Cant believe it, but i agree with MORE MAYO
It’s an odd year. I really wasn’t sure where to place us preseason, and said with a little bit of optimism 6th to my Dad when doing preseason predictions. Overall, our best footy was very good, and our poorest football was very poor. We saw a reasonable amount of both. So a few thoughts below:
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Returning players & cohesion
Something we all underestimated was the impact of the year off on the returning players. At the upper end of hopes was that they’d come back refreshed, that Stanton, Watson, Heppell, Colyer and Myers (and maybe Hocking) would immediately boost the midfield, while Hurley and Hooker would dominate the air. Outside of myself and a few others, most had few hopes for Belly. Worst case scenario was that a few would perform poorly, some good.
Reality was that every single one was worse off for the year off. In the cases of Watson, Stanton and Hocking this was catastrophically so. Even the best returners (Hurley, Belly, Hooker) all struggled at elements of their game, and also with consistency. Who really thought Stanton would go from a decade of being amongst our best players to barely VFL worthy?
Frustratingly, it was the midfield which was really hit hard. Both in terms of performers, but also in working together. Heppell, Watson, Colyer and Myers were the only consistently picked players, and all struggled for form. Many (including me) would argue that Colyer and Myers should have been dropped later in the season, and some would have said earlier. Across the ground, team cohesion was a big issue throughout the year. The only area which really clicked quickly was the forwards, and they were hit by injuries late in the year.
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Fatigue, wear and tear
Another major issue in the start of the season was fatigue. We faded against a number of sides, with it sometimes costing us (Fremantle, Richmond), and sometimes not (Geelong). Hopefully this is something which will be fixed with another preseason.
Towards the end of the season we saw it impact some of the older players. Kelly and Goddard were two of our best players early doors, but neither was as impactful in the last third of the season. Some of the younger players also trailed off. I think Walla and Zerrett were poorer in the back half of the season, with some exceptions.
Generally, our injury run was pretty good. This is in some ways concerning and certainly meant our depth wasn’t particularly tested.
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We had some real positives
Our best football was very good, and it looks like the forward line can be deadly. JD, Stewart, Fantasia, Walla, Hooker all performed brilliantly up forward making it one of the deadliest in the league. We had the third highest
McGrath looks good, Parish did some good work, McKenna came on, Zerrett was deservedly AA and Zaharakis had another really good year. For better or worse we did make the finals and with a lot of headwinds, performed better than 11 other clubs.
Our play to defeat West Coast, Geelong, Port Adelaide and to push Sydney to one point at the SCG was all fantastic. We also showed glimpses in other games. Our best football was very very good.
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No so good
Midfield
The midfield is the obvious issue here. Fundamentally, we don’t have enough talent here. In 2017 the main midfield was Belly, Zerrett, Zaharakis, Heppell, Parish, Goddard, Watson, Colyer and Myers. Those were the core players who spent the most time there, while some of the forwards and defenders had cameos. Of those only Zerrett, Zaharakis, Goddard could be said to have performed at a high standard, and for Goddard only for half the year. Heppell and Parish were up and down in terms of impact, Watson was barely a pass, and the less said on most of Colyer and Myer’s games the better. The next tier of depth was Howlett and Bird.
It’s a problem. Goddard probably has a year left. Watson is gone. The hope is that Heppell and Colyer rediscover their 2015 form, McGrath goes in, maybe Fantasia more in there, and then that a host of youngsters step up. It is possible the midfield will improve, but there is a lot of hope involved.
Defence
I can’t find stats, but I’d be willing to bet we were amongst the poorer sides in the league for D50 entries. We were seventh last in the league for points conceded, and second highest for rebound 50’s (the top 4 were Lions, Suns, Swans and us). That statistic indicates to me (and matches my observations) that the ball went down there a lot. In that context, it is a little hard to measure the defence. They were under the pump, and at times the ball moved in very quickly with little pressure.
I’d have said Hartley and Ambrose did not play as well as 2016. Gleeson was better, but I have my doubts (I know that is a less common view). McKenna was fantastic offensively, but is still a bit weak defensively. Kelly was strong early and then faded, Bags was scratchy very early/preseason and then solid. McGrath was good. I’d have said we have a problem in the air – our contested marking is a weakness. McGrath is small (and probably going to the midfield), McKenna still learning the spoiling art, and Hartley and Gleeson get beaten a lot one on one in marking contests. Hurley was great as third man, but had a dog of a year when playing tight. This is an area that must be improved, and the hope would be one (or both) of Francis and Ridley can assist.
2016 players
I think there is a strong argument that a few good performers in 2016 did not perform at the same level in 2017. I’m thinking Ambrose, Hartley, Leuy, Laverde and Dea. Some of that was injuries, some was others in the same positions, but I do think a number of players had poorer (AFL) seasons. It is a little concerning.
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The coach
Worsfold had a tough gig with the returning players, and most I think would say he blew it. At the start of the year you could split Blitz between those saying we should prioritise winning versus those prioritising development. But nobody thought keeping Myers and Colyer in the side helped either of those goals later in the season. Or Howlett as a forward. Sure, you could argue which of Bird or Langford should be in the side, but everyone agreed some guys had to come out.
His inability to react to bad periods of the game, our losses to poorer teams, create effective kick-out routines and the team selection are all areas of concern. I’d give him a pass this year because in many ways it was like coaching the side for the first time, and dealing with the returning players was hard.
But in my mind, he’s on notice.
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What we learnt
- That our midfield has a problem. Duh.
