Autopsy Round 11, 2023 - Positives and Negatives vs Essendon

[KERRPOW]

I wouldnt be pissed if west gets a 1 year contract if they delist rotham a year before his contract ends.

At least west has a proper crack and contributes to the team in some way.

Guys like XON and rotham have been given enough games now and havent stepped up.

 

[Cuzz09]

Out: Ledwards
In: Burgiel

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Grahame]

Hope the club pays out rotham and delists him at the end of the year.

Wishful thinking that they will do the same for gaff. Hes become a complete waste of space and a liability with the ball. Its such a shame as this is all he will be remembered for (and the brayshaw hit)

Rotham should simply play WAFL for his last year. I think we have enough players of similar/better size/ability. If he stars consistently then he gets a promotion. No point paying him out while our WAFL team needs players.

Gaff is different only because of his history and contract. But I’d like to think the MC has the courage to see we’re better playing say XON, Trew, LEdwards, West etc. At least they are not slower nor worse kicks and may(??) have upside.
“Thank you very much Andrew for your loyalty and long service but we really need you to mentor our WAFL players.”

 

[Bushhopper]

Williams I’m very keen to see develop. Petch I personally think is a dud but would be very happily proven wrong.

Re Petch, agreed. Just does not do enough with the exp and talent he has. Would be a good trade

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

Re Petch, agreed. Just does not do enough with the exp and talent he has. Would be a good trade

We won't get too much for him, and also out of contract.
Personally don't mind a minimal trade given the circumstances but I doubt any teams would be interested.

 

[Dylan82]

I distinctly remember though one of his taps went straight to an Essendon player who goaled. He's got to be better than that - don't put it down the throat of an opposition player close to goal.

To be fair, in that instance he did tap it down to where a team-mate would have been before he entered the ruck contest.

Unfortunately, Foley and Hunt completely stuffed a defensive changeover which allowed Hobbs a free run to receive the tap unopposed and goal.


A significant issue (among very many) this year has been the lack of defensive capability around stoppage, which has been compounded by the retirement of Redden and injuries to Naitanui and Yeo.

 

[Bushhopper]

We won't get too much for him, and also out of contract.
Personally don't mind a minimal trade given the circumstances but I doubt any teams would be interested.

If he could be packaged up with XON, Rotham and Clarke, that would be absolutely super...

Re West, absolutely love this guy, just want to watch him dodge, weave and harass for as long as WCE offer him a spot

 

[Grahame]

Gaff is different only because of his history and contract. But I’d like to think the MC has the courage to see we’re better playing say XON, Trew, LEdwards, West etc. At least they are not slower nor worse kicks and may(??) have upside.
“Thank you very much Andrew for your loyalty and long service but we really need you to mentor our WAFL players.”

PS: I don’t want to see Gaff ‘dropped’. I would like the club to come out and say e.g. “The club has a large and increasing number of young developing players. However, the lack of experience in our WAFL team is slowing that development. Andrew has agreed that his best role now is to help this progress by moving to the WAFL team. This sacrifice is typical of the character of Andrew … blah blah blah

Some respect is in order.

 

[Keys]

Insofar as you can be “happy” with a 50 point loss there were some positives to takeaway

• Kept an opposition to sub 100 points (just) for the first time since the opening 2 rounds
• Avoided any prolonged patches of total witchattery uncompetiveness and although they did kick 5.7 to 0.2 between our 5th and 6th goals we were getting the ball forward just not converting
• There were a number of passages where we looked like a proper football team and the ball movement was genuinely exciting
• We also had moments when we were able to hold Essendon up without looking like Swiss cheese
• Yeo made a successful return and appears to have come through unscathed
• Hunt roared back to form after a quietish patch and gave us some real drive and line breaking
• Hough returned to his 2022 form after being a little rusty in his first couple of games coming back from injury
• Allen is a becoming a star and will kick a bag soon if we maintain supply and he gets some help from the umpires. (The scragging and blocking he received from the Essendon defence was a joke)
• Ginbey showed he can be more than just a tackling machine
• Duggan is stringing some pretty good games together of late and continued that form
• Hurn was more attacking than he’s been of late and we were better for it
• Williams is developing nicely
• Barrass spoiled with real intent and that’s a better result until he rediscovers his marking form which has been off
• Overall the effort was there if not the necessary polish. I also liked the intent to move the ball on quickly as often as possible

Some things though need to be addressed
• Too many skill errors - dropped marks, missed targets (hand and foot), fumbles
• Players running for a handball receive when they’re going to be on their wrong foot once they get the ball
• Conversion inside 50 - butchered some chances and missed gettable shots. We were probably a good 5 goals shy of what we should have scored
• Gaff is a concern. Horribly out of form and I have no confidence he’ll rediscover it
• Another injury with Edwards getting concussed, maybe two with Sheed hurting his leg/ankle. A few other guys look a bit banged up
• Umpires continue to baffle

 

[Magnum27]

I'f the below are still on the list in 2 years then the rebuild is not serious

Petch, O'Neil, Foley, Clark,West Rotham,Jamieson they are not AFL standard now and never will be.

 

[ziad]

Rotham should simply play WAFL for his last year. I think we have enough players of similar/better size/ability. If he stars consistently then he gets a promotion. No point paying him out while our WAFL team needs players.

Gaff is different only because of his history and contract. But I’d like to think the MC has the courage to see we’re better playing say XON, Trew, LEdwards, West etc. At least they are not slower nor worse kicks and may(??) have upside.
“Thank you very much Andrew for your loyalty and long service but we really need you to mentor our WAFL players.”

