Preview Round 2, 2019: Essendon v St.Kilda - Marvel Stadium, Saturday 30th March, 4:35PM AEDT

[StCicatriz]

Dons are vulnerable on the contested side. You beat them by grinding them down in the center then moving it quickly from there.

 

[The Enemy Within]

Essendon's fitness boss resigned last night also.

 

[Yawkey way]

100% you could and you would get spread. Acres is the closest thing we have to a Fyfe or Cripps. Let’s see what we actually have in Acres the bonafide midfielder.

I like Acres extra height and marking power as well, we have a few too many guys who are useless in a contested situation overhead.

The inclusion of Marshall and Acres just balances things out a bit in that respect plus you have increased mobility and versatility with Marshall and better spread with Acres. The only other change I’d make would be Brown in for Joyce, Mckernan can be dangerous on his day and I’m not keen to see a repeat of the free kicks Wright received.

 

[The_Steadier]

Essendon's fitness boss resigned last night also.

He probably did something silly like kept some paperwork.

Jumped before he was pushed

 

[Browny2Carlisle]

We need Marshall in. Rare to have a ruckman finding as much of the ball as he does. We might lose the hit outs but we will have an extra player around the ground.
Acres in for his linebreaking ability and marking. Clark possibly in for his class and because he is the future.
I'm happy to potentially have slightly less clearances due to not having Dunstan because half of his end up as a turnover anyway.

 

[Joffaboy]

And yet he was the only player who backed himself to take the game on and break lines...... pros and cons. But he is a gun Mid and looked like he was on his way to being his best

Yes a good outside mid. You want your inside mids tackling, getting CP's, clearances and making desperate contests at the end of the game putting your body on the line when your team is one point up with 30 seconds left on the clock.

I am not adverse to replacing Dunstan but would like someone who can get his inside numbers.
Clark and Acres aren't it.
Also a bit sick of the abuse of a Saints player (not you BTW stav). Calling Dunstan putrid after he hurt his shoulder in a desperate challenge at the end of the game is appalling.
The guy is no champ, but the insults he cops from people who wouldn't have half his heart or courage is pretty disgusting in my view.

 

[tim_saints]

With Marshall I keep coming back to a couple of things.

I see people worried about his frame etc for the ruck contest, he is so athletic for his size, he may not have pierces size or bulk but what he can do is similar to Bruce and impact the centre bounces and what have you with his vertical leap rather than just being a big lumbering plodder.

I also think what he may lack slightly in the tight stuff he will more than make up for around the ground. He’s nowhere near the player of Brodie Grundy but he has like the ability to get that much of the ball and has a pretty good tank.

Now as I said he isn’t Grundy but he is in that mould more than say a Witts, Bellchambers, Jacobs type player.

He’s worth persisting with, really think the game at the moment suits someone like Marshall way more than it does. Pierce type.

 

[Joffaboy]

100% you could and you would get spread. Acres is the closest thing we have to a Fyfe or Cripps. Let’s see what we actually have in Acres the bonafide midfielder.

Acres is a liability, confuses the players with his whacky decisions and is not an inside mids bootlaces.

Recipe for disaster. Equating Acres to Fyfe or Cripps is laughable. More midfield Jack Watts, but not as skillful.

 

[hayes]

OK so we had the claim earlier that ( i'll tone it down ) , the Saints are relatively fit.
We have information that maybe Essendon are not so fit at the moment.

I'm thinking that if "any" of the marginal players pull up sore after this weekend, we should bring in relatively fresh legs, focusing on those with good tanks.

Marshall , Acres, Hind, Young , Clark Brown, Phillips in the mix.

Try to play high intensity and run the bastards off their feet.

From the weekend.
Most disposals. Billings , Ross, Steven , Newnes , Lonie, Steele :: Least Pierce , Kent , Wilke , Membrey Long.
Contested possessions: Steven, Dunstan, McKenzie , Ross, Steele, Joyce, Long ,Parker , Bruce ::Least Savage Membrey Kent Ross Newnes.
Disposal Efficiency : Wilkie, McKenzie, Battle, Newnes , Billings. :: Worst Dunstan , Sinclair , Pierce, Kent ( all 50% -- Pierce 6 disposals all contested ).
Clangers :: Joyce, Kent , Parker , Bruce , Long.
Marks :: Membrey , Battle , Lonie, Savage, Steele , Parker. :: Pierce the only player without a Mark.
Contested Marks :: Battle, Bruce , Wilke , Steven, McKenzie , Geary ,Long ( No-one else took one ).
Marks inside 50 :: Membrey , Lonie, Kent , Bruce.
Hitouts : Pierce 27, Bruce 6
Clearances : Steven, Gresham , Dunstan, Steele , Long, Sinclair Least::
Centre Clearances : Steven, Ross then nine single clearances.
Stoppages, : Gresham , Dunstan , Steven , Steele
Rebounds:: Newnes, McKenzie , Savage ,Ross. Wilkie, Geary , Webster.
Free kicks awarded : Steven, Geary , Parker
Free kicks away. :: Joyce , Bruce , Lonie.
Tackles: Steele, Dunstan, McKenzie , Long , Newnes. :: Least Ross, Savage, Battle, Webster , Billings.
1% ers Joyce, Wilkie, Webster, Battle , McKenzie.
Inside 50's , Newnes , Ross , Parker, Steven , Lonie, Sinclair.
Goal Assists, Newnes and Parker 2 each.

