AFL Autopsy Elimination Final: Loss to the Weagles

[VelvetSledge]

Bitterly disappointed but not at all surprised.

Thanks for reading my dumb threads for all these years, BF.

 

[BOMBERROB2000]

wow weee i must be watching a different game. people just look at stats and think yeah they played well. no way Heppell or Merrett were our best players tonight. we had probably 3 players who could hold their heads high. Francis outstanding I thought same for McGrath. Saad was fairly decent thats it yes I will get slagged off but I have seen enough football over the years. we also had our arses spanked for playing injured players never works and funny enough they were all out worst performers some had absolute Barry Crockers it was laughable watching the injured players running and trying to jump for balls. I have been following my beloved Dons for pretty much on 40 years and I am again very very disappointed in yet another wasted season. we have been a mediocre club for near on 15 years so something needs to change or it will continue and we will end up like Carlton and Brisbane. we are such a proud and great club but right now we are just are treading water going nowhere..!!!...

 

[HirdsTheWord]

If nothing else, hopefully we've settled the debate on Langford not being AFL level. Looked disinterested for most of the game and when he did get his hands on the pill, it was an unthinking punt around the corner to grass or to an unmarked Eagles player. Almost Z Clarke level liability.

In what is the story of his career, Laverde looked good for 10 minutes then went missing, Smack and Brown were exposed as 3rd tier forwards, and fanta just hasn't looked right since coming back from injury.

It's easy to say "Dev and Joe will help" but the forward line mix is still a big worry for mine and the priority to fix in off-season. Of course, having the midfield actually try to hit targets instead of bombing it long will help, but we need to find a better balance and calibre of player down there to compete in September.

Priority for mine is ruck

TBC was embarrassed tonight...not just by nick Nat...by Tom hickey too...who is an absolute plodder

WCE continually got first use and TBC didn’t give a yelp

 

[Stopher]

Make finals for 2-3 consecutive years and then see how we go.

2009, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2019...all single final campaigns. It's no way to learn how to play finals footy. Again, 15 out of 22 players had played 1 or 0 finals before tonight.

This team is definitely good enough for 15 wins in a season.

 

[quotemokc]

Make finals for 2-3 consecutive years and then see how we go.

2009, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2019...all single final campaigns. It's no way to learn how to play finals footy. Again, 15 out of 22 players had played 1 or 0 finals before tonight.

This team is definitely good enough for 15 wins in a season.

That there is the problem, we haven't achieved anything but we will keep patting ourselves on the back because we think we are capable.

 

[Keystone agony]

Was at the game

Wasn't a bad effort plenty of positives

Poor: Hurley, Parish
Thought Hurley lacked energy and effort for a final. Parish couldn't hit a target early and lost all confidence dropped his head. Still have alot of faith in him. His left foot non preffered lace out shows what he can do. Redman got caught a bit speed wise but was still solid. Shiels defending is close to terrible. Langford no where to be seen till last quarter when steam went out if game.

I don't think we're as quick as people think. Eagles made us look very slow.

Everyone else gave everything bar Hurley for me.

Best: Ambrose - defended ruthlessly. Has to be a lock best 22 can play on the big boys aswell don't worry about losing a Hurley/Hooker

Heppell was very good actually

Ham - Was very impressed think weve got a seriously smart player on our hands and will be a good wingman

McGrath - got involved but his turning isn't as good as it needs to be and doesn't cover enough distance by foot. Time for pure onball next year or as a small defender. No more wing doesn't cover the ground by run or leg nor has the size for one on one marking.

Laverde - I thought was actually pretty good with limited opportunity he looked dangerous and lead to smart spots. Got some gap on his defender.

Langford - Simply not upto the midfield riggers. Looks ok as a fwd but I don't think he's gonna cut it as a top 20 pick. Will be an okay 100 game player but nothing more.


Still think we need a ruthless inside mid. Shuey, Redden, Yeo, NN bullied us. I'm surprised clearances we're as even as they were. Ours were very dirty and there's were much more clean.

