I think he's wrong. I think Smack is lucky to be on an AFL list.how come Jerrett and Morgan are on the list and SMAK is not??how long will it take coaches to realise Jerrett tries hard but not up to AFL standard??
or am I wrong???
You may be right and I think he needs to improve quickly if he’s going to play many more senior games.
■■■■■■ hell, you guys really think Goddard is going 100% in a practice match? He is an experienced footballer, he just will want to get a bit of touch back for round one, get an idea of what needs to be worked on at training, give some pointers to the kids and not be injured. Doubt he gives two farks about how he personally performs in a praccy.
I’m not going to judge him until after round 1, same with any guy who is essentially a walk up start to the best 22. You don’t get premiership points in Feburary.
The team will need to improve quickly in the next 2 games for us to have any chance of beating Hawthorn.
Who do we injure for Smack?
Just echoing the concerns of others - kickouts & clearing from the backline in general. We were hopeless last year but I was at the very least hoping to see some sign of a strategy this year. The long kick usually out to the left where their ruckman & best onballers were waiting didn’t work last year & it was a complete failure again tonight. I’d rather see us try & fail at something new, particularly this time of year, than continually being predictable & turning it over.
I reckon BJ really gets himself up for these types of games. Really gives a ■■■■. Come on blitz, jesus
Top 10 most effective players.
Phillips and Smith the hard running outside types, 20 marks between them. The value of Stanton to us is very underrated.
We got well beaten in midfield all things considered and they were also missing 3 of their best in Pendles, Treloar & Adams.
Dreamteam is hardly measure of effectiveness, especially when it isn’t normalised to time on field. Best example is elliot who was excellent and influential in the first half with his 8 touches, but statistically wasn’t impressive. If you want to look at stats in preseason, keep in mind T.O.G.
I must have been watching a different game.
We controlled that match for 3 quarters, doing just enough to keep them at bay. Yes it was disappointing the way it played out in the end, but it’s preseason people. Many successful teams made artforms of throwing preseason games, it’s partly why we have this glorified practice match format now. They were missing some key midfielders but we were missing our spine.
Thought we moved the ball quite well in patches, we weren’t winning the stoppages, so alot of this came from half back. Don’t get the points about this area being lacking, sure it wasn’t great all game but early on each quarter (except for the last) we ran and linked up disposals pretty well (usually from a turnover) which ended up with a small forward in space on their own. That doesn’t happen with slow ball movement of any kind.
All things considered a good start. I’ll get worried about getting smashed around the stoppages and concentration lapses only if it’s continually happening a few weeks into the real season.
We only got torched at the stoppages in the last. To that point they had a slight edge out of the centre and we had a slight edge around the ground. Would be interested to see what impact Hocking would have defensively at stoppages.
What was most pleasing was how efficient we were going into our 50. 24 scoring shots from 37 entries was unheard of last year.
FFS — we missed McKenna off the HBF. Best kick in the team left out.
We kicked 94 pts without our CHF and FF.
And, you know what, it was February 16.
You would think this was a final the way some are critiquing this ■■■■
First practice match for the year and lets all rip them into shreds. Attended tonight, enjoyed goddards game, some of his disposals under pressure tonight actually made the people around me gasp at how he got it out. Didnt think anything different of bags, his still the hard nut we love.
Tippa has one bad prac and lets move him straight down back.
Missing a few notables, who can change the game
Gotta just enjoy the fact that football is back and our comeback story begins
Not a game to crack it over, come round one ■■■■ will fall into place.
Go dons! Bring on the year
Don’t really care about the result, not going to argue with people who want to care about it but I will point out that it’s very unlikely that a team will kick two supergoals to get on a roll in the regular season.
Thoughts
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We’ve got small forwards! Fantasia was great, Green looked like he’ll deserve a spot, Colyer’s finishing was a bit old style Colyer but thought he was otherwise good. I thought Tippa was disappointing but when he did get it, he’s still an amazing kick. I can’t see us playing all four forward on a regular basis though, and currently I’d lock in Fantasia and Colyer.
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no idea how our tall structure will do on account of it didn’t play. Stewart didn’t do much to get excited about which is more or less to expectation.
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I don’t know if we learned much about our non-tall defenders tonight. I thought McGrath was comfortable at the level (although I was surprsied he didn’t show any notable pace), Dea was his serviceable self, Gleeson looked mostly good, Kelly was just ticking over, Jerrett was uninspiring, Baguley was really off his game. McGrath doesn’t have to play because we’ve got plenty of decent options, but he won’t have to be mind blowingly good to get a game.
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Ambrose did a good lockdown job. I’d really like him to do be able to do a bit more in the marking/rebounding department before I’m all aboard the bandwagon though. Hurley was ok all things considered. Brown’s not going to play unless there’s injuries I wouldn’t think.
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Myers was the rustiest of the returning players for mine (also obviously the longest time out, too) but can still hoof it. Zaka looked a bit more like his classic round 14 knackered version than his round 1 smooth mover version, but I’m not too concerned about that yet. Parish yup, Zerrett yup, Jobe yup, Hepp mostly yup. I still don’t know about Langford, I can’t decide if he’s incredibly composed or indecisive. Bird and Howlett were both decent. I underrated Bird last year, and I’ll probably underrate him again this year.
