Review Dees vs Essendank - The good, the bad and the fugly

[Topkent]

It was great but other than that he was nowhere near any of the contests he should have been at

Neither were Spargo, ANB, Fritsch, Hunt, Petracca or Tmac

 

[Tulip]

Neither were Spargo, ANB, Fritsch, Hunt, Petracca or Tmac

Pickett and Hunt were the worst two out of that lot. Kozzy didn’t play his
Role IMO. Neal Bullen did but had a bad day, Spargo was pretty poor but did a few important things

 

[ImissFrosty]

Anyone else notice a lot of brave marks on Friday night? Essendon kept on turning it over in the middle and a few times Smith, Rivers and Brayshaw came charging at the ball and diving forward into traffic. It was so satisfying because it's those little things you expect

 

[Topkent]

Pickett and Hunt were the worst two out of that lot. Kozzy didn’t play his
Role IMO. Neal Bullen did but had a bad day, Spargo was pretty poor but did a few important things

Replace Spargo with Pickett

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Anyone else notice a lot of brave marks on Friday night? Essendon kept on turning it over in the middle and a few times Smith, Rivers and Brayshaw came charging at the ball and diving forward into traffic. It was so satisfying because it's those little things you expect

Sparrow's tackle one on one when Stringer tried dont arguing him out of the centre clearance and we ended up getting a goal out of it

 

[ImissFrosty]

Sparrow's tackle one on one when Stringer tried dont arguing him out of the centre clearance and we ended up getting a goal out of it

I love Sparrow and I think he'll be a genuine star.

 

[schmuttt]

Neither were Spargo, ANB, Fritsch, Hunt, Petracca or Tmac

One thing I noticed on Friday night was whilst Weid had a good game him and TMac have negative synergy. There was multiple times a long kick came to about 50-55m out from goal on the flank and only Kozzy was there. He rightfully didn’t go up for the ball as his job is to stay down and win the ground ball but no talls came up to contest it.

We all have high expectations for Kozzy but we need to remember how difficult his position is. As long as he is doing the defensive work he will be fine. We’d be stoked if he had the career Cyril had but Cyril didn’t kick 40+ goals in a year till his 8th season, Kozzy did it in his second.

 

[Fork n Hell]

no doubt Kozzie has been a bit down this year but he's not on his own there. maybe he's got an injury, but with small forwards Bedford and Chandler our next best at Casey i doubt they'd keep playing him if he needed a rest though.
we were probably always going to start a bit slow this year though, so getting the 3 wins on the board early with room for improvement to come is a good start imo.

 

[schmuttt]

Anyone else notice a lot of brave marks on Friday night? Essendon kept on turning it over in the middle and a few times Smith, Rivers and Brayshaw came charging at the ball and diving forward into traffic. It was so satisfying because it's those little things you expect

Gus’ aerial work is quite underrated for a mid sized guy.

 

[Topkent]

Kozzys skill set is so rare around the AFL that I'd be dropping him as soon as Salem is dropped for a bad couple games.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Kozzys skill set is so rare around the AFL that I'd be dropping him as soon as Salem is dropped for a bad couple games.

Salem doesn't play bad games tho.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

One thing I noticed on Friday night was whilst Weid had a good game him and TMac have negative synergy. There was multiple times a long kick came to about 50-55m out from goal on the flank and only Kozzy was there. He rightfully didn’t go up for the ball as his job is to stay down and win the ground ball but no talls came up to contest it.

We all have high expectations for Kozzy but we need to remember how difficult his position is. As long as he is doing the defensive work he will be fine. We’d be stoked if he had the career Cyril had but Cyril didn’t kick 40+ goals in a year till his 8th season, Kozzy did it in his second.

They played like crap together last year also. Weid played decent in 2020 when TMac was being used as a plodding ruckman.

Might be onto something there. They just dont seem to click together.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Interested to see how Weid and Brown go, they played well in the VFL together last year. I hope Goody gives that a run for a few weeks and drops Tom.

 

[Tulip]

Replace Spargo with Pickett

Seriously? Spargo was poor but had an easily better game than Kozzy. Kozzy is also way more talented, way quicker and should actually be getting to ground

 

[stEdy]

The Weid/Tmac synergy thing for me just highlights how important BBB is. Takes the best defender every week, runs up and back all day, really demands the footy and comes at the kicker. Creates such a strong consistent target for Kozz/Spargs/ANB. Then allows Weid or Tmac the second tall and Fritsch space to work in.

Tmac hypothetically has a good tank but he is running in concrete boots at the moment and can barely get off the ground in a marking contest. Either he gets his movement back or Weid plays.

 

[schmuttt]

They played like crap together last year also. Weid played decent in 2020 when TMac was being used as a plodding ruckman.

Might be onto something there. They just dont seem to click together.

A lot of time they were going for the same ball which I really didn’t get. Feel like TMacs seeming loss of athleticism has returned unfortunately.

 

[LarryDavidNeitz]

Hard to tell watching TV but Kozzy looks to me to be doing a lot of unrewarded running pushing up the ground that I don’t think a player of his style needs to be doing.

I’d like to see him given a license to work close to home and even be the deepest forward at times.

We’re only bombing the ball in anyway so it’s not like he’d be getting in the way.

 

[Topkent]

Salem doesn't play bad games tho.

Played half a career of terrible games before last year

 

[Topkent]

Seriously? Spargo was poor but had an easily better game than Kozzy. Kozzy is also way more talented, way quicker and should actually be getting to ground

An easily better game?? That's just cherry picking. Both were ineffective but Koz puts in way more defensive running than Spargo.

 

[MartinPrince]

Good - Lingers GOTY sealer and seeing Essendon fans leave and go home lol

 

[Bluelegs]

An easily better game?? That's just cherry picking. Both were ineffective but Koz puts in way more defensive running than Spargo.

I enjoyed the Fox Footy guys pointing out Spargo jumping around like a 12 year old when he was free in space.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Played half a career of terrible games before last year

 

[djpaulydemon]

Kozzy does shit loads of running around pressuring, which you notice at the ground. Spargo too.

From my end it seemed like the synergy was off for most of the game for the small forwards and the mids. The usual link ups were off where players were either too close and the ball would spill out or they were too wide and handballs weren't making the distance. So the high/pressure half forwards didn't have as many opportunities to stream in to open forward lines as usual.

Weid, Tmac and (early) Fritsch weren't always leading directly like Brown would, so also makes it harder to crumb.

The efforts there, reckon the synergy is a bit off and to me it doesn't seem like an injury or confidence thing from the half forwards, just sharpening up the timing of when to contest and when to spread. Spargo has uncharacteristically grassed some unpressured kicks though.

 

[schmuttt]

djpaulydemon excellent point about no leading. Felt like TMac and Weid in particular were waiting for the kicker to dictate where they went, rather than coming out and demanding it.

 

[Bluelegs]

I love this blokes videos