I had a very pleasant meal tonight which included having a couple of cheeky reds. My mind wandered into a warm, fuzzy place and I began thinking it possible we could beat the Hawks.
Then I read your contribution and reality came crashing down on me.
It was as though a bandage had been ripped from an old wound and all the defeats at the hands of Hawthorn this century came flooding back into my mind.
My only escape is to open that bottle again.
Every time I get in this warm and fuzzy place, my mind wanders to that night at crapihad where we were down by about 20 goals at half time to them...... was there with a few hawks supporters as well..... not a good night
To be fair - the really stand out H moment, was right on 3/4 time (on the 50, near the 50 marking), and i have to imagine the ump couldnt decide if it was blatantly over the shoulder, or blatantly in the back - so, he paid neither. makes perfect sense
I only saw a bit more than half the game - but from what i saw, i thought murphy looked composed and used it well, going into fwd 50. considering this is one of our biggest concerns, then at least he is bringing something to the table. i know his work the other way is terrible, but i think he is far from our biggest issue
SOS once said in an interview, that it’s easy to put a side together that finishes 8th. That comment has always been in the back of my mind when looking at out playing list.
Agree with a lot of what you said - especially, about struggling to really do anything while we have Cottrell, Gibbons, Cas etc in our 22 - hopefully this goes away once we get a few back from injuries and a few more prestige kids come on (incl Dow, Obrien and SPS that you pointed out)
I always took the quote above (re building a list to finish 8th) to be a shot at teams that took short cuts. Think St Kilda bringing in middle of the road free-agents like Hill, Ryder and Jones. Or teams that drafted for immediate impact (think Rhys Palmer in his ealry days or Sam Powell Pepper). Sure, these teams get a short term rise, and the media falls all over them, but in the long run, are they really winning anything?
I always thought SOS had looked long term, rather than short term fix. But, maybe his good intentions were wasted on the specific picks he (or others made). He picked young kids with massive upside - but maybe Dow, Obrien, SPS, Cunningham werent the right ones He focused on younger free agents, who still had upside, but maybe McGovern, Martin, Williams werent the right ones
I will always support his philospophy, maybe the execution just fell over at the last step (the actual picking of the individuals)
Just a quick one - I only saw bits and pieces of the game today (end of q1 thru to late in the 3rd). Just looked at the stats and they say weeters didn’t take a mark?
Is that right? When was the last time that happened? Were melb just good at taking him out of the play?
I can remember one time which was highlighted by the commentary team.....and i think that was smart.
It was basically 10m out, nobody stood the mark. As a result the player starts walking in from 20m out and walks right up to the 10m mark (which once he passes is called play on!) and thats what he did, walked passed it and the umpire called play on. Watching all this happening was Eddie Betts, right as the play on call occurred he was in full sprint mode to get to the kicker. Now it didn't work, he got the kick away and the goal, but it was close. For something that was a gimme goal, i found it an interesting tactic.....and i think it was just that, a tactic, rather than someone forgetting.
On other occassions i've noticed players fall back from the mark (not standing on the mark) and that gives them the freedom to move sideways (as long as they are '5m' behind the mark.) and actually puts more pressure on the kicker as a result. Again, this is a tactic and something we've done at least a handful of times.
So maybe don't be so quick to point the finger.
Yeah, I didn’t get the comm box going nuts over standing the mark. He was 10m out, standing he mar wasn’t going to make much difference. I didn’t pick up what you mentioned about Eddie - but it makes sense - may as well roll the dice and see if you can do something different with an almost certain goal
You know the debate. We were 'beaten in the ruck' thats why we lost the stoppages. It was Pittonets fault.
Except....when it was the total opposite. Ruck stats clearly show that. FWIW, Pittonet beat him around the ground too, but that wasn't the argument.
Funny, I thought their kid jumped him early and had him rattled and beat him, when the clearances were pretty even. Later, I thought Pitto got it together and about broke even - and that’s when we got creamed in the clearances!
From Jay Clark in the HS, a breakdown of what happened and when:
How did the disaster play out? Jay Clark takes an in-depth look at each goal and what went wrong for the Blues.
3 MIN 15 SEC REMAINING Q3
Josh Bruce goal
Car 82 WB 61
A Liam Stocker turnover in the middle of the ground was costly as Caleb Daniel found Lachie Hunter all alone with a surgical kick to the forward flank. Hunter, who played on with a broken hand, kicked long to Josh Bruce who outmarked Lachie Plowman 15m from goal.
1 MIN 30 SEC REM Q3
Aaron Naughton goal
Car 82 WB 68
What an effort from the Dogs’ star spearhead. Naughton produced a desperate chase on Adam Saad to force the Blues’ speedster into a kicking error and then took a big pack mark at the top of the goal square from the kick back inside 50m from Easton Wood. It was a strong grab from Naughton who plucked the ball either side of Jacob Weitering and Liam Jones in the marking contest.
15 MIN 20 SEC REM Q4
Lachie Hunter goal
Car 83 WB 74
The Blues were pinned down in their back half when Adam Saad gave away two free kicks. Saad first pushed Lachie McNeil in the back and then caught Lachie Hunter high as the Dogs’ ballwinner swivelled and leant in with his head to draw the high contact 35m from goal. Nice set shot from Hunter to slot his second major.
