Is it because just after they acted the prick, we piled on seven unanswered goals?
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Ambrose!!!
Those McKenna screenshots are horrendous. Faaaarkin hell
No!
Agreed. Mentioned in another thread the missed opportunities that wins against Swans & tigers were. We now face similar ā8 pointā games vs Pies, Saints, Dogs & Freo in final 9 games. Absolutely critical we win those 4 games as well as win the ones we should such as Lions, Carlton & NM.
I think Dell is more pointing to the fact that we arent a nasty sort of side that dishes out that sort of stuff.
Apologies if i am wrong dell
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The McKenna incident in gif form rather than still images because itās 2017
If you look at all close losses this year and past years, you can be guaranteed one thing.
The winner is the team that is better at contested possession and clearances in the last few minutes of the game.
That was true last night - immediately after the Hurley goal I thought we just had to make sure that they didnāt get an easy centre clearance and goal; just hold up play for a minutes or so, and they would lose belief and we would win as the game fizzled out.
But we all saw what happened.
We have lost our close games - Richmond, Sydney - because we have been monstered around the ball and couldnāt win a contested possession, especially across the centre line - Howlett coughing up the ball way too easily; Buddy stripping Hurley of the ball after a handball from Daniher in the middle and Grundy takinge an easy overhead mark in a big pack near the wing after we had kicked a long bomb down the line. 3 chances to win the ball and actually send it into our forward line; 3 times Sydney wins the contest. It wasnāt just midfielders, but it is mainly about midfielders.
Go back and look at all Richmondās close losses - they got beaten around the contest when the heat was on at the end. Take Martin out and they are a poor contested ball & clearance side - but they have beaten us in those stats probably 5 years straight which is why they beat us in the end this year as well (with notable assistance from Hookerās series of dropped, simple marks all game).
When you look at the stats and the game overall, we really had no right to be in the game as they dominated clearances & contested possessions. Except for some brief patches where we halved the contests. Which is all we have to do because we are the most devastatingly offensive team in the competition because of the speed & skill at our disposal - McKenna across half back, Colyer across the middle (when he doesnāt fumble), Tippa & Fantasia up forward (with cameos in the midfield). We managed to kick 4 goals in 85 seconds of play against Port in Q1 last game which must be some sort of VFL/AFL record. So Sydney having 5 scores with 5 minutes to go is nothing extraordinary.
We need Heppell and Jobe in particular, to bring their contested ball & clearance game against Port every week, not the rubbish both dished up last night (Goddard having by far his worst game of the year didnāt help; but heās had a great year).
We could actually win all remaining games or just about lose them all based on what happens in the midfield. If we actually get to dominate the midfield - like we did in the first half against WCE and all game against Port - we will kick really big scores; we have proven this.
And one more thing - kick outs. There was an article in this morningās H-S about the importance of kick-ins and who the best exponent was at each club. Guess who is ours?
McKenna - has kicked out 11 times for no clangers and 100% success rate. And he never bombs it. He looks for a spearing pass to someone within 40 metres (and then races off to be a running handball option). Someone needs to show that stat to Hurley and Goddard and tell them to give the ball to someone who can use it well short - even in tight spaces - when kicking out. Because this bomb it long down the line down the right hand side does not work and hasnāt year.
We are one gun inside midfielder away from being a Top 4 side.
Right now, we will struggle to be Top 8 despite having a Top 2 forward line and Top 6 defence because the midfield is ultimately the most important part of the ground.
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Does not look good. However, from my own experience with dislocating a finger, you do not often initially feel it but then you look down and see your finger all warped and shock kicks in. It looks abit like that for McKenna in that gif.
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Cheer up you lot, a 1pnt defeat will teach them more than a 2 goal win. Remember the 1984 2nd Semi , hadnāt beaten the skidmarks in years and a late 4 pnt loss turned into 4 goal GF win.
This.
Although IMO we need 2 new mids and now, not in 4 yrs time.
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Itās ridiculous but I seriously didnāt sleep well last night I was so ā ā ā ā ā ā off. A win against Sydney on a doctored surface would have been so so sweet and it would have shut up those biased commentors that still hate EFC with a passion. Instead I watched some of the stupidest football I have ever seen crammed into a 4 minute period of time. Smart footballers win finals and some of our senior players arenāt football smart. Our form over the past 4 weeks has been good and now we face the real test of holding that form and winning a few back to back. If we stumble then it is time to clear out the cupboards of all the old football playing stock.
Howās everybody else holding up now that we have had time to settle down.
OK, hereās my summary after just getting home to Dubbo from the match. Firstly an overview and then some specifics.
