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

Football Discussion Dustin Fletcher Hangar
61
If we are to tank we need a large forward target and or crumber. Fark getting more mids for now. We can have selwood , pendles and ablett and still couldn't kick a score. Someone that can get the ball , be a target or at least draw a defender and kick goals would be nice. Hi

A crumber to mop up would be good too and give chase would be nice to see. We had one once , but he left for port after being made a decoy and defensive forward for some reason.

Joe cant do it alone. And jake just cant do it.

So in spite of the fact the forward line is undermanned because we are trying to prop up the midfield you still can’t see that its the midfield where the issues really lie & what needs to be addressed 1st & foremost?

At what point will we stop drafting midfielders and pick up something like a forward? Our midfield is pretty decent but nothing to kick to. Where will our score come from? Sure the midfield is where it gets delivered from but where does it go? Into the forward line and even quicker to come back out of there.

You never ever ever stop drafting mids because a team is made up of mostly midfielders. This is the reality of the modern game that the club took too long to embrace.

I think we can afford to pick a forward or two in one draft. I know what youre saying but what goods a midfielder if you have f all to kick to?

If joe goes down who replaces him?
Carlisle? Lol f no

Fletcher? Cant string two games in 3 weeks together.

Tbc? Try ruck first but dude cant keep his feet

Ambrose? Lol ffs

Umm… who else we got?

Just in case you missed it our last top 10 pick was used on a forward (JD) & our 1st pick last year was also used on a forward (Langford). We used our top pick to draft Hurley who was supposed to be a forward & before that Gumbleton. Steinberg was supposed to be a forward & of course there’s also the part where our leading goal scorers 2 years in a row walked out of the club for minimal return. When you do the basic maths we’ve invested enough into the forward line but haven’t chosen or developed well enough. We had the best forward combo in the clubs history but struggled from 2001 onwards because we didn’t have a midfield that could supply them. Sure, its important to have forward targets buts its more important to have players who can win the ball & effectively get it forward. The days of a FF kicking half the sides score are over.

62

So the coaches thought the midfield was so weak that we needed to compromise our forward structures to compensate.

That is a poor commentary on some of our midfielders. And this ‘Plan B’ gamestyle has failed too.

Have to reset the structures back, and just keep trying different midfield combinations. Maybe Bags from the start of the match? Or Hibbo? Ask Stants to play more inside?

Also makes me wonder about NOB, Hams, Aylett long term, if they are regarded as ranking behind these midfielders.

63
If we are to tank we need a large forward target and or crumber. Fark getting more mids for now. We can have selwood , pendles and ablett and still couldn't kick a score. Someone that can get the ball , be a target or at least draw a defender and kick goals would be nice. Hi

A crumber to mop up would be good too and give chase would be nice to see. We had one once , but he left for port after being made a decoy and defensive forward for some reason.

Joe cant do it alone. And jake just cant do it.

So in spite of the fact the forward line is undermanned because we are trying to prop up the midfield you still can’t see that its the midfield where the issues really lie & what needs to be addressed 1st & foremost?

At what point will we stop drafting midfielders and pick up something like a forward? Our midfield is pretty decent but nothing to kick to. Where will our score come from? Sure the midfield is where it gets delivered from but where does it go? Into the forward line and even quicker to come back out of there.

You never ever ever stop drafting mids because a team is made up of mostly midfielders. This is the reality of the modern game that the club took too long to embrace.

I think we can afford to pick a forward or two in one draft. I know what youre saying but what goods a midfielder if you have f all to kick to?

If joe goes down who replaces him?
Carlisle? Lol f no

Fletcher? Cant string two games in 3 weeks together.

Tbc? Try ruck first but dude cant keep his feet

Ambrose? Lol ffs

Umm… who else we got?

