AFL Autopsy Round 19: 5 goal loss to Western Bulldogs

[JayJ20]

Bevo described the bulldogs as back to 2016 form that won them the flag. Feel free to make of that what you will.

They still have a long way to go. They won't always face a defensively inept midfield

They only laid 38 tackles for the game, which isn't close to their form last year.

We were very poor defensively and our skill levels were crap, yet we were still in the game with 4 minutes to go. Missing shot after shot, missing very simple shots at goal, turning the ball over with uncharacteristic decision making

We were probably a bit arrogant from last week thinking that the dogs couldn't match us if we turned the game into a shootout. They wouldn't have if we didn't miss all of those opportunities.

I think the worst part of the game was the last 4 minutes when we turned a close game into a blowout.

 

[BrunoV]

Also, jobe is cooked. I think both mentally and physically. Looks like he doesn't want to be out there. He's been an absolute champion but his time is up.

No, no, nothing to see here.

 

[DERO]

We could make it another excuse to deny the continued mediocrity of our side?

I reckon we are better than mediocre. The bulldogs have come good and they were only slightly better on the day. They may well go on to finish just outside the 4.
That said, there are areas that need work, make no mistake. Jobe appears to be battling, defence is a worry at times, we lack one or two strong contested mids and some of the younger players aren't quite coming on as quickly as we would like. Despite all of this, I feel like we are a lot closer to playing good finals footy than we have been for a very long time. On our day, we are capable of beating anyone.

 

[daffo]

Parish was great. Is progressing really well.

I really don't enjoy seeing Hooker play forward.

 

[Big Wilbur]

Never thought we'd beat you guys in a shootout but in the end felt that we deserved the win. To me it seemed that Daniher was going to be the difference between us winning and losing as he didn't have great support. Cordy did a manful job on him in the last quarter.

Seems to me that the bombers have one gear.....full throttle. With the key position payers you have it would make sense if you slowed down on occasions and made sure you hit targets. Personally I hope you never learn because you'll be scary good, particularly once you replace a handful of blokes who aren't quite up to it.

Was actually sad to see Watson play like he did. It's like the mind is willing but the body isn't. Hope he finishes this season well and bows out as the champion he's been. All the best.....like watching you play.

 

[chambo00]

Never thought we'd beat you guys in a shootout but in the end felt that we deserved the win. To me it seemed that Daniher was going to be the difference between us winning and losing as he didn't have great support. Cordy did a manful job on him in the last quarter.

Seems to me that the bombers have one gear.....full throttle. With the key position payers you have it would make sense if you slowed down on occasions and made sure you hit targets. Personally I hope you never learn because you'll be scary good, particularly once you replace a handful of blokes who aren't quite up to it.

Was actually sad to see Watson play like he did. It's like the mind is willing but the body isn't. Hope he finishes this season well and bows out as the champion he's been. All the best.....like watching you play.

Agree, Cordy in a couple of crucial one on ones in the last played them well. I think we didn't go to Daniher enough to be honest, he looked like marking everything that was kicked to him. I was yelling many times for us to slow it down at times because that slingshot way of playing causes turnovers and we overused the football through the middle and out of the back line.

I was personally surprised at how well the Doggies played and it would've been a great game as a neutral viewer, but I was having heart attacks for two hours. Hooker has to go down back, yesterday summed it up for me. Makes way too many errors as a forward and genuinely lacks footy IQ as a forward. Yes he takes some pressure off Daniher, but Stewart is progressing well. Hooker is an AA defender.

 

[Killer_Mike]

The pleasing thing to take away from yesterdays game was our ability to take control in the last quarter when the opposition cant maintain their shape.

our finishing around goal was obviously down but we managed to take control around the ground and the pleasing thing is we slowed down the tempo across half back and didn't give them the ball back like we were in the first three quarters.

This is a development year and we are working on a gameplan and I'm seeing the players learning and absorbing as they go. The result wasn't there but it's another opportunity to learn from our mistakes and continue to evolve with the gameplan.

 

[bombreys]

Looking at the fixture the win would have all but guaranteed us a top 8 spot. Now it's probably an even money bet.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Yeah it's a shame, I think we make it had we won that.

