He’s actually quite good.
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NMBB
Norm Smith Medallist
- May 3, 2021
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No tautologies please
sr36
TheBrownDog
I quite like Lewis.
Apex36
Hall of Famer
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Nah Hodge at least has a decent brain for footy analysis. Lewis is a genuine moron.
sr36
TheBrownDog
I think it's the other way around.
jmac70
On the porch
I think they’re both morons.
NMBB
Norm Smith Medallist
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) - you're doing well this morning 
Beavis and Butthead for mine.
Article in Today's Age by Greg Baum:
Essendon and Collingwood were ships passing in the MCG night, heading for opposite ports. Once they were the SS Unsinkable and the SS Unsalvageable, but no more. After a blip last week, the Bombers’ finals credentials are again in order and ready to be stamped. The Magpies are dangerously close to a shoal that could sink their season.
After the first quarter, the Bombers controlled this game utterly. They were plus-60 for disposals, plus 50 for marks and had pronounced ascendant in every statistical category. Yes, they play different styles, but that alone does not account for the discrepancy.
Essendon were potent – they should have kicked a bigger score – and Collingwood were impotent. Take out Jack Crisp’s freak three-minute three-goal salvo and three inconsequential goals when the match was already lost and they have only six to show for the night. Not even St Kilda would be content with that. Admitted coach Craig McRae: “It was hard to watch at times.”
Why the reversals? Form and confidence are ethereal qualities, hard to capture, easily lost and not always measurable.
Manpower is. Collingwood have been playing hurt all season and this night lost Brodie Mihocek for the balance of the season with a torn pectoral and possibly Isaac Quaynor for a week or two because of a calf strain, and although Josh Daicos played after a week under a fitness cloud, he was far from his usual effective self. Ned Long this night became the Magpies’ ninth club debutant this year, surely unprecedented for a reigning premier.
Coaches don’t like to use injuries as an alibi and McRae didn’t. “Magnets don’t win games,” he said. “It’s not about personnel for us. It never has been. It’s not about who’s playing, it’s about how we play.”
Magnets might not matter, but their functionality does. Half the Collingwood team had 10 touches or less. Again, numbers don’t explain everything, but lack of them explains much. The Magpies have been patching up all season.
Now they must cobble again to bodgie up a forward line without Mihocek, Jamie Elliott, Mason Cox, Beau McCreery and Dan McStay for matches against Geelong and high-flying Hawthorn. They will be tempted to rush back McStay and his reconstructed and now rehabilitated knee, but McRae intimated that they would resist.
Essendon are in, well, a different boat. This night, they rested veterans Todd Goldstein and Dyson Heppell. Coach Brad Scott admitted that Heppell did not necessarily need a rest, but the Bombers did not want to wait until he did.
“Now we have a bit of squad depth,” Scott said. “It’s the first time in my time here we’ve had the luxury of being able to rest Goldstein and Heppell. What I do know is that you need depth and flexibility to cover whatever happens.”
In place of Heppell and Goldstein came veteran midfielder Dylan Shiel for only his second game in a year and teenage tall Nate Caddy for only his third game total, bringing sighs to Essendon throats. His stats sheet might look modest, but nothing else about him can or should be understated.
“It’s hard not to get too excited about him,” said Scott. “He’s a point of difference. It’s very rare that you see a first year key forward who can have an impact on a game like he can. He just looked like the most athletic player on the ground tonight.”
Structurally, Caddy provided an extra target up forward, pushed Harrison Jones to a wing and allowed Sam Draper to roam free and play one of his very best games for the Bombers.
Scott noted that Caddy had in common with all great key forwards a lust for the big game and the big stage. He made his debut in the Dreamtime Game and now excelled before 80,000-plus again.
“He doesn’t get overawed,” Scott said. “He rises to the occasion. It’s a rare gun key forward who doesn’t want the big moment and doesn’t want the ball kicked to him. He certainly wants it.”
Perhaps because of this, the Bombers have handled him with kid gloves. With four capable talls at their disposal, they could indulge themselves in that way. If later in the season it means they are spoiled for big-man choice, Scott said it would be a delicate but pleasant conundrum to solve.