Time on ground
Best :: Joyce 94.7, Savage 94, Steele 90.9, Billings 90.5
Worst :: Kent 63.5 , Steven 70.9, Dunstan 71.8, Long 72.3, Gresham 72.9

Joyce: Did a great job, thrown into the hot seat he earned plenty of respect and has a bright future. But for now, we can't afford to have the clangers, and the free kicks away. I want Brown in against Essendon.
Pierce. 6 disposals at 50% effectiveness. No Marks. Got about 3 hitouts per 1/4 more than Bruce would have on his own. Marshall will do more.
Kent: Took time on the bench from those who were doing the bulk of the work, 50% disposal of a low total. Young in or bring Battle forward.

Ross seemed to be playing a very outside roll. Not sure why. Maybe we put him back in the guts , bring in Hind and drop Dunstan.( 50% disposal ...)
Not sold on Savage, doesn't win contested ball, Wilkie is above him in the pecking order for the roll he plays in my book. ( with Wilkie able to cover for a tall ).
Sinclair is a hard one to me. He was doing a lot right but messing up the disposal. Do we give him a chance to do better or bring in Phillips?

If you’re concerned about disposal you can’t bring Phillips in.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

If you’re concerned about disposal you can’t bring Phillips in.

71% seems a lot better than 50%.

 

[RetroRandy66]

What should happen.
OUT:
McKenzie, Kent, Dunstan, Pierce
IN:
Brown, Clark, Acres, Marshall
- Move things around. Free savage better, get webster on the wing, Wilkie/Joyce swap interceptor/negator role. Brown the man down back
- Sort out the mid. Get some skill in there with gresh, clark and billings.
- forwards get acres to help membrey as a moving target. Lonie/Parker/Long roam.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN
NOTHING.
because of ONE good effort. Dunstan stays in slowing us down against the fastest team in the league.
NO change. maybe brown for Joyce which would be horrendous.
- Will continue wasting billings getting cheap lossies in positions where it means nothing. Wont free up savage. will keep webster a negator down back.

Bloody richo.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

I still think omitting Dunstan would leave us vulnerable in the middle to win the contested ball, which is an area we can hurt the Dons.

That was one of the most outside games i've ever seen Ross play.
If we put him back in the guts and bring in Clark we've covered what Dunstan did. Gresham seems to be a better inside mid than Dunstan.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Shiel got a massive 18 contested possessions on the weekend.

I hope we put Steele on him in the tagging type role.
Apart from its effectiveness it might tongue tie some of the commentators.

 

[Crusty Undies]

Acres is a liability, confuses the players with his whacky decisions and is not an inside mids bootlaces.

Recipe for disaster. Equating Acres to Fyfe or Cripps is laughable. More midfield Jack Watts, but not as skillful.

We cant have been watching the same games for the first 8 rounds of last year when Acres was on track for a club bnf.

 

[bird_man]

We need Marshall in. Rare to have a ruckman finding as much of the ball as he does. We might lose the hit outs but we will have an extra player around the ground.
Acres in for his linebreaking ability and marking. Clark possibly in for his class and because he is the future.
I'm happy to potentially have slightly less clearances due to not having Dunstan because half of his end up as a turnover anyway.

Dunstan only had 2 turnovers on Sunday. There were only 3 or players on our team with less. Most had between 4 and 7. Steele only had the one.

 

[Big 0]

We cant have been watching the same games for the first 8 rounds of last year when Acres was on track for a club bnf.

He's the one who we really need to get it right. Breaks lines with run and always lowers the eyes

 

[hayes]

71% seems a lot better than 50%.

Geary went at 72% does that make him a better user than Sinclair as well.

Sinclair does this weird thing where he actually tries to hit a target. He stuffed up some left foot kicks that not many on our team would even attempt, if he just bombed the ball 40m long and 50m high his DE would be higher and there’d be no talk about dropping him. It really is an awful stat.

 

[Saintbloke]

Still work to do with team selection- we did after all just scrape home by a point against a lowly team with two of their better players on one leg, and some of their inexperienced players playing top footy. Might be a few more games before we get the balance right.

 

[bird_man]

You'd think a few heads will role at the selection table for the Dons this week. Wouldn't be at all surprised if Merret was given a spell after his effort on the weekend.

 

[Winmar2Lockett]

Dunstan didnt have a shocker.

I beg to differ.

We were one short in the midfield whenever the GC got the ball... Dunstan may have got 13 contested possessions but was an absolute liability when they were rebounding the ball or getting it out of a stoppage.

I watched him closely a number of times when the Suns were transitioning the ball and he barely got out of a jog. No physical pressure, no intent, no chase and tackle.

Dunstan looked like a bloke who had done absolutely zero preseason, sucking in air after a token jog after a player... not a player now in his 6th year with a number of summers under his belt.

 

[cooperrules]

I still think omitting Dunstan would leave us vulnerable in the middle to win the contested ball, which is an area we can hurt the Dons.

We know what spook gives us. Time to find out if acres can be a bonafide star. Its time to find out.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

You'd think a few heads will role at the selection table for the Dons this week. Wouldn't be at all surprised if Merret was given a spell after his effort on the weekend.

Well if i rightly or wrongly look at that disposal efficiency stat , and i thought 50% was bad.
Bellchambers had 7 disposals at 14% ( that's one good one ).
McKernan had 5 at 20% ( one good one )
Fantasia had 9 at 44% ( 4 good ones )

 

[The_Snake26]

I have 3 tix available on level 1 half forward flank (im 99% sure it’s aisle 8 row R) if anyone is looking for some. Purchased through my AFL membership. Unfortunately can’t go anymore (the club will benefit by having an extra member signed up )
I only want reimbursement of the cost price which was $30 ($10 per ticket)
Inbox me if you want

 

[StCicatriz]

Essendon's fitness boss resigned last night also.

is this confirmed?

 

[VDS66]

We know what spook gives us. Time to find out if acres can be a bonafide star. Its time to find out.

Did he start in the square for Sandy?

Genuine question.