So who goes out of our mid group when caldwell returns?
Isnāt a trend though? We did it to the Saints
But he did have free kicks paid against him?
1 Like
Going to really disagree respectfully here. Parish wasnāt just āquarter backingā in the joel bowden type of stat ramping sense of itā¦ the dude was winning contested possessions all over the gameā¦ insane amount of pressure acts and clearances as well as two very damaging and classy goals. These were Daniel Rich style cheapies around the back being fed the ballā¦ Parish was winning his own ball, linking up with impressive outside play and generally just being awesome. I realise that sometimes a player can have āone bolt gamesā and not be A gradeā¦ but Parish has put in a couple of these games already this year and has been good when played in the guts since he arrived.
I would have no hesitation in saying that given the time and opportunity he is an A grader.
Agree McGrath is down this yearā¦ posted it two weeks ago that I think he is carrying something or trying to learn a new role. Looks a little slower and hasnāt burst through packs like last yearā¦ but go and look at his pressure acts and tackling yesterdayā¦ he was a beast. I realise sidebottom touched the ball a lotā¦ but it didnāt hurt usā¦ not in the way that sidebottom usually hurts usā¦ and that was due to McGrath niggling at him at stoppages. McGrath had what I was consider a ājason johnsonā type gameā¦ you may not have noticed him but uber important to the overall result. He was a #1 draft pick, won NAB rising star and hasnāt missed a beat since arriving at the club. I truly think all 18 clubs would be very happy to give him an āA gradeā rating on their boards.
Merrett is an A grade. Bone fide A grade. I donāt even think this is in doubt. Guy just rocks up every weekā¦ puts in 20+km of running, knocks up 25+ touches, tackles hard, wins his own ball, protects others, nails bullet passes inside 50 and pretty much runs our midfield. Blue chip, blue chip, blue chip A grader.
Agree Pies are poo and we are still very much in the ābuildingā phase. Have been very realistic all year but I feel very confident in saying we now have 3 boys who could be included on the A grade list without too many complaints or arguments.
4 Likes
1 out of 4 games we have got just rewardā¦
Weād want 3 or 4 out of 4.
Only dominated 1 quarter against Hawthorn
Should have been in front at quarter time.
Then had plenty of the ball in third quarter and lost that quarter by 6 goalsā¦
13 Likes
Wasnāt disrespecting Parishās game - how could you, it was awesome. Most of his possies were textbook examples of reading the play better than his opponent (whoever that was), using his body and gut-running to find space, and excellent disposal. But a lot, particularly in the second half, were setting up play rather than at the coalface (hence the quarterback description - not a disparagement). Watch the highlightsā¦ most possies werenāt insideā¦ String was in there, Perkins at timesā¦ Parish was first receive when onballā¦ pure inside players donāt rack up 650+ metres gained.
Iāve got a slightly different take on āA gradeā - for me it requires sustained performance at that level - so Merrett yes, McGrath and Parish not yet.
Iām pumped as anyone about yesterdayās game but our midfield has not beaten a top 6 midfield in a long timeā¦ letās not kid ourselves into thinkg that Parish, McGrath, and Caldwell donāt have improvement in them and that A grade midfields rely on one of their key forwards to do most of their extraction.
Weāre still a work in progress - and Iām enjoying watching our midfield brigade develop.
1 Like
Yes he did but Walla kicked five goals on him.
1 Like
So good
Redman had the kick out too and just pushed right up
4 Likes
If we knock the Blues over next week it may start a run. Iām beginning to think weāre a chance in every game. Discounting last week - they got an extraordinary start in weather conditions we couldnāt deal with.
Loved how Tippa walked past Pendlebury like he is not thereā¦twice for two goals.
Screenshot-20210426-123513-Essendon ā ImgBB Screenshot-20210426-123514-Essendon ā ImgBB
Screenshot-20210426-123538-Essendon ā ImgBB Screenshot-20210426-123538-Essendon-1 ā ImgBB
1 Like
Our team defence is not the best, itās not perfect, but it better and significantly so.
Most every side is struggling to defend quick ball movement which isolates defenders. Weāre no exception.
I think we saw yesterday though that we are defending the ground better and didnāt really let the pies get out the back of us much if at all. We also did a much better job of defending the outlets around the ground. I reckon they had maybe one goal for the whole day where they went end to end on us and out worked us - Cripps goal.
It does feel like the defence will get exposed quickly if we fall away at the contest but I feel thatās a cattle issue more than a structure issue. We were missing half our nominal best defence in the second half yesterday.
There will still be lapses and we can still improve the talent we have down there but weāre easily the most organised weāve been defensively in a very very long time.
The Carlton preseason game looked awful for large parts. The cats preseason game looked really good for large parts and lapses were punished, ditto Hawks. Port and lions just be brained us at the contest but we actually did prevent those games from turning into absolute routs 2019/ 2020 style. We actually stood up fairly well defensively even though we were losing the contested ball v Sydney and we dominated the Saints in all parts of the ground for 4 quarters.
Thereās still work to do clearly but the improvement is there and continuing
1 Like
We are a young team and there is definitely a future there, but we are still well off the mark. We have beaten the 16th and 17th teams on the ladder. We lost to 15th on the ladder and we were very competitive against the Swans, but they now seem to also be struggling and we were smashed against the 3rd and 8th teams on the ladder.
I see this year as being similar to last year where we started the season well because we played all the bottom teams early. Unlike last year, I am not disgruntled because we are playing the kids and players are being forced to earn their spots in the side.
All Iām saying is that you shouldnāt get to far ahead of yourself as we still need to play several top rated teams.
If he backs it up this week with a similar type performance and we win I will publicly apologize.
1 Like
And the diameter of the ball is approx 18 cm, so the base needs to be about half that (nearly four inches) horizontally beyond the outside edge of the line for the edge of the ball to be beyond the whole of the line. On the view that you get on the replay, thereās clear grass between the line and the ball, but that doesnāt mean it is out.
Now the grass is compressible etc so itās not exact, but the fact you can see clear gras when the ball touches the ground doesnāt mean itās out.
1 Like
Madgen was on him for at least two of them - crazy match up but for some reason they tried it - I guess after walls had kicked some.
The man on the mark rule is actually having quite a strong impact on that. All sides have noted it and are trying to work out ways of stopping it.
1 Like