Preview Round 20 - Essendon Bombers vs Sydney Swans - Saturday, July 29th - 7:25 pm - Disney is Still Milking the s**t out of it Stadium

[Beerfish]

ESSENDON v SYDNEY SWANS

Saturday July 29, 7:25pm at Marvel Stadium

BOMBERS

B: A. McGrath, B. Zerk-Thatcher, J. Kelly
HB: M. Redman, J. Laverde, D. Heppell
C: S. Durham, A. Perkins, N. Martin
HF: J. Caldwell, P. Wright, N. Cox
F: M. Guelfi, K. Langford, B. Hobbs
FOLL: A. Phillips, D. Parish, Z. Merrett - C

I/C: W. Snelling, N. Hind, N. Bryan, J. Menzie
EMG: E. Tsatas, K. Baldwin, A. Davey Jnr, A. McDonald-Tipungwuti

In: J. Menzie
OUT: J. Ridley (Injured), J. Stringer (Injured)

 

[astrowizzle]

We've seen that it hasn't been the case. It's the classic 2 year Essendon cycle. Make finals off the back of a soft draw, get smashed, lose confidence and finish bottom 6 the following year.

I used to think like that but after the past few times it's happened I know it's complete bullshit. I want to win a flag with this group. I'd rather Perkins learn this stuff in the VFL now, sacrifice our chance of playing finals and go into next year with a real shot of making headway into it.

Only difference this year is as a team we have been far more consistent in our effort bar the past few weeks. So even if we lose it may be a good experience for the guys
But personally I want to miss out by percentage alone and get the guys hungry for success

 

[eth-dog]

Only difference this year is as a team we have been far more consistent in our effort bar the past few weeks. So even if we lose it may be a good experience for the guys
But personally I want to miss out by percentage alone and get the guys hungry for success

That was exactly what was said 2 years ago. Look how that turned out.

 

[dank420_]

'Finals experience' is a bit of a furphy from memory; good teams tend to play and win finals before they win a GF because they're good teams, they're not good teams because 'finals experience'.

We've seen with how the team is yo-yo'ing in and out of finals as the draw gets easier / harder and other teams that should be better than us fall over. Playing finals won't make us more likely to win a final when we're simply not a good team.

I'm not arguing that. I just don't subscribe to the 'make sure we don't make finals' argument. I see no reason to cap where we finish on the ladder.

 

[faible]

I'm not arguing that. I just don't subscribe to the 'make sure we don't make finals' argument. I see no reason to cap where we finish on the ladder.

Given how easily the idiot brigade inside the club makes the leap from 'scraped in to finals and got beaten' to 'we're 1 player off, sell the farm' then I can understand why people might not be overly keen to fall in to the 8.

 

[cAsEy_18]

Given how easily the idiot brigade inside the club makes the leap from 'scraped in to finals and got beaten' to 'we're 1 player off, sell the farm' then I can understand why people might not be overly keen to fall in to the 8.

We've genuinely done this...once? (Shiel)

Even the Stringer, Saad, Smith year, with how it's all played out - all those were good deals.

Stringer for 25 and 30.
Saad for...some sort of 2nd rounder.
Dev traded included our 1st rounder, but from memory we got a high 2nd rounder back, which might've even been used in 1 of the above 2 trades. It wasn't much we ended up giving up.
And they were all in a good age bracket.

Completely get what you're saying. But I think there's this huge middle ground between "Topping up in trades to go all in" and "Hit the draft". There is smart recruiting, through all methods of trading, free agency and drafting, regardless of whether we finish 7th or 12th this year.

 

[MiguelM]

If we were hitting our straps this time of the year I'd say finals could be worth it.

Finals are for teams hitting form at the right time of the year, you just most likely have to be in the top four to have a serious chance. Not impossible from lower but history suggests it is rare.

The way our form is atm, I could not care if we missed finals.

Making finals would be more for the fans. Our players play enough big games per year to know what level is required, regardless of finals.

Should honestly start by learning from the Geelong thrashings each year.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

"Killed a swan yesterday. Did a shit on it. Right on it." Howard Moon

 

[faible]

We've genuinely done this...once? (Shiel)

Even the Stringer, Saad, Smith year, with how it's all played out - all those were good deals.

Stringer for 25 and 30.
Saad for...some sort of 2nd rounder.
Dev traded included our 1st rounder, but from memory we got a high 2nd rounder back, which might've even been used in 1 of the above 2 trades. It wasn't much we ended up giving up.
And they were all in a good age bracket.

Completely get what you're saying. But I think there's this huge middle ground between "Topping up in trades to go all in" and "Hit the draft". There is smart recruiting, through all methods of trading, free agency and drafting, regardless of whether we finish 7th or 12th this year.

