Autopsy After a tight😶 half of football we steamroll Essendon by 39

[Ticky009]

 

[Kiama Chris]

NHL H&A is 82 games.

Much less testing game.

 

[Kiama Chris]

The silent assassin

He's pretty chirpy

 

[Big Blood]

Q1 disposals:
Grundy 1, Rowbottom 1, Heeney 1, Parker donuts. Roberts 2

Got smashed in every stat in first quarter. Contested possessions down by 21.

How about we add 5 minutes of face-slapping & two double espressos to our pre-game routine?

 

[Kiama Chris]

Q1 disposals:
Grundy 1, Rowbottom 1, Heeney 1, Parker donuts. Roberts 2

Got smashed in every stat in first quarter. Contested possessions down by 21.

How about we add 5 minutes of face-slapping & two double espressos to our pre-game routine?

I'll go the double espressos! Two may not be enough.

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

Q1 disposals:
Grundy 1, Rowbottom 1, Heeney 1, Parker donuts. Roberts 2

Got smashed in every stat in first quarter. Contested possessions down by 21.

How about we add 5 minutes of face-slapping & two double espressos to our pre-game routine?

I mean thats it right there lol dont need some super equation to figure it.

They arent getting hands on the ball!!

 

[caesar88]

Q1 disposals:
Grundy 1, Rowbottom 1, Heeney 1, Parker donuts. Roberts 2

Got smashed in every stat in first quarter. Contested possessions down by 21.

How about we add 5 minutes of face-slapping & two double espressos to our pre-game routine?

Yeah I found it really hard to be optimistic after last night.

Start like that in a grand final and... well, we know that drill.

 

[The King!]

Yeah I found it really hard to be optimistic after last night.

Start like that in a grand final and... well, we know that drill.

Maybe this side will just win a grand final with 1 half of footy

 

[caesar88]

Joel Amartey with the ball 60-70 out has become absolutely awful to watch. He takes a decade to kick it and then just bombs it to an unmanned opposition player.

 

[Ticky009]

Joel Amartey with the ball 60-70 out has become absolutely awful to watch. He takes a decade to kick it and then just bombs it to an unmanned opposition player.

Agree. Drives me nuts.

 

[melbournehammer]

it's understandable there's such a focus on our slow starts, but i'm trying to stay positive and maintain the faith in this team i have all season (although that faith has been tested a bit)
i've been more worried about the general drop in intensity, culminating in the game that shall not be mentioned ...
earlier in the season, when we turned up the intensity we were able to make up for slow starts, but that intensity vanished, maybe going back to the last quarter of the giants game

from about halfway through the second quarter last night i really sensed that relentless pressure we were applying to essendon players in possession or around the ball ... i've posted elsewhere, that's where i think the game turned
they were stuck on 29 points for ages and i reckon that was the period in the game they could've established themselves but we never let them
parker, heeney, florent, gulden and rowbottom lifted the team after halftime, but the team lifted with them, rather than just rely on individual efforts ...
it goes without saying, really, but we are in a vastly better place than we were two weeks ago ... it started with the comeback win over collingwood, it was consolidated last night ... that's a good trajectory into finals

To be honest we were still second to the ball and were still playing the game mostly between our defensive goal to centre wing. It’s just that their back six couldn’t hit a barn so when we cleared it the ball became a contest at centre wing but we held up

To be honest this was sort of like the first half of the 2016 grand final where absent jpk and to a lesser degree Tom Mitchell we couldn’t win a ball anywhere on the park other than Grundy and ramps. And the officials saw everything one team did and blew the whistle and nothing the other team did and didnt

But see this is the thing. Play this way against a good team and the good team will beat you unless you start to win the contested ball. Play this way against an excellent team and the game will be won at quarter time as it was in 2022 and 2014.

We have to start winning the ball. It’s that simple. If we don’t we won’t hold up whether it’s ted Richard and heath grundy paddy nccartin and ton or melicsn and rampe.

It’s on the midfield and they’ve got to lift.

 

[Dubai Quacker]

Joel Amartey with the ball 60-70 out has become absolutely awful to watch. He takes a decade to kick it and then just bombs it to an unmanned opposition player.

I’m not actually sure Armatey gets a game with most other clubs.

