Autopsy Round 3, 2024: Essendon v St.Kilda

[Ads734]

Gosh that was dissapointing.

We like Geelong should have won.

Firstly on selection. I don’t think Ross had much choice but to bring in butler. We are already so young as is. Selection was almost forced tbh.

Sincs Wilkie being poor when we were struggling is really not what we need.
Add in hill and membrey. Can’t really blame the youngster when the experienced guys are struggling.

Seb your a legend and showed poise when no one else did.

Football is simple. Kick straight. I think a much bigger part of our problem today was we were constantly having shots outside the 40. All of Essendon shots seemed to be directly in from or it was stringer having the long shot.

So often they seemed to get over the back.

I just want to reiterate how bad our injuries are and how young we are. We’ve already blooded three rookies.

Missing

Crouch
Henry
Clark
Dow
Howard
Hayes
Wood
King *

I think we’ll be ok and are still building but very frustrating.

Also props to Pou, besides that last kick he looked awesome. Finally start to get some movement through the stoppage. That run out the one clearance was awesome. Watch him gain a heap of confidence from that.

 

[MrFoster]

He would be elite if he was a little bit smarter and more composed. Guess that's why he was a rookie pick!

I’m not sure actually. He is basically a tall and slow big mid.. Can’t really tap the ball to a team mate or to team’s advantage, good at tackling and hack kick the ball forward, but is that really what we need a ruckman to do?

Unpopular opinion, but Ryder is twice the ruckman Marshall is.

 

[Sainter93]

I know he’s only 19 and hasn’t played a lot of games. But geez Phillipou shirks a lot of contests..

I hope it’s something the coaching staff are working on with him.

 

[the dark knight]

You guys had one job. To beat the bummers. Wtf? Is there any saints supporters that are happy with Bonner? If so, Why?

 

[MrFoster]

yep killed us in the last quarter. when we just needed to possess the ball for a bit he just went 50/50 long bomb time after time,

but I will add, he wasn't alone, we just needed to hold the ball and find a few easy possessions, we lacked composure and work ethic to do it

Typical example, we try to rush the ball forward only to put ourselves under pressure, final 3 min of the game, Battle marks the ball in the middle of the ground, saints in front by 3 points, instead of slowing things down, he handball to Bonnor who’s immediately under pressure, rushes the kick and straight to a bomber player..

Our problems are:
1. Our players don’t lead, they run hard to spaces which are often not there when opposition floods their backline.. This often means we have to long bomb to no one..

2. We don’t have enough contested players to win the ground ball consistently and cleanly.. I can only count Steele and maybe Ross

3. We still can’t transition the ball effectively when we can’t find easy kicks (later in the game). Bombers were able to run the ball out from their defence with ease, use over lapping runs, quick handball and kicking to leads, where as we continuously kick long to contests just to give the ball back, that is Richo/Ratten football.. stick to structure, and give the backline a breather..

 

[akaifu]

You guys had one job. To beat the bummers. Wtf? Is there any saints supporters that are happy with Bonner? If so, Why?

No one is happy with Bonner. Absolute horror show of a performance. Pre-season hype was all fake because that was bruise-free footy. Now that the real deal is here and the stakes are high, he crumbles just as expected.

 

[MrFoster]

I know he’s only 19 and hasn’t played a lot of games. But geez Phillipou shirks a lot of contests..

I hope it’s something the coaching staff are working on with him.

Philipou has never been a permanent inside mid, he played forward in juniors and has stints in the midfield, his midfielder craft is nowhere like a bont at similar age, apart from the height and athleticism.

 

[SG34]

Gosh that was dissapointing.

We like Geelong should have won.

Firstly on selection. I don’t think Ross had much choice but to bring in butler. We are already so young as is. Selection was almost forced tbh.

Sincs Wilkie being poor when we were struggling is really not what we need.
Add in hill and membrey. Can’t really blame the youngster when the experienced guys are struggling.

Seb your a legend and showed poise when no one else did.

Football is simple. Kick straight. I think a much bigger part of our problem today was we were constantly having shots outside the 40. All of Essendon shots seemed to be directly in from or it was stringer having the long shot.

So often they seemed to get over the back.

I just want to reiterate how bad our injuries are and how young we are. We’ve already blooded three rookies.

Missing

Crouch
Henry
Clark
Dow
Howard
Hayes
Wood
King *

I think we’ll be ok and are still building but very frustrating.