I'm all for smart recrutiing, but if we make finals the expectation seems to be (from supporters and sections inside the club) that we're on the improve, and therefore everyone loses patience about going through a process. Scott has been preaching this since his very first comments at the club. We're a ways off, we need to take the time to do it properly and sustainably.

 

[Howard Moon]

"Killed a swan yesterday. Did a s**t on it. Right on it." Howard Moon

Our game plan is so cutting edge, it goes out of date every three hours."

 

[silk]

I'm on the fence when it comes to making finals, but ultimately I don't think it matters, and as I say in the OP of this preview, regardless of finals or not, I think we need to allow Brad a bottom-four finish next year without getting the knives out. I do feel that if we do make finals, it would require some good football so at least we might be in good form, rather than just falling in. If we miss; I won't up too upset, we've done well this year.

 

[ant555]

I hate picking and choosing vision tho. Roll the previous 2-3 minutes to see McGrath’s movements before judging. It’s easy to see a snippet and think gut running is not afl standard.

He has a history of being a bit of a jogger. I have seen the exact same thing in his game quite a few times in the last 3 years.

 

[MiguelM]

So, will buddy screw us over again or is it to our advantage that he plays?

 

[supportyourteam]

Won't get down his end.

 

[andleanback]

So, will buddy screw us over again or is it to our advantage that he plays?

I’d rather he plays. I think their forward line is a lot more fluid when he’s not out there.

 

[Keystone agony]

Plus Laverde towers him up with any resemblance of ok midfield pressure and ok amount of i50s

 

[Vass38]

Reddog signing on for 5 years gives us a little lift for this game I feel. And Sydney generally not a high scoring team so if Langford, 2MP or someone else can bob up and kick a few we are right in this match. Home deck also helps if it was up in Sydney I wouldn’t give us much hope…
Need a lift out of our young guys - Perkins, Durham, Hobbs and Caldwell all pretty average last week let’s hope they can bounce back here


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[ghostdog]

Reddog signing on for 5 years gives us a little lift for this game I feel. And Sydney generally not a high scoring team so if Langford, 2MP or someone else can bob up and kick a few we are right in this match. Home deck also helps if it was up in Sydney I wouldn’t give us much hope…
Need a lift out of our young guys - Perkins, Durham, Hobbs and Caldwell all pretty average last week let’s hope they can bounce back here


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

We need to be mindful of Parker and Warner, lest we have Liberatore and Bontempelli flashbacks again. We need to actually be accountable.

 

[faible]

Sydney generally not a high scoring team

West Coast want to know where this low scoring Sydney was the other week

 

[MiguelM]

Reddog signing on for 5 years gives us a little lift for this game I feel. And Sydney generally not a high scoring team so if Langford, 2MP or someone else can bob up and kick a few we are right in this match. Home deck also helps if it was up in Sydney I wouldn’t give us much hope…
Need a lift out of our young guys - Perkins, Durham, Hobbs and Caldwell all pretty average last week let’s hope they can bounce back here


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Yep, it is our second tier players that are the problem.

They go missing when the heat is on. Not so much Hobbs, but had a shocker last week.

Hope Stringer is fresher and they get Perk the hell out of the midfield.

In fact, I would have Perk as the sub or drop him.

 

[supportyourteam]

Few schooners would be all. The Essendon website says open training at 10.30 am.

 

[andleanback]

We need to be mindful of Parker and Warner, lest we have Liberatore and Bontempelli flashbacks again. We need to actually be accountable.

We should be okay with Sydney’s middle. They’re one of the worst contested ball/ contest teams in the comp. also got smacked by the dogs even though they lost by 2 points.

 

[Ambrosia]

Don’t think we can carry Heppell without Ridley back there and I think Hind’s papers have been stamped.

My changes are:

In: Baldwin, Menzie, D’Ambrosio
Out: Ridley, Stringer, Heppell

 

[FlyingV]

I think there are signs we are running out of legs. There’s been a big load on Hobbs, Calders, Martin, Duz and Perk for nearly half the season now with the injuries to Shiel, Setters and Parish.

Let’s see but this could be a bumpy end to the year (which even if we miss finals has been a success imo)

 

[MiguelM]

I think there are signs we are running out of legs. There’s been a big load on Hobbs, Calders, Martin, Duz and Perk for nearly half the season now with the injuries to Shiel, Setters and Parish.

Let’s see but this could be a bumpy end to the year (which even if we miss finals has been a success imo)

Yeah, will be interesting to see how we go this week.

Scott said the same and hinted at training loads. Suspect a light week on the track to try and freshen them up.

Mind you when the team is chasing you always look tired. Less turnovers might help too.

 

[TheGrizz]

My biggest fear with Scott was that he would fall into the same habit that he would favour the older players and refuse to blood enough younger players. He said he learnt his lessons and hasn't done alot wrong so far.

If he honestly picks Weideman for defence after one week, when Baldwin has been slaughtering opposition forwardlines all season as a CHB, I might just lose hope.