Gee you're an optimist DB
I'm tipping 13 to 122...they will pummel us in that 1st qtr. now that they're getting their way and playing in their own playpen

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If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!

Pro: We were a man down for 3.5 quarters (a runner at that) and still ran the game out way better than Melbourne. Well done Jack Russell at least.

Lack of intensity for a quarter
Skill errors awful....
The last quarter misses were symptomatic of that... Not just the missed shots at goal but also the poor options....

We'll get murdered by the more skilled teams.... Especially if we don't bring pressure....

Good tonight
Pittonet tried, not bad for first up against much better opponent
Weiters excellent
Martin,.. Silk
Ed... We needed two of him
Cunningham... One of the few to show intensity in the first, no surprise he got the first goal in the second... Give him the ball when he can run (Doc did that, set up a goal, thought he was going to get torched in that one two for a second)

NQR tonight, (hopefully it's an aberration-or are we expecting too much)
Cripps.... Pantsed by Oliver, crucial misses
Doch... Mostly solid, then some silly errors
SPS... Miskicks under no pressures.
Walsh... Rushed kicks under no pressure, some bad options

Jury still out tonight...
Newnes
Setters
Lang (I summarised my feelings in the pre game thread)

And another thing....

I thought Betts at least applied pressure WHEN it was near,
For God's sake TALK!!... NO Crowds, you could just about whisper, seeing Lang run through Betts and Walsh... And fumble it...
Said it before... 'you don't even need to have skill to block and shepherd for your team mate'

I don't care that we NEARLY won... That was a full serve of TRIPE to the 67000 members... Nothing more


Go Blues

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“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

We just have to face it.
There’s no killer I instinct in our players.
Mediocrity has been celebrated for Far too long.
So many had the chance to stand up in the last term and shat the bed.
Sick and tired of losing
Sick and tired of ‘brave losses’
Sick if the putrid skill errors and kicking for goal that’s been an issue forever.
Sick and tired of slow starts and waiting til we’re 6-7 goals down to start playing decent footy.
The sad thing is, I expected a lot of what we served up to happen. Knew we’d do this after all the self tyre pumping we’ve been doing over the COVID break. ‘The players are sick of losing’, ‘We came back in great shape’, ‘The players are Really motivated and ready to step up’ ‘We have to be better for longer’ blah blah blah.
Same old words but no action. Same old Carlton unfortunately.

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James Hird and Essendon* FC - #FOREVERDRUGCHEATS

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my last one was rubbish

well said dom

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my last one was rubbish

Enjoyed the Pittonet/Gawn battle.

Pittonet really started to match Gawn's influence around the grounds in the second half. Thought Gawn had the better game per se, but Gawn going down and virtually playing on the last line of defence to protect a 5 goal lead was telling as to where Melbourne were at mentally.

Think it gave us a boost to see them getting panicky far too early. Also says plenty about their fitness levels given we had one down very early and ran over them easily.

I'd love to see 5 changes to make a statement that these losses won't be tolerated, but arguably do little without any real capacity for those dropped players to make amends without a reserves comp.

Teams love playing through Plowman's man. Did OK on Fritsch given the amount of ball coming in, usually one out, early on. Did Jones towel up Fritsch for 3 quarters or did they just start going to Plowman's new opponent instead? (I think Melksham).

Not sure I rate our stoppage set up too much either. Seems to be plenty of blokes overly aware of getting too far goal side, and instead just stand there flat footed as if they're trying not to get caught offside. The only time we look potent at the centre bounces is either a clean Cripps takeaway or it pinballs out and the blokes coming off the square have a clean run at it.

I think Betts is well past it as an offensive threat, but he still gets picked if a) he draws two blokes to him every time and b) damningly at his age still was far and away the best defensive pressure in our forward 50.

McGovern's worst was putrid, but feel like he was responsible for getting us back in it. Became very predictable with both hitting up McKay down the line and also the next kick in the chain (Gawn uncontested mark). Finding his role in that chain, and the fitness necessary to make the repeat efforts required is a huge priority.

Wonder if its worth giving Walsh the SPS role off half back for a few weeks. His work under pressure is somewhat questionable. Definite area of development and can do without the option of blindly bombing it inside 50.

Lang had 4 disposals. Not sure how the jury is still out.

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"I had to eat"

Biggest issue for this club is it’s losing culture. Very difficult thing to break (the St Kilda syndrome)

I have no doubt it stifles a younger player’s development

You can see it with our current crop

There have been a few players who have looked good in their first year but struggled in second and third year. Reality of AFL sets in.

