Preview Round 1: GWS vs Essendon, Sydney Showgrounds, Sunday 24/03/2019 @ 3.20PM

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Apr 11, 2002
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Iggles, Georgia.
I think the club should organise a scratch match next week there is just now way our team can flick a switch and play well rd 1

How long you been following footy dude? Many if not most of these guys arent going go all out in practice games. Example 101 was Hurley not going the spoil on Thursday night. Count how many times you've ever seen him do that in a regular season game - I'll save you some time, the answer is 'zero'. You have some nutters like Smith who cant help themselves, then there's the rest - they want to be around for R1.

We will find out where this team is in a couple of weeks..& even then, it'll be just one game.
 

ghostdog

Brownlow Medallist
Oct 18, 2008
16,031
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I think the club should organise a scratch match next week there is just now way our team can flick a switch and play well rd 1
...until half way through the third quarter.

I'm hoping we line up thus;

McKenna Hurley Ridley
Francis Ambrose Saad
Heppell Merret Smith
Tipungwuti Daniher Laverde
Fantasia Stringer Baguley
Bellchambers Shiel McGrath

Int: McKernan, Myers, Parish, Zaharakis

Ambrose to trail Cameron up and down the ground
Bags to hinder Shaw
Laverde needs continuity at the top level IMHO. Show some faith that he can continue where he left off - looks great on a lead at hf, agile and could be a difficult match up with both Stringer and Daniher to deal with.
I know Parish has had a quiet JLT but I'd back him to find the training form we've heard about.

Super keen for the real stuff now!

One other thing. Every time I read that we've got a "boom recruit" I think one of our players is going to spontaneously combust. 'Boon' is the word we're fumbling for.
 

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Jul 23, 2018
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...until half way through the third quarter.

I'm hoping we line up thus;

McKenna Hurley Ridley
Francis Ambrose Saad
Heppell Merret Smith
Tipungwuti Daniher Laverde
Fantasia Stringer Baguley
Bellchambers Shiel McGrath

Int: McKernan, Myers, Parish, Zaharakis

Ambrose to trail Cameron up and down the ground
Bags to hinder Shaw
Laverde needs continuity at the top level IMHO. Show some faith that he can continue where he left off - looks great on a lead at hf, agile and could be a difficult match up with both Stringer and Daniher to deal with.
I know Parish has had a quiet JLT but I'd back him to find the training form we've heard about.

Super keen for the real stuff now!

One other thing. Every time I read that we've got a "boom recruit" I think one of our players is going to spontaneously combust. 'Boon' is the word we're fumbling for.
No longfark?
 

Macca18

EFC
Jul 6, 2009
5,127
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We then scrape past the Saints for a win and get flogged by Melbourne the following week

We become far too predictable haha

Predictable?

You must have a short memory. The more predictable thing for us (if recent years are anything to go by) is to look like millionaires against GWS & Melbourne... and put in an absolute shocker against the Saints.

2-1 a dream result. 1-2 more likely.
 
Oct 1, 2006
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The line up I’d love to see is:

FB: Saad, Hurley, McKenna
HB: Ambrose, Francis, Ridley
C: Merrett, McGrath, Zaharakis
HF: Stringer, Daniher, Smith
FF: Tippa, Smack, Fantasia
Foll: TBC, Heppell, Shiel
Interchange: Parish, Guelfi, Laverde, Langford
Emergency: Brown, Myers, Clarke

Chances are Myers and Brown play in the place of Laverde and Smack are strong but think the rest of the team is locked.
 

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Isaac Cumming No 1

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Yep, last minute of the game he's wanting to start a push and shove. He's definitely what we lack, personality wise. Just laid it out on a plate for gws though.
I actually thought it was amusing. Devon is an agressive competitor and always has been. I loved him for it when he played with us. Calling Spotless a graveyard was a little disrespectful, and a bit below the belt, but there is some truth in it. Hopefully he'll notice a difference in our crowds involvement this year. I did last year.

It's why our players like Manuka I think, traditionally the crowds much more animated. I go to both and it's noticeable but the difference is shrinking.

Heater noticeably bit his lip after the 2016 PF when asked about the crowd on camera. We weren't outnumbered that day, but the Bulldogs supporters were a lot louder and Heater was clearly pissed at the lack if support. Fair enough, the players deserved better.

I was in a group of a few hundred in the Olympic Stand that stunned the Pies supporters around us when we hit the front in the third QTR of the SF last year though.

Whatever the provocation we wont boo Dylan or Devon, it's just not what we do. If we didn't boo Treloar we wont boo anyone. :cool:Well actually I did yell moneybags when he came to the gates below me, but no one else I noticed.
 
