I think if someone thinks, say, that we’re showing worrying signs in our clearance work, they should say so even after wins. If they don’t say it and it does start costing us games they’ll quite fairly just cop “well you weren’t saying that when we were winning, were you?”
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Being at the game, you could clearly see the conditions worked against us and we didn’t do ourselves any favours by over possessing the ball.
Our clearances have been an issue the last two games and we need another ruckman to support Goldstein.
But our structures held and thanks to our backline, we got over the line.
We’ll be facing similar conditions next week, so let’s hope we review the game thoroughly and make the proper adjustments.
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I watched the replay and thought we played well. I was hoping for a smashing too but Richmond brought their pressure game reminiscent of their time under peak Hardwick but for a change we matched it and if only for our woeful entries i50 I think the scoreline would have been more comfortable. The silver lining for me is that we actually have a semblance of turnover game and that’s 2 weeks (albeit against the worst 2 teams in the league) we have lost stoppages but scored heavily from turnover.
Goldstein either needs help or needs a rest; he simply cannot ruck alone. It’s so obvious I’ll be angry if Brad sticks to Goldy in the ruck alone!
Our defence held up brilliantly. Reid’s going to have trouble breaking into the team if Laverde keeps playing like that. Ridley back with McKay, Redman, McGrath and Heppell worked very well.
Our offence for me was the let down yesterday with messy entries and players who were ‘off’…Perkins and Guelfi were quiet. Davey Jnr just faded in and out too much. Peter Wright couldn’t hold onto anything.
I would probably have been a lot angrier watching the game live though!!
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Chap alert!
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Adelaide 46 Wet Toast 1. That is how you treat a ■■■■■ team. We got those sniffers in 3 or 4 weeks, can we do the same or only win by 1 point at the last second.
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I got frustrated watching the game, but a day later I’m feeling okay about it.
Richmond were definitely up for this game and played very well. They have good players all over the ground – I don’t mean all of their players are good, but they have quite a few very good players and they’re spread out. One of the very good players is Toby Nankervis, who gave Goldy a bath, and it all started from there. Add the fact that Dustin Martin played probably his best game for the year and any opposition is going to have problems.
We won because our defence was excellent, with Ridley the absolute standout but Redman, Laverde, Heppell and McGrath all having very good games. To be honest I’m not sold on Ben McKay; yes, he’s huge, and yes, he can take a mark, but he doesn’t use his size to impose himself on the game the way someone like May at Melbourne does, or McKay’s brother at the other end of the ground for FC (when he’s on, which is not all the time). Maybe he just lacks a bit of confidence after all his years of injury, but I’d like to see him with a bit of see ball, get ball, and I don’t care who’s in the way mentality. Laverde cops a lot of ■■■■ on here and he makes some bad mistakes, but he’s a very tough and mean defender and any opponent of his usually has a hard game.
Apart from the defence, it was having multiple options up forward – they didn’t all play well, but Wright, Langford, Stringer, Gresham and Caddy all had to be covered, and even ADJr did a bit when he got a chance.
The midfield were down. Merrett put in his usual excellent performance, but I thought the rest of them were just a bit below par. I wish to God that Scott would stop playing Martin in the backline and just let him do what he does best. Durham did bits, but not as many as usual. I barely saw Tsatas. Hind had a great game and IMO is definitely in the mix for best 22 – pace like his is a huge asset, and he usually hits his targets and is a steady shot for goal.
RIchmond pressured us all night, but we kept plugging away and we have enough good players and we apply enough pressure ourselves now to win games like that. I’d like to have won by 10 goals, and at one point in the second quarter it looked as though we might, but I’ll take the 14 points.
I’d really like to win next week. Gold Coast aren’t all that good, but they’re bloody hard to beat at home.
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Pretty much on the money
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Yep
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All of their premiership players had cracking games That’s going to lift any team
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I thought we were clearly the better team on the night. We need a better system for bringing the ball to a target in the forward line. Just dumping the ball in brought Richmond into the game.
To stop our running game I think a lot of teams are going one on one to shut down our rebound attacks.
Still some good work being undone by poor disposal. My personal bug bear I suppose.
We are second with a game clear in the four. We win another 4 games and we are finals bound. Let’s hope the 20th anniversary of our last finals win is one that breaks the hoodoo. That’s when I will go lid off. But not till then.
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I actually didn’t notice this at the game - but did the Tigers play Balta in the backline??
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Stringer set the game up early for us 4 goals is a fantastic return
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If there is a virus going around the club then it is quite understandable that a lot of players are not performing at their best. Hopefully it will clear up over the next few weeks. We may not be able to win every game and a loss somewhere along the line might just be enough to spring them all back into action.
Yes.
Wow - so with the exception of Grimes, probably their first choice backline.
They really did throw everything at us for that game.
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Most teams have done so when coming up against us for years because more often than not they’ve known that if they could take the first ‘punch’ then we would inevitably roll over after that.
While we’ve played some very ordinary footy the last few rounds, to still find a way to come out on top is a pretty big tick in terms of improvement overall.
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Yep havent played like that since the sydney game.
Yes it we didnt thrash them by 10 goals but stood up when the game needed to be won signs of a mature team
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Like it or not, we are going to have ‘off games’ like every club has every year. The Essendon of old would probably have lost that one last night so I am happy we got the chocolates even thought we were well off our best. There were hints that a virus struck the club last week. Wouldn’t surprise me the way some of the players turned up this week.
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I have to assume there’s things going on behind the scene were not privy to. Shiel should have played a full game last week & when we lost Hobbs as well it was a no brainer. To double down & not have him play at either level leads me to believe his card must be marked. Our midfield lacked a clearance player & Shiel was the obvious replacement but would he even be considered for next week after 1qtr of footy in a fortnight?
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I wrote this in the Non-Essendon match thread in response to something someone said:
"Despite where we sit on the ladder, the reality is that we are a side still learning the basics of all ground defensive pressure and still trying to find the right balance and structure (development, depth and injury issues). For the moment winning ugly is all we can do as we get the pieces and coaching together. We still struggle to play 4 quarters of strong, consistent football, even in the games we win reasonably well.
We have had a very good start to the year, better than just about anyone expected. However the reality of what we are as a side doesn’t match our ladder position, which is actually fantastic if you stop and consider all this. If the trend of this improvement and development continues then so will the chances are we get it all together and belt someone.
IMO we just need to put aside the idea of smashing teams and just focus on watching the team getting the basics right and the development of a number of players. Enjoy the wins, regardless of how they come."
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