64

Some statistics I stumbled upon with regards to our free kick differentials for our midfield and forward line players this year highlights the obvious issues we are having. The figures below show the differential (frees for, less frees against, by player) for this year (11 games) compared to last year (full season)

Midfield
Watson - 2015 (-12), 2014 (+6)
Stanton - 2015 (-7), 2014 (+7)
Melksham - 2015 (-12), 2014 (-1)
Goddard - 2015 (-1), 2014 (+ 8)

Bellchambers - 2015 (-8), 2014 (-9)

Heppell - 2015 (+11), 2014 (+10)
Zerrett - 2015 (+8), 2014 (+14)
Howlett - 2015 (+6), 2014 (-4)

Forwards
Daniher - 2015 (-15), 2014 (-7)
Ambrose - 2015 (-8), 2014 (-8)
Carlisle - 2015 (-3), 2014 (-1)

Whilst the midfield results are symptomatic of our overall season to date i think it clearly reinforces the issues being regularly discussed re: our speed of ball movement, ability to react quickly (being consistently second to the ball), clearances (lack of) and skills (just not good enough).

Based on these stats it is our most experienced players who would appear to be struggling the most. In fact the change in such a short period of time is actually quite alarming. However I don’t think this is specifically a decline in their individual abilities. Rather I think it is our game plan not aligning with the strengths and abilities of the players on the field.

In conjunction with the injection of some youth, speed and flair in the second half of the season we need to look at our overall game plan and combinations to increase the output of these senior players as this can only benefit the team as a whole.

With respect to our forward line I think the stats highlight a combination of slow delivery and poor positioning. The positioning issues for Joe and Jake are clearly fixable with experience. It’s the delivery that is the big issue for me and hopefully with the midfield issues being addressed sooner rather than latter this will improve accordingly.

65

We need to drop players not doing their Jobs who are not part of the future.

It’s sad to say because I like all of them but Howlett, Dempsey, Chapman are not the future and we need to start getting games into NOB, Langford, Laverde, as well as Fantasia, Kav and Edwards.

Howlett has been a warrior this year but he is becoming a liability with his lack of offensive game.

Melksham needs to be released to play his offensive game more, he is being stifled chasing other player around the park.

Ambrose just isn’t working up forward. A stint in the twos and maybe searching for a different role to HFF to make him more versatile when he isn’t hitting the scoreboard.

The ruck forwards we just need to persist with. Belly to finish out the season in the twos. Carlisle back to FF, Daniher to CHF. Smack main ruck changing with Carlisle for a few weeks then experiment with Smack and Gikes later in the season.

The rest of the year we should be trying very hard to sort out how to be more damaging with the footy, the coaches need to get creative, experiment with structure and tactics to see what can be as defensive and can work offensively as well.

We maybe have two more years with this squad before a big change will happen, we have had a bad year, so let’s not dwell on it, let’s use it to our advantage.

Bringing back Myers, Zaka, Hocking and potentially Kommer over the next month will help as well. But we shouldn’t keep the kids out entirely.

66
How did Carlisle become so ■■■■?

played one good game as a forward

he should have known better after seeing how they nearly ruined hurleys career up there

Played 2 actually. One was against a team who got taken to the cleaners by any half decent KPF last year and the other was against an opponent who was so shot he retired 2 days later.

67

Just wanted to say How good is Hurley down back. God he and hooker carry that defense and baguley too i guess but the way he throws himself at the contest. Honestly if it wasn’t for hurley/hooker/baguley we would be getting belted by 100+ each week.

68
We lost because we kicked less goals.

We need to kick goals to win.

Love Einstein.

But we need more midfielders?

69
If we are to tank we need a large forward target and or crumber. Fark getting more mids for now. We can have selwood , pendles and ablett and still couldn't kick a score. Someone that can get the ball , be a target or at least draw a defender and kick goals would be nice.

A crumber to mop up would be good too and give chase would be nice to see. We had one once , but he left for port after being made a decoy and defensive forward for some reason.

Joe cant do it alone. And jake just cant do it.

