BW511

I’ll go one step further and reiterate a point I made during the week, the Gawn/Jackson combo is taking away one of our strengths (Gawn) and is also robbing our forward line. In the preseason I wanted to play Jacko at all costs and he was good today, but it’s at the expense of the best ruckman in the comp and another permanent forward player. I think I’d rather play Gawn solo and have T-Mac giving Max a chop out - for now

I think we’ve definitely made a shift towards the Geelong style of playing safe against sides lower than us. We are intent on keeping a team to a low score, rather than attacking and trying to win. It’s a more defensive mindset. No doubt we are getting it forward of centre, but we’ll never consistently kick a winning score with Fritsch as the sole target. He tried hard but he’s not exactly someone to fear

There’s a few things that frustrated me about today and the last 3-4 weeks. We’ve drifted away from the team first mentality that seemed to be the catalyst for our early season form. So many examples today of poor decision making based on an individual wanting to be the hero. The last quarter provided us plenty of chances to win the game but we came unstuck with guys being too cute, trying to take on one too many or simply helping each other through situations. Hunt will cop some heat for his efforts but he was trying to make the play and there wasn’t anyone giving him any better options - either by instruction or by leading at him with some real intent. FFS, We got to the position we are in by doing the simple things well. A few specific examples from today that really infuriated me; Petracca stopping on the spot when he takes a mark or gets a free kick. Then waiting, then going back and going over the mark anyway. That’s under 12’s stuff. Harmes and his obsession with trying to break a tackle. Whoever is encouraging him to take the game on is undoing all our hard work. Viney coming in well underdone - I don’t believe he commands an immediate spot in our side after a long layoff, even at his best. If Ben Brown can’t get a gig after actually performing his role at the lower level, then its culture killing to think Viney can come in off some limited match simulation. The last one is a bit controversial but I’ll go with it anyway. Our game plan is starting to unravel like years gone by because it’s incredibly taxing. We may be fitter (allegedly) than every side, but we’re not mentally ready to do it for a whole year. The real defensive based game style we’ve played the last few weeks is a bit puzzling. We’re trying to play safe and we don’t have the cattle for it. Season is on the line now, I’ll be interested to see the response from the coaches and the players

Harmes is a f&$?!&@ liability

But you don’t need to perform in the seniors to hold your spot, so I’m not so sure

There was probably more things against, rather than for BB being selected this week, but I feel they should have got him in and given him a chance in the run home. T-Mac and Fritta are well down on their beginning to the year and the extra tall dragging defenders away could have been their golden ticket. If we are still debating our best setup in round 17-18 I think it’s game over for us

I think those numbers flatter Fritsch a little, he has definitely had a few not register a score or go out of bounds on the full

Absolutely, just thought he was better than our others

I thought Merrett was clearly 2nd best on ground

I had a few goes at writing something similar, it was hard to articulate without seeming overly critical of Fritta. I feel his position is the one that worries me in September (Or whenever finals land). He isn't physical and in tight finals games, he will not create opportunities in the same way Spargo or Kossie could. He's clearly very smart and a good mark, but in a final he won't have space that he requires and we can't afford to carry that. Using our own example, I would be very comfortable with Hibbo or Riv lining up on Fritta in a final, even if May or Lever had BBB I'd always be nervous of him plucking a few and kicking goals and our defence is the best in the comp. Understand he is our leading goal kicker, so people will disagree, but I would rather Sparrow in the lead up to and including finals

Agree - I thought Stringer was probably the only reason Essendon stayed in the game. Would not have said he was quiet. His decision making at times could have been what cost them

I tend to agree that Weid and Mitch are better suited to our game style, but there’s no denying that Ben Brown commands the attention of a proper tall back. The bombers talls had it very easy in defence at times, lots of uncontested marks. There is little chance a forward line of T-Mac and Fritta stands up against Geelong or WC in a GF. Jacko is creating a bit of an issue in my opinion, he’s too good a player to leave out but also doesn’t do enough in the forward arc to be considered a permanent forward. I do not want to lose Jacko, but think his position creates a little lack of balance. I also think Max played a lot better when he was going it alone

