Analysis Why are we s**t?

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Not sure what has happened to the gameplan. Looks way too slow. No dare through the middle (except for 10 minutes in the Freo game). All the good teams are running at pace and scoring big.

Even Saints are running the ball.

Mind you, Kelly completely stifles any fast ball coming out of the back.

Definitely need to play with more dare or we can expect the same next year. TBH, I prefer Knights style to what we have been dishing up lately. Teams are still carving us up defensively too.

Scott says we are building a game plan to win finals against the top clubs. Looks like the opposite to me. We can't score to save ourselves.
 
MiguelM said:
Not sure what has happened to the gameplan. Looks way too slow. No dare through the middle (except for 10 minutes in the Freo game). All the good teams are running at pace and scoring big.

Even Saints are running the ball.

Mind you, Kelly completely stifles any fast ball coming out of the back.

Definitely need to play with more dare or we can expect the same next year. TBH, I prefer Knights style to what we have been dishing up lately. Teams are still carving us up defensively too.

Scott says we are building a game plan to win finals against the top clubs. Looks like the opposite to me. We can't score to save ourselves.
Click to expand...

McKay, Kelly, Laverde, Weideman and McGrath (I won’t cheap shot Hep) are all somewhere between terrible - below average kicks. It’s a massive reason
 

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We are further away from the top teams than ever.

All those calling for patience without identifying that we have gone backwards. Where is the core youth coming through? Where is the DNA/blueprint of a successgul game plan?

We are not moving forward. It is a mess.
 
ant555 said:
Improve the team defence. Improve the number of contests you expose your defenders to .
Click to expand...

The high defensive zone we play, means we get a lot of inside 50s, I think we are top 3/4 in the comp in that stat, unfortunately when it gets through the zone it is a scramble for defenders who generally have to defend forwards who have a lot of space to work in.

Also our turnovers leave our defenders stranded one on one too.

Does not surprise me to see 3 of 5 in the worst one on ones.
 
outersanctum said:
We are further away from the top teams than ever.

All those calling for patience without identifying that we have gone backwards. Where is the core youth coming through? Where is the DNA/blueprint of a successgul game plan?

We are not moving forward. It is a mess.
Click to expand...
If you haven’t noticed Sam Durham and nick martin are becoming a graders. If caddy isn’t an a grader I’ll eat my hat. Look what happens when you give Caldwell minutes in the middle, he is vastly improved. Unfortunately there are only so many midfield minutes and tsatas and Hobbs who both dominate vfl can’t get a look in.

What’s your interpretation of our game plan?

What would you prefer to see?

Personally I see a game plan that was built around personnel on our list currently and we achieved on the high side of what I expected us to this season.
Next year I hope to go younger so yes we may go backwards in terms of wins but hopefully our young guys continue to develop
 
I hate how we're still no clearer on where some players are going to end up playing. We appear to mess around so much, trying to fill holes. My unfortunate natural reaction to that is 'I wonder what coach X would do with this player/list'.
 
I said at the start of the year we were a 13th to 14th placed side so I'm not shocked at our overall result despite the frustrations we've all seen and encountered this year.

What hurts and will always hurt is seeing clubs who are rebuilding go past us in terms of growth & overall output (eg: see the Hawks). My prediction for 2025 is North will surpass us next season and we will be a bottom 3 side along with West Coast & Richmond.

I'm unsure what is holding our club back so much but I'd like to think people like Brad Scott will find it and correct it accordingly. He's got a hell of a job let's be honest.
 
One thing I always hear about Essendon is that we need to be better. We need to improve across all areas on the field to be a better team.

No. (hear me out)

We don't need to be better. We need to be DIFFERENT (to quote Steve Jobs)

Every team in the AFL is aiming to be better. All of them. So just being fitter and more skilled does, is allow you to be at the same theoretical level as all the other teams. All it does is ensure you don't fall further behind. It's the minimum required to ensure you don't fall behind.

In a socialized competition with a draft and a salary cap, the ONLY way to be the best team is to something no one else is doing. You need to be different. You need to have that point of difference or you won't succeed. We don't have that and we never have.

Hawthorn's mission statement encapsulates this dare to be different philosophy:

1724039379385.png



Geelong have done it differently. They had the oldest list in the AFL in 2011 and also the oldest in 2022. They have pretty much been the oldest team every year as the recycle their way through their list to maintain an average age of about 28 every year.

I'm not saying we do that, because what works for one team does not necessarily work for another.

But if I hear another person say we need to be better I will spew. We need to be different. That's the key.
 
They’re also both better though too

I think you need a solid foundation before any of that stuff starts to matter.
 
