3 minutes ago, BoBo said:

It is sacrosanct but you can’t do what Spargo did and it be called a free against Redmann.

If that was the case, players could just duck head first into the everything initiating head high contact and get frees. 

Spargo put himself in that position unnecessarily. Had aeons to get rid of the ball but chose to duck like that and it’s clear that Redmann wasn’t trying to hit his head. 

Spargo did CROUCH, to avoid the incoming opponent (Redmann).  He did not duck.  Whether Redmann was trying to hit Spargo in the head or otherwise, does not matter.  The fact is, Spargo was hit in the head by Redmann.  No if's or but's.  It was a hit to the head.  That is why the MRO grade head high hits, which include the word "careless".  If Redmann tried to wrap his arms around Spargo, in a tackle, then maybe a different story.  The fact is, it was a bump, which affected Spargo's head.  It WAS NOT a tackle. 

14 minutes ago, John Crow Batty said:

Similar to the Brisbane game. We were off after the first bounce. Incredibly loose defence and disorganised forward line. Three great games mixed with two complete dud efforts. Something NQR upstairs. The contrast is perplexing. We are not ready to be considered premiership favourites yet.

Good points.  In both losses we were well beaten. My concern right now is something is off structurally,  get to work coaches

. 

3 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Why don’t you offer us your take then? He is a champion player, but didn’t even have a hard tag and yet got pantsed in Q1. I hate it, he hates it but the fact still remains he has two touches (12 in the first half) and wasn’t able to impact the game. 

My only knock on Clarrie's game and it always has been so, it that unlike other gun mids of his ilk, he does not hit the scoreboard enough, especially when it matters.  If he did, I suspect he would have won a Brownlow by now.

38 minutes ago, rpfc said:

Being a bit harsh on those three with the whole team playing so poorly.

Personally, I wouldn’t have started Melksham and when Brown comes back I think he provides more than McDonald to compliment JVR and be dangerous deep when Gawn comes back. Tomlinson is depth for Lever so no problem there. We just can’t compete when we are so lacking in spark and dare.

But it hasn't been one game that I've based this on.

For me this dates backs back to last year, not so much McDonald as he missed with injury but the other two for sure. Tomlinson just panicks and still struggles to turn which affects his ability to stay with his opponent. Tomlinson shouldn't even be a depth option for Lever. They're two different players. Tomlinson is a May replacement when he's out injured. Other then that he spends his days at Casey.

47 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Melksham played as the 3rd tall forward and when we moved the ball he looked as likely as any of our key forwards. BBB struggles to stay upright in the dry, I’m completely fine with that change. Not sure why you’re comparing him with noted key forward 180cm Bill Laurie.

I wasn’t impressed with Tommy Mc and he’s just about impossible to pick again any time soon, but if Schache’s the answer we’re probably just as stuffed. His VFL form has been good not great and he’s still iffy at the contest. How long has been on an AFL list without getting a regular gig?

Totally agree on Disco, but the plan looked fairly simple. Use Tomlinson on the resting rucks. He towelled up Lobb, surely he won’t struggle too much with Phillips and Draper? That allows May to play full back and Petty to play as the interceptor. 

Disco also had 1 game back from a 3+ week lay off, it’s not unreasonable for him to play a second VFL game. For his own sake as much as the teams. His second ever AFL game going in underdone? That’s not a recipe for success. 

It's actually quite easy to compare to Laurie. Essendon don't have a tall backline at all, Melksham is completely passed his used by date and bringing in Laurie would have added another runner but also provide defensive pressure up forward.  Something that was non existent with Melk.

 

 

What’s happening with James Jordan? 50th game tonight and not even acknowledged by the club. Yet Melksham who is ready for retirement continues to get constant praise and games ahead of JJ. Seems really odd to me. Do other demonlander’s believe Melksham should be on the field ahead of JJ?

11 minutes ago, I'va Worn Smith said:

Spargo did CROUCH, to avoid the incoming opponent (Redmann).  He did not duck.  Whether Redmann was trying to hit Spargo in the head or otherwise, does not matter.  The fact is, Spargo was hit in the head by Redmann.  No if's or but's.  It was a hit to the head.  That is why the MRO grade head high hits, which include the word "careless".  If Redmann tried to wrap his arms around Spargo, in a tackle, then maybe a different story.  The fact is, it was a bump, which affected Spargo's head.  It WAS NOT a tackle. 

By the way.  I never claimed that it should be a free kick against Redmann.  I simply meant that Sarpgo should have not been done for holding the ball in such circumstances. 