So in spite of the fact the forward line is undermanned because we are trying to prop up the midfield you still can’t see that its the midfield where the issues really lie & what needs to be addressed 1st & foremost?

At what point will we stop drafting midfielders and pick up something like a forward? Our midfield is pretty decent but nothing to kick to. Where will our score come from? Sure the midfield is where it gets delivered from but where does it go? Into the forward line and even quicker to come back out of there.

You never ever ever stop drafting mids because a team is made up of mostly midfielders. This is the reality of the modern game that the club took too long to embrace.

70
How did Carlisle become so ■■■■?

played one good game as a forward

he should have known better after seeing how they nearly ruined hurleys career up there

71
losing zaka and myers and hocking has really hurt us and hepp and watson have had injuries.
We know that, no one else cares.

Please… get all that sorted and we stilk wont kick a score. 2-3 players inbound and a fit watson? Thats gonna do it is it? Will it fix Carlisles game? Make chapman look better? Get us over 50 points per game? Fix hibberds mcphee inpersonation?

A fit side Hardly worked with bomber last year, could barely put a score on the board

72

Effort was a marked improvement, but, the execution is still questionable.

73
-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.

Very hard to lead inside 50 when you are still running back from the half back flank. If you have a Colyer running down the ground on a charge, very difficult for anyone else to get ahead of the ball to then lead to him. It’s ridiculous. We haven’t got a forward line becasue we expect all our forwards to be playing as midfielders.

74
Stanton will win our B&F this year . Zerrett second.

Hurley, Heppell, Colyer and Baguely will all be up there.

Hooker?

He’s terrific if you mark him on his one on one contesting and aerial work. A brilliant mark, great read of the play and one of the best in the AFL one on one. But if you mark him on turnovers, decision making, disposal and brain explosions then he won’t be in our top five.

arsebiscuits

75
losing zaka and myers and hocking has really hurt us and hepp and watson have had injuries.
We know that, no one else cares.
76
Commencing with Anzac Day the #1 factor that has limited our ability to win (or score) has been turnovers (clangers)

Yesterday was a case in point - at half time it was 31 clangers to 14. Full time 52 to 34. No team is going to win a game of football if the turn the ball over nearly once every 2 minutes like we do. And it is experienced players - during the first half if Hibberd wasn’t fumbling turning it over Cooney was missing every target. This also extends to goal kicking. But note we feel the pain of missed set shots most because we have so few scoring shots in general.

For 413 possessions to yield only 35 I50’s and 16 scoring shots (a reasonable return and quite similar to the Eagles’ return of 26 scoring shots from 55 entries) is ridiculous and it is not the first time this has happened - it happens all to regularly.

No coach, game plan, strategy in the world can cater for the massive number of clangers we are producing. My experience is that this is a confidence thing that embodies a fear of failure. The players are so intent on not making an error they are trying to be too precise in their choices and disposal, tense up, delay the ball release ever so slightly and consequently the receiving player is now out of position to receive or the releasing player has put himself under pressure. The bye is therefore a good thing. A time to get away, reset, freshen up and come back and player natural, first choice football.

There are some things the coach can and must change as we will not win any games playing with the game plan and structure we have.

In no particular order:

  1. Personnel - McKernan and Bellchambers to come in and share ruck & deep forward duties. Carlisle to true CHF with a license to roam. Ambrose to the VFL to learn how to hold onto marks you should take and how to get dangerous and worry the opposition. He is doing neither at the moment. Winderlich to come in for Chapman. Kavanagh, Edwards and Fantasia must stay and now be given repeated games. Loved Edwards first game for us - was our most dangerous forward and only multiple goal kicker. If Cooney doesn’t improve then it is Laverde time. no point picking experienced players if they miss targets and don’t help you win.