Also props to Pou, besides that last kick he looked awesome. Finally start to get some movement through the stoppage. That run out the one clearance was awesome. Watch him gain a heap of confidence from that.

Let’s take a second look…
Crouch - soldier yep. Game changer?
Henry - Great moments last week.
Clark - does anyone even know anymore?
Dow - zero so far
Howard - plenty don’t like- his best was missed today
Hayes - who? One great game for the club
Wood - has been good in ‘23. Missed.
King * - it could be 0.6 or 6.0 but definitely want him

Summary
King missing was huge
Crouch missed sorely
Wood for flashes

But Sharman being dragged was dumb.

 

[MrFoster]

No one is happy with Bonner. Absolute horror show of a performance. Pre-season hype was all fake because that was bruise-free footy. Now that the real deal is here and the stakes are high, he crumbles just as expected.

My theory is Bonner can find the open man and players on the lead relative ok. But when the opposition closes down the space and applies good pressure, it’s a lot more difficult. So we need to:

1. Ask our players to lead to the ball carrier, especially forwards.

2. This will also make it less taxing on the players, so they can transition the ball more consistently (with or without pressure) and for longer.

 

[Ads734]

Philipou has never been a permanent inside mid, he played forward in juniors and has stints in the midfield, his midfielder craft is nowhere like a bont at similar age, apart from the height and athleticism.

He was a mid in his u18 year. A lot of good high scope young kids do not play mid untill their top age year and many split their time. It’s not a criticism it’s a development aspect.

Ooh was getting over 5 clearances and over 30 touches whilst kicking 1/2 goals a game in sanfl colts. I thought today he looked as sharp and composed as anyone.

His tackling was a real standout as was his clearances were busted through. Watch him do that more and more.

 

[tomjoad]

Nothing to do with race guys, take it easy, clumsy point maybe. Was just saying he looks so bloody natural with every other part of his game, but when he takes a shot for goal it looks like he grew up over here in Japan and picked it up late. It's a mystery.
Of course Japanese people are great at sports they're familiar with, etc. etc.
My kids are half Japanese by the way, so I have a special affection for Mitch.

Anyone thinking you were being overtly racist there Luca, has their own issues, and should probably step off the PC gasometer a bit
Mitch's set shots are as awkward as they come. It's a valid point, and something that needs work. He'll probably always be a bit awkward with it, but so was Stewie Loewe in his day. He went all right.

Great teams make great captains. Probably Steele might not be made for it but he very obviously cares a great deal. Windy isn't ready just yet so we support Jack 100% whilst he's doing the job.

No doubt he cares, and he's clearly got the votes of the players. I'd just like to see a little more from him when games are on the line like that. His body language at times makes me wonder how much he really wants it. There are times it looks like he's carrying the world on his shoulders, and he's struggling under the weight.
I'm obviously not there, and don't go to training or anything like that, so I can only go on what I see on the T.V. or hear in interviews...if i'm wrong, i'll own it...but I sometimes get the impression that he's only doing it "because someone has to."
A bit like Geary (who basically admitted as much when in the gig)
That said, if not Steele, then who?
Like you say the kids aren't ready...so maybe he is our only option.

 

[cartwright]

On the one hand, any club missing seven of their best 22 will struggle. On the other hand, * me we just threw that away. If we take our chances in the first half they don't get back into it.

Truly hate putting the boots into an individual player but 17 turnovers is actually outrageous. Especially when you only get six contested possessions and six intercepts as a defender. Need to get some blokes back from injury ASAP.

Agree. Hate sinking the boots in but, shite that’s unacceptable

 

[JG22]

Forgetting the dumb late kick, it was good to see mattaes more involved and show some promise after a quiet start to the year. But that’s kinda what you’ve gotta cop, it doesn’t massively help us win today, not that there’s other mid alternatives.

 

[moirae42]

Even though there were moments, especially in the first half where we were just streeting them. It kinda felt off.

The game should have been over by the third.

What a waste. Another four points torched.

 

[mad-saint-guy]

King
Crouch
Howard
Henry
Wood
Clark
Webster
Dow
Hayes
Paton

There's 10 players who would've been handy. 8 of them best 22

 

[jwint43]

Very tough loss. One of those games that I thought we had put behind us. But we cannot get out of our own way when we have all the momentum. We should have been 5-6 goals up but we still can never put teams away. One of those losses that you look back at the end of the year and regret.

