AFL Autopsy 5 goal loss to Swans

[NoWuckingFurries]

Seriously though, to have Sydney have 2-year dips then be up there for the next 4+ years. It is a joke. With the salary cap, draft etc ... there is just no way this is possible. Being as rubbish as we have for so long says something about how bad things are at the club, however, Sydney remaining around the top 4 for nearly every year since 2005 is just utter crap.

You need to get rid of any advantage.
The academies are not part of a equalised competition.

 

[dank420_]

Does anyone have any actual insight on why we are so poor at defending through the middle beyond x player is lazy?

It was especially bad this game.

I might be talking out of my arse here but it seemed like the tactic was to push up the ground into the last 1/3 when the ball was in our forward line. It perhaps was an attempt to get numbers around the ball to lock it in and risk it getting out the back. So the risk outweighed the reward.

OR, Sydney forwards pushed way back and our defenders were just following them without holding any structure.

What we also got smashed with was their running patterns out of their backline. They had such a good way of creating space to find a free player. It totally sucked us in.

 

[NoWuckingFurries]

Yep massive sook. The only thing Essendon did that was dirty was Draper with his late hit.

He was being blocked off the ball, so I understand his frustration

 

[fairbump_playon]

Feels strange this autopsy. We played a distinct brand, everyone was playing above their average output, our known weaknesses cost us in the end, but we kept fronting up and didn't get blown away. We play well, they played better, and we now have a sighter that we're about 5 goals off the competition pace-setters. Which sounds about right.

The weaknesses though...why is it that we're so uniquely rubbish defending transition? We've been the worst at it in the league for what feels like a decade. Multiple coaches, players, game plans. But a uniquely Essendon weakness. Needs to change if we want to ever get out of our mid-table mediocrity.

The "too physical" stuff is just a beat-up. Media need to fill column inches. TV pundits need to fill segments. Not much to it.

Good synopsis

We did well at the things we can do

We were smashed at the thing we can’t do

And why can’t we do it? It’s the perfect storm.. where we pay for both our long term culture of mediocrity and lack of desire to stay switched on and fight when it’s toughest, and our unwillingness to draft super hard running competitors.

 

[FootyGuru]

Like I said earlier. No defensive scheme can stop elite kicking. Swans kicked the ball beautifully last night. Yes we need to improve defensively and oppo transition, but Sydney would have carved many teams last night.

On the other hand we have average foot skills across the board and especially in our back 6. So much wasted energy chasing wayward kicks and repeat efforts, which compounds some of our defensive issues.

 

[boncer34]

Surprised at the positivity in here. I've seen this script before, solid competitive game against Sydney before ultimately folding. Except normally its 10 points or less.

Our defensive work is abysmal, it's been pathetic for near on a decade and nothing changes. Until we sort that we'll continue going nowhere. And we've shown zero indicators so far in either game that we've worked on it at all.

 

[JT_the_Man]

Surprised at the positivity in here. I've seen this script before, solid competitive game against Sydney before ultimately folding. Except normally its 10 points or less.

Our defensive work is abysmal, it's been pathetic for near on a decade and nothing changes. Until we sort that we'll continue going nowhere. And we've shown zero indicators so far in either game that we've worked on it at all.

I’m happy because based on last week I expected a 10+ goal loss.

 

[ant555]

Liked that we where a bit more physical.
Did not like the team defense . I am going to keep pointing at slow forward line across the board. It kills us. None of them have any speed and not just the small blokes. They rebound off Wright something shocking. He is the slowest of slow and he takes 45 minutes to transition into defensive mode. If he does not mark it, which he has not ben doing , then we are playing one man down. Then we do not have any other blokes to pressure.

 

[NoWuckingFurries]

Surprised at the positivity in here. I've seen this script before, solid competitive game against Sydney before ultimately folding. Except normally its 10 points or less.

Our defensive work is abysmal, it's been pathetic for near on a decade and nothing changes. Until we sort that we'll continue going nowhere. And we've shown zero indicators so far in either game that we've worked on it at all.

Ok mete.

 

[crackers65]

Papley seems like a bit of a flog

Seems? I think he is a huge flog. Pity Kelly was out as he seems to have his number.

 

[Knighta21]

Ehhh might have been interesting if the umps paid the free to Langford for high contact with like 4 minutes to go. Think it would have brought the margin back to 11 points. Swans to good with their foot skills and our transition defence was terrible. Missing Ridley.

 

[Learntopray]

What an overreaction. From the TV there were 2 incidents. Wright which was borderline a footy incident. Draper which was stupid but hardly anything in it.

What else was there?

And the Draper one was just after he copped Gulden jumping into his back with no play on the footy. Bit of seeing rrd id imagine

 

[carloss]

 

[BrunoV]

Out hustled Sydney around the ball comprehensively in the first half. It started with ruck control and Draper beating Grundy but there was much more pressure than last week and it was a much more physical contest.

