Review Good/Bad v Essendon, Round 4

[Interloperer]

No shortage of players who were better than Smith tonight. Sloane, Jacobs, CC, Betts, Walker, Crouch, Laird, Atkins, and Douglas. Tempted to add Lynch to that list.

Smith was definitely better than Mackay, Menzel, Hampton, Brown, Milera, and Hartigan.

He was roughly in the middle of the pack, when it comes to the best players. Not close to the top 5, but nowhere near the bottom 5 either.

Anyone who says otherwise is blinded by the stats. 33 disposals looks good on paper. Unfortunately, he was something of a turnover merchant. His short game was good, and his defensive work was much better than normal - but his long game, which is what he's noted for, was horrendous.

I mostly agree, I thought Smith was 'good' but middle of the pack. But speaking of being blinded by stats, there is absolutely zero way I would say Laird was better than Smith.

There are two types of Rory Laird games: There are the "Thank god the ball is in the hands of a prolific and extremely reliable player like Rory Laird." games.

And then there are the games like tonight where he will repeatedly mark the ball and/or get it in space, then turn down 2 or 3 extremely attacking options to pass to unmarked teammates, because that would require waiting more than 1 second, and instead fire an instant handpass to an unprepared teammate, normally under pressure. (coincidentally Brodie Smith was the victim of one such pass tonight.)

Thankfully, unlike every other poor first half player, he cut down on such errors in the second half. But the quality of his game was inflated by stats way more than Smith's was.

 

[NTRabbit]

Who were the skiers?

Milera was especially bad, but Atkins, Crouch, Knight, and Douglas didn't put in a defensive shift, or at least enough of one.

If they want to bring Brad back this week, Milera is far and away the outstanding candidate to make way, unless Charlie misses.

 

[Lawrst]

I hope people are gaining an appreciation for how slick Hamptons hands are.

 

[Jeffcrowe]

The problem with CC is that his legs are faster than his brain. How many times do we see him make an electrifying 80-100m run, then get to the end of it and go "now what" - or spray a horrible kick - wasting all that scintillating effort? He looks amazing, he just needs to take that time to settle before disposing of the ball. Slow down and think...

Still, CC was less frustrating than Brodie Smith. I swear his goal at the end was the first long kick he did all night that actually hit a target. Smith finished with 5 clangers - more than any other Adelaide player. He's incredibly frustrating, because he has this reputation for being a great kick. He's a long kick, but far, far too many of those long bombs end up going directly to the opposition.

If you don't think CC and Smith aren't 2 of our most important players you are high Vader

Line breaking metres gained fast ball moving players ... when they get ball we get fast I50s and we kick goals in a hurry

Bonus is CC applies manic pressure that is unparalleled... CC and Gov are the 2 players that will win us a flag on their day and smith not far behind as long as our midfield stays solid

Smith might have clangers but his I50s end up in more goals that nearly any other player in league . Stop smith stop crows as sando told everyone

 

[Rave Slave]

Also a friend of mine put $5 on Andy Otten @ $21 to kick first goal, jammy bastard. My combo pick was most goals Betts, most disposals Heppell, so close and yet so far.

You need to get around MRB37

His effort below

 

[kingyubbo]

Milera just not looking that comfortable at the moment. I think like early Charlie era, we just gotta give him some time. I agree Atkins and Knight at the moment have to do more defensively. The bombers midfield really showed us how it's done despite the scoreboard.

I'm more critical of Menzel the Man Bun. He gives defensive pressure inside the forward 50 to a certain extent, but I don't think he has polish, speed or composure. Missed marks in the 50 and not as reliable kick as I would like to think (DE - 55% tonight), so I'm yet to be convinced as to why he makes the 22 from the two performances thus far. Maybe someone else can enlighten me though cos I didn't see the pre-season.

 

[douglyzia]

How exactly did we win by 10 goals with so many players playing so badly according to the comments in this thread?

 

[Donkey Magoo]

You need to get around MRB37

His effort below

View attachment 358107

I've got 75-1 on Sloane for the Brownlow and Crows for Premiers

 

[Donkey Magoo]

In my mind I'm treating Menz like a new recruit. We took him in, spelled him, make him work on his fitness and build up his game. A few times tonight the pass just missed him, if he gets those he looks mint.

