9 hours ago, Earl Hood said:

What’s the opposite of ruthless?

Ruth   ?

15 hours ago, Turner said:

still here, only 7 touches agaisnt any normal side thats trying he wouldnt get a sniff of the sherrin.

7 touches and 4 goals I will take every day of the year. If Weideman  had those stats and you would be raving about him. 

Edited September 19, 20204 yr by old dee

Wow! How negative are you people.

We had to win, we won. Clearly the better team on the ground.

Think the Weideman hate is a bit much too, as for those who say he’s not playing with intensity... give me a spell. Bloke repeatedly hits packs and gives our smalls a chance. Would love for him to clunk marks, but he is working so hard to create contests. No way he’s dropped.

8 minutes ago, watchtheeyes said:

Wow! How negative are you people.

 

Its hard to celebrate when we could be booted out of the finals in 10 hours from now.  If Freo win get out the champagne.

8 hours ago, Dr.D said:

yeah. it's amazing how low the standards are by some posters. groveling over being the team to lose first week of the finals. 

Goodwin has a great list at his disposal and he has [censored] it against the wall since 2018.

Come on bias one, I know your upset we won, go away support Carlton.

8 hours ago, layzie said:

Wow fox sports had the headline "Dees saved by joke of a free kick decision" for its main story on the game. Wow, literally wow. Never fail to disappoint.

Stringer unrealistic marking attempt ... play on ... Essendon goal. 

Two holding the ball decisions not paid right at the end ... 

In any event ... who cares? We won ... hahaha

 

34 minutes ago, watchtheeyes said:

Wow! How negative are you people.

We had to win, we won. Clearly the better team on the ground.

Think the Weideman hate is a bit much too, as for those who say he’s not playing with intensity... give me a spell. Bloke repeatedly hits packs and gives our smalls a chance. Would love for him to clunk marks, but he is working so hard to create contests. No way he’s dropped.

Your right, weed needs to playe he helps the team keep structure going forward it been a hard year for forwards, he averages more goals per game this season then Liam Ryan.

14 hours ago, leave it to deever said:

Fair call.

He has struggled past 2 seasons which ever way you slice it.

But he has certainly  been good in the last few games hes played. Hard at ball...runs hard and knows where the goals are.

Clearly has been played in wrong positions.

Clearly in the wrong positions and that is more than a tragedy because different positions have different roles and responsibilities to adopt - for however long - at the will of Goodwin.

We have had him in the Club for some years now, where we have evaluated his skillset time and again in the main team. He is very effective and reliable when played correctly positioned, adding immense pace and kicking skills - including all-day running - to an improving forward line (or at least one that is stabilising) - yet Goodwin uses him expectantly as a 'gap filler' but more often as 'residual, non-playing depth' since his 'mates' keep getting games, somewhere onfield. One injury, short-term, fully recovered for most of this season, as well. A terrific Clubman.

Not bloody good enough. How many of the many close matches in hindsight might we have won this year with him in the team, locked into his best position and roving around as he can? Drop Goodwin, retain and use our talents. Simple.

Maybe we need to stop dumping the ball on Weids head then it might be a tad easier for him to Mark the hall without 5 defenders all over him punching the ball away. 
 

Better delivery will be a good start. 

12 hours ago, layzie said:

Oskar Baker has shown me enough over 2 games to suggest he's worth working with.

Agreed and generally, doesn't he kick well? With work, his kicking could improve still - a bullet should be the aim in the congestion of the modern game. Like switching from a 5.5mm to a 7.62mm with precision.

I'd pinch Petracca on the bum if he was consenting. 

1 hour ago, watchtheeyes said:

Wow! How negative are you people.

We had to win, we won. Clearly the better team on the ground.

Think the Weideman hate is a bit much too, as for those who say he’s not playing with intensity... give me a spell. Bloke repeatedly hits packs and gives our smalls a chance. Would love for him to clunk marks, but he is working so hard to create contests. No way he’s dropped.

Weid was fairly solid but ma y posters have neen quite reasonable to not be happy with his last 3 to 4 games prior.

Yea delivery has not always been great but he hasnt shown a great deal of intensity. I.e his lack of tackling in those games.

He has had several very good games this year and looks like he will be somthing very special but then goes quiet for at least just as many.

I personally thonk he is a very skilled player but does he have the passion.

Hopefully he will continue to grow and become even better.