Looking at the fixture now though, I'd say we're a lot further out than even money.

We're a full 4 points behind and Melbourne, Eagles and Dogs all have relatively easy runs home.

You'd think we'll go 2-2 from here and finish around 10th.

 

[Kettles]

Is Jackson Merrett's leg broken?? Reports saying it was??

Can someone tell me, why, when we have a chance to consolidate a finals spot, we invariably drop our bundle.
Are we mentally weak?

Please give me a team full of Parishs, thanks.

 

[stefoid]

Bevo described the bulldogs as back to 2016 form that won them the flag. Feel free to make of that what you will.

Maybe in terms of intent, but not in production. I think thats a pretty hopeful statement, more than anything.

 

[stefoid]

Agree, Cordy in a couple of crucial one on ones in the last played them well. I think we didn't go to Daniher enough to be honest, he looked like marking everything that was kicked to him. I was yelling many times for us to slow it down at times because that slingshot way of playing causes turnovers and we overused the football through the middle and out of the back line.

You had 6 rushed behinds, which Im assuming is because you kicked long to a target close to goal a fair bit. I think we had 1 which Im assuming is due to trying to hit up leading targets further from goal. Maybe you were too predictable with your forward entries?

 

[VelvetSledge]

You had 6 rushed behinds, which Im assuming is because you kicked long to a target close to goal a fair bit. I think we had 1 which Im assuming is due to trying to hit up leading targets further from goal. Maybe you were too predictable with your forward entries?

I'd agree with this. I can predict them every time.
Kick to a player in a bad position behind the play while giving a taller defender dominant position

Every week without fail

 

[ezard15]

Yeah it's a shame, I think we make it had we won that.

Looking at the fixture now though, I'd say we're a lot further out than even money.

We're a full 4 points behind and Melbourne, Eagles and Dogs all have relatively easy runs home.

You'd think we'll go 2-2 from here and finish around 10th.

Yeah I think we would almost certainly make it if we win 3 but would be lucky to make it if we win 2.

 

[wmat4]

I'm still so disappointed about yesterday, Dogs played well though.

 

[ezard15]

Never thought we'd beat you guys in a shootout but in the end felt that we deserved the win. To me it seemed that Daniher was going to be the difference between us winning and losing as he didn't have great support. Cordy did a manful job on him in the last quarter.

Seems to me that the bombers have one gear.....full throttle. With the key position payers you have it would make sense if you slowed down on occasions and made sure you hit targets. Personally I hope you never learn because you'll be scary good, particularly once you replace a handful of blokes who aren't quite up to it.

Was actually sad to see Watson play like he did. It's like the mind is willing but the body isn't. Hope he finishes this season well and bows out as the champion he's been. All the best.....like watching you play.

Yeah I think that's the worst Watson has been with his skills/decision making yesterday. I kind of thought the body looked ok but his mind wasn't willing. His decision making seems way off. Haven't given up on it coming back but could be his last year.

 

[Ambrosia]

You had 6 rushed behinds, which Im assuming is because you kicked long to a target close to goal a fair bit. I think we had 1 which Im assuming is due to trying to hit up leading targets further from goal. Maybe you were too predictable with your forward entries?

Some of our rushed behinds were stuffed up gimme goals though.

Not trying to argue the Bulldogs didn't deserve their victory. You guys were cleaner when it mattered and once you starter roving to Bellchambers we didn't look like winning a clearance.

 

[Ambrosia]

Yeah I think that's the worst Watson has been with his skills/decision making yesterday. I kind of thought the body looked ok but his mind wasn't willing. His decision making seems way off. Haven't given up on it coming back but could be his last year.

His attempted creative handballs were disgustingly bad.

 

[daffo]

Yeah it's a shame, I think we make it had we won that.

Looking at the fixture now though, I'd say we're a lot further out than even money.

We're a full 4 points behind and Melbourne, Eagles and Dogs all have relatively easy runs home.

You'd think we'll go 2-2 from here and finish around 10th.

We'll go 3-1. We'll make finals or miss them by percentage...

