It’s not that surprising when our ruckman is being dominated.
And our game is built on interceps/turnovers followed by rapid counter attacks of the HBF so provided we can apply pressure it doesn’t really matter if our opponents are winning it.
Some of their skill errors was because of our efforts and pressure
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Losing the contested possessions by 55 is fkn huge.
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Half the time Fremantle had no where to kick to due to our zone. Hurley and Francis had ‘long and down the line’ sewn up. So they tended to try and possess the ball and try and pick through it. So I don’t take much notice of the difference in possession. We were much more direct and efficient in general.
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If we lose next week, it will be our 3rd year in a row of 12 wins for the H&A season and by far our worst percentage, yet it is probably our best season given we are finally playing mainly younger players and it hopefully are finally getting a reasonable coaching panel together.
When Draper begins to deliver in the AFL side, the future has arrived
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bog average teams make the finals every year. Really, most years is there a discernible difference between 7/8th and 9/10/11th?
As I said during our ‘winning run’ - people are fooled by their eyes due to the scoreboard. We were not playing well at all, and frankly fell over the line in a few against a bunch of very bog average teams.
That takes me to Sat night - if there was hypothetically no scoring or scoreboard, we leave that game a miserable lot. We were utterly pansed in so many key areas of the game - key areas which are vital come big finals games (and hence why we always collapse if we ever make it there).
We were just fortunate a poor Fremantle side with no fwd targets simply couldn’t execute on the night. They did everything else, and this played into our hands as we generally are a one trick pony and this mix of styles made us look actually competent.
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Could we be embracing the counter attack feature of our game late in the season as a way of playing better footy vs the ‘learnings’ we have been doing all year.
Seems a bit planned the last month, the problem is it failed miserably twice.
Hypothetically no scoring? It would have been a draw and we would still be guaranteed finals so yes, we would still walk away happy. 
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Unless we regress to Aus Kick rules for the AFL I don’t see this lack of scoreboard as being a problem. Average week in the tipping, just the 4 this week but still increased my lead!
Well done. I got the same but my closest opponent snagged 7! So I only have a 1 tip lead. This weekend looks like a fairly one sided round though (in theory) so it will be tough to get the right roughie.
From Barrett’s AFL.com column:
How to respond to adversity, part one
John Worsfold won’t ever be told how to act.
A two-time premiership captain and premiership coach, he rightly doesn’t feel the need to listen to people who think he should do things differently, such as display raw emotion in matches where his team is being thrashed.
Having endured 59 and 104-point losses in rounds 20 and 21, Worsfold fired up at critics in a mid-week media conference, and then, as calm as ever, took his Bombers to Perth on Saturday night to score an unexpected, finals-securing win against Fremantle.
To stem the flow… Kyle Langford! #AFLFreoDons
@AFL
Worsfold has never deviated from his set, mostly successful ways, and no matter what happens when Essendon plays its elimination final, simply qualifying for top-eight action is a significant achievement given the extended unavailability of Tom Bellchambers, Joe Daniher, Devon Smith and Michael Hurley.
The combined 163-point losses to Port Adelaide and Western Bulldogs were embarrassing. The win against Fremantle squared the ledger.
In context, Essendon’s 2019 season right now stands as a significant success, and Worsfold’s ability to endure the setbacks and scrutiny guarantee him the right to coach into 2020.
Merrett on the trusty left
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Jesus. Nobody said we were rolling like the 2000 team.
What was pleasing was that we played some young players, grunted out a way to win and broke through some of the traditional psychological crap.
The team has delivered some interstate wins in clutch matches and has been more consistent than the batch in 8th to 12th.
Even the Dogs. Whats their excuse for their pathetic first half of a year.
The real Fantasia has been out all year. Same with Joe and Smith.
We had McKernan out for a big patch along with Brown.
One of Hurley or Hooker has missed slabs of the year.
Its a good effort to have exceeded the performance of some of that 8th to 12th batch.
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Hypothetically imagine this and that that didn’t happen.
Now, no need for imagination, look at what did happen. Lost Hooker before the game and replaced him with a debutant, lost Zaka quickly and played one short and won by 32 points interstate against a heavily favoured team that had two favourite sons retiring.
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Realistically we weren’t much better than the last fortnight, we just played a horrendously bad outfit. If we play like that against any of the top five teams it will be carnage. Watching the geel/bris and wce/rich games shows just how far off the pace we are.
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Realistically that’s to be expected when those teams are at full strength and we’re going at half rat power due to injuries.
And before you say it, no, it’s not an excuse. But we do have the talent, if we can get a fitness department that is half decent
Not withstanding the reasons why, but a result like the weekend whilst still providing the warm fuzzies doesn’t mask the issues. Getting smashed so comprehensively in contested ball & stoppages is not the blueprint for a successful September. It’s rather the opposite. We have to be the worst structured team in the 8 which gives us hope for sharp improvement next year. Can you imagine giving territory to Richmond, Collingwood, West Coast and Brisbane the way we conceded it on Saturday night? We’d get absolutely smashed. It’s a pattern of behaviour too and not isolated which is why I think Worsfold & probably Skipworth should go. We haven’t been able to change the clearance & contested ball problem in a very long time and it’s proven that it’s not a profile that matches success in big, tight games. The games we have won in the back half of the year have been gritty, grind it out type matches, all physically taxing. We must become a front half team, it’s much easier to defend from your front half and it’s a proven successful formula. Woosha doesn’t seem to subscribe to it.
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I’m often amazed at the people on this site who say the same thing as 90% of others yet somehow think they are saying something profound and unique
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Maybe. But -58 in contested ball is more than a talent issue.
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I thought we were far from awful, ruck aside. Sure, we only scored two more times than them, but the fact we converted much better was not just due to luck.
(Freo were awful, ruck aside.)
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