I also think he is best suited to playing at chf. He plays better when he has room to move and cant clunk as many in big packs.

He is more of an athletic forward than a stand and grab old fashioned type who use their body strength.

10 hours ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

He is very immature at times. I think he has ADD. He owes Goodwin an apology. 

Im glad Max is captain.

16 hours ago, Turner said:

still here, only 7 touches agaisnt any normal side thats trying he wouldnt get a sniff of the sherrin.

Yea but 4 goals.No player has kicked more than that in a game all year.

Clearly a forward possie is where he needs to be and never in the backline. On this basis hes probably a keeper.

48 minutes ago, DemonOX said:

Maybe we need to stop dumping the ball on Weids head then it might be a tad easier for him to Mark the hall without 5 defenders all over him punching the ball away. 
 

Better delivery will be a good start. 

I think the issue is as much with Weideman not being able to create seperation from his opponent, he is very predictable for his opponent.

16 minutes ago, Watts the matter said:

I think the issue is as much with Weideman not being able to create seperation from his opponent, he is very predictable for his opponent.

Yeah but that prob comes down to his teammates making space for him in the f50. Don’t get me wrong Weid has improvement in him but I don’t think the team is helping him much. 
 

We need to play as a TEAM more to be consistently successful. 

Edited September 19, 20204 yr by DemonOX

There was a small enclave of red & blue deep in doggies territory cheering the boys on too Eddie. 

I'm no fan of the guy but to be honest he's not that far off the mark with his quips about our inner east fan base and silvertail reputation. When not on jobkeeper I work in Armadale and every second car parked on the street there has the little demon jumper sticker on the back window or number plate. They can't all belong to servants and au pairs. 

Halfway through the last Eddie said that, "only Melbourne could do this to their supporters" The guy annoys me but he was spot on there.

Does anyone remember our 2019 game against the Bombers? Neither team had won yet, and despite early season promise Essendon were being knocked for how listless their first performances were. It turned into a goalfest, and we had enough drops in intensity to give them bursts of momentum that got them the points (and proved how poor 2019 would be for us).

In some ways today was similar...Essendon are an average team but you can't deny their ability to turn it on all of a sudden with blistering run.

McDonald Tipungwuti (MacT?) was cutting us up just centre of forward - I thought someone like Harmes would have done well tagging him in the last quarter.

And Shiel was too hot for Viney (who wasn't his tackling best but surprisingly cleaned up his disposal efficiency).

And the third quarter was most disappointing - who controlled the tempo but just seemed a bit aimless going forward. Weid and Fritsch need another big preseason to get their bodies solid and really refine their running patterns.

Kossie was a bit better today and he'll definitely be a stronger tackling presence down there too. Was really impressed with Hunt - he doesn't need to be a high possession player, just a bit of confidence, team structure and a clearly defined role (which he had today).

Love what Langdon has done this year - he constantly presents, and his influence is encourage others to think similarly. Even ANB got to better positions before he was injured. Brown is that essential link for us - cant believe he wasn't in the side earlier in the year (he really did crack in with effort with Essendon in his past few years there)

And re Smith, I think we saw his last game today. Just makes you nervous every time the ball goes near him or his opponent.

11 hours ago, At the break of Gawn said:

It was good to secure the win but I’m disappointed in Goodwin’s direction after half time. We played safe football and took no risks which was the opposite of what we did in the second qtr. We did this against Carlton in round 2 and again we almost coughed it up with this style of play. I can’t see why a simple direction of “just keep on doing what you’re doing”’ can’t be applied in these situations instead of going into this highly possessive defensive game style that doesn’t suit us.

Judging by what the players, and Goodwin himself have said, that was precisely the instruction. The teams were exhausted yesterday, again Goodwin mentioned that our blokes were b——ed in the last quarter. Percentage wasn’t an issue 

1 hour ago, leave it to deever said:

Weid was fairly solid but ma y posters have neen quite reasonable to not be happy with his last 3 to 4 games prior.

Yea delivery has not always been great but he hasnt shown a great deal of intensity. I.e his lack of tackling in those games.

He has had several very good games this year and looks like he will be somthing very special but then goes quiet for at least just as many.

I personally thonk he is a very skilled player but does he have the passion.

Hopefully he will continue to grow and become even better.

I also think he is best suited to playing at chf. He plays better when he has room to move and cant clunk as many in big packs.

