AFL Autopsy Praccy Match v. St Kilda

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Jeez way too much hysteria for a practice match. These are the areas I thought were good and some I hope to see improvement in when we are more tuned up.

Things to work on.
The modern game is built around creating turnovers and capitalising on the scoreboard and limiting your own turnovers.

Our skill level is below par across the board. Merrett Ridley and Martin are our only real decent kicks. Parish setterfield tsatas Durham are all below average kicks who play across our midfield and gathered most our disposals. Which meant even when we turned the ball over our skill level wasn’t good enough to put it on the scoreboard. Before half time there were at least 4 goals that should have been kicked but a breakdown in skill and composure didn’t allow it.

I believe once Ridley comes back into the side we see Martin moved back to the wing to spread the good users.

Our ball movement from half back was pretty abysmal. Conditions definitely played a part, but there wasn’t any real build up of the ball and it often led to bail out kick to bigs who didn’t compete well enough to get it across the boundary or mark it. With the stand rule there isn’t much excuse not to see the ball built up with shorter angle kicks that manage to create overlap by forward handball and eventually end up in a quick play forward entry. Maybe it’s the confidence some players have in their skill Level. Leverde McGrath and heppell simply can’t be in the back 6 together.

Defensively as a whole is an area we need to improve on. Structurally we should be winning the ball back or at least forcing it over the line far more often from oppo kick ins. Too often teams go coast to coast on us. Our turnovers also kill us defensively. Our shallow forward entries and the lack of competitiveness from our forwards see the ball slingshot the other way. I’ve seen posts here with the wings getting blamed for this. It’s actually the ball carriers fault for not delivering the ball into the right part of the ground. It’s incredibly hard to defend as a winger and it’s left to interpretation whether you cover the exit, put pressure on the ball carrier, follow the footy and crumb etc. Ball carrier needs to be better protected, better skilled, and more predictable for his team mates. Once the intercept has happened the wings can put on front on pressure but usually the ball ends up getting past them with forward handball or kicks.

The good.

Our centre bounce system was great. Goldy wins as many taps as Draper but many more of them are to our advantage. Setterfeild gives us size in there and fired out some crucial handballs. parish shiel and stringer are all elite cb players who will greatly appreciate the gold service. Hopefully the cbs are after our goals though to truly get on top of the opposition.

Ball ups and throw in looked pretty solid too. Saw wing replacements action to free up parish and Merrett. Adding duursma who has size allows has helps us in this front. Fat and skinny Wingers held their spots at stoppage well and don’t allow the footy to get past them without a contest. Some slick hands inside created most of our opportunities in front of goal.

Overall alot of things to improve can be done with personal. When 2mp langers stringer and potentially Draper are in the fwd line together i predict they will compete much better in the air. If our mids can get it in deeper and more organised hopefully we can put a score on the board that we can defend. Better ball movement will come with Ridley back in the side. His intercept play and his skill level elevates our ball movement hugely. Think he’s our most important player.

Definitely wouldn’t be losing sleep over this loss. Definitely things to clean up.
Go dons.
 
Imagine how many crimes we would commit if we could not take out our frustration on our footy side ?
steve carrell anchorman GIF
 

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Its way too early to be all doom and gloom. Sure the performance sucked but this is the time for experimentation and testing things out. To me we seemed more experimental than the Saints and it reflected on the scoreboard and in the general game.

Next week we'll see a game taken more seriously with a side much closer resembling what we'll be bringing to the table regularly in the H&A season and even then we'll be managing loads etc.

It is fair to say a few fringe players probably didn't elevate themselves which is unfortunate but the good news is that nearly everyone in our best 22 that didn't play today or played limited minutes is basically going to be fit even for the next praccy match except probably Draper who is apparently still likely for round 1 if not soon thereafter.

Structurally Wright and Ridley will sort out a lot of our issues in the short term. I can see though that our backline will need to iron out the way we want to exit from defense which isn't a big surprise given some personnel changes back there. I know both teams were missing plenty of players but this is very early in the year, it doesn't take much to destabilise parts of the ground when everyone is still rusty.

Our forward line really lacks a big target without Wright. But realistically most games you'd be thinking we'd not only have Wright but probably even Draper up there (2 ruck combo) helping bring more balls to ground and make it a bit harder for oppositions to intercept mark.
I don't really see it with Harrison Jones and I reckon Caddy will go straight past him in short order, regardless of which one starts round 1. Caddy has an aggression, confidence and desire to attack the ball that Jones simply doesn't have in my books.
 