 

[feenix67]

The problem with CC is that his legs are faster than his brain. How many times do we see him make an electrifying 80-100m run, then get to the end of it and go "now what" - or spray a horrible kick - wasting all that scintillating effort? He looks amazing, he just needs to take that time to settle before disposing of the ball. Slow down and think...

Still, CC was less frustrating than Brodie Smith. I swear his goal at the end was the first long kick he did all night that actually hit a target. Smith finished with 5 clangers - more than any other Adelaide player. He's incredibly frustrating, because he has this reputation for being a great kick. He's a long kick, but far, far too many of those long bombs end up going directly to the opposition.

What the hell are you on?

One of the more noticeable things about Charlie this year is his composure in those situations. His errant snap tonight was the first example of the old Charlie we've seen all year.

And Smithers gained over 700 metres for the game.

Seriously dude, start opening your eyes when you watch the game.

 

[Dc9798]

Brilliant 1st 1/2 won the game when it needed to be won.
2nd 1/2 had the feel of a JLT game.
Am becoming a massive Hampton fan too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[PykeDream]

Smith finished with 5 clangers - more than any other Adelaide player. He's incredibly frustrating, because he has this reputation for being a great kick. He's a long kick, but far, far too many of those long bombs end up going directly to the opposition.

Often in the past few years I'd say this is a fair assessment of Smith's play and kicking, which is unfortunate as I'd had high hopes for the guy.

However, the last few weeks he has been building and tonight he was superb despite the clangers; few of those resulted from bombing on his preferred foot.

Also thought Atkins had an underrated game and attacked the ball much more aggressively than in the past. Can see he's working hard to become a more rounded mid.


Fantasia dropped his head after the crowd got stuck into him but would love for us to have a crack at getting him across.

 

[feenix67]

Milera was especially bad, but Atkins, Crouch, Knight, and Douglas didn't put in a defensive shift, or at least enough of one.

If they want to bring Brad back this week, Milera is far and away the outstanding candidate to make way, unless Charlie misses.

Agree with your Milera call, but you said "this year" in your initial critique on all of them, which is utter baloney.

None of our mids did much defensive running apart from Sloaney. Put it down to 3 hard games and winning the game in the first 20 minutes this week. I doubt you'll see a repeat against the suns.

 

[moogerfooger]

How exactly did we win by 10 goals with so many players playing so badly according to the comments in this thread?

Apparently supporters need to take every win with a grain of salt otherwise the players will get ahead of themselves

 

[moogerfooger]

I'm more critical of Menzel the Man Bun. He gives defensive pressure inside the forward 50 to a certain extent, but I don't think he has polish, speed or composure. Missed marks in the 50 and not as reliable kick as I would like to think (DE - 55% tonight), so I'm yet to be convinced as to why he makes the 22 from the two performances thus far. Maybe someone else can enlighten me though cos I didn't see the pre-season.

The only reason he's in the 22 is because Gov is injured. The man bun symbolizes his game right now - a bit soft and pretentious, a bit too much ego for what he's delivering, still looks like he belongs at Carlton. Theres some Centrals mongrel in there somewhere, he'd do well to tap into a bit of that before he finds himself back there permanently.

 

[CrowCro]

A tale of two halves

Good

• The first half. Everything about it was domination. Made Essendon look like a second rate joke team with bottom 4 credentials. Up by nearly 100 at half time.
• Walker in the first half. Beast mode. Looked like he'd kick 15
• Betts. Excellent player. Super consistent
• Sloane. Just goes hard at it all day every day. Gun.
• Rory Laird in the first half. 20 touches, was in it everywhere
• Matt Crouch very serviceable as always in close
• Our domination in the first half was sublime. Premiership winning sort of display.
• Structures in the first half were on point and completely shut down Essendon
• Lever was very solid with his efforts. Probably the only good defender tonight.
• Liked Andy Otten's game again.
• Liked Sam Jacobs' game even though he didn't win the hitouts
• Brodie Smith was a bit hot and cold, but mostly hot. Massive meters gained.

