Preseason 2021

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Mofra said:
Smith, Vandermeer, Treloar, McNeill.
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We have enough quick players, but the spread from the contest issue is a game plan issue. We surround the ball with numbers for handballs, but unless that strategy is changing to short & sharp kicking, we won’t be spreading across the field as much any time soon
 
Libba39 said:
Saints definitely got us beaten on the spread. In reality our ability to spread from a contest is probably a bigger weakness than our key backs. JJ, B.Smith, Vandermeer, and Bont all keys here for us.
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It's made 10x worse when we get dominated in the ruck. A strong stoppage ruck could have kept the ball tight on the inside to prevent the speedy saints players from exploiting us on the outside. Instead our mids were beaten due to Ryder and Marshall putting it directly to St Kilda advantage.

Took us about 2-3 seasons to long but thankfully the club appears to recognise the need for 2 ruck options (1 of which that can match the big boys).
 
TBOW said:
The investigation was shut down quickly but I was able to catch a glimpse of the findings before the files were burnt in the Whitten Oval pothole.

The poster was Kevin Dunkley - the non-athletically gifted 4th sibling, who due to being so disappointing at sports is kept chained in Andrew's basement and made to defend his illustrious siblings on social media.

The truth is out there.....
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If he's anything like the third Hemsworth brother they'll find a role for him at Essendon, cutting up oranges at half time, ironing socks and jocks or running messages up to the coaches' box.
 

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ossie_21 said:
We have enough quick players, but the spread from the contest issue is a game plan issue. We surround the ball with numbers for handballs, but unless that strategy is changing to short & sharp kicking, we won’t be spreading across the field as much any time soon
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If the early stages of the Hawks practice match was any indication then we have doubled down and returned to a handball centric game plan. Its something that works a treat when we are switched on and have a team committed to it 100%. However its a taxing way to play and the moment we aren't, switch off at all, or our opponent ramps up the pressure we fold quicker than a old camp chair bought at a garage sale. Adding Treloar to the midfield mix will go some way to alleviating our struggles when it comes to spreading or countering our opponents spread from the contest, but I didnt see much that indicates that its something that Beveridge has been able to address. That one game gave me an awful sense that we are going to see much of the same structurally deficient, middling performances that we have seen in the last few years.

It may be sacrilege to say but, Im not sure that Beveridge has shown that he has another coaching gear to reach for in his kit bag.

Buying into a belief based coaching philosophy can only get a side and by extension its supporter base so far and I think we saw its peak early.
 
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Martyn_30_ said:
It was very noticeable how the normal length game changed things last night, you can’t play up tempo all game and a side’s midfield becomes much more important than last year. With the midfield depth the side has, they really should overpowering the opposition in the second half.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
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Also highlights why Marra is so far off. He cramped in the third quarter of a low-intensity practice match. How's he going to go on Marvel playing 30-35min quarters like last night? Disaster!
 
Norm De Guerre said:
If the early stages of the Hawks practice match was any indication then we have doubled down and returned to a handball centric game plan. Its something that works a treat when we are switched on and have a team committed to it 100%. However its a taxing way to play and the moment we aren't, switch off at all, or our opponent ramps up the pressure we fold quicker than a old camp chair bought at a garage sale. Adding Treloar to the midfield mix will go some way to alleviating our struggles when it comes to spreading or countering our opponents spread from the contest, but I didnt see much that indicates that its something that Beveridge has been able to address. That one game gave me an awful sense that we are going to see much of the same structurally deficient, middling performances that we have seen in the last few years.

It may be sacrilege to say but, Im not sure that Beveridge has shown that he has another coaching gear to reach for in his kit bag.

Buying into a belief based coaching philosophy can only get a side and by extension its supporter base so far and I think we saw its peak early.
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Yeah I’ve thought this for a while. It seems like he’s expecting his system to suddenly click when our players reach maturity by repeating the same moves over & over, like musicians or actors.

We’ll win games but I can’t see us finishing top four. Teams like the Lions, Richmond and even St Kilda have made our much heralded mids look ordinary by first use and direct attack from the middle.
 
bresker said:
Yeah I’ve thought this for a while. It seems like he’s expecting his system to suddenly click when our players reach maturity by repeating the same moves over & over, like musicians or actors.

We’ll win games but I can’t see us finishing top four. Teams like the Lions, Richmond and even St Kilda have made our much heralded mids look ordinary by first use and direct attack from the middle.
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Tend to agree, but hopefully Martin's competitiveness in the ruck goes a fair way to evening out those ups and downs which we've seen from week to week over the past few years. We've always had a midfield that could win the the hard ball greater than 50% of the time even when we didn't have an effective ruck. The problem is that all of the players had to be switched on 100% of the time to make this work, and its just not sustainable.