Eagles were awesome tonight. We stood up much better than Melbourne did last year. There speed, skill, intensity and pressure was above and beyond ours. There probably the 2nd best side in it

Oh and Francis was awesome. Close to best on for us. If not he was. The only time I had confidence was when he had the ball 45m from goal on a slow play. Shows what a powerful kick can do across half back or eagles have Hurn, Yeo, Jetta Ect doing it for them

 

[theboxmike]

Some big changes need to be made this offseason, I would ask Whoosh to justify his position. If he can give him one more year to prove it.

Something needs to change. We need some **** about the team, sick of nice player bullshit.

 

[Jobe Watson]

We all could tell Bellchambers would get embarrassed. Nic Nat had more impact in 53% gametime than Bellchambers had in 90%.

Could we get Jacobs for free? There must be a better stop-gap option for the next year or two while we wait for Draper to get up to speed.

 

[BrunoV]

Make finals for 2-3 consecutive years and then see how we go.

2009, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2019...all single final campaigns. It's no way to learn how to play finals footy. Again, 15 out of 22 players had played 1 or 0 finals before tonight.

This team is definitely good enough for 15 wins in a season.

There is nothing to learn.

You either have player who have the capacity and desire to play brutal contested footy to back up a game plan that shuts down an opposition or you are irrelevant.

No amount of finals experience is going to change the nature of 10 of the players we have out there.

 

[The Speaker]

That was a year that happened.

 

[BrunoV]

On paper, no we haven’t.

But defensively, apart from the loss to the Dogs, we have been much better.

It’s a step by step process I feel. This summer, if Caracella is able to turn around this ball use like he has with Geelong and Richmond, who have been still reaping the rewards from it, then we are not far away from being the side we want.

Some clubs have done quick than us and that’s fine. Seeing Melbourne and Brisbane shoot up and go past is so frustrating which is driving our impatience even further.

To what extent is that defensive number fools gold?

We spend all our time at half back bottling up opponents forward lines because we can't get the ball forward.

We're not good defensive because of the enormous work rate of the players implementing solid structure.

It's a variation of 2014.

 

[justlookingaround]

Honestly I think we made the most of what we were working with this year... which wasn’t much and wasn’t much.
Eagles played well, they’re a tier or two above us - worst part is we had a fair few chances to bring the game within reach in the 3rd.
Laverde made some really dumb decisions, maybe Merrett and Stringer’s worst games for us - Saad played out of his tag really well, for all the negatives one positive was that they worked out Saad could beat Hutchings by running away from him, which seems obvious...
Hooker and Hurley both looked 40 years old.

Another finals loss in the books, my only memory of Essendon winning a final still remains watching us beat Freo in their first ever final on a green-hued monitor when I was 7 years old. But it might’ve felt cheap to win a final after the season we’ve had retrospectively - doubt we’ll be hyped up as much this offseason which is a positive.

And at least I can actually enjoy the finals now instead of worrying about them.

 

[Zach Package]

Didn’t think it was possible to drop so many F bombs in one sitting.

There are definitely bright spots but that was ****ing godawful showing, we chucked away any chance we had when we selected 5 blokes that are not in AFL nick at the moment and massacred the footy going forward.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Hey guys, sorry to intrude.

Aaron Francis is a ****ing gun. I've rated him for a while and I know there was some flip flopping of back/forward/back earlier in the year, but he was easily your best defender out there today, including all the damage Saad did on the rebound. He read it like a book, watching him live was great - he was just always dangerous and made so many guys second guess how to enter the 50. Got an absolute ripper there.

 

[JayJ20]

Your club doesn't deserve Woosha! He came in to coach and lend a hand when your club was on it knees and no one else in their right mind would. After your favourite son sold your club up a creek without a paddle, he came in and restored a big of dignity and respect to Essendon Football Club.

The way Woosha has been treated by the club and its fans is a disgrace! I hope he leaves and you lot get stuck with Ross Lyon. It's what you deserve!