Mitch Owens can do everything except kick the ball and it needs to be addressed

 

[MOLTEN GANGLANDS]

someone needs to tell riley bomber that draper never actually signed with us, additionally if he's trying to impersonate shane savage

5

Shane Savage

Age

34

Ht

187cm

Wt

82kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.8

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

6.5

4star

M

4.5

4star

T

2.4

4star

MG

393.3

5star

No current season stats available

D

15.0

4star

K

7.8

3star

HB

7.2

5star

M

2.8

3star

T

2.8

5star

he's doing a kuller jawb

I'm a big fan of ross and went into bat for him pretty hard before we "officially" signed him, but the buck stops with the head coach, and letting bonner take the kick outs over and over during that rough patch when we couldn't get past the wing was a terrible decision. We needed some composure and to kick through the press with a few 30 metre hit ups that ended up with sincs or nas on the back flank finding an outlet kick or switching as we've seen them do hundreds of times before. Coaching needed to be better there.

With that said the melts here have been A grade.. maybe it was cos I had to work and was only half watching, but we're a young team and we had an off night in terms of execution. The intent was there, it was clear we were the better team, but couldn't finish our work, then went into our shell in the last quarter. Also we had a double agent in bonner making sure of it.

I saw some positives though,

Some of Phillipou's passages were the best I've seen from him. There was a passage on the wing where he found space where there was none, then with composure found a target in the middle of the ground and hit the kick lace out. Looked really good. 18 touches too. He is raw as hell but he has a lot of composure for an 19 year old, even if he stuffs it up at times.

He should be having a shot anytime he's forward of centre though, I think he took some pace off a kick that ended up being a 50 metre pass to the goalsquare.. would have gone through half way up if he sunk his foot into it

Camminiti is a ripper and I could see him putting real pressure on Membrey sooner rather than later. He's looking bigger too. Keen to see King and Caminiti in 3 years time getting service from a legit midfield, will be pretty fun! (I hope). Membrey's best is very good though, hopefully he'll get his sticky hands back soon

If we're gonna go full process and play the kids, I'd like to see schoenmaker get a run over bonner next week, but I feel like ross might back riley in. Hopefully not! Cuddly ross isn't gonna cut it in this situation

with all that said, **** I hate the bombers

 

[bergholt]

For the players on the field, yes, most definitely.

Nah not really. The popular vote for captain means very little - 80% of the players will just vote for the incumbent because they don’t want to rock the boat, and most of them have never been captained by anyone except Jack and Gears.

I love Jack and he clearly means well but it’s not clear to me that he’s a great captain.

 

[bergholt]

We simply need some continuity of games with our best players playing, otherwise we will continue to be a mediocre side.

Spot on imo. Inconsistency is a hallmark of young sides. We have a young side. Not surprising we’re losing games we shouldn’t.

 

[beside the seaside]

I think Lyon summed it up well when looking at the kids and their inconsistency. If you want to become a great player you need to be good every week. Windy was awesome last week but couldn't get going this week. Owens the same. Pou a bit better this week.

If Hayes can get match fit I think he or Caminiti might put some pressure on Sharman. Been really underwhelming so far.

 

[Madas]

I was at the pub watching the Bombers on the telly, warming up on the ground during the pre game. They all seemed to be laughing, somewhat abnormally, to each other.

Then at the ground, each Bomber player that came to the bench was giggling or cackling. Even in the first half when they were being beaten.

It was very weird and I have no doubt there is something afoot. Perhaps a mixture of laughing gas, steroids or some other PEDs.

If the AFL is going to turn a blind eye to this then we can only hope WADA come in over the top and catch these laughing, cheating idiots.

Don’t worry; the 4 points aren’t lost just yet

Wow
Account name checks out

 

[saintron]

For those who said Bonner was useless have a look at his stats was saints best

 

[Holy Hunter Clark]

For those who said Bonner was useless have a look at his stats was saints best

17 turnovers - a league record.

On Pixel 7 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[bergholt]

If we can't beat Essendon regularly- which we can't- we are a pretender, shite team.

Well yeah, don’t think anyone’s claiming that we’re the finished article yet, especially with a long injury list.

 

[bergholt]

For those who said Bonner was useless have a look at his stats was saints best

Possessions aren’t everything, especially when you’re taking kick outs.