What we have done?
We have done what?!?
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Essendon 2019 āWhat the Fark !? (Carlton)ā
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In team strategy, there is 3 elements to a game of football.
-we have the ball
-the ball is in dispute
-the opposition have the ball
In soccer the basic premises of the team is learning how to fold back into your natural shape quickly, when you lose possession. That is basic football 101.
This is our biggest issue. Obviously AFL football is more complex with having a bigger ground and more players.
But when we lose possession our defensive shape is the biggest weakness by a long long margin (A lot of people disagree with this).
How the team structures defensively decides Premierships now. Richmond, Hawthorn & Collingwood have built their attacking game around winning the ball back (with their defensive structures).
If we can become a top 4 team for defensive efforts, ie. locking the ball inside Forward 50 & not allowing the opposition to move the ball through the corridor.
We will win the premiership, because we are a naturally attacking team.
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Completely agree we need a zone between the arcs like richmond, collingwood, wc and the over achieving hawks have to genuinely compete, i hope rutten brings this with him.
You mean, when we lose the ball the word is : PICK 'EM UP !!!
Ruttenās fresh challenge
Essendonās newest coaching recruit Ben Rutten says the opportunity to work under senior coach John Worsfold was a significant factor in drawing him to The Hangar.
Rutten arrived at the club this month after spending four successful years at Richmond and the assistant coach said he had a number of reasons to venture to Essendon.
āItās a club thatās got great history and some really good people are here,ā Rutten said on Friday.
ā(I have) the opportunity to learn under another great, successful coach in Woosha and just to challenge myself as well, get myself into a different environment and be able to learn from different people.ā
Ruttenās role will include overseeing the entire teamās defensive output, while continuing to develop the sideās strong brigade of key-position players.
āIām going to be looking after the teamās defence and also going to be spending some time with the key-position players ā not only the defenders, but also the forwards as well ā and hopefully get some growth out of them,ā he said.
āMark Harveyās still going to be working with the defenders, but Iāll be looking at the teamās overall defence starting from the full-forward line right through to the last line of our defence.ā
Rutten played 229 games as a key defender for Adelaide from 2003 to 2014 before joining the coaching ranks at the Tigers and he says despite a number of rule changes coming into effect next year, the team will stick to the basics this pre-season.
āA lot of the fundamental stuff hasnāt changed for 100 years, let alone the last few years.
āSo we will be, especially at this time of year, building our season based on fundamentals and based on the basics of the game, and then making sure that weāre well prepared towards the end of the pre-season.ā
While the younger members of the squad and a handful of older players have only just returned to the track this week, Ruttenās eye has already been taken by a number of promising Bombers.
ā(Iāve been impressed by) some of the players that really excelled towards the end of last year (such as) Aaron Francis,ā Rutten said.
āAndy McGrath is looking like heās in good shape. (Brandon) Zerk-Thatcher is one of the key-position players that Iāll spend some time with.
āTheyāve been pretty impressive, but to be honest, the whole group has come back in really good shape and seem in a good head space.ā
The rest of the team will be back at The Hangar to kick off their pre-season on Monday.
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So Harvey is the one who will get the ā ā ā ā after round 8 when we are 2-6. Expendable
Has Ruttens all ground/team defence made a difference? I reckon it did after half time today.
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Reckon we are starting to see it.
The boys really really cracked in after quarter time and got harder and harder at it the longer the game went on. Collingwoods spread and overlap run virtually disappeared. Rutten? Maybe. Guts and determination and never say die spirit, yes, in spades.
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Conceded an average of 76.8 since round 2. I think weāre starting to see the defensive structure click.
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A lot of that overlap run disappearing because we had Guelfi run 1:1 with Sidebottom which meant he couldnāt freewheel like he normally does.
As close to a tag as Worsfold would ever do.
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Pretty solid defensive 6-7 we are developing. Hurley, Hooker, Ambrose the talls, Saad and McKenna the small rebounding dashers, Ridley and Redman the medium sized flankers. Canāt believe we arenāt even mentioning Aaron Francisā¦
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yep - and thereās the across the ground defence. Even if the backs are doing well, if we canāt reduce how much ball goes into our back 50 itāll make a difference.
Itās odd having arguably 3x AFL level defenders (Francis, Gleeson and Dea) who canāt get a game atm.
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I must admit I still underrate how good Cale is. Or maybe expect him to fall away, when he keeps on producing quality and courageous performances.
Our backline is much better than the pies, and may help us go past them by year end.
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That mark at the end of the game!
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If only we could get uncle Bas down for tackling practice.