Bombertalk

We seem to keep falling short here in attack. (Not to mention HB flankers tearing us up with their run out of defence.)

I would love to see Mcphee play as a CHF. His played their with great success in the past as a marking target, namely one Anzac day in the past. His led the league in marks all year, but of course stats can often mean nothing.

Its fair to say also that Mark Johnson has not been at his best this season... he has played great footy resting in the Forward pocket in past years. A great overhead mark, a decent shot at goal.. i think its worth a try. Why not start him there? I dont want to see him turn into a nothing player, with no position and with no effect on games. His better then that.

Overall, it seems in some games these two have just been wasting down back considering their best footy has been played elsewhere. Mcphee has also been undicipline, and beaten on many occasions.

I know we dont have the luxury to play him on the wing, and let him have a run around, but I believe he would love a bit of a change up. Let him chase the ball instead. Mcphee was once a very very attacking player, who wasnt afraid to take people on. An attacking role i say would be ideal.

If this were to ever happen and fail im happy to be proven wrong, it just seems like a more logical move then to put Courtney Johns down back.

Thoughts?

nathanskinner wrote:We seem to keep falling short here in attack. (Not to mention HB flankers tearing us up with their run out of defence.)

I would love to see Mcphee play as a CHF. His played their with great success in the past as a marking target, namely one Anzac day in the past. His led the league in marks all year, but of course stats can often mean nothing.

Its fair to say also that Mark Johnson has not been at his best this season... he has played great footy resting in the Forward pocket in past years. A great overhead mark, a decent shot at goal.. i think its worth a try. Why not start him there? I dont want to see him turn into a nothing player, with no position and with no effect on games. His better then that.

Overall, it seems in some games these two have just been wasting down back considering their best footy has been played elsewhere. Mcphee has also been undicipline, and beaten on many occasions.

I know we dont have the luxury to play him on the wing, and let him have a run around, but I believe he would love a bit of a change up. Let him chase the ball instead. Mcphee was once a very very attacking player, who wasnt afraid to take people on. An attacking role i say would be ideal.

If this were to ever happen and fail im happy to be proven wrong, it just seems like a more logical move then to put Courtney Johns down back.

Thoughts?

Just wait until Lucas rediscovers some form(this week hopefully), probably one of the best half forwards in the game.

tom9779 wrote:

nathanskinner wrote:We seem to keep falling short here in attack. (Not to mention HB flankers tearing us up with their run out of defence.)

I would love to see Mcphee play as a CHF. His played their with great success in the past as a marking target, namely one Anzac day in the past. His led the league in marks all year, but of course stats can often mean nothing.

Its fair to say also that Mark Johnson has not been at his best this season... he has played great footy resting in the Forward pocket in past years. A great overhead mark, a decent shot at goal.. i think its worth a try. Why not start him there? I dont want to see him turn into a nothing player, with no position and with no effect on games. His better then that.

Overall, it seems in some games these two have just been wasting down back considering their best footy has been played elsewhere. Mcphee has also been undicipline, and beaten on many occasions.

I know we dont have the luxury to play him on the wing, and let him have a run around, but I believe he would love a bit of a change up. Let him chase the ball instead. Mcphee was once a very very attacking player, who wasnt afraid to take people on. An attacking role i say would be ideal.

If this were to ever happen and fail im happy to be proven wrong, it just seems like a more logical move then to put Courtney Johns down back.

Thoughts?

Just wait until Lucas rediscovers some form(this week hopefully), probably one of the best half forwards in the game.

His five goals on Friday weren't enough to show he has rediscovered some form

Our complete lack of forward line at times is a real problem. This, and incredibly poor delivery to the forward line, is the main reason we continue to fall over at half forward. We either bomb away to noone, or kick to a pack where the ball inevitably spills out and is cleared.

We're very rarely hitting players, either one out or in space on a lead. If you saw Hawthorn deliver to Franklin last week, you would have seen the ball hitting him on the chest when he was on the lead out in front, or else sailing over the defender if he was playing from behind. The "lucky" goals were just him being at the drop of the ball at the right time, similar to the way Lloyd got his goals a couple of weeks ago.

Our "superstar" forward line has gone missing. Time to come back and play.

Monfries started very well leading up, but then moved into the middle (and more bench time).

He has the potential to be like Ryan O'Keefe I reckon and should be used in a similar role, or even like bloody Brett Ebert.

Scotty kicked 5, even with alot of kicks to him going over his head.
Imagine what he could do if they were drilled to him!!!

Why aren't they front and square to the contest?

Why don't the midfielders kick it softly out in front of a lead like Joe used to do?

We have one of the better forward lines in the comp. It's the delivery to that forward line that puts the whole team down.

robrulz5 wrote:We have one of the better forward lines in the comp. It's the delivery to that forward line that puts the whole team down.

Sorry, but this is utter rubbish. Scott Lucas is 2nd in the goal kicking and is one goal away from leading the competition. We are also (as a club) 2nd in "points for" in the whole competition. 2nd only to Geelong who had a f****** picnic against Richmond. That's a pretty good effort from our guys to get the ball into our forward line considering we are 12th! So, there you have it. We have kicked more points than those teams who have GUN midfields.

