AFL Autopsy Round 14: Essendon defeated by Sydney (1 point)

[Lore]

Thought I'd wait a day or two to post this, but ergh:



They could've chosen any picture. Why that one?

 

[Pweter]

Thought I'd wait a day or two to post this, but ergh:

View attachment 385823

They could've chosen any picture. Why that one?

Ok, I started about 7 responses but will just sum it up with the fact that I too am bemused as to why they'd choose that picture.

EDIT: Are we taking odds for when the Bay will have a "caption this" thread with that photo?

 

[Mercurial89]

Probably best the team has an experience like that now, instead of you know, in a final.

How often have we found ourselves in that position? Good Experience

There are some real positives from that loss.
-The fight back, to be honest I thought we were woefully outplayed most of the night. I said it on the night while we were watching it. We looked like we were hanging on by the skin of our teeth. but we didn't go into our shells, we kept playing risky footy and 7 goals in a row later we had the lead.
- That loss will burn a lot. Nothing like a little bit of extra motivation in a close season.
- only a 1 point loss, didn't blow our % to pieces.
- Experience of getting and holding a lead.
- Midfield stepped up to match a really strong Sydney midfield. We are getting better here. In the last 7 weeks we are ranked top 4 for clearances


Absolutely gutted with the loss, but considering before the game id pencilled it in as a loss, we have Hooker and Parish to come back in and we can still make finals and lots of positives to come out of it its not the end of the world.
We regroup and we move on.

 

[DapperDon]

Why that one?

This is the same media outlet that employ Barrett as one of their esteemed writers.

What other reason is needed

 

[JDavey]

If you stop frame the replay you can clearly see that at the moment the ball is kicked Gleeson is standing directly in front of Rohan, feet firmly planted and facing the ball. As the ball travels towards the pair at least one but possibly both of Rohans arms encircle Gleesons waist. At this point an umpire about 20 metres away has what appears to be an unimpeded line of sight to the pair and appears to be looking directly at them. As the ball continues on it's path towards them Gleeson is lifted and spun on Rohan's right hip to the point where Gleeson is turned 180 degrees (back to the approaching ball) and actually behind Rohan. Rohan then marks the ball on his chest with one arm as his other arm is still busy completing the judo move on Gleeson.

I may be out of touch but I thought any sign of an arm wrapped around a body in a marking contest warranted a free kick these days. Gleeson definitely never stood a chance, but I'd argue that Tom Hawkins wouldn't have stood a chance either given what was allowed to take place. For what it's worth, Gleeson definitely looks to the closest umpire immediately afterwards as if to appeal, but presumably he saw the arm outstretched in the wrong direction and guessed that there was no point.

edit: I'd also add it seemed a pretty clear hand in the back to TBC in the boundary throw-in ruck contest immediately prior.

They weren't calling them most of the night, defenders were more or less all over forwards and got away with it.

We had a bunch of appalling decisions go our way as well earlier in the night.. for example
- Caught i50 holding the ball TWICE and neither were called against us
- Free to Daniher i50 for hands in the back against Rampe

 

[SydneyBomber]

Only good thing about that last 5 minutes is that so many of their bandwagon supporters had already left.

It's funny y'know, in real life up here i know quite a few big swans supporters - great folks that who are knowledgeable about their footy and shake their head at some of their peers.

For some reason though when we play at the scg it seems like every other nonce in nsw all of a sudden comes out to support 'their' swannies (only when they're winning of course), and act like graceless pigs towards anyone with the temerity of supporting an opposition team. Every year its the same.
Campaigners.

 

[Mootsy]

that is a depressing loss, make no mistake about it, we dropped a long way down the ladder after that.

think we dropped 3-4 spots on the ladder and are 6-7 instead of 7-6....

there is really no sugar coating it as just another close loss, the way we lost it is what was very undisciplined and just poorly handled.

 

[Mootsy]

Wanted to wait to post in here as, like many others, I was pretty shattered immediately after the match. Having said that, some of the shit in here is unbelievable. We lost to the team that were runners up last year, arguably the form team of the comp right now (and if not then one of them) by 1 point on their patch. Any one of half a dozen things in that last few minutes (Zerett's clearance, Joe's kick, the smother, the kick to that red headed prick) go different and we win, and the vibe of this place is entirely different. FFS people get some perspective.

I see your point but read what i posted above, then think about it again maybe, the loss to Sydney was the difference between top 5 finish and being well out of the 8.

