Binmans PA

In his first few games Straussy in a one-on-one was/is a worry. But it was the same with our top two defenders when they first started - Chip and Col Garland. Gotta keep Strauss playing. Just like JB. We need small defenders. That's our weak spot at the moment, so keep giving those two game time. Nicho has really impressed me. He's been caught holding the ball twice so far and has broken probably 15 tackles and broken the lines as a result. His run is becoming really important. Bartram's on the outer now. His disposal doesn't match up with Strauss and Nicho's.

Strauss needs game time. Just like Watts did.

I'd agree with that. JB was solid enough today. Did some very good things. Soft at one contest I noted, but made up for it and being tough at it in other contests. Needs to keep getting games under his belt in order to develop some consistency.

If Joel Mac is injured (which apparently he is), like for like with Tappy coming in to replace him. Then Morton makes way for Blease. I think either way, Tappy in.

Looked silky smooth. Much greater hunger and I'm gonna give Bailey partial credit for that. LJ is a shoe-in from 30 to 35m, but longer than that he rarely converts. Great to see him back in form. It's a luxury to have him pushing up the ground and delivering to some of our other forwards as well. That's the beauty of having tall targets up there too.

Perhaps. Was told about it from the radio.

Absolute gun. Was brilliant today.

Absolute gun. Was brilliant today.

Had something like 10 scoring assists up to the last quarter. Not sure how many he ended up with. Can anyone confirm this?

Colin Garland and Jared Rivers were so underrated today. Magnificent. Chip Frawley was fantastic too. All 22 (except perhaps Morton) were superb.

Lloyd hates us and will continue to do so. It's good. If he had any semblance of a brain he'd probably realise our list far exceeds Essendon's.

Yep. Joel has been very good. Will be important again next week. Actually sets up a number of our defensive rebounds.

Gotta play three big men next week. Gawn stays, he and Martin to rotate through the ruck and rest forward, while Jamar should sit at full forward and jump in the ruck when required. I thought Gawn's speed and strength may have been a liability, but seeing him create Trenners' goal today he deserves his place. I understand that Jones 'sets the example' on the training track and I understand not all players on your list can be A graders, but he kills us every week with his turnovers (as does Bartram). When our midfielders develop their bodies and put on some muscle, Jones will be superfluous. We need to look at recruiting one or two more small defenders with pace. Bartram only gets a game based on our lack of depth in this department. So unfortunately both will play next week. We do need them to play shut down roles. I'd bring in Tappy for Bennell (who might have been good on a Jake King type), but didn't offer enough in his short spell today and still drifts in and our of games. He needs to go back and earn his spot again at Casey. Jamar comes in for Garland if injured. If not, not sure who he comes in for. Morton perhaps? Although he needs to keep building confidence. While although his games are a little error riddled, Strauss needs to keep getting game time. So he stays for mine. And finally, Gysberts comes in, and really should replace Jones, but that won't happen, so perhaps an unlucky Nicho will make way for him.

I believe Scully will stay and I still follow him and cheer him. But it's funny...one thing to come out of this for me...I already loved him, but it makes me love Trenners even more.

Footy can sometimes be such an easy game. Today we kicked long to the top of the square and pretty much every time we scored. At the very least we put defenders under pressure. We overused the handball, obviously. Our midfield didn't run hard enough either. The majority of goals scored against us were so incredibly easy and were not the defenders fault. The midfield didn't press back hard enough. We need to utilise the long kick more often, as Geelong have. I'm sure there should be a team rule about kicking it as deep inside 50 as possible (but not too lose to the goal line to be spoiled through). We'd find scoring a whole lot easier. Finally, Jones, Bartam and Morton do not kick across goal in our back half unless you know you'll hit a target. It's cost us goals consistently over the past two to three weeks.

Fantastic game. We've found another gun Tassie boy.

I actually thought it was Lloyd that gave him three votes. But perhaps I'm wrong...

I doubt it. He was more than likely dribbling on himself. Old man, Leigh.

Yeah. Jack was fantastic today. Got three votes on the radio. Not sure it's his break out game, but he just keeps building nicely. Gets a little bit better every week. Tackles rarely stick to him. The sign of a good player. I'm glad he's been able to shut up the unintelligent MFC supporters and soon others will take notice too.

One of the most overrated duds in the league. Typical of an Essendon player.

Yeah, I think LJ clearly has a lot more to develop in his game. His physicality and size for one.

Now I had intended to write this up as soon as I got home on Monday evening, however I have stayed away from the board, nursing my anger from the QB clash. Upon my return I thought I'd share this. Among many other frustrating aspects of our display against Collingwood, one dimension that really stood out for me was our forward 50 entries. I remember a fortnight earlier, Josh Mahoney had spoken on MFC website about our offensive entries being too shallow, and thus being repelled by the Carlton defence. So come the Essendon game we were kicking long to the square and what do you know...we had targets up there. You put the defenders under pressure and FFS you have a guy sitting in the goal square who's 7 foot 2. Kick on top of his head! We seemed to have rectified our problems from that game, but then against Collingwood, reverted straight back to our shallow forward entries. Inexplicably, we seemed to attempt to hit up leads around 45 to 50 metres out (to Brad Green numerous times) time and again, rather than kicking to the top of the square. Interestingly, when we did kick to the top of the square an LJ would take a mark. Notice, most of Sylvia's goals (if not all) came from 40 to 50 metres out. Whereas, if you look at Cloke's most of his came from the goal square. Cloke is a very ordinary kick and if we'd prevented him from set shots in the goal square it may have been a little different. Anyhow, in order to win this week (which frustratingly I believe we will - interstate team, following a pitiful performance), we must ensure that our forward entries are deep and that our will to keep the ball in there is far better stronger than it was on Monday. It was probably the most obvious and frustrating aspect of the game. We just kept idiotically trying to pin point passes, as though we'd been directed too. Surely that wouldn't have been the directive. Maxwell is ordinary at best when one on one, as is Shaw. Next time Melbourne, put their ordinary defenders under bloody pressure! Get the ball in quickly to the top of the square and you'll find a lot more will come of it.

Commetti and Richo take the cake for me. Fantastic listening.

Little bit lost on this one...what's our link with Patton?

It was a fantastic win. We played our guts out and attacked the contests with ferocity (particularly in the second half). Our run was generally much better. We still need to push ourselves in this area and our forwards need to work harder in order to lay more tackles inside forward 50. I also thought we used the handball better than we had all year. As has been said, we did over handball a couple of times which cost us goals in the first quarter, however due to our harder running we were able to handball forward of the ball rather than backwards. This opened up a number of opportunities for fast breaks down corridor. For me Essendon's pressure was ordinary at times. They were reasonably slack on us in the corridor and almost invited it at times. When the chain of handballs and effective disposals by foot link up correctly, geez we're exciting to watch.