VFL Game Day Round 1: Geelong vs Essendon, Kardinia Park, Saturday 26/03/2022 @ 2:05 PM

[eth-dog]

Essendon and Geelong meet in round 1 of the VFL this year, a week after their AFL counterparts played each other. Essendon split their 4 practice matches 2-2, whilst Geelong played two and only won the first. Geelong have won 3 of the last 5 matches between the two sides, and have never lost to the Dons at Kardinia Park in the VFL.

Geelong have recruited locally in the VFL this season, but have added former Swan Matthew Ling and former Docker Brett Bewley

17

Brett Bewley

Age

29

Ht

185cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.4

4star

K

8.9

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

3.7

4star

T

2.1

4star

CL

0.6

3star

D

15.1

4star

K

9.3

4star

HB

5.9

3star

M

4.3

4star

T

1.7

3star

CL

0.7

3star

D

13.6

4star

K

7.8

3star

HB

5.8

4star

M

2.6

3star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.2

2star

to their list, whilst Ryan Abbott

27

Ryan Abbott

Age

32

Ht

200cm

Wt

100kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.5

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

5.0

4star

CL

2.0

4star

HO

22.3

5star

No current season stats available

D

10.8

3star

K

5.0

2star

HB

5.8

4star

CL

2.4

5star

HO

26.4

5star

returns as another COVID top up player. After beating North Melbourne in their first practice match in a low scoring affair, they came up against Essendon on Saturday as a dress rehearsal for round 1, going down by 3 goals in the end.

Essendon's fortunes varied from game to game this pre-season. A strong recruitment campaign meant that we saw James Peters, Dylan Landt, Tom Jolley, Shaun McKernan

27

Shaun Mckernan

Age

33

Ht

196cm

Wt

100kg

Pos.

F/R

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.0

3star

K

8.3

3star

HB

4.7

3star

M

4.5

4star

T

1.8

4star

G

1.0

4star

D

8.4

2star

K

5.6

2star

HB

2.8

2star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.6

3star

G

1.0

4star

D

17.0

5star

K

8.2

4star

HB

8.8

5star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.2

3star

G

0.2

3star

and Jacob Brown return to the Dons, whilst also adding former Hawk Will Golds and former Coburg player Josh Iacobaccio to the squad. Essendon bookended their pre-season matches with wins, although a tough loss against Coburg also featured.

I think we'll finally break our Kardinia Park hoodoo here, Dons by 27. Possible side:

FB: Cody Brand - Brandon Zerk-Thatcher

25

Brandon...

Age

25

Ht

195cm

Wt

91kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.5

3star

K

8.5

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

4.5

4star

T

1.5

3star

MG

148.5

2star

D

12.0

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

5.0

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

0.0

1star

MG

124.0

2star

D

11.5

3star

K

8.5

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

4.5

5star

T

1.5

4star

MG

148.5

3star

- Garrett McDonagh
HB: Alastair Lord - Cian McBride - Dylan Landt
MF: Sam Durham - Joe Atley - Brayden Ham

33

Brayden Ham

Age

24

Ht

182cm

Wt

77kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.7

3star

K

7.7

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

3.1

3star

T

2.0

4star

CL

0.6

3star

D

11.5

3star

K

8.3

3star

HB

3.3

2star

M

2.8

3star

T

1.5

2star

CL

0.5

3star

D

10.0

3star

K

7.2

3star

HB

2.8

3star

M

3.4

4star

T

2.4

4star

CL

0.6

3star

HF: Matthew Guelfi - Josh Eyre - Ben Jolley
FF: Patrick Voss - Shaun McKernan - Tex Wanganeen
OB: Nick Bryan - Alec Waterman - Josh Iacobaccio

IC: James Harrold - Kyle Weightman - Sam Conforti - James Peters - Will Golds - Ben Archard - Jake Sutton - Cameron McLeod
23P: Ronald Fejo jr

 

[Lore]

VFL broadcast partner the Seven Network will show a weekly game plus finals, live and free on 7 in Victoria and 7Plus nationally. Fans can catch up from anywhere around the nation on 7plus.

All VFL matches in 2022 will be live streamed and available on demand via the AFL website (afl.com.au) and AFL Live Official App.