The ground was very heavy and I was questioning the younger Humble Female about this (being a battling student in Sydney), while the weather in Sydney was dry, the ground was shifting underfoot and the ball slippery in hand. I hear the ground was wateredā¦
The SCG has come a long way over the years and is an excellent venue for spectators. Beer cold and chips were pretty good.
Our first half was patchy, the third and last QTRās (excluding last 4 mins) were pretty good. We have real speed and can play with intent. Just not for a full game. Yet. You cant beat live footy and marvel at the speed it gets played at.
We are 2-3 quality midfielders off being a very good team. While I love all of our boys, DODORO should be focussing in some big bodied,fast, strong, skilled mids. Swanns have 4-5 of these we lack them.
Some specific observations, but not covering each player:
We are one big bodied back man down. This could be Ambrose. I thought Harts went OK, but I am not sure if he needs to get stronger to manage the big strong boys, or faster, to manage the big quick boys. At the moment he looks in between; not strong enough, and not quite quick enough. However, he did some good things. Needs to keep focus for the full game. I like him.
We were one big bodied forward down. We missed Hooksey. I think this also made it hard for TIPPA and Greeny to get into the game, less crumbs and free ball. It was a different style of forward line.
Stewart and SMACK: Both play the headless chooks role well. However we can only have one of these in the team at the same time. I am not sure what Alf is yet; he plays tall and moves well but neither with authority or intent. Worth keeping onto as a third forward. Needs development but has talent. Has to find his place and style of play.
Belly: I thought he was OK. Can clunk a few and competes well.
Hurls: Very good. Love the big man.
Marty: very brave. At seasons end I would look him in the gym and not let him out until he puts on 5-7 kg. Just not strong enough, particularly when fatigued. Lots to work with.
Pidge: Quality. Much to love.
Conor: When he comes though the middle with dash itās a thing to behold. Heās quick in real life and also very strong bodied.
The corgi: Needs to stop tying to play the CHF role and get out of the way. Would like to see him focus more on pressure acts for the team.
Summary: Yes it was a terrible loss. However my swans mates were very generous, which made it slightly easier to take. We have the makings of a very good team. We need one bigger stronger bloke down back (Ambrose) and one up forward (Hooksey) and 2-3 quality mids. If we can get these and learn how to play a bit smarter and with consistency then we will be playing finals. We move the ball very well when we get going.
Go Bombers.
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not to pick on howlett cos plently of players in our side do it, but far to often in situations like that we let the ball come out of the contest when we should just hold it up. If the umps ping you for holding the ball, so be it.
but far to often they let it come out and the opposition get it
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Goddards kick out was more to blame than Gleeson
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Iām in the same boat as others, thereās so much there to work with, thereās all the right pieces of the puzzle, itās just gotta be put together properly now.
But how do you teach players not to continually make crucial errors ?
esp considering the biggest ā ā ā ā up of the night came from the most experienced player out there ?
The coaches have some hard thinking to do to. Some of their positional choices are very poor. Not to pick on goddard cos he ā ā ā ā ā ā up majorly last night, but putting him in the center bounces against kennedy is just downright stupidity. Goddard is not a clearence player nor is he one who sticks close to his man, so why in a game where kennedy is running rampant, do they even remotely consider putting goddard near him at all ?
This is he 3rd game now (richmond, gws ) that they have lost moreso than the opposition have won, just by stupid mistakes that keep getting made ( the gws game there were alot of silly mistakes made too, despite gws playing out of their skins).
So while thereās plently of positives, and definately on the right track, if you keep making those fundamental mistakes each and every week, you just wonāt get very far.
And watching us it is very similar to watching richmond of the last few years. they can match anyone, but they have way to many players who just do the same as ours.
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No. It was dumb to leave him there by himself. Should have had someone else there to give Shepherd
Yes why he wanted to get it out was very strange. He was immediately tackled and the ball was pretty much pinned, he really had to force it out. Would have been a ball up.
Mate, no offence but much of what you written is way off the mark. Sydney missed a tonne of opportunities to win it off their own boot - if Syd had lost they could have rightly claimed that they lost it, rather than us having won it. Richmond tore us a new one and could have won by more. Goddard may not be a clearance player, but we donāt really have one now that Jobeās on the slide- he playās there on occasion out of necessity. As for skill errors? Every team in the comp is marvelling at how quickly and how slick Essendon are when they move the ball - their kicking efficiency/conversion is in the top bracket. Under pressure the boys still make some errors - surprise, surpriseā¦ the team has only played 13 games together in the last two years. Theyāre doing really well to have progressed to where they are now.
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