Preview Round 1: Essendon vs Fremantle, Docklands, Saturday 21/03/20, 2:10 PM AEDT

[citizen-erased]

Fully expecting TBC to be a late withdrawal and Phillips to play.

Back 6 is good selecting. I like it.
Langford and Zaka are where they belong on the wings.

Freo have the best 2 players on the field, but overall we look better on paper.
Should be a proper essendon game and turns into a slog that either team wins by under 2 goals.

Zero expectations of being happy with the outcome of this game, win or lose.

 

[Keystone agony]

It's pretty rare that big key forwards take pack marks these days or get one on ones deep inside 50

As long as our mediums get the ball to ground I dont mind it especially at Marvel

I hate the TBC pick like many. Phillips follow up work is really good and also fits into the Rutten Caracella game play of high pressure

I'm pretty stoked with the coaches decisions in general think I asked for a few things last year and early PS this year

- Guelfi Back (Tick)
- Langford outside to a wing his most natural junior position (Tick)
- Play Ridley (Tick)
- McGrath Inside (Tick)

They've done all these

 

[Mr Bultitude]

Snelling, Guelfi, Townsend and Smith in the side together shows you will get picked for team first, tackle happy, high pressure footy.

If you're correct and I reckon you are, this is a good sign. All four are great examples of team players. I was impressed by Guelfi's effort overall in the pre season. Not the cleanest, but you can't pin him for lack of undertaking.

 

[Lore]

The back six is odd looking. Looks like last year's Hooker and Ambrose (both injured) are Round 1's Zerk and Ridley.

Francis, Gleeson, Redman, Saad, McKenna all being healthy at once is somewhat unusual. Spoiled for choice!

 

[Sockeye]

A forward line with Smith, Tippa, Fanta, Townsend and Lav. Good luck running the ball out of defence against that line up. We will be scoring off turnovers.

 

[donlav99]

As long as we dont go full Essendon & just bomb F50 entries to the advantage of the defenders, we should do alright. If that backline doesnt get you a little bit excited for the future, i dont know what will.

 

[THOMO_31]

If Freo put on the big squeeze and force us to go slow, we could be in some trouble, can't afford to bomb with this side in.
Only chance we have if we move the ball quickly or short passes inside 50

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[Mr Bultitude]

From what I saw in our pre season, we are adopting that "chaos ball" approach for inside 50's (I'm coming to terms with it, Richmond "playing volleyball" still triggers me lol) but it will suit our selected forwards over long bombs in.

 

[Seagrave_Holmes]

Snelling, Guelfi, Townsend and Smith in the side together shows you will get picked for team first, tackle happy, high pressure footy.

Ok but then how do you explain the Bellchambers and Zaharakis selections?

 

[bombre-boy]

No change in strange selection policies this year i see.

With the quarters at 16 minutes instead of 20, does that mean that red time for us is not a problem? or do we just adjust our timings and still let through those nice easy goals to the opposition.
We cannot afford to have a bad start to the season.

 

[DapperJong]

We cannot afford to have a bad start to the season.

We can. It will be called off soon.

 

[Bjchan13]

Ok but then how do you explain the Bellchambers and Zaharakis selections?

I said that i thought Phillips was very unlucky. Cant explain Bellchambers being picked ahead of him. Zaharakis obviously isnt known for applying immense pressure but will be used mainly outside. Id like to see Ham take his spot eventually but have a feeling Zaka will have a decent season. I think/ hope the idea will be to have Townsend, Tippa, Smith and Snelling locking it in our fwd half rather than letting teams run it out under no pressure. Through the middle im expecting to see Guelfi, McGrath and Merrett doing the same. Merrett especially i hope to see crack in. He looks AA when hes hunting the opposition rather than trying to shake a tag.

 

[THOMO_31]

We can. It will be called off soon.

