Arcassius
Team Chaplain
In Round 3, 2013 I was sitting down near the opposition interchange during halftime, when Hirdy came down and one of our supporters yelled out asking if he was giving his team a Ped-talk. Whatever he gave them worked.
The golden boy took things literally to become golden brown. Now he's back in charge
After being 37 points up at the half time break, we went on to lose that game by 4 points after a 3rd quarter blitz by the Bombers saw them pile on 7 goals to even the ledger. The memory of Mayne hitting the post in the last minute to almost give us the win is forever etched in my mind. Crameri and Ryder were influential on the day.
Our game in Round 4, 2014 was a more clinical affair on a hot day, with Freo kicking away during the second half to win by 53 points. This time it was our turn to blitz during the 3rd quarter to kick 7 goals. Essendon were missing Fletcher, Chappie, Myers and Bellchambers for that game with Goddard subbed in the second quarter. Fremantle were without Fyfe, Walters, Barlow and Mayne with Mundy subbed in the 3rd with concussion.
2015 brings new challenges and the teams are quite different.
Essendon have lost Ryder, and Crameri (who kicked 3 goals against us in 2013) but picked up Giles, Cooney and Gwilt. For Fremantle the change has come from within, with the emergence of Lachie Neale as a nuggety extractor and Crowley on voluntary leave.
Form
Both teams come off a 6 day break. Essendon fell over the line against a tiring St Kilda to win by 2 points in an unconvincing fashion, but have also taken it to Sydney and beat Hawthorn in the first 2 rounds.
Fremantle put away Melbourne to the tune of 68 points, despite taking time to experiment with defensive structures during the game, and sometimes being a bit cute with the ball. Fremantle has yet to play a full 4 quarter game this season, something we all can't wait to see.
Changes
Fremantle – The team will be hugely different since we last played with our midfield brigade back together and playing well. We will be without Dawson down back and Crowley. Their exclusion this season has given the team a different feel though and you might argue it’s been a positive. In doubt however are Pav and Walters. Crozier, Mzungu, Sheridan are all in line to come in as replacements.
Essendon – There are a few key outs for Essendon. Hocking and Myers out have impacted their midfield grunt, while Cooney and Winderlich are also out injured. Chappie is in doubt to return from a groin injury in time. Essendon may bring in Mckernan to support in the ruck and stretch Freo’s defenders up forward, Kavanagh to improve clearances, and Fantasia for a bit more run off HB.
Suban shows off his dancing skills after cementing a place in the midfield rotation
Strategy -
At the coalface.
Winning the contested ball and clearances is a strength of Fremantle this season and a weakness of Essendon’s. Continuing to dominate in the areas of contested ball clearances, and hitouts will set us up well to dictate the game.
The bombers lost the contested ball count (144-133) in their win against St Kilda. So far this season they are -88 for contested ball differential, having been beaten for 5 straight games. Fremantle on the other hand is leading the league with +64 on contested ball differential this season. Clearances have also been a problem for Essendon this season – they are last for clearance differential in the AFL, with Fremantle 3rd.
Watson and Heppell provide the class in the midfield brigade, and nobody can doubt how much of a beast Watson is when on song. But they will need more support this week. Essendon are feeling the absence of Myers and Hocking, lacking some of the hardness at the contest. If Lyon chooses to tag Watson, De Boer has runs on the board – having limited Watson in the 2013 game to 7 disposals in the first half, in place of our usual clamp de résistance.
The ruck battle shapes as a lopsided affair - Essendon are ranked 15th in hitouts per game while Fremantle is 2nd. Last time the teams met, Sandilands gave Daniher and Carlisle a masterclass – winning hitouts 62 to 14. Bellchambers has been carrying the ruck load for Essendon this season since Ryder has moved on, with some support from Daniher and Carlisle. Essendon's midfielders are still learning to rove to Bellchambers. Daniher had a down game against the Saints last week (3 disposals, 2 hitouts). It remains to be seen if they bring in Giles or Mckernan to provide support. Expect Sandilands and Clarke to monster the ruck duels and provide first use to our mids.
Essendon love using the corridor.
Last season they were ranked second for choosing to go the corridor when transitioning out of the defensive 50. This season they are 5th but still use it as a prominent path to goal. A key to shutting down ‘plan A’ is to clog up space through the central corridor to force Essendon to finesse along the boundary or over-possess off HB. This will slow them down and give our team time to set up, and increase the odds of forcing a turnover as they come out of defense.
