a kick away.

They’re obviously excuses and we need to be able to overcome them. At the end of the day no one remembers the circumstances, just the results. Just shows how hard it is to win flags. Absolutely everything has to go your way, especially on game day.. and you just have to find ways to win the ones where your back is against the wall. Something we did very well last year but haven’t quite this year.
I'm not sure those factors really mitigate the result. Particularly that loss against Collingwood, at home, after leading by 20 points in the last term and having had the opportunity to well and truly put them away. It was annoying at the time. Now we see how damaging it was.
 

Doashuey

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Sep 13, 2017
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Apparently the rule refers to the potential to cause injury not having studs up as a blanket rule. I think we both agree there was no potential to cause injury. The AFL signing off Jeremy Howe's free kick was a wrong decision
I havent seen the Howe one. I thought Reiwoldts 1st one was unlucky but the 2nd should have been a free for in the back. He basically kicked Barass and pushed him under the ball, then landed then got hands on it. You should be able to use your feet and knees to get elevation to take a grab but using them to push a bloke under the ball rather than gain elevation is in the back.
 

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flyinghi64

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Dec 7, 2006
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Though Rotham went well, again. Shows a bit of confidence and doesn't rush his disposal.
Thought Ryan and Rioli were going to tear it up after the 1st qtr, yeah nahh.
Cripps showed why he is our best and most important small forward.
Hutchings going off early hurt, Grimes not staying off injured hurt just as much.
Barrass, oh dear. Nuf said.
Kennedy and Darling get nothing from the Umps, nothing.

Stick a bloody tackle on Martin, OMG the amount of times.

Went down by one kick to one of the form teams on their own turf in their preferred conditions, not all bad.
The other results, well they definitely didn't go our way.

Come on you Blue baggers!!!!!!!! Big upset boys.
 
Dec 19, 2007
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+ Sublime first quarter.
+ JD till he got the corkie was unstoppable.
+ Gaff worked his butt off.
+ A man down.
+ the fact that im struggling to find five positives and yet we could still have stolen the game.

- Barass! Mate other than the obvious cockups, you went back to your bruise free method of spoiling.As soon as Reiwold sees an incoming kick he makes body contact.He needs to be hit with full body spoils not a hang of the arm.
- Rotham! i know your inexperienced but if you dive or fall over one more time ill scream! KEEP YOUR FEET!!!!! This is AFL not WAFL.
- Sheed.What a dog of a game.No tackles? My grandma could move faster than you.Much as ive not been a big fan i think AhChee offers more.
- The Richmond talls weren't trying to mark around midfield,they were punching over the back.Did we have any numbers behind the pack to stop the out the back? No!
- With every man in defence was it necessary to have 3-5 men within 20m of goals with nobody to mark? That meant they had numbers forward of the pack where everybody was punching to.
- Nelson.Gotta go! Sorry mate but your like a deer in the headlights at times.You MUST move to the ball or the incoming contest.Not wait for it to come to you.
- Waterman to soft for me.You cant wait for somebody to get the ball then tackle!Get stuck in and at least try to halve the contest.
- Outcoached! If your losing why not have more players out, to kick to when coming out of defence.? You cant win a game if you have nobody to kick goals.Its too hard to run,chip,and handball out of defence on a wet greasy day.
- Why not run Ryan through the middle? He was so clean in the wet.Hes got speed and nous.All very well to have a gun forward line but useless if you cant get the ball there.
- Lucky to be so close.
- Umpires screwed us.
- Tackling? A new concept i know!
- Simmo if your looking for an edge introduce your players to a thing called sheppherding.Grab a couple of primary school kids to teach them.
 
+ Sublime first quarter.
+ JD till he got the corkie was unstoppable.
+ Gaff worked his butt off.
+ A man down.
+ the fact that im struggling to find five positives and yet we could still have stolen the game.

