I thought the umps were reasonable tonight, and in fact we were lucky a few times with htb. Anyone else the same? I normally expect a few more decisions to go against us.

Gus 20 marks was immense

Backline are missing Levers intercept game 

Gee Bowser is a good decision maker 

Very happy for the Weed.

3 minutes ago, DEE fence said:

I thought the umps were reasonable tonight, and in fact we were lucky a few times with htb. Anyone else the same? I normally expect a few more decisions to go against us.

2nd quarter was a joke, other 3 seemed pretty fair

1 hour ago, Jaded No More said:

We played at Melbourne level for 10 minutes and won by 28. Can’t really ask for much more. We are just going and banking those points while playing very average footy. If that’s not the sign of a good team what is? 

And we won with little output from Trac. 
Clarry, Langdon and Gus superb. 

Jackson is a game shifter. When he goes in the middle we get on top. He has to take more centre bounces. Gawn is just too predictable in there where’s Jackson gets his own ball. He’s a wonder that boy. 

Well done Weideman for taking his chances. 

There is SO much improvement to come which given we are 3-0 is bloody exciting. 

Agree in fact Jackson gives the midfielders more of a chance of separation due to his better taps than MAX who really makes the Mids work harder than what they should for clean ball and ultimately, clearances!

Just back from the game. Will need to watch the replay but for much of the night it felt like watching a cat playing with a mouse. 

Port playing for their season next week so will likely have to play more in 3rd gear. 

Oliver out of this world

 

Outstanding game. We would have been lost without him

10 minutes ago, WERRIDEE said:

I thought our first half was terrible really let them in the game when we should have been further in front. The second half was a lot better. We need to be better if we want to be a top 4 side. We definitely haven't hit our peak yet just doing what we have to do. Kudos to Weideman thought he was cooked after the VFL game but he proved me wrong great game would have been even better if he kicked straight early.

Shouldve been 5 up at quarter time had we taken our opportunities W.  Then kept fluffing opportunities in the second.

Give them some credit though they gave us very little space all night and the first half arm wrestle between Stringer & Tracc was a beauty with Stringer pulling away through the middle stages, Tracc doing some good work at times but mostly at the book ends.

You are correct W, our early bad misses gave them a sniff,  and over use of hand ball also brought the heat on ourselves over and over.

There's a bit of fine tuning needed here and a few players were well off their best as well.

The predictable and stagnent slow play kick outs (and general play) across HB out wide to the left flank also played into their hands in defence.  Made entries inside a crowded 50 messy and cumbersome to watch.  Coming in from the same side of the ground along the wings in that first half was too easy to defend.  Needed to switch more often and / or look for a handball or 45 kick on occasions to change lanes and potenntially free up a forward on the fat side or in a different leading lane for a few more lead up marks.   Might be wrong but i cant recall us hitting up too many on the lead in those first two to three quarters!??

Stating the obvious but Salem is a very big out as the intercepting link up QB across HB.  His pin point passing / decision making and reading of the play around D 50 is at another level to most.

Lever also and i feel Hibb back for Hunt is probably the best option once fit.  I'm a big fan of Hunt and love what he brings at times but there's a bit more reliability / grunt and pressure around the ball, especially at ground level, when Hibb is up and about for mine.

I realise you cant always have every player you want fit and firing every week but that back six goes to another level with Lever, Salem &  Hibb up & about.  Fingers crossed we can get one or two back in the next three weeks or so.

A few concerns from the game tonight

1. Trac clearly looked hampered tonight every time he went to shift weight to his left leg (the strapped one) he looked to struggle. Hopefully nothing that will persist.

2.Gawn is really off this year and I don’t know why as he doesn’t seem to be carrying any injuries.

3. Maybe due to the first 2 but we really struggled at the centre bounce at times tonight, Essendon were able to clear the ball without much of a fight on our part this in turn put the backline under immense pressure. We look very one paced when trac isnt in there and firing 

Edited April 1, 20223 yr by Garbo

Surprised to see that Jordon finished with only the 16 touches. Seemed to be around the ball a lot and generally used it well.

Really liked his game tonight.

6 minutes ago, Demon Jack said:

Surprised to see that Jordon finished with only the 16 touches. Seemed to be around the ball a lot and generally used it well.

Really liked his game tonight.

defensive winger - sacrificial role

2 hours ago, Chook said:

Brian Taylor LOVES Sam Wiedeman.

That would be because of Sam’s links to the Collingwood great, Murray Weideman. BT is extremely one eyed!

2 hours ago, Nasher said:

Garbage opponent turned it in to a scrap. I actually enjoyed it.

Essendon were absolutely horrible especially the first half. Dragged us down to their level .