I don't want to hang shit on Hawthorne because they are a much better run club than us (not hard), but there is nothing in that mission statement that screams 'different'. There may be something in the 5 year plans, but the overarching statement is the same wank-word bingo that us and every other club put out.
I do note that in the initial 5 year plan (2018-22):
  • win 2 premierships: Nope. we actually made the finals more than they did in this period, and we both won the same amount of finals games...
  • get 100,000 members: Nope (unless they meant cumulative over that period for some strange reason)
  • develop Dingley: Nope, happening in the current strategic period instead
  • AFLW license: technically yes, but like us they were the last lot in when everyone else already had one
  • Extend the Tasmania sponsorship" I assume this occurred as they are still a sponsor

So maybe the better question is, what did Hawthorne as a club do when most of these priorities were not met? How they evaluated and learned from those failures is probably the bit we need to understand.
 
Probably just blamed COVID like everyone else
 

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FootyGuru said:
The high defensive zone we play, means we get a lot of inside 50s, I think we are top 3/4 in the comp in that stat, unfortunately when it gets through the zone it is a scramble for defenders who generally have to defend forwards who have a lot of space to work in.

Also our turnovers leave our defenders stranded one on one too.

Does not surprise me to see 3 of 5 in the worst one on ones.
Click to expand...
I don't think we're a high defensive zone team. Opposition comfortably hit medium distance targets from their kick ins against us. Our priority is defending the next kick.
 
outersanctum said:
We are further away from the top teams than ever.

All those calling for patience without identifying that we have gone backwards. Where is the core youth coming through? Where is the DNA/blueprint of a successgul game plan?

We are not moving forward. It is a mess.
Click to expand...

I don’t think that’s fair. We’ve found a few good young players this season.

Shoutout Duz inside mid, Jones Wing Dursma Wing Bryan Ruck, Caddy CHF Roberts HB

That’s potentially 1/4 of our best 22 that’s young and has come on this year due to either opportunity or positional change.

Then you have McKay Rids Reds Zac Calders Martin Langers and Gresh who you feel good about being competently best standard or better 22 going forward.

That’s 14 players (of 22) to feel pretty good about.

Just need to find 4-8 starting level players to fill some holes with 2 FRPs incoming this year plus a few high pedigree players to hopefully either get opportunities or be traded
 
jdstorm said:
I don’t think that’s fair. We’ve found a few good young players this season.

Shoutout Duz inside mid, Jones Wing Dursma Wing Bryan Ruck, Caddy CHF Roberts HB

That’s potentially 1/4 of our best 22 that’s young and has come on this year due to either opportunity or positional change.

Then you have McKay Rids Reds Zac Calders Martin Langers and Gresh who you feel good about being competently best standard or better 22 going forward.

That’s 14 players (of 22) to feel pretty good about.

Just need to find 4-8 starting level players to fill some holes with 2 FRPs incoming this year plus a few high pedigree players to hopefully either get opportunities or be traded
Click to expand...

Nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems.

At the start of the year most of us would have said that 7 - 15 was our range, sitting inside the Top-4 for an extended period of time was more a reflection of teams around us falling over than it was about us being the 2nd or 3rd best team in the comp.

Heaps of positives to come out of individual player progression, we're much better positioned in various stat categories than we were last year and the year prior.

For example; we've gone from bottom 4 for i50s last year to top 4 this year, we just aren't very good at converting those opportunities to goals right now. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the fix to that will include decent small forwards, which is also one the key issues we have with defending opposition transition goals, a lack of smalls with leg speed to provide ground level pressure.

Improvement isn't linear. We actually managed to field a younger and less experienced side against Sydney than we did in R1 against Hawthorn, despite most of the players in our best-22 having played 20+ more games and being 6 months older.
 
Dan26 said:
One thing I always hear about Essendon is that we need to be better. We need to improve across all areas on the field to be a better team.

No. (hear me out)

We don't need to be better. We need to be DIFFERENT (to quote Steve Jobs)

Every team in the AFL is aiming to be better. All of them. So just being fitter and more skilled does, is allow you to be at the same theoretical level as all the other teams. All it does is ensure you don't fall further behind. It's the minimum required to ensure you don't fall behind.

In a socialized competition with a draft and a salary cap, the ONLY way to be the best team is to something no one else is doing. You need to be different. You need to have that point of difference or you won't succeed. We don't have that and we never have.

Hawthorn's mission statement encapsulates this dare to be different philosophy:

View attachment 2084527



Geelong have done it differently. They had the oldest list in the AFL in 2011 and also the oldest in 2022. They have pretty much been the oldest team every year as the recycle their way through their list to maintain an average age of about 28 every year.

I'm not saying we do that, because what works for one team does not necessarily work for another.

