Autopsy Round 6, 2025: Positives and Negatives vs Essendon

[Quinz]

Think he said somewhere he wasn't sure it would be paid.
He got blocked out of just about every marking contest and got nothing from the umps, was visibly frustrated.

Given the marks and tunnelling they didn't pay on the night it's not the worst assumption to be honest. Wheeling onto the left probably not the go though. Another night he kicks 3 and wins the game so I'm not too down on him.

 

[Barrybran]

I’ve always been in favour of the pick swap, but today doesn’t change that we still need more out of both Hewett and Ginbey for that trade to be in our favour long term.

Sheezel has a best and fairest to his name already and been named in AA40.

Warldaw had a game today just as impactful as Hewett’s. But for Wardlaw that wouldn’t be in his top 5 best games, while for Hewett it’s his best by a country mile.

Both Hewett and Ginbey need a lot more runs on the board for us to start crowing about how smart we were to trade down.

Do you approach life with this level of pessimism? These kids have 10-15 years of footy ahead of them. We've seen signs that the pick 2 trade was the right move. We just have to be patient and let these kids develop.

 

[ConcreteWaters]

+Can see our nucleus of kids that will take us forward. Great to see the young guns flying the flag, there's a few vets that are really keeping the seat warm for when these guys take over and they'll be there by the end of the season.
+Good to be in the game until the last play, devastated we didn't win but at least we gave ourselves a chance.
+Hough is a future captain.
+Jilliams had a great game forward and competed well in the ruck.

I know TK was serviceable, but having a look at a couple of throw ins near us where his opponent pushed him out and he just gave up and stood off the contest, only for his man to then run over to help out and impact was disappointing. He can't be fit if he's not willing himself to get there. The comparison would be with Graham or Hewitt who just kept throwing themselves in which was great to see.

Duggan is really off the boil and damn I like Baker's energy but seriously dude learn some basic skills (50% DE?)!

I don't think Oscar gets back in the team unless it's to help out as a key defender.

 

[KERRPOW]

How awesome was it to see a dynamic midfielder again. 22d and 2 long bomb goals (almost had another snag).

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

Do you approach life with this level of pessimism? These kids have 10-15 years of footy ahead of them. We've seen signs that the pick 2 trade was the right move. We just have to be patient and let these kids develop.

I was on board with it at the time, more than most on this board who had a total melt when the trade went through.

I have never not been on board with it. But its fair to say that we started well behind given the starts Sheezel and Wardlaw had at North.

That's not pessimism, that's just recounting how things tracked from draft until about 5pm yesterday.

I always thought Elijah would click and the trade would end up in our favour long term. And said that, in multiple posts that you seemingly didn't read.

 

[Cuzz09]

Hewett has had an "almost" season and yesterday he started his rise.

Fingers are all crossed he stays fit coz the talent, energy and will is there!

 

[Mulldogg]

You compare how our team is officiated by the umpires as opposed to say a Collingwood (every season) or the Gold Coast this season (AFL desperate for them to play finals) and it is a stark difference in both what is and isn’t called our way, particularly the 50/50 ones.

From a perception aspect they gave us two WA umpires in Dalgleish and Fry. But the former never does us any favours as an Freo fan growing up and the latter is very much a fringe AFL umpire.

Consistently getting McGinness (#42) is the penance we have to pay as being a bog average team.

 

[Bender_]

You compare how our team is officiated by the umpires as opposed to say a Collingwood (every season) or the Gold Coast this season (AFL desperate for them to play finals) and it is a stark difference in both what is and isn’t called our way, particularly the 50/50 ones.

From a perception aspect they gave us two WA umpires in Dalgleish and Fry. But the former never does us any favours as an Freo fan growing up and the latter is very much a fringe AFL umpire.

Consistently getting McGinness (#42) is the penance we have to pay as being a bog average team.

I heard Dalgleish was a groomsman at Brennan Cox's wedding.

 

[ArdentEagle]

Yeah...I agree with most of the calls, the side would be better with Duggan currently out of it sadly.

 

[Quinz]

I heard Dalgleish was a groomsman at Brennan Cox's wedding.

Dalgleish was MC at Josh Mellington's 21st.

 

[Ruben Grubarb]

Do you approach life with this level of pessimism? These kids have 10-15 years of footy ahead of them. We've seen signs that the pick 2 trade was the right move. We just have to be patient and let these kids develop.

Case by case hindsight is a bad strategy for decision making.

What it leads to is picking and choosing individual examples to base your decision making on. That basically means guessing in every decision rather than playing the percentages.

I'm not sure why the club chose to split on that occasion, but I assume flight risk and injury risk had something to do with it.

