Autopsy Round 4, 2024: Positives and Negatives vs Sydney

[RookiePick]

Positive: still rock hard

 

[Yeahnahmate]

Hands up all you campaigners that pre draft were like ‘Reid won’t get away with the fend offs / fighting through tackles at AFL level and will get caught a lot trying it’.

There was a fair few of you too

 

[Jaspar24]

Looks like a no to the Punctured Lung, doubt he'd be getting on a plane if that was the case. so sounds like some good news at least.

My thoughts as well…. Generally even with a simple pneumothorax they advise against airline travel. Could mean he may not have a punctured lung after all lol?

 

[sharps24]

pos

• we were competitive, enjoyable to watch even.
• did something different and set up over east for a week to reduce travel, looks like it paid off.
• no pressure coming for Simmo this week. Agree or disagree with the situation at least days like today take a bit of pressure off for now. Last thing we want for this group at the moment is constant speculation about the coach.
• Rotham came into the side and everyone was melting over Duggan and Cole instead. As should have been expected.
• Harley
• both our number 1 draft picks have now debuted, now we can feed through the rest of them.

neg

• skill errors by players from the lets draft players who don't have any skills era. In a real between a rock and a hard place with Duggan now being captain and on the verge of being a made man [eagle for life TM]
• LEdwards doing a hammy, maybe.
• Maric breaking ribs, maybe.
• Jack Darling continues to game the system by refusing to make moves towards Sumiches goals recond, and has now added maiming his direct competition to his arsenal.
• the levels of alleged incompetence on display by the umpires in this league continue to refuse allowing me to rule out the AFL as a WWE style entertainment product rather than an elite sports competition.

 

[Yeahnahmate]

pos

• both our number 1 draft picks have now debuted, now we can feed through the rest of them.

All 3 of them actually. I’m also relieved Drew Banfield & Michael Gardiner have finally made their debuts

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Hands up all you campaigners that pre draft were like ‘Reid won’t get away with the fend offs / fighting through tackles at AFL level and will get caught a lot trying it’.

There was a fair few of you too

100% thought he'd be caught a lot in his first few years but didn't want him to stop attempting it.

But unlike some of our built like Tarzan, play like Jane types, he actually knows how to use his strength. So good.

 

[ArdentEagle]

Only Judd with a better first couple of games for our club imo.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Too busy not being at the pub with Ochre presumably

Truthfully, until this morning I had assumed our game was Sunday morning as always so I’m ashamed to say…I was at the pub for the second half.

 

[Obeanie1]

+'s
We actually competed for 1/2 a game.
We won our first quarter for the year.
The effort was there for more time than any match this year, even though skills were lacking.

-'s
injuries
we died at half time and just didn't look in it from that point on.

Overall
I hope we persist with guys like Chesser (not a good game I know), Hough etc. over bringing back Gaff etc. We need to get miles into legs and time together to better understand each other.

Hough was in our best. Blanked Papely to 5 possesions and no goals if my memory serves.

 

[Grahame]

Excuse me if I’m repeating … was very happy when Reid grabbed his jumper after he kicked his goal. Hope it means we’ll have a long and successful partnership with him.

 

[mehow2g]

Juicy highlight package of Harleys fend offs in the AFL.priddis match report

Harley hype real with fend-off masterclass

Harley Reid showcases his highly-regarded ability to break through a tackle with this powerful outing against Sydney

www.afl.com.au

You know when you hear Gerard and the other grunting on the mic like that they are seeing something special, same stuff when Judd/Buddy were doing their thing.

 

[BeornJ]

Positive: still rock hard

Please consult a doctor if the effects of Reid last more than 6 hours.

 

[MrWoollie]

Hough was in our best. Blanked Papely to 5 possesions and no goals if my memory serves.

I thought Hough was good also. My 'didn't have a good game' comment referred to Chesser.

 

[Get_The_Gaff]

You know when you hear Gerard and the other grunting on the mic like that they are seeing something special, same stuff when Judd/Buddy were doing their thing.

When Kelly underwood starts using her 2 packs a day voice you know its special

 

[maverick001]

Not sure we've had a player that I can compare to Reid.

Just love seeing the number 9 out there dominating.

Merch store going to be selling an awful lot of number 9 guernseys the next couple years.
Particularly given there's not a huge amount of competition on this front at present.
He & Hewett to be my fav players for some time I think

 

[maverick001]

Looks like a no to the Punctured Lung, doubt he'd be getting on a plane if that was the case. so sounds like some good news at least.

So misses one week then a-la Steven May
Even better, misses 0 weeks a-la Guv, and takes a hanger and sets up the winning goal in the GF that week

 

[shumo]

BBW continues to grow. Taking some good marks around the ground now, really filling out his frame. We were extremely unlucky to have Flynn go down when he did. When he's back, BBW will be a weapon resting in the forward line.

 

[Wooshaaaa]

On Pixel 6 Pro using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Astro7]

Hands up all you campaigners that pre draft were like ‘Reid won’t get away with the fend offs / fighting through tackles at AFL level and will get caught a lot trying it’.

