Essendon Gameday Thread

[ScottH]

I'm honestly okay with that at this stage of his development. He's new to the game, knowing where to pop the ball for someone to run onto is something I expected to take a while for him.

Agree wholeheartedly.
Seeing that on tape, will hopefully make him a better ruckman. I guess he'd have seen the after effects of his tap work on the ground as well.
Though, he did give Goodes the Goal of the game.

He had 15 taps, and about 25% effective. Jolly was under 20%, but more taps.

[ScottH]

Clean hands!!!!!

If we'd had clean hands I reckon the result may have been different. Don't remember the bombers dropping/fumbling the ball as often. (Even keeping their feet more than we did (MOL)).

This has been noticeable for the last few weeks as well.
Marty, Jude, and many others. Their were 3 or 4 in about 2 minutes at one stage., usually under little pressure.

[2005]

In over 55 years I have seen a lot of poor Swans sides with the occasional star & a sole premiership to keep me coming back for more...but this is a real low point...perhaps the one we have to have. Just hope enough of the fickle Sydney public hang in enough to ensure there is still one side...let alone two!

All year it has been obvious that we have low skills, little pace, & an awful lack of balance...& that is not going to change overnight. There is not room in a modern successful team for 3 lumberers with low skills / little pace, but they have a lot of mates. I don't have to name them.

Perhaps we all see no future for Ablett & Crouch, & frankly Pyke (what a curious replacement for McVeigh) but am I the only one who sees no future for indecisive Mattner, brave but slow Bevan? Shaw gets the ball a lot but the error rate is starting to build...those kick outs to nowhere got a bit tiring. Malceski is not a patch on the player pre injury...sad to watch.

Don't know what to make of Bird week in week out & Vezpremi has not convinced me yet, Barlow is scarey but at least has energy, Jolly seemed to be somewhere else a lot of the time (taken apart by Ryder), Goodes has always been capable of the sublime & the ridiculous, Magic can't kick, Bolton is tired (both if you like), Kirk is glorious in defeat as always, but cannot carry this mob over too many lines. Buchanan & Moore have disappeared & are but the first of many that don't have it in them to get us to another title unless as support players to about 6 number one picks. Leo should stay where he is, perhaps I missed a retirement announcement.

ROK was great...sorry to be so negative...but it helps to put it on paper sometimes.

Pretty much on the button Gary.
Birdy far to overated on RWO, people in Melbourne wouldnt know who he is.
One good quarter doesnt make you a overnight star.
Mike Pyke , fair dinkum the guy is a dud. Mark it down.
Nick Malceski : So very sad, said it earlier this year . He is finished.
Vez : He will be fine, though his endurance at this level is not at the level required. Simply offers no pressure when he doesnt have it.
Kirky and Craig Bolton both looked shot yesterday,think the week had a fiar bit to do with that.You can put Jolly and Jude in that boat as well .
Crouchy and Luke Ablett both cant be seen for the rest of the year now.

First time in along time we looked a beaten lot with the first ten minutes yesterday. Our forward line pressure yesterday was non existant.
they simply run it out of there all day far to easily.
We looked really slow and old against that pacy Bombers outfit yesterday .

Really hope that the Sydney public and Sydney footy people stick with them now when it is needed the most.
Just wish we had the ability right now to see what others had to offer mainly from Laidlaw,Meridith,Currie,White,Hannebery,Johnston,e tc etc.

[Nico]

Jeez Roosey you don't reckon the fact that the premiership captain was driven around the boundary line at halftime in tears might have had something to do with the experienced players being "flat"? The player they looked to for the aggression is being booted out of the club and they look down. The smart arse who thought of the idea of parading Hall at half time to avoid having the players on the field to farewell him came up with a plan that flopped. Very ordinary day in the history of the club.

I'm with you on this one shags. I suspect the hasty arrangements had something to do with the fact that The Bussler had arranged a quick exit to Europe this week.

IIRC when all that business was going on with him last year and he went on the sojurn to Fiji that some players weren't too pleased. I am stunned that people say the club hasn't supported him. He would have been sacked from any other business ages ago for continuous poor work performance.

[pinkemu]

I'm with you on this one shags. I suspect the hasty arrangements had something to do with the fact that The Bussler had arranged a quick exit to Europe this week.

IIRC when all that business was going on with him last year and he went on the sojurn to Fiji that some players weren't too pleased. I am stunned that people say the club hasn't supported him. He would have been sacked from any other business ages ago for continuous poor work performance.

Hall's playing has been pretty dam good this year, That's what he was employed to do

[top40]

In over 55 years I have seen a lot of poor Swans sides with the occasional star & a sole premiership to keep me coming back for more...but this is a real low point...perhaps the one we have to have. Just hope enough of the fickle Sydney public hang in enough to ensure there is still one side...let alone two!

