This week sees Essendon travel down the highway to face the reigning premiers at their true home ground. I can see why Geelong are happy as Larry to be able ot play us at home. We are guaranteed to help ensure the crowd is big, but we are also likely to be considered a good chance for a win... but... just maybe.. that's the old Essendon...
To be honest, I'm not confident, and that's simply because of Jordan "*en" Ridley! He is possibly our most important player at the moment. His disposal is elite, he's an offensive weapon when we need him, but he is also our best defender and has taken down some big names this year. And of course, Geelong on the other hand is relative health and will be expecting Jeremy Cameron to return after missing the game against North with a concussion.
The Round That Was
Yes, this should have been a 30+ win instead of the 18 points it was, but overall we were the much better team for most of the game, despite what the channel 7 commentators would have had you believe. If we were a little bit more accurate and a little bit composed the score would have been different.
One thing I noticed during the week when I accidentally clicked on the comments for Champion Data's AA team on that Cesspool that is Facebook; was the absolute disrespect for Nik Martin for being included in the team, and most of that was from Crom fans because of their boy Dawson was missing. Now I'm not here to disrespect Dawson, or to claim he isn't AA-worthy, but I'm glad today those Crowbots got to see first-hand how good Nik Martin is, and why he is the AA wingman. 28 Disposals, 9 Marks, 2 Goals, and this wasn't even one of his better games.
ESSENDON 7.6 12.9 14.13 17.13 (115)
ADELAIDE 5.1 7.2 9.5 15.7 (97)
GOALS
Essendon: Wright 3, Langford 3, Menzie 2, Guelfi 2, Martin 2, Redman, Merrett, Hobbs, Kelly, Stringer
Adelaide: Pedlar 2, Keays 2, Rankine 2, Walker 2, Thilthorpe, McHenry, Fogarty, Jones, Smith, Sloane, Murphy
BEST (According to AFL.com.au - I would have it different)
Essendon: Parish, Merrett, Wright, McGrath, Zerk-Thatcher, Heppell, Laverde
Adelaide: Laird, O'Brien, Dawson, Hinge, Smith
INJURIES
Essendon: Ridley (knee)
Adelaide: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Essendon: Dylan Shiel (replaced Jordan Ridley in the third quarter)
Adelaide: Harry Schoenberg (replaced Jake Soligo in the third quarter)
Crowd: 39,606 at Marvel Stadium
Geelong on the other hand made light work of North Melbourne who put in another underwhelming performance since trying their precious little hearts out to beat us.
GEELONG 8.5 11.5 14.8 19.11 (125)
NORTH MELBOURNE 2.0 2.4 5.7 9.9 (63)
GOALS
Geelong: Stengle 5, O.Henry 4, Hawkins 3, Close 3, Rohan, J.Henry, Duncan, Bowes
North Melbourne: Larkey 2, Davies-Uniacke 2, Tucker, Stephenson, Perez, Harvey, Ford
BEST
Geelong: Duncan, Atkins, Stengle, Stewart, Blicavs, O.Henry, Miers
North Melbourne: Davies-Uniacke, McKay, Greenwood, Xerri
INJURIES
Geelong: Nil
North Melbourne: Logue (knee), Simpkin (concussion)
LATE CHANGES
Geelong: Nil
North Melbourne: George Wardlaw (managed) replaced in selected side by Charlie Lazzaro
SUBSTITUTES
Geelong: Oliver Dempsey (replaced Mark Blicavs in third quarter)
North Melbourne: Jack Ziebell (replaced Griffin Logue in first quarter)
The Last Time We Met
We actually played ok against Geelong last time, except that we showed up about 20 minutes too late. By this time Geelong had already kicked 6 goals, which was ultimately a deficiency we could not overcome. Weidemann had a bit of a false dawn, where he kicked 5 goals and suddenly we thought we had gotten the bargain of the trade period. Unfortunately is was also a game that exposed our lack of height and size in defence, with many of Geelong's goals coming from centre clearance.. a trend which would show in other games going forward such as the Freo Game.
The Selection Table
Very hard to predict this week, with the VFL team having the Bye.
Possible Outs:
Shiel - Please stop playing him as sub - Get him fit in the VFL and make him earn his spot back. He sure as hell ain't pushing Hobbs out of this team now.
Philips - Will he get a week for that bump? Wasn't a very heavy knock, but it was too the head
Ridley - shudders On one hand we can't afford to have him out, on the other hand we need to protect him. Give him the week off IMO. Even against "easier" teams he is essential.
Snelling - I like Snelling's pressure and effort, but I would prefer to bring Davey or Walla in for some more pace and class.
Weidemann - It won't happen, especially is Philips is out, but he is really underperforming.
Possible Ins:
Bryan - Essential if Philips is out, but I say bring him in for Weid regardless
Davey - Brings a bit of extra pace, which I feel we need
Walla - If not Davey
Monty/Hind/Mass - One of these will come in for Rid's, just a matter of which. Hind seems the closest, but Monty is a great intercept mark, which will miss with Ridley out.
