Team defence

[ant555]

Glad this is getting a mention. Our biggest issue and it stems from the top.


"
Essendon needs to improve its work rate and team defence after conceding on average almost 60 inside 50s a game in the first four rounds, coach John Worsfold says.

He said on Wednesday coaches would not excuse defensive efforts that were below par.

"Defensively as a team we are miles short of where we want to be," Worsfold said.

Essendon has conceded at least 60 inside 50s in the past two games, and has an inside 50 differential of -44 for 2017.

Worsfold said the match committee was open to the idea of midfielder David Myers returning to the senior side for the Anzac Day clash against Collingwood, but it would be a big call given Myers was yet to play a game after missing 2016 and most of the 2015 season.

"The way he trained today you would say he should be playing in the seniors, but he has missed a lot of footy, obviously, and we have to take that into account when selecting the side," Worsfold said.

"Is it more risk playing at AFL level than VFL level? They are the sort of questions we will ponder?"

He said James Stewart and Aaron Francis were also in the mix having shown good form in the VFL.

Worsfold said his comments after Saturday's 65-point loss to Adelaide about players "hitting the wall" had been made in relation to a couple of individuals rather than the team.

He denied his comments were in relation to a deeper issue around fitness caused by 10 players returning to the game.

"The squad is unbelievably healthy in terms of fitness."


Hope thy are not hollow words.

 

[Rack Watts]

Needs to improve team defense, has best defender as a forward.
HERPADERP.

 

[rumply]

if the midfield stuck a couple tackles, that might help

 

[eDPS]

The way Parish and Zerrett tackled last year was awesome and for some reason it hasn't been the same this year, a first year in McGrath has looked the most keen to tackle and that's just not good enough, ant555 has been on this for awhile and he is 100% right

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Glad the coaching group identified this teams biggest issue right now.

 

[Kakkle]

A lot more to team defence than 'tackles'. Keeping your opponent in check at stoppages would be a nice start.

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

A lot more to team defence than 'tackles'. Keeping your opponent in check at stoppages would be a nice start.

Drived me nuts how Crows players were pretty much walking out of stoppages and stick your bloody tackles our tackling must be the easiest to break in the league.

 

[DapperDon]

Our defensive positioning has been woeful. The opposition get a clearance and with 1-2 quick ball movements they have broken through and have a clear run in their forward half of the ground. That allows for easy leads for opposition forwards, as we watched Eddie and Walker do on Saturday night. We even saw it with Brisbane in parts.

Not sure if it's the game plan which is failing or just too many front running lazy players. It's not as simple as putting Hooker down back and thinking that will solve everything. It all starts in the middle and the pressure they put on the ball carriers. It's a worrying trend for the start of the season, but thankfully Woosha seems to be all over it. If things don't change, it's time to drop the worst one way runners.

 

[Kakkle]

Our defensive positioning has been woeful. The opposition get a clearance and with 1-2 quick ball movements they have broken through and have a clear run in their forward half of the ground. That allows for easy leads for opposition forwards, as we watched Eddie and Walker do on Saturday night. We even saw it with Brisbane in parts.

Not sure if it's the game plan which is failing or just too many front running lazy players. It's not as simple as putting Hooker down back and thinking that will solve everything. It all starts in the middle and the pressure they put on the ball carriers. It's a worrying trend for the start of the season, but thankfully Woosha seems to be all over it. If things don't change, it's time to drop the worst one way runners.

This is a very good post, and echo these sentiments 100%. It's something we've been guilty of for way too long with no real movement towards rectifying this until now.

 

[Pweter]

Often when a camera pans back we seem to have 4 or so guys guarding space within 10m of each other but the fat side is an open paddock that the opposition can and does run into.Why can't 2 of those guys push a bit further into the fat side to close down the space, but still be close enough to assist their team mates for the ball coming in.

You see it happening for all teams, quick ball movement will catch guys out of position, but it seems to happen often for us and not always on the back of quick ball movement by the opposition.

I basically only watch on TV due to Essendon's reluctance to relocate to SA but I'd like to know if this is a visible issue when at the ground or whether I'm looking for something that isn't there.

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Same issues we had when Knights was coaching.

 

[ant555]

Needs to improve team defense, has best defender as a forward.
HERPADERP.

Totally different issue.
Moving Hooker back does not patch the whole in the midfield when our guns are running their own race.
Team defense ie the whole team and not just the defenders.

 

[Doss]

Same issues we had when Knights was coaching.

Yes and no. Under Knights there was no accountability at all.

I'm not sure accountability is quite the issue here. Dapper's post was spot on I think.

 

[srobbo]

Needs to improve team defense, has best defender as a forward.
HERPADERP.

That's completely irrelevant

 

[srobbo]

Was actually looking for this thread to vent on sunday. Some really good posts above & in particular those making reference to one way runners.

I think we could all reel off about 5-6 suspects, but the inside 50's we're conceding are damning & needs urgent attention before we even begin to start pinpointing who's being played out of position.

Team defense is about attitude & paying attention to detail & something we need to make top priority from here onwards. Those that don't change, need to be dropped.

 

[Squeaky]

It is also not good (defensively) to let the ball get behind you.
This happens to us a heck of a lot.

 

[Towno78]

Same issues we had when Knights was coaching.

No, not really, that was a woeful game plan that left us open

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

No, not really, that was a woeful game plan that left us open

The 10 goals runs teams use have against us *shudder*

 

[BigJoeD_]

I reckon it's habitual, we started downhill skiing once we got the lead against Brisbane - blokes started sneaking forward of the ball, resulting in Brisbane getting a run on.

I'm glad it has been openly identified as an issue

 

[TheFrenchCut]

Needs to improve team defense, has best defender as a forward.
HERPADERP.

Ambrose hasn't played forward for yonks.

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

Ambrose hasn't played forward for yonks.

His improvement is astonishing over the past year.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Interesting he mentioned Stewart's performances.... I thought our VFL watchers have said he was fairly average... thoughts?

I genuinely don't know, haven't seen a VFL game this year.

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Interesting he mentioned Stewart's performances.... I thought our VFL watchers have said he was fairly average... thoughts?

I genuinely don't know, haven't seen a VFL game this year.

Sounds like there might be a few changes

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

Sounds like there might be a few changes

I doubt there will be many. I think the comment is to make it known for all to see that their defensive effort is on notice. They also want continuity to allow the team to gel. In other words, pull your finger out or we may be forced to make changes we don't want to in a few weeks.

 

[Killer_Mike]

Interesting he mentioned Stewart's performances.... I thought our VFL watchers have said he was fairly average... thoughts?

I genuinely don't know, haven't seen a VFL game this year.

In the two games I've seen in the last two weeks he's been very good.

Best on a couple of weeks ago and continued to lead and provide a target last weekend without much reward.

He's a very hard worker which is what you want from a tall forward.