Bad

• Entire second half. Lazy, putrid, sloppy shit. Midfield went to sleep and our skills fell off a cliff. Unacceptable garbage when our first half was so solid
• Letting Essendon absolutely dominate clearances and possessions and inside 50s and shots on goal in the third quarter. Our worst quarter for the entire year. Complacent shit isn't going to cut it in the finals.
• Defense throughout the entire match. Awful. Hartigan had an absolute mare. None of our defenders could mark anything. McDonald-Tipungwuti kicked 4 for Christ's sake! Defenders just let Essendon stroll past all night with no defensive pressure to speak of.
• Passengers left right and center. Curtly Hampton, Wayne Milera, Troy Menzel offered absolutely nothing for most of the match. Riley Knight was invisible for large parts of the game.
• David Mackay gets a special mention for being a 150-game player who had 5 touches to half time. Finished with 21 touches after he decided to become a junktime specialiast as always. Was terrible as a defender and burned the ball as a link man. Has to go
• Tom Lynch was putrid. Missing a bunch of forwards and he did nothing. Really weak effort from a senior player
• Injury to Jake Kelly when we have no defenders in the bank

Get of the Mackay rubbish mate. He did some great defensive pressure acts and link ups tonight and ran hard to spoil a few certain goals. Yr attacks on him are becoming boring. He was in our top 7 on the ground tonight and had a good game.

 

[CrowCro]

For finals (from tonight):

-Shouldn't play finals:

Mckay, Menzel, Douglas

-Need to find consistency

Hampton, Lynch

-Need to improve work ethic;

Milera

Mackay was excellent. WTF did you guys go to the game or what

 

[Kraven]

I seem to remember Walsh saying 2017 would be the year the team pushes for a flag. Think it might have been the same conference he said they need to get 50 games into Harto immediately.

 

[Sanders]

The problem with CC is that his legs are faster than his brain. How many times do we see him make an electrifying 80-100m run, then get to the end of it and go "now what" - or spray a horrible kick - wasting all that scintillating effort? He looks amazing, he just needs to take that time to settle before disposing of the ball. Slow down and think...

Still, CC was less frustrating than Brodie Smith. I swear his goal at the end was the first long kick he did all night that actually hit a target. Smith finished with 5 clangers - more than any other Adelaide player. He's incredibly frustrating, because he has this reputation for being a great kick. He's a long kick, but far, far too many of those long bombs end up going directly to the opposition.

Smith's long kicks are elite, it's his short ones that miss targets too frequently

 

[CrowCro]

How exactly did we win by 10 goals with so many players playing so badly according to the comments in this thread?

Great comment, according to our serial couch potato experts, every player needs to get thirty possessions. Football is about balance and players offering something different and playing their part

 

[Sanders]

Are you sure you were watching the Crows game? Are you sure you weren't watching... nothing?.

Im not convinved he watched the game, no.

What stupid ass posts are these?

Of course he didn't watch the game

 

[Vhaluus]

Mackay was excellent. WTF did you guys go to the game or what

Lol no

 

[Sanders]

No shortage of players who were better than Smith tonight. Sloane, Jacobs, CC, Betts, Walker, Crouch, Laird, Atkins, and Douglas. Tempted to add Lynch to that list.

Smith was definitely better than Mackay, Menzel, Hampton, Brown, Milera, and Hartigan.

He was roughly in the middle of the pack, when it comes to the best players. Not close to the top 5, but nowhere near the bottom 5 either.

Anyone who says otherwise is blinded by the stats. 33 disposals looks good on paper. Unfortunately, he was something of a turnover merchant. His short game was good, and his defensive work was much better than normal - but his long game, which is what he's noted for, was horrendous.

Screen scraping! Across the universe. Never going forward, always in reverse

Smith fumbled a bit in the first quarter but really stepped it up after that; an excellent game

You should stop trying to glue together multiple opinions to pass off as your own singular view, too often the seams are showing and it's obvious you didn't see the game

 

[Sanders]

How exactly did we win by 10 goals with so many players playing so badly according to the comments in this thread?

The opposition was shit

 

[Danger in Texas]

Super hot wife !!!

Have no idea how he did it, the lucky prick