You don’t seriously believe we were going to get Bont do you?
Look, of course the saga played a part but again our midfield issues, lack of trading/drafting to fix it, long pre-date the saga. We can’t know what might have happened without the saga but we do know that getting Zerrett, Mcgrath & Parish are far less likely to have happened.
Exactly what he did.
At that point in the game a stupid thing to do.
Yes.
Been looking to trade up to pick 4 with Crameri & our first.
Our kpp stocks were very good. The midfield was next to get worked on.
The selection of Colyer was one of the more infuriatingly baffling and boneheaded aspects of the whole thing. I assume the principle was to bring in some extra speed to cover for fanta, but really? On a day that is guaranteed to be a wet, physical slog with a slippery ball, bring in an undersized fumbly bloke whose endurance base is questionable after injury for his first game for the year?
It was always going to be difficult once Raz withdrew. It became more difficult when we were reduced a rotation just after quarter time, which lead to the mismatch of McKenna on De Goey and a goal to them. Smack, Bags and Walla missing get-able goals didn’t help. We didn’t make enough use of our dominance early in the first quarter. Longy being pinged twice for holding the ball in defence didn’t help, either. (It’s not surprising he wasn’t up to the speed of the game in his first AFL match in two years!)
Agree with Killer_Mike, we need to improve in the middle - we’re still lacking a couple of capable mids.
Collingwood played well when it counted - in the last quarter.
We weren’t helped by some egregious umpiring decisions, especially in the first half - it was eight us and 18 them at half-time. Whether they subconsciously favour the team higher on the ladder or they are just incompetent, I can’t say. It is instructive though that against both West Coast and North, games we won, the umpiring was very much in favour of the other side. In the game in Perth, it was almost two to one against us.
Colyer played the week before against North for his 1st game and was very good in the last quarter suggesting his endurance is fine.
But also struggled to impact for most of game as per against Pies.
Really seems to be his main issue, finding the footy, runs a lot but doesn’t get to right spots. Whereas Long actually seemed to continually be in a position to get the ball surprisingly.
Yesterday’s defeat was a bitter pill to swallow, that’s for sure. We let slip a chance to defeat a Collingwood side brimming with confidence, however poor decision making, a shortage of fit bodies (limited rotations) and an ineffectual midfield group combined to bring about the result.
The endeavour was clearly there for Essendon (which was encouraging), but the execution of the basics throughout the final term was not. While Collingwood managed to dig deep and lift when it mattered most, we faulted and quickly lost control of the game.
With our finals hopes all but shot, we have an opportunity to see what the likes of Long, Mutch, Francis, Redman, Clarke etc. have to offer moving forward - let’s hope the club takes it.
Total Midfield Minutes played yesterday tells the story to me. See list below. You start to see why the Midfield running group from the Pies ran so well in the last Qtr. The Stringer and Myers injuries were huge as they could only manage to play an average of 84 mins together (Myers 81 and Stringer 87). Key backup strong mids playing a Qtr less and injured so leaving others to do too much.
Ess:
Hepps 106
McGrath 104
Walla 103
Long 102
Merrett 100
Coll:
Phillips 99
Greenwood 95
Sidebottom 94
Pendlebury 90
Thomas 89
Adams 86
Pies did play Grundy 10 more mins than Bellchambers which was crucial as we simply have no credible back up ruckmen
This, IMHO, cost us the game.
I think there is some concerns about the way we move the ball on the MCG. We seem to get caught far too often out wide. Hitting targets in the flanks and the pockets.
At Docklands, it’s almost like a tide that streams through the corridor.
Maybe we should train on the Etihad size oval more
Collingwood play a crap game…always on the boundry and always forcing it over if they were going to get done in the contest. No wonder they are the highest scorers from stoppages.
Being down a man so early really cost us probably as much as the ■■■■■■■ awful umpiring yet again.
I didnt rate the Pies before this game but Sidearse, Degoey, the yank and Pendbury did play well.
with a couple of our injured back we would have done them…I give us great hope for the future
Some of my thoughts
Haven’t we got a ground similar in dimensions at Tulla to the MCG???
The midfield “next” has been the approach for a long time. I believe it’s a major reason we have struggled.
yes, and it seldom gets used. the only action I ever see on it is injured players rehabbing.
Some good news, DP3 got 39 possies against the best team in the VFL.
Hopefully he comes back in this week and plays midfield minutes (please for the love of fark don’t play him in the small forward role).
yes but his kicking is bad.
No, it isn’t bad.
He needs to clean it up a bit, no doubt, but it isn’t bad.
Taylor Adams kicking is bad !
The umpiring was crap. But, most off the free kicks awarded against us were there. The amount of high frees, holding or tackling an opponent without the ball and stupid down field frees we give away (not just this game) is annoying.
I suppose that most of the frees were there but you had to ignore the ones that should have been paid to Essendon first, like Hepp getting paid a free against him for in the back. All you need to do is ignore the holding the ball and eventually one comes up where you can pay it against us.