Forwards and Defense
The Fremantle defensive unit has been doing well this season with key defender McPharlin in great touch and MJ playing more accountable against talls. Arguably, not having Dawson has improved our drive out of defense and as a unit our defense is on song, ranked #1 for least points conceded. Essendon’s forward line consists of Carlisle, Daniher, (possibly McKernan to stretch us for height), Ambrose, Goddard rotating forward, Colyer and Merrett. While Carlisle kicked 4 goals last week, Daniher had no impact on the game. Overall their forward line has struggled this season to work together, and create space. They are ranked 14th in the league for Marks inside 50, and 16th for points per game (75).
Down the other end of the park it should be an interesting battle. Unlike its forward line, Essendon’s defense has been in good touch – with Hurley and the fossilised Fletcher having good games against St Kilda despite Fletch copping some friendly fire. They are supported by Hibberd, Dempsey, Hooker and Baguley and are ranked 6th for least points conceded (76.2). Fremantle’s forwards have averaged 96 points this season, but may have some structural challenges with Pav and Walters potentially missing. With more goals coming from the midfield, this may go some way to balancing it out, and will make for an intriguing day.
Questions -
How will Fremantle structure up in the forward line with potentially two of our best forwards missing?
One of the areas of improvement this year has been our forward positioning in the forward 50 to make the long ball option more viable. Last season we saw moments of our forwards dragging their defenders to a contest (see: Clarke). This season we’ve improved our positioning, movement, and have seen the mids kicking more goals. But this all changes with Pav and Walters possibly out. Will we expect more goals from our midfields and take in a smaller forward line with Mayne and Tabs as our main targets? Or bring in a young tall in Hannath?
Do Essendon have the fitness this season?
Having had a limited pre-season, how will the Bombers cope against a fit Freo on the wide expanses of Subiaco. They were run off their feet last week and coming off a 6 day break it may be telling.
Will one team score 7 goals in a quarter
... And continue the trend of the last 2 seasons.
Prediction
Games are won in the middle, and having our midfielders fit and firing (with Essendon sorely missing some inside grunt) should see us prevail despite potential challenges up forward. Freo by 30.
The golden boy took things literally to become golden brown. Now he's back in charge
After being 37 points up at the half time break, we went on to lose that game by 4 points after a 3rd quarter blitz by the Bombers saw them pile on 7 goals to even the ledger. The memory of Mayne hitting the post in the last minute to almost give us the win is forever etched in my mind. Crameri and Ryder were influential on the day.
Our game in Round 4, 2014 was a more clinical affair on a hot day, with Freo kicking away during the second half to win by 53 points. This time it was our turn to blitz during the 3rd quarter to kick 7 goals. Essendon were missing Fletcher, Chappie, Myers and Bellchambers for that game with Goddard subbed in the second quarter. Fremantle were without Fyfe, Walters, Barlow and Mayne with Mundy subbed in the 3rd with concussion.
2015 brings new challenges and the teams are quite different.
Essendon have lost Ryder, and Crameri (who kicked 3 goals against us in 2013) but picked up Giles, Cooney and Gwilt. For Fremantle the change has come from within, with the emergence of Lachie Neale as a nuggety extractor and Crowley on voluntary leave.
Form
Both teams come off a 6 day break. Essendon fell over the line against a tiring St Kilda to win by 2 points in an unconvincing fashion, but have also taken it to Sydney and beat Hawthorn in the first 2 rounds.
Fremantle put away Melbourne to the tune of 68 points, despite taking time to experiment with defensive structures during the game, and sometimes being a bit cute with the ball. Fremantle has yet to play a full 4 quarter game this season, something we all can't wait to see.
Changes
Fremantle – The team will be hugely different since we last played with our midfield brigade back together and playing well. We will be without Dawson down back and Crowley. Their exclusion this season has given the team a different feel though and you might argue it’s been a positive. In doubt however are Pav and Walters. Crozier, Mzungu, Sheridan are all in line to come in as replacements.
Essendon – There are a few key outs for Essendon. Hocking and Myers out have impacted their midfield grunt, while Cooney and Winderlich are also out injured. Chappie is in doubt to return from a groin injury in time. Essendon may bring in Mckernan to support in the ruck and stretch Freo’s defenders up forward, Kavanagh to improve clearances, and Fantasia for a bit more run off HB.
