AFL Autopsy Essendon v Melbourne, Melbourne by 1 point

[BRANXDON]

y

The problem is we have no lead up forward/s, and no small forward/s. For some reason the players have lost all ability and/or confidence to create space and lower the eyes when moving forward. Even before tonight, we would have to be the worst skilled team for when the final ball is distributed inside 50.

yep, chappy plays FAR too high up field....i know everyone (including myself), bags jetta, but maybe we need his crumbing in the forward line, we just CAN NOT enter the 50 that many times and after a spillage nothing eventuates....Need some hunger and speed around the marking contest, geez i wish kommer was fit

 

[Ben the Gooner]

Goes back to the fact that we spent two seasons turning Hurley into a forward.. and it was just showing signs of maybe breaking even.. and then we have him ****ing his wrists

Fixed.

 

[Yoda_]

69 inside 50s. How many good ones? 5?

We can keep dominating I50 counts but when we don't convert, thats when the problems begin. I50 ball use or is it the leading patterns and movement of the forwards? its one or the other? and sadly the I50 count suggests we are getting it enough.

 

[Smokin]

there were heaps of little things you can look to in the last which cost us - most obvious to me was Tbell before that last kick inside 50 - he knew he was surrounded, had to move to the boundary line and force a stoppage out of bounds. He stayed too central, and was the only target but we still should have locked it in.

That gets me to, IMHO our biggest weakness. We have no small forwards - or no players who can genuinely play the small forward role. It kills us offensively, but more importantly defensively. As a result, our forward line is not working and killing us.

We went the bomb route against tonight, great, long kicks to...outnumbered situations!

That is fine, and can work - but the team has to be on the page and support given to the Targets. Winderlich and Chapman seemingly want to be marking targets - nobody wants to hit the pack at pace, or hit the contest, fight like death for the ball and lock it in. The thing just came out way to quickly and easily and has been a long problem.

People want to say the small forward is dead - but that's the furthest thing from the truth. The player who can play as a small forward needs to offer something else generally up the field - but look at the top teams, all of em - have players who can play the genuine small forward role. Not a marking option, a tackling, fighting, roving type offering. It brings balance to the team.

We need speed, to fight in the forward line. We need a forwards coach for a start - 1. A key forward, even part time coach like Dermie at GWS, or Mooney at Footscray, if we are going to have all these talls, invest in somebody to teach them. The only forward player on our coaching staff is Hird, and he aint there. It is not an area just anyone can fix because they watch goals getting kicked. It is the hardest position on the ground to get right.

We were very good tonight for parts, but let ourselves down so much. So frustrating, but it has been a long, long problem - we just don't get reward for our effort and dominance too often.

We shouldnt throw the baby out with the bath water, a lot of positives with the list especially some key younger guys, but our tactical nous, this season especially has been absolutely bewildering to me. Tonight was just another one.

Yes, we kick straight we win. But as I said in wins such as our Rich game was poor, our Norf game was poor, our GWS game was poor - these were games we should have won by significantly more than we did. It's a big problem.

 

[blitzer]

Oh boy I can't blame everyone for being annoyed after that loss.

Look we may not be (are definitely not) the best team going around but with 9 more shots on goal we really should have won the game except for our bad goal kicking.

Our delivery to our forward line was horrible and our forwards general ability to contest and lead up hard was just as bad.

None of the forwards really had a good night. I thought Ambrose did some decent things though and at least worked hard on the lead. Winderlich looks past it or not fully fit or something. Chapman has faded big time and could probably do with some time off - also memo to the players: Chapman is not good overhead and is not tall.

Daniher got in the right positions but got robbed from some free kicks and also didn't have his marking hands on today (was dropping marks he was clunking last week) - no worries though he won't be consistent at this stage. Bellchambers holy shit those 2 shots on goal he missed were enough for me to want to tear my hair out.

One final point - Melksham you absolutely need to go back to VFL - I can scarcely recall a touch he had where he didn't kick it straight to Melbourne or else fire off a pointless 1-2m handball which did nothing other than push responsibility onto another player. Give Kavanagh a full game, cannot possibly play worse than Melksham did.

Oh Zaka was great too.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

69 inside 50s. How many good ones? 5?

Equally baffling how often Ryder and Daniher had front position and worked to the back trying to get a jump at the ball.

 

[The Dustbin]

y

yep, chappy plays FAR too high up field....i know everyone (including myself), bags jetta, but maybe we need his crumbing in the forward line, we just CAN NOT enter the 50 that many times and after a spillage nothing eventuates....Need some hunger and speed around the marking contest, geez i wish kommer was fit

Except Kommer doesn't hit the scoreboard enough for a forward.

 

[Squeaky]

that hocking attempted tackle in our forward pocket with 80 seconds left was as emabarassing and funny as can be. You can't script that shit.

Its those little things that kill you all the time. Clutch time requires clutch players. We should have locked that ball in the forward pocket and killed the game.

