Will not win a final with this midfield group. Worst midfield in the comp by some.
Last week we ran over the best side from last year.
This week we couldnt match it with one of the worst.
Only difference was effort.
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We rarely use numbers around the ball well and the idea of slowing transition down would just allow them more numbers back. Youāve got to even up the numbers ahead of the ball to create contests. That said I donāt think this was a game where got completely dominated by a spare defender. We just struggled to cope with the pressure on the ball and our hit up targets couldnāt create any separation.
It was pretty clear after the first quarter that the talls were all being well and closely marked. Stringer should have been isolated immediately and we should have played through him.
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That would involve using a plan B.
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Slept on his mckenna comments and still fuming. WTF is he even thinkingā¦
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Out of likes
Agreed.
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Iām tired Robbie
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As if this Easter couldnāt get worse, the kids woke up at 4.30am for Easter eggs and pulled out the recorder for practicing 
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On the one hand, I hold out some faint hope that this team could potentially achieve something in the context of a very even competition in which the last two premiers have simply got everything right at the right time for a few months and thatās been enough.
Then, I watch games like last night and the faint hope goes out the window. We just donāt learn, and donāt ever look like learning enough. 15 years of being Bill Murray in Punxsutawney.
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Like several others, the social media from players parading around in Perth doing clearly lavish things you would associate with a holiday, and then to serve up that utter ā ā ā ā ā is a bit insulting to fans and members, who, more or less pay for them to go and do such things.
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Was at the game and had reasonable seats on the wing (coughhumblebrag) and the thing that was very noticeable was the general casualness among the Essendon group. Particularly in the 2nd and 3rd terms. Fremantle were able to generate multiple shots on goal as Essendon couldnāt clear its defense. Time and again a defender would win possession only to be provided limited or no options upfield. Fremantle were able to set up for this and returned the ball forward with monotonous regularity. Essendon just didnāt run hard enough and it left its defenders looking foolish.
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Ok. I hear this all the time. What makes our midfield so bad? Is it the personnel? In which case who do you kick out of there? Who do you keep?
I hope the media get stuck into us about a poor interstate record and the social media perception of players looking like they are on holiday.
The guys who are good contested marks kept dropping ones they should take. Freo swarmed us on the back of that, hold those marks and 6 Freo players are out of position. You canāt slow the game down with handball.
We got far closer on the scoreboard than youād expect given important parts of our game were so rubbish.
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The only positive to take from the weekend is Richmond lost to the team we beat last week by 6 goals. They must be really crap.
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Their previous five home games were a 104 point loss to richmond, a 23 point win over gold coast, a 52 point loss to Hawthorn, a 30 point loss to west coast and a 9 point loss to st kilda
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Exactly the point I was trying to make. We were good last week but terrible this week especially in our forward half.
i put it all down to freos pressure.
when we won the footy in the midfield we hardly had time to dispose of it, when we won it off hb we just sprinted like ā ā ā ā to the forwardline without thinking whether we were set up or not
the pressure spooked the players big time
we need a big bodied midfielder who attracts 3-4 opposition players, then is able to dish it off, itll create space for the outside runners, langford isnt that man and neither is stringer. Way too much of our midfield clearance work is centered around quick, short handpasses in close around a stoppage/ contest, when the pressure is on (or when its wet) it just doesnt work. Our midfield is great under certain conditions IMO, but very easily stopped.
We did ok at centre bounces but got beat up up once again at clearances around the ground. We give the opposition first disposal way too often and it comes down partially to size but mostly through work rate. Parish and McGrath will be fine but need a few kgās through the core so they can stand up in the tackles a bit more. Zaka is a typical outside player which every club needs but he is never going to go in and get it and Iām fine with that. Zac seems to spend more time snapping around his body or kicking blindly from defence and I have a real issue with our skipper. Good, honest worker but not an elite mid and has poor disposal by foot. Langford worries me as just when you think he has turned the corner he regresses the following week but as a kid you will get that. He is at the age where he really needs to find some consistency though. We badly need another two Devon Smiths in that side.
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I agree with most of that and you seem to be suggesting that its going to take a couple of years before our midfielders have the size to compete. In which case weāre going nowhere again this year.