This list is good enough when it wants to be.  Today they were embarrassed by a team still learning.  Not hard at it and still can't be a killer team. 

 

Gutless. Where's the comeback? Where's the grit?

57 minutes ago, Tom Dyson said:

Essendon used the blueprint that worked for Collingwood and Sydney last year. Not only were we thoroughly beaten at the contest but their transition from d50 is so effective against our backline which looks all over the ship when the ball's coming in quick as it was today. Speed on the ball through the corridor is our worst enemy and we look powerless to stop it when teams get a run on. 

The only way I can think to defend such a gameplan is immense forward half pressure, tackling etc. whilst simultaneously structuring up in such a way that cuts off the corridor. None of those things were apparent today. not sure if its being tired after another road trip or not but the endeavour was sorely lacking. 

Always a range of factors to consider after a loss especially this one, but we have to start working on a structure/system which can negate fast ball movement through the corridor or else we're really going to struggle this year. 

Their blueprint was Melbourne not turning up was it? Sure, Essendon played a disciplined defensive game, but we didn't turn up.

Any plan we had goes out the window if there's no intensity or work rate.

Edited April 15, 20232 yr by A F

Just watching Goody's presser. He could tell we were off very early. Sounds like Gawn could be a chance to come back next week. Spargo will obviously miss. Lever and brown sound good to go. 

Didn't want to use any excuses, travel, short breaks etc. 

Just said that's not us. 

36 minutes ago, CHF said:

We lacked leadership both on and off the field today and that resulted in being dominated in all aspects of the game. They applied more pressure, were harder at the man and the ball and were better organised. Without proper leadership on the ground we had no direction or drivers. 
 

Our coaching team were out thought and lacked imagination to try and arrest the momentum. This is in the face of all the talk about the way they have worked on this aspect of the game over the off season. We had a back line that was misfiring and a forward line that was also a shambles. We have players able to switch between those positions but the coaches did not use them. Early on the midfield was getting beaten and we persisted withe the same setup. 

individually there were some below par efforts. May and TMac come to mind as they are more experienced players that should have a solid baseline to work from in these situations.

Gawn and Lever are strong on field leaders in two critical areas of the ground for us and we need them back as soon as possible. 
 

disappointing game and we got the result we deserved given the rubbish we dished our today. 

Yes I agree,  this is close, we got the result we deserved

24 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

injuries no excuse. Look who Sydney had out last night. 

Good post.

Time to be serious now.

The club needs to start making decisions some serious decisions on the likes of Melksham, McDonald and Tomlinson moving forward and how by giving them games benefits us at all moving into the future.

Could not believe my eyes that we decided to bring in Melksham off the back of no performance last week over Bailey Laurie who was BOG by a length with 35 disposals. Is this the true definition of rewarding form? Why on earth are we continuing to gift games to Melksham when there are guys at Casey who are who are constantly busting their [censored] week after week with zero reward. People may think it's a joke bit you can't tell me there is some genuine bias by Goodwin here with this one.

McDonald is genuinely a cooked footballer. Some got sucked in by his performance last week against a WAFL but no more from now on He should be purely for depth if we are decimated with injuries. This spot now should be between Schache and Brown. 

Again, we lose Lever and pick Tomlinson who's not even a like for like. If Daniel Turner can get games based on the blokes who plays a similar style to him (Lever) then when will he? What's even more of a joke was that selection committee had the audacity to fly Turner up as an emergency.. genuine pisstake? Now is the time where we need to start seeing whether Turner is up to it.

I've really liked what the selection committee have done this year, I really do. But these 3 are simply not the future at all and can't be relied upon every single time a player goes out. The age is shoeing out in big games and it's costing us.

 

1 hour ago, brendan said:

Starting to think maybe we just aren’t good enough still seeing the same problems from second half of last season, too inconsistent forward line dramas and when pressured by the opposition we fold, I’m not convinced we are a top 4 side anymore, just like the dogs in 16 we won our flag in 21 off a perfect month of footy 

Off a month of good footy? We finished top after Home and Away. This is an all time dumb comment. 

21 minutes ago, I'va Worn Smith said:

Is there a MRO for umpires?  To me the turning point in the game was when Spargs copped a hit to the head, was done for holding the ball and went off concussed.  I don't give a fig for free stats.  It is where they are given and when.   To me,  the Spargo incident was the turning point.  I am not saying we would have won otherwise, but momentum certainly shifted at that stage.  

' It is where they are given and when.' 

Fully agree - it is almost orchestrated. We are left wondering: 'WHY?

15 minutes ago, Dee-monic said:

Granted that May struggled badly today, but when he is working alongside Lever the understanding between the two has usually been excellent. And without the irreplaceable Max to help out in defence, we were simply monstered by their talls. I would cut May some slack over one really poor performance. We all have our off days. May certainly wasn't the only one well under par today.

May stank today. There's no arguing that. I'm not calling for him to be dropped unless whatever he's carrying/suffering isn't resolved before our next game. We were monstered by their makeshift forward line of Draper and Andrew Phillips FFS. Lever or not, that's pathetic.

3 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

Just watching Goody's presser. He could tell we were off very early. Sounds like Gawn could be a chance to come back next week. Spargo will obviously miss. Lever and brown sound good to go. 