  2. Game Plan - enough of the extra numbers at the stoppage. it doesn’t work and has barely worked all year. All the best teams play their extras behind the ball at the stoppage and rebound from a rushed clearance. It’s not that we are not winning the clearances anyway but it is creating a bigger problem in that players look up the ground if we do get the ball, see we are outnumbered and then pause and hesitate, often handballing (badly) under pressure. Part of the reason of our poor possession to I50 conversion rate are these poor handballs. its ridiculous to have nearly a handball for every kick (214 kicks, 199 handballs yesterday) when you actually play a short kicking game like we do, not a run & carry game. Players need to be told to kick to advantage as best they can when under pressure rather than handball sideways/backwards to a stationary player and turn the ball over 50m closer to the opposition’s goal.

  3. Game Plan/Forward entry - the big difference in forward entries yesterday was that Eagles do not play a style with a player marking the ball 70m out and then stopping and slowly weighing up options (which induces all such options to be covered). Their passes into F50 are nearly all the result of running the ball to 70m and having a highly mobile player kick the ball at the point whilst moving which gives the opposition little or no time to set up. All the best teams do this. We do not. there is no point marking 70m and then kicking it to 25m out where there are 4 opposition defenders to 1 Essendon forward. Whoever is marking at 70m needs to have a player running past into F50 to either pass or kick the goal themselves (Melksham’s goal in Q3 is a good case in point of what we should do all the time).

What was good yesterday:

  • 90+ tackles. Great to see our tackling intensity back and this needs to continue.
  • Watson back but rusty. Worked tirelessly.
  • Edwards game.
  • Daniher and Carlisle both getting 4 clearances each (Bellchambers please take note). Ditto Kavanagh.
  • We played 50% better than last week (not hard, I know).
  • Our VFL team toyed with and destroyed mediocre opposition by 90+ points for the second week in a row. So there will be some excitement around that the senior players can feed off and clearly some players in white hot form that deserve to be promoted.

Our season is not completely done with yet and we still have an outside chance if we can fix the things that need fixing and Hird has the ruthlessness to make the changes that need making. Even if we miss I can see us coming home hard the last few weeks with Myers, Hocking & Zaka back and a better ruck structure that includes McKernan.

Optimism at its very best, I like it. Fingers crossed.
77
Its not who plays in which position. Its the complete lack of those positions - as opposed to personnel - in the current game style. Its diabolical that players win the ball 80 meters from goal and are frequently the most-forward player on the ground. If we dont have the running power to exploit the paddock then ffs dont play the paddock. If i was a player and felt that we consistently dont have a method of genuine scoring threat then i reckon id get worn down too.

For so many reasons, the list looks completely out of gas.

So completely true.

78

Its not who plays in which position. Its the complete lack of those positions - as opposed to personnel - in the current game style. Its diabolical that players win the ball 80 meters from goal and are frequently the most-forward player on the ground. If we dont have the running power to exploit the paddock then ffs dont play the paddock. If i was a player and felt that we consistently dont have a method of genuine scoring threat then i reckon id get worn down too.

For so many reasons, the list looks completely out of gas.

79
We have the worst forward line in the game. By far

Please drop ambrose. He is one hell of a plodder. There are so many in that side who don’t deserve a game currently. How bad is hibberd playing? Cooney and chapman absolutely cooked too. Dont even know where to begin with how bad carlisle is. Ive pretty much resigned to the fact he wont be here next year anyway so meh

Boy oh boy wowee the hawks are going to have fun with us. Il be amazed if we get within 6 goals

It wasnt that long ago we had the worst backline in the game. I know people dont believe but JC is potentially a great CHF have said it all along. JD is still learning, growing. Leave Edwards in there, bring in Tippa in 2016, Kommer back with McKernan and T Bell as resting/rotating ruckmen. Langford in their with Laverde on a wing.consider playing McKernan in a Bitchslaves role.
With Kommer in Ambrose goes out and we a awesome irish man still learning his craft that could be a real ex factor in 2016.
hell id consider Stein to play the ambrose role

2015s tough, but 2016 is on the up

80

How did Carlisle become so ■■■■?