AFL Autopsy RND 4: Dons Demolished

[Yoda_]

Essendon has a dead set *in curse of making below avg Port players look like starting All Australians

last year it was Finlayson, this year its Ivan soldo ffs.

jesus utter christ.

We've got a history of doing it every week

Matt Taberner, Mason Wood, Jamie Elliott the list could go on. B graders at absolute best that dominate us

 

[faible]

Thing is Perk is not even close to the speed needed. Couldn't get close to running down Butters or Rozee last night.

Players are always faster running towards goal with the ball than having to react, run defensively and make up ground.

Happens all the time.

 

[faible]

Reckon we missed Durham in the middle last night, has the aggression, work rate and tackling strength to hold-up a Rozee or JHF exiting the front of the stoppage.

Parish needs to commit to the same thing Zach says he did - being the best defensive midfielder in the comp.

It’s done wonders for Zach’s game and Darcy needs to focus on defense first, possession second. He’ll still find plenty of the ball but having a midfield where a port player can run straight through the centre circle after the bounce repeatedly is not ok.

Our back 6 were on a hiding to nothing with the way our midfield was letting them exit the stoppage.

 

[Milanista28]

Scott playing our most experienced side because he doesn't have any patience, he like the club are desperate to win now, all that happens is we outplay our true position of bottom 3 and finish closer to 10th.

I truly believe playing our best 23 is dumb, we keep playing players who don't have a future, I'd rather we play guys who 'could' have a future.

3-20 >>> 11-12

All our coaches preach patience, but they're in win now mode. Hayes, Roberts, Bryan and Tsatas are ready enough to play every week absolutely zero doubt about it. And Caddy is very likely ready to come in as well.

 

[SydneyBomber]

Essendon has a dead set *in curse of making below avg Port players look like starting All Australians

last year it was Finlayson, this year its Ivan soldo ffs.

jesus utter christ.

I dunno, Cox did his absolute best last night to make Finlayson look like a superstar.
Saddens me to say it, given all of the unicorn talk but he really is starting to look like a bust.

Had high hopes, but just don't see it in him anymore, a few good minutes last week notwithstanding

 

[Milanista28]

I dunno, Cox did his absolute best last night to make Finlayson look like a superstar.
Saddens me to say it, given all of the unicorn talk but he really is starting to look like a bust.

Had high hopes, but just don't see it in him anymore, a few good minutes last week notwithstanding

Cox is 24 months minimum from consistent performances, I would keep playing him every week, he could have a future, must explore it.

 

[TheWeapon]

Clearance structure was a disaster when they can constantly chain out through the front running into forward 50 the defence has no hope. The difference in speed with Rozee/Butters/JHF was obvious. There needs to be a Plan B instead of all out attack at centre bounce when the opposition gets on top to prevent clearances through the front as they are far more damaging. I wonder if Setterfield is still underdone he looked like he was running in quicksand. Draper neglects the fundamentals too often to try the low percentage option needs a talking to throughout the week. Cox does not look physically ready for AFL gets pushed aside far too easy

 

[Dave]

Ah the joy of eco….

 

[Yoda_]

Strangest part was we (should) match up reasonably well physically against them

Boak 183cm/86kg
Butters 181cm/77kg
Drew 186cm/86kg
Horne-Francis 185cm/85kg
Rozee 185cm/77kg


Caldwell 183cm/83kg
Hobbs 183cm/80kg
Merrett - 179cm/81kg
Parish - 180cm/81kg

Its not like we were monitored at the stoppage

 

[ant555]

Scott playing our most experienced side because he doesn't have any patience, he like the club are desperate to win now, all that happens is we outplay our true position of bottom 3 and finish closer to 10th.

I truly believe playing our best 23 is dumb, we keep playing players who don't have a future, I'd rather we play guys who 'could' have a future.

3-20 >>> 11-12

All our coaches preach patience, but they're in win now mode. Hayes, Roberts, Bryan and Tsatas are ready enough to play every week absolutely zero doubt about it. And Caddy is very likely ready to come in as well.

Tsatas was left out for being selective about attacking the contest .
Roberts has played 2 VFL games . Yes he has looked good but the VFL started two weeks after the AFL so there has been limited time to get him in .
Bryan has not been flash so far. Goldy was better in the match sim duals and Sam has been good until this week.
Caddy has played 1 full game in 4 weeks and only lasted 10 minutes last week.

There is plenty of doubt about them being ready .

 

[astrowizzle]

Ive watched this team since the early 70s. This period is just as gag worthy.
I honestly have no more watching in me I actually can't stand what we do or don't stand for. Sheedys marshmallows are beating ius around

 

[Dave]

I don't know a mate told me he focussed on it and Parish was mentioned. Here's the text message in full

..."Our players won't defend. Post game luke hodge talked through an example in the third quarter, called it laziness and said it happened the whole quarter. Not manning up and parish was one of the players pinpointed."