It’s our biggest challenge

This.

This is where all the problems start in the first quarter.

Sooooooo obvious.

Teams give their all from the first bounce, not interested in conserving energy, knowing they have a size advantage over Ed and Murph and will smash their way through.

I look at the stats and see how many metres gained and how many possessions, including contested and I say they mean stuff all when I see Petracca and Viney smash through feeblw attempts by Murphy to tackle, ditto Ed.

When Ed worked primarily as a tagger, and Murphy was taken out of the coalface and played wing, they became effective.

Hard tagging does not require class, and playing for frees or being swatted like a fly when making feeble attempts to tackle is not going to make us a dominant midfield group.

This is not Murphy bashing, its something we all have seen in the past. He's weak in the physical stakes. Did you see him get caught by the hand and thrown around one handed to give a free away?

I was really hoping to seee Jack silvagni on Petracca to have 2 fighters in the same weight division. Setterfield has th height, but he's in a lower weight division too.

They smashed us in the middle and we bled goals ... 7-zip.

Midfield needs changing up. Either Ed is a tagger or he lacks the class to be a creative medfielder with class and skills. Murphy should not spend more than 10% in the midfield for a chop out and never start the game in there.

We may have run out the game better than them, so well done Russell, but at the cost of playing lighter players in the midfield (Cripps and Murphy looked skinny last night)

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Eddie Betts was fantastic doing what he does.

The ball hardly got to the full forward line where he was stationed.

He was the best of them all at putting constant forward pressure on the man with the ball and he will serve us well.

Couldn't fault him at all.

Some people are judging him by his age. He's still smarter than most small forwards out there, and he doesn't lack skills, and much better than any other smalls we have.

No one is knocking the door down and its pointless trying to turn a midfielder into a small forward eg Lang, Dow, Gibbons, Polson, Owies...who else? He's still a better small forward than Cuningham who is 10cm taller than Betts.

Problems last night were further up the ground. Those 5 misses, especially those from Cripps and Martin should have given us the win, and then every goal and behind we registered would have meant something, including Eds goal and the hand he had directly in another ie 2 of our 7 goals.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Murphy is playing like an 18yo. Should not be in the midfield. Put him on the wing for the remainder of this year to see out his career.

With Dow and Fish not yet developed properly we miss some midfield burst and creativity. I was hoping Cunners would be an established mid by now.

This post reflects my feelings too. All of it except the Walsh suggestion. Walsh at HB would work, but we'd be robbing his class around the ground and we have plenty of other options at HB.

SPS played his worst game for the club. Like Murphy he gets rag dolled in the pack, and defenders should be strong enough to hold position in that part of the ground.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Point taken. I'm an Ed fan, but I assumed he was responsible for Petracca from the start. If not, that's on the coaches. I think we need Ed to start games on the most damaging midfielder from the start.

True

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Need to do something!!!

Swing the axe on the fringe dwellers: Lang, Setterfield, Newman, Newnes....I know Teague loves Gibbons, but even he should be on notice.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Plowman DOES have a problem with one on one defending a tall opponent (or, of similar size).

I was a fan of Plows, but I can't keep backing him because of his 2019 BnF result. Admitedly, the BnF result shocked me a bit, but then again we were/are a bottom 4 team.
His job is to win his one on one battles.

Plowman is not the reason we lost, but we would all agree Fritsch hit the scoreboard and did his job for Melb.

I wish Marchbank was fit.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Plowman (like a lot of our players) look like they’ve never seen the inside of the weights room at Princes Park.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Rubbish.

Go and watch that 1st quarter again.

Walsh is playing on the wing.

Murphy is Petraccas direct opponent.

Petracca got all his 7 possessions in the first quarter against Murphy. 6 of those possessions was in the first 10 minutes. Walsh was no where near Petracca...and thhe guy who should have been, Murphy, wasn't either when he should have.

In the first 30 seconds of play, Murphy got brushed aside twice by Petracca, with ease, and the 2nd possession was a kick to SPS and his opponent, who beat SPS ....kicks to Fritsch.

No one doubts Ed gives 100%. He's a role player. He is not a class midfielder or play maker. He does his best work when he tags. Period.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I don't know why, but our players look skinny and don't hold their ground.

Russell said Crippa is leaner but stronger since lockdown. Last night I saw Oliver pushing Crippa around in the midfield square. Last year Oliver couldn't budge Cripps.



Plowman has a similar body shape to Tomlison. In fact standing next to each other Tomlison is bigger: Tomlison is a wingman. WTF is that all about?

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue