Yes our set shot goal kicking is very ordinary, yes it is a facet of the players game that can be fixed, but it would not happen over night. all players would have had the same set up for multiply years, players also have technique issues with their kicking styles, these two issues would be ingrained in the players subconscious and could take six to twelve months to change. Let's take JD, the first of his problems, is that his run into a set shot is far to long, next his approach is not aligned properly (should run at the centre of the goal), thus when he kicks the ball he naturally brings his leg across the ball instead of through the ball and finally his ball drop is to high, which directly effects what position the ball is in, when he makes connection. All of these things are pretty easy to fix, but as JD has probably done since he was very young, it would take a considerable amount of time for him to be comfortable and confident with.
If there is that much wrong with his goal kicking why are we playing him as a forward?
Because the club seems to have a weird faith that the Prancing Yellow Sparkly Sky-Goblin will one day pirouette down from his enchanted ■■■■■■■ cloud, and wave a magic wand over his kicking action and fix it, and then he’ll be a perfect forward and we’ll all live happily ever ■■■■■■■ after.
Or at least so I assume, cos I can’t think of another reason that we wouldn’t have a ■■■■■■■ goalkicking coach working with him and the other forwards, given how much of an achilles heel this has been for him and us for YEARS now.
That wasn’t fun at all.
However…the future all belonged and played well within a team playing poorly. Zach, Parish, Langford, Francis and Laverde were all impressive. Raz was quiet and still kicked three.
Off topic, don’t get the angst toward Marty and Dea. They were far from our worst.
The most bitter taste in this whole s**t sandwich is that in the last few weeks we started to play some half decent footy which gave us all hope for the future. Dunno bout you lot but our recent form made me think to myself…
‘Under a new coach with a new game plan maybe, just maybe things are finally starting to finally come along. Maybe the inability to consistently turn up switched on has become a thing of the past.’
Hope dashed. Our goal kicking and field kicking were both awful but the effort was also lacking.
Zaka - if not for the possibility that he may come good when opposition sides tag other players, this guy would be trade bait.
Brown - Rated this bloke in the first half of the year. No longer best 22 (at least not next year).
Leuenberger - Uncoordinated and not damaging enough around the ground.
Cooney (how on earth did you win a Brownlow?), Smack, Dempsey gone.
BJ and Zerett played very well. Credit to Langford and Francis.
Was Bird rested originally, or sore/injured at the time of selection?
If he was only being rested at the time of selection then we weren’t trying to win. He was always the clearance player we needed to stop the ball flying out of the centre, which would have reduced their scoring significantly.
Alternatively Brisbane is better at reading Leuy"s taps than we are.
We need a Barassi of 1970 to rip through the players and get their blood boiling to the point of explosion. We need a Barassi to show EACH PLAYER their shortcomings and to fix it or get out. This team is as soft as boiled apples. They all seem to be treated with kid gloves…yeh we’ll fix the kicking…yeh we’ll fix the forward line…yeh we’ll fix center clearances…bulll*****. We need BALLS. We need someone to put hardness back into this club. It’s not Gleeson’s fault he shirked a couple it’s the ■■■■■■ culture surrounding him!!! He is not the only one. These players are treated like newly weds and it aint working. They need to be hardened physically to take the knocks and mentally to have the drive and determination to make things work right on the field. I don’t see any of it and I hope that Woosha doesn’t either. Our boys have skills. They have the game plan. They don’t have the farking drive to finish the set play in a resulting goal or the determination to insist to the very end with each passage of play to beat their opponent no matter the cost. We have the talent guys otherwise we wouldn’t be getting the stats we do…we just don’t have the dogged determination to make it happen. That should be our motto next year…MAKE IT HAPPEN…for farksakes!!!
Sounds like a simple stupid question, but why isn't anyone at Essendon a good set shot for goal?
NO ONE is a good set shot for goal, not one player. None of our players can you look at when they’re having a shot and think “Right we got one here”. Every single player on our list, is questionable in front of goal, no matter the angle, distance or ground.
Imagine a basketball side in the NBA that didn’t have the ability to shoot?
I can't be the only one that is blaming the coaching panel for tanking that game.
They simply did not care enough about our clubs history to try and avoid the wooden spoon.
We got outchoaxhed today
Woosha didn’t even try to shut down Rockliffe or Rich
Our forwards are incapable of nailing any sort of set shot
Our midfield coughs up clearances time after time. And not even scrappy ones. But clean breakaways from the middle under no pressure. The first 5sec of the 4th qtr being a prime example
Our defence wasn’t close enough to their direct opponent all day
What a time to be alive. Geez we’ve had a rough trot as fans. The fact we’re still here passionately debating things such as whether that injury prone Geelong bloke Mitch Brown should play forward or back is a credit to us.
And f**k all the fair weather fans that turned up today. Where were you three weeks ago? You would have seen a better game against St Kilda, Richmond or GWS. Pathetic bandwagoning tonight!
That’s OK, they’ll all be gone again for the next home game.