BenDoolan wrote:

robrulz5 wrote:We have one of the better forward lines in the comp. It's the delivery to that forward line that puts the whole team down.

Sorry, but this is utter rubbish. Scott Lucas is 2nd in the goal kicking and is one goal away from leading the competition. We are also (as a club) 2nd in "points for" in the whole competition. 2nd only to Geelong who had a f****** picnic against Richmond. That's a pretty good effort from our guys to get the ball into our forward line considering we are 12th! So, there you have it. We have kicked more points than those teams who have GUN midfields.

I'm with Rob on this. Last week is first time we came close to breaking even with f50 entries. Our forward line is excellent and (generally, f****** first quarter last week ......) make use of it when it is down there. If we could just break even in the midfield we would be a force.

Sismis wrote:

BenDoolan wrote:

robrulz5 wrote:We have one of the better forward lines in the comp. It's the delivery to that forward line that puts the whole team down.

Sorry, but this is utter rubbish. Scott Lucas is 2nd in the goal kicking and is one goal away from leading the competition. We are also (as a club) 2nd in "points for" in the whole competition. 2nd only to Geelong who had a f****** picnic against Richmond. That's a pretty good effort from our guys to get the ball into our forward line considering we are 12th! So, there you have it. We have kicked more points than those teams who have GUN midfields.

I'm with Rob on this. Last week is first time we came close to breaking even with f50 entries. Our forward line is excellent and (generally, f****** first quarter last week ......) make use of it when it is down there. If we could just break even in the midfield we would be a force.

I dispute that. I haven't got the figures for F50 entries, but we only have 3 players that have kicked 10 or more goals - Lucas, Lloyd & Davey. The rest are made up of midfielders cum half forwards - Lovett, Stanton, McVeigh, Monfries. Seeing that we are 2nd in "points for" in the comp, I find it hard that we are struggling for F50 entries.....

Sismis wrote:

BenDoolan wrote:

robrulz5 wrote:We have one of the better forward lines in the comp. It's the delivery to that forward line that puts the whole team down.

Sorry, but this is utter rubbish. Scott Lucas is 2nd in the goal kicking and is one goal away from leading the competition. We are also (as a club) 2nd in "points for" in the whole competition. 2nd only to Geelong who had a f****** picnic against Richmond. That's a pretty good effort from our guys to get the ball into our forward line considering we are 12th! So, there you have it. We have kicked more points than those teams who have GUN midfields.

I'm with Rob on this. Last week is first time we came close to breaking even with f50 entries. Our forward line is excellent and (generally, f****** first quarter last week ......) make use of it when it is down there. If we could just break even in the midfield we would be a force.

I think delivery is part oif the problem, but I disagree that generally the forward line make good use of the footy. Anzac Day was another where they missed gettable shots early and got overrun. Doesn't happen every week like poor delivery, but wasn't a one-off either.

BD - we've been beaten in F50 entries every week this season. We aren't struggling to get the ball into our F50, but we struggle to stop it going into the opposition's F50 to such an extent that we always end up losing that statistic.

So basically, we end up kicking high scores because we have quite a lot of F50 entries and a good forward line compared to other teams, but we're losing matches because we concede even more F50 entries to the opposition. Our games are often high scoring, but we also concede a shitload.

jimmyc1985 wrote:BD - we've been beaten in F50 entries every week this season. We aren't struggling to get the ball into our F50, but we struggle to stop it going into the opposition's F50 to such an extent that we always end up losing that statistic.

So basically, we end up kicking high scores because we have quite a lot of F50 entries and a good forward line compared to other teams, but we're losing matches because we concede even more F50 entries to the opposition. Our games are often high scoring, but we also concede a shitload.

Now I agree with that assessment. The stats I have (some are missing) are; F50 entries....

Ess 42 v Adelaide 49 - a game we actually won
Ess 54 v Carlton 57 - hardly a flogging there, but we were wasteful in front of goal
Ess 53 v Freo 53 - a game we won.
Ess 54 v Roos 57 - (I think it was)

I don't have the stats for other games, but these one's don't indicate poor delivery to the forward line. Nor the fact that we have a guy one goal off being leader of the goal kicking table, and the fact that we have the 2nd most "points for" in the comp an indication of poor disposal in the F50. That's the point I was arguing. I agree we should be trying to reduce the amount of F50's by the opposition, but the figures I have don't indicate a rout either.

the ruck and midfield are not working super well. but this saturday will be a time to change that!!!! : )

I hope the real essendon show up.

tom9779 wrote:the ruck and midfield are not working super well. but this saturday will be a time to change that!!!! : )

I hope the real essendon show up.

I agree with that! Last year, Hille had an absolute blinder v Brisbane and we won. He has to do something similar tomorrow to get the ball going our way more often than not.

Hille will have to work his arse off as Brisbane will alternate Charman and McDonald in the ruck against him

BenDoolan wrote:

tom9779 wrote:the ruck and midfield are not working super well. but this saturday will be a time to change that!!!! : )

I hope the real essendon show up.

I agree with that! Last year, Hille had an absolute blinder v Brisbane and we won. He has to do something similar tomorrow to get the ball going our way more often than not.

Probably had a blinder because Charman got injured and they had no one else. I seem to remember Bradley kicked 4 that game!