Anthony🔴⚫️🏇🏎🏏🎬🤟

My extended Essendon 2026 preview is 🆙 on #thebombersblog It’s a long one as I cover -every player on the list -fixture -game style changes -positional changes -improvements needed -coaching -what it all looks like -KPI’s I’ll be tracking #godons thebombersblog.wixsite.com/thebombersblog…

AFL avg for groundball (hardball & looseball) wins a game is 86 per team, Freo won 39 in that first quarter 🤯

@MrJohnnyRainman @kkwalto I have but only in certain cases v certain oppo Ess is reliant on territory (too reliant) as they can’t move the ball efficiently, he should help win that territory v oppo who are weak onball/very reliant on moving it from back half But he has some long term deficiencies also

@kkwalto I've long said that Tsatas should have been given a proper crack. @AnthP_ can confirm this. Unfortunately, Scott has issues with the lad & has most likely drawn a line through his name.

Unsurprisingly, the Essendon magoos were flogged by the Cats to the tune of 85 points. Legit can't remember the last time we had strong senior & magoos sides. One shining light was Jacob Farrow - who had 31 pozzies at 94% disposal efficiency Naturally, Scott didn't select him

@SlamBomber It was him only for Ess & he had to go h2h vs Stevens (mainly) & Knevitt The diff was the quality that came from his vs the others They just linked up with their teammates better to exit with more damage While Tsatas won clearances they went nowhere, Gee became scores

@AnthP_ What role did Tsatas play in that Anth? It’s my biggest concern with him (way more than his kicking) - he can win clearances but can he also negate his opponent when need be?

Essendon VFL also has a big issue at stoppage Q1 -9 with Gee scoring 6.1 from their clearances Too strong inside (groundball) quick hands out (mostly backwards) & they’re off At least the front half intercept game is working, 3 goals coming that way ✅ #thebombersblog #godons

@heydanggggg They lost so much territory from stoppage & then had to push numbers up to defend/win it back But when you do that have to “bridges” going fwd or use the numbers to build it back up or link & run, they just blasted, never regained structure to score or reset defensively

@AnthP_ They seemed alright for again the same amount of time as the afl boys and then just flicked a switch and forgot what they were doing. Feel like this pic sums it up well with our first gamer on top but under 9 Geelong players 😂

@heydanggggg They lost the plot with the footy

@AnthP_ Vfl a hard watch now, looks like they are practising the afl squads bomb it forward high and long in hope tactic though so thats good 😂

@SilentGhost263 I don’t think they were soft (just one was imo) Gee getting their hands on the ball first Once again between the arcs, Ess getting caught out the back, that’s making it very difficult for the defenders

@AnthP_ we look good when we win clearance too, from half defence working. pretty sure a few of those scores were from pretty poor/soft free kicks too, our defence is struggling with their inexperience.

Brilliant insight 👏🏻 Must watch

@MatterOfStats Yes, this passes the eye test closer than last time Hard to argue with the top 10. Could shuffle a few around but they’d be still in that 10. Yes, Gee v GWS would be my no1

@AnthP_ That's an interesting idea. Just FYI, I wasn't happy with the Excitement Index that algo used (which was developed for NBA games), so I had Claude build me a new one. It gave these 10 as the most exciting from 2025

No harm in gathering more data What time of day do you prefer for the men’s AFL Grand Final?

@OhAeroHD @ScooterMcNeice Coll 1-1 Stk & Bris 0-2

@ScooterMcNeice Aren't Brisbane and Collingwood 0-2

2025 Premiership team

@Colvick Agreed. It’s terrible 3 eps in. Can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of Bobby Cannavale either & it continues here

Scarpetta is pretty dodgy. Rosy McEwen gives by far the best performance as the young Kay Scarpetta. Nicole Kidman adequate. Jamie Lee Curtis is so OTT it is painful.

@McLarenF1 Spotted on the track

Spotted: At the 2026 Chinese GP 👀

@JScorse2 Did you read what I wrote here, last week, and in my review, and then understand why it will give them their best opportunity to? I’ve never said they’ll be able to stop them/anyone, it’s about giving them a better chance to

@AnthP_ What makes you think essendon will ever be able to stop any team in transition?

🧵 1. Last wk I made a bold early call on team selection (tho I knew it wouldn’t happen) in order to best exploit a Haw vulnerability, as well as aid/improve one of Essendon’s, this wk I’m following up #thebombersblog #godons

@SilverTopHurls Both Coll & Carl games Most of the time it’s one team & not both due to chains starting from stoppage Freo v Gee, Bris v Syd, GC v WCE examples Gee & Syd had to move the ball from further back due to stoppage loses, their opponents didn’t have to as much, WCE couldn’t move it

@AnthP_ I think that’s far too low as well Just to the eye I’ve only seen about 3-4 that I wouldn’t call transition games Mostly involving Collingwood funnily enough

Champion Data 2026 new descriptor: Transition vs Stagnant Comparing the first 14 games of 2026 to 2025 Transition 2026 3/14 2025 3/14 #thebombersblog

@SilverTopHurls I have 5/14 By their measurements, they don’t have Bris v WB & GWS v Haw in OR

@AnthP_ I think theirs is lunacy How many games qualify for transition by your definition?

@SilverTopHurls Absolutely it measures the style of the game A stoppage ends a chain, you can have 10-15 stoppages inside 50 to bump up the stoppage count but the ball can still go end to end unbroken Right now I still prefer my way of measuring it tho!😎

@AnthP_ I’d say their measurement is completely counterintuitive to what they are labelling the thing It measures effective ball movement of both teams, not the style of game The opposite of ball movement is stoppages in a footy sense Surely that’s the simplest way to measure “style”

@SilverTopHurls It’s both teams It can be stagnant for one & not the other Syd yes, Carl no GWS yes, Haw no GG yes, Gee no There’s multiple ways to measure things, I call high transition on metres gained per possession chain a game (both teams)

@AnthP_ This seems a pretty weird metric to attach those labels to 11/14 games being called “stagnant” so far I’d almost call farcical I’m sure they make these things up to sound clever rather than actually add value

@DalePearce3 Because that’s the AFL average over the previous 3 years

@AnthP_ And it’s 22.5% because…………?