What could have been hey?
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Itâs a quality thing for sure with our forwards, but we supposedly have some game strategy guru on our coaching panel donât we?, and I think we got way too cute with âmatchupsâ this season. That coupled with injuries meant we werenât really rolling out the same back 7 or forward mix that often at all. Donât recall much continuity there, and that in itself is one reason to why it fell to shht.
Then the inefficient way we went into 50, whilst we managed to get in their a lot, but not effectively, loving to go wide into the pockets a lot, and then our general conversion was just terrible. Sub par.
Menzie, Stringer within 30m, Perkins, Caldwell, just to name a few that were really bad infront of goal.
We convert slightly more to expected results from where shots at goal were taken from
And we are in finals right now.
That is oversimplifying things I know. As other teams playing us could say the same thing, But starting with some forwards who can convert at a higher clip, or midfielders who can if playing forward, then better ball movement into fifty to allow for better set shots on goal, will go a long way. They are mostly related, but Jake Stringer in particular went 2.3 from set shots within 30 metres in the corridor. Kyle Langford 7.0âŚat worst that should be 4.1 from Jake.
Menzie couldnât kick a goal from anywhere.
All aboard the Kako train I guess, and some better ball users kicking the ball into fiftyâŚand hopefully some stability with the way we want to structure up. Is it two rucks, and which two, is it one, is it Wright, no Wright, extra mids resting forwardâŚ.
Would love to ship Hobbs off somewhere and target and play another small forward who can actually kick a goal.
Rosas, even Sam Wicks, Owies, someone like that.
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Like usual, Essendon under Dodoro has been slow to react to trends. Tigers started this in 2017. Itâs 2024 and only Walla in that time has been a good small forward.
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Also had a lot of injuries. Woyld have rathered keep him than get scott. Not saying he was any good either though.
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Its the ball movement thats the biggest issue.lack of pace on the ball.
But yes lack of small fwds is a massive issue also
There was one scene last night, after a goal, and all of Stengle, Managh, Close and Miers were all standing around Cameron, and I thought what hope do we have. Itâs depressing honestly.
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Gun small forwards. Stewart, Guthrie, De Koenig to return. Theyâll have Bailey Smith next year. What hope do we have when all we can discuss is Jake Stringer? And Wiedeman?
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I was hoping we picked up Menage in last yearâs draft. The cats picked him up with the pick we gave them to move up one place.
Ah well, I love Caddy.
Whilst our inside 50 accuracy and conversion has been crap, our general ball movement has been awful. The gameplan whilst crap, has had to cater for our lack of ball skill. The problem goes hand in hand.
Weâve consistently played too tall across the ground and at the time of writing both the Cats and Hawks have won their first final with not a tall backline. Frost for the Hawks and Biclavas were pretty much the key talls. Smaller/mid size players with foot skills surround both talls in both teams yet we consistently play a tall, slow backline with no foot skills. This has to be addressed with better foot skill based players - sooo many scores from backline turnovers - more often than not unforced errors. Can we manipulate our draft hand to grab a Xavier Lindsay to start with. Lindsay, Saad and Archie Roberts could be a nucleus of better ball movement out of the backline. McKay and Ridley surrounded by Lindsay, Saad and Roberts fells much better than Hepp,Kelly and Lav.
We also clearly need a much better small forward brigade - thatâs the captain obvious. Kako is a start, maybe Gresh improves with better quality around him. Menzies and The Prince of WA are not the answer - they donât scare anyone. Maybe itâs time to shift gears and move Pidge and or Junior into the forward line as small forwards with exit pressure.
A forward line of Caddy, Kako, Langford, Gresh, Pidge and Junior would be interestingâŚ
We have to get adventurous in team structure and drafting better kids with foot skills and a competitive fiery nature.
Long way to go - a few drafts before Tassie to get it right.
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My end of season vent:
I realllly wanted NWM in the draft and whilst I think Hobbs will be a reasonable consolation prize as a player, picking his type just hasnât made sense from a list balance pov.
Why were Port willing and aggressive enough to trade up and get their man (even if Sinn looks like a bust atm) but we stay put & end up with the best of the same type when we were heavily linked to NWM and knew that the Saints were keen, so had to be bold and get in before them - not just to get a quality player, but a quality player that also fills a list need. How hard did we try, if at all?
I like Hobbs a lot btw but even without the Duz surprise, we wouldâve already had midfield plans for Perkins. And then we draft another mid in Tsatas the very next year after taking Hobbs, which mustâve always been the plan given we wouldâve already known that itâd be a mid-heavy top end that year.
I reckon we were genuinely surprised that Hobbs was still there and figured weâd find a way to make it work later on. And now we either need to find a spot for him in the midfield, or we let him go for unders, after developing him for 3 years. Top planning there.
And yes I know itâs been said a million times already but losing a player like Mass when we knew we had Heppell/Hind/Kelly all on the way out was a shocking list decision - even just from a perspective of needing more young depth coming through in that area of the ground, not less.
So why the actual FK did we only offer him a 1 year rookie contract when all it took was 2 years on a senior list elsewhere?? Unbelievable.
He wanted to stay but needed some sort of security (fair enough) but not only did we fail to properly identify the talent (coaches), we ended up needing to spend most of the year trialling replacements in that exact farking role!