We don't have the sentimental attachment to Woosha that you do. We initially needed an experienced head, but now we need someone that can take us to the next level. Woosha isn't it.

 

[srobbo]

I honestly couldn’t give a **** about next year. Don’t think I’ve ever been so apathetic as an essendon supporter. I’ve got nothing.

 

[BrunoV]

Still think we need a ruthless inside mid. Shuey, Redden, Yeo, NN bullied us. I'm surprised clearances we're as even as they were. Ours were very dirty and there's were much more clean.

Trust your eyes. Eagles were sweating the fist receiver early.

So instead of attacking the first possession they we winning the clearance from 10m to 15m back.

Completely neutralised the strength of our clearance work (which is the clean break). The clearance numbers in a large part will reflect ceded first possession that ended up as a foray forward for the Eagles.

There is nothing about the way the game was played that indicates there was anything effective about our clearance work.

 

[BomberFan355]

The only time we look dangerous is when we can run it through the middle. When they shut that down we had nothing, turn it over and they killed us on the rebound. Pretty much exactly how it has been all year.

We just need Jack Martin now to take us to the next level..

 

[justlookingaround]

Anyway - that was my measured musings before.

I also feel like our list is a bunch of soft as **** private school kids and I’m not sure I can see them achieving anything.

 

[vast]

To what extent is that defensive number fools gold?

We spend all our time at half back bottling up opponents forward lines because we can't get the ball forward.

We're not good defensive because of the enormous work rate of the players implementing solid structure.

It's a variation of 2014.

The sad thing is we need start again in the midfield which means about 5 years worth of development including a new ruckman and by then who knows how our forward and backline will look.

 

[Halftimehero]

A week before the round 23, we all knew and conceded the worst possible result was playing West Coast in Perth, what we got what was exactly what we all feared and knew at that stage would happen, they are better than us by a fair gap, they just dropped the ball for one week and ended up 5th, they are a lot better than 5th.

 

[Matthew_Lloyd]

I've calmed down, and I definitely do regret calling the players weak pricks in the match day thread.

The reality is, we were always going to be up against it. The fact we even made finals this year considering our "pre-season" and injury management is amazing.

The Eagles list tonight had on average 146.5 games of experience. Us on the other hand had an average of 88.7 games worth of experience. They had an extra 9 players who have played more than 150 games.

Why weren't our tackles sticking? Why were there always more Eagles players around the ball than ours? There is your answer. They are an experienced, bigger and well-drilled team who have been playing together way before our core was even assembled.

This game was a carbon copy of the 2002 elimination final with the teams reversed, except they hung around for a little bit longer back then than we did tonight.

I'm not excusing the fact we've had another putrid end to the year, but there's a little bit of perspective.

 

[Shane Heard]

So when do we think it’ll be announced?

You know...whoosh going back home to Perth

Next week?

 

[Halftimehero]

wow weee i must be watching a different game. people just look at stats and think yeah they played well. no way Heppell or Merrett were our best players tonight. we had probably 3 players who could hold their heads high. Francis outstanding I thought same for McGrath. Saad was fairly decent thats it yes I will get slagged off but I have seen enough football over the years. we also had our arses spanked for playing injured players never works and funny enough they were all out worst performers some had absolute Barry Crockers it was laughable watching the injured players running and trying to jump for balls. I have been following my beloved Dons for pretty much on 40 years and I am again very very disappointed in yet another wasted season. we have been a mediocre club for near on 15 years so something needs to change or it will continue and we will end up like Carlton and Brisbane. we are such a proud and great club but right now we are just are treading water going nowhere..!!!...

Harsh on the skipper, he is literally on one leg and still got to contest after contest, he is all heart that man, surely you can respect his effort tonight?

 

[Keystone agony]

The only time we look dangerous is when we can run it through the middle. When they shut that down we had nothing, turn it over and they killed us on the rebound. Pretty much exactly how it has been all year.

We just need Jack Martin now to take us to the next level..

To be fair his speed, agility, skill and cleanliness wouldve helped. We probably need something else before him though