Review 2019 Round 1 - GWS Giants v Essendon Bombers, 24 March 3.20 pm @ Giants Stadium

[Callums_Guns]

Hard to get many negatives out of the day

Dawson's, Keefe's, Daniel's best game

Backline pressure, rebounding, inside 50 pressure by the fwd's and the mid's just speak for themselves

Cant speak highly of the performance, great start to the season. With few players coming back into the line up till round 3+. Boys really played like their spots up for grabs - very polished

 

[fridgeman]

Great to get the 4 points first up and see some young players step up into there roles, Taylor was great and I am on the bandwagon for him, Daniels was unlucky not to get a goal but his pressure and speed was noticeable. Coniglio was mighty and for Hopper and Taranto to step up for fourth and third year mids was a great sign for the midfield having the depth for the season and the future. Surprised with Keefe and 3 goals but at his height he should be able to create problems for defenders and then TOJ had an ok game no costly turnovers and a great fist in the defensive 50 when he had Stringer (I think?) and special mention to MDB for his defensive game I noticed him on Merrett and I also think he spent time on Heppell and Shiel
I also think the bombers believed the hype the media has written about them but I am sure they will bounce back through the year and work out their game plan

 

[fridgeman]

Stolen from Twitter
Kms run by the teams, Bombers are f@#%$d

blues 292
tigers 288
suns 285
eagles 285
saints 281
cats 279
lions 279
pies 277
power 276
swans 275
dees 273
dogs 271
hawks 268
crows 266
giants 242
dons 147

 

[Brave New World]

Based upon a now somewhat infamous comment there are justified suggestions that 'Giants Stadium' be given the moniker of the 'graveyard'. At least for this week we might possibly defer, for a more apt variation, to the United States Air Force.

They have an aerodrome/base where they send their bombers which are no longer of any use, it is known colloquially as the 'boneyard'. The number there just increased today by about 22.

 

[Pres]

Simpson superb in ruck today and Delidio absolute sublime skills every time he got it.

 

[dewah07]

What role did tomilson play?

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

What role did tomilson play?

What role didn’t he play? Ruck, wing, defence and forward. (Though not a lot forward)

 

[Callums_Guns]

Will need to do a similar role this week, with Mumford another week away and Keefe possibly in doubt this week

 

[Pres]

That's one of the best games I've seen Tomlinson play. Might be a break out year

 

[dlanod]

Thoughts from after the game:

• Defense was fantastic. Taylor and Davis were rocks, and Finlayson had a good game long after I'd written him off as a defender. Essendon actually had a comparable inside 50 count (55-52) but we killed contest after contest, and only allowed six marks inside 50 all game. Williams tried to be a bit too clever at times but that's par for the course.
• Midfield was very good with both getting the ball and providing a level of pressure/zoning to lock the ball up on the wing. Disposal was sloppy for both teams.
• Our scoring was enhanced by haphazard Essendon defense. Not something we want to rely on. Balls getting over the back of a contest and midfielders sneaking forward both highlight lack of nous/defensive running, but at least we took advantage of it.
• Dawson isn't a long term solution, only playing 70% game time when we're playing Tomlinson as a very poor backup option. If we're going to play a single ruck we need someone able to stay on the field for 80%+ game time. Gawn and Grundy both got 86% this week by comparison.
• Anyone know where to get numbers to add to already owned guernseys? The eldest wants 6 on the back of her's as I'm sure everyone around us heard her on-going "spot Lachie" game. (I'm tempted to get 4 on the younger's, mainly because she plays dirty.)