Suban shows off his dancing skills after cementing a place in the midfield rotation
Strategy -
At the coalface.
Winning the contested ball and clearances is a strength of Fremantle this season and a weakness of Essendon’s. Continuing to dominate in the areas of contested ball clearances, and hitouts will set us up well to dictate the game.
The bombers lost the contested ball count (144-133) in their win against St Kilda. So far this season they are -88 for contested ball differential, having been beaten for 5 straight games. Fremantle on the other hand is leading the league with +64 on contested ball differential this season. Clearances have also been a problem for Essendon this season – they are last for clearance differential in the AFL, with Fremantle 3rd.
Watson and Heppell provide the class in the midfield brigade, and nobody can doubt how much of a beast Watson is when on song. But they will need more support this week. Essendon are feeling the absence of Myers and Hocking, lacking some of the hardness at the contest. If Lyon chooses to tag Watson, De Boer has runs on the board – having limited Watson in the 2013 game to 7 disposals in the first half, in place of our usual clamp de résistance.
The ruck battle shapes as a lopsided affair - Essendon are ranked 15th in hitouts per game while Fremantle is 2nd. Last time the teams met, Sandilands gave Daniher and Carlisle a masterclass – winning hitouts 62 to 14. Bellchambers has been carrying the ruck load for Essendon this season since Ryder has moved on, with some support from Daniher and Carlisle. Essendon's midfielders are still learning to rove to Bellchambers. Daniher had a down game against the Saints last week (3 disposals, 2 hitouts). It remains to be seen if they bring in Giles or Mckernan to provide support. Expect Sandilands and Clarke to monster the ruck duels and provide first use to our mids.
Essendon love using the corridor.
Last season they were ranked second for choosing to go the corridor when transitioning out of the defensive 50. This season they are 5th but still use it as a prominent path to goal. A key to shutting down ‘plan A’ is to clog up space through the central corridor to force Essendon to finesse along the boundary or over-possess off HB. This will slow them down and give our team time to set up, and increase the odds of forcing a turnover as they come out of defense.
Forwards and Defense
The Fremantle defensive unit has been doing well this season with key defender McPharlin in great touch and MJ playing more accountable against talls. Arguably, not having Dawson has improved our drive out of defense and as a unit our defense is on song, ranked #1 for least points conceded. Essendon’s forward line consists of Carlisle, Daniher, (possibly McKernan to stretch us for height), Ambrose, Goddard rotating forward, Colyer and Merrett. While Carlisle kicked 4 goals last week, Daniher had no impact on the game. Overall their forward line has struggled this season to work together, and create space. They are ranked 14th in the league for Marks inside 50, and 16th for points per game (75).
Down the other end of the park it should be an interesting battle. Unlike its forward line, Essendon’s defense has been in good touch – with Hurley and the fossilised Fletcher having good games against St Kilda despite Fletch copping some friendly fire. They are supported by Hibberd, Dempsey, Hooker and Baguley and are ranked 6th for least points conceded (76.2). Fremantle’s forwards have averaged 96 points this season, but may have some structural challenges with Pav and Walters potentially missing. With more goals coming from the midfield, this may go some way to balancing it out, and will make for an intriguing day.
Questions -
How will Fremantle structure up in the forward line with potentially two of our best forwards missing?
One of the areas of improvement this year has been our forward positioning in the forward 50 to make the long ball option more viable. Last season we saw moments of our forwards dragging their defenders to a contest (see: Clarke). This season we’ve improved our positioning, movement, and have seen the mids kicking more goals. But this all changes with Pav and Walters possibly out. Will we expect more goals from our midfields and take in a smaller forward line with Mayne and Tabs as our main targets? Or bring in a young tall in Hannath?
Do Essendon have the fitness this season?
Having had a limited pre-season, how will the Bombers cope against a fit Freo on the wide expanses of Subiaco. They were run off their feet last week and coming off a 6 day break it may be telling.
Will one team score 7 goals in a quarter
... And continue the trend of the last 2 seasons.
Prediction
Games are won in the middle, and having our midfielders fit and firing (with Essendon sorely missing some inside grunt) should see us prevail despite potential challenges up forward. Freo by 30.
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