I guess picking us apart is a bit lazy on my behalf, but there’s definitely been a shift in how teams play against us. There are avenues to goal through our defence and come the last 5-6 weeks of the year when the good teams will be hitting our straps, we will need a decent improvement. At the moment I’d say we are going at 80-85% and we desperately need to start finding more consistent goal scoring power. Weid wasn’t playing very well at all, but Essendons tall backs had a relatively easy day out with out that extra big body. Kossie and Fritta are being shut down effectively now and it’s going to be interesting to see how we work our way out of that

Will take the win, but we are a long way from the side that was 8-0. Teams are starting to find ways to pick us apart and you just hope we can start managing more than a grinding win leading into September. Lots of blokes a long way off their best and we keep winning so there is from to improve

Big risk carrying him as medical sub, but can appreciate the sentiment

If I was a punter, the dons at $4 seems quite long! The business end begins on Saturday night, hope we can start working up to full steam

I'm still of the opinion they should have bought Weid in over Ben Brown for that first opportunity after he kicked a bag (Even if it was weak opponents) He is clearly a confidence player and kicking a bag and still not getting picked seems to have completely killed his confidence before he even got into the senior side

Everyone dismisses Mitch Brown, but I've never seen a game where he didn't give it his all. He may not get on the end of it each week but he works bloody hard trying to, I think there is a role for him in the latter half of the season in lieu of BB and Weid. If Joel Smith or Majak are playing off no games, we are in real strife

After seeing a few of the young boys in action this year, I can see why he has signed on. Essendon have done very well at the draft in recent times.

Absolutely, that was a real jolt back to the old ways - which also highlighted our general improvement in this area. Keeping things glass half full, we have managed to keep the egos in check for most of the season and that's pleasing. If we are to believe that everyone has bought in to the idea, Monday's game will be the slap everyone needed and away we go.

Very happy with the change in attitude over the past 6 months from individual to a team based approach. I have been big on that for a while now. Richmond have not won flags because of their stars, they have a full squad of people playing their role. The big thing for me is finding the best forward setup and getting it working consistently. As mentioned above, the start has put us in a great position to make a real charge towards finals. Let's hope we can hit the finals cherry ripe and Burgo has everyone fit and healthy

I guess there will always be examples where things don't go that way, but I certainly didn't feel like we were going to win at any point on the weekend, which was the same as how I felt 10 minutes in. At half time against the Lions & Dogs, I was confident, as the effort and intent was there - it just took a few tweaks

Think yesterday's game will be pivotal to our second half of the season. As @Dr.D & @jnrmac noted, you can tell from the first 5-10 mins what the result will likely be and that's an indictment on the club. I am not sure that we are quite ready to get the job done week after week and that could be a real issue come finals time, when you have to do it for 3-4 weeks in a row, at an intensity well above the H&A season. How do we learn (shudder) from it and figure out ways to stem the tide if an opposition team comes to play? Can we find ways to get 3-4 (or 15) players into a game on an off day (T-Mac, Fritta and Kossie all failed to give a yelp) What do we do when teams use low, flat entries into our forward line to remove the ability of May and Lever? We now know how teams will play us moving forward, so we need to adjust and make sure we treat every game with the respect it deserves. On another note, I found it fascinating how Geelong have employed different game styles for different opponents. This seems to be something new and thought provoking in the industry.

Will be a very interesting match sim to watch, there will be some players with a point to prove. Unfortunately, the list of Jones, Vandenberg, Melksham and Jetta does not provide a noticeable and immediate improvement over the group from the weekend.

Yesterday was a significant dent in any faith/trust we had been building with the playing group. The way Collingwood pulled us apart made a lot of our blokes look very ordinary