So you agree with the above post but mine is just marketing?
I think you are showing your bias.
I think we are misunderstanding each other somewhere.
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Not concerned about Heppell and Merrett. Hepp was good both weeks and Merrett really good this week. I think he got 6 clearances from 70% game time. Another 2 weeks and theyāll be fine.
Iām actually pretty wrapped with the state of the list. Hooker is probably our only best 22 player thatās not ready. And he looks like round 3 or 4. I wonder how many other clubs are in that kind of shape.
Yep, if we can carry that throughout the year we can compete with the best.
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Iām feeling positive. I know thatās not the norm around here though. Glad we have a tough hit out for round one.
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Itās absolutely there for the taking if we are good enough.
The thing that stood out for me last year was how the side worked together as a team rather than a group of individuals.
If our gameplan is good enough then we now have the players to carry it out.
We bat very deep now and we have as much top end talent as we have had since the 2000 side.
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Maybe even more talent.
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This is to do with our run from backlineā¦where we kick so many goals out the back. I remember we used to never do that. It is great we are doing that but in finals good teams wonāt allow that.
When wimning centre clearance we just kick it high up. There is no system to the forward line. Opposition kill the attack so easily.
When opposition get the centre clearance then we are all at sea, and leak goals easily. If we manage to hold them up somehow then we can use our run from backline.
The dash off half back looks exhilarating when it works - but awful when it doesnāt.
And that style of play just doesnāt hold up in finals.
It works against the ā ā ā ā teams but the better teams they plan for it and make us look silly.
I feel like we got the balance a lot better in the 2nd half of last year, but in the JLT games this year it looked like we had reverted back to trying to generate too much from half back.
Yeah, nah.
Pre-season sucks because you wait so long from the end of the season to watch us play again, and then we come out and donāt win. People understandably get frustrated after the long wait filled with preseason hype but itās a competition we purposely donāt try out best in, reading into that is some serious next level crazy.
Donāt get me wrong, Iām concerned because weāve been ā ā ā ā for 15 years now, but two JLT games are the least of our reasons to be concerned.
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We think we do. But then Hooker is going to be out and there is a strong reaction that we are stuffed as we have no one to cover him adequately.
On paper the list looks strong. The potential is there. But sport is unforgiving. If you are an average side and you are off your game youāll get beaten. The top sides can scrap together an ugly win and move on to the next game and do well.
We can speculate as much as we like, but we really have no idea what is going to happen with Essendon. Until we win and win well through the year, and get to finals and win finals, we are just a massive shoulder shrug.
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I think you will find that a high percentage of goals are actually kicked from turnovers and most of those turnovers occur in the backline.
Richmond being the benchmark for pressure football se that exact same strategy itās just they are currently miles ahead of the pack.
We showed we could do it for the back half of last season we just need to do it more consistently.
Our problem is actually ball retention. We turn it over a lot once put under pressure.
Edit:
To highlight my point further and another reason I think a player like Cripps is overrated in the AFL is this statistic:
Most goals are kicked in open play and not from clearances.
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I agree and that is my point.
Nobody knows who is the best side until the thing is actually won.
We have all the things required to make a great side but now itās time to deliver.
We could keep ābuildingā for another 15 years if we arenāt careful.
We canāt keep building. We have built.
There is no salary cap left with which to continue to build.
We have given up future draft picks.
Now all we have is growth of the individual players, embedding of the game plan in all its forms, and some Dodoro draft magic if he can pluck a couple out of his ā ā ā ā .
This place will go ballistic if this list build doesnāt equal finals.
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100% agree with this. We make everything look hard.
If we can sustain āmassive pressureā every week we will do well. But I question the sustainability of our game plan. Still seems very Kamikaze, and predictable.
Do you think we are being āover coachedā do you think we would benefit from a simpler game plan or style of play?
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Thing is if you donāt have whats in those bottom 2 lines everything you mentioned becomes mute.
Even the Romans would have given up on Essendon by now.
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Ita hard to know how to feel mostly because this year there are some pretty dramatic rule changes that qre going to cause alot of havok to the status quo of all teams.
I dont think theres gonna be anywhere to hide these days , wo id you donāt contribute both ways , you will get found out quick smart.
Also looks like zoning off might g3t you found out too , which ie a big part of recent footy.
Thatās pretty much how I see it.
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