It’s been happening for a decade.

 

[BrunoV]

He's a lot slower than I thought he'd be after year 1.

Perkins' speed is fine. If you heard Dermie on Crunch Time, don't worry. Aside from not knowing what he's talking about, he's basing it on a single moment. You want to see Perkins' speed watch him run away from players on the lead.

Remember that as a kid he was sub 3 sec for the sprint and 6.teens for the 2km. He's got the hip shrug and the explosive burst. He was and remains a dream athlete. He's essentially a more powerful Rozee athletically. You don't see it on ball because he's doing the bollocking work so the 'good' players can run onto the ball. He's also learning midfield craft that Rozee always had (he may not every get there, by the way).

In theory, and to address other comments here, Tsatas is another player that can do what Rozee did last night. Rozee has become Judd overnight but that's because it was against our pissants. He is not a break away through stoppages player in the way Danger, Judd and Petracca were and are and like Horne Francis looks to be. To lessen the standard, like Clay Smith was and Windhager is. He's a break from stoppages guy we made to look like a megastar. If Tsatas in an inside player that's what he's supposed to be.

Whoever mentioned trading Hobbs, while frankly I don't rate him, in theory he is the player that helps Tsatas realise his potential. He's not the one to go, certainly not until he is replaced with another guy whose go-to is initiating / engaging / absorbing body contact as a first touch player. Watch Hobbs carefully, it is at least his instinct to engage the opposition and to then free his arms after taking possession.

 

[FlyingV]

We can’t defend transition, there’s been no improvement made. Funny, that Horne guy from champion data bangs on about it and says if you can’t defend and attack through transition/turnover respectively… you don’t have a shot at the premiership. And he’s right.

That’s why you need A+ runners in your midfield, which we don’t have in Hobbs, Parish, Merrett and Setterfield

 

[Chief Hopper]

Strangest part was we (should) match up reasonably well physically against them

Boak 183cm/86kg
Butters 181cm/77kg
Drew 186cm/86kg
Horne-Francis 185cm/85kg
Rozee 185cm/77kg


Caldwell 183cm/83kg
Hobbs 183cm/80kg
Merrett - 179cm/81kg
Parish - 180cm/81kg

Going by that, Port mids are all a bit taller, and bigger.
Perkins, Durham, Setterfield, Stringer all would've given some size and weight. Need at least 2 of them in there.

This loss reminded me of numerous other losses last 5 years where we didn't have any or enough bulls in the mid to push around, give space and tackle the main extractors. Port moved through our mids from the 2nd quarter onwards like a knife through butter.

Durham and now Perkins injured. Setterfield playing through necessity in Def. Injuries are coming to bite.

 

[Mercurial89]

Tsatas was left out for being selective about attacking the contest .
Roberts has played 2 VFL games . Yes he has looked good but the VFL started two weeks after the AFL so there has been limited time to get him in .
Bryan has not been flash so far. Goldy was better in the match sim duals and Sam has been good until this week.
Caddy has played 1 full game in 4 weeks and only lasted 10 minutes last week.

There is plenty of doubt about them being ready .

His point (without putting words in your mouth Milanista28, pull me up if wrong) is that he would rather play the guys who may have a future rather than others who do not, chasing results this year.

Lose more now, finish lower, have a better shot at accumulating talent.
Let them learn and fail at the actual level.

 

[Milanista28]

Tsatas was left out for being selective about attacking the contest .
Roberts has played 2 VFL games . Yes he has looked good but the VFL started two weeks after the AFL so there has been limited time to get him in .
Bryan has not been flash so far. Goldy was better in the match sim duals and Sam has been good until this week.
Caddy has played 1 full game in 4 weeks and only lasted 10 minutes last week.

There is plenty of doubt about them being ready .

Disagree, there is only doubt on Caddy, Hayes, Bryan, Tsatas, Roberts can play

Goldy, Laverde, Kelly, Heppell help performance in 2024 only, they aren't long term players, raw players without experience are who we should play as often as possible.

What is the point of losing the way we did last night with an old team?

 

[jesterwester]

Please excuse the intrusion, but just wanted to come and say I was impressed with Jones’ game yesterday.

Thought he presented really well and competed pretty well despite the delivery he got at times.

Hoping he gets a good run at it this year.

 

[Yoda_]

Going by that, Port mids are all a bit taller, and bigger.
Perkins, Durham, Setterfield, Stringer all would've given some size and weight. Need at least 2 of them in there.

This loss reminded me of numerous other losses last 5 years where we didn't have any or enough bulls in the mid to push around, give space and tackle the main extractors. Port moved through our mids from the 2nd quarter onwards like a knife through butter.

