Preview Essendon Bombers vs Hawthorne Hawks - The Round Formerly Known as Round 1 - Friday March 14th - 7:40pm at the MGC

[thepokey]

I don't condone violence but someone should have knocked Mitchell cold that day

That wouldn't be violence, that's pest control

 

[bombreys]

I would like Drapes to start ruck and hopefully give us first use early on or break even in the middle. Bryan to come on to Ruck that middle section of the term, against a second ruck and hopefully give us an advantage. Drapes to rest forward/bench that time. Drapes to finish the quarter around the ground. Sub Bryan off for more run if injuries haven't happened to give fresh legs. Jones, Caddy and Langford as talls early on When Drapes is Rucking.

Going to be interesting what happens there. Do we rest Bryan forward when not in the ruck? Or just straight to the bench?

 

[Milanista28]

I think our talent vs there's is similar, attitude and game plan wins this one.

Could probably say that for most games these days, even comp.

 

[boncer34]

I think our talent vs there's is similar, attitude and game plan wins this one.

Could probably say that for most games these days, even comp.

Thats incredibly optimistic

 

[faible]

Thats incredibly optimistic

Bloke who came 10th in their B&F couldn't even break in to our Best 22!

 

[jdstorm]

Going to be interesting what happens there. Do we rest Bryan forward when not in the ruck? Or just straight to the bench?

Wouldnt be suprised to see him get a few minutes as a Key defender. Keep Ridley as that 3rd tall. When McKay and Reid need a spell

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Hawks 30+ IMO

 

[Donflicted]

As a reformed doomer

Extremely optimistic this season and going to look at the glass being half full
Confident we are on the right path

Dons by 12

 

[div12ressie]

is everyone forgetting the march-may essendon buff?

bombers by 30

 

[CaptainWorpedo]

**** Hawthorn, a pack of smug campaigners! We will smash them.

Dons by 25.

Both teams will go hard, I am expecting a close game tbh!

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

Going to be interesting what happens there. Do we rest Bryan forward when not in the ruck? Or just straight to the bench?

Wouldn't mind him going forward against teams where we can test their height but Hawks have a plethora of tall options so maybe not so much this game.

 

[eth-dog]

The key is to be tall enough to get the ball to ground. They really only have Impey and Amon once the ball hits the deck.

 

[Mercurial89]

Keen to see how the game looks more so than the result, though it's early season so it might just have to be back and forth transition football.

Id like to see us being able to slow their ball movement and limit the end to end transitions that they are quite good at and we suck at defending.

 

[ant555]

The number one watch for me is how we stand up defensively. It will give us an idea on how far we have advanced. If we have not gone forward or slack off a bit then they will start off just kicking through our defense and then simply use their speed to run around the outside of it. It may be round 1 and you can never really make 100% judgments in the first few weeks but we will get to see what the team defense is looking like.

 

[JayJ20]

As a reformed doomer

Extremely optimistic this season and going to look at the glass being half full
Confident we are on the right path

Dons by 12

I suggest not to watch on Friday night because you may relapse.

 

[joey_jo_jo]

How likely is it that Roberts makes the 23? If he is in then I think its a clear sign Scott is taking transition defence seriously with having both duursma and Roberts covering wing, but if he roles out with jones taking a large chunk of wing time and Roberts doesn't make the bench then I think we will be in for a long day/season

 

[eth-dog]

How likely is it that Roberts makes the 23? If he is in then I think its a clear sign Scott is taking transition defence seriously with having both duursma and Roberts covering wing, but if he roles out with jones taking a large chunk of wing time and Roberts doesn't make the bench then I think we will be in for a long day/season

Teams play more than two wings. All three will play IMO

 

[ghostdog]

Teams play more than two wings. All three will play IMO

Agree. We've trained with Jones on a wing, he played the praccies there and he has improved as well.

How likely is it that Roberts makes the 23? If he is in then I think its a clear sign Scott is taking transition defence seriously with having both duursma and Roberts covering wing, but if he roles out with jones taking a large chunk of wing time and Roberts doesn't make the bench then I think we will be in for a long day/season

Transition can happen by kick / mark as well. Jones gives us that in spades and it's supported by his running capacity. His move to a wing has in part solved our link up issues.

 

[Donflicted]

I suggest not to watch on Friday night because you may relapse.

i may get frustrated but as i believe the direction the club is moving in i wont fully relapse however

If i see Hird and Sheedy or Dodo back within the club you may see me relapse into a doomer again

 

[Vindicater]

Running with Mass is a surefire winner.

Not a hard tag but go where he goes. He always folds back as an extra number so let Duursma go with him and then punish h in the air.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

How likely is it that Roberts makes the 23? If he is in then I think its a clear sign Scott is taking transition defence seriously with having both duursma and Roberts covering wing, but if he roles out with jones taking a large chunk of wing time and Roberts doesn't make the bench then I think we will be in for a long day/season

He picked up Close or Myles in the pre season game against Cats so may pick up one of the Hawks smalls

 

[eth-dog]

Running with Mass is a surefire winner.

Not a hard tag but go where he goes. He always folds back as an extra number so let Duursma go with him and then punish h in the air.

He rarely folds back. His biggest issue is that he's a massive front runner

 

[joey_jo_jo]

Agree. We've trained with Jones on a wing, he played the praccies there and he has improved as well.

Transition can happen by kick / mark as well. Jones gives us that in spades and it's supported by his running capacity. His move to a wing has in part solved our link up issues.

I was talking about transition defence specifically not transition attack, despite his aerobic capacity Jones tends to get exposed the other way by more natural wingers because positioning isnt 2nd nature to him. So I hope roberts takes more of the wing time and Jones pinch hits and plays more high half forward/wing hybrid role.

Playing Jones/Cox as predominantly wing in the 2nd half of last year was one of the more disappointing aspects of the season for me as it was a band aid fix to our issues of being able to transition on from defence to attack but took away some of the gains we had made in first half of season of defending the ground when we turned the ball over going into the forward 50.

 

[Vindicater]

He rarely folds back. His biggest issue is that he's a massive front runner

That is not what happens at all.

He folds back immediately from the wing and their high half forwards come up to play wing which catches opposition wings between two players. Massimo then acts as a seventh or even eighth defender and he acts as the outlet pass on alot of occasions.

Over half his possessions occur in the back half for a reason and the ones he gets in the front half are when he pushes up alongside the half backs.

Does he play on an opponent, no but that is not front running, that is a structure of the Hawks.

 

[pazza]

My likely side:

B: Redman, McKay, Ridley
HB: Shiel, Reid, McGrath
C: Durham, Caldwell, Martin
HF: Gresham, Caddy, Perkins
F: Kako, Langford, Draper
R: Bryan, Merrett, Tsatas
Int: Prior, Durrsma, Hobbs, Jones
Int: Roberts