 

[Punts]

To be honest we were still second to the ball and were still playing the game mostly between our defensive goal to centre wing. It’s just that their back six couldn’t hit a barn so when we cleared it the ball became a contest at centre wing but we held up

To be honest this was sort of like the first half of the 2016 grand final where absent jpk and to a lesser degree Tom Mitchell we couldn’t win a ball anywhere on the park other than Grundy and ramps. And the officials saw everything one team did and blew the whistle and nothing the other team did and didnt

But see this is the thing. Play this way against a good team and the good team will beat you unless you start to win the contested ball. Play this way against an excellent team and the game will be won at quarter time as it was in 2022 and 2014.

We have to start winning the ball. It’s that simple. If we don’t we won’t hold up whether it’s ted Richard and heath grundy paddy nccartin and ton or melicsn and rampe.

It’s on the midfield and they’ve got to lift.

This is what I’m worried about come finals

If we don’t win th contest we will b shown up and blow out in straight sets

 

[tombomb]

I wonder if our issue with slow starts is largely just a personnel issue.

We don't have those natural ball winning midfielders that nearly every other team has. So we kind of get steamrolled at the beginning of games and then slowly work our way back into it when it slows down and becomes more about skill.

For all their faults, players like Parish and Shiel have always been able to find the football in the contest. We don't really have anyone like that.

It's one of the reasons why I am so desperate for them to give Sheldrick a chance. He is a natural ball winner and could help us in the middle of the ground.

 

[Punts]

I wonder if our issue with slow starts is largely just a personnel issue.

We don't have those natural ball winning midfielders that nearly every other team has. So we kind of get steamrolled at the beginning of games and then slowly work our way back into it when it slows down and becomes more about skill.

For all their faults, players like Parish and Shiel have always been able to find the football in the contest. We don't really have anyone like that.

It's one of the reasons why I am so desperate for them to give Sheldrick a chance. He is a natural ball winner and could help us in the middle of the ground.

I thought what we got Adams for

I would dropping him for Gus

 

[tombomb]

I thought what we got Adams for

I would dropping him for Gus

Adams was helping us with it. But he has dropped off badly in the second half of the year.

 

[kneecapper]

At a certain point the hyperfixation with our starts is going to get counterproductive. We concede the first goal or two and players start thinking "Oh, here we go again" and then overcompensate by ball chasing and crashing packs in our D50 leading to more easy clearances and arsey goals. It becomes a vicious cycle and a self-fulfilling prophecy. If I was Longmire my message to players would be that our main focus in the first 15 minutes of the game should be defence, defence defence. Make your direct opponent accountable, no easy possessions, trust your other teammates to get the job done.

It was a small moment but I didn't mind the 50m penalty Logan conceded for the late spoil. If there's one area I think could help us out with our starts is adding more mongrel and physicality to our game early. Nothing dirty, just get the opposition thinking twice when they have the ball in hand.

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

Q1 disposals:
Grundy 1, Rowbottom 1, Heeney 1, Parker donuts. Roberts 2

Got smashed in every stat in first quarter. Contested possessions down by 21.

How about we add 5 minutes of face-slapping & two double espressos to our pre-game routine?

I reckon they get a bear from Taronga Zoo and release it the rooms just before the players run out. Then tell the players will bear will remain in the rooms until our contested possessions are +10. That’ll get their heart rates going for Q1 and make damn sure they are ahead by halftime.

 

[Maddo11]

Joel Amartey with the ball 60-70 out has become absolutely awful to watch. He takes a decade to kick it and then just bombs it to an unmanned opposition player.

He also allergic to extending his arms for a mark at the moment. Pretty sick of seeing him try to take chest marks when he's wrestling. You're not barry hall mate you're not going to win that way

 

[Swan4Life]

It was the kicking equivalent of John Howard’s off-spin.

...or Bob Hawke's batting!

 

[BloodySwan]

I thought what we got Adams for

I would dropping him for Gus

I'd give Sheldrick a go against Adelaide to rest some players. If he puts in a good run you'd keep him over Adams

 

[kneecapper]

Match replays stuffed for anyone else on the AFL website?

 

[Kirkswan]

Match replays stuffed for anyone else on the AFL website?

Yep, move it forward a bit and it'll work fine...

 

[Jewelsbon]

Match replays stuffed for anyone else on the AFL website?

No, mine worked perfectly.

 

[Bloods86]

Crows Preview is up - https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/thre...ed-to-prove-a-point-unlike-last-year.1385875/

 

[The King!]

I’m not actually sure Armatey gets a game with most other clubs.

Other clubs may kick the ball to his advantage more often