13 MIN 40 SEC REM Q4
Marcus Bontempelli goal
Car 83 WB 80
The Dogs built this one up from half back where Bailey Dale hit Caleb Daniel with a 50m bullet to the wing. Zaine Cordy and Mitch Hannan linked up on the wing before skipper Marcus Bontempelli took another contested mark at the top of the goal square in front of Liam Jones. Josh Bruce bodied Liam Stocker out of the way so Stocker couldn’t spoil from the side and there was no other aerial support for Jones. Also no Carlton player stood the mark for the Bontempelli set shot from point blank range.
7 MIN 40 SEC REM Q4
Aaron Naughton goal
Car 84 WB 88
A loopy kick from Michael Gibbons on the wing was quickly repelled as Marcus Bontempelli off two steps produced a dazzling pass to Jason Johannisen tight on the boundary line. Johannisen then kicked to the advantage of Naughton who was too strong for Matthew Parks over the back in a one-on-one marking contest. The 35m set shot continued the Dogs’ hot run.
6 MIN 50 SEC REM Q4
Anthony Scott goal
Car 84 WB 94
Adam Treloar fought hard inside the centre square to continue the annihilation out of the middle. Jack Macrae showed great vision to find Caleb Daniel with another brilliant Bulldogs’ handpass to set up Taylor Duryea 10m in front of Liam Stocker on the forward flank. Lachie McNeil roved the long kick in off the back of the pack and unselfishly handballed to Anthony Scott who goaled from close in on the run. The Carlton back line was under siege.
5 MIN 50 SEC REM Q4
Josh Bruce goal
Car 84 WB 100
Marc Pittonet grabbed it out of the ruck and kicked long but Caleb Daniel continued his excellent second half with a one-handed intercept mark. Patrick Lipinski, Bailey Smith and Anthony Scott then burned off their Carlton opponents spreading hard to the edges of the Marvel Stadium turf to bring the ball forward. Josh Bruce had no opponent in the forward pocket and finished the play with a curling left foot snap.
1 MIN 55 SEC REM Q4
Patrick Lipinski goal
Car 85 WB 106
The Dogs went the full length of the ground for their eighth-straight goal. Josh Bruce took the crucial contested mark on the wing, making Liam Jones pay for going the mark instead of a spoil from behind. Ruckman Jordon Sweet won a contested ball at ground level to release Marcus Bontempelli who delivered another gem of a pass on the left foot to hit Patrick Lipinski in space deep in attack.
"The Blues were pinned down in their back half when Adam Saad gave away two free kicks. Saad first pushed Lachie McNeil in the back and then caught Lachie Hunter high as the Dogs’ ballwinner swivelled and leant in with his head to draw the high contact 35m from goal. Nice set shot from Hunter to slot his second major."
niether of them were free kicks!!! dogs got a lot of iffy frees early, which we weathered. what we couldnt weather, was the "monstering" (as someone on here put it) at stoppages. some of it was sheer brilliance by Bont, Mccrae and Treloar, but some of it was down to our blokes being tackled before they had the footy, and blocked off the footy etc.
in the Sun, the article next to this one is Bevvo complaining about Bont's deliberate out of bounds (which was a terrible call) - the article also mentions the Dogs have had the least frees against this year. they certainly seemed to get away with a bit against us. as a few on here have pointed out - we never complain about this stuff in the media. Bevvo does, and they get away with a bit more on field... coincidence?
My fault. I looked up the live ladder when 27pts up so see how close we were to the 8. A couple more goals would've done it. From that moment it was downhill...lol.
Ha!! Done that many a time (why did i go the tolilet then, i knew wicket would fall if i got up....)
Couple of decisions our way would be handy. Pitto getting jumped into at every contest, and yet the 2 ruck frees have gone their way. Cripps getting mauled as usual. Holding the ball doesn’t apply if ur wearing red white and blue
So the CheatsFC penalty was drafting three of the list that Ling now says are better than ours!
Everything at CheatsFC going back to the start of the Sheedy era is smoke and mirrors, fans should realise that, because I'd assert in that history is the ultimate source of the crook CheatsFC culture, and guess who's back!
Sheedy was a master of smoke and mirrors. There is a lot of discussion on here about the club selling hope (our kids are great, we are ready to launch, the coach is revolutionary), sheedy was doing all this in the mid 80s, probably 20 years before other clubs were doing it. I actually admire it.
He could spin any situation Essendons way and make anything into either a possitve Essendon story or create a rivalry, which would increase crowds. He used the media to skew biases essendons way.
I remember in the late 80s, after the back to back, in a down time, he had the media bluffed that they had a new set of champions coming thru (look at our kids with 50games under their belt, 50 games is the key when they blossom), the media swallowed it, talked them up, and kept the heat off him and the club, didn’t mater that the kids in question were terrible (ed considine, come on down), he spun the media his way and they wrote what he wanted
Never understood heppell. He did exactly zip against us. Even earlier in his career when he was in the guts, he’d get a little bit of it, but was never damaging. A lot of nothing handballs and sideways kicks. I don’t see him as overly skilful and not overly tough