 

[Teeso]

I think with HH and cameron being mobile talls leading out, it would be worthwhile leaving a really strong player like Keefe/resting ruck/Patton on return to just camp forward of the goal square. Might allow us to play mumford and simpson in the same team but not sure whether that would make the team too slow and tall. Lloyd and greene are both good marks as the small/medium forward and one can rotate to the midfield as required too. If we can isolate those 2 matchups on the rebound when we go forward, should at least give us a 50/50 chance of creating some kind of scoring opportunity. For the teams who have really good intercept markers (e.g.west coast), we must lower our eyes like we did against the bombers or we have to bomb it towards the boundary line to a contest and try get a ball up or throw in inside our forward 50 so our mids can win it from the contest to negate the likes of barass, mcgovern and hurn. With Langdon to return as well in a few rounds and Daniels seemingly in form and full of zip - the pressure forwards roles are really filling up. Would be interested to see if hill develops as a pressure forward, wingman (something i feel we lack depth in after loss of scully) or both. caruso really to thank for the revelations of taylor, langdon, daniels and bonar amongst others.

 

[gee whiz giant]

we killed contest after contest, and only allowed six marks inside 50 all game.

That really stood out for me too, it was great defensive aerial work from Taylor and Davis

 

[dlanod]

That really stood out for me too, it was great defensive aerial work from Taylor and Davis

Finlayson too - credit where credit is due, he had a timely fist at a number of times. Hopefully he can back it up and continue to prove me wrong given I was ready to see him traded or delisted late last year.

 

[Callums_Guns]

Kennedy, Darling this week and their crumbing FWD's and resting ruckman. Will take another complete team / 4qtr effort.

Bring it i say lets get the "W"s on the board while we are not full strength.

 

[Giant Strides]

I think dlanod said my thoughts pretty well. The defence was magnificent in dealing with the ball coming into the D50 - perhaps it wasn't the best quality ball, but often it's the shanked kick or fumble that snags a goal (and how they got some of their goals) - killing it off pretty quickly. All the defenders played great, but I'm really stoked with how composed Sam Taylor is for a 9-gamer. First quarter we struggled to move the ball out of D50 after conceding a behind; but did improve throughout the game - hopefully something we can continue next week.

The mids were great at the contest - I'll happily admit that they absolutely squashed my concerns in that aspect. However, they were poor in the clearances first quarter (down 4-13), but since they finished 36-40 the remainder of the match was 32-27. Some of their quick clearance and kick forward - especially the purple patch starting Q4 - was outstanding. Q1 they made up for it though with their tackling and pressure, causing plenty of turnovers to seize momentum, which was important. Cogs, Taranto, Hopper were all magnificent; MdB and Perryman played their roles well, and Lachie added the silk. Almost all went forward and either scored goals or should have.

The forwards were solid; Cameron slotting a couple of nice set shots 1 @ 50m & one at an angle plus two more ground balls was very pleasing. HH played really well around the ground and nailed his early short after pre-season inaccuracy. And Keeffe has to be congratulated for a really superb job playing deep forward after his leg injury. Best game we've seen for us.

All in all, very pleasing. But, I don't resile from some of my pre-game selection comments. I guess we'll see how the injury list shapes up during the week in respect of changes. If Perryman & Keeffe don't come up but Haynes & Kelly are ready to go, then probably a straight swap of those pair is likely.

 

[Determinant]

Keefe and Finlayson were standouts for different reasons.
Finlayson really stepped up on last year and looked significantly improved.
Keefe is a journeyman back, but may be a better forward, interesting to see how he is used when fit.

Tomlinson is a genuinely complete footballer, I love his game when he is allowed to roam.

 

[Drummond]

Finlayson too - credit where credit is due, he had a timely fist at a number of times. Hopefully he can back it up and continue to prove me wrong given I was ready to see him traded or delisted late last year.

Agreed on all fronts! He was perhaps the biggest surprise for me, his defensive work was outstanding. So many spoils and ones that actually set up forward plays. Hopefully it wasn’t a one off because if he can keep that up, the defence looks even stronger.

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

It’s good to know we didn’t win - Essendon lost.

Watching the footy shows the narrative has been...

Melbourne were bad but weren’t Port good?
Geez, North were terrible but Freo were really good.
West Coast had a shocker but Brisbane were great.
Essendon were woeful. Full stop. End of story.