The concept with Gaff is strong based on recent games. However we need to replace him with a developing AFL palyer on the wing. XON, Trew, LEdwards, West are not AFl wingment by a long shot. I suspect the club is waiting for Chesser to come good.

 

[Trouto]

After watching this game, i have a renewed respect for Gaff and his efforts for the team. For a little guy in AFL terms, he gets battered and smashed so much but just keeps coming back for more. He is being asked to play in an unfamiliar position, probably due to the current lack of talent and his declining speed, but he really gets in and does what the team needs.

Comparing him to his golden days when he was streaming down the wing with 30+ touches every week is unfair. He is a consummate team man i rekon.

West had a good game but he should never, ever be allowed to take set shots at goal unless he is 15 metres out straight in front

 

[THE A5]

The sad thing is Gaff now struggling to even get 20 touches

 

[Truckosaurus]

The mighty Hurn-cules on the other hand

 

[Eaglemaniac]

After watching this game, i have a renewed respect for Gaff and his efforts for the team. For a little guy in AFL terms, he gets battered and smashed so much but just keeps coming back for more. He is being asked to play in an unfamiliar position, probably due to the current lack of talent and his declining speed, but he really gets in and does what the team needs.

Comparing him to his golden days when he was streaming down the wing with 30+ touches every week is unfair. He is a consummate team man i rekon.

West had a good game but he should never, ever be allowed to take set shots at goal unless he is 15 metres out straight in front

I Agree he puts his body on the line constantly but he shouldn’t be being played inside the contest coz it’s not his best position, and we are not going to be making finals anyway this year. Gaff should be on the wing while we play bigger bodies mature midfielders like Clark, West, Xon or Trew etc to fully evaluate them in their proper position while protecting Gaff and the younger guys like Ginbey. For some reason our coaching group does not understand or agree with this.

 

[Trouto]

I Agree he puts his body on the line constantly but he shouldn’t be being played inside the contest coz it’s not his best position, and we are not going to be making finals anyway this year. Gaff should be on the wing while we play bigger bodies mature midfielders like Clark, West, Xon or Trew etc to fully evaluate them in their proper position while protecting Gaff and the younger guys like Ginbey. For some reason our coaching group does not understand or agree with this.

I agree where he should be playing, so should people be ragging on Gaff for doing what the club tells him to do? For someone who has given his whole to the club and to now be playing waaaaaay out of position, he racks up some s**t on this board.

 

[ziad]

I Agree he puts his body on the line constantly but he shouldn’t be being played inside the contest coz it’s not his best position, and we are not going to be making finals anyway this year. Gaff should be on the wing while we play bigger bodies mature midfielders like Clark, West, Xon or Trew etc to fully evaluate them in their proper position while protecting Gaff and the younger guys like Ginbey. For some reason our coaching group does not understand or agree with this.

There is the misaprehension that Clark, XON and Trew can compete on ability (as suite of competancies) at the AFL level. West has a crack but is tiny.

 

[Cold Sober]

Cattle, it's called a re build, good coach, good plan, nothing to stress about.

 

[Hook461123]

It was a better game to watch than the last few weeks and was closer than the scoreboard suggests.

Enjoyed watching Hough and Ginbey.
Ginbey looked more comfortable starting back and working into the midfield while rotating with Yeo. Hough played more pure wing and got involved for longer periods of the game.

Allan was great and so was Hunt and Duggan.

Our forward line is really struggling atm. Rotham and Bazzo were bad and Barrass is needed elsewhere. Waterman’s form has dropped right off and West although he tries hard lacks polish.
Hopefully Maric can come in and provide some help.

 

[KERRPOW]

I agree where he should be playing, so should people be ragging on Gaff for doing what the club tells him to do? For someone who has given his whole to the club and to now be playing waaaaaay out of position, he racks up some s**t on this board.

The reason why he is being played "waaaaay" out of position is that oppo teams play off him because he has become slow as treacle.

Unfortunately age and the game has past him bye.

 

[THE A5]

He isn't the greatest of kicks i feel a lot more safer with Hunt running and gunning than Jones. I do like Jones a lot but he tends to turn it over a fair bit.

 

[Grahame]

He isn't the greatest of kicks i feel a lot more safer with Hunt running and gunning than Jones. I do like Jones a lot but he tends to turn it over a fair bit.

I don’t think JJ is appreciably worse and he is less experienced so I’m hoping the improvement will come.

 

[Keys]

He isn't the greatest of kicks i feel a lot more safer with Hunt running and gunning than Jones. I do like Jones a lot but he tends to turn it over a fair bit.

I think the main difference is Hunt will bust through and just kick for territory whilst Jones will look for a pass that is harder to execute at pace and perhaps without the peripheral vision to see opponents near the intended target

Both can therefore turn it over but Jones does it in a more dangerous spot

 

[THE A5]

Any fan of any club doing this laughable and pathetic but it takes a special kind of loser to do this after 18 months of their club being putrid. At least the blues fans, essendon fans and tigers fans of the past had to cop decades of their club being hopeless before they resorted to this.

 

[THE A5]

I think the main difference is Hunt will bust through and just kick for territory whilst Jones will look for a pass that is harder to execute at pace and perhaps without the peripheral vision to see opponents near the intended target

Both can therefore turn it over but Jones does it in a more dangerous spot

Perhaps jones gotta do that as well. He will land a few neat kicks here and there but far from a great kick