Our execution was sloppy but our structure was impeccable. I was never really worried even when they hit the front. We just suffocated them and they had no answers at all.

2 hours ago, Beetle said:

Yeah I’m not questioning his defensive efforts, he just needs to get involved more around the fall of the ball.

I thought he should've been moved onto the ball in the 2nd quarter to give us some spark. But honestly Kozzie is fine, applies pressure around the forward line. Small forwards aren't going to hit the scoreboard every week and as a group we need ANB, Kozzie and Spargo to just play their roles. Was very congested in our forward line with Essendon flooding back and a few times Kozzie was in good position he was either ignored or skill errors missed him completely.

2 hours ago, praha said:

Some of you are absolutely cooked. 

I'm sorry but that was a fantastic game.

Professional. Composed. Never gave in to the Essendon pizazz. They kept nibbling at us all game and we just went to another level each time.

Great teams always win those type of games by 5-7 goals.

Essendon isn't terrible. They'll steal some wins. 

That was the type of wins that great teams steal. 

Never in doubt.

How many times have we been in Essendon's position? Good but not good enough?

That was a great win.

Change my mind.

Agree completely, some sloppy execution stopped it being a 10 goal + win but we never looked like losing despite what the scoreboard may have said.

In a way it's sweeter to win when they thought they might have a chance to pinch it and then we just put away a 5 goal regulation win 😂

Edited April 1, 20223 yr by Dr. Gonzo

That was sweet..... love beating this mob... any time.....any where..... beat 'em like a drum.

Did we play well? Not really... we know we can play a hell of a lot better than that..... Did we get the 4 points? We sure did!

Petracca well held but it is a bit like Wack-a-Mole..... keep him down and Olive or others will bob up.

Loved Brayshaw's game and players like Harmes, Bowey, Langdon and Rives just do what they do. Very nice.

It was sweet. A few to come back in and a chance to re-build the structures and trust so we can begin to build our game to where we want it to be.

Smithy is coming good, I think if he just gets to more contests and starts throwing it around a bit, we could have a calibre running CHB  to go with our other CHBs

2 hours ago, The Swimming Dee said:

I thought Smith had some terrible moments tonight. As soon as Petty or Lever are back Smith goes back to VFL. He just does not have a football brain despite his elite athleticism imo…Sam Frost Version 2

I agree, he's been ok so far and wasn't terrible all round but did have terrible moments. He loses his opponent far too easily, a first gamer was outsmarting him running around behind him while Smith was ball watching. Probably comes out for Lever next week.

2 hours ago, Demon Jack said:

Kudos to some of the younger boys

Jordon, Bowey and Rivers barely put a foot wrong all night.

 

 

Bowey was fantastic again, kid is a star

I’m going against the grain here, I know, but I thought Weid was good in patches, but still makes some fundamental errors. Kick inside 50 in the last quarter when he had three options to choose from and stuck it down an essendon players throat. Kicked the tough ones and missed ones directly in front . I do agree he deserves to continue in the team for now and TMac can have a spell, but he must eradicate these ‘panic moments’ and ‘pressure lapses’. It’s all in his head. The only way he clears this up though, a full 6 week block playing with the same blokes.  

second quarter was a slopfest but otherwise that wasn't as bad as other games i've seen

6 hours ago, adonski said:

Sparrow fumbles galore when he's around ball. 

Agree - and very indecisive 

6 hours ago, dee-tox said:

Was worried with Wright taking a few grabs. May really does need Lever and Petty back to help him aerially. Tomlinson has other attributes but over his head is not his forte.

The feature of tonight is we are overall a better team. Everyone chips in and does something. We can have quiet players but the effort is always there. ANB is a good example this week. Had his worst game in nearly a year but kept on going.

Agree - Lever and Petty know when to zone of their man to intercept or spoil when May’s opposition, which is usually the FF, gets away from him

There are no easy games. Happy with the win. Just me or the team look pretty flat after the game? 

Happy about Weid's performance last night - I'll admit I've been a great doubter and wasn't overly excited when he was selected. Want to see him repeat it for a few more weeks. In my opinion, TMac needs to play in front far more often and also keep away from other forwards when they are performing well - play a team role as a decoy forward and create space by dragging his opposition away from contests. Gus and Clarry were the two standouts for me. 

8 hours ago, dees189227 said:

Why would trac signal he thought it was touched. Just shut up trac. 

If you said at the start of the game we'd win by 29 I would have been rapt. If you said we'd win by 29 at 3/4 time I probably would have said no way. But it took all night to put them away. 

It was great after Langdon kicked that goal to see the Essendon fans around me leave. Stew on that all weekend.

So happy for weiderman. He clunked some good ones

I didn’t know he did that as I was at the game, huge amounts of respect for him doing that.