Eagles review, and more broadly: Where are we at for the rest of the season

Football Discussion Dustin Fletcher Hangar
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People here banging on about the ‘game plan’ as if the couches collectively contrive to loose games. That is illogical. Give us the Hawthorn midfield, the Hawthorn forward line and our ‘game plan’ will still work. Our problem right now is lack of depth to cover the key long term injuries plus form slump amongst the experienced players to some extent ( God knows why it occurs all at once). Things will improve but just not as quickly as we would like ATM.

Support the boys.

We are not Fark Carlton.

42

-Giles should’ve played. I don’t care if he’s slow or a ‘truck’, we got destroyed in the ruck. Plain and simple. How many free kicks did we give away in the ruck contests due to inexperience? At least Giles would’ve given us an option up fwd too and around the contests.

-Can we please play Ambrose fwd? Like deep fwd?? I wanna cry when I see him in the ruck.

-Chappy is finished whilst Cooney can’t hit a target. Needs a hard look at himself after all those poor turnovers.

-In the past 3 games, we have averaged 53 points scored. We literally have no fwd structure. I legit can’t remember an EFC player leading I50.

-Fantasia/Colyer/Zerrett all tried to take the game on several times but couldn’t kick it fwd cause it was a 3 or 4 on Daniher alone inside 50. Instead they went backwards or handballed to a stationary player. Credit to them trying though.

-Stants take a bow.

-Edwards exciting debut. Has pace, takes the game on and can kick goals!!! Exactly what we needed.

-Is that really Michael Hibberd in the no.1 guernsey?

-Hooker/Hurls/Bags still saving our ■■■.

-Kavanagh farking better not be dropped.

I’d drop Chapman, Gleeson and maybe even Melksham for a Smack, Dalgleish and Jerrett. Oh, and of course the inevitable Gwilt/Fletcher swap.

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As long as we beat farkport. …with their full team.

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As long as we beat farkport. ..with their full team.

And that somebody shirtfronts that lazy log in number 4…

45
Honestly i think we are still in with a shot at finals

Looking at our games for the second half of the season and including our ins none of it seems that far fetched

Hawks
St Kilda
Melbourne
North Melbourne
Port (Home)
Western Bulldogs
GWS (Away - No Mumford)
Adelaide (Home)
Gold Coast (Away)
Richmond
Collingwood

Agree, but still need to win probably 9 out of 11, so really only Hawthorn and one other can we afford to slip up. Big ask

To win 9 of 11 is a big ask of the defenders. Hard to see that our backline can keep all opposition to under 8 goals a game. Remember Essendon has demonstrated that scoring around 70 points a game is a massive effort for them.

46
Must admit I haven't noticed the all our goals replays on the official website recently......good thing I would say pretty embarrassing when you only get 6
Probably blinked at an inopportune moment.

A handball from one of our players to another should be on the highlights. Wont see many connecting kicks

47
If there is even a hint of tanking at the club the players will walk out end of season. Exodus will be huge. They've already had multiple years of their careers wasted by the ASADA saga, how anyone can suggest we waste another is astonishing. We owe it to the guys on the list to play the 22 most likely to get the win.

HIRD.

TANKING.

neeld and craig would legit have to kill james hird before he lets the club tank.

ffs.

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If there is even a hint of tanking at the club the players will walk out end of season. Exodus will be huge. They've already had multiple years of their careers wasted by the ASADA saga, how anyone can suggest we waste another is astonishing. We owe it to the guys on the list to play the 22 most likely to get the win.

Really depends on your definition of ‘waste’, and your opinion of our capabilities.

Edit: and what you think tanking is.

49
Makes me so depressed watching GWS play.

They run and carry through the middle of the ground and try to take the game on.

We chip back and sideways and then hoof it to a 1v2 contest or an empty F50.

sigh.

The risk taking may not always pay off, but, when it does it’s awesome!

50
Makes me so depressed watching GWS play.

They run and carry through the middle of the ground and try to take the game on.

We chip back and sideways and then hoof it to a 1v2 contest or an empty F50.

sigh.

We were closer to the Pies at half time.

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If there is even a hint of tanking at the club the players will walk out end of season. Exodus will be huge. They’ve already had multiple years of their careers wasted by the ASADA saga, how anyone can suggest we waste another is astonishing. We owe it to the guys on the list to play the 22 most likely to get the win.

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I like the attacking mindset of 2012 and 2013.

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Heres the problem. We dont have judd types that can play inside and outside. Players need to be able to give repeat effort sprints 30+ times a quarter both offensively and defensively. We dont have many that can do this. kav and laverde look good from this perspective. Look at sydney. Parker is the perfect example. Inside but can spread a lot better than our inside mids.

Fair call but id suggest young Merrett is the fella who can fill this void. Inside and Outside good vision, good step and creates time. Another pre season and a stronger Core this guys could be anything (woukd be great if he was a foot taller :slight_smile:

Reminds me of Hannabery

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Makes me so depressed watching GWS play.

