At the break of Gawn

Watts 3rd qtr was awesome which helped turned it for us. 5 marks (couple of which were contested), 7 disposals and score involvements. 2 of Hanan's goals were Joe the goose to be fair.

6. Jones - Took the game by the scruff of the neck 5. Garlett - 5 goals, dangerous all day. 4. Hibberd - Mr reliable in defence 3. Melksham - Good all day and best game for the club 2. Watts - Helped turn the game in the 3rd qtr. Not sure why that was missing in the first half 1. Lewis - Was excellent when he became the loose man in defence. Apologies to Harmes, AnB. Surprised Watts hasn't been in many other votes by posters. I among many were lamenting his efforts early, but he was huge in getting us back in it. Also got votes in the Age.

Watts and Lewis must've received a blasting at half time. Both seemed intent to impact the game, and along with Jones, probably turned it for us. Jones BoG Melksham's best game Jeffy good as ever Omac poor again Bugg not a forward Harmes a great inclusion

Watts has lifted. Must've got a blast.

Need to stop this extra players at the bounce bs. Can't get genuine one on ones in the forwards. No skill in the forward line apart from Watts who looks fatigued as hell. Just an ordinary team with an ordinary coach.

We have gone backwards from last year. Roos should've stayed on.

Watts named on interchange. Assume that means he's on thin ice.

He can have his rest next week (the bye). Funny though, I reckon the media would love a Watts "rested" story and link it as a cover for him being dropped.

Best post I've seen in the thread

Watts plays his best forward as a high half forward with space. He is not a KPP FF and wasn't recruited as one. Having to play deep forward is limiting his creativity and he has to play on the best or 2nd best defender. Look at his stats for the first part of the season - he was averaging 18-20 disposals per game, more marks etc as he was playing up the ground. He'll be fine when Hogan and Gawn is back. That'll mean Hogan, Pedo, Watts as forwards and Watts can emulate his early 2016 form again. Definitely had a poor game today, but our structure is killing us which is limiting players such as him.

Firstly I think no Hogan is causing Watts to get a premier defender that has made it a bit more difficult. Secondly, I think a part of it is up the ground. I think I can recall maybe one genuine one-on-one for him in the F50. The other possibility is that the forward set-up just isn't working. From rounds 7 to 9. The goals are: Weid: 0 Goals Watts: 1 Goal Garlett: 6 Kent: 3 Petracca: 1 Hannan: 4 That's a total of 13 goals from all our forwards in 3 games.

You realise it's 4 forwards to 6 defenders right? They haven't even had a one on one. Watts, Kent and Weid will be lucky to kick one each tonight. Goody is going ultra defensive.

I feel sorry for JKH, and I agree, SEN should've blacked out his name. Having said that, Goodwin's decision to play him 3 straight games without any influence whatsoever did seem a bit strange. He was almost a sitting duck for this form of criticism, and if wasn't done by a fan (or anyone on this site), then even those in the media who normally stray away from targeting young players* would've been tempted. *Jack Watts the exception who started getting criticised by the game's greatest ever player (Leigh Matthews) at the age of 18.

I struggle to fully understand the intensity thing sometimes. I understand how one or two players might not be 100% focused as the game started but how is it all 18 on the field? The Hawks pressure was immense that game, and obviously something Clarkson was reinforcing the whole game. My only conclusion is that Goodwin's emphasis was more on game plan before the game "the run and carry style" and didn't emphasise the pressure and structure stuff because he would just assume they know all that, but without that focus, it wasn't front of mind for them.

Needed to revive this thread to discuss our overuse of the football/handball happy that has crept into our game. Obviously a Goodwin influence, it seems when we are going poorly our handball to kick ratio is off the charts. When asked about our overuse of the handball at the presser today, he didn't seem bothered by this aspect despite many expert commentators pointing it out. Is there a rationale behind this? Seems like we are the worst in the league with unnecessary handballs.

What's going on with our forward structure? Seemed great last week with Watts as a deep forward with Petracca but it was just so dysfunctional today. They need to sort this out, ASAP as I actually think Watts plays a better deep forward than Hogan.

Kent won't get a game for doing nothing. Goodwin had flagged not many changes this week. In: Hogan Out: JKH

How much grace does Bugg's VFL performance give him? Yes, he had a quiet game but perhaps another crack at it? JKH on the otherhand has had two real cracks and been ineffectual.

First time we've won since he joined Essendon. Ironically, it was the player he almost broke (Watts) and of his most questionable recruits (Pederson) that shone for us.

Thought Tyson was a bit better today compared to previous weeks.

6 - Pederson. Was great in the ruck and kicked a good goal. 5 - Watts. Got a lucky goal but was excellent nonetheless. Last qtr contested mark was awesome. 4 - Tmac - I thought despite his kicking his intercept and ruck was was great. 3 - Petracca. Made the most of his opportunities 2. Oliver. Great clearance and contested work again 1. Viney. Huge in 3rd qtr Apologies to: Tyson, Lewis, Frost, Hunt and Garlett who also deserved a vote.

I thought Watts' post match interview was very good. Dedicated the win to Hogan/Hogan's dad and said Hogan was one of their brothers and that they love him.

Saw footage of training and Watts and Pedo were the only one doing ruck work I could see.

Champion. So lucky to have him.

Almost feel like Watts has to dominate this game. He has to be the man. I'm backing him in to do it and think he'll rise to the occasion.