I believe once Ridley comes back into the side we see Martin moved back to the wing to spread the good users.

Our ball movement from half back was pretty abysmal.

Maybe we need to leave him there, there’s definitely sound logic to having more than just Ridley.
 
Lack a little polish on the outside going forward though. I don’t mind martin playing there but Durham and duursma just don’t kick it as well to our forward
 

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Good in principle but in reality we are watching a competitive game and still barracking for the sash.

I suspect many of our supporters find their hopes are fairly beaten down but it’s gonna come out here and there at least.

Last year I was very measured all year but something clicked in the GWS game and I found myself turning off the TV and punching a pillow
The last time I was angry at a game (not at the umps/AFL/Essendon off-field circus) was probably vs Geelong round 1 2022. Before that probably Geelong 2020.

Last year I just turned off the Geelong, Bulldogs and GWS games (+ didn't watch a second of the Collingwood game) and went on my day like nothing happened. It happens so often that there's no point in getting worked up.
 
How did Lav go and what role was he playing? On the stats he looked like he got a bit of it and looked good on the highlights.
 
I reckon you’re over thinking it. Martin is a very good user. Duursma isn’t on his level. I’d personally want to spread the good users across the ground when Ridley is back. I wouldn’t be mad if Martin is continued to be used across half back but we also can’t get angry if the forwards aren’t getting the same delivery when Durham and duursma have it.
 
How did Lav go and what role was he playing? On the stats he looked like he got a bit of it and looked good on the highlights.

Played 3rd tall. Went alright. Was probably the most physical player on the team (alongside Parish)

Defense was very under the pump due to a mistake riddled performance even from the typically reliable players.

Kicking out of the back half was awful with Hep/McGrath/Lav all being pretty rubbish
 
I heard comments somewhere that a lot of the damage was done by the saints back half intercepts? I’m not blaming Harrison Jones for that but oh I long for the day where he can rip a game apart.
 
When I look at the saints I think they are on a quest to win a flag! They are on a higher trajectory than us because they are on a premiership quest. It’s not just the playing list. They know that they are the only club of the old ones to not win a flag in the modern era. They have imo more on the line than what we do! Essendon? the improvement lies in the recruits but more importantly no injuries to key players.

Edit: Also if our young ones come along I’m not sure if they all are going to make it!
 
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I heard comments somewhere that a lot of the damage was done by the saints back half intercepts? I’m not blaming Harrison Jones for that but oh I long for the day where he can rip a game apart.
Sadly it does not look like it will happen. He just can not mark it. Nothing wrong with the way he attacks the footy. Dare I say it he looks like he will be another forward who may only make it as a defender due to his athleticism and leap. I know he has not played defense but it reminds me of Josh Eyre who also failed as a forward because he could not mark but looked good at the other end. I think Caddy will rip a game apart before Jones does at this stage.
 
I still think we are / will be a mid range side if we can play 80% of our best players over the season. Getting Ridley back will be a big plus. The real key for us will be Wright and Draper. Now neither can fix the round the ground marking issues but Wright in 2022 form and Sam being able to play the big bloke who can take a grab forward for parts of the game (which he has done) will make a difference. The inside 50 efficiency was horrible. If we get limited output from both of these guys then we will be closer to the bottom end than the 8.
 
I still think we are / will be a mid range side if we can play 80% of our best players over the season. Getting Ridley back will be a big plus. The real key for us will be Wright and Draper. Now neither can fix the round the ground marking issues but Wright in 2022 form and Sam being able to play the big bloke who can take a grab forward for parts of the game (which he has done) will make a difference. The inside 50 efficiency was horrible. If we get limited output from both of these guys then we will be closer to the bottom end than the 8.

I agree with this. I would love for our mids and half backs to slow down a few times as well and just hit a short pass, even if lateral. We seem to want to go long at all costs and it just kills us. Wilkie had a field day because he knew he never had to worry about the angle shifting.
 
The lack of ground pressure when going forward is a concern. I’m perplexed as to why they’d move Martin considering how good he’s been on the wing for us. Perkins would be a better fit.

Unfortunately our list is soft and we will most likely need a full rebuild.
We have holes everywhere and too many players front runners.
 

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