He is more of an athletic forward than a stand and grab old fashioned type who use their body strength.

Some of his defensive efforts are still poor. In the first quarter he allowed Ridley to mark out on the boundary line with a very half hearted  attempt to spoil by the Weid 

18 hours ago, Hogan2014 said:

Want trouble any side playing finals with fade outs like that to a bottom side once again.. same old issues & Goodwin can’t fix them... our fwd structures not working & can’t take a mark vs a bottom side taking marks & scoring, Weiderman goalless 4 games in a row 

Yet haven't we beaten three sides in the lower half of the finals - StK Colonwood Footscray?

18 hours ago, big_red_fire_engine said:

It could be worse. You could be Essendon watching a player they delisted play like that against them.

Pity Melksham didn't have a similar reaction.

Everyone knows I'm negative when it comes to our coach/players but Weideman isn't our issue. He flies for marks and crashes packs which is good for a guy with a slim frame. He gave a ball off to Hunt in the goal square yday so there's a goal that really should be next to his name. 

I don't agree with the narrative of 'why is everyone complaining, we got the job done. All we needed to do was win  and we did'. It's a very simplistic view. In all likelihood the bulldogs win and we have 6 months of pre-season knowing that despite playing well we could've lost to a very poor essendon team. Couple that with being smashed by Fremantle and Sydney it confirms that our lack of defensive pressure doesn't stand up in the home and away season, let alone finals. A lot of work to be done in the off season. 

About our excellent list, we are still lacking in a few key positions, and some waiting for youngsters to come on:

- Small lockdown defender. No surprise TWoodi seemingly involved in lots of Bombers dangerous passages of play. Last week Daniels, week before Walters who had been out of form!
- Key forward (2018 we had Hogan 1st & TMac 2nd, both kicking 50 plus). This year Weideman, Jackson combo worked well together for 5-6 weeks, so hope for the future, but still a long way off it  this year.

- Half forward who applies pressure and kicks 20 plus, creates some goals (Melksham has been a protected species this year, nowhere near his 2018 year)

- Winger, Langdon number 2 would be great! 

Forwards, of those possibly available, any of Cameron, Hogan or Brown in that order would help as a key forward. Brown not in small part due to his goalkicking accuracy!
 

Not sure of Polecs issues as a bloke if any, but wouldn’t mind him on opposite side to Langdon!

20 hours ago, drdrake said:

I reckon the Eagles will be barracking for the Dockers tomorrow as well   they would rather play us than the dogs 

Brilliant insight. 

Hilarious if it wasn't so probable.

14 hours ago, A F said:

This is pretty much the go for a lot of teams though.

I disagree on Tomlinson. He's no world beater, but he's solid enough for mine.

Lockhart hasn't had an extended chance and I'd be playing Petty back and Tomlinson beside him. Meaning May, Lever, Petty, Tomlinson, Rivers and Salem. I've never had the biggest issue with Wagner and would keep him for depth, but it depends who we bring in. 

I'm not of the view that we need to inject Salem or Rivers into the midfield. I'll be perfectly happy if we play Oliver, Petracca, Harmes, Brayshaw, Viney and then throw in Bennell and Kozzie occasionally. 

The problem I have with Tomlinson is he doesn't do anything that talls are meant to do and doesn't move like a small at ground level. So eventually the ball is going to end up on the deck and he'll get exploited.

Essendon worked that out after half time. They kept Stewart and Daniher/Draper deep and knew that meant Tomlinson, Lever and Hibberd had to chase smalls around (and also that Smith was isolated). If Lever didn't take an intercept mark it was panic stations.

Now if Tomlinson can learn how to spoil and mark like even an average 194cm defender then he'll be useful. But he's miles off that. We certainly can't be adding in another tall without great speed on the deck in Petty to the mix. One or the other. 

If it's not Smith, Hore or Wagner then we need to go get someone like Oleg Markov or Jimmy Webster to just be a competent mid sized defender across half back. Guys who are 188cm to play on forwards who are 188cm. Rather than Tomlinson who can't keep up when the ball is bouncing around, struggles to pick up leads too.

Bennell is a pipe dream. If he works, great, but don't plan for him. We can't keep going with a one paced midfield without guys who are naturals are giving/receiving handballs and with poor kicking skills. Brayshaw's the only one in that group who has a nice linking running game but he can't kick under pressure. Harmes has the run but lacks skill too.