I've always been bullish on Hewett, but if there was no flight or injury risk, I'm taking Sheezle or Wardlaw every time. And it doesn't matter which trade ends up the best. You don't have hindsight when you make the decision. Guessing is a bad strategy. You have to go with the percentages.

 

[SAweagle]

Positives

• being competitive in a game of football again. Wow it's a good feeling
• Elijah Hewett
• great response from last week, few more adjustments and there's a decent footy team in there

Negatives

• the win was so close, gutting to lose
• the umpires cannot be serious, anyone that says they don't influence results doesn't watch closely enough

Extra bonus
 
Having a great convo with the legend that is Wiira at the casino afterwards. He reckons keep the faith and his lad will be there in a couple of years to help out

**** I miss watching Wirra cruise out of defensive 50 like a goddamn rolls royce

 

[RustyShacklefordFalcon]

Would like someone to point out the tunnelling of Ryan somewhere, that'd be nice.

Loved watching him get up and sprint the length of the field to impact the play straight afterwards though. You could tell he hadn't recovered yet. I expect that effort will be shown to the playing group this week. Tough as nails

 

[Wce17]

I thought Maric was impressive. Used the ball well. Took a couple of nice marks under pressure & also had a couple of spoils to kill the ball out of bounds.

His kick to Flynn that should have been a goal to Ryan was great. Could have gone straight up the line but changed the angle & set that play up. For some reason it reminded me off that Jetta kick to Yeo all those years ago when he didn’t have to break stride!

 

[WCEswift]

Went and looked at all the tracker data, It was flipped from previous weeks, It was all eagles in defensive running data, Davis and graham featured heavily in all the running stats

 

[amazingjoshy]

Went and looked at all the tracker data, It was flipped from previous weeks, It was all eagles in defensive running data, Davis and graham featured heavily in all the running stats

Was impressed with Davis again

 

[DirtySandman]

5 minutes into the second quarter, Flynn looked absolutely cooked, struggled to get up to a slow jog.

 

[eaglesnutcase]

Would be nice if we got the ‘rub of the green’ with the umps at some stage. I feel like we’ve been on the raw end a lot. Compounds the frustration of how bad we are when you also feel like your fighting up hill.

Yep. The umps won the game for Brissie!

 

[THE A5]

Afl site has hutch on 9 touches. Surely thats not right. Felt like he had double. They do have Davis on 15 touches, wonder if they mixed the two up

 

[Shueygod]

I’ve always been in favour of the pick swap, but today doesn’t change that we still need more out of both Hewett and Ginbey for that trade to be in our favour long term.

Sheezel has a best and fairest to his name already and been named in AA40.

Warldaw had a game today just as impactful as Hewett’s. But for Wardlaw that wouldn’t be in his top 5 best games, while for Hewett it’s his best by a country mile.

Both Hewett and Ginbey need a lot more runs on the board for us to start crowing about how smart we were to trade down.

Hewett had a better game than any of Wardlaws, don’t be obtuse.

 

[Bender_]

Afl site has hutch on 9 touches. Surely thats not right. Felt like he had double. They do have Davis on 15 touches, wonder if they mixed the two up

I think Hutch definitely touched it more than that, unfortunately they ended in fumbles.

 

[jdisc]

is it sadistic of me to say I'm glad we lost

I hope the players are hurting and hungry

 

[eaglesnutcase]

I think Hutch definitely touched it more than that, unfortunately they ended in fumbles.

He gives us so much aggression in the middle. Even when faced with a 40-60 ball he doesn’t hesitate.When did we last have somebody doing that at the coalface? Priddis?
How many games has Hutch played?Hes a lock for me!!

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

Hewett had a better game than any of Wardlaws, don’t be obtuse.

I'm a huge Hewett fan and am as excited as anyone about what he showed yesterday, but this has to be a joke.

Wardlaw has been an absolute clearance beast since game 1, not just for a half here or there but consistently putting in numbers of 10+ CP, 5+ clearances and 20+ disposals, 6+ SI.

Hopefully Hewet can use this as a springboard and can produce the same kind of footy consistently week in and week out.

 

[DickDunn]

Hewett is not just a serious talent but a competitive beast who seems desperate to win - a quality we’ve been way too short on lately.

Hamish Davis looks like a real talent in the making, just makes good decisions and doesn’t look overawed. Will only get better as he builds his body and continues to develop.

Hutch cracks in and gives us a point of difference with his size. Him and Graham were both influential in improving our contest work.

Still plenty to improve and flat to have fallen short but feeling vastly more positive than I did a week ago