14 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

 

It's actually quite easy to compare to Laurie. Essendon don't have a tall backline at all, Melksham is completely passed his used by date and bringing in Laurie would have added another runner but also provide defensive pressure up forward.  Something that was non existent with Melk.

 

 

BZT, Laverde talls 195/193
Ridley 3rd tall interceptor 195cm

They aren’t huge talls but they’re all good size and need 3 talls to counter. Remember JVR has to ruck and Grundy rest so when you play 3 talls you only have 2 out there most of the time.

With Kelly, Heppell, Redman all 187+ flankers which means they have a fair bit of height down back. 

Our 3 tall set up has worked well all year, including when Melk has been subbed on.

Laurie isn’t a pressure forward either. He’s a high half forward flanker who can endurance run to fill some gaps but isn’t a speedy forward pressure player. If he was he’d probably get more of a run at afl level by now. He’s got to build up his contested work and become more of a midfield type player which is what he’s doing at Casey.

2 weeks ago at Casey he played a lot of half forward, had 8 touches in 3/4’s and was largely unsighted. Last week as a mid he was great. He’s developing his midfield game.

 

Edited April 15, 20232 yr by DeeSpencer

I'd like to see Fritta nailing more tackles and our other forwards more. He loves his goals but Fritta needs to do some work on his defending side of his game. I mean even stringer was nailing tackles. 

8 minutes ago, I'va Worn Smith said:

Spargo did CROUCH, to avoid the incoming opponent (Redmann).  He did not duck.  Whether Redmann was trying to hit Spargo in the head or otherwise, does not matter.  The fact is, Spargo was hit in the head by Redmann.  No if's or but's.  It was a hit to the head.  That is why the MRO grade head high hits, which include the word "careless".  If Redmann tried to wrap his arms around Spargo, in a tackle, then maybe a different story.  The fact is, it was a bump, which affected Spargo's head.  It WAS NOT a tackle. 

Wait, so you’ve gone from ‘spargo was trying to pick up the ball’ (which he was doing the furthest thing from) and now trying to argue that Spargo wasn’t ducking, but ‘crouching’.

Be honest, are you seriously arguing Spargo was not ducking? 

‘Whether Redmann was trying to hit spargo in the head or otherwise, does not matter. The fact is, Spargo was hit in the head by Redmann’

You’re arguing for players to be able to duck (or crouch) INTO players coming at them and no matter what the context, no ifs or buts, a free or report should be given if their head gets hit. Players can just choose to duck at any stage no matter what and they’ll get rewarded. Players like Ginnivan and Weitman will kick 100 goals a season each with what you’re saying. 
 

 

2 hours ago, SPC said:

Have we seen the best of May? 

May is a couple of weeks away 

2 hours ago, DemonicFinalFantasy said:

Scott showed Goodwin how to use 2 rucks to advantage. That threw us and the rest was soon history.

Unfortunately we only have one, and despite being far from his best thank our list managers that we at least have Brundy.   
With Max injured who would we ruck without him?

32 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Why don’t you offer us your take then? He is a champion player, but didn’t even have a hard tag and yet got pantsed in Q1. I hate it, he hates it but the fact still remains he has two touches (12 in the first half) and wasn’t able to impact the game. 

My take is that he had a bad quarter and then went to work and had another high quality and influential 3 quarters. If the rest of the team were as consistent as him, and as proud of their performance, we’d not have lost today. 

22 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

But it hasn't been one game that I've based this on.

For me this dates backs back to last year, not so much McDonald as he missed with injury but the other two for sure. Tomlinson just panicks and still struggles to turn which affects his ability to stay with his opponent. Tomlinson shouldn't even be a depth option for Lever. They're two different players. Tomlinson is a May replacement when he's out injured. Other then that he spends his days at Casey.

It's actually quite easy to compare to Laurie. Essendon don't have a tall backline at all, Melksham is completely passed his used by date and bringing in Laurie would have added another runner but also provide defensive pressure up forward.  Something that was non existent with Melk.

 

 

Laurie has no overhead game at all. He is competing with ANB, Spargo, Chandler and Kossie, not Melksham. 

We were very fumbly. And it was a rare game where almost the entire team were off. Not dissimilar to the Brisbane game actually. 

Over the coming weeks we will welcome the likes of Lever, Gawn, Harmes and BBB back into the mix.

I'm thinking this wasn't one of the finest performances by the boys.

