Out Stanton
He had the most disposals of the game. He clearly wins posession.
ok, we won. So moving on:
- how is Cooney?
- Yarran gone for ??long
- when do we get Myers back?
Time for Bellchambers to extract the digit. Last season and injury are gone, so no excuses.Really terrible game by him, and that miss from the top of the goal square was due to a total lack of care. Shades of his miss last year against Melbourne.
Got pantsed by Cameron Wood
Not sure anything else needs to be said . . .
Well (sigh), we won.
Horrible game.
2-1 when most thought we’d be 1-2 at best.
Late fadeout again a worry. Getting smacked at the stoppages also a worry.
But did enough to win against a side with extra matches under its belt.
Take the win. 4 points. Move to next week. Improve our contested numbers and see who puts their hand up tomorrow for Cooney’s spot.
Out StantonHe had the most disposals of the game. He clearly wins posession.
He gets narky when you point out facts
Backing up from two huge games in Sydney (we ran out of legs) and Hawthorn (a huge and emotional win) we were always going to be down today, both physically and mentally.
It was an ugly, unconvincing win…but it was a win and we have the 4 points and more match fitness under our belts.
Hopefully Cooney is not too bad and only misses a couple because he makes a big difference to our sides structure imo.
Yarran should be gone for a few weeks for that swinging punch on Chappy.
Bellchambers currently holding off on contract discussions.
Essendon are fine with that.
ok, we won. So moving on:
- how is Cooney?
- Yarran gone for ??long
- when do we get Myers back?
- 3 weeks it looks like.
- Gawn. 10 week suspension for that flog.
- Gone for 3 months.
Farlton
We would have lost that game last year. Ugly win but think we have turned the corner.
Carltank really wanted the win and tried hard. Clearly done there homework to counter our game.
6 day break after a hard game boys were a bit flat.
Put it down to us having a bad hair day. Hope this just not become a habit though. We are lucky the scum don’t have a forward line.
Is Cooney a legit hammy? Or rested him for ANZAC day??
Seriously, Carlton’s midfield bent us over that badly? I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself. Where was the same tackling intensity as the first 2 rounds? The grunt around the stoppages? A very weak effort overall. Objectively our list is twice as good as theirs so a lot of guys just weren’t up for it today. Then again, why should we be surprised after the last 10 years?
Only positives were Fletch, Hooker and Hurls for periods, Watson easily our best midfielder and guys like Colyer and Howlett put in all day. Zaka’s 3 goals were important also.
ANZAC day better be a whole lot better.
ok, we won. So moving on:
- how is Cooney?
- Yarran gone for ??long
- when do we get Myers back?
Cooney - likely a hamstring, so 2-3 weeks.
Howlett - possible groin strain?
Myers - ask again in June.
Yarran - a big left hook well off the ball behind play. Drew blood and Chappy was tested for concussion, so not just a tap. No room in the game for Yarran’s sht, so should be 4 weeks, but I expect MRP to issue a $1,000 because they are as weak as pss.
Bottom line is, a win is a win, no matter how ugly it is... every win counts towards making finals.Sick of that attitude. Thats loser talk. Need to start making our presence in the competition felt and playing like we actually deserve to be there rather than just scraping in and making up the numbers.
I’m still confident we’re a good side and we’ll win enough games to deserve to be in the finals. We played very well against both last year’s Grand finalists… if not for lack of pre-season we would have beaten both of them.
Transition work off half back was again excellent though there were a couple of culprits for coach killer turnovers today.
Entries into forward 50 looked like a half competent football team today. FINALLY!
Grunt work was non existent. To be spanked int he clearance/stoppage/contested ball by an average midfield is very concerning.
Geez Collingwood would have seen that and said we’ll get em on the inside and not give them space off half back. That’s what their plan will be to shut us down.
We’ll be missing Cooney so we already have less run. Dempsey an almost certain starter.
Possibly missing Howlett if it was more than just cramp.
Tommy B needs to grow some balls. He was terrible.
Everyone else the effort was there but some were unforgivably sloppy for most of the day. Gleeson was biggest culprit.
You can pretty much cherry pick anything you want from that one.
The optimist will say it was a 21 point win over an inspired Carlton on a day when we did not play our best, but never really looked like we were going to be beaten.
The pessimist could say that Carlton outplayed us, smashed us in clearances, and should have beaten us by a fair margin with any kind of accuracy in front of goal.
Both of these viewpoints would be correct… we can only be glad that the score is the ultimate result here, because it was not by any means a performance to be terribly proud of.
The fourth quarter, again, is a huge huge problem. At least this time we gave ourselves enough of a buffer to deal with it.
We have an amazing inability, once again, to land a knockout punch. Bellchambers should be savaged for that miss. Carlisle’s wasn’t quite as bad but the context of being right after Belly’s made it look worse. The botched kick-ins. Some of the stupid, soft frees.
These guys have got to suck it up and be more disciplined and professional… these little things, or rather the failure to do these little things, are the things that add up and begin to snowball against us every week, and turn these easy victories into heart attacks.
Right now, we have a premiership contending side trapped inside an improving but still uncertain one… one that has talent but does not have what it takes mentally just yet. They need to learn how to be ruthless, arrogant, and clinical from start to finish.
I don’t know if it was the atmosphere or what, but this game felt like a practice match during the second half. No intensity, no crowd, no real spark from anybody.
Perhaps it is unfair to be so critical after a win over Carlton, but I really think we should expect better.
That was a putrid game… by both sides. Ugly football, crap skills… also wtf with the players falling over all the time? Ground looked in perfect nick but no one could keep their feet.
Watson, Colyer and Zerrett essential.
Carlisle is not a forward. He will play forward until Langford develops or Ambrose and JD take the next step in their careers.
Howlett was a warrior. Priceless.
Put it down to us having a bad hair day. Hope this just not become a habit though. We are lucky the scum don't have a forward line.haha "become a habit" hahahhaha oh dear.
I’ve never been as glad to be as wrong about a player as Coyler, is almost if not equal most important player to the team at present.