Goldy would have been a much better option. Draper is a spud.
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Many perhaps had them more advanced than they are. Theyāre possibly top 6, certainly not top 4.
Watching our games on replay is nice when we suck a bit.
You can just pick and choose your games on replay and really enjoy them at a convenient time.
Instead have a life on the weekend
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Well thatās unacceptable clearance coaching. Why arenāt they teaching this stuff? My local club does this weekly! Is it because Draper has the IQ of a wet dishcloth?
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Wellā¦
This week is going to be insufferable here.
We had nothing going our way. And it started at the centre bounce. Draper had the advantage on anyone Melbourne wanted to try in the ruck and he wasted it. It was just dumb to tap it out into space. They were reading it better than us.
He needed to tap it to our players side of the contest.
That was a huge fail for any ruckman.
This is why there is a preference to play two ruckmen. If Draperās crash and bash ruck play doesnāt work, then Goldyās ruck work is a chance to work. And vice versa.
The forward line is not working. We actually had space to run into, but that actually plays in Melbourneās hands. May and Lever love going one on one in space because they read the play so well. But put them around a crowd and they struggle. Thatās why when we were keeping it in our forward line, they were struggling to transfer it out.
Regardless, we need to sort out what our best forward line is. I suspect that Stringer will be āmanagedā but after that, Caddy will go back to VFL. If weāre playing 1 ruck, we need 2MP there to give our ruck a break. I doubt they drop him to VFL. We are one of the few (maybe even the only) team that is running two small forwards in their forward line. And neither is reliable enough. You hope 1 has a good game when the other is down, but we have games like tonight when they are both ineffective. I think we need to move Jones back to the forward line. He gives a lot more defensive hustle there. I donāt mind the flexibility of pushing him up to the wing to give us a different look, but this year, he needs to be predominantly a forward who runs their defender out of the backline and opens up space for the other forwards.
We also have to sort out our backline. Since Ridley has been back it hasnāt been the same. Laverde out is fine, but having Hep there doesnāt fit. Just go with McKay, Ridley, Redman, Martin, Kelly and McGrath. Duursmaās run helps us shape our backline better. Hopefully Cox can do the same on his wing with another pre-season.
Another thingā¦
Helper smelter footy isnāt us. So Merrett trying to slice a kick through the middle was not going to help us. Same deal with Martin. Melbourne were waiting for it (especially when they realised we had to take the gamble) but it just burned us on the rebound. It would be great to play the Collingwood run it down the middle and overwhelm the opposition, but thatās just not us at all. Weāve been training for a grind it out defensive first style of footy.
Itās weird to say it, but having very few injuries is actually working against us because we do not know what our best lineup is.
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I donāt think the ruck was even in out top 10 issues for tonight.
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Get Marshal from Saints
Heppell shouldnāt have played last year let alone this year. The saga really stuffed us with these guys. Hurley played two years too long as well IMO
We owed them 
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I think you need to lay off the beers my guy, in no way have I mentioned Melbourne or their ladder positions.
I was saying that I donāt think we (Essendon) can make the top four now
Weāve got a proper fukking ruck already, only heās relegated to the Magoos, because Draperās a SuPeRsTaR.
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Now thatās not a bad idea. My blood pressure has been totally ruined by this Club.
some have been saying it for decades.
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To everyone blaming draper wake up.
Our midfield apart from Caldwell were soft and pathetic.
Simon Madden couldnāt have saved us tonight.
We shouldāve been 6 goals up at quarter time.the amount of ball we had .
No backline can stand up with soft midfielders who cry when it rains .
The following should be cannoned into
the abyss next weekā¦
Wright , Perkins, Help, Guelfi
Gresham isnāt far off them either does absolutely nothing
I donāt care who we bring in as long as they put their head over the ball
Iāve never seen a team sook it up when there is a drop of rain like us.
The good
Martin and Caldwell.
Donāt ever play Martin back again
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Absolutely agree.
How many times this gets trotted out week after week, and I 100% agree, but guaranteed heāll start back next week.
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Not sure we should be offering Stringer another contract. When we need him, he fails to turn up.
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Yeah nah it was the lack of a first ruckman.
Draper is not a ruck manās bootlace. Heās a basketballer and plays football like one.
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Perkins, Cox , Guelfi and Wright were a lot worse than Heppell
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Near on full strength team off the back of a good win last week.
Up against a weakened Dees
At the G
This team needed to make a statement to the supporters that theyāre good enough to play finals.
Bit of rain ā¦
Then that performance.
Gresham
Guelfi
Langford
Stringer
2MP
All pretty poor.
McG, Redman and Hepp just didnt handle the wet as youād expect, constantly under the pump and gifting possession back.
And the ones weāve been hoping would take us forward such as Perkins and Cox just didnāt want it enough. Lots of unforced handling errorsā¦ Archie canāt be kept in the 23 next week.
Depressing night.
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Yeah, 2 wins from the last 6 is going okay i guess