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Preview Gather Round: Essendon vs Melbourne, Adelaide Oval, Saturday 11/04/25, 1:15 AEST

Winner?

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eth-dog

eth-dog

Tier 1 WW Player
Essendon Player Sponsor 2026 - Archie Perkins and Nic Martin Las Vegas Bears - Sweet F.A. Essendon Player Sponsor 2025 - Archie Perkins and Nic Martin Werewolf - Town of Salem Sweet F.A. 300+ Games Played in the SFA Doctor Who's Tardis Essendon Player Sponsor 2024 - Archie Perkins and Nic Martin Veteran
Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Posts
129,164
Reaction score
88,668
Location
Melbourne
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Coburg Lions, All Boston sides
Last game:

Essendon: The bombers had a promising second half against the Western Bulldogs, it was looking ominous at half time but they kicked 8 goals to 3 in the second half. Archie Roberts had a career high 37 disposals, whilst Tom Edwards played his first game after an ACL with two goals and a goal assist.

Melbourne: The Dees had an excellent win against the previously undefeated Gold Coast, kicking 8 goals to 6 after half time to run out 20 point winners. Jack Steele had a very impressive game in the middle, racking up 26 disposals and 11 clearances whilst former don Jake Melksham kicked 4 in a very impressive game up front.


Head to head

Essendon 2-3 Melbourne


Form Guide (last 5):

Essendon: 0W 4L
Melbourne: 3W 1L


Possible sides

Essendon vs Melbourne

FB: Andrew McGrath - Ben McKay - Lachlan Blakiston
FF: Latrelle Pickett - Harrison Petty - Brody Mihocek
HB: Jordan Ridley - Zachary Reid - Jacob Farrow
HF: Kysaiah Pickett - Jacob van Rooyen - Jake Melksham
MF: Xavier Duursma - Jye Caldwell - Brayden Fiorini
MF: Koltyn Tholstrup - Jack Steele - Caleb Windsor
HF: Isaac Kako - Nate Caddy - Archer Day-Wicks
HB: Xavier Lindsay - Tom McDonald - Blake Howes
FF: Tom Edwards - Archer May - Jade Gresham
FB: Christian Salem - Daniel Turner - Jake Lever
OB: Peter Wright - Sam Durham - Zachary Merrett
OB: Max Gawn - Ed Langdon - Jai Culley
IC: Archie Roberts - Saad El-Hawli - Elijah Tsatas - Dyson Sharp - Zak Johnson
IC: Harry Sharp - Kade Chandler - Harvey Langford - Tom Sparrow - Bayley Fritsch

Essendon in: Elijah Tsatas, Nate Caddy, Dyson Sharp, Jordan Ridley, Brayden Fiorini; out: Darcy Parish, Kyle Langford, Matt Guelfi, Archie Perkins, Jaxon Prior
Melbourne in: Bayley Fritsch; out: Bailey Laurie


Melbourne defence vs Essendon forward line

Essendon have been better than expected inside 50 this season, kicking a goal 23.98% of the time it enters the forward 50, and scoring 47.95% of the time, 10th and 7th in those stats this season. Melbourne have conceded a goal 27.54% of the time it enters their defensive 50 and a score 51.21% of the time, 15th in both those stats.

Daniel Turner and Tom McDonald are likely to take young key forwards Archer May and Nate Caddy respectively, whