Need a power forward as can’t rely on our hybrids an smaller forwards to kick a winning score in finals, though they did miss plenty of shots but time to try B Brown for what we got into the side 

Edited June 27, 20214 yr by Demonsone

11 hours ago, Skuit said:

Haven't checked the records but in my mind Jack has always been a bit slow out of the blocks post-injury. 

Thought I'd have a look and instinct proved mostly correct - JV has definitely had a lot of slow starts after long lay-offs. Measuring disposals alone, he has easily more than doubled his output in his second week back in most instances. Augurs well that he still picked up 17 last night in a relatively quiet outing. 

2014 –  Rnd 3 (first match of the season) 12 disposals (21 the following week)
2015 –  Rnd 9 (after being absent since Rnd 2) 7 disposals (26 the following week)
2018 –  Rnd 9 (first game of the season) 12 disposals (35 the following week)
2019  – Rnd 1 (first game of the season) 10 disposals (27 the following week)
2020 –  Rnd 2 (first game of the season) 13 disposals (24 the following week)

 

10 hours ago, Dr.D said:

can someone tell me what Hunt was thinking with 1 minute to go and being up by 11 he decides to play on and have a kick from 50m (by which he doesn't score). Surely, he should've gone  short to find an option. Even backwards. It was so dumb. We don't need dumb decision makers in our team. Use your brains!

2 hours ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Not only that, he put it down the throat of an Essendon player in the pocket.

Such a bad kick.

Dear lord this is a terrible take.

It was just a mis-kick. He ran around the man on the mark to try to get the extra distance to score. He shanked it. 

2 hours ago, Dee Zephyr said:

Tracker stats always interest me. Our two main forwards T Mac and Fritsch finished in the top 5 for total distance covered last night. Doesn’t surprise me to see them shank a couple of kicks at goal when they’re asked to run up and down the field all game. 

Hey Dee Zepher - if you get a moment could you share Pickett's numbers, and if they compare any differently to normal? He seemed to pop up a lot last night in defence (not sure if following Heppell?) and on the wings back of centre. Curious if there was some tweak or plan. I could also just be imagining it. Maybe those at the ground might have noticed something? 

10 hours ago, Webber said:

Was at the game. None of the comments here dissing the Essendon supporters is unfair. They are/were ABSOLUTELY FERAL! I knew this about them going in (there’s a reason I never got taken to Windy Hill as a boy), but somehow forgot….COVID memory weirdness maybe. No doubt the most bizarrely aggressive/aggrieved/irrational supporter group going around…..still!
Good that we won, ugly and all that, but we’re simply going nowhere in finals if the current attacking/goal scoring dysfunction isn’t sorted. At the moment, our defence alone is what’s winning us games, and that’s not going to be enough at the pointy end, I don’t care how good it is. The reason we’re not having any ‘big’ wins, is because we just don’t have the scoring capability to put teams to the sword. Add to this that our disposal efficiency/skill level has dropped away noticeably (includes set shot inaccuracy and distance issues), and we need to find better, sharper, fresher form in general.
The good thing is we’re still on top and have 8 more games to do so. Without it however, we’re not getting anywhere near the silverware. 
Steven May and Gus Brayshaw best on by some margin for mine. 

Rubbish.

We are going places in finals because of our defence.

Remember, we're 5-0 against the top 8 and 8-0 against the top 11. Our gameplan stands up when it matters.

Each of the Dogs, Brisbane, Essendon, Geelong and Sydney are top 8 for average points for per game (indeed, the Dogs. When they played us, they scored:

1. Geelong - 9.6.60, their second-lowest score of the season and lowest number of scoring shots
2. Sydney - 8.10.58, their second-lowest score of the season and third-lowest number of scoring shots
3. Bulldogs - 8.9.57, their second-lowest score of the season and lowest number of scoring shots
4. Brisbane - 11.9.75, their fourth-lowest score of the season and third-lowest number of scoring shots
5. Essendon - 8.9.57, their second-lowest score of the season and second-lowest number of scoring shots

12 hours ago, CYB said:

We are not playing well. We can’t keep winning like this.. 

