From Essendon’s perspective the easiest story to tell was still unpleasant. That one involved a regurgitation of statistics showing Essendon were -20 in inside 50s and -13 in centre clearances,a situation their coach Brad Scott quite reasonably described as an aberration.
If this season is the measure,the coach,in his second season at the Bombers,is right. If he wants to take a look at the past five years at the club (a period beyond the drugs saga),it’s not.
The more difficult – but more relevant – conversation club officials must continue to confront is:“How do we get the recruiting,development and injury management right?”
There have been excuses. Those have run out.
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Their string (pardon the pun) of soft-tissue injuries means Zach Reid,Matt Guelfi,Jordan Ridley and now Archie Perkins are missing when the club really needs to see them playing alongside each other. Scott was blunt when asked whether it was a concern:“You’d like to think the soft-tissue ones are the ones you can do something about. So we’ll need to go to work on that.”
The recently appointed new face in list management,Matt Rosa,is a calm operator with an enormous task ahead of him to rectify the mediocrity that has continued long after they moved through the debilitating drugs saga.
In 2018,Port Adelaide finished just 2.5 percentage points ahead of Essendon. At the end of that season,Adelaide,the Brisbane Lions,St Kilda,Fremantle,Gold Coast and Carlton were below the Bombers on the ladder.
It was at that year’s draft Port Adelaide added Connor Rozee and Zak Butters. They then found Miles Bergman and Mitch Georgiades the following season,while Bombers sat on their hands without a selection before pick 30 either season. They had instead invested precious first-round selections in Dylan Shiel.
The impact of the calls made during that time was most obvious on Friday night. But the delay such quick fixes caused to real growth at Essendon has been apparent for years.
The big Bombers stocktake has everyone on notice as eyes turn to a crop of top 15 picks – Nik Cox,Archie Perkins,Reid,Ben Hobbs and Elijah Tsatas – who hold the club’s destiny in their hands.
None of them appear to have a future as bright as Jason Horne-Francis – who Port grabbed from North Melbourne – Rozee or Butters.
Bombers supporters can only dream.
Slow Crows
After Melbourne ground out a brave victory off a short break over Adelaide,star Demons’ midfielder Christian Petracca wondered aloud why it took so long for the Crows to test their energy with sharp ball movement.
The Demons were expecting they would have to combat speed and dare,but for three quarters the Crows were as dangerous as carrot cake.
Then they came with a rush when the result was all but decided,a response that might keep the critics at bay,but really shows a timidity given they had no option but to take risks when the result was all but decided.
“The way they moved the ball,especially in the fourth quarter … is probably something they should have done earlier[as it] caught us out a little bit towards the end,” Petracca said.
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Adelaide’s Rory Sloane is weighing up whether to return from an eye injury. Rory Laird,Matt Crouch and Jordan Dawson are serviceable,with Dawson the most damaging of that trio. They don’t measure up to the Demons’ Petracca,Jack Viney and Clayton Oliver as a combination.
But the problem is accentuated when the ball use is stale and classy players such as Izak Rankine and Josh Rachele are forced up the ground to get a touch or to chase the ball into less dangerous areas.
With Taylor Walker appearing hampered by a back injury,and Riley Thilthorpe missing,scoring is hard. Creativity is needed or the Crows’ year will be a long one.
Cottrell is Carlton’s escape artist
The Blues have not lost a close game since they blew their finals chances with a one-point loss to Collingwood in the final round of 2022.
That is not just luck,although they receiveda blessing from the umpiring gods against Fremantle.
Carlton just don’t make the same mistakes they did in the heartbreaking last two rounds of 2022.
The Blues keep the ball in tight when ahead and let it run free when behind. They remain relatively composed in attack even if chasing a lead. And,importantly,their kicking has been accurate when goals were all that was needed.
It was Zac Williams who changed the course of the game when he burst from a stoppage at half-forward and found Charlie Curnow one-on-one with Fremantle’s Josh Draper,the resulting goal keeping the Blues in the hunt.
And they have Matthew Cottrell,who kicked the matchwinning goal on Saturday. He has kicked four goals in three of his four matches this season,and three of those majors have been crucial kicks that have changed the lead in the second half in tight matches.
He put the Blues in front for the first time against Brisbane in round one as they piled on eight unanswered goals. He did the same against Richmond during the third quarter the following week in a see-sawing match and then held his nerve to kick a goal against the Dockers.
The devil is in the details at the Bulldogs
By contrast,the Bulldogs aren’t winning the close ones. Since the 2021 grand final,they have won just two of the nine games they have played in that were decided by seven points or less.
Their four-point loss to Geelong,who found creative ways to pull apart the Bulldogs,was their fifth loss by seven points or less from their past 11 matches.
That trend cost them a spot in last year’s finals and could have the same impact this season if the club can’t turn it around.
There are no signs it will drain Marcus Bontempelli’s spirit,but it must be testing the skipper’s patience. The overdue message from the pre-season review was that the load Bontempelli has been carrying needed to be spread across the group. Tom Liberatore has stepped up and Adam Treloar,Liam Jones and Ed Richards are trying hard.
But Aaron Naughton,Tim English,Bailey Dale and Bailey Williams need to do more,while Caleb Daniel and Jack Macrae have to take a competitor’s approach into fighting for a spot as their position in the team continues to be questioned.
Collingwood looked under the hood for answers
Hawthorn nearly took the points,and in many ways would have deserved the win as they stormed home on the outside,just failing to put their nose in front of Collingwood on the line on Sunday night.
The Pies showed before their breakthrough victory against the Brisbane Lions last week that they weren’t afraid to make tough decisions at selection,with Jack Crisp being made sub and Steele Sidebottom managed before returning as the sub against the Hawks.
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Crisp copped the decision on the chin,telling this masthead on Sunday that he was happy to get the chance to reset. “I just had to make sure I attacked every role the same way as I would if I’m a midfielder,” Crisp said.
The Magpies looked slow after half-time and future opposition will attempt to exploit their lack of speed by putting pace on the game at all times.
It’s likely to happen in their first game back from the bye as they meet Port Adelaide speedsters Rozee and Butters,as well as the brute strength of Horne-Francis at the MCG.
Will they take a punt at selection and value speed over experience?