Caddy does not hide his light under a bushel. Post-match, he was happy to oblige media in a way that youngsters are not always. “I’m confident in myself,” he said. “I had a decent game last time I played. I have confidence - but (playing in a winning team) definitely helps.”
Caddy’s timing, whether leaping for a mark or forging a place in the Essendon team, is impeccable. “I said that when I got drafted,” he said. “I thought the list was a bit underrated. We’ve got some great players, we’re third now, so 100 per cent I came in at a good time. They’ve had some rough patches, but they’re definitely on an upward track.”
Scott said what pleased him most was the way the Bombers had regained control after an opposition surge, as they had not been able to do when beaten by Geelong the previous week. He again marvelled at captain Zach Merrett, who continues to set new standards and maintain them, and praised Sam Durham and Jake Kelly for their tag-team to keep Nick Daicos to merely very good.
“Have we proven anything?” he asked. “I don’t think so. We’ve just taken another step forward.”
Collingwood looked a pale imitation of its premiership best self. Their best player was Steele Sidebottom, quarterbacking off the half-back line, which is a credit to him, but at 33 and after 324 games was hardly a Caddy-like portent of an imminently bright future. For the Magpies, it’s suddenly cloudy.
McRae exhibited a politician’s capacity to put a good face on a bad set of numbers. He said he understood that the footy world dwelled on outcomes, but the club focussed on all the interim steps, forward and back. He said that an innocent visitor to the Magpies’ training ground on Monday would not be able to tell whether they had won or lost (we’ll send spies).
He said what was missing most was intuitive connection. Evidently, magnets need time to attract. “You’ve got to learn to dance together,” he said. “We’re stepping on each other’s toes at times.”
Essendon and Collingwood were ships passing in the MCG night, heading for opposite ports. Once they were the SS Unsinkable and the SS Unsalvageable, but no more. After a blip last week, the Bombers’ finals credentials are again in order and ready to be stamped. The Magpies are dangerously close to a shoal that could sink their season.
After the first quarter, the Bombers controlled this game utterly. They were plus-60 for disposals, plus 50 for marks and had pronounced ascendant in every statistical category. Yes, they play different styles, but that alone does not account for the discrepancy.
Essendon were potent – they should have kicked a bigger score – and Collingwood were impotent. Take out Jack Crisp’s freak three-minute three-goal salvo and three inconsequential goals when the match was already lost and they have only six to show for the night. Not even St Kilda would be content with that. Admitted coach Craig McRae: “It was hard to watch at times.”
Why the reversals? Form and confidence are ethereal qualities, hard to capture, easily lost and not always measurable.
Manpower is. Collingwood have been playing hurt all season and this night lost Brodie Mihocek for the balance of the season with a torn pectoral and possibly Isaac Quaynor for a week or two because of a calf strain, and although Josh Daicos played after a week under a fitness cloud, he was far from his usual effective self. Ned Long this night became the Magpies’ ninth club debutant this year, surely unprecedented for a reigning premier.
Coaches don’t like to use injuries as an alibi and McRae didn’t. “Magnets don’t win games,” he said. “It’s not about personnel for us. It never has been. It’s not about who’s playing, it’s about how we play.”
Magnets might not matter, but their functionality does. Half the Collingwood team had 10 touches or less. Again, numbers don’t explain everything, but lack of them explains much. The Magpies have been patching up all season.
Now they must cobble again to bodgie up a forward line without Mihocek, Jamie Elliott, Mason Cox, Beau McCreery and Dan McStay for matches against Geelong and high-flying Hawthorn. They will be tempted to rush back McStay and his reconstructed and now rehabilitated knee, but McRae intimated that they would resist.
Essendon are in, well, a different boat. This night, they rested veterans Todd Goldstein and Dyson Heppell. Coach Brad Scott admitted that Heppell did not necessarily need a rest, but the Bombers did not want to wait until he did.
“Now we have a bit of squad depth,” Scott said. “It’s the first time in my time here we’ve had the luxury of being able to rest Goldstein and Heppell. What I do know is that you need depth and flexibility to cover whatever happens.”
