AFL Autopsy R22: Power out

[citizen-erased]

We just simple cannot have the same midfield next year. I refuse to watch with this midfield. I thought going hard for Dunkley would be enough, but now I’m starting to think we may need to trade a few out.

Hopefully only one more game of this left before we see the back of Dodoro and his protégé of players that are not defending.

its a good year off but i think we have a good portion of a better midfield.

Hobbs, Caldwell and Perkins have some nice traits, but mostly i like that they like contact.
Draper Hobbs Caldwell
Durham Perkins Langford

That just needs experience and better example around for the next 18m.
I'd love Dunkley. And a Mundy and/or Ward older set of heads.
But it would need to be more than just a pay cheque for them.

Then it's decisions on who goes.
Shiel will just stop. Merrett doesn't play defensive. Parish is ineffective and unaccountable. McGrath = not a mid. Heppell = does not impact.

 

[Happyskeret]

 

[ant555]

The same combo that failed at the start of the year, go figure.

Well it is an Adrian problem as it is basically the only combo we have. I know people are saying Hobbs but he is feeling the effects of his first season. Perkins IMO is a half forward / wing. Voss played VFL midfield today and was hard at it but has not got a lot of craft. Coach can only work with what he is given early on in his stint and he has not been given a lot as far as midfield depth goes. Or small forwards for that matter which is also killing us. Alwyn Jnr did not have a big day out numbers wise but his speed and chase was effective in pressuring the Werribee defenders 5 or 6 times rather than them just walking it out of the back half.
We really need a couple of powerful midfielders, a few good small forwards , an other KP forward to stand up and some bloody leaders that can do something and actually make a difference. At this stage I am not even going top complain if they draft Jhye Clarke as I could see him and Hobbs being a great leadership combo going forward and negating the fact he is another 180cm midfielder.

 

[Old Campaigner]

At this stage I am not even going top complain if they draft Jhye Clarke as I could see him and Hobbs being a great leadership combo going forward and negating the fact he is another 180cm midfielder.

That becomes much less of an issue if we trade out a 180cm midfielder... just sayin

 

[citizen-erased]

I do not see it is apologetic to be saying the players / total lack of leadership / recruiting gaps are not as big an issue as the coach not being able to get buy in from the players. I was watching from level 3 behind the goals and the level of stupid from the players was off the charts. Zoning grass. Not rolling over in defense. Pushing back down the ground to defend but running to stupid spots and not to where the Port players where.

Truck looks *ed. The players are not buying it and that is death. It is his failure for sure. However the issues run deeper than the coach. Once he can not sell the plan you get what we have tonight. Time to go. I would say so. How much will it fix ? not a lot short term . We also need to turn over another 10 to 15 players (not just fringe players). We need to sack the list manager and despite what the board says it is a 3 to 5 year build from here.

this is accurate.
maybe not 10-15 starters, but there's a lot on the list to move on from.

 

[citizen-erased]

Well it is an Adrian problem as it is basically the only combo we have. I know people are saying Hobbs but he is feeling the effects of his first season. Perkins IMO is a half forward / wing. Voss played VFL midfield today and was hard at it but has not got a lot of craft. Coach can only work with what he is given early on in his stint and he has not been given a lot as far as midfield depth goes. Or small forwards for that matter which is also killing us. Alwyn Jnr did not have a big day out numbers wise but his speed and chase was effective in pressuring the Werribee defenders 5 or 6 times rather than them just walking it out of the back half.
We really need a couple of powerful midfielders, a few good small forwards , an other KP forward to stand up and some bloody leaders that can do something and actually make a difference. At this stage I am not even going top complain if they draft Jhye Clarke as I could see him and Hobbs being a great leadership combo going forward and negating the fact he is another 180cm midfielder.

it won't happen, but we could jettison Parish and really rebuild.
Then start the phase out of Shiel, then see where Zach lands in all this.

I like the idea of Perkins as a hybrid. I see less forward craft him than i do a mid. first instinct is to get the hands free and try stand up. The HTB call was dumb today, but he at least did not panic dispose of the ball to nowhere. we should keep working on that

Clarke + Hobbs i'd take if we could get up the board for McKenzie too.
Add Caldwell to that mix and you've got competitors.

 

[TheGrizz]

Well it is an Adrian problem as it is basically the only combo we have. I know people are saying Hobbs but he is feeling the effects of his first season. Perkins IMO is a half forward / wing. Voss played VFL midfield today and was hard at it but has not got a lot of craft. Coach can only work with what he is given early on in his stint and he has not been given a lot as far as midfield depth goes. Or small forwards for that matter which is also killing us. Alwyn Jnr did not have a big day out numbers wise but his speed and chase was effective in pressuring the Werribee defenders 5 or 6 times rather than them just walking it out of the back half.
We really need a couple of powerful midfielders, a few good small forwards , an other KP forward to stand up and some bloody leaders that can do something and actually make a difference. At this stage I am not even going top complain if they draft Jhye Clarke as I could see him and Hobbs being a great leadership combo going forward and negating the fact he is another 180cm midfielder.

Caldwell and Martin perhaps? I dunno really.
Anywho I haven't been on the trade Parish/Shiel bandwagon but I am now.

