Preview Round 15: West Coast vs Essendon, Gabba, Tuesday 01/09/2020 @ 8:10 PM AEST

[Albertross]

Hey guys sorry for the intrusion.

Do you think James Stewart will play forward? He is named at centre halfback? Would of though Hurley, Ridley and Thatcher were your key defenders?

Just preparing him for the Hawkins match up on Sunday.

 

[Darealrath]

Yes we have which is why they would not risk him if there was even 0.00000000000001% of a chance of him not being able to back up.
He is on a different program now. It is all about working on the weakness that causes the issue. Rather than just a general treatment they have mapped how he runs and kicks so they can work on the areas that need strengthening. It is not actually a fix but a management program.
If he gets an injury it will not because he backed up after 5 days. Previously it was the next game after the back up that was the issue.

I still think the recent calf injury is as much a reason to rest him on such short a break.

But anyway, pretty exciting team on paper. Have missed seeing the captain out there.

 

[Sammy1992]

Yep. Woosha just taking one from the Sheedy handbook

Haha. And what about Hooker? I just saw he was paying $2.64 for anytime goal kicker? Maybe that’s because they’ll only swing him forward if Essendon aren’t functioning well?

 

[Sammy1992]

Just preparing him for the Hawkins match up on Sunday.

Haha hooker will probably go to Hawkins. He usually does pretty well on him from memory

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Hey guys sorry for the intrusion.

Do you think James Stewart will play forward? He is named at centre halfback? Would of though Hurley, Ridley and Thatcher were your key defenders?

Lol no will swap with hooker

Dunno why but we always name players in different positions then swap them.

Sheedy esc

 

[The Prosecutor]

Haha. And what about Hooker? I just saw he was paying $2.64 for anytime goal kicker? Maybe that’s because they’ll only swing him forward if Essendon aren’t functioning well?

What agency is that with?

 

[Halftimehero]

What agency is that with?

Ladbrokes are $2.65
Interestingly Parish is $3.50 also.

Just chucked a multi on those two with Langford boosted to $20.34

 

[Lore]

If you watch the captains run they train the 26 (named 22 plus emergencies) in fwd/mid/back groups. The mids seemed to be split into two groups so you don't see a couple of people in today's video, but from what I saw:

Forwards:
Daniher
Hooker
Stewart
Stringer
Townsend*
Mosquito
McDonald-Tipungwuti
Snelling
Ham*

Hooker also did some one on one with Dan Jordan (forwards line coach) on one-handed marking/catching. You can actually hear what he's saying which is cool.

Midfield/Ruck:
Phillips*
[Draper] not visible in the footage
Langford
Heppell
[Clarke] only visible briefly
[Shiel] only visible briefly
Parish
Merrett
[McGrath] not visible in the footage

With the midfield group split in two and one half not included in the clip, the first choice ruckman is training off-camera with Shiel, McGrath and Clarke. It's probably reading too much in to interpret anything from it though.

Defenders:
Zerk-Thatcher
Hurley
Ridley
Gleeson
Redman*
Guelfi
Saad
Smith

I think we'd prefer an in-form McKenna to Guelfi off hb, and Francis over Zerk-Thatcher, with Hooker forward it actually makes our defence look relatively weak compared to what we're used to there.

All up though, this has got to be pretty close to our best team really. I wonder how many training sessions they've ever done together

 

[Blind Turn]

Mckenna probably the only one missing. Though we may need to get used to that

A healthy and in-form Raz, a freed-up Franga, and a happy-at-halfback Irish would make this team much more impressive.

 

[JayJ20]

This is the best side we've fielded in a long time. I actually cannot remember the last time we fielded a strong side.

That being said, this side is also extremely underdone. We likely won't see 4 quarters of good football, so those two/three quarters better be really good.

 

[Lore]

A healthy and in-form Raz, a freed-up Franga, and a happy-at-halfback Irish would make this team much more impressive.

Zaharakis probably comes in for Clarke too, and Ambrose was best 22 last time he played as well (I sort of wonder what would happen with him if he was out of contract with list cuts coming actually).

Small things to wish for compared to where we were a month ago though.

 

[citizen-erased]

A healthy and in-form Raz, a freed-up Franga, and a happy-at-halfback Irish would make this team much more impressive.

dunno...kinda like the fwd line with Moz. i think absence hasn't made the heart grow fonder with Raz
Would love to see Irish & Francis back though.

Francis -> Gleeson
McKenna - Guelfi
Raz -> Snelling

Would be good upgrades.

