AFL Autopsy RND 7: Beaten by the Cats

[MiguelM]

I think Scott would be embarrassed by his Phillips selection - possibly the worst 2 game stretch I’ve ever seen from an AFL footballer - 1 kick and 0 marks across two games is just unheard of.

We desperately need to move past the thinking of older = better

Phillips & Draper gone downhill since the fluff article about them both.

 

[Nicholas61]

The perfect chance to give Baldwin a chance on a behemoth was missed. Maybe the club weren’t happy he’d had enough time post-concussion.

I too would have liked to have seen this - sounds like he was a bit off kilter last week probably due to the concussion.

 

[ant555]

Satterfield only had 2 tackle attempts. He was shocking. Think the short break got to him and hopefully he'll be back to his best next week. Was always going to be hard to stop Dangerfield.

I think we did well to keep the margin to what it was. Other years we'd just give up and lose by 10 goals. Was always going to be a struggle to stay in this game.

Still had an influence at the centre bounces once he got in there . Parish started to win more of the footy out of the middle when Setterfield and Stringer went in .
Setterfield may not have had a big offensive game but his size was a plus when Scott finally put him in later in the first quarter.

 

[sameolds33]

My main issue (aside from brain fades and disposal efficiency) is the decision not to have our best defensive midfielder in Setterfield at the CBAs at the start of the game. It took Brad six goals to make the adjustment. I was Jack’s complete lack of surprise when we suddenly looked decent in there again. What’s worse is he had the last quarter of ANZAC day to learn from the same mistake.

It's be interesting to know why the change wasn't made earlier. There was an interesting moment in the Crows v Hawks game after Fogerty scored the goal to go ahead by 2 points. In the players box, Nicks stopped Von Berlo from giving instructions to the players, leaving them to work out how to set the field with the players they had. Maybe there was thinking along those lines in our game?

 

[Runk]

Really good solid loss that.

Give up a 6 goal head start and lose by 5 goals.

 

[Alberto_Magnifico]

Ahh well the weather was quite lovely today

 

[MiguelM]

Contested marks still a huge issue. Can't hope to compete against the best when Draper & Phillips register 0 marks each, let alone a contested one.

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

Good to see prime Stringer back though. His best is better than anyone else running around for us right now and it really makes you think what could have been if he hadn't had such a shit run of injuries since coming across.

 

[IggypopsTshirt]

Pathetic.
Needed Hep’s leadership out there.

 

[Nicholas61]

Contested marks still a huge issue. Can't hope to compete against the best when Draper & Phillips register 0 marks each, let alone a contested one.

The other time we looked a different beast was when Cox had those few games where he took important marks on the wing a couple of seasons back. Hopefully Scott can work a bit of magic on him when he gets back.

 

[naraku]

Still had an influence at the centre bounces once he got in there . Parish started to win more of the footy out of the middle when Setterfield and Stringer went in .
Setterfield may not have had a big offensive game but his size was a plus when Scott finally put him in later in the first quarter.

I don't understand trying to do ANYTHING with Setters other than play him in the midfield. Anything else is wrong.
Like Langford in defence.

 

[Nicholas61]

Good to see prime Stringer back though. His best is better than anyone else running around for us right now and it really makes you think what could have been if he hadn't had such a s**t run of injuries since coming across.

Is a genuine match winner and lifts against better teams.

 

[naraku]

Well...at least we're not Richmond. 3.9 into the 3rd at Marvel.

 

[Happyskeret]

It’s funny cos we’re so used to Essigngton we get these blowout predictions from posters before difficult games for good reason. I’m having these weird feelings that I haven’t felt for a ages in that when things aren’t going our way we are going to roll the dice and change things up to get things back on our terms. Insanity is when you keep trying the same thing and expect different results.
I was heartened to hear Brad say last week that it’s going to probably take him some time before he realises what his best team looks like. It shows he has the ability to tinker, fine tune and adapt until he has the formula right.

 

[Blind Turn]

Well...at least we're not Richmond. 3.9 into the 3rd at Marvel.

Against a Millerless GC at that.