- That we’ve got a problem with small defenders. I don’t rate Gleeson or Dea as above average. Bags is getting older, Kelly is gone, McGrath is probably midfield. Hartley, Ambrose and Brown did not perform at their 2016 levels, and for that focus has to go squarely onto the coaching panel. McKenna was great, and it’s vital we retain his services.
- That Hooker is incredibly important to our structure, and it is likely that JD is to. Although not a priority over midfielders, this is a concern if Francis can’t step up. I’d have personally liked to have seen Bellchambers in Hooker’s role versus Sydney, I still argue he’s the only one who could also do it on our current list.
- We have limited depth unless the youngsters come on fast
- We probably have a limited window with Hurley and Hooker, and that is a bit of a problem.
- That we need to have a game plan that can react to other team’s midfield dominance.
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Key Questions
- How to fix the midfield? Duh.
- Will the returning players step up a level in 2018 with a second preseason under their belt?
- We need to know what turns good goal kickers into bad goal kickers when they come to Essendon. Stewart and Green’s accuracy fell away terribly across the year. What are we doing wrong?
- How do we build more depth in the defence?
- Which of the youngsters will be good enough to step up?
- Is the coach good enough?
For mine, the real key question is over whether or not this team can challenge in the next 2-3 years. Because if we go for it, and we can’t, we’re probably putting the club back 5-6 years.
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Fwd
10/10
Couldn’t have gone much better. Genuinely one of the top couple of forward lines in the comp.
Backline
4/10
Waaaay worse than it should’ve been. Names are all there, they all played OK footy in patches, the whole was less than the sum of its parts
Midfield
3/10
Yep.
Results
7/10
Finals. Massive shock, to me at least. Must ■■■■ the Dees and Saints off that they’ve been building for 4 years each to finish 9th/ 10th.
Development
3/10
Andy McGrath, Conor McKenna: the list really doesn’t go on. Not our weakest point this year but IMO will hurt us going forward.
Overall
5.5/10
Just above average.
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at the pub.
great start to the preseason transformation.
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What did he say?
Team 1
Locks in a top four side.
You can, and I’m sure some will, argue some of the placement of players.
Cool cool. Make your own team.
Interestingly, there seems to be a full complement of midfielders. There’s not, of course. The team is made up of what we have, and the lack of players in the forward, back and IC are, in my opinion, a massive shortfall to the midfield.
I’ve been generous with Stewart, I think.
No Goddard, as I don’t think he’ll still be playing. Which may or may not have been a cop-out.
B: Hurley
HB: McKenna, Hooker, Tippa
C: Zaharakis, Zerrett, Parish
HF:
F: Fantasia, Daniher,
R: , Heppell, McGrath
IC: Stewart
2018 provisional best 22.
Bags? Ambrose hurley
Conor Hartley? Gleeson
Zaha hepp McGrath
Tbell zerret parish
Bj? Stewart tippa
JD hooker Fanta
Langford Begley lav mutch
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What you want, or what you expect?
They’re my next two teams.
Of course, it’s difficult without knowing who we trade out and in.
That’s exactly the Best 22 I came up with in the shower this morning.
Unfortunately our main issues of a midfield who leak like a sieve and a backline who have forgotten how to defend are still there.
Expect. Green might come in for lav. I’d love Begley to explode as a mid, half fwd.
Hopefully we trade for an a grade mid and Francis demands a spot in the backline pushing out one of the 3 talls. In fantasy land Morgan or Redman are the second coming of Conor and push out bags
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Yeah, that article proves he reads Blitz.
In which case, I would just like to say:
For all you did over the saga, up yours Mayo!!
I’d wouldn’t begrudge him being at the pub on the first Saturday night since his season finished.
The final hurt but the reality was it’s the in form team of comp who’ve made it to last two GF’s vs a team who somehow scraped into the 8 despite obvious deficiencies.
I think the season was very much a success because we still made finals despite the difficulty of transitioning the returning players back to footy, and working through finding out what mix of players works best. Other finals sides have been building towards that with a stable squad for many many years.
We ended up with 3 players selected in AA squad and making the team. Another who if he hadn’t of been injured likely making it also.
We have the rising star.
JD and Hooker combined for 100goals. Our fwd 6 in general was very dangerous, one of the most potent in the league. And only had 1 season together to gel, plus a pretty ordinary supply from midfield.
I expect Woosh now knows full well where our limitations as an entire squad are and can look to list management team to aggressively improve the list.
I’m confident in another exciting season for 2018 and looking fwd to progression of our young talented players.
Season - 7/10 (we did better than I expected)
Final - 3/10
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Given this is a 2017 review thread, can we try and avoid making it into a 2018 best 22 thread?
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Its a 50 50 question.
You cant really say we have a top 4 list while watson, goddard and myers where a large chunk of our midfield this year.
The gameplan is hard to judge. Take the first sydney game, and even the richmond game, if their skills and conversion are better , they prolly belt us.
They weren’t and we xould have won those games with better skill ourselves.
But when we do the hard defensive stuff like the geelong, wc port games , it works and looks great.
So imo its not a sinple case of, oh the gameplan sucks.
The gameplan theoretically works , as long as you pick the right side to implement it going both ways.
The hands were tied a bit this year obviously, hence one has to take that into account.
But if howlett is getting a game next year above and before guys like begley, then we will be in the exact same position next year, or ther other examples.
You have to pick skilled players as well as players hard running defensive players otherwise no plan will work.
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I don’t see how you can separate them.
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You can’t drive around looking in the rear view mirror 100% of the time. You have to look forward at some point.
ill evaluate the whole year after the trade and draft period delistings are all done and dusted…still too raw after to do right now even football wise!
7 out of 10.
Oh and thread needs some Toadie, just cos.
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6/10 is the AFL officially endorsed score