So the dissapointment is completely justified..

 

[bennals]

We had a bunch of appalling decisions go our way as well earlier in the night.. for example
- Caught i50 holding the ball TWICE and neither were called against us
- Free to Daniher i50 for hands in the back against Rampe

Yeah, I'm not suggesting the umpires won it for them. Generally I think the umpiring was passable and didn't obviously favour either side. My point was more that Marty was definitely stiff to not get the free in that last sequence and couldn't have done much to stop what Rohan did, rather than it being a case of him simply being outplayed by Rohan.

 

[Teflon Dons]

Gleeson didn't seem to be appealing for a free kick.

Was it Mckenna jogging next to someone at the end? Was he injured?

The only other thing I will say is Sydney were a bit unlucky with some score reviews .

He just got bodied, threw him aside a little bit but if that was Hooker kicking for the game I would've been livid if the same thing got paid against us, so just too strong, should've been bags on the goal line.

Woosh said on SEN that Mckennas finger was dislocated in the last last couple of minutes.

Every one of those reviews the goal umpire called a behind and he nailed it for mine. Kelly's index finger clearly bends back on that last franklin kick which has been the most spoken on.

 

[AsIfYouCare]

Correct.
As soon as we stopped running and moving it on, trying to milk the clock, we were just pathetic.
FFS if Joe had handballed to Connor, that ball would have been up the other end before you could blink.
But you need to be able to do more than just one thing.

We're very bad at defending a lead. Plus, we tried to do it way too early, specially on a small ground.

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

He just got bodied, threw him aside a little bit but if that was Hooker kicking for the game I would've been livid if the same thing got paid against us, so just too strong, should've been bags on the goal line.

Woosh said on SEN that Mckennas finger was dislocated in the last last couple of minutes.

Every one of those reviews the goal umpire called a behind and he nailed it for mine. Kelly's index finger clearly bends back on that last franklin kick which has been the most spoken on.

Hooker in...McKenna out...dam dislocated fingers

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Keep having dreams that we won this game and then realise we lost by a point when I wake up

 

[Teflon Dons]

Hooker in...McKenna out...dam dislocated fingers

He'll play next week. Just popped back in no ligaments

 

[table tennis]

He just got bodied, threw him aside a little bit but if that was Hooker kicking for the game I would've been livid if the same thing got paid against us, so just too strong, should've been bags on the goal line.

Woosh said on SEN that Mckennas finger was dislocated in the last last couple of minutes.

Every one of those reviews the goal umpire called a behind and he nailed it for mine. Kelly's index finger clearly bends back on that last franklin kick which has been the most spoken on.

Agreed

 

[Vander18]

Frustrating loss but they'll learn so much from that....so many clear errors in last few minutes, easy to identify and fix.

Considered as whole...we pretty much beat a red joy Sydney team on the SCG. Our best is very good...in particular, we may have the most efficient forward line in the comp (maybe Adelaide edge us).

Defense is solid, just need to get the midfield humming....said last week that the difference between Heppell this year and years past is his ability to impose himself on critical contests. This game was a good example of that.

 

[Summer Nights]

Let's be honest with ourselves. We don't know if the players will or won't learn from it. It's a nice sentiment but it's not a given. All the loss says to me is we need to keep developing a hard, smart, skilful team through continued solid recruitment and all the rest of the basics.

We won't win the premiership this year. We may win it next year.

 

[ghostdog]

Let's be honest with ourselves. We don't know if the players will or won't learn from it. It's a nice sentiment but it's not a given. All the loss says to me is we need to keep developing a hard, smart, skilful team through continued solid recruitment and all the rest of the basics.

We won't win the premiership this year. We may win it next year.

That's interesting. Aside from EFC, which other clubs look at this stage of the season to be on an upward trajectory form wise? Most of the clubs above us seem to be plateauing rather than gaining strength. Even GWS are no certainties against other top 8 sides. I think Essendon, Carlton and Sydney, though you could make the argument that Sydney are getting back to where they should be. Melbourne is the only other team I see getting better each week. They could win a final or three I think. If Collingwood find a strong key forward for next year their side could improve quickly. Going backwards, maybe West Coast, but they won't fall far when NicNat returns. Question marks on Port.

 

[Teflon Dons]

Frustrating loss but they'll learn so much from that....so many clear errors in last few minutes, easy to identify and fix.