 

[DallasCrane316]

This is the best side we've fielded in a long time. I actually cannot remember the last time we fielded a strong side.

That being said, this side is also extremely underdone. We likely won't see 4 quarters of good football, so those two/three quarters better be really good.

I don’t think we’re too underdone (compared to the finals where we have literally just brought players straight back in after injury)

Our run and gun players have had significant game time and should have built their tanks up.

Stewart has now settled back in (7th or 8th game back I think?). Stringer is now into his third match so should be okay.

Joey and Hooker have played their first match. So should be better for the run.

Hurley had more a rest than a long break, so should be fine.

Only underdone player I’d see is Heppell. And he’d always make up for that with constant effort. Having midfield depth should help the rotations too.

 

[Bjchan13]

Pretty sure they've used Hutchings before as a forward tag for Saad to shutdown our run. McKenna would've been handy too offset this tactic. Redman i felt was working through some form/injury issues ok too. Hope we dont get bogged down in the backline due to a lack of run.

 

[eth-dog]

Pretty sure they've used Hutchings before as a forward tag for Saad to shutdown our run. McKenna would've been handy too offset this tactic. Redman i felt was working through some form/injury issues ok too. Hope we dont get bogged down in the backline due to a lack of run.

Hutchings usually goes to Merrett IIRC?

 

[Bjchan13]

Hutchings usually goes to Merrett IIRC?

Im almost certain they've used him on Saad and it's been successful.

 

[AsIfYouCare]

No Kennedy potentially could be nice.

But I don't think you can logically play Joe.

Margetts won't be playing either. Double win.

 

[eth-dog]

Im almost certain they've used him on Saad and it's been successful.

I thought Saad was on Ryan both games last year, and he was definitely on Merrett the year before.

 

[DallasCrane316]

Im almost certain they've used him on Saad and it's been successful.

Yep. You’re correct. Round 14 last year. They tagged Saad right out of it.

 

[Bjchan13]

I thought Saad was on Ryan both games last year, and he was definitely on Merrett the year before.

I ended up finding an article
"He showed flashes of what he was capable of with some breathtaking runs on Thursday night finishing with 18 possessions and 583m gained despite being tagged by Mark Hutchings.
Saad will learn plenty from his first appearance in a final and he hopes it's the same for his teammates.
"Mark has tagged me a couple of times and he's a really good player. I take a lot of learnings from this game in terms of my running patterns and how I can get used a bit more while still defending as well," he said.
"I keep trying to play my role for the team even if I get tagged. I was inconsistent again so for me going forward I'll review the tape, watch the edits and see where I can improve."

 

[eth-dog]

I ended up finding an article
"He showed flashes of what he was capable of with some breathtaking runs on Thursday night finishing with 18 possessions and 583m gained despite being tagged by Mark Hutchings.
Saad will learn plenty from his first appearance in a final and he hopes it's the same for his teammates.
"Mark has tagged me a couple of times and he's a really good player. I take a lot of learnings from this game in terms of my running patterns and how I can get used a bit more while still defending as well," he said.
"I keep trying to play my role for the team even if I get tagged. I was inconsistent again so for me going forward I'll review the tape, watch the edits and see where I can improve."

Ah, fair enough.

 

[OsteitisPubis22]

What I want to see....

Heppell on a wing/ halfback. Yeah there will be times when he can go in, but i think Parish is becoming an absolute weapon for us. I’d say he has gone past Heppell as that inside mid.

McGovern doesn’t take an uncontested Mark. Hooker, keeps him honest and doesn’t let him have a clear run at the contest. If hooker can pinch a couple then that’s a bonus.

Fast and direct ball movement, play to our strengths. WCE are a very good team, if we don’t take the game on and get the ball in to the talls, we won’t even stand a chance.


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[mad_monkey_j]

Really hate the optimism I'm feeling about this game.

 

[Mikevk123]

How good is it after a good win though ? I don’t think we will win but god last week was excellent after half time.


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[JayJ20]

Pretty sure they've used Hutchings before as a forward tag for Saad to shutdown our run. McKenna would've been handy too offset this tactic. Redman i felt was working through some form/injury issues ok too. Hope we dont get bogged down in the backline due to a lack of run.

It worked the first time in the home and away game. They tried to do it in the EF but Saad beat him.

We're much more about clearances and less reliant on rebounding from HB this year so tagging Saad wouldn't really impact us that much. I think he'll tag McGrath.