2022 VFL fixture: Bombers on the road for Rd 1

Essendon will open its 2022 VFL season against Geelong at GMHBA Stadium.

www.essendonfc.com.au

 

[ghostdog]

Essendon and Geelong meet in round 1 of the VFL this year, a week after their AFL counterparts played each other. Essendon split their 4 practice matches 2-2, whilst Geelong played two and only won the first. Geelong have won 3 of the last 5 matches between the two sides, and have never lost to the Dons at Kardinia Park in the VFL.

Geelong have recruited locally in the VFL this season, but have added former Swan Matthew Ling and former Docker Brett Bewley to their list, whilst Ryan Abbott returns as another COVID top up player. After beating North Melbourne in their first practice match in a low scoring affair, they came up against Essendon on Saturday as a dress rehearsal for round 1, going down by 3 goals in the end.

Essendon's fortunes varied from game to game this pre-season. A strong recruitment campaign meant that we saw James Peters, Dylan Landt, Tom Jolley, Shaun McKernan and Jacob Brown return to the Dons, whilst also adding former Hawk Will Golds and former Coburg player Josh Iacobaccio to the squad. Essendon bookended their pre-season matches with wins, although a tough loss against Coburg also featured.

I think we'll finally break our Kardinia Park hoodoo here, Dons by 27. Possible side:

FB: Cody Brand - Brandon Zerk-Thatcher - Garrett McDonagh
HB: Alastair Lord - Cian McBride - Dylan Landt
MF: Sam Durham - Joe Atley - Brayden Ham
HF: Matthew Guelfi - Josh Eyre - Ben Jolley
FF: Patrick Voss - Shaun McKernan - Tex Wanganeen
OB: Nick Bryan - Alec Waterman - Josh Iacobaccio

IC: James Harrold - Kyle Weightman - Sam Conforti - James Peters - Will Golds - Ben Archard - Jake Sutton - Cameron McLeod
23P: Ronald Fejo jr

Didn't we recruit Voss to play MF?

Looking forward to seeing McDonagh kick-ins marked in the centre square by a hard leading Eyre or Bryan.

 

[eth-dog]

Didn't we recruit Voss to play MF?

Looking forward to seeing McDonagh kick-ins marked in the centre square by a hard leading Eyre or Bryan.

He's played forward in the Practice Matches so far. Might not have a midfield tank yet

 

[eth-dog]

For some reason teams aren't getting released on the Thursday (which is stupid). I think these guys are available:

Hobbs, Bryan, Baldwin, Lord, Zerk-Thatcher*, Eyre, Ham*, Phillips*, McDonagh, Brand, Voss, Wanganeen*, McBride, Waterman, Hird

*Emergencies. So probably 9 VFL players, there are 7 KPP/rucks amongst that group, expect Baldwin, Phillips/Bryan and Eyre to start forward with Zerk, Brand and McBride in defence (although I would have McBride and Eyre at the other ends).

 

[eth-dog]

Early Friday afternoon. Okay mate.

 

[eth-dog]

Backs	50. D Capiron	66. C Jones	74. B Lloyd
Half Backs	47. M Ling	42. M O'Connor	21. N Stevens
Centreline	32. G Miers	57. J Chalcraft	48. B Crofts
Half Forwards	52. J McLachlan	53. C Sprague	28. O Dempsey
Forwards	49. R Abbott	33. S Neale	64. T Panuccio
Followers	15. J Ceglar	10. M Knevitt	11. C Whyte
Interchange	68. T Feely	12. C Stephens	19. Q Narkle
	31. F Evans	36. P Tsapatolis
23rd Player	64. T Panuccio
Emergencies	59. N Harris	51. L McCarthy	55. J Mentha

Their side.They have 4 rucks in that side (Ceflar, Neale, Abbott and Tsapatolis) so expect one to play in defence with Jones their only real key tall back there. 12 AFL listed players, 11 VFL listed. Their midfield looks dangerous with Stephens, Narkle and Knevitt in particular.