They run and carry through the middle of the ground and try to take the game on.

We chip back and sideways and then hoof it to a 1v2 contest or an empty F50.

sigh.

55

I recall stories that Sheedy would constantly update a magnetic board of his next premiership team. An oldskool sort of age profiling/list management I guess. I think it’s worth looking out now, because despite the doom and gloom our age profile actually isn’t entirely disastrous.

So who of our current squad can play in our next flag? I’m going to generously put that at 3 years away.

Our oldest players are:
Fletcher, Dustin
Chapman, Paul
Winderlich, Jason
Watson, Jobe
Goddard, Brendon
Cooney, Adam

Blitz will get it’s wish. They will all be gone soon. I would argue that our current malaise is partly due to a sooner than anticipated drop off in performance by these senior players. Everyone else on our list (injuries permitting) should still be able to play at a good AFL standard in 3 years time. Gwilt/Bags will be 30 but I think their form and fitness is promising with regards to their ability to play at that point (particularly with Bags). So what does our best 22 sans the old guard look like.

B: Baguley - Hooker - Gleeson
HB: Hibbered - Hurley - Gwilt

This is good. Unlike many of the bottom sides (see Brisbane/Carlton/StKilda) we don’t have to totally rebuild our back six. Sure, there might be some change in there (Carlisle back. Dalgliesh comes on? Who knows) but the core is good.

C: Heppell - Myers - Zerrett

■■■■■■■ love this. These three in their prime will be the best starting mid setup we’ve had in a LONG time.

HF: Zaharakis - Carlisle - Colyer
FF: Edwards - Daniher - Langford

First bit of rank optimism here. Edwards and Langford are a long way from sure things, and are exactly the sorts of things we need to go right for us if we aren’t to experience an extended time in the cellar. I’ve put Zakka here because I think he is an exceptional HF and an average midfielder. I hope we play to his strengths rather than attempt to make him into something he’s not. In 3 years Daniher and Carlisle will be 24 and 26 respectively. Prime age to monster the comp. That’s exciting.

So far our list looks in great shape, but here is where it gets tricky.

FOL: <bRUCK Midfielder 1, Midfielder 2

There really is no one our present list that you could say with confidence will be a quality AFL level player in 3 years time. I mean, it COULD look something like this

Bellchambers, Melksham, Hocking - - but those three are already at an age/experience profile where they should be at their best, and it’s really not good enough. So let’s discount them.

The optimistic Blitz setup:

FOL: SMACK (completes his re-invention as modern day undersized yet mobile ruckman), KAV!, Laverde (because why not!)

Optimistic, but certainly not impossible.

I’m not going to bother with the interchange because I think I’ve made my point. A good 3/4 of our starting 22 is (optimistically) up to it and will most likely improve over the next 2/3 years. Our task is to build around the Hepp/Myers/Zerrett midfield and Daniher forward line.

For 2015 Hird and co. MUST do the following:

  1. Find out if SMACK can carry the ruck. This means giving him a month+ as the #1 ruck then re-evaluating.

  2. Find out which of our current VFL crop has an AFL future. Browne/Fanta/KAV/NoB/Dalgliesh/Hams must be given games as form dictates and when they given the call up, must be given 3+ games to build some confidence.

  3. Keep Carlisle. If this means sending him back then so be it. We simply cannot re-build our team whilst losing prime talent for peanuts.

If there is one good thing to come out of 2015 is that is has totally shattered any illusions of a Goddard/Stanton/Watson led premiership. In a different universe without ASADA, who knows? But this list has a future and we must now start managing it accordingly (no more trading draft picks for has beens plz).

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Must admit I haven't noticed the all our goals replays on the official website recently......good thing I would say pretty embarrassing when you only get 6

Maybe we should switch to soccer - we’d be tearing up the A league with 6 goals a game.

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I've been a big critic of Stants. Can't knock him this year though been very consistent. I am going to ask what we get out of Howlett each week? Still can't believe he couldn't hit at least one of two targets standing by themselves in the forward 50 yesterday. He must have been in total shock that this situation had actually eventuated considering we usually have nobody standing in forward 50.

He’s been shocking the last 2-3. Went onto Shuey in the second half. First out for mine when we get any of the other mids back for.

He’s no Brock Mclean thats for sure.

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How did Carlisle become so ■■■■?

Bomber thompson broke him

James hird destroyed the remnants

Never seen a players talent so misused and wasted by coaches in my whole time of watching Essendon

59
Must admit I haven't noticed the all our goals replays on the official website recently......good thing I would say pretty embarrassing when you only get 6
Probably blinked at an inopportune moment.
60
I've been a big critic of Stants. Can't knock him this year though been very consistent. I am going to ask what we get out of Howlett each week? Still can't believe he couldn't hit at least one of two targets standing by themselves in the forward 50 yesterday. He must have been in total shock that this situation had actually eventuated considering we usually have nobody standing in forward 50.

He’s been shocking the last 2-3. Went onto Shuey in the second half. First out for mine when we get any of the other mids back for.