- Barass! Mate other than the obvious cockups, you went back to your bruise free method of spoiling.As soon as Reiwold sees an incoming kick he makes body contact.He needs to be hit with full body spoils not a hang of the arm.
- Rotham! i know your inexperienced but if you dive or fall over one more time ill scream! KEEP YOUR FEET!!!!! This is AFL not WAFL.
- Sheed.What a dog of a game.No tackles? My grandma could move faster than you.Much as ive not been a big fan i think AhChee offers more.
- The Richmond talls weren't trying to mark around midfield,they were punching over the back.Did we have any numbers behind the pack to stop the out the back? No!
- With every man in defence was it necessary to have 3-5 men within 20m of goals with nobody to mark? That meant they had numbers forward of the pack where everybody was punching to.
- Nelson.Gotta go! Sorry mate but your like a deer in the headlights at times.You MUST move to the ball or the incoming contest.Not wait for it to come to you.
- Waterman to soft for me.You cant wait for somebody to get the ball then tackle!Get stuck in and at least try to halve the contest.
- Outcoached! If your losing why not have more players out, to kick to when coming out of defence.? You cant win a game if you have nobody to kick goals.Its too hard to run,chip,and handball out of defence on a wet greasy day.
- Why not run Ryan through the middle? He was so clean in the wet.Hes got speed and nous.All very well to have a gun forward line but useless if you cant get the ball there.
- Lucky to be so close.
- Umpires screwed us.
- Tackling? A new concept i know!
- Simmo if your looking for an edge introduce your players to a thing called sheppherding.Grab a couple of primary school kids to teach them.

Damn. Sounds like we were putrid. Did we lose by 10 or 15 goals?

Fold the club.
 

dkalphy

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Sep 17, 2017
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Can we start talking about Andrew Gaff.. I know he accumulates a lot of the ball, but he's only kicked 1 goal this season!?!? I remember Kerr use to kick like 10 a season, but he needs to hit the scoreboard a lot more
 

WCE Wizard

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Jun 14, 2015
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+ we still look good for a double chance

- We are 0-3 against the rest of the top 4 and have fallen short at every "big test"

I just can't shake the feeling that we aren't quite good enough this year. We are finding ways to lose the close ones, instead of winning them like we did last year.
Yep sadly got belted by the Cats and Lions as well. Time will tell how good we are
 
Dec 19, 2007
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Can we start talking about Andrew Gaff.. I know he accumulates a lot of the ball, but he's only kicked 1 goal this season!?!? I remember Kerr use to kick like 10 a season, but he needs to hit the scoreboard a lot more
He works so hard but really lacks penetration in his kicking.Unfortunately his sheer running power means he is the one always presenting in defence.If he is to kick goals it means he has to be inside 50 and to be honest we dont want him there.
 

Coasters7

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I'm not sure those factors really mitigate the result. Particularly that loss against Collingwood, at home, after leading by 20 points in the last term and having had the opportunity to well and truly put them away. It was annoying at the time. Now we see how damaging it was.
The Collingwood game you could physically see our players were cooked before 3/4 time, I don’t think there was a lack of effort or killer instinct, we just literally couldn’t do it.

Can’t pin it on one specific thing but I think the combination of 2 wet games off 6 day breaks and losing guys early in the game certainly didn’t help. But yeah like I said, s**t happens in footy, you just need to find a way to hold on in that circumstance and we couldn’t and it could be potentially season defining.
 

Candiru

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The Collingwood game you could physically see our players were cooked before 3/4 time, I don’t think there was a lack of effort or killer instinct, we just literally couldn’t do it.

Can’t pin it on one specific thing but I think the combination of 2 wet games off 6 day breaks and losing guys early in the game certainly didn’t help. But yeah like I said, s**t happens in footy, you just need to find a way to hold on in that circumstance and we couldn’t and it could be potentially season defining.
We can't be "physically cooked by 3QT". That can't be an acceptable explanation for losing that game.
 

Coasters7

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We can't be "physically cooked by 3QT". That can't be an acceptable explanation for losing that game.
There’s no acceptable explanation for losing any game other than we just weren’t good enough. But the challenge did increase with the factors I mentioned and to be the best you have to overcome those. Thats why the chances of winning one, let alone 2 flags, is very hard to do. Which was my original point.
 

Candiru

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There’s no acceptable explanation for losing any game other than we just weren’t good enough. But the challenge did increase with the factors I mentioned and to be the best you have to overcome those. Thats why the chances of winning one, let alone 2 flags, is very hard to do. Which was my original point.
Sometimes you just get beaten by a team that's better on the day. That's footy. I don't expect us to win every game. But we had Collingwood on toast, at home, while they were out of form. And we lost. And I can't accept the explanation that "we were physically cooked".
 

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