In place of Heppell and Goldstein came veteran midfielder Dylan Shiel for only his second game in a year and teenage tall Nate Caddy for only his third game total, bringing sighs to Essendon throats. His stats sheet might look modest, but nothing else about him can or should be understated.
“It’s hard not to get too excited about him,” said Scott. “He’s a point of difference. It’s very rare that you see a first year key forward who can have an impact on a game like he can. He just looked like the most athletic player on the ground tonight.”
Structurally, Caddy provided an extra target up forward, pushed Harrison Jones to a wing and allowed Sam Draper to roam free and play one of his very best games for the Bombers.
Scott noted that Caddy had in common with all great key forwards a lust for the big game and the big stage. He made his debut in the Dreamtime Game and now excelled before 80,000-plus again.
“He doesn’t get overawed,” Scott said. “He rises to the occasion. It’s a rare gun key forward who doesn’t want the big moment and doesn’t want the ball kicked to him. He certainly wants it.”
Perhaps because of this, the Bombers have handled him with kid gloves. With four capable talls at their disposal, they could indulge themselves in that way. If later in the season it means they are spoiled for big-man choice, Scott said it would be a delicate but pleasant conundrum to solve.
Caddy does not hide his light under a bushel. Post-match, he was happy to oblige media in a way that youngsters are not always. “I’m confident in myself,” he said. “I had a decent game last time I played. I have confidence - but (playing in a winning team) definitely helps.”
Caddy’s timing, whether leaping for a mark or forging a place in the Essendon team, is impeccable. “I said that when I got drafted,” he said. “I thought the list was a bit underrated. We’ve got some great players, we’re third now, so 100 per cent I came in at a good time. They’ve had some rough patches, but they’re definitely on an upward track.”
Scott said what pleased him most was the way the Bombers had regained control after an opposition surge, as they had not been able to do when beaten by Geelong the previous week. He again marvelled at captain Zach Merrett, who continues to set new standards and maintain them, and praised Sam Durham and Jake Kelly for their tag-team to keep Nick Daicos to merely very good.
“Have we proven anything?” he asked. “I don’t think so. We’ve just taken another step forward.”
Collingwood looked a pale imitation of its premiership best self. Their best player was Steele Sidebottom, quarterbacking off the half-back line, which is a credit to him, but at 33 and after 324 games was hardly a Caddy-like portent of an imminently bright future. For the Magpies, it’s suddenly cloudy.
McRae exhibited a politician’s capacity to put a good face on a bad set of numbers. He said he understood that the footy world dwelled on outcomes, but the club focussed on all the interim steps, forward and back. He said that an innocent visitor to the Magpies’ training ground on Monday would not be able to tell whether they had won or lost (we’ll send spies).
He said what was missing most was intuitive connection. Evidently, magnets need time to attract. “You’ve got to learn to dance together,” he said. “We’re stepping on each other’s toes at times.”
sr36
TheBrownDog
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Bombers were pretty much playing against witches hats last night. We made them look very good.
jmac70
On the porch
Expected by who?
Thread ban right there!
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I love that line saying if you discount 6 of our goals we only kicked 6 for the night.
It's like saying if Waugh and Ponting hadn't scored centuries Australia would only have scored 80 runs.
Easy Pies, raging Dons: How handling of Merrett, Daicos showed contrasting mindsets
The space – and lack of close-up attention – permitted to Zach Merrett was the complete reverse of how the Bombers dealt with the similarly destructive powers of Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos.
Someone care to share?
Article by Jake Niall:
Easy Pies, raging Dons: How handling of Merrett, Daicos showed contrasting mindsets
The space – and lack of close-up attention – permitted to Zach Merrett was the complete reverse of how the Bombers dealt with the similarly destructive powers of Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos.www.theage.com.au
Someone care to share?
Collingwood entered Friday night’s potentially season-shaping game against Essendon mindful of the damage that could be inflicted by Zach Merrett’s surgical left foot.
“We went into the game with a mindset about him, because we know how much he generates,” said Collingwood coach Craig McRae after his team’s 12-point defeat.