My Tip
If this was at Marvel I'd tip us.. hesitantly.. but as it's at Alphabet Soup Park, I'm tipping Geelong by 18 points.
To be honest, I'm not confident, and that's simply because of Jordan "*en" Ridley! He is possibly our most important player at the moment. His disposal is elite, he's an offensive weapon when we need him, but he is also our best defender and has taken down some big names this year. And of course, Geelong on the other hand is relative health and will be expecting Jeremy Cameron to return after missing the game against North with a concussion.
The Round That Was
Yes, this should have been a 30+ win instead of the 18 points it was, but overall we were the much better team for most of the game, despite what the channel 7 commentators would have had you believe. If we were a little bit more accurate and a little bit composed the score would have been different.
One thing I noticed during the week when I accidentally clicked on the comments for Champion Data's AA team on that Cesspool that is Facebook; was the absolute disrespect for Nik Martin for being included in the team, and most of that was from Crom fans because of their boy Dawson was missing. Now I'm not here to disrespect Dawson, or to claim he isn't AA-worthy, but I'm glad today those Crowbots got to see first-hand how good Nik Martin is, and why he is the AA wingman. 28 Disposals, 9 Marks, 2 Goals, and this wasn't even one of his better games.
ESSENDON 7.6 12.9 14.13 17.13 (115)
ADELAIDE 5.1 7.2 9.5 15.7 (97)
GOALS
Essendon: Wright 3, Langford 3, Menzie 2, Guelfi 2, Martin 2, Redman, Merrett, Hobbs, Kelly, Stringer
Adelaide: Pedlar 2, Keays 2, Rankine 2, Walker 2, Thilthorpe, McHenry, Fogarty, Jones, Smith, Sloane, Murphy
BEST (According to AFL.com.au - I would have it different)
Essendon: Parish, Merrett, Wright, McGrath, Zerk-Thatcher, Heppell, Laverde
Adelaide: Laird, O'Brien, Dawson, Hinge, Smith
INJURIES
Essendon: Ridley (knee)
Adelaide: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Essendon: Dylan Shiel (replaced Jordan Ridley in the third quarter)
Adelaide: Harry Schoenberg (replaced Jake Soligo in the third quarter)
Crowd: 39,606 at Marvel Stadium
Geelong on the other hand made light work of North Melbourne who put in another underwhelming performance since trying their precious little hearts out to beat us.
GEELONG 8.5 11.5 14.8 19.11 (125)
NORTH MELBOURNE 2.0 2.4 5.7 9.9 (63)
GOALS
Geelong: Stengle 5, O.Henry 4, Hawkins 3, Close 3, Rohan, J.Henry, Duncan, Bowes
North Melbourne: Larkey 2, Davies-Uniacke 2, Tucker, Stephenson, Perez, Harvey, Ford
BEST
Geelong: Duncan, Atkins, Stengle, Stewart, Blicavs, O.Henry, Miers
North Melbourne: Davies-Uniacke, McKay, Greenwood, Xerri
INJURIES
Geelong: Nil
North Melbourne: Logue (knee), Simpkin (concussion)
LATE CHANGES
Geelong: Nil
North Melbourne: George Wardlaw (managed) replaced in selected side by Charlie Lazzaro
SUBSTITUTES
Geelong: Oliver Dempsey (replaced Mark Blicavs in third quarter)
North Melbourne: Jack Ziebell (replaced Griffin Logue in first quarter)
The Last Time We Met
We actually played ok against Geelong last time, except that we showed up about 20 minutes too late. By this time Geelong had already kicked 6 goals, which was ultimately a deficiency we could not overcome. Weidemann had a bit of a false dawn, where he kicked 5 goals and suddenly we thought we had gotten the bargain of the trade period. Unfortunately is was also a game that exposed our lack of height and size in defence, with many of Geelong's goals coming from centre clearance.. a trend which would show in other games going forward such as the Freo Game.
The Selection Table
Very hard to predict this week, with the VFL team having the Bye.
Possible Outs:
Shiel - Please stop playing him as sub - Get him fit in the VFL and make him earn his spot back. He sure as hell ain't pushing Hobbs out of this team now.
Philips - Will he get a week for that bump? Wasn't a very heavy knock, but it was too the head
Ridley - shudders On one hand we can't afford to have him out, on the other hand we need to protect him. Give him the week off IMO. Even against "easier" teams he is essential.
Snelling - I like Snelling's pressure and effort, but I would prefer to bring Davey or Walla in for some more pace and class.
Weidemann - It won't happen, especially is Philips is out, but he is really underperforming.
Possible Ins:
Bryan - Essential if Philips is out, but I say bring him in for Weid regardless
Davey - Brings a bit of extra pace, which I feel we need
Walla - If not Davey
Monty/Hind/Mass - One of these will come in for Rid's, just a matter of which. Hind seems the closest, but Monty is a great intercept mark, which will miss with Ridley out.
My Tip
If this was at Marvel I'd tip us.. hesitantly.. but as it's at Alphabet Soup Park, I'm tipping Geelong by 18 points.