 

[eth-dog]

Teams:



They're stronger in the middle but have a lack of talls either end. Thanks for the pic eDPS

Match-ups to expect:

BZT/Brand - Neale/Abbott/Ceglar
Fitzgerald - Sprague
Simpson - Dempsey
Lord - Spanuccio
McDonagh - McLachlan

Jones - Baldwin
Tsapatolis - Phillips/Bryan
Stevens - Eyre
Capiron - Voss
Lloyd - Waterman
Ling - Weightman

Hobbs and Atley will be the keys in the middle. We have to break even at the stoppage to be any chance

 

[Yoda_]

Disappointing we don't have Dylan Landt yet. He's my boy to watch this year and genuinely believe he should be on an AFL list

 

[eth-dog]

Disappointing we don't have Dylan Landt yet. He's my boy to watch this year and genuinely believe he should be on an AFL list

If he's tidied up his kicking then he has a definite place at AFL level.

 

[eorl]

Teams:

View attachment 1354310

They're stronger in the middle but have a lack of talls either end. Thanks for the pic eDPS

Match-ups to expect:

BZT/Brand - Neale/Abbott/Ceglar
Fitzgerald - Sprague
Simpson - Dempsey
Lord - Spanuccio
McDonagh - McLachlan

Jones - Baldwin
Tsapatolis - Phillips/Bryan
Stevens - Eyre
Capiron - Voss
Lloyd - Waterman
Ling - Weightman

Hobbs and Atley will be the keys in the middle. We have to break even at the stoppage to be any chance

No Wanganeen in that line-up. He's the only AFL emergency not named (Waterman, Philips and Zerk-Thatcher) could there be a medical sub debut?

 

[Duckworth]

Is this on Kayo? I'm struggling to find it.
ahhh on AFL website.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Brand, Baldwin, Bryan Weightman,best in the first.

 

[Duckworth]

Voss!!!! why you do this.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

How the hell is our list this bad heading into the third or really 4th year of a rebuild.

 

[ant555]

How the hell is our list this bad heading into the third or really 4th year of a rebuild.

How is it the third or fourth year of a rebuild?
Until last year we where trading first round picks out . That is not rebuild. It was topping up.
Rebuild started last year.

 

[eth-dog]

Waterman not playing either

 

[Red Black and Blue]

How is it the third or fourth year of a rebuild?
Until last year we where trading first round picks out . That is not rebuild. It was topping up.
Rebuild started last year.

The second year of Danihers injury the list was in rebuild position, the second he asked for a trade the rebuild should have been without doubt. Entirely our fault we were too stupid to realize how s**t a place we were in 2018.

 

[ant555]

The second year of Danihers injury the list was in rebuild position, the second he asked for a trade the rebuild should have been without doubt. Entirely our fault we were too stupid to realize how s**t a place we were in. That was 2019 we have now gone through three drafts.

That only really highlights we started in rebuilding mode last year. When he first asked for a trade we where still in top up mode .
The fact that they should have been is irrelevant. They where not so you can not say we where three years into a rebuild.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

That only really highlights we started in rebuilding mode last year. When he first asked for a trade we where still in top up mode .
The fact that they should have been is irrelevant. They where not so you can not say we where three years into a rebuild.

We started the year earlier, we just painted ourselves in a corner with the Shiel trade. In reality we started a rebuild in 2016 that we never even tried to complete.

 

[ant555]

We started the year earlier, we just painted ourselves in a corner with the Shiel trade. In reality we started a rebuild in 2016 that we never even tried to complete.

We certainly did not start in 2016. You do not trade out of the first round if you are rebuilding.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

We certainly did not start in 2016. You do not trade out of the first round if you are rebuilding.

We certainly did, we took 8 players in the draft. We just abandoned it because our recruiting department have no idea what building a successful list looks like.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Sheesh.

Our recruiting department should hang their heads in shame. Unless there is a dramatic turnaround we may need a deeper cleanout.

 

[Zach Package]

So we’ve gone from finding AFL quality outside the VFL system to bringing blokes into the VFL system that are barely VAFA Prem C quality.

Dross, and it’s not even results based, none of the VFL list look at the level or have anything resembling attributes of any sort.

 

[ant555]

We certainly did, we took 8 players in the draft. We just abandoned it because our recruiting department have no idea what building a successful list looks like.

We where always waiting for the suspended players to come back because we thought we where in the window.
To say anything else is wrong.
We topped up in the next 3 drafts. Then we refused to trade until players where walking out the door.
It was not a rebuild.
What we should have been doing is another story.