All year it has been obvious that we have low skills, little pace, & an awful lack of balance...& that is not going to change overnight. There is not room in a modern successful team for 3 lumberers with low skills / little pace, but they have a lot of mates. I don't have to name them.

Perhaps we all see no future for Ablett & Crouch, & frankly Pyke (what a curious replacement for McVeigh) but am I the only one who sees no future for indecisive Mattner, brave but slow Bevan? Shaw gets the ball a lot but the error rate is starting to build...those kick outs to nowhere got a bit tiring. Malceski is not a patch on the player pre injury...sad to watch.

Don't know what to make of Bird week in week out & Vezpremi has not convinced me yet, Barlow is scarey but at least has energy, Jolly seemed to be somewhere else a lot of the time (taken apart by Ryder), Goodes has always been capable of the sublime & the ridiculous, Magic can't kick, Bolton is tired (both if you like), Kirk is glorious in defeat as always, but cannot carry this mob over too many lines. Buchanan & Moore have disappeared & are but the first of many that don't have it in them to get us to another title unless as support players to about 6 number one picks. Leo should stay where he is, perhaps I missed a retirement announcement.

ROK was great...sorry to be so negative...but it helps to put it on paper sometimes.

When I read posts like this one, (one of many many many similar types that I have read in the past several years), I reflect on the fact that hopefully we are all watching this game because we enjoy it. Not for any other reason but enjoyment.

For those who witnessed the 2005 Premiership win, there is no doubt that it was sweetest for the ones who braved the dark years, not just the early 1990's, but even other occasions such as the early 1970's, (herein from Round 22 1970 to Round 13 1973, South won just 4 games out of 59). And for the older followers, you may have had the experience of 24 straight seasons (1946 to 1969-effective a whole generation) without even seeing September footy with the Swans; how sweet the 2005 Flag must have felt for you!

Part of being enjoying the experiencing of following a football team like the Swans is the capacity to not only brave the dark times, but actually to enjoy them.

I am spoiled. I have been following Sydney only since 1996. I have yet to see a year where they even fall below 100 in percentage. Just two years out of 13 seasons not seeing September. (And even then, in 2000 we were still in the race at the start of Round 22)

So my view is to enjoy the likely poor performing times ahead, and hope it will end soon. But also bear in mind how sweet it will be to see the next Flag, as opposed to falling off and then on depending on Sydney's on field performances.

[Nico]

[/B]
Hall's playing has been pretty dam good this year, That's what he was employed to do

In the case of work performance of an AFL footballer I would have thought on ground demenour in a team context carries a fair bit of weight. My point was he would have been sacked ages ago, meaning before this season. I have never questioned his ability in the football ability and workrate departments.

I wouldn't expect Barry to be taking the Swans to court over unfair dismissal.

[Legs Akimbo]

Pretty much on the button Gary.
Birdy far to overated on RWO, people in Melbourne wouldnt know who he is.
One good quarter doesnt make you a overnight star.

One good quarter? Haven't seen too many games this year or last year have you? As for people in Melbourne not knowing who he is, are you inferring that means he is no good? Sounds like it.

The guy is a second year player for christ sake.

BTW, I thought Pyke's ruckwork yesterday was excellent considering where he is at. As Roos said in his press conference, given his % game tm, to get 12 hit outs and 10 possessions is a bloody good effort.

[satchmopugdog]

So my view is to enjoy the likely poor performing times ahead, and hope it will end soon. But also bear in mind how sweet it will be to see the next Flag, as opposed to falling off and then on depending on Sydney's on field performances.[/QUOTE]


The best way to do that is to watch your favourite player and to watch the good players for the opposition..that way the 23 losing games in a row become a gathering of skills and knowledge.

It is the games where you are given hope and then still lose that really hurt, but you still get something out of watching the game itself for enjoyment

[2005]

One good quarter? Haven't seen too many games this year or last year have you? As for people in Melbourne not knowing who he is, are you inferring that means he is no good? Sounds like it.

The guy is a second year player for christ sake.

BTW, I thought Pyke's ruckwork yesterday was excellent considering where he is at. As Roos said in his press conference, given his % game tm, to get 12 hit outs and 10 possessions is a bloody good effort.