Durham and now Perkins injured. Setterfield playing through necessity in Def. Injuries are coming to bite.

Someone mentioned in the last 24 hours about the power athlete and an aerobic athlete. The dual combo freaks seem to be the best players in the game (Bont, Petracca types). We haven't had one of those in forever. Always one or the other

 

[ghostdog]

There is a difference when they are actually ready to play to decent level early.

Tsatas is a good example then. Didn't attack the contest last week so deemed not ready to play. Can he play to a 'decent' level though? If you compare Tsatas to most of our guys last night he should surely get a run next week. Perkins out might see that happen now anyway.

In comparison with both Rozee and Butters' first years though;
Rozee: avg 15 disposals, 4 tackles
Butters: avg 14 disposals, 2.5 tackles
Tsatas: avg 16 disposals, 2.75 tackles

If 'decent' is the metric, I reckon he's decent enough to develop in the 1s, especially since we know we're not playing for sheep stations.

 

[ant555]

Disagree, there is only doubt on Caddy, Hayes, Bryan, Tsatas, Roberts can play

Goldy, Laverde, Kelly, Heppell help performance in 2024 only, they aren't long term players, raw players without experience are who we should play as often as possible.

What is the point of losing the way we did last night with an old team?

Hang on . Ready or can play ?
And as far as Tsatas goes he needed to go back.
I want the best development for the young blokes . That is not always just playing them .

 

[ant555]

Tsatas is a good example then. Didn't attack the contest last week so deemed not ready to play. Can he play to a 'decent' level though? If you compare Tsatas to most of our guys last night he should surely get a run next week. Perkins out might see that happen now anyway.

In comparison with both Rozee and Butters' first years though;
Rozee: avg 15 disposals, 4 tackles
Butters: avg 14 disposals, 2.5 tackles
Tsatas: avg 16 disposals, 2.75 tackles

If 'decent' is the metric, I reckon he's decent enough to develop in the 1s, especially since we know we're not playing for sheep stations.

Tsatas has missed almost 2 years of football in the last 3 .
Guys like McGrath were ready and played .

Tsatas got a chance and came up short.

 

[Yoda_]

Tsatas is a good example then. Didn't attack the contest last week so deemed not ready to play. Can he play to a 'decent' level though? If you compare Tsatas to most of our guys last night he should surely get a run next week. Perkins out might see that happen now anyway.

In comparison with both Rozee and Butters' first years though;
Rozee: avg 15 disposals, 4 tackles
Butters: avg 14 disposals, 2.5 tackles
Tsatas: avg 16 disposals, 2.75 tackles

If 'decent' is the metric, I reckon he's decent enough to develop in the 1s, especially since we know we're not playing for sheep stations.

IIRC, Rozzee and Butters started as HFF'ers, Tsatas is a midfielder only. Probably best to compare Elijah to say a JHF

 

[ghostdog]

Perkins' speed is fine. If you heard Dermie on Crunch Time, don't worry. Aside from not knowing what he's talking about, he's basing it on a single moment. You want to see Perkins' speed watch him run away from players on the lead.

Remember that as a kid he was sub 3 sec for the sprint and 6.teens for the 2km. He's got the hip shrug and the explosive burst. He was and remains a dream athlete. He's essentially a more powerful Rozee athletically. You don't see it on ball because he's doing the bollocking work so the 'good' players can run onto the ball. He's also learning midfield craft that Rozee always had (he may not every get there, by the way).

In theory, and to address other comments here, Tsatas is another player that can do what Rozee did last night. Rozee has become Judd overnight but that's because it was against our pissants. He is not a break away through stoppages player in the way Danger, Judd and Petracca were and are and like Horne Francis looks to be. To lessen the standard, like Clay Smith was and Windhager is. He's a break from stoppages guy we made to look like a megastar. If Tsatas in an inside player that's what he's supposed to be.

Whoever mentioned trading Hobbs, while frankly I don't rate him, in theory he is the player that helps Tsatas realise his potential. He's not the one to go, certainly not until he is replaced with another guy whose go-to is initiating / engaging / absorbing body contact as a first touch player. Watch Hobbs carefully, it is at least his instinct to engage the opposition and to then free his arms after taking possession.

I mentioned trading Hobbs. You don't reckon Caldwell has the same capacity? Because he's being wasted in the forwardline. Fix the forwardline, move Caldwell into the midfield and we can be done with it. We need more pace in the midfield mix.

I could just still be pissed with Hobbs' efforts and disposal last night but I thonk it's definitely worth considering.

 

[ghostdog]

Tsatas has missed almost 2 years of football in the last 3 .
Guys like McGrath were ready and played .

Yet Tsatas' numbers show his performance was comparable. Like I said. We're not playing for sheep stations. I don't see the harm in it and Rozee and Butters last night showed there's value in it.