Coach Men's Senior Coach: Brad Scott

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I read this and realize how ****ing stupid a lot of so called football experts / journalists are.
They really can not work out why we got Goldy / Gresham / Duursma / McKay if we are tempering expectations ?
Really it is that simple it is obvious. You can not change the culture by brining in a bunch of draft picks and just letting them loose. You have to bring in players from outside the system so the current players who have drifted along think **** these guys may well take my spot and the gravy train is over. They all will improve areas of the list and performance but it was not like brining in some real big guns and apart from Goldy the rest will have 6 plus years left in the injury permitting.
 

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I still think he gets all of this season and next before we start sharpening knives.
When do we start sharpening the knives on the players who just do not get it ?
The only way I will sharpen the knives is if there is no consequences for players who simply will not get on the team footy / team defense bus .
 
For me the biggest issue is Jake Stringer.

They keep trying to play him as a forward but he’s too small to be a key forward. Too slow to be a pressure forward and a worse 3rd tall than Langford.

Carlton basically started their run last year when they dropped 1 tall no pressure forward for a smaller player capable of pressure.

Essendon had one of the best attacks in the AFL in 2021 with a lot of the same pieces on the list in the mid/back half.

Front half was Wright, Hooker, Jones, Perkins, Smith, AMT

Wright and Perkins are still there. Langford is much better than Jones. Hooker was a warm body. So the main difference is AMT/Smith at SF. If Gresham can fill one of those slots it will go a long way towards being a good team
Jake is an issue for sure. Would not say he is too slow to pressure though. He is not fast but when he has been fit and playing well he does tackle in the forward half and he does pressure. The issue is he has not been fit most of the time due to injury and the times he has not prepared at an AFL level.
I do agree the forward mix has to change and I will throw Menzie in as well. Had a decent year last year but his inside 50 tackle numbers are poor.
Perkins is also an issue as he is too slow to transition into defense mode. It is not natural for him and often he is a second off where he needs to be and the opposition are galloping up the ground.
Even Peter Wright can be an issue as he is one of the slowest KP players going around and often does not transition into defense mode at all.
So summing up I agree Stringer is an issue and probably not who we need going forward but we need to see Menzie applying more pressure and Perkins and Wright getting their brain around defensive transition.
 

I read this and realize how ******* stupid a lot of so called football experts / journalists are.
They really can not work out why we got Goldy / Gresham / Duursma / McKay if we are tempering expectations ?
Really it is that simple it is obvious. You can not change the culture by brining in a bunch of draft picks and just letting them loose. You have to bring in players from outside the system so the current players who have drifted along think * these guys may well take my spot and the gravy train is over. They all will improve areas of the list and performance but it was not like brining in some real big guns and apart from Goldy the rest will have 6 plus years left in the injury permitting.
I’m sure paying draft kids 800k per year would be great for culture though ant 🐜💪
 

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Exactly, no one ever feels the need to elaborate further to avoid miscommunication! 😉

Exactly, it totally doesn't make sense to respect the 5 minute window before bookmarking! 😉
am I meant to give you the full 5minutes to decide which sentence you are landing on? (i'd pick a third option, personally)
 
Don't discount the impact tippa had
He was quick, a supreme tackler, had immense footy IQ and is about the best small forward we've ever had..
You're looking for a combination of Kozi's physical presence and Rachele's goal sense there.

the difference in '21 is we had a blinder year from stringer in the middle as a bash and crash bull mid. basically the thing we've been lacking compared to the best in the comp. But i wouldn't hold your breathe waiting to see it again.
that's the difference between us playing finals and not. If Jake could do it again. i'd be confident we can go top 5. We were close last year before things fell away. He'd flip at least 4 games last year (swans, port x2 and anzac day) if he put in '21 performances, which puts us top 4-5.

At 30 in a little over a month, not sure we can expect that from him again. Suspect one of Perkins/Caddy eventually overtake him

I’m definitely not discounting Tippa. (Or Smith who was also phenomenal) he’s the type of player you can’t replace with 1 player but can make up his production in aggregate. Ie if Langford takes his place as the key focal point/set shot taker and Gresham as a crumber/goal sneak and ??? As chasedown pressure

Jake is an issue for sure. Would not say he is too slow to pressure though. He is not fast but when he has been fit and playing well he does tackle in the forward half and he does pressure. The issue is he has not been fit most of the time due to injury and the times he has not prepared at an AFL level.
I do agree the forward mix has to change and I will throw Menzie in as well. Had a decent year last year but his inside 50 tackle numbers are poor.
Perkins is also an issue as he is too slow to transition into defense mode. It is not natural for him and often he is a second off where he needs to be and the opposition are galloping up the ground.
Even Peter Wright can be an issue as he is one of the slowest KP players going around and often does not transition into defense mode at all.
So summing up I agree Stringer is an issue and probably not who we need going forward but we need to see Menzie applying more pressure and Perkins and Wright getting their brain around defensive transition.

It’s funny. I was a pretty lapsed footy person until 2020 when I started dating someone who was footy obsessed.
Back then Jake Stringer was probably my least favourite Essendon player. Hated how he played the game. Wanted to let him walk in free agency (and I didn’t even know about compo picks)

Don’t know if he’s changed or I have but I appreciate his footy smarts, and I like how he’s willing to be physical in a way a lot of other Essendon players aren’t. He’s probably in my top 5 favourite active players now (and I can’t believe I just typed that)

I like that when he goes to tackle they stick and he’s smart in how he understands spacing. It’s just how this team fits together. I just don’t think he’s able to create perceived pressure where oppo players make mistakes because they are worried about not knowing where he is.

I think Jake probably has 2-3 more years if he wants. Maybe 4-5 if he reinvents himself as a sub.

Thing is like you said there’s quite a few defensively limited players in that group and having a neutral player (Stringer) when you need a good defensive player to cover is an issue.



I think with Wright he’ll probably end up playing more CHF as that hides his speed and even opens up the possibility of intercept marks from dump kicks as the higher forwards pressure.

Reverse is also true in attack with him providing a decent wing target to hopefully improve defensive exits.


I think Perkins position will be one of the hardest spots to hold
In the team. He has to be better. Hope it’s just bad habits and young player issues holding him back.

If not Dursma, Tsatas, caddy, Kelly, Tex, Alwyn are all gunning for that spot
 
When do we start sharpening the knives on the players who just do not get it ?
The only way I will sharpen the knives is if there is no consequences for players who simply will not get on the team footy / team defense bus .

I actually think Brad has started sharpening the knives. Been a fairly large cleanout this offseason and I expect a bigger one next season.
 
I actually think Brad has started sharpening the knives. Been a fairly large cleanout this offseason and I expect a bigger one next season.
I don't know about that, there's only so many players coming out of contract in a given year and not all of them will be players he'll want to let go.

There's also the issue of replacing them with someone better, unless you have a lot of free agents lined up you'll just end up replacing spuds with more spuds from the arse end of the draft.

I think it's just a matter of making sensible cuts and additions over a number of years to chip away at the underperforming elements of the list.
 

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Coach Men's Senior Coach: Brad Scott

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