Watched plenty of footy Legs, more than what you would know ,have done for 30 odd years was at the game yesterday as well. Craig Bird is just creditable footballer at this stage. Not a star is what Im saying. Im not saying he is any good, Im saying that to many on here think he is a star. He isnt in my books.
Some on here got a little @@@@ty when they rated Birdy a C on Fox League teams the other night. Well its really where he is right now. I hope he can become a real star , match winner and a name in the game , but right now he is a young kid in his 2nd year who is just a good player.
Its where the Melbourne Media, AFL general supporters would mainly see Craig Bird. Most AFL supporters wouldnt rate him at all.
There are heaps of 1st & 2nd year players in the comp right now who are a mile in front of Bird and who are well known in the public eye and are going to be very good AFL Footballers.Eg. Rich,Hill,Walker,Tippett,Dangerfield,Suban,Brought on,Beams so on so on
As for Pykey, I rekon we wont see much of him.He is a novice who apart from a little tapwork, offers at this stage very little at all.

[Xie Shan]

Was unusual to see us look so flat for a game at the SCG, tackling intensity was well down, not much structure to our play at all... I thought we missed McVeigh for his hard running, we had no answers to the likes of Winderlich and Reimers. Barlow and Veszpremi continue to improve, Shaw was constantly mopping up in the back half but can only do so much to prop up the team.

I was happy at the reception for Barry Hall at half-time, it was respectful and knowing. Watching the highlights reel he was pretty awesome to watch and that's what the crowd pays to come and see. Helped us win a stack of games at the SCG over the years and was the marquee figure that the Sydney market so desperately craves. Glad he got the proper acknowledgement!

When you think about MO'L and Hall retiring you feel a little bit sad about the hole that they are going to leave but it's a bit like McGrath and Warne and the Aussie cricket team, you knew it was going to happen sooner or later. I do think there's more to be gained by playing White in the forward line for the remainder of the season, he's ready and no point holding him back in the reserves.

[Legs Akimbo]

Watched plenty of footy Legs, more than what you would know ,have done for 30 odd years was at the game yesterday as well. Craig Bird is just creditable footballer at this stage. Not a star is what Im saying. Im not saying he is any good, Im saying that to many on here think he is a star. He isnt in my books.
Some on here got a little @@@@ty when they rated Birdy a C on Fox League teams the other night. Well its really where he is right now. I hope he can become a real star , match winner and a name in the game , but right now he is a young kid in his 2nd year who is just a good player.
Its where the Melbourne Media, AFL general supporters would mainly see Craig Bird. Most AFL supporters wouldnt rate him at all.
There are heaps of 1st & 2nd year players in the comp right now who are a mile in front of Bird and who are well known in the public eye and are going to be very good AFL Footballers.Eg. Rich,Hill,Walker,Tippett,Dangerfield,Suban,Brought on,Beams so on so on
As for Pykey, I rekon we wont see much of him.He is a novice who apart from a little tapwork, offers at this stage very little at all.

Still not sure what the connection is between the knowledge of the xenophobic Melbourne media and football ability of up and coming players. Listening to Shane Crawford on the nine footy show this morning reaffirmed to me that the talking heads of the Melbourne media have done little to no research on our list.

As for Bird, I think the quality and volume of his disposals with limited game time shows plenty. He won us the game last week in the last quarter...and he played less than 30 games of footy!

Anyway, time will tell. I think he has the attributes to become a great of the club.

Having said all that, I have been a critic of our drafting and player rotation policy since 05. I don't think the issue is talent, I think the issue is development.

[Big Al]

Well that is rather crap isn't it? We see a guy kick 20 goals in the reggies at FF & Roos STILL can't see his worth as a tall forward.

Is Roos delusional?

JF

Roos sees him as KPP which is a tall forward isn't it? The fact he may be used in the Ruck when needed doesn't negate that. Hall did some ruck work in the forward line when required.

[Lohengrin]

[/B]
Hall's playing has been pretty dam good this year, That's what he was employed to do

He's only kicked 31 goals. Not a great return for a key forward.

[connolly]

Watched plenty of footy Legs, more than what you would know ,have done for 30 odd years was at the game yesterday as well. Craig Bird is just creditable footballer at this stage. Not a star is what Im saying. Im not saying he is any good, Im saying that to many on here think he is a star. He isnt in my books.
Some on here got a little @@@@ty when they rated Birdy a C on Fox League teams the other night. Well its really where he is right now. I hope he can become a real star , match winner and a name in the game , but right now he is a young kid in his 2nd year who is just a good player.
Its where the Melbourne Media, AFL general supporters would mainly see Craig Bird. Most AFL supporters wouldnt rate him at all.
There are heaps of 1st & 2nd year players in the comp right now who are a mile in front of Bird and who are well known in the public eye and are going to be very good AFL Footballers.Eg. Rich,Hill,Walker,Tippett,Dangerfield,Suban,Brought on,Beams so on so on
As for Pykey, I rekon we wont see much of him.He is a novice who apart from a little tapwork, offers at this stage very little at all.

Bird is very slow. With Kirk, Bolton, Ablett in the midfield his leg speed deficiency is made even more obvious. We have to play quick midfielders outside him (under the age of 31 preferably).