Well the first three because they’re 24-25 and have been playing senior footy for 8 years. How they are as footballers will never change it’s just making what they do have better. We’ve seen what all three can and can’t do there’s so extra strings to their bow to be found.
I reckon he might have beaten TB’s 3 possessions.
And he would have run.
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l am always wary when a post starts off with a phrase like, ‘let’s be honest,’ for what usually follows is usually not. Those teams that we played and beat in the mid season, didn’t just play like crap, that played that way because we imposed our game plan on them, and executed our game plan better than they could execute their own. I attended the Port game and it was obvious from the outset that Essendon were switched on, and controlled the flow and tempo of the game, so that it was played on our terms, not theirs. In other words Port were never given the chance to play badly, they were dominated from start to finish. The same applies to the Saints game, they were clueless about how to go about stopping us. They had their worst few performances for the year, thanks to Essendon imposing its will on them. Form is fickle and cannot be maintained across an entire season, unless that season is the year 2000. You pull the Bulldogs out as an example of a mid table team, but so were the Saints and the Demons, so against mid table opposition we ended up with mixed results. Those rubbish teams you mention are further proof that form is fleeting, it comes and goes quickly. Lethal says he only considered the previous 3 weeks when looking at the form of opposition teams, beyond that it is more about history. Last point; the records show that we finished in seventh place in a league of eighteen, closer to the top than the bottom, even if not by much.
Enough with this revisionist crap.
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They aren’t overlooked but you need to find fresh blood every year. We found Walla last year… and I’m not entirely convinced he went forward this year. Another pre-season should have seen him step forward… but I reckon we missed him off HB… but we also need him up forward. I wouldn’t say that Walla had a significantly better second year than his first.
Hartley went backwards.
Ambrose had the injury but is still in the infancy of seeing whether he can hold down a key back position. The problem is that he is a ‘blanket’… and you can’t play two blankets in the same backline… leaves you short of running. Panics with the ball a bit too. Got torched on the lead and is undersized.
Fanta had a great year and continues to grow. The obvious move is into the midfield but we didn’t pull the trigger this year. His injury came at the wrong time and hurt the season badly. Absolutely still has a tonne of improvement left.
Parish went backwards this year. Was caught without a position and woosha never really found him one. Had flashes and I think will be a star but under utilised too often.
McGrath had a great first season… still room to grow… could have been thrown into the midfield earlier and more often.
What other Young Players even got a good run this year?? That is the whole point… the rest are all older guys… known quantities…
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Sounds like your the one loosing your marbles.
Bookmark this. One of the 4 teams will replace us in the eight, they will figure out their issues from 2016
We were a couple of results from 11th this year
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Carlton’s list build has been a farking nightmare. They have finally found a few young players the last year or 2. It’s taken them an eternity.
And they also brought in Alex Silvagni and Rhys Palmer last year…
The ridiculous negative comparisons to every club is out of control. Next I’m gonna hear Moonee Ponds reserves have a better bench rotation strategy.
Fark fark fark fark me
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My two cents.
Im happy we gave game time to as many banned players as possible. They deserved it.
Im happy we made finals even though we got flogged. No matter what it was finals experience and we will be better for it.
I am as dissapointed as anyone with the result, but Im not shattered. I thought if we could make around 10ish by seasons end it was an improvement.
Fark Carlton…and Port.
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We were a couple of results from top 4 as well. Footy is a funny game. We finished about were we deserved.
And now you say one of those teams will replace us in the 8. What a farking massive call (sarcasm)!
Before you said all 4 were gonna fix there issues. Dude, seriously.
Maybe Rosso, but they mostly got first use of the ball, and were tougher than now on the inside.
Essendon needs a culture shake up. It was something that I thought needed to happen merely as an observer but after tweet-gate it became blatantly obvious the leadership group and by extension the entire playing group can’t handle crtitism. This is your fkn CEO surely his opinion hold some weight he pays your fkn salary.
Build a club around Zerrett, Darcy, Joe, Raz and McG. They haven’t been totally corrupted by whatever Essendon is these days so there’s still time. Maybe they can change it.
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Myers is the perfect example of what’s wrong with this club’s arrogance
Wouldn’t have played in any other team’s best 22 this year absolute liability when the ball is more than a metre away from him
His man runs forward and kills us very game and he is kept in week after week
Playing a midfield one man down is always going to get you crushed, Hocking and Bird have offered more than Myers this season and neither could get a game because EFC refuse to admit they ■■■■■■ up the pick on Myers
Just hands over eyes and mouth yelling out “THIS IS FINE THIS IS FINE”
So over this clubs horse ■■■■ posturing then the team coming out and playing like pansies
It’s true the success we’ve had makes for an attitude of “just enough”
People think we’re overreacting in this thread, but it’s the career footballers in a team who just want to pick up a cheque and not get their pretty faces too bruised too much who make other elite hard at it players like Parish leave, this is why we can’t have performances like this, giving up 10 goals in a qtr in a final is the most disguting pathetic thing you could ever do, especially to a team you only lost by a point too last game
Serious questions need to be made about the list from bottom to top and that includes the coach. In the 2nd qtr when SYdney started getting on top I saw no run, no options, not a single ■■■■■■■ person moving for our backline to kick to.
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To be fair, Bolton’s only been coaching them for a few years, not an eternity. Hard to call it a nightmare two years into what everyone knows is a long term, 5 year plus, project. Hawthorn didn’t show real improvement until Clarksons third year.
Mate they have been rebuilding long before Bolton. They have been bad as well. And they don’t have a saga to point to robbing them of there best years.
As for Bolton, it’s too early to judge him yes, both good or bad. They ain’t no farking blueprint…
This is the crux of the issue in my opinion. Culture.
I wouldnt call what Malthouse was doing before Bolton any kind of rebuild. Theyve been rubbish sure, but I wouldn’t be knocking their rebuilding efforts just yet.
Watching the replay (I was at the game but you can’t see anything from behind the goals; all I can tell you is that we conceded every uncontested mark ever and their set shot kicking was then infuriatingly awesome).
Anyway, Ling’s written advice on “how to beat the Swans” was this:
- Slow and measured ball movement
- Change the angles, keep it away from the corridor
- Use the wings, give your defenders time to get behind ball
It reads like a plan to lose by only 10 goals; defending percentage in a final ain’t the smartest approach.
You’d be a Grade A moron to even suggest such a game plan, let alone implement it.
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That is just incorrect. No realistic blitzer ever thought we were finishing top 4, but this board turned into goodwill hunting 3 weeks out from finals to see if or how we make finals.
I have not changed my original post. I am saying we will miss finals next year. 1 of those 4 will take our place (and for some adjustments this season they take our spot in the finals)
We will finish 11th next year
No club has been in the situation we were this year with so many players coming back after a year off. We have nothing to compare it to and we don’t really know what effect it had both mentally and physically. We definitely lost steam towards the end of the year and we met a Sydney side playing great footy on their home patch with so much finals experience. They burned us in the second quarter and there was no coming back. They are a great side. No doubt. None at all. They will burn Geelong next week and then go to Adelaide. They’ll go close this year. We had a “Barry” but we need to look at all the factors and take them into account.
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I still think the culture changed when Hird was rag dolled (against north?) And no one went in to fly the flag
Give me blokes with attitude problems any day rockliff.stringer.martin yes please. Warts and all at least they will stand up on the field
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