There was a fair few of you too

I wasn't a 'won't' but was curious to see if he 'could' and for how long at AFL level. Early days though, but certainly enjoying his attempts so far. Look forward to the fend off fest between him and Dusty (who uses it much less now). Also noticed that he often breaks tackles because he goes in and comes out bent over low, so he's harder to tackle, and increases the chance of head high or around the neck/free kick. Seems to have a low centre of gravity (big butt helps) and strong through the hips, not unlike Yeo. He's built, is a solid package, and a handful!
(Hewett is much the same)

 

[RookiePick]

53 i50
99 marks 15 contested
Beat the Swans in contested possessions
Turned the ball over less than Sydney
23 scoring shots and conceded less than 30 in the end

We showed our ongoing weakness to the ball easily transitioning end to end but we really did clean up several areas that had been hurting us. A much greater percentage of our i50 were deep and central instead of shallow and wide. We even generated 1 on 1 contests in the goal square a few times. It would be interesting to see how much JD sacrificed his game to pull the Swans.defence out of shape.

Our skills execution is still poor. I think we will look a lot better if we can execute basic handpasses and kicks better. Other sides execute and it is a huge difference at AFL level if the recipient doesn't have to break stride to receive the ball or the kick is weighted and placed to their advantage.

(PS - Jack Williams...I think there is something there. Just has to dodge our injury curse and get a block of games in)

 

[Roobs321]

Caught up with the replay late last night.

Was just a joy to see us look like a football side again. We didn’t have the killer blow in us and the Swans are a slick professional outfit, but definitely took heart from the performance. Against a bogey side that could’ve pumped us, thanks Adelaide Hills.

Can feel myself giving up on Chesser and Edwards a bit. Feel like they’ve been spudded by our development.

Seeing Harley cut loose in his first notable game was a treat. Brought back memories of NN’s second game against the Hawks. He won’t always get away with some of the things he was attempting today, but just seeing him get hungry and enjoy his football and strut his wares, yum!

Was interesting seeing the Swans hunting the corridor and getting thwarted. Also when surging we make a simple defensive error in the middle which cascades into enabling the Swans to break the lines.

I do enjoy a rare Tom Cole

28

Tom Cole

Age

27

Ht

188cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.9

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

5.0

4star

M

3.7

4star

T

2.7

4star

MG

110.3

2star

D

10.5

3star

K

6.3

3star

HB

4.3

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.5

3star

MG

110.3

2star

D

9.8

3star

K

5.6

3star

HB

4.2

4star

M

2.4

3star

T

1.8

4star

set shot. Unfortunately a poster in this case.

The Maric & McGov moments were concerning. A few guys were playing themselves into form today and a shame to see that friendly fire from Darling on Ryan.

 

[Manbearpig77]

A lot to like from that performance. Significant improvement.

+’s:

• Reid. Already my favourite player. Could be something quite special.
• Hough. Winning is position most weeks. Should get only improve.
• Gov. Easy to forget how good he is due to the injuries of the last few years. Back to his best.
• Yeo. As above
• BW. Won’t always win his position, but showing more and more. Definitely have a player to work with.
• Long. Starting to work his way into the season after a slow start.

Unsure’s:

- Ginbey. Solid game. Looks like he’ll be an AFL player, my concern/fear is he has a low ceiling, but he has plenty of time. We have far bigger problems than him.

-‘s:

• Chesser. I really hope to be proven wrong but I just don’t see an AFL player there. Made worse when you compare him to Johnson (who we should have picked).
• Cole. Turnover merchant who panics too much for a senior player.
• Duggan. Got lots of the pill but his turnovers killed us. Not good enough from our captain.
• Maric and Edward’s injuries. Damn shame. Hope they aren’t serious.

This is the level of effort we need to see every week.

The most positive part was seeing some improvement from the youngsters. If Hewitt can come back in the back half of the year, Ginbey and Reid keep improving, Hall debuts and shows something soonish, we may well be onto a half decent rebuild. Can’t drop our heads and get belted next week though.

Too many of our players have sub par/non-AFL standard skills. Have to fix that and or draft/trade in players who have excellent disposal. Must be the priority moving forward.

 

[Obeanie1]

Please consult a doctor if the effects of Reid last more than 6 hours.

So if Harley gets paid by Eagles fans to solve ED is that outside the salary cap?

With the age demography of the Eagles and the several years of flacid stimulation from the club it could be HUGE.

The kid would become a millionare within weeks.

 

[Doashuey]

Positive, watching the best player of the AFL era kick his first goal and break 7 tackles.

 

[carlyp]

Was interesting seeing the Swans hunting the corridor and getting thwarted.

This absolutely worth a mention. Great/Fantastic to see someone at the club watch/review how the Tigers went about stopping the Swans do that 40 metre pass into the corridor and then have the team implement it successfully for a large part of the game. Building bricks- platforms- something to hang your hat on. I don't think I've seen the team implement any kind of tactical play like this in quite some years. It's exciting!