First time I’ve ever seen a match recap where one team wasn’t even mentioned. They (on the couch) mentioned that the game took place in Sydney (the city got a mention) but in the entire breakdown of the game, they didn’t mention the word Giants or GWS once.

 

[Smartest Brain]

Hard to get many negatives out of the day

Dawson's, Keefe's, Daniel's best game

Backline pressure, rebounding, inside 50 pressure by the fwd's and the mid's just speak for themselves

Cant speak highly of the performance, great start to the season. With few players coming back into the line up till round 3+. Boys really played like their spots up for grabs - very polished

Taranto caused the second goal of Essendon . He gave up the run. Check the replay .

Besides that I did not notice much, pretty good game .

 

[Yoda_]

Well played guys. Came to play and turnt up to a training drill. What a pathetic piss weak effort from even some of our most experienced 'leaders' yesterday.

Put the blowtorch on and we crumbled under pressure. No stress losing to you guys away from home but the way we did it was deplorable and you guys are to be commended for it.

Clinical from you guys and the guys at the forefront of it are going to do some serious damage to plenty of teams this year.


fwiw, Stephen Coniglio is going to be a very god chance at the Chaos this year he is going THAT good.

Well done Giants

 

[Colonial]

It’s good to know we didn’t win - Essendon lost.

Watching the footy shows the narrative has been...

Melbourne were bad but weren’t Port good?
Geez, North were terrible but Freo were really good.
West Coast had a shocker but Brisbane were great.
Essendon were woeful. Full stop. End of story.

First time I’ve ever seen a match recap where one team wasn’t even mentioned. They (on the couch) mentioned that the game took place in Sydney (the city got a mention) but in the entire breakdown of the game, they didn’t mention the word Giants or GWS once.

Watched 360 when they went through the winners and they didn't seem to discuss us.
Just at the beginning they said how bad Essendon were.

Unless it was at the end of the program as I got fired up when they cut discussing the winners and went to the mrp discussion.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

[TDay]

Wiped the floor with us. Very smooth.

You should absolutely take the graveyard moniker and own it. We played like a bunch of corpses, but you guys buried us.
I reckon it's a great stadium nickname.

And I want our boys to remember that one with shame forever and never let it happen again.

 

[dlanod]

You should absolutely take the graveyard moniker and own it.

I agree. It's a lot more fun when these things happen organically.

It was good to see 15k+ in full voice though - Bombers supporters were great. Even what would be considered a small crowd at other grounds feels a lot bigger at our stadium. 12k seems to be about the breakeven on atmosphere. I've been to what was then Etihad with a crowd of 21k and you could hear a pin drop, it just felt cavernous (nothing on ANZ with 8k though).

 

[Vic pokiesmon]

Stolen from Twitter
Kms run by the teams, Bombers are f@#%$d

blues 292
tigers 288
suns 285
eagles 285
saints 281
cats 279
lions 279
pies 277
power 276
swans 275
dees 273
dogs 271
hawks 268
crows 266
giants 242
dons 147

This is an amazing stat!.Unbelievably bad for Essendon .Just shows though that we can't expect that from the opposition each week...I must admit pre game I was worried about our midfield run without Ward,Kelly and Shiel and was hoping Taranto continued his good pre season form.He allayed any fears and Hopper was really good as well...With Hopper being a bull , Taranto stepping up and kicking goals (that Shiel didnt),Coniglio being a bulldozer and the return of Cement head in a few weeks we shouldnt lose the contested ball stat very often.Kelly ,Whitfield and Williams give us the necessary outside polish...Reserving my complete excitement though until a few of the 2018 draft show there class at AFL level in the regular season(good signs with Hately and Caldwell in Pre season)..Interested to see this team kms stat for Weagles game.Hopefully we have an extra gear to beat the Eagles at home

 

[Giant Strides]

This is an amazing stat! Unbelievably bad for Essendon.

I've seen it stated elsewhere (although not specifically from the club or AFL House) that the Essendon GPS trackers failed, so it's not an accurate stat.