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Leuenberger continues to be a set and forget ruckman, he’s not going to win us games but we’re not going to be complaining about him costing us games. McKernan, on the other hand, good lord. Kicks an amazing goal that most forwards (large or small) in the competition would be bragging about for weeks, then tries to walk the ball out of the ruck in a centre bounce. I don’t know what’s going on in his head, but it must be a weird place to be.
Overall in the pre-season I mostly just like to see the occasional good thing from a player, and I thought most of the players showed a little bit. I’ll start getting worried about structures and systems in game three when we have something like our preferred starting lineup on the field.
Interested in views on Ambrose rating on performance, not stats.
1st quarter impressions.
Heppell and Colyer are really off the pace.
Zerrett is a gun.
McGrath is short. And remarkably clean under pressure.
Parish’s delivery to Langford, oh my.
Stewart looks like he may be okay, but by golly I’d rather ave seen Francis playing that role.
Pies gameplan is atrocious and will not stand up in the real stuff.
A few passages of play for Essendon looked like all that was stopping them from being truly formidable is a little bit of confidence.
Smack is okay.
Either Joe or Hooker up forward and this is an entirely different game.
Elliott is a very good player. Bags struggled on him. Could have been a lot worse, actually. But that’s not a huge knock.
WHE can play.
Hurley is going to be awesome this year.
Is speed actually that important?
Tippa is wasted deep forward. Seriously. It’s the stupidest thing in the history of stupid things.
Fantasia is a serious talent.
I think this is the first time I’ve said this, but I don’t see it with Langford. I have never seen it with Langford.
I keep waiting for a glimpse, so I can go…ahhhhh, there it is. I never have.
I’ve seen it with Laverde. I’m not talking about game-breaking perfomances, I just mean…there’s no real description. You just see them in a bit of play and say, yep. He’s got it.
But having said that, Langford is still very young and I’m not going to judge his future career on what I’ve seen so far.
For years it has been “No Watson, no Essendon”.
Or “Essendon can’t handle the loose man behind the ball”.
We did nothing to dispel either of these tonight.
1st quarter impressions.Heppell and Colyer are really off the pace.
Zerrett is a gun.
McGrath is short. And remarkably clean under pressure.
Parish’s delivery to Langford, oh my.
Stewart looks like he may be okay, but by golly I’d rather ave seen Francis playing that role.
Pies gameplan is atrocious and will not stand up in the real stuff.
A few passages of play for Essendon looked like all that was stopping them from being truly formidable is a little bit of confidence.
Smack is okay.
Either Joe or Hooker up forward and this is an entirely different game.
Elliott is a very good player. Bags struggled on him. Could have been a lot worse, actually. But that’s not a huge knock.
WHE can play.
Hurley is going to be awesome this year.
Is speed actually that important?
Tippa is wasted deep forward. Seriously. It’s the stupidest thing in the history of stupid things.
Fantasia is a serious talent.I think this is the first time I’ve said this, but I don’t see it with Langford. I have never seen it with Langford.
I keep waiting for a glimpse, so I can go…ahhhhh, there it is. I never have.
I’ve seen it with Laverde. I’m not talking about game-breaking perfomances, I just mean…there’s no real description. You just see them in a bit of play and say, yep. He’s got it.
But having said that, Langford is still very young and I’m not going to judge his future career on what I’ve seen so far.
The last round last year. Langford was fantastic.
It’s actually an interesting thought of Jackson vs McKernan on the senior list. Not sure I’d considered it before. Interesting, especially considering our dearth of ruck stocks.
It's actually an interesting thought of Jackson vs McKernan on the senior list. Not sure I'd considered it before. Interesting, especially considering our dearth of ruck stocks.
I think I had a mini sook about it at the time.
20 guys would need to fall over before we had a requirement for Jerrett.
Only 2 guys need to go down for McKernan to be required, and those two guys are very unreliable.
I know he got well beaten in the ruck in the last quarter, but goodness me that’s nothing compared to what will happen if we have to ruck Joe or Stewart for four quarters in a real game.
1st quarter impressions.Heppell and Colyer are really off the pace.
Zerrett is a gun.
McGrath is short. And remarkably clean under pressure.
Parish’s delivery to Langford, oh my.
Stewart looks like he may be okay, but by golly I’d rather ave seen Francis playing that role.
Pies gameplan is atrocious and will not stand up in the real stuff.
A few passages of play for Essendon looked like all that was stopping them from being truly formidable is a little bit of confidence.
Smack is okay.
Either Joe or Hooker up forward and this is an entirely different game.
Elliott is a very good player. Bags struggled on him. Could have been a lot worse, actually. But that’s not a huge knock.
WHE can play.
Hurley is going to be awesome this year.
Is speed actually that important?
Tippa is wasted deep forward. Seriously. It’s the stupidest thing in the history of stupid things.
Fantasia is a serious talent.I think this is the first time I’ve said this, but I don’t see it with Langford. I have never seen it with Langford.
I keep waiting for a glimpse, so I can go…ahhhhh, there it is. I never have.
I’ve seen it with Laverde. I’m not talking about game-breaking perfomances, I just mean…there’s no real description. You just see them in a bit of play and say, yep. He’s got it.
But having said that, Langford is still very young and I’m not going to judge his future career on what I’ve seen so far.
It’s the last quarter impressions that are the interesting ones.
Starting to agree with you about Tippa. Not because he’s no good up forward, we just don’t need him there anymore, and our run out of half back is non existent.