With a strong ruck combo in place things could tip our way quite quickly because the opposition needs to be more accountable.
 
Just heard on the radio that the Saints are likely to list Corey Preston due to the retirement of Dylan Roberton.
 
RedWhite&Blue said:
Yea he seems to be big on team buy-in and loyalty which was highlighted by his fury at Talia 5 years ago...
I just cannot get my head around a player like Dunkley, that is obviously respected and held in high regard, wanting to go to Essendon. I mean Stringer is there and he's a knob and Dunks knows that first hand and Essendon players are jumping ship because the place just stinks and Dunkley wants in... WTF
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Money has a very strong motivating factor, whoch think had a lot to ddp with it. And the No 1 midfielder didn't hurt!
 

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Northernsoul74 said:
This place will implode if he lights it up. Saying that they don’t seem to need some small forwards.
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Not to mention the number of trolls we'll get from the Saints board wanting to rub it in.
They who've had to wear the humiliation and embarrassment over 6-7 years for having picked Billings ahead of Bont.
 
dogwatch said:
Interesting point.

How much of a handicap is it for an 18-19yo?
How much will not playing footy at all in 2020 ****** their development and affect their career?
And will it be fairly or uniform or will it be highly variable depending on the individual (their physique, their stage of development, role etc?)
Is there are particular physique or role that will be more affected than others? (eg KPPs, rucks)


EDIT: I couldn't work out why asterisks appeared in my post. I didn't think I swore or anything. Just went back into edit mode to find out that I had innocently used the verb "r e t a r d" and had been censored! Grrrrr. So please make that substitution above.

The world's gone mad.
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I would have thought a year of extra strength training might have them in better physical condition for AFL. Cardio can be built in weeks but you can’t really optimise for strength while doing footy training and games
 
What did people think of the game last night....? having a fit midfield will go along way this year. I think a lot of teams will end up getting run over in the last quarter.
Big Coxs (😂😂 sorry I’m childish) played a good game, Especially when the pies got out the back with quick ball movement. I think out best way to dull his influence is English dropping back as much as he can.
 
Bro_Pro said:
What did people think of the game last night....? having a fit midfield will go along way this year. I think a lot of teams will end up getting run over in the last quarter.
Big Coxs (😂😂 sorry I’m childish) played a good game, Especially when the pies got out the back with quick ball movement. I think out best way to dull his influence is English dropping back as much as he can.
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A fit Treloar could be devastating for us with his burst. Finding a way to negate the pacey opposition runners as well will be key. I can see why NcNeil is seriously considered.
No doubt key forwards should get better service around the league as well which is good for Bruce and Naughton but terrifying for the likes of Gardner, Keath and Cordy.
 
Dannnnnnnnnn said:
This is maddening. We stopped winning the ball out of the centre and our mids didn't help on the defensive end. Unbelievable agenda pushing.

Martin will be playing for Footscray by round 3 and Bruce/Dunkley will be back in the ruck.
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If that happens complain then but today tomorrow may never come
 
footscray1973 said:
Disappointing on so many fronts. IF Dunks is out, we really need to turn that situation tp our advantage - ideally a developing KPD, coupled with appropriate pick exchange/s. Agree Bev is largely (but maybe not solely) to blame for the situation.
Assuming the Bont/Dunks bromance breakdown was fallout from the attempted defection, do you know if Bont drove that, seeing it as some sort of betrayal? Or is Dunks too embarrassed to face his captain/mate after what he tried to pull?
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i expect it’s more to do with Dunkleys character but that’s just my opinion
 
cleveland said:
Love bigfooty. I am a daily reader and minimal poster these days but I feel some on here are watching a different interview than I did. Where in the interview did Bevo even hint that he won't play two rucks?
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its Hilarious because my take was exactly the opposite that he was in fact openly admitting our ruck deficiency in the past
 
Bulldogs Legend said:
i expect it’s more to do with Dunkleys character but that’s just my opinion
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They were still pictured out for dinner etc so I’m sure they’re still mates. Bont was made to look a little silly by laughing off the suggestion Dunkley would go only for him to request a trade a week later.
 
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Bro_Pro said:
let’s hope they don’t say before Monday’s game “we will use this game as a full dress rehearsal and go in with a strong side” if we get rolled by Melbourne then..... well let’s say Monday night and Tuesday will be a good read on BF 😂.
I personally hope what ever players are selected we continue with to round one unless injuries. We have had all preseason to try different players in different positions during internal match sims, now not the time to be unbalancing the team.
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I hope whatever approach we have we don’t use BF as a guide
 
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