If the selectors were going to go that way, i’m surprised they haven’t already done that bit with Ridley playing instead of Gleeson
Zero injuries…stability of player roles…has made the backline the foundation of our results at both the VFL and AFL level.
I don’t see a need to change a thing.
People say get rid of Harvey…and attribute all credit to Rutten…well I have no inside word from the club, and the results are great, so my default view is don’t change anything. Don’t change the coaches, don’t rotate them to other parts of the field. Leave it all as is.
We don’t even need to turnover the defensive players much in the off-season. Get rid of Dea (uncalled-for depth)…one more at most…but mainly, use what currency we have ($, picks) to focus on other underperforming parts of the ground.
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The actual defence is good because of the talent down there but the team defence still sucks balls in my opinion. Every week multiple times, the opposition is able to bring the ball down the whole field with uncontested marks for a shot on goal. This has been happening all season so unsure why the praise for rutten at this stage, I’ve actually been disappointed with his area ‘team defence’.
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Glad that experiment ended in 2017. While Cale did a good job up forward, his body of work in defence far surpasses that. He is the rock upon which the defence is built.
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Some his kicking inboard from half back flank was absolutely sublime though. 40m bullets that never went more than head height.
Risky but wow!
Match ups this week will be interesting.
Ambrose - darling
Hurley - Kennedy
Hooker - resting ruck if the bring one in or Allen
Saad - Ryan
Conor - rioli
Redman - Cripps
They’ve put in a couple of poor performance at home this year and are obviously coming off an average performance against the Swans. I reckon they’re just going at the moment. Certainly winnable
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Rioli suspended? Vardy as well I think
True forgot about that
A loose ball out to Saad and petrucelle would be a race I’d like to see.
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Yep, and just about every match we have played we have allowed the opposition to go on multiple goal runs and have not been able to stop it.
We haven’t put together a 4 quarter effort this year and are still showing that we are an immature side.
Over the last month, my observation is that we are improving defensively across the ground. Less rubbish conceeded.
I’m so pleased that we relentlessly hunted (bar the last 5 mins of the 2nd and 4th qtrs) Hawthorns little chippy chippy pinchy pinchy game.
So much to like about our defenders and general defensive effort.
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I’m not so sure of this match up.
Backline is Really going well, if we can get the forwards to kick straight then anything could happen.
Essendon’s finals run is off the back of developing the AFL’s best defence since Round 4
Mark Harvey sounded like a cat with the cream in the hour before Friday night’s clash with Hawthorn.
As the Bombers backline coach said, Alastair Clarkson had been scheming like Winston Churchill over the bye but he still believed his defence would hold up.
By game’s end his side had held Hawthorn to just 11 goals from 55 inside 50s and the Dons had kept a rival under 80 points for the fifth consecutive week.
TRIBUNAL: HAWKS CONDEMN STRATTON FOR PINCHING, STOMPING
ANALYSIS: PINCHING IS ‘NOT FOOTBALL AND NOT ON’
MATCH REPORT: MERRETT MASTERCLASS GIVES DONS HOPE
Essendon paid up to poach assistant coach Ben Rutten from Richmond over summer and then spruiked his team defence as the path to finals glory.
Then saw GWS and Melbourne both score 112 points within the first three rounds as they slumped to a 1-2 start to the year.
Yet since that time Essendon’s leaky backline has turned into the most miserly defence in the league.
Michael Hurley has been in great form this season. Picture: Michael Klein
From Rounds 4-13 the Dons have given up the least points per game of any side — just 66 points a game.
They also concede the least points from stoppages and give away the second-least points per inside 50 (39.2 per cent).
Essendon hasn’t kicked 100 points since Round 5, yet Essendon is still hanging in there at 6-6.
Some of the credit from those exceptional numbers must be sheeted home to the club’s team defence, minimising turnovers on the way out and working back hard on the way back.
But the Dons also have an unbelievably settled and talented back six that keeps getting the job done.
Any Essendon supporter who has seen Mason Redman slot into the back six is aware of his exceptional potential as an intercepting defender.
Adam Saad provides great run and carry out of the backline.
Around him Michael Hurley ranks No.1 for disposals per game for key defenders and Cale Hooker ranks fifth in the competition for intercept possessions.
Patrick Ambrose has received zero kudos but he hasn’t given up more than two goals to any opponent this year.
Then the rebounders get to work, with Conor McKenna having taken seven more running bounces than any other player this year.
Adam Saad draws the limelight for his searching runs from defence but he is equally adept playing lockdown on the competition’s small forwards.
The big tests are to come — West Coast away, then GWS at Marvel, then Sydney at the MCG.
But not only is it boosting Rutten’s CV as a potential senior coach, it is giving Essendon a chance to play finals in a year where its defence started like a leaky sieve.
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That’s an impressive set of numbers. Bodes well if we can get out forward line right
We just need to get something vaguely acceptable and we will be OK. Friday Night was the first time since the North game that we kicked over 12 goals.
Yes, … but a very unimpressively written article.
Bizarre that such a standard actually gets published.
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Well atleast we know now Smooth is in actual fact Jon Ralph.
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We just need some ■■■■■■ continuity with a group of guys down their over an extended period.
I look at the starting 6 v North in Round 4 compared to the forward line v Carlton a few weeks ago and it was like we were fielding a different team, there was that many changes we’ve been forced to make to our forwards.
You know what… the obvious thing to do with a defence this good is nothing… leave it be. But I reckon, with the D as strong as it is, you could afford to throw Hooker forward for a quarter or two, stick McKenna at half-forward (the guy could pick out targets in the f50 like no one else, or kick them himself from outside 50 etc.), if we find ourselves behind in a game.
Woosh is about as risk-averse a coach as they come so i can never see it happening… but i reckon other coaches would do it, if the situation called for it. And with String out this week, Mckernan and Raz still finding their feet… reckon the fwd line might call for some spark in the next fortnight