Yet we do

6 minutes ago, Skuit said:

Hey Dee Zepher - if you get a moment could you share Pickett's numbers, and if they compare any differently to normal? He seemed to pop up a lot last night in defence (not sure if following Heppell?) and on the wings back of centre. Curious if there was some tweak or plan. I could also just be imagining it. Maybe those at the ground might have noticed something? 

Hi Sku, I’m not sure how you gain access to individual tracking numbers. The AFL app only shows the top 5 for each category listed in the stats of the game. Pickett featured on top in sprinting with 27 total sprint efforts, Essendon’s best was 19 which was 5th overall. 
From the ground I noticed Harmes on Heppell in the first quarter before moving in the middle. Our forwards were pushing up to our backline a lot it seemed.

3 hours ago, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

Good to keep finding a way to win when our performance is not very polished. Particularly being able to stop Essendon's run.

Was frustrating to see we missed a lot of tackles, and laid some pretty ineffective ones. 46 only for the game. Our better wins have been more like 75 tackles.

Agree on both points.

On the latter point, I wonder if it might be more evidence of them having put in extra trains loads over the last 3 weeks?

10 hours ago, Dr.D said:

You've got to be joking. Sure we've locked in finals but we are still a 50/50 of making top 4. I'm not sure if you've seen the draw but Port, Dogs, Brisbane and Geelong all have very easy draws and would be favourites to win most, if not all of their remaining games whereas I have us down for 4 wins/4 losses with losses against WCE, Dogs, Port and Geelong. Not to mention an inability to beat your Adelaides and Collingwoods of this league means every game is going to be tight. 

Yes but you also "had us down" for a loss vs Essendon.

Remember, you've been wrong before.

1 minute ago, binman said:

Agree on both points.

On the latter point, I wonder if it might be more evidence of them having put in extra trains loads over the last 3 weeks?

Hopefully, otherwise a sign of being a bit slow

Bombers looked to walk out of traffic pretty easily at times, slip tackles

When we play top sides at their best, this is our weakness

Morning fellow DL's. I have to say I'm a lot more relaxed now that I was for most of last night. I'm looking forward to watching the replay later today as it's a lot harder to see what's going on from ground level at the Ponsford end of the ground. 

From what I've read on the thread this morning the main topic of discussion centres around the pros and cons of bringing Ben Brown back into the fold, fitness and form not withstanding of course. The advantage of having the extra almost 'stay at home' type forward taking up more of the opposition's defensive resources were evident last night. Historically he's also been a very accurate and reliable kick for goal which we're crying out for. I can equally understand though those that are worried about the lack of pressure and defensive accountability this might come with when trying to keep the ball locked into our forward fifty to help chew up the clock at crucial times, also very evident last night. 

This is why I'll be looking out for both if the game is televised on CH7 today. A couple of sausage rolls combined with a good defensive effort could be enough to see the big curly haired fella line up between the sticks at the 'G next weekend. 

 

27 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Dear lord this is a terrible take.

It was just a mis-kick. He ran around the man on the mark to try to get the extra distance to score. He shanked it. 

He's been down a bit the last few weeks and I thought he played a cracking game last night.

Considering how poorly we'd marked in the forward line all night, I reckon it was the right decision to soak up time and try and ice the game.

2 hours ago, layzie said:

I personally thought the Jordan and maybe one or two other frees were the only bad calls in our favour. Slight rub of the green to us but good umpiring isn’t a dead level free kick count. 

I watched three blatant pushes in the back to our players in the last quarter which weren't paid to us.

I didn't think the umps were too bad on the whole either. It was great to see the deliberate rule not paid like it has all season as well. 

#essenflogs

15 minutes ago, Brownie said:

I watched three blatant pushes in the back to our players in the last quarter which weren't paid to us.

I didn't think the umps were too bad on the whole either. It was great to see the deliberate rule not paid like it has all season as well. 

#essenflogs

In the last 5 minutes alone;

- Rivers pushed straight in the back while taking his kick out of the back pocket - no free

- Hooker throws the ball over his head (just prior to the Tippa/Harmes HTB they're up in arms about) - no free

- Kozzie tackled around the neck - HTB against

There was another blatant one in the 3rd where TMac tackled Merrett and was paid holding the man against.