Didn't want to use any excuses, travel, short breaks etc. 

Just said that's not us. 

thought it was good presser.

maybe some reading between the lines re. travel but not an excuse considering teams outside Vic travel constantly

24 minutes ago, I'va Worn Smith said:

Is there a MRO for umpires?  To me the turning point in the game was when Spargs copped a hit to the head, was done for holding the ball and went off concussed.  I don't give a fig for free stats.  It is where they are given and when.   To me,  the Spargo incident was the turning point.  I am not saying we would have won otherwise, but momentum certainly shifted at that stage.  

The part that was worse than the non paid free, was the fact Spargo was KO’d, clearly, and the umpire allowed play to continue without stopping the game, which left Remond to run off the mark, which resulted in a goal

Agree that was really a turning point. We had played well in the second up to that point,   A couple of other very puzzling decisions as well, but we were not really interested at all in the third. Terrible quarter of football 

Most disappointing effort i have seen from the Dees at AO, certainly did not attack the game with the same hunger as Essendon.

But I expect this group to bounce back next week, it's a long season and will continue have our share of ups and downs.

Edited April 15, 20232 yr by Jibroni

1 minute ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

The part that was worse than the non paid free, was the fact Spargo was KO’d, clearly, and the umpire allowed play to continue without stopping the game, which left Remond to run off the mark, which resulted in a goal

My view was he ducked to evade Resmans arm and was clipped  by his hip. I’m not going to watch the replay but agree the ump was poor here to let it continue, when we clearly had a player concussed. Will it come under a scrutiny? Probably not.

Im biting my tongue with these soft frees in our D50 resulting in goals until Maxy returns. If he continues to get thumped in the head, held and arms chopped Iin marking contest in our F50 then I’ll lose my 💩

2 minutes ago, BoBo said:

The tackling especially! Just no intensity today 

It's the foundation every game plan is built on and if we'd brought it early it may have been enough to keep a pretty average opponent at bay until we'd found our groove. Maybe our issues this season are all above the shoulders. 

Just now, Gawndy the Great said:

My view was he ducked to evade Resmans arm and was clipped  by his hip. I’m not going to watch the replay but agree the ump was poor here to let it continue, when we clearly had a player concussed. Will it come under a scrutiny? Probably not.

Im biting my tongue with these soft frees in our D50 resulting in goals until Maxy returns. If he continues to get thumped in the head, held and arms chopped Iin marking contest in our F50 then I’ll lose my 💩

Don’t disagree. It wasn’t a free to us. But he was motionless on the ground. The umpire didn’t check player welfare. You had Redman apologising to him. Then he notices how concussed he is and runs off him

1 hour ago, YearOfTheDees said:

Bad day but flags are not won in April. Everything went wrong for one team and everything just fell in place for the other.

I agree with this, we won 10 in a row last year, with flaws being shown up in the second half of the season. This game has exposed our weaknesses, leaving plenty of time to fix.

glass half full….

18 minutes ago, I'va Worn Smith said:

He was hit in the head by his opposition's hip.  He did not duck, he picked up the ball.  It could not have even been conceivable, that it was holding the ball, if he did not have possession, after bending down.   He was not caught in a tackle, he was bumped in the head.   He was concussed FFS. 

He definitely ducked IMO.

The old Goodwin press conference when it's not 'us' and it's not our 'brand' and we were beaten to 'the contest'.

It's his job to get the players up, make moves etc, just like it was Brad Scotts job to do the same.

Too many players happy to be on an AFL list and have their lattes during the week, play golf and get the pay cheque.

I feel a lot of us on here are probably more upset than the players sometimes, it is afterall, a job for a lot of them too.

20 minutes ago, Demonland said:

 

To the naked eye, Oliver and Petracca played their absolute guts out in that last quarter.   Olivers last in particular was off the charts. 20 possessions. Petracca was throwing himself into everything.   In fact, the whole team never dropped their heads but Essendons marking and matchups were a problem for 45 minutes and wrestled contol away.  Fair credit to them.  

I think a loss like that will reinforce we probably need another key back in the draft.  

Edited April 15, 20232 yr by Jjrogan

Just now, A F said:

He definitely ducked IMO.

Well, I guess you duck, when you bend over to pick up the ball.  Notwithstanding, he was hit in the head and was concussed.  So that's OK is it?  Bugger me dead if it is. 

Does anyone actually know what Sparrow's role is?

Doesn't win the footy 
Doesn't use his size to impact defensively - 1 tackle off 10 centre bounce attendances 
Isn't a link up player - 0 marks
Isn't a forward
Rarely hits above 65% time on ground
Is there any particular reason we carry him every week? 

Also - so much for Pickett & Rivers' added midfield minutes, Rivers had 4 centre bounce attendances, while Pickett only had 3. For context, Jordon as sub had 3.

Edited April 15, 20232 yr by adonski

39 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

injuries no excuse. Look who Sydney had out last night. 

This has to be the most ridiculous cliche in footy history - they might not be an excuse, but they are an explanation.   It's asinine to try to say that if we had both Gawn and Lever in we wouldn't have been better.   

And you do realise that Richmond were more crippled by injuries than Sydney last night?