I’m concerned we could have a st kilda like season.
all the inroads and progress we made last year down toilet and back to square one we have been the last 10 years
That’s the spirit
5 Likes
You saying that it’s not possible that this could happen?
At the end of the day this is Essendon we are talking about we had many false dawns over the years I pray that this time it’s different
Some of us fully expect our fwd line output to not be as it was last year.
Hooker was in one of leagues leading goal kickers at half way mark as per TIPPA. There is the goals they kicked and those created also
May have to go backwards to go forwards firstly as far as the development/experience of our fwd line
Doesn’t mean not on the right track
We will be better in both midfield and defence, it’s fwd line that’s going to be inconsistent
2 Likes
I don’t mind us taking a step back to go forward I just don’t want us to completely go backwards that’s all
Regardless of ladder position we will make progress.
Given the draw, injuries, close losses, lucky wins etc progression is hardly ever linear.
For example the dees made a prelim, finished third last, finished 9th & then won the flag (pretty sure that was the chronology)
Stay positive my man, we’re in a good place.
2 Likes
Very unlikely.
St. Kilda were slaughtered by injuries last year. Alot of their players didn’t have full pre-seasons iirc
Positives
- Caldwell looks likely to repay trade price if can stay on the park.
- Backline bolstered with Kelly and McGrath there, plus a bit more continuity and Ridley elevating himself to another level.
- Healthy list generally
- Martin and wanganeen look like they can fit a short term need plus are both young to aid team in the long term if come on.
- Bryan looked fairly competitive in the intra club match.
- Parish and Merrett look to be in good nick.
Negatives
*Tall forwards and small forwards struggled to kick a score.
better forwards were Wright and the two debutants wanganeen and Martin.
- Stringer injury, Reid injury, Tippa, Francis injury, then played match, then missed next game.
- Poor kicking for goal against the saints
- Jones interrupted preseason
What are people expecting this year though? Most rankings or whatever have us 9th or 10th, others improving faster due to some of our veterans dropping off and the young guys needing more time.
Flag
2 Likes
More of the same really.
Our backline and midfield are right on track but the forwardline is probably behind where it needs to be for us to realistically challenge top 4.
Getting games into Perkins, Cox, Reid, Draper, Hobbs and Caldwell is everything.
Fark carlton.
agree with all of that - i’m hoping another younger key defender comes through but we have good options there for now.
I’m concerned that Fark carlton will be quite good this year - they’d want to be with the amount of cap they’re using with 26 and above guys but they have a lot of good players now and are just a competent coach away from putting it together (in this posters view). Anyway i’m equally sus that voss is just a dud coach so whilst they may win more games in the season i doubt they’ll be much chop in the finals.
I think from the dogs game we played at a fast pace as did they and our skills let us down in transition of good opportunities to score but it was pretty windy.
We again let the saints transition way too fast in the first qtr and dropped some easy marks. From the start of second qtr we really nullified there movement besides a few passages. I think the message was to stop allowing quick transition and for us to be well set up behind the play before attacking. I think we had plenty of scoring shots playing a bit more conservative but it was what we did inside 50 that let us down.
I think that it was good to see a slight change in tempo actually worked in game especially for a team that hasn’t had a “plan b” for 20 yrs.
Besides those two games:
- healthy squad
- squad looks fitter and stronger
- no drastic changes from last year
- besides our midfield and defence looking good I’m pretty bullish we’re going to be strong through the niche area of the wings as well; Cox, Langford, Heppell, McGrath, Perkins, Snelling, Guelfi, Durham, Martin
- key posts look a bit more aggressive thanks to Rance
- key posts look bare if Reid and Hurley are still in rehab
- I think we’re going to lose a good 2 goals per game without having a crummer like Walla lurking around the forward contests so we need to find another avenue or two. Maybe the likes of Parish, Caldwell, Shiel, Stringer, Langford, Guelfi and even small stints from Hind and McGrath rotating as a deep small forward and staying on ground for the crumb could be a workaround for the time being until Walla or Wanganeen are ready.