May 13, 2009
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A couple of thoughts based on pre-season.
- Without Hooker, there is a lot of pressure on Franga. Any aerial contest in D50 where he isn't at has me worried.
- Centre stoppage work has been poor so far this off-season. Opposition will be wise to set up deep forward lines allowing their mids to run forward
- I'm a bit lost as to what our game style is. From JLT, looked similar to Collingwood before they came good (ie. work the ball wide with short chips and look for central target when kicking i50). I feel as if trying to implement a hard forward press or web zoning sytem under the new rules is risky. If anything, the new rules favours our previous style.
- Lacking a lead up half forward. Laverde, Stewart are the best options if we want Daniher her to play closer to goal. Brown is too slow, Langford is ok but no one else has shown anything of at value in this role. I'd also rather not rely on smalls like Raz and Walla to be doing this.

People say you can over-read pre-season games. That's true from a player efficiency and work ethic perspective, it's not from a structural / game plan perspective. You shouldn't be trialing different styles but already have the style that you want and put it to practice in JLT.

I get it that skill errors can make any game plan look s**t, but I feel as if Woosha isn't even remotely close to having the desired plan drilled into the players.

At this moment, leaning towards GWS by 3-5 goals unfortunately.
 
Kelly is in doubt, if he misses along with Ward and Mumford, should favour us. System worked well last wolithout Daniher and Shiel and most Fantasia. Not sure why we have to follow Richmond. Hopefully they don’t stuff up the choice of game plan like last year where we went 2-6.
 

Isaac Cumming No 1

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Kelly is in doubt, if he misses along with Ward and Mumford, should favour us. System worked well last wolithout Daniher and Shiel and most Fantasia. Not sure why we have to follow Richmond. Hopefully they don’t stuff up the choice of game plan like last year where we went 2-6.
I'd back Kelly to play, but he's likely to be a bit green. He had multiple surgery post season and has been on a programme aimed at round 1 since. Not certain if there are setbacks.

Haynes looks like missing and he's important. Taylor comes in for sure and with Corr strangely off the radar Keefe will play.

Zac Langdon is out as well. Daniels is a real prospect as a very quick small forward and surely he'll be the replacement.
 

JayJ20

Brownlow Medallist
Aug 28, 2016
17,147
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How long you been following footy dude? Many if not most of these guys arent going go all out in practice games. Example 101 was Hurley not going the spoil on Thursday night. Count how many times you've ever seen him do that in a regular season game - I'll save you some time, the answer is 'zero'. You have some nutters like Smith who cant help themselves, then there's the rest - they want to be around for R1.

We will find out where this team is in a couple of weeks..& even then, it'll be just one game.
Hurley's form is bad most of the time after an extended break so that’s a bad example. Will probably take until round 5-6 to hit good form.

We always get up for round 1 games so again this won’t be an issue. You're right. It's just one game.
Round 2-6 will be the issue.

If you say that our players couldn’t be bothered, then it proves B4L’s point. We'd need another proper hit out. West Coast, Collingwood, Richmond and Adelaide seem to be in good form. Danger and Selwood tore us apart like it's a proper game. If anyone should be taking it seriously, it's Essendon players considering our start last season.

So either we wasted our preseason games by taking it easy, or we're not where we should be. Either way, it's concerning.
 
- Centre stoppage work has been poor so far this off-season. Opposition will be wise to set up deep forward lines allowing their mids to run forward.
See I 100% agree with you but we belted the Cats 18-9 in centre clearances.

Would never have guessed that watching the game.
 
So the GWS guys have agreed to write a small piece for the GameDay thread. It looks like the opposition view of the threads is going to push along very well!

I'm just needing someone to open the season from our ranks. Anyone here willing to write the very first rant of 2019?
 
Apr 11, 2002
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Iggles, Georgia.
Hurley's form is bad most of the time after an extended break so that’s a bad example. Will probably take until round 5-6 to hit good form.

We always get up for round 1 games so again this won’t be an issue. You're right. It's just one game.
Round 2-6 will be the issue.

If you say that our players couldn’t be bothered, then it proves B4L’s point. We'd need another proper hit out. West Coast, Collingwood, Richmond and Adelaide seem to be in good form. Danger and Selwood tore us apart like it's a proper game. If anyone should be taking it seriously, it's Essendon players considering our start last season.

So either we wasted our preseason games by taking it easy, or we're not where we should be. Either way, it's concerning.


Hurley is a perfect example as it had nothing to do with form, it was him deciding to not spoil, not take a risk he automatically would in a regular season game. Do you really think he got chewed out for it in review?

As for the not being bothered nonsense, yeah I haven't seen anyone suggesting that. What other teams do in jlt is irrelevant, it's what our coaches decide we need to focus on practice game to practice game that counts. Maybe they got everything out of the JLT they wanted, maybe not. Thing is we don't know.
 
Jan 31, 2012
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patterson lakes
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I think the club should organise a scratch match next week there is just now way our team can flick a switch and play well rd 1

If we’re not ready now, we never will be. All a scratch match does is create injuries, which we have little of compared to GWS which has s**t loads.

We’re better off than they are, so why tempt fate?
 
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