Review Round 2, 2022 - Essendon vs. Brisbane Lions

[Big Sauce 21]

Career Best for Lachie.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Positive out of the last 2 weeks is we are 2-0 after being shithouse. No other way to put it. We can only improve with better games from individuals. Harris Andrews

31

Harris Andrews

Age

28

Ht

202cm

Wt

98kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.8

3star

K

7.4

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.6

5star

T

1.6

4star

MG

151.7

2star

D

17.0

4star

K

9.0

4star

HB

8.0

4star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.0

3star

D

9.8

3star

K

5.0

2star

HB

4.8

4star

M

3.4

4star

T

1.6

4star

MG

94.0

2star

is in rotten form early, today was the slowest he has ever looked. Well off the pace. It's like he has constant ear infection. Just falls over.

Next week Zorko and Sharp out for Robinson and any of the half backs. I'm sure we can rest Zorks against North

 

[Gadzorks]

You're kidding aren't you? they got within 2 goals in the final quarter......and that's an "easy win"?

We're meant to be a finals contender. For much of the game we were just hanging on.

Maybe we should be a bit more critical about our team and less fanboyish.

You do realise that nothing we do or say (no matter how insightful and carefully thought out or critical) on this forum makes any difference?

We might be able to swing momentum a bit when the 50 people here mix in with the other 20,000 fans at the game and go nuts? Like, yell and cheer and have no critical thinking, just straight out emotional responses. Like, go totally fanboy.

 

[bato]

I thought Harris got better as the game went on. Seems to struggle against the tall ruck/fwd types with long levers. A lot of his struggles tonight mostly came down to our midfield being completely outplayed early on.

 

[Hirsty23]

Last week I thought it was a case of "played poorly but won" and having attended the game today I thought the same. Just watched the replay of the game today. We were simply a class above after quarter time. Not a dominant display but a really solid, professional performance today.

 

[Mikevk123]

Reckon having Darcy Fort

32

Darcy Fort

Age

31

Ht

204cm

Wt

98kg

Pos.

F/R

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.6

2star

K

5.8

2star

HB

2.9

3star

M

1.9

2star

T

1.8

4star

G

0.8

4star

D

9.2

2star

K

6.0

2star

HB

3.2

2star

M

1.8

2star

T

1.8

3star

G

0.2

3star

D

7.6

2star

K

5.4

2star

HB

2.2

2star

M

2.0

3star

T

1.2

3star

G

1.2

4star

chopping out Omac has been a blessing in disguise for you guys.

Keen to see when Hipwood gets back.

 

[Scubaveg]

You're kidding aren't you? they got within 2 goals in the final quarter......and that's an "easy win"?

We're meant to be a finals contender. For much of the game we were just hanging on.

Maybe we should be a bit more critical about our team and less fanboyish.

Maybe try meditating.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[lioninthesand]

Woulda been just awesome if we managed to offload Neale and load up on draft picks for the next era or whatever wouldn't it.

As some were suggesting.

I don’t think a single Lions fan wanted to offload him at all. I think some were looking for a ‘bright side’ equation if he insisted on leaving us.

He has a sting in his tail, was paying $15 for the Brownlow in the off season, he was my pick at the start of the year.

 

[lioninthesand]

I was heavy handed last week and some serious concerns remain. Port get smacked at home by the Hawks a further indication we are not where we need to be, right now. Bombers are horrible and where arguably the better team if you look at the stat lines and scoring shots.

However that was a professional victory. They threw the kitchen sink at us and we just controlled a win without too much fuss. Wish we knew how to put a team away once we get a few goals up, we always get in front and allow the last comeback.

Still think if we don’t really improve things the first decent team we face will beat us by 50+… clearly work to be done.

2-0 is better than 0-2 - that’s for sure.

 

[dlanod]

Why does he always look so unhappy or looking around at everyone else when the opposition takes a mark ?

He's obviously hugely respected within the club but his body language on the ground is a bit depressing a lot of the time.

I don't think it's my imagination.