We can't run with Shiel/Parish/Merrett combo again.
We need midfield minutes for Hobbs and Caldwell to play more time, and I would target Deven Robertson or another young mid like Bytel who I remember had a strong defensive game and leadership qualities in his draft.
High character guys that commit defensively.

 

[Mikevk123]

Prob the worst we’ve looked this season.

 

[Blind Turn]

Martin made a few big defensive errors. Shiel was horrible after half time. His efforts to defend where 5/100.

Yeah, they all collapsed today. I was talking more about the season overall. Shiel did bring the intensity early to be fair .

 

[yodellinhank]

Yeah, they all collapsed today. I was talking more about the season overall. Shiel did bring the intensity early to be fair .

The way he came back after being dropped I think I even paid him a compliment. I'll never get sucked in by a player ever again. And he can't kick.

 

[bacon buster]

Put some players up for trade. Publicise it too. Doesn’t matter if we hold on to them or not. Rattle some cages. Everyone that’s been there more than 3 years (bar Draper and Redman) on the block.

We had our “best” stoppage group today and got absolutely slaughtered.

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

Thing that got me the most today was the complete lack of *s given by a player group that got done by what was practically 100 points. Nobody stood up to demand better standards, not least of all anybody in the leadership group. Just a rudderless and apathetic team that has no drive and no pride.

 

[tribey]

Suck s**t port.

‘suck s**t port’, indeed.

The ‘pressure’s off, boys!’ downhill-skiing dead rubber special, which costs us draft position, emboldens our happyclapper element who think Ken Hinkley walks on water, and leads David Koch to believe he’s made the right decision in giving him a sixth/ninth/eleventh year.

Like clockwork.

 

[boncer34]

One thing that continually infuriates me is watching our players getting sucked into the player with the pill when defending.

Multiple times today Port flick the ball to the outside and multiple Essendon players chase 1 Port player.

Same when defending a quick burst, our defenders are kings at running 15m into no man's land at the ball carrier who gets the easy pass over the top to the opponent they've left.

 

[bacon buster]

Thing that got me the most today was the complete lack of *s given by a player group that got done by what was practically 100 points. Nobody stood up to demand better standards, not least of all anybody in the leadership group. Just a rudderless and apathetic team that has no drive and no pride.

I was sitting quite close to the bench. They seemed to be having a bit of fun coming on and off the ground a few times. There was 1 after we finally kicked a goal in the third (I think it got us back to 48 maybe) they seemed pretty happy about it on the bench

I know you need to enjoy yourselves, but ffs. That’s s**t culture for mine. There was way too much smiling and chuckling

 

[Old Campaigner]

One thing that continually infuriates me is watching our players getting sucked into the player with the pill when defending.

Multiple times today Port flick the ball to the outside and multiple Essendon players chase 1 Port player.

Same when defending a quick burst, our defenders are kings at running 15m into no man's land at the ball carrier who gets the easy pass over the top to the opponent they've left.

Melbourne made a big deal of their 'trust the tackler' mantra last year. It should only take one bloke to bring the ball carrier to ground so no need for 4 blokes to attempt to do so. They let the others hang back to shark the loose ball.

Thing that got me the most today was the complete lack of *s given by a player group that got done by what was practically 100 points. Nobody stood up to demand better standards, not least of all anybody in the leadership group. Just a rudderless and apathetic team that has no drive and no pride.

This s**t is why I have my doubts on Merrett as a captain. He's next in line, he should be giving the side a lift if Heppell can't.

 

[Mercuri Rising]

If there is a signature essendon play, it's our two deepest defenders running after three goalside opposition players raffling off an uncontested mark 25m out

 

[Keystone agony]

Rutten has to round 8 next year

Should be a soft draw with a very ordinary bottom 6 who we should get to play a bit

If hes not 4-4, i think its fair to say good bye and i have no issue with that

Give Caracella a crack for 14 weeks a good stint

 

[MiguelM]

Heppell's speech post game

 

[yodellinhank]

I was sitting quite close to the bench. They seemed to be having a bit of fun coming on and off the ground a few times. There was 1 after we finally kicked a goal in the third (I think it got us back to 48 maybe) they seemed pretty happy about it on the bench

I know you need to enjoy yourselves, but ffs. That’s s**t culture for mine. There was way too much smiling and chuckling

Jam it.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Best effort of the day…

 

[Old Campaigner]

For all the talk of truck being unable to get the players to buy in it’s probably pretty difficult to sell a message about defending to a group when one member of that group is consistently doing his own thing and not really facing any consequences

 

[brutus76]

Dev would have least put a few blokes down on their a** if he played

 

[Bombermania]

I like Rutten, but its been clear at times during the season that the players are playing for themselves, I also get that impression from the attitude from Parish and Andy on their podcast, and while I haven bothered to listen to most editions, however from what I've heard, the attitude is dismissive of criticism and shows a poor level of self-awareness, and this is why the club making a big statement by either delisting a big name or putting a big name up for trade would send a big message, which could backfire or knock some sense into this playing group.

 

[citizen-erased]

Prob the worst we’ve looked this season.

easily.

Had the combination of the open fwd line we gifted the eagles, the lack of effort v the cats and the lack of ability to contest that we had v Freo.
Pretty sure i saw a port player giving Shiel some banter too. nothing Parker level, but it was Port.

84pts to a non-finalist. 3rd most scored against team this year.
that's not great when the other two had a couple of 100+ blow outs.