The Petracca one they're also whinging about that they think should've been holding the ball probably should have been a free to us for a sling tackle (one arm pinned, 360 sling, head hits the ground)

The whinging from their supporters was ridiculous, the persecution complex infiltrated their players so Merrett, Smith, Stringer etc were more worried about the umps than the footy.

What kind of grown adult goes to the footy to boo? 

1 minute ago, Pipefitter said:

What kind of grown adult goes to the footy to boo? 

I booed when ablett snr won mark of the year for a ball he hardly touched or marked

12 hours ago, Dr.D said:

can someone tell me what Hunt was thinking with 1 minute to go and being up by 11 he decides to play on and have a kick from 50m (by which he doesn't score). Surely, he should've gone  short to find an option. Even backwards. It was so dumb. We don't need dumb decision makers in our team. Use your brains!

Was silly. I was thinking kick to the right pocket, contest, stoppage. Not a clever choice he took.

Loved how Fritta subtly helped that fool into the point post ☠️
Highlight of the game ?

Essendon supporters are the Karen’s of the AFL. The carrying on over their perceived wrongdoing last night and in the media today is so out of proportion. Watching the replay they really have very little to carry on about. Seems like they didn’t understand why the two fifties were paid and ballooned from there. Their history of umpire blaming is atrocious. The booing isn’t something you see from any other supporter groups, at least not like the pattern they have. It’s not like we didn’t have a bunch of decisions not paid too. 

Essendon's frustrations on the night may well be misplaced but geez I hope they take them out on the cats next Friday. 

11 hours ago, Fork 'em said:

All I'm saying is the comparisons with Rioli are abit ... Off.
Drops marks he shouldn't and misses goals he shouldn't.
Rioli would have gobbled those up when he was 19.

Thankfully, a statistical comparison is really easy in this instance. Rioli in his second AFL season kicked 21 goals and 21 behinds. Pickett midway through his second year sits on 20 goals and 20 behinds. 

53 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

In the last 5 minutes alone;

- Rivers pushed straight in the back while taking his kick out of the back pocket - no free

- Hooker throws the ball over his head (just prior to the Tippa/Harmes HTB they're up in arms about) - no free

- Kozzie tackled around the neck - HTB against

There was another blatant one in the 3rd where TMac tackled Merrett and was paid holding the man against.

The Petracca one they're also whinging about that they think should've been holding the ball probably should have been a free to us for a sling tackle (one arm pinned, 360 sling, head hits the ground)

The whinging from their supporters was ridiculous, the persecution complex infiltrated their players so Merrett, Smith, Stringer etc were more worried about the umps than the footy.

It’s hardly surprising Dr with generations of bandwagon Essendon supports living off Sheedy’s musings during the 80s and 90s , martians and marshmallows , throat cuts and snippers … and these supporters now think they have been wronged and hard done by, sold out by the AFL with the injections saga , Hirds persecution, failed rebuilds and not winning a final in 17 years ! 

growing up and going to school around Essendon in the 90s highlighted to me their sheer arrogance and entitlement, however they were winning flags back then and expected success, post 2001 they have been abysmal relative to their history , now the bandwagoners are crying fowl , even though they seem to now be getting their [censored] together    … so I guess we can’t be surprised by what we saw last night . 

my hatred of Essendon is right up there with west coast and Geelong - the one common denominator is self entitled whinging [censored] supporters … Booooooooo

The salt from bombers supporters tears today all over social media are delicious 

11 minutes ago, brendan said:

The salt from bombers supporters tears today all over social media are delicious 

We were mightily upset after the Adelaide game but nothing compared to the bomber fans.They are hysterically psychotic. The worst sore losers that I have ever seen. I fear much spouse, pet and equipment abuse has happened behind closed doors. 

Edited June 27, 20214 yr by John Crow Batty

9 minutes ago, John Crow Batty said:

We were mightily upset after the Adelaide game but nothing compared to the bomber fans.They are hysterically psychotic. The worst sore losers that I have ever seen. I fear much spouse, pet and equipment abuse has happened behind closed doors. 

Ours was one very blatant decision. None of their complaints are as black and white as that was. And our supporters very rarely boo like that, let alone for the entire game. God they’re fun to beat.