But if I hear another person say we need to be better I will spew. We need to be different. That's the key.
Click to expand...
While I agree with the sentiment, Essendon simply haven't been and still aren't at the baseline level of a professionally run AFL football club. I do think Essendon need to focus everything to 'get better' to the point they at least hit that baseline threshold that allows them to be competitive for a whole season. I think they're on the path there but have a ways to go.

I think doing things differently is looking for that ultra-competitive edge that just might give you that extra 1-2% on the rest of the comp. We're peddling 30% behind the peloton at the moment, I'm happy the club seems to be focusing on improving the fundamentals.
 
Godzke said:
I don't think we're a high defensive zone team. Opposition comfortably hit medium distance targets from their kick ins against us. Our priority is defending the next kick.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I don't really want to change it either. Any game plan where you generate more inside 50's for 17 games in a row is fine. We just need higher caliber forwards and better kicking mids. Considering we also excel at centre clearance, it's not like converting at a higher rate will change ratio significantly.
 
Red Black and Blue said:
Agreed, I don't really want to change it either. Any game plan where you generate more inside 50's for 17 games in a row is fine. We just need higher caliber forwards and better kicking mids. Considering we also excel at centre clearance, it's not like converting at a higher rate will change ratio significantly.
Click to expand...
Agree. Just need a few players to come in and maximize the opportunities we make.
 
Just putting some notes together on Melbourne's build . People have criticized the Goldstein / Gresham / McKay FA moves but geez Melbourne traded for some mid range to average stuff in the first few years of Roos and Goodwin (from the end of 2013)
2013 - Viv Michie (21 games) / Dom Tyson (100 games) / Bernie Vince (100 games) / Danial Cross (39 games) Adam Riley (13 games)
2014 - Sam Frost (160 games) / Jeff Garlett ( 78 games) / Hertier Lumumba ( 24 games) / Ben Newton (13 games)
2015 - Tomm Bugg (31 games) / Ben Kennedy ( 13 games) / Jake Melksham ( 114 games)
2016 - Michael Hibbard ( 113 games) / Jordan Lewis (55 games) / Patrick McKenna ( 0 games) / Corey Maynard ( 2 games)
Some of the drafting was very good in that time although they had their share of miss hits.
More to come but it highlights the fact that you can bring in bit art blokes to help the build along the way.
 
Vince, Cross and Lewis seem like they might’ve been important for changing their culture from what it was into something capable of supporting a premiership side
 
Old Campaigner said:
Vince, Cross and Lewis seem like they might’ve been important for changing their culture from what it was into something capable of supporting a premiership side
Click to expand...
Tyson was also pretty good in that regard from my understanding of the situation
 
ant555 said:
Just putting some notes together on Melbourne's build . People have criticized the Goldstein / Gresham / McKay FA moves but geez Melbourne traded for some mid range to average stuff in the first few years of Roos and Goodwin (from the end of 2013)
2013 - Viv Michie (21 games) / Dom Tyson (100 games) / Bernie Vince (100 games) / Danial Cross (39 games) Adam Riley (13 games)
2014 - Sam Frost (160 games) / Jeff Garlett ( 78 games) / Hertier Lumumba ( 24 games) / Ben Newton (13 games)
2015 - Tomm Bugg (31 games) / Ben Kennedy ( 13 games) / Jake Melksham ( 114 games)
2016 - Michael Hibbard ( 113 games) / Jordan Lewis (55 games) / Patrick McKenna ( 0 games) / Corey Maynard ( 2 games)
Some of the drafting was very good in that time although they had their share of miss hits.
More to come but it highlights the fact that you can bring in bit art blokes to help the build along the way.
Click to expand...

I think these types of moves are great... once you have the likes of Oliver and Petracca locked up. Two guys who pretty early on show they are going to be physically dominant stars in the area of most importance. If not; you are trying to renovate a knock down house and you're doomed to failure only delaying the inevitable.

I don't think we have those players.
 
Red Black and Blue said:
I think these types of moves are great... once you have the likes of Oliver and Petracca locked up. Two guys who pretty early on show they are going to be physically dominant stars in the area of most importance. If not; you are trying to renovate a knock down house and you're doomed to failure only delaying the inevitable.

I don't think we have those players.
Click to expand...
every great team has a superstar early draft pick.

Pies (Daicos, Pendlebury, De Goey)
Dees (Petracca, Oliver)
Swans (Heeney, Mills)
Dogs (Bont)
Port (Butters, Rozzee)
Tigers (Dusty, Cotch)
Blues (Weitering, Walsh)

Cats are probably the exception, they just overpay with Ford Rangers


We have no one in that stratosphere from early in the draft. Get a top end pick right (like McGrath could have been) and we are talking a whole different ball game with out list. We perennially finish in the 7 - 14 range
 

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Analysis Why are we s**t?

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