 

[the conch]

I'm still so disappointed about yesterday, Dogs played well though.

Cracker game though... and you get to see who stands up, coaching strategies, got the class etc.. both teams

 

[Killer_Mike]

http://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/2017-07-31/talking-points-v-dogs


Tagging
Luke Beveridge swung his Norm Smith Medal winning defender Jason Johannisen into the forward line against the Bombers. Johannisen has been the target of some close checking from opposition sides this season.

Essendon generally doesn’t assign hard run-with players but the Beveridge move almost took almost took any decision out of the Dons coaching staff’s hands. Put simply, he had a defender on him, but played a good game – just like the Bombers group of small forward have done this year.

 

[60sbomber]

I think Goddard should get an absolute bake behind closed doors in the review.
How many times does he lose his cool and do something stupid? That 50m penalty in the last minute was unforgiveable, but all the more so from a player who is considered a leader and has played as many games as Goddard has. He needs to learn to control himself. Everyone else has to. Does he get a special dispensation or something?
I know the game was over, but it was disappointing and potentially costly percentage wise in a season where it might count.

 

[BrunoV]

You had 6 rushed behinds, which Im assuming is because you kicked long to a target close to goal a fair bit. I think we had 1 which Im assuming is due to trying to hit up leading targets further from goal. Maybe you were too predictable with your forward entries?

There was a Hooker brain fade and that one that Daniher didn't quite soccer through. The long bomb was on yesterday I think it was more that we didn't have the composure required with some of the kicks.

 

[BrunoV]

http://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/2017-07-31/talking-points-v-dogs


Tagging
Luke Beveridge swung his Norm Smith Medal winning defender Jason Johannisen into the forward line against the Bombers. Johannisen has been the target of some close checking from opposition sides this season.

Essendon generally doesn’t assign hard run-with players but the Beveridge move almost took almost took any decision out of the Dons coaching staff’s hands. Put simply, he had a defender on him, but played a good game – just like the Bombers group of small forward have done this year.

It doesn't work like that.

Defenders are not taggers. Hartley and Baguley are the only two of our back six who play as taggers (McGrath does a bit too but not up the ground). Defenders hold position in a zone probably more than they follow a direct opponent.

McKenna and JJ were essentially head to head for the first quarter and a bit. We then moved McGrath to JJ and McGrath played as more of a tagger (but this didn't seem to last).

It was very well done by Beverage and JJ because JJ really played as a winger/mid starting forward. He ran with the ball a lot. At least three of his goals were from outside 50 so it's a fallacy to say that he played deep forward just because he kicked goals (when it was Webb and Picken as the deeper smalls on the day).

The tag on JJ should have been one of our wingers (at least as long as JJ went up the ground and a member of the back six didn't follow him).

Edit: What would be interesting would be to count the numbers of Dogs forwards during the game because my guess is that it was probably Murphy or McLean who were basically swapping with JJ once the ball had been bounced and that they Dogs maintained 6 other forwards. They outnumbered us in their forward line quite a bit.

 

[Ambrosia]

There was a Hooker brain fade and that one that Daniher didn't quite soccer through. The long bomb was on yesterday I think it was more that we didn't have the composure required with some of the kicks.

Hooker also stuffed up a two on one in the goals square in our favour by touching a ball that was going through the goals

 

[Killer_Mike]

It doesn't work like that.

Defenders are not taggers. Hartley and Baguley are the only two of our back six who play as taggers (McGrath does a bit too but not up the ground). Defenders hold position in a zone probably more than they follow a direct opponent.

McKenna and JJ were essentially head to head for the first quarter and a bit. We then moved McGrath to JJ and McGrath played as more of a tagger (but this didn't seem to last).

It was very well done by Beverage and JJ because JJ really played as a winger/mid starting forward. He ran with the ball a lot. At least three of his goals were from outside 50 so it's a fallacy to say that he played deep forward just because he kicked goals (when it was Webb and Picken as the deeper smalls on the day).

The tag on JJ should have been one of our wingers (at least as long as JJ went up the ground and a member of the back six didn't follow him).

Of course its smart. It's exactly what we do week in week out.

It's the point the guy made in his assessment.