Great podcast as always!
I would like to hear your thoughts on why we are conceding so many inside 50s and whether that’s concerning.
The entire top 8 except us, are top 8 for this stat, and the bottom 8 (except Carlton) are bottom 8 for this stat. We are 3rd last, and were dead last until last week iirc
We are obviously defending those inside 50s great, which is a plus. But don’t think it’s sustainable in the long term to concede over 55 i50s a game
Great question, it’s one I’ve thought about a fair bit.
I think the high amount of inside 50s we generate has come down to two main reasons. One is structural and one is personnel.
Firstly, the structure. Our full ground defense this year has been focused on defending the corridor on full ground plays. This has meant teams have more often than not moved the ball down the ground around the wings. This means that teams are taking longer to get from one end to the other, allowing our defenders more time to get into position. Entering inside 50 form the flanks rather than from the centre also means that the angles they can enter from are reduced, meaning our defenders have to make fewer choices about where to defend. Whilst this has meant teams are able to move the ball fairly well, it also means we can defend them fairly well, meaning we haven’t been damaged on the scoreboard as much from chains starting in the opposition defensive 50 as we were last year.
This also has other benefits as because we are generally controlling the corridor, it means that when we generate turnover we often will have outnumbers in the middle, meaning we can move the ball quickly through the middle and get into a scoring position before our opponents have the opportunity to set up. It helps us deal with a lot of the flaws we had last year, but I don’t think it’s going to be the way we’re going to defend going forward - i think we saw some signs against North that we were more prepared to defend higher up the ground - this allowed us to generate more forward half turnover, but it also left us vulnerable a couple of times to quick ball movement. The advantage of defending from the front is that you keep the ball in dangerous positions for longer, so the best teams want to do this so as to give themselves the best opportunities to score.
The personnel issue plays into the next factor. Where this method has somewhat come unstuck, and particularly against good teams (the Port and Brisbane games are good examples of what I’m about to talk about), is when teams have been able to switch to defense mode quicker and reduce our opportunities to move the ball through the corridor or throuhg precision kicking. The option when those two are taken away from us is to kick down the line to a contest. This is where you want your contested mark players to play a key role and as you can imagine with our injuries, we haven’t had those players that can either take a contested mark or at least halve a contest and create a stoppage.
Wright’s obviously been injured and it’s not really Weideman’s game. Jones was doing quite well at this aspect, but we obviously haven’t seen him since round 5. We were hoping that our two ruckmen could accomplish this, but they’ve been fairly inconsistent at this function. What this has meant is that our opposition have been able to generate repeat inside 50s because they win the ball back at these contests on the half back line or the wing, wither through taking a contested mark or winnign the ball through having outnumbers at the contest.
How many Inside 50s we concede is going to be very interesting to monitor going forward for the rest of the year. When Wright builds into some form he should help with the second issue, whilst if the North game is any guide they’ll be looking to change the way they defend, so we may be better at locking the ball in forward line. Definitely something to keep an eye on and if there’s a distinct change in the numbers from the first half of the season to the second.
Anyway, hope that made sense and helps!
Exceeded all expectations with that post! Thanks for explaining that, makes sense
Glad to hear!
Lads, looking forward to the breakdown of what we changed to go on that 8 goal run, and whether we then deliberately put the cue back in the rack.
Yep, very keen to break that down.
We’ve also got Robert Shaw on with us this week as part of our mid-season review, so we’ll be getting his take on it as well!
Our chat with Robert Shaw to mark the mid-season bye is out now! We go over the Carlton win and look at how the Bombers have got to this point and what we can expect for the next chunk of the season.
Our Patreon Q&A is happening tonight at 8pm AEST.
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First time I’ve listened, great stuff guys, good analysis.
Thanks for giving us a go, glad you enjoyed it!
What was Rob Shaw saying about Draper and Weid? Made no sense to me.
Keep it up boys. Glad I found it and listen in every week.
he seemed a bit erratic and out there this episode.
Jono and Ian recorded a Q&A episode with our Patreons about where Essendon is at and where we’re headed in season 2023z we were also fortunate enough to be joined by Rick Edwards. You can listen here
This week’s Don The Stat is out now! Listen to Jono and Ian address the logo media madness, answer listener questions and explore how we can get on top of Freo in our Round 15 clash.
This week’s Don The Stat is out now! We look at how Essendon can bounce back from a disappointing loss when taking on the form side of the Competition in Port Adelaide
I haven’t listened in to this one yet but will tomorrow. Keep up the good work 
Cheers mate, glad to have you on board
After a heartbreaking loss, Jono and Ian go through the positives to take out of the game before taking a close look at a team in a similar situation to Essendon in Adelaide
The Eleventh Don The Stat Bonus Episode is out now. It features our interview with fromer Essendon player and soon to be VFL games record-holder Ben Jolley