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Round 3 thoughts

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gbatman

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We were all pretty dissapointed on the weekends effort. The players in general look to be thinking it was going to be an easy game, especially with a dominant first quarter and they got lazy and were found out.

The concerntration of or players was poor in general and it wained after quater time. Fevola, who's problem is concerntration, seemed to be focusing on goal celebrations rather than the match and the intensity dropped off in the midfield.

The young players looked tired and just lacked intensity and were found out. Garletts disposal under pressure is something that he needs to work on. He proved he's not ready and needs to play more VFL this year where he'll get more footy and work on these things. Robinson looked to be lacking endurance and wen't out of the game and might be looking for a rest soon.

Hardness at the ball was a dissapointment. Kreuzer and Judd set the standard and the others were all a level or more below. Murphy, Thornton and Betts were probably not far off it but can do better. All the others were not up to standard. A few tough physical cameos are not enough.
Stevens, Johnson, Cloke, Gibbs were very dissapointing in this area. There weren't many players willing to put their head over the ball 100% of the time appart from Judd and Kreuzer and that was a big dissapointment.

Goal kicking was terrible. Fevola has excuses but he cost us the game with his poor kicking. You can't win a game if a player kicks that many behinds. Wiggins and Simpson are a terrible at any level of footy.

Backline structure was poor with the loss of Jamison. Waite playing key position is a worry for us as it affects our rebounding and double teaming from the backline. Waite and Thornton are flankers/pockets that can play key position. It's ok having 1 of them play key position but not both of them. Setanta should have came in to free up Waite. Thornton's lack of body on Lloyd was bad. This allowed Lloyd to get a jump at the contest.

Forward line structure, especially at the end was poor with no one at ground level. A few times the ball was being kicked in long and came front and center and no one was there and Essendon rebounded without pressure. The small forwards were a real letdown here, Garlett and Betts missing at the foot of the contests when it really mattered.

The posatives were Jacobs who again improved and dominated in the ruck as well as showing plenty of poise. Kreuzer proved once more that his attitude and courage are where they should be to be a top player and a future captain of the club. Judd was outstanding and played hard, hard working consistant footy. He is the benchmark.

In conclusion the loss is a good one to have. Lets the players know they need to be better and that they can't get away with an effort below 100%, really shows that they aren't as close to the bar as they think.
It's time to bring Yarran in for Garlett and give him a run. Garlett would benefit from some games in the 2nds where he can get some more posessions and work on his skills under pressure and Yarran needs to be blooded.
A few notes:
Carlton players falling over and going to ground, something Robinson did wrong.
Cloke not throwing his weight around since round 1. for a big bloke he needs to be more physical and knock more players to ground. This part of his game has been a big dissapointment.
Johnson needs to be more physical and give/take more hard contact. one moment he ran under the ball and allowed Lloyd to mark where he needed to push back and go for the ball. Lacked courage on that occasion, something unacceptable especially as a defender.
Stevens needs to be more physical and put his head over the footy so he can play on the ball. Scotland is not afrade to sit under a high ball and make solid contact so there is some competition here.
Grigg looks under done and needs to be better, needs to improve his fitness and his all-round game.
Russell's handballing, his technique is poor and looks uncoordinated and he gave Essendon a goal. His handball is poor every game. Even when he hit's a target with it it doesn't look good.
Simpson and Wiggins' kicking.
Fevola, not only kicked poorly due to lack of training but his concerntration was poor. Stupid goal celebrations show he's not complely focused, no second efforts and poor chasing was dissapointing to see.
Pressure was bad, Carlton didn't come at players and force them to kick, ther were happy to carral a player and not let them gain ground which is something I hate, need to force players to kick because if they are allowed time they can waite for a target to hit. We needed to force them to kick to a contest.
Bower's inability to kick the ball low is a problem.
O'hAilpin should have been played so the structure of the backline wasn't disrupted and this would have freed up either Waite or Thornton.
Armfield has been in great form and should come in. Would have been good against Davey.
Fevola, Wiggins, Simpson's poor kicking.
It's not so much as they looked fast, it's more that we looked tired and sluggish. Perhaps hadn't recovered from previous games.
 
I've been saying it for ages. We don't have a backline capable of holding most attacking teams. We seem to go OK when our midfield is on top and they get back to assist. But when that doesn't happen we are like lost children. We don't know where to run too.
We just don't have the good taller players.
I know you all disagree but Thornton is "just a player". His skills are not that great and his temper has cost us numerous goals in the past and Saturday nights act cost us two goals when the game was in the balance. I'm afraid Bower is in a similar boat. He is "Just a player" as well and often costs us goals through a lack of awareness and quick decision making.
So, who do we have for the backline. Well only Jamison and hopefully O'hAlipin purely because of his height and aggression. If he makes it, we will make it. If he doesn't I'm afraid our long awaited tilt at our 17th flag will be a way off.
What we do have is a number of small "potential" half back flankers. But until we can get a tall, quick, aggressive CHB we will struggle.
I know this is a long bow but maybe we could try Cloke at CHB. Put him there and leave him there for a 6 week period. This is probably quite stupid but we are bloody desperate and other than Austin there is no one else on the horizon. Hartlett & Edwards don't seem to be making the improvement we hoped for. Even if they improve they are more like CHF's than CHB's although Hartlett can kick a mile.
 

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I've been saying it for ages. We don't have a backline capable of holding most attacking teams. We seem to go OK when our midfield is on top and they get back to assist. But when that doesn't happen we are like lost children. We don't know where to run too.
We just don't have the good taller players.
I know you all disagree but Thornton is "just a player". His skills are not that great and his temper has cost us numerous goals in the past and Saturday nights act cost us two goals when the game was in the balance. I'm afraid Bower is in a similar boat. He is "Just a player" as well and often costs us goals through a lack of awareness and quick decision making.
So, who do we have for the backline. Well only Jamison and hopefully O'hAlipin purely because of his height and aggression. If he makes it, we will make it. If he doesn't I'm afraid our long awaited tilt at our 17th flag will be a way off.
What we do have is a number of small "potential" half back flankers. But until we can get a tall, quick, aggressive CHB we will struggle.
I know this is a long bow but maybe we could try Cloke at CHB. Put him there and leave him there for a 6 week period. This is probably quite stupid but we are bloody desperate and other than Austin there is no one else on the horizon. Hartlett & Edwards don't seem to be making the improvement we hoped for. Even if they improve they are more like CHF's than CHB's although Hartlett can kick a mile.


i laughed.
 

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