 

[Old Campaigner]

My main issue (aside from brain fades and disposal efficiency) is the decision not to have our best defensive midfielder in Setterfield at the CBAs at the start of the game. It took Brad six goals to make the adjustment. I was Jack’s complete lack of surprise when we suddenly looked decent in there again. What’s worse is he had the last quarter of ANZAC day to learn from the same mistake.

That would have taken half the season to rectify in previous years so I'm chalking it up as a win.

 

[Mootsy]

Contested marks still a huge issue. Can't hope to compete against the best when Draper & Phillips register 0 marks each, let alone a contested one.

A big weakness for Essendon for many years now is finding players who can mark the ball well. It seems such a natural part of the game that it's mind boggling how poor they are at it, even leading for a grab and clear possession. Seems to be something that's been diminishing in the league for years. It's fine if you don't mark it, as long as you can knock the ball forward, if you can't do that and you're small, then you have to be a decent jack of all trades player, otherwise it's a glaring weakness that requires players to instead have to always defend and tackle to gain possession, which means if you're crap at marking, you need to be a fast runner, it's reactive football and it doesn't seem fun, lol.

One team that's still good at it is Geelong. Luckily they didn't kick straight today i guess.

 

[citizen-erased]

Langford needs to play forward all the time, that didn't help.

Our lack of defender recruitment as hooker and hurley reached twilight has come home to roost unfortunately

You'd think reid is at least 2025 before he slots in, hayes a couple after that. Assuming both make it.

 

[Happyskeret]

Does anyone have the stats (probably Lore) on our first quarters? This year and last year. I know we were good against the pies but that seems like an anomaly.

 

[Happyskeret]

A big weakness for Essendon for many years now is finding players who can mark the ball well. It seems such a natural part of the game that it's mind boggling how poor they are at it, even leading for a grab and clear possession. Seems to be something that's been diminishing in the league for years. It's fine if you don't mark it, as long as you can knock the ball forward, if you can't do that and you're small, then you have to be a decent jack of all trades player, otherwise it's a glaring weakness that requires players to instead have to always defend and tackle to gain possession, which means if you're crap at marking, you need to be a fast runner, it's reactive football and it doesn't seem fun, lol.

One team that's still good at it is Geelong. Luckily they didn't kick straight today i guess.

This is why I was heartbroken when I heard Voss wasn’t that type of player . Still like to see him get a run though if Perkins or Stringer is out.

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

It's be interesting to know why the change wasn't made earlier. There was an interesting moment in the Crows v Hawks game after Fogerty scored the goal to go ahead by 2 points. In the players box, Nicks stopped Von Berlo from giving instructions to the players, leaving them to work out how to set the field with the players they had. Maybe there was thinking along those lines in our game?

Possibly but I honestly doubt it.

 

[citizen-erased]

Still had an influence at the centre bounces once he got in there . Parish started to win more of the footy out of the middle when Setterfield and Stringer went in .
Setterfield may not have had a big offensive game but his size was a plus when Scott finally put him in later in the first quarter.

Did like stringer getting in there

He could be the 2nd BBM with setterfield option for the rest of the season

The midfield will take some tinkering still, but there's components to work with now.

 

[sameolds33]

Possibly but I honestly doubt it.

But Brad surely saw what we all saw - both last week and today. There must be a reason to delay making changes.

 

[ghostdog]

Longer term do you think we have the potential on the list to go with the bigger midfielders? Hobbs isn't tall but does he have the requisite strength over the ball? Does Tsatas have the potential to develop a real physical side to his game? Or is this an area we need to add more depth?

Martin has said he's keen to get in there so who knows? He's 190cm and only 21. He could develop into that player

 

[ghostdog]

Satterfield only had 2 tackle attempts. He was shocking. Think the short break got to him and hopefully he'll be back to his best next week. Was always going to be hard to stop Dangerfield.

I think we did well to keep the margin to what it was. Other years we'd just give up and lose by 10 goals. We were always going to struggle to compete with Geelong coming off a 5-day break.

There were several others who the behind post last week got more tackles than this week.