VFL - Round 13 vs Casey @ Craigieburn, 2.10pm Saturday 30th June 2018

Tippa-the-Iceberg · June 30, 2018, 7:25am

Love how Hind goes in hard.
He must be rookied next yr.
Problem is,Id say another club might ■■■■■■ him!!

Lion_To_Don · June 30, 2018, 7:31am

Lavender is learning the game but unfortunately he has now been very poor in two wet condition games we lost where a little presence would have seen the Essendon VFL win the game. I have the same thought. I think he should be playing at a lower level to develop his skills and positioning in the game. Part of development is team development and playing finals in the VFL will benefit Essendon overall in the longer term.

Ants · June 30, 2018, 7:35am

S_K:

Ants:

I’ll add my observations and then its back to work.

We had more scoring shots for the day than they did (2) and it could have gone another way on a different day.

The first quarter when it was pouring rain really cost us. We were slow off the mark like last week, but unlike last week it wasn’t just entry into F50. They really killed us across the ground and handled the conditions much better.

We really came into it halfway through the second quarter when it dried up enough that our Francis/Hartley/Zerk combination starting clunking it across half back, and we could link up. From that point we won the game, but had too much to do.

Our forward line was a shambles, which is not unexpected given how well it performed last week and we lost the player who performed best of the forwards last week (Laverde).

They had a number of players who have a lot of experience down from the firsts (Vince, Bugg, Pederson), and like us a lot of good youngsters. So it was always going to be a hard match. Annoying we could have won it if we’d been a bit smarter in the last quarter. But that’s pressure for you!

On some individual players:

Hind, clearly BOG for us. I’m cursing we didn’t delist Jerrett and draft him last year. Which I was all for.

Zerk had many good moments, and a few poor ones. He’s great in the air, but did lose his man and get beaten a few times on the air. Still, a really great game from a young kid.

Francis had periods of dominance, and generally played well all day.

Mutch, Clarke, Hocking, Hartley were all good contributors without being stand outs.

Long was quiet early. He got a lot more of it second half, but didn’t use it as well as he has been previous rounds. Overall a bit below average for his match.

Jerrett should be delisted now.

McNiece, didn’t really notice much.

Lavender, I don’t want to be critical of a guy learning the game. But he’s a complete non-presence. I think he needs to learn more at a lower level, because I struggle to see what he would have got out of the last two weeks development wise. And its only for development he is in the side.

Draper continued on from last week (showed a lot, needs to use it a lot better), Leuy played well again although not as impactful (especially forward) as last week.

Ridley: far less influential than last week. Popped in once or twice but mostly I didn’t notice him.

Stewart: did some good stuff when not the target, but struggled when he was. Is failing to make the transition from tall winger to a KP player.

Is this not the purpose of VFL now?

A significant part of it is, yes. Winning and playing structures is all part of that development.

I’m just questioning when he’s hardly touching the ball if its the best place for his development. Maybe he’s getting it more than I’m noticing.

theDJR · June 30, 2018, 7:38am

Swap one of our many big backs and Lavender — Lavender gets taken to the ball to accelerate his learning, and the team gains a legit target.

Was this your first experience of lovely* Craigieburn, @S_K?

*was a decent day by Craigieburn standards.

Finding_Nino · June 30, 2018, 7:44am

Lavender is a cricket player and then we wonder why he’s not working out.

Only draft footballers please.

theDJR · June 30, 2018, 7:47am

Stats are up. Most of them are extremely similar, with hit-outs a clear aberration at 65-19 our way and tackles for Casey at 63-92.

Hind our highest-ranked with 29 disposals (24 were kicks).
Clarke 23 (17 kicks, and it really isn’t an issue anymore) and a team-high 7 tackles
Mutch 24 and 6 tackles
Draper 16 and 30 hit-outs, Loony from limited time 7 and 33
Francis our top marker on a tricky day, just 14 and 7 marks

Casey’s Filipovic had a grand total of 2 hit-outs, 2 frees against, and a DreamTeam score of -4.

theDJR · June 30, 2018, 7:49am

I did not know that Maurice Boyse played senior footy with us before heading to North and then South. Very friendly guy!

S_K · June 30, 2018, 7:51am

Wasn’t drafted

S_K · June 30, 2018, 7:51am

Given our Williamstown experience, Craigieburn was beautiful

S_K · June 30, 2018, 7:53am

Agreed, so what are the options? I’m assuming there is none short of delisting, sending back to a minor league and monitoring his progress?

Maxx · June 30, 2018, 7:54am

Can’t believe people wanted Long in the ones. Many opportunities to switch and he’s dawdling into the free space. Not sure if anyone could have moved into that space but he killed the switch a lot. Would of won if we played someone else in his position. Delist quickly, JMerrett too. Dumb footballers.

dbeas · June 30, 2018, 7:56am

Uh. McKenna? Blicavs?

What about the footballers who don’t make it?

That’s just a silly comment, mate.

S_K · June 30, 2018, 8:06am

Is the first wet weather game you are referring to his first ever game, when he refractured his ribs early in the 2nd quarter?

stir_fried_ewok · June 30, 2018, 8:12am

LAV2.0 should stay in the team and play back occasionally as suggested. The sole purpose of VFL is to develop our AFL team and he is very early into a 3 year transformation project. As long as he realises this, then all is OK. His learning should accelerate once he is physically ready, but we all know he has a mountain to climb.

theDJR · June 30, 2018, 9:33am

It was 0.2 versus 5.2 in the first quarter and a half, then 6.8 versus 3.4 for the rest.

As bad as parts of our game were, we’ve indicated we’re a legit contender this year. A good effort versus ladder-leader Richmond next week at Windy Hill would confirm that.

Fix the forward line (hell, partially fix it) and watch out!

DonAtBirth · June 30, 2018, 9:43am

He’s at round 14, of season 1, as a Cat B rookie…take it easy.

8485backtoback · June 30, 2018, 9:51am

I think with some more muscle he would be a solid AFL player

BLOODSTAINED_DEVILS · June 30, 2018, 9:53am

This.

8485backtoback · June 30, 2018, 9:57am

Stewart is clearly down on confidence

Lion_To_Don · June 30, 2018, 10:09am

He shouldn’t have been on the ground in the Wiliamstown game. Not fair to him or to the team. I wish him well and hope he succeeds but even established big players are left out when conditions do not suit. I don’t see how today can do anything for his development. Maybe as suggested a move to the backline in the last quarter may have helped.
I feel for the coaching staff and for the VFL registered players when they work their hearts out and they lose.
Example Nick Hinds reaction when he worked his heart out on the wing to move the ball forward towards the end of the last quarter when the game was still up for grabs. Set the ball beautifully at the top of the square only for Casey to mark without a contest.