Totally agree , we will have 2 or 3 rounds, and once a player tests positive... season will b over

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[blitzer]

It's pretty rare that big key forwards take pack marks these days or get one on ones deep inside 50

As long as our mediums get the ball to ground I dont mind it especially at Marvel

I hate the TBC pick like many. Phillips follow up work is really good and also fits into the Rutten Caracella game play of high pressure

I'm pretty stoked with the coaches decisions in general think I asked for a few things last year and early PS this year

- Guelfi Back (Tick)
- Langford outside to a wing his most natural junior position (Tick)
- Play Ridley (Tick)
- McGrath Inside (Tick)

They've done all these

I don't like Guelfi in the backline. His kicking skills get exposed back there. I remember his first month last year, was diabolical, struggled to hit a single target until he bleached his hair and moved to the wing. Doesn't lack for intent, courage or second efforts and I find him pretty disciplined and good in the air. I actually always thought Guelfi would end up as a defensive forward type personally or maybe a tagger through the midfield.

 

[ghostdog]

Totally agree , we will have 2 or 3 rounds, and once a player tests positive... season will b over

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That's why McKenna should be playing. Run and gun flat stick for 4 16 minute quarters. Smash the comp in three rounds and win a premiership on percentage.

 

[ghostdog]

No Ambrose and no Clarke. Does anyone tag Fyfe?

 

[Keystone agony]

I don't like Guelfi in the backline. His kicking skills get exposed back there. I remember his first month last year, was diabolical, struggled to hit a single target until he bleached his hair and moved to the wing. Doesn't lack for intent, courage or second efforts and I find him pretty disciplined and good in the air. I actually always thought Guelfi would end up as a defensive forward type personally or maybe a tagger through the midfield.

I think his skillset could push to those roles

I also think it's good as a shutdown defender aswell which McKenna isn't and Saad needs to be allowed to run more and defend less

His kicking isn't horrible. He actually has a penetrating kick. I remember when he was drafted to us and how long he kicked the footy for a shorter type bloke.

I think if he's out of form with the footy just do what Maxwell and Harry Obrien did in pies hay day kick run 10 and kick 55 down the line and if he defends as we know he can then he's a great option there

 

[Lore]

Marvel roof always open, plus new R1 start times

No matter the weather conditions, the roof will always be open at Marvel Stadium

www.afl.com.au

Confirmation of the starting time and the roof will be open regardless of weather (to avoid restrictions that are applied to indoor events).

 

[The Prosecutor]

Marvel roof always open, plus new R1 start times

No matter the weather conditions, the roof will always be open at Marvel Stadium

www.afl.com.au

Confirmation of the starting time and the roof will be open regardless of weather (to avoid restrictions that are applied to indoor events).

Truly is stupid when you think about it.

 

[Lore]

Truly is stupid when you think about it.

There's a lot of things that are stupid, I'm mostly trying not to think about it too much tbh

 

[andleanback]

Naughton has absolutely stunk tonight after playing no preseason games and missing massive chunk of training. Perplexing decision to ruck bellchambers 1 out tomorrow.

 

[blitzer]

Naughton has absolutely stunk tonight after playing no preseason games and missing massive chunk of training. Perplexing decision to ruck bellchambers 1 out tomorrow.

At least with a key forward you can understand it. He's the best in that position for them by a long way. Bellchambers is barely better than Phillips at all (he's probably worse in my books) and Philips is match fit and ready to go.

 

[eth-dog]

At least with a key forward you can understand it. He's the best in that position for them by a long way. Bellchambers is barely better than Phillips at all (he's probably worse in my books) and Philips is match fit and ready to go.

It's not as if they didn't have Schache available.

 

[Maddogm]

Totally agree , we will have 2 or 3 rounds, and once a player tests positive... season will b over

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Not so sure on that. AFL seem to be planning around having a 30 day pause once a player tests positive. Of course they are assuming that no other players will test positive later in that 30 days which might be a tad hopeful.

 

[owen87]

No Ambrose and no Clarke. Does anyone tag Fyfe?

Stringer played on Fyfe at centre bounces from memory, did a pretty good job of limiting his impact when he was there.