But that awareness of Merrett was not backed up by actions. Merrett, one of the game’s smartest and most skilled midfielders, was afforded enormous latitude by the premiers and, unsurprisingly, dissected Collingwood’s lax defensive zone.
The laissez-faire treatment of Merrett contrasted with the way Carlton had hunted the Essendon skipper a few weeks earlier, deploying the indefatigable Alex Cincotta and recruit Elijah Hollands as a tag team for Merrett.
The space – and lack of close-up attention – permitted to Merrett was also the complete reverse of how the Bombers dealt with the similarly destructive powers of Nick Daicos, who was smothered, to a crucial extent, by the blue-collar pairing of Sam Durham and Jake Kelly. Durham is the spirit of Essendon.
Collingwood and Essendon are close enough in talent this year that the outcome was always a fair chance to be determined by which of Merrett or Daicos found room to execute; the difference lay not in the possession tallies, but in the carnage that Merrett caused – 15 score involvements – compared to the much less potent Daicos disposals.
The different approaches to Merrett and Daicos bespoke differences in each team’s psychology.
Essendon hunted the Magpies. The Dons had a plan of how they would curtail the young champ, and they also had a method for controlling the ball – chipping the footy around for 129 uncontested marks – to prevent the game from descending into Collingwood-friendly chaos.
Collingwood appeared to be focused on playing their game – which, at its best, is fast and furious, in the old Richmond manner – rather than modifying that method to take down the Bombers.
Like many sides, the Magpies don’t tag per se and prefer a team defence, but they did successfully stymie Carlton skipper Patrick Cripps via a combination of Scott Pendlebury and Jack Crisp in round eight.
No such intent was directed at Merrett.
McRae said his side had expected to see the ball-control and uncontested marks. “Credit to Essendon. They moved the ball extremely well ... 129 uncontested marks – we knew that was coming.”
But the Pies were unable to defend the field, suffering from an attention deficit where Merrett was concerned.
Friday night, thus, had the feeling of an older team’s decline and the younger side’s ascension; in large part, this was evident in selection.
The Bombers, missing only Darcy Parish, had the luxury of resting their oldest pair, Dyson Heppell and Todd Goldstein – and in recalling a talented first-round draft pick in Nate Caddy. The Magpies, by contrast, were patching up holes by blooding a mid-year draftee (Ned Long) and bringing back an ex-VFL tall defender (Charlie Dean) for his seventh match before subbing him out, while putting an iffy Josh Daicos through a fitness test on the MCG before the game. The Daicos selection hinted at desperation.
Essendon had the energy of aspiration. Collingwood was the tired incumbent, their energy – already depleted by injuries and age – further diminished by Essendon’s ball-control game style. It is instructive that whereas the Dons rested their oldest pair, Collingwood was heavily dependent on their oldest duo, Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom (albeit the latter made some crucial blunders), and gained little output from Jordan De Goey.
The Bombers’ unflattering record against top-eight teams was highlighted last week, but their trajectory is still upward; that they mightn’t be top four this year isn’t the point – they’re an unfinished product under Brad Scott, who took the points over his former Lions teammates McRae and Justin Leppitsch for the first time.
Collingwood, in contrast, look much like the weary Geelong of 2023 – an older team that achieved glory after a long campaign and which subsequently struggled for constancy, in personnel and form. Like the Cats of last year, the ageing premiers lost their first three games, recovered and appeared to be storming back into contention, but couldn’t take a trick on the injury front, as their capacity to defend dissipated.
Geelong missed the finals in 2023. For the Pies to make it this year, they’ll have to regroup without Brody Mihocek, having lost Nathan Murphy in pre-season. Dan McStay and Jamie Elliott will return relatively soon, but this has the feel of a team that is gamely hanging on, rather than storming to the finals.
Geelong have re-grouped somewhat this year, albeit they still seem short of flag contention-class. This coming Friday, they meet the banged-up, patched-up team that increasingly resembles the Cats of 12 months earlier.
While the outcome rests on various factors – whether Collingwood can improvise a forward structure and if Chris Scott can subjugate Nick Daicos as successfully as brother Brad – the team that succeeds in hunting, and which finds reserves of energy, is the most likely to succeed.
