Indeed my Foxy friend, you may be right, probably over the top. Like I said I think he had a good game, sloppy in patches but his last quarter got us over the line. and definitely in our top 6 players.
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It’s incredible how many only remember the shockers and forget absolutely everything else that was fantastic about his game. Really ■■■■■■■ weird.
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I just know for me personally, I was about ready to delist Zaka, Hep and Hurley after the first quarter. Round one, game in the balance, statements to be made, and they just kept kicking it straight to Adelaide.
But they were all fantastic come final siren. It was just classic Essington for a while there.
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I thought he was just about our most damaging player. Hard to think that anyone watching Friday’s game could think otherwise.
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I was pretty filthy with him at half time but his last quarter was sensational. Just kept running and running and running.
What was it with Zaka’s game that triggered so many? Guy was the driving force of our midfield all game. Yeah he butchered it a few times but when you collect 35+ touches you’re going to butcher it. Law of averages. I would have thought the fact that literally ran all over the Crows’ midfield should have been enough to garner himself universal praise but I guess people care about a few misplaced kicks rather than the overall impact on the game itself.
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Coach’s words after my son’s practice game made me think of this thread. He basically observed after their game that one thing they didn’t do enough was switch from flank to middle or right across the ground. He noted it wouldn’t always come off, and that football is imperfect. But he emphasised that they needed to not over-worry about the odd mess-up - he even noted that because we’d be working towards attack and making space a mistake might cost us dearly because we’d be out of position if we turned it over. But he went on to note that he wanted them to take that chance when it was on, that this was our opportunity to open up the ground, Not taking that risk would have us very easy to defend and we’d struggle to score goals.
15 year old kids can be taught it - you’d reckon crusty middle agers who reckon they understand the game could see it! It’s thrilling when it comes off, and we all celebrate the likes of the Begley goal. Sure there’s execution - the more often our passes are good the more our attacks come off - that’s obvious - but it’s also the decision to pull that trigger. What if Stewart hadn’t stood up in the tackle and got it out cleanly, what if a spoil or ball-knocked-out-in-tackle had landed with Adelaide? We’d been streaming to attacking positions and the centre of the ground was wide open - trailing defenders suddenly become options. They didn’t, because it did come off, but you have to understand that the only way that bullet flies is that we DO pull the trigger. Sometimes it will backfire, but if you over-obsess about the odd turnover, your view on attacking football is I reckon about where Lou Richards saw it with his “I wouldn’t kick across goal if I was Knobby Clarke”.
There was a heap of talk before this season about ensuring that players played on their instincts at times, and I reckon that was about just this kind of thing. Heppell having an inkling that a teammate was running through the corridor behind him (turned out one wasn’t), Zaka, trying to pin-point someone towards the corridor (and not quite hitting them).
From another sport, I’m sure Ben Simmons could reduce his 3.odd rate turnovers per game by passing conservatively around the perimeter. You reckon his coaches want that?
You want those Begley type goals, or not?
If you reckon zaka’s last quarter was where he “turned it around” then I’m not sure you were paying much attention.
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I just don’t understand what he hopes to achieve out of football. always seems to be 2nd to the ball, hardly ever looks where hes kicking when going into the forward line and while he’s one of the best technical tacklers on our team never ■■■■■■■ tackles, always harries, always corrals.
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8 tackles tonight
Don’t recall a single one, remember a lot of a first to 3rd year players running away from him like he was stuck in a bog.
I don’t care how many stats you throw at me, he was putrid tonight.
Not alone though. BJ, Hurley, JoeDan, Walla, Mitch “desk jockey” Brown, all putrid.
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and he ws putrid last week too. racked up huge numbers but was diabolical by foot. he can have his 30 touches a week, he fkg turns half of them over.
When the pressure goes up in games this man is no where to be seen.
He is one of those players that always looks good when the team is playing well but is absent when the team is down.
Has always been like this. Will never change.
He is the poster boy of Essendon mediocrity for the past 15 years. He should be asked to tag Brad Hill and see what a defensive mindset looks like.
He’s a bit like Marc Murphy
It’s games like this that frustrate the hell out of me. Played ok last week, got the footy in dangerous positions and did something with it. Today, it’s back to jogging Zaka. Absolutely no impact. He is worse than Stanton with a tag. Merrett is starting to show some of the same attributes. That is worrying.
Wish I had known he wasn’t playing tonight so I could of subbed him out of my DT
Oh God.
We lose.
It’s got Zakka and Langford threads pumping.
What a surprise lol.
Just lol.
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Before the lynch mob comes out to string Zaha up. In the sun this morning it shows he had 75 or so pressure acts. Trouble is of course that he was no able to cause much damage as a result, but I refuse to criticise his effort, along with Dev Smith, of course
The people he was pressuring were still able to get the ball to team mates and cut us apart. A stat counts for ■■■■ all if it’s ineffective.