Considered as whole...we pretty much beat a red joy Sydney team on the SCG. Our best is very good...in particular, we may have the most efficient forward line in the comp (maybe Adelaide edge us).

Defense is solid, just need to get the midfield humming....said last week that the difference between Heppell this year and years past is his ability to impose himself on critical contests. This game was a good example of that.

On the AFL app we have the most efficient forward line according to champion data, by a fair way.

 

[yaco55]

Position on ladder would suggest it, but have won 6/7 & are form team of comp.

Name 6 teams that will finish higher??

Ridiculous statement

Nah. THE swans are a fringe top 8 team. They could make the eight but nothing so far has indicated, they are rock solid top 8 team.

I suggest the teams above the Swans are all better performed.

 

[rumply]

I see they are taking about that Kelly rushed behind after the siren, glad to see I wasn't the only one who thought the ball was dead when the defender takes possession. Very strange rule.

 

[yaco55]

1st big error...

Last center clearance, Zach wins and kicks inside 50 to a 2 on 1 Raz being the one, We needed Mckernan forward then to provide enough contest, Stewart and Joey loose in defense with Smack forward would've been better.

2nd big error...

Joey takes a fantastic defensive mark and kicks long to Tippa outnumbered, He had Tommy breaking to the same wing with 5 meters on his man, Easy kick for Joey, 100% ends the game as soon as Tommy marks.

3rd annoying error more than big...

Hartley mashed Buddy all night in the 1 on 1s, Punching all night, He missed the big punch that allowed buddy to get the game to 5 points, Unluckiy and wrong time more than mistake.

4th big error...

Goddard kick in, Enough said.

5th big error...

Belly allowing the throw in to go over his head, Tapps that front and center and the players dive on it forcing a restart was the only play, Allowing it out the back killed us.

6th big error...

Hurley or anyone really had to be positioned between Gleeson/Rohan and the ruck throw in, Top of the square and we win the game, You wanna bet 1 million dollars Fletcher would've been standing exactly there?

Poor last 5 mins but we showed plenty to suggest we can match it with anyone, Couple more wins in the draft or FA/Trade and we are in it up to our eyeballs.

A long and exhaustive post but missed the key moment. Fantasia sleeping allowing Ramps to get a free run at the last stoppage.

 

[Sooper]

On the AFL app we have the most efficient forward line according to champion data, by a fair way.

We are ranked 2nd behind Adelaide for Scores per Inside 50 (51%) and Goals per Inside 50 (28.6%). One of our big issues is that the top sides (like Adelaide) restrict the opposition ball movement better when transitioning out of their defensive 50.

 

[yaco55]

Watching Goddard's kickout again, he was in one sense a little unlucky. Rohan was just the right distance away from him for the ball to reach hand height and be smothered. A step or two before he kicked he looked to have enough room. Ironically, if Rohan had been a bit closer to him, the ball would have passed him on a lower trajectory and probably gone under his hands. There is a lot of luck in this sort of thing. Colyer's goal went past a Sydney defender's hands on the inside of where he was trying to smother, but at a height where he would have smothered it.
Having said that, Goddard could have just kicked it from the square. I suppose he thought he would get an extra 10m and a couple of seconds off the clock by kicking to himself. And you shouldn't have to rely on kicking under an oncoming opponents hands - desirable to make sure of it and kick it over him.
I thought we had two other near smothers in the last few minutes, one was Joe when he was called to play on near the point post, and I think the other might have been Hurley, when both times we were trying to use up the max time to take the kick. The first rule that we often ignore is to get back significantly from the mark and give yourself maximum space to work with if you don't want to be cramped by a play on call (Joe couldn't as he was hemmed in by the boundary).

You hit the nail on the head. Swans were rewarded despite their player Papley not being in the correct position. Goddard sees their is no player on the mark, hence he plays on. What was unlucky was Papley who was slow to get into position actually came in to man the mark on the same side as Goddard played on. Of course the sharp media experts missed this important fact.

 

[yaco55]

Give it a rest ffs. He was coming back from a soft tissue injury, there were doubts about him being able to run out the game. If there was any tightness in the VFL he would have sat out the rest of the match. The last thing we want to do is rush him back and cause him to tear the muscle even more resulting in scar tissue and long term problems. If he did play against Sydney and torn the calf off the bone then you'd be up in arms about him being rushed in. I'll back Crow and the medical staff who have kept our injury list in the best shape we've seen in years.

What. Parish was fit enough play AFL. It was a shocking call by the selectors.