Kelvin that is spot on. I cant believe that after that shocking Hocking contest the ball got behind every one of our players allowing Melbourne to ultimately cruise down the field. It all started in our forward pocket. Get the ball oob and we win. Simple as that!

 

[Wattos Waste]

Stanton should have dobbed that last goal too, was his bread and butter

 

[yaco55]

Stanton should have dobbed that last goal too, was his bread and butter

What can Stanton do if it's touched on the line. He did kick from around 50.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Kelvin that is spot on. I cant believe that after that shocking Hocking contest the ball got behind every one of our players allowing Melbourne to ultimately cruise down the field. It all started in our forward pocket. Get the ball oob and we win. Simple as that!

And then 30 seconds later Hurley lets a tackle slip on McKenzie.

2 senior players, 2 diabolical mistakes in the last minute. Game over.

 

[Wattos Waste]

What can Stanton do if it's touched on the line. He did kick from around 50.

Kicked it further?

 

[rines]

Chappy has replaced Davey as the shortest guy in our forwardline charged with being our CHF... with the same results really..

 

[FedEXFalls]

Whilst the midfield and defence have been good. The midfield are also at least partly to blame for the forward line issues.

They can't just get 69 or whatever inside 50's and all of a sudden their job is done. They still have to be inside 50's that give the forwards a realistic chance. And a lot of them don't really give our forwards a proper chance.

So I think it's a mix of both the Mids being sloppy with their entries and the forwards not taking their chances and or not getting themselves in the correct position to get a chance.

Whatever it is it should have been figured out by now though.

 

[Squeaky]

And then 30 seconds later Hurley lets a tackle slip on McKenzie.

2 senior players, 2 diabolical mistakes in the last minute. Game over.

Exactly. I was yelling at the tv like an idiot but how the **** did he let him get past! Get a ball up on the wing there and we're still 90% winning. The ball gets behind our defenders a hell of a lot!

 

[eth-dog]

We lost for 1 reason and 1 reason only: 10 goals, 17 behinds. Bellchambers had 2 basic misses, as did Goddard, Winderlich another. 5 goals makes it 15.12 and we win by 4 goals

 

[Loonerty]

You can't blame it solely on the inaccuracy. We were up by 5 goals. You can NOT lose games from there and expect to be a good side.

We have a lot of issues and they run a lot deeper than shooting for goal.

 

[eth-dog]

You can't blame it solely on the inaccuracy. We were up by 5 goals. You can NOT lose games from there and expect to be a good side.

We have a lot of issues and they run a lot deeper than shooting for goal.

I can and I will. Look at the chances we missed. Bellchambers x2, Goddard x2, Winderlich.

 

[FatChicksRejectMe]

y

yep, chappy plays FAR too high up field....i know everyone (including myself), bags jetta, but maybe we need his crumbing in the forward line, we just CAN NOT enter the 50 that many times and after a spillage nothing eventuates....Need some hunger and speed around the marking contest, geez i wish kommer was fit

What is with chappy playing so far up the ground? He was so good in the first few weeks of the season kicking bags.

Is it a coaching move to play him in the midfield a lot, or is just the 'modern game' evolving?

 

[Ben the Gooner]

I can and I will. Look at the chances we missed. Bellchambers x2, Goddard x2, Winderlich.

How does goal kicking explain conceding a 5 goal lead?

 

[expires]

Sure Melbourne showed heart and their fans should be proud of the playing group but as a club with a point to prove this was a big chance to move into the eight and set our sights on the top four instead we blew a five goal lead everybit because we were unable to take our chances.

Hats off to Melbourne but even Roos as said they were lucky that we kicked so many points.

Agree with all that, we lost it in front of goal and turn overs going forward in the second half of the third quarter onwards. But there was enough yelp there after Melbourne hit the front not to be to disheartened.

 

[eth-dog]

How does goal kicking explain conceding a 5 goal lead?

Easy, if we kicked goals instead of behinds we wouldn't have conceded the 5 goal lead, as it would have increased. It's entirely on them

 

[citizen-erased]

Shopping time. We need a full forward. And I'm not overly concerned who it costs us outside zaka, hepp and hooker.

JD at chf. Get someone who will lead, mark and kick at goal properly. I50 stat isn't that bad. 10.17 is rubbish. That's a Richmond stat.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

Easy, if we kicked goals instead of behinds we wouldn't have conceded the 5 goal lead, as it would have increased. It's entirely on them

How does inaccuracy explain conceding 5 goals in a quarter in a low scoring affair?

 

[fishardansin]

We lost for 1 reason and 1 reason only: 10 goals, 17 behinds. Bellchambers had 2 basic misses, as did Goddard, Winderlich another. 5 goals makes it 15.12 and we win by 4 goals

Not only to we win by 5 goals like that we break their spirit and run away with it.

However, I don't know how many times they had loose men in their defence and when I looked back towards the wing or our defence I couldn't spot our loose men.

Essendon just doesn't run. There is a serious lack of pace in the middle. When we chip the ball around we're way too slow to pull the trigger and miss plenty of oppoturnities for that 30-40m diagonal pass back into the corridor.