I agree. We have to smash the Blues and then the Hawks will be a good test of where we’re at. If we can’t beat another middle of the road side like Hawthorn it will be a little hard to stay in the hunt.
People are carrying on like we just lost to a bottom 4 side. I never expected us to beat Richmond.
We’re about to though. #5 bottom of the ladder team in 33 rounds of footy.
You think we’ll lose to Carlton?
My ■■■■■■■ word I do. We can’t score. We just can’t score. Sure we’ve been competitive in the midfield and we’ve defended significantly better over the whole ground than we did last year or the year before. But we have no forward line (literally our 4 best forwards all now injured) and we can’t move the ball well enough to give the cardboard cut out forward line we have to settle for any chance of competing.
I’m surprised you actually think that. A lot of people are saying it but i figured they’re venting. I know we’ve dropped games to Carlton in the last couple of seasons but man they’re just terrible. I watched them yesterday and the made St Kilda look like GWS. Freo are twice the side Carlton are and we controlled that game easily.
I imagine we’ll throw hooker forward which will give us more scoring opportunities, and he wont be needed back because Carlton’s forwards aren’t exactly a scary prospect. Lav and Begs will be better after blowing off cobwebs. Bookies have us at $1.30.
No you didn’t…Never upset the universe.
If that’s the thing I’ve done to upset the universe, it has some seriously skewed priorities.
Of the second group, I wouldnt discount Adelaide having a crack.
For me, this is finally the year the Giants are due. Im more in the view of a Geelong V GWS granny than anything else.
Essendon are not as far off as nearly everyone here and elsewhere thinks is my absolute gut feel. I expect us to rally, but at 4-6 it might be a replay of 2018 for us. Would be nice to have a final. I feel comfortable in our capacity to beat anyone in that mid table group and need an ounce of luck against your top group.
Our inability to score when we get it forward is equally alarming as is our inability to actually get it forward. We’re giving up way too much turnover football and can’t hit the scoreboard. Add to that our blindingly obvious propensity to lapse in intensity against weaker opposition.
Yeah i get where you’re coming from. I would just be shocked if we dropped this one though. I don’t think thing are that bad that we can’t comfortably roll the Blues. St Kilda and Sydney are the only 2 games i’ve tipped us incorrectly this year.
*and i had a bad feeling about the Sydney one.
There’s a better chance that pigs will fly
But we are mate. Offensively, we are terrible. This isn’t some knee jerk reaction to a poor performance. Watch us play. Watch us try to move the ball from defence and deliver it inside 50. We are very very poor. Part of that is personnel based but it’s also a direct reflection on confidence and the ease with which we are shut down in transition. Carlton for all their scoring woes of their own a disciplined in defence and will compete hard in the midfield. They will stay in the game and will go into the game knowing they’re probably only have to kick 12 goals to win it. There are 2 elements of our game that are doubtlessly an improvement on the last two seasons but for those improvements we’ve completely given up the one advantage we had. We are exactly like Port Adelaide of a few years ago when they went from downhill skiing extraordinaire’s to bog average defensive plodders who hit in at the contest but couldn’t move the footy to save themselves. It ■■■■■■■ sucks. But it is where we are at.
I hold zero hopes of making finals from here. It’s too hard an ask and we are too prone to dropping games we should win, tune in Sunday!
With the way injuries are this Sunday is a 50-50, and I really can’t see us beating Hawthorn on current form.
I still hear a lot of talk and read on here about how dangerous we can be, yet our last 5 games have us with scores of;
69,54,72,60,50
That’s not a team that can kick a winning score to win many games let alone go 8-4 from here on in to make it.
The question is whether we can win two more games from here than two of Brisbane, Hawthorn, Port and Adelaide.
Seems extremely unlikely.
But, if we win the next two weeks then we’re well on our way.
The biggest thing in the way of us playing finals is that, first, we need to stop playing like crap.
I feel like people are ignoring that part.
It was the manner of the loss, not the actual loss itself. Essendon were well and truly beaten by early in the second quarter. Don’t be fooled by a few late goals scored after Richmond had declared their innings closed.
Exactly. Scores are down across the board because teams are even more focused on not getting burnt on turnover, but our problem is that we can’t move the ball to make the most of turnovers when we get them. We are too easy to shut down in transition, as admirable as it is they do at least continue to try and take the game on.
They did a similar job to Hawthorn last week, except they capitalized in overs 40-50 rather than 0-15 (to stick with the cricketing parlance).
Yeah no doubt. we were beaten by a way better team in conditions that suit them more. It was always going to play out that way.
the footy forecaster site has us finishing 8th on 11 wins above the hawks on %
they have us winning against the blues this week by 37 points
Oh joy. That predictor means an elimination final against WCE in Perth.