I absolutely agree he's often confused about what he's meant to be doing and now that we have Adams we need to define his role more clearly so he's not bothering about what everyone else needs to be doing to help him do everything. Which seems to be what he thinks the way he responds to errors/mismatches.

He's assigned the "back line general" role, so tries to coordinate or point out break downs to fix next time, or try to get the zone set up if it's a shot on an angle in case the player centres the ball. Think Hodge losing his shit in similar scenarios - you basically need to point and yell to get yourself heard over the noise. His defensive results are a bit concerning but yelling and pointing doesn't worry me unless teammates start having a go at him back but they all seem to get what's going on.

 

[dlanod]

I do not think we can win a flag without dominate forwards.

The good news is that I reckon any one of our three forwards can put together a month of domination. We just need it to happen at the right time.

 

[CarterS]

Can we rewind to the live thread and look at the way people carry on when we go behind by a few goals, it makes me concerned for their emotional stability if this is how people react to a very slight hiccup.
From what I've seen there is a group of people who only seem to show up to the live threads and don't post anywhere else.

 

[Sanchez365]

We played okay, but that first quarter was worrying. Our center clearances were an issue all day, would be great to see a game where we don't let the opposition move clear out of the front of those stoppages. We seem to be much better when we can get our wingers involved in throw ins and ball ups around the ground.

What we can be very happy about was our conversion! Very accurate today and very accurate when we needed to be in that second quarter to grind our way back into the game. Accuracy like that literally breaks teams and we saw that today with Essendon. They were like, we dominated them in the first quarter and weren't even infront at half time. A testament to the quality we have in the forward half there.

I also liked Adams today, he made a few mistakes early on but didn't get into his she'll and kept going for it. Its handy for our other defenders to have solid disposal so we don't get forces to use rich.

 

[beardancer]

just on another topic. I had a bit of a thought yesterday on how we're missing the ball movement that Birchall gave us. We're having so much trouble moving the ball out of the back line at the moment. We're stuck in the formula of Rich to someone, chip back to Rich then long kick to a pack on the wing. When Birch was playing we could keep the ball more into the corridor. I'm a bit concerned that watching Rich yesterday that this could be his last year. It's a sad thought, our team without Rich!! And how would we move the ball without Rich being the first and third links in our possession chain.

 

[whizkizz]

Ah Chee was pretty damn good. He's improved a lot.

edit: 2 votes? whaaaaaaaat!?

Career Best for Lachie.

Not sure what you saw, but the stat sheet reads 2 kicks, 2 tackles and 4 handballs for the match. And going off the graphic, well below his usual game rating.

Could have been playing a role, but certainly wouldn't have him near our Top 5 players on the ground.

 

[ManeMan]

Why does he always look so unhappy or looking around at everyone else when the opposition takes a mark ?

He's obviously hugely respected within the club but his body language on the ground is a bit depressing a lot of the time.

I don't think it's my imagination.

I absolutely agree he's often confused about what he's meant to be doing and now that we have Adams we need to define his role more clearly so he's not bothering about what everyone else needs to be doing to help him do everything. Which seems to be what he thinks the way he responds to errors/mismatches.

I agree about Harris' body language, it's poor. There were a few times last night where Wright would get clear of him and take the mark and Harris would be shaking his head and laughing. What's he laughing at? It wasn't anyone else's fault. It's not a great look and it's a bit floggish, particularly from a vice captain.

I think he needs to focus on his 1 on 1 defending for a few rounds. I don't care how many intercepts you are getting if the forward you are following is kicking goals. He's probably just a little low on confidence right now and if he can shut players out for a few weeks the intercepting will come back on its own.

 

[Dalions]

just on another topic. I had a bit of a thought yesterday on how we're missing the ball movement that Birchall gave us. We're having so much trouble moving the ball out of the back line at the moment. We're stuck in the formula of Rich to someone, chip back to Rich then long kick to a pack on the wing. When Birch was playing we could keep the ball more into the corridor. I'm a bit concerned that watching Rich yesterday that this could be his last year. It's a sad thought, our team without Rich!! And how would we move the ball without Rich being the first and third links in our possession chain.

