AFL Autopsy RND3: Beaten by the Saints

[Lore]

Ridley is so reliable 99% of the time. Turned it over at a couple of crucial moments tonight though.

When everyone is playing at 90% of their best selves, you lose. By itself each player going at 90% is good, but it's not enough in a competitive league like this one.

Too many blokes going at 1 over par

 

[windyhill]

Big supporter of H, but he’s vfl bound. Stringers history says that he always needs one before he looks half serious.

 

[jannissary]

Ridley is so reliable 99% of the time. Turned it over at a couple of crucial moments tonight though.

it's a shame but i'll still love him to death

 

[RearNaked]

Team started slow Heppell stayed slow

 

[MiguelM]

Hill & Wood got on their own way too much.

Patience

Essendon of last year goes down by 10 goals plus. We drew it level

We need to work on creating space then using it in the fwd line.

Yeah, just ran out of steam in the end.

Umps don't see Saint's drop the ball it seems!

 

[ghostdog]

We could've and i feel should've won that. Credit to Saints though hanging in there when we had momentum and then making the most of their opportunities. Not too unhappy with how we went about it as a whole. We seemed to pay a heavy price for any mistake tonight but they took the game on and did plenty right. The bad that stood out. Redmans worst game of his career by a long long way. Laverde and Heppell had shockers. Heppell obviously well past it, its sad to watch.

Yeah I'm not unhappy about the loss tonight because the effort was there, the game plan is standing up when the players apply it and we're obviously missing some important pieces.

St Kilda is also missing players but had zero passengers. That was the difference to me.

 

[Mikevk123]

New Essington makes the same horrific selection mistakes, is putrid but not for as long and still can’t find a reliable forward target.
Jones is a worry.
Weideman is a worry.
Team selection is a worry.
Team defence is a worry.
Work rate is a worry.
Hobbs not being able to find a spot in THAT side is a worry.
Heppell is done.

hobbs rolled his ankle.

 

[Lore]

Team started slow Heppell stayed slow

That's probably the nicest way you could frame it really

 

[IggypopsTshirt]

Boys played well imo. Just weren’t quite to the saints level. Massimo was excellent and showed he’s very capable at AFL level. Ridley was great. Caldwell, Merrett, McGrath, Shiel and Martin were all very good.

Our lack of talls was obvious tonight. Really missed BZT and Wright tonight. Heppell looks beyond cooked and cost us early

hobbs rolled his ankle.

Hobbs is playing VFL.

 

[citizen-erased]

One thing that struck me was Ross' game v heppell.
A year between them and seb was running our blokes down, breaking out of clearances, getting back and impacting contests.

You cant carry passengers in this game
Year in, year out, we seem to

 

[citizen-erased]

I said last week out slow starts would hurt us and we could not afford to do it today. Well….

That said I’m so glad we fought hard and worked our way back.

Same concerns with Heppell. That said
Jake Kelly played his best game for us tonight.

I thought kelly and mass were excellent and mcgrath was ok without being good or great.
Unfortunately that and redmans mare meant butler, higgins and gresham broke us open

 

[Mikevk123]

Hobbs is playing VFL.

That’s a major problem then and needs to be questioned. What happened to setters anyone know?

 

[The Donners]

One thing that struck me was Ross' game v heppell.
A year between them and seb was running our blokes down, breaking out of clearances, getting back and impacting contests.

You cant carry passengers in this game
Year in, year out, we seem to

Hepp was finished at 26.

 

[IggypopsTshirt]

Mason Wood

32

Mason Wood

Age

31

Ht

192cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.2

3star

K

7.8

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.2

4star

CL

0.3

2star

D

8.3

2star

K

2.7

1star

HB

5.7

3star

M

1.7

2star

T

1.3

2star

CL

0.0

1star

D

15.8

4star

K

8.6

4star

HB

7.2

5star

M

4.6

5star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.6

3star

was the fortunate recipient of the Essington “Wayne Carey for an evening” experience.
Each week we pick one
spud campaigner from the opposition and make him look like The Duck. Congratulations Mason, it was your night.

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

I’ve defended Heppell long enough, does not deserve his spot. If he has much left in him then he should earn it through form in the VFL.

The start was not acceptable but we had moments that showed some fight.

I prefer 2 proper rucks, especially given our KP injuries.

 

[eth-dog]

Mason Wood was the fortunate recipient of the Essington “Wayne Carey for an evening” experience.
Each week we pick on spud campaigner from the opposition and make him look like The Duck. Congratulations Mason, it was your night.

In fairness he's had a good year so far.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

I thought it was a poorer game than people are saying here. I would have thought only 3-4 guys won their match ups across the ground.

 

[Bjchan13]

Yeah I'm not unhappy about the loss tonight because the effort was there, the game plan is standing up when the players apply it and we're obviously missing some important pieces.

St Kilda is also missing players but had zero passengers. That was the difference to me.

Saints played Ross Lyon footy. Hard running disciplined team effort. We were incredibly undisciplined in comparison. We ran hard too though and controlled long periods of the game

 

[BomberTime]

I thought kelly and mass were excellent and mcgrath was ok without being good or great.
Unfortunately that and redmans mare meant butler, higgins and gresham broke us open

Thought Mass was great offensively, needs to be stronger defensively. That will come.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Got pretty close to a bottom 6 side but that's about it.

Weed and Jones are pretty non competitive. Davey is a fair way off it. Stringer unfit. Very hard to kick a winning score even when your midfield is winning the contest.

Battled on but lack of polish, smarts and skill killed us.

A fit Tippa here could have made the difference.

 

[JT_the_Man]

I thought kelly and mass were excellent and mcgrath was ok without being good or great.
Unfortunately that and redmans mare meant butler, higgins and gresham broke us open

Mass had some moments where his 1v1 defending was exposed pretty badly. It’s probably the only thing holding him back from being an absolute lock in the 22.

 

[Runk]

I thought kelly and mass were excellent and mcgrath was ok without being good or great.
Unfortunately that and redmans mare meant butler, higgins and gresham broke us open

Yes. Higgins can’t ever kick four goals against us. That was not good enough. He’s a clever forward but requires far closer checking.

 

[Call Me Cake]

We were a Caldwell snap away from being a goal in front with a full momentum swing despite being 5 goals down to start.

Honestly we had no business making it even considering that start, but it did seem like we were slicing the Saints game plan apart bit by bit. Imagine if we didn't have the start that we did, that energy would have been much more useful in sowing up a match.

Just a shame that Caldwell played his heart out for no return and that we fed the ego of a flimsy saints side. They've got a game plan built on sugar hits but will be found out against good sides that've got it figured out. We'll take a lot out of that and focus on building a side geared for premierships.

Heppell needs to go though.

 

[Call Me Cake]

Mass had some moments where his 1v1 defending was exposed pretty badly. It’s probably the only thing holding him back from being an absolute lock in the 22.

This. 1v1 he gets pushed over too easily. Almost always a mark the other way which is lethal the moment they've got their kicking boots on. Such a shame.

 

[JT_the_Man]

We really won the best part of 2 and a half quarters fairly convincingly which is the part that stings a bit.