Would be fascinating to have seen that game play out at the G. The constricted space seemed to suit us but Sydney is adept at playing angles and taking really short kicks that never feel Iike they're on in the middle. It releases the transition through the corridor in the way a 30m inboard dart does at the G.

Ground defence horrible. It felt like Sydney players were lapping ours, sometimes trying to catch up with the previous transition. It kept them close or in front in the first half when we probably should have been 3 or 4 up at half time.

I find it difficult to try to put it into context. The game can only look like that twice a year (if we play Sydney in Sydney in a final in addition to home and away).

That's a pretty similar game to the ANZAC day games of the last few years and Collingwood mids, wingers and flankers are pretty similar to Sydneh. We've held up well in those. Sydney's foot skills are next level.

The best Sydney team, including Adams and Parker is more suited to last night than the G or even Marvel.

Merrett and Setterfield outstanding. I want to say Draper was also great but it could be heat of the moment assessment. He just seemed to dominate Gruney in the first quarter and a half but, 6 clearances aside, the numbers don't favour him.

The umpiring was appalling even though we seemed to have the run of it. Completely at odds with the contest. So many times the whistle go before the rules were infringed? They were paying anticipated free kicks.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Seriously though, to have Sydney have 2-year dips then be up there for the next 4+ years. It is a joke. With the salary cap, draft etc ... there is just no way this is possible. Being as rubbish as we have for so long says something about how bad things are at the club, however, Sydney remaining around the top 4 for nearly every year since 2005 is just utter crap.

the swans are a far better run club than us.

it shows.

They get the most out of their list. We dont.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Positive = 100 points in a loss
Negative = our injuries... and now suspensions are hurting us

so same as usual

 

[Learntopray]

We are not going to improve when our younger players are even worse in defensive transition than our already poor older group.
Caldwell, Perkins, Hobbs and Tsatas (not lack of endeavour) were jogging behind their men all night on transition.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Surprised at the positivity in here. I've seen this script before, solid competitive game against Sydney before ultimately folding. Except normally its 10 points or less.

Our defensive work is abysmal, it's been pathetic for near on a decade and nothing changes. Until we sort that we'll continue going nowhere. And we've shown zero indicators so far in either game that we've worked on it at all.

most people expected to get utterly belted. So there's that.

 

[ghostdog]

Feels strange this autopsy. We played a distinct brand, everyone was playing above their average output, our known weaknesses cost us in the end, but we kept fronting up and didn't get blown away. We play well, they played better, and we now have a sighter that we're about 5 goals off the competition pace-setters. Which sounds about right.

The weaknesses though...why is it that we're so uniquely rubbish defending transition? We've been the worst at it in the league for what feels like a decade. Multiple coaches, players, game plans. But a uniquely Essendon weakness. Needs to change if we want to ever get out of our mid-table mediocrity.

The "too physical" stuff is just a beat-up. Media need to fill column inches. TV pundits need to fill segments. Not much to it.

It feels like we're playing a more physical game without a defensive system embedded. I think it's coming.

 

[boncer34]

I’m happy because based on last week I expected a 10+ goal loss.

most people expected to get utterly belted. So there's that.

Which is fair enough guys but I think that says more about our expectations than anything. Be nice to not go into games with such low expectations.

We aren't Hawthorn, North or West Coast. We shouldn't be expecting 10 goals + beatings in my opinion.

 

[Gabe251]

Ok, looking forward, rather than at the negatives, can we bring in somebody to have a defensive impact right now?

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Which is fair enough guys but I think that says more about our expectations than anything. Be nice to not go into games with such low expectations.

We aren't Hawthorn, North or West Coast. We shouldn't be expecting 10 goals + beatings in my opinion.

not sure about that.

we barely beat hawks and they are rubbish.

20 years of being shit weighs on people's minds IMO, they start to get negative towards themselves.

 

[LB#16]

For those wondering about Heeney whacking Hind in the face; precedent with Heeney and BZT will tell you, Hind will get in trouble for his face making contact with Heeney's hand.

 

[Chief Hopper]

I thought we played pretty well.
Essendon fwd mix is working well, kicking goals. I think the whole league has underrated how accurate and talented we have it there. Just need it to develop fwd pressure. Interesting to see how Guelfi can add to that.

Our midfield finally looks to be building some strength around the ball. Still getting out positioned at times but at least we're not getting thrown off the ball as much. Playing Setterfield and Perkins has brought in some desperately needed height and muscle.

The defence was workable, but showed how we are missing Ridley interception, Redman poise and Zach Reid too. Still from who we had there we did well for long periods of the game. Heppel looking way better than last year. Andy looks at his best last couple weeks then I've seen for a long time.
Lav looked a little rusty but I think it's because we're asking him to to cover too much height and weight.

Get more game time into the players, more strength, better positioning, we have a lot going here.

Sucks to lose, but if it has to happen against any team, may as well be the highly talented and well coached Sydney. Can see them go top 4.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

View attachment 1937554

What a ********.

View attachment 1937554

Such a ********. w***er.