Daniel Rich is contracted until the end of next year so he will be here until atleast then.
We set up for a particular kick in which comes off most of the time which allows Rich to launch the ball after his 2nd kick to around centre wing, hoping for atleast a stoppage and chance to advance the ball further up the ground, it may be a different ploy to most other teams but it is still effective.

 

[Shaq attack]

Watching him tonight it really feels like he needs one role and stick with it. He got caught in two minds a number of times because he felt like he both needed to mark Wright but also hedging his bets towards a second player moving into his area, letting Wright get away.

He has been doing this for a few years now. Seems to get caught between wanting to provide help to team mates and cover his man. The result is pretty average and he needs to get better in that area. On current form, Adams is our best defender.

 

[dlanod]

He has been doing this for a few years now. Seems to get caught between wanting to provide help to team mates and cover his man. The result is pretty average and he needs to get better in that area. On current form, Adams is our best defender.

I'd actually suggest it's a coaching issue. If he's not clear on his #1 responsibility, that's not his problem - he doesn't ad lib what he needs to do.

Alternatively his #1 responsibility might actually be to kill other's contests and Wright getting off the chain a bit was the trade off the coaching staff were willing to make. The downside for us watching is that Andrews does come out looking poor.

 

[beardancer]

how good is adams looking atm. great intercepts and so strong riding a tackle and getting a handball.

 

[martinson]

He's assigned the "back line general" role, so tries to coordinate or point out break downs to fix next time, or try to get the zone set up if it's a shot on an angle in case the player centres the ball. Think Hodge losing his shit in similar scenarios - you basically need to point and yell to get yourself heard over the noise. His defensive results are a bit concerning but yelling and pointing doesn't worry me unless teammates start having a go at him back but they all seem to get what's going on.

I get it . It's just that he looks miserable doing it ,not like a general. He's also seemingly too hard on himself when he makes an error. And more importantly its affected his form. It's no coincidence that he was playing a lot better when Hodge was around.

Maybe he needs more support on the tactical side of things and just perhaps is one of the reasons they've thrown Zorko down there. You can see him starting to grimace as he has to contest a one on one where he's a bit out of position. It'd be nice if he could get back to the joy of just playing.

The backline as a whole did a good job yesterday ,albeit assisted by Essendon missing a few sitters.

 

[beardancer]

Daniel Rich is contracted until the end of next year so he will be here until atleast then.
We set up for a particular kick in which comes off most of the time which allows Rich to launch the ball after his 2nd kick to around centre wing, hoping for atleast a stoppage and chance to advance the ball further up the ground, it may be a different ploy to most other teams but it is still effective.

his kicking is still as good as ever but his pace and spring for marks is declining. I just don't see him charging into the back of the square and kicking a spear pass to a forward like he used to. he seems to be playing deeper.

 

[mpal6]

Lot of good signs in my half glass full opinion. We were able to weather the storm at various stages in both games while playing poor, switch the tempo around, do kick-mark keepings off wherever needed and then unload in a flurry.

The biggest takeaway for me is I was watching the game with quiet confidence knowing this squad has the talent and strength to hit back. When we eventually hit back with momentum change, it'll most likely turn out to be a flurry of goals. There is too much class in the line up now that they understand really well when the momentum has changed and sort of increase the tempo across the board. The opposition player suddenly doesn't have that extra few meters gap, we are tackling as a group and driving the ball forward in all possible means - creating our repeat F50 entry plan which eventually turns to a score.

Its also good to see us trialing lot of different ways to control play while momentum is not with us and we're playing poor. Even commentators have called this out saying its a sign of a very good team. We are up 2-0 now which is a great start for this season.

I'd rather this way than winning by 60-70 and then become deer in the headlights when Melbourne or Sydney go bang-bang-bang and we have no idea how to control it.

 

[Warwick]

It’s a shame Lachie will only get 3 Brownlow votes for that performance.

Probably deserves another 1-2.

 

[Warwick]

On Rayner - he will continue to improve in a new role.

The carry on in the media regarding his return and instant superstardom was ridiculous over the summer.

Was always going to be a gradual process.