Since letting Mass go for nothing, weâve added all of Duursma, Roberts, Lual & El-Hawli to the list, and then still had to turn forwards like Martin, Menzie & Tex into HBs because we lack so much quality around that defensive wing.
And now three other defenders have retired/gone from the senior side.
Saad looks like a player but even so, weâre in a position with the list where we may need to consider using our first pick on a Travaglia/Lindsay type because we still lack quality & depth in that area. Such poor planning again.
All that said, probably not the popular vote but I still think our off-season with FAs & trades was the smart move.
We used our biggest asset (cash, which weâre able to front-load) to improve some positions on the list whilst - most importantly - keeping our draft hand. If we can also start trading out the right players to improve our picks, all of that as a strategy I can get around.
We live-traded (something we rarely ever do) to get the best key forward, who I think looks great, so another tick there. And then another trade got us Roberts, who looks like a find. Happy with all of that. Nice to see us being more aggressive in making sure we get the players we want, that we also need.
But the Mass decision on the back of giving blokes like Smith & Stewart longer contracts, drafting both Hobbs & Tsatas without room for both, not being aggressive/compromising enough to get the Dunkley & Hill deals done, missing out on Bowes & pick 7, Stengle, etc⌠we simply need to do SO much better in all parts of our trading, drafting & list management.
They really canât be playing Shiel ahead of Tsatas & Hobbs (if he stays) next year so he needs to go and they need to make that happen now. Get the points we need for Kako & hopefully some change. Itâs a further indictment on our list planning to be in a position where Goldstein & Weideman are being considered for spots next year. Both need to go, figure it out.
I think itâs better for us if Stringer & Laverde agree to stay on one year deals (would forever take Lav for a year over Weid as depth), but I like that weâre not offering them two.
Guelfi shouldâve absolutely been a one year deal & Menzie shouldâve always been a clear âmake a call at the end of the yearâ type decision. No one was coming for him, why go early on that one (even if weâd have eventually offered him a year anyway).
We so badly need to be getting more of these decisions right.
Kako & another top 10 pick is great but thereâs still a way to go.
11 Likes
Well said
A long way to go too.
We need to rid ourselves of our pretend footballers who are âniceâ for lack of better term, for real ones with the competitive edge required to win.
Hopefully Rosa brings a new line of thinking and recalibration of the list.
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A bit tangential to your post, but I just want to ventâŚ
Late after each draft night, fans display a desperate need to feel like theyâve won the draft. They WANT it to be true, and they convince themselves that it IS true.
2020 draft night: I was frustrated that we hadnât traded a pick forward (weâd have Callaghan now if we had), and taken too many talls (Cox, Reid, Eyre, Brand). Whichever way I looked at it, half of those picks had just been junked because they couldnât all play in the same teamâŚBlitzers couldnât or didnât want to see it.
2021 draft: The NWM draft that you refer to. After that trade period, we had a stated intention of improving our draft hand. Pretty sure RFK said it straight to camera in an Essendon website videoâŚTwo months then went by. We had nothing else going onâŚaaand we didnât complete a single pick swapâŚOn draft night, Port traded over the top of us, Dodoro threw his highlighter, and we took McDonagh with our last pickâŚI said immediately: this looks like everything played out disastrously. No pick consolidation so that we could take McDonagh? This canât be successful execution of a strategyâŚbut that night, fans wouldnât accept it. âMaybe Richmond would have snapped up McDonagh, you donât knowâ. They were convincing themselves that the McDonagh pick was a win. It was amazing.
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Does anyone reckon the Davey boys will come good?
We were so hyped (I know I was) when we drafted them and right now I donât even know if theyâre close to AFL level.
We were supposedly getting a classy mid/wing like type and a classy small forward werenât we? I know Jayden is coming back from ACL so assume he gets a little longer and another year is coming his way.
Concerned Alwyn doesnât seem to like contact and not sure about endurance. Havenât seen much VFL so donât know how theyâve fared there.
Keen watchers who pay more attention to this stuff, what are your thoughts on them?
Look where they were drafted- best guide to expectations I reckon.
Good post.
One of many list management frustrations for me, has been the inability to keep up to date with AFL trends.
Pure midfielders (who canât perform other roles) have been on the decline for most clubs. You simply need flexibility from your midfielders & ruckman.
We should have learned a lesson with the lack of flexibility with Parish and Shiel.
Again shows the complete ineptitude based of List management decisions. We went and got 2 pure midfielders with first round picksâŚâŚ who could not perform other roles.
This is the sort of stuff that hurts the club long term.
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Yeah, however, Jayden probably due to ACL.
Alwyn was tipped to be higher but slid if I recall.
But point taken.
Joe and Jobe aside, our father sons have been bleak. Probably forgotten someone else who was decent.
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I would love to see us pick up this kid for the VFL. And see where he ends up.
Was in same junior team as Kai lohmann and Aidan was the better player. He is a tackling machine 24 tackles in his last game this year. Was only dropped from the league team due to AFL listed Freo players coming back at peel.
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Simple answer. No.
Iâd ditch them. Harsh I know but Iâm not seeing it in either of them. I reckon I will be 100% correct too btw. And happy to be wrongâŚ
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Do you think we will rookie Caracella?
I didnât see much in Caracella tbh. But I saw him once so I really canât answer it. Question is. If he wasnât âCaracellaâ, would you still roomie him?