I really hate Essendon, but the basterds turned up to play, that was honestly the best I've seen them since 2001. They marked everything. Ran like the wind and used Stringer as a decoy perfectly. We just couldn't take a trick and a side missing Lever, Hibbo and Salem notices it.

Full credit to McVee I think he was the best defender today. Bowey NQR. Tmac has used up his credits for mine, a flat track bully against WCE was angry at how out of position he was all day. 

May had a bad day, has proved over the journey that happens, he will adjust. Likewise Grundy got too cute (4 bounces in one game, Max hasn't had one in 10 years) but with Gawn back we are a different team. Essendon basically played like we do.

Overall a bit sad with our talls but think today is the aberration not the standard. 

1 minute ago, DEE fence said:

I really hate Essendon, but the basterds turned up to play, that was honestly the best I've seen them since 2001. They marked everything. Ran like the wind and used Stringer as a decoy perfectly. We just couldn't take a trick and a side missing Lever, Hibbo and Salem notices it.

Full credit to McVee I think he was the best defender today. Bowey NQR. Tmac has used up his credits for mine, a flat track bully against WCE was angry at how out of position he was all day. 

May had a bad day, has proved over the journey that happens, he will adjust. Likewise Grundy got too cute (4 bounces in one game, Max hasn't had one in 10 years) but with Gawn back we are a different team. Essendon basically played like we do.

Overall a bit sad with our talls but think today is the aberration not the standard. 

Get OUT of here with your reasonable reaction. 

1 hour ago, layzie said:

We will but things that were once big strengths were weakened today. 15 marks in our defensive 50 shouldnt ever happen even without Lever.

Not a disaster but a little more than just a one-off bad day. Need to learn from it.

Of course, it comes down to mindset. We've shown that we still don't have the mature/professional mindset to bring our best each week like some of the great teams of recents years. Look at the Geelong side of 07-11 they would turn up to play every single game, bring the right mindset and pummel teams into submission early before easing off later in games once the 4 points had been won. Unfortunately it seems our players still think they can turn up some weeks and just bank 4 points without doing the hard work. The secret is you have to do the hard work every single week from the first bounce if they figure that out they'll be unstoppable.

1 minute ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Of course, it comes down to mindset. We've shown that we still don't have the mature/professional mindset to bring our best each week like some of the great teams of recents years. Look at the Geelong side of 07-11 they would turn up to play every single game, bring the right mindset and pummel teams into submission early before easing off later in games once the 4 points had been won. Unfortunately it seems our players still think they can turn up some weeks and just bank 4 points without doing the hard work. The secret is you have to do the hard work every single week from the first bounce if they figure that out they'll be unstoppable.

I actually thought it was the second when we didn't adjust, the first was ok, effort was there, the second was trash.

We were disgusting. Only Viney put in a 4 quarter effort. Surely it's the last time we play Tomlinson, McDonald and Melksham they are cooked. Let's hope we bounce back.

9 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Of course, it comes down to mindset. We've shown that we still don't have the mature/professional mindset to bring our best each week like some of the great teams of recents years. Look at the Geelong side of 07-11 they would turn up to play every single game, bring the right mindset and pummel teams into submission early before easing off later in games once the 4 points had been won. Unfortunately it seems our players still think they can turn up some weeks and just bank 4 points without doing the hard work. The secret is you have to do the hard work every single week from the first bounce if they figure that out they'll be unstoppable.

Hard work takes you a long way to winning the game these days. Especially when it comes to applying pressure, the single best gamechanging element.

That work rate from Essendon was very impressive.

19 minutes ago, DemonWA said:

We were very fumbly. And it was a rare game where almost the entire team were off. Not dissimilar to the Brisbane game actually. 

Over the coming weeks we will welcome the likes of Lever, Gawn, Harmes and BBB back into the mix.

Harmes?

He isn't best 22 anymore.

We stunk up the joint. If I paid to see an opera singer and they performed with that level of effort I'd be asking for my money back.

I reckon we need to draft some more genuine midfield bulls at the end of the season. Can you imagine if Trac or Clarrie were out for an extended period? Need to get some better depth.

6 minutes ago, leucopogon said:

I reckon we need to draft some more genuine midfield bulls at the end of the season. Can you imagine if Trac or Clarrie were out for an extended period? Need to get some better depth.

Spot on.

There's a significant drop after these two. We have no up and comers coming through in this department. 

2 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Spot on.

There's a significant drop after these two. We have no up and comers coming through in this department. 

More mids are the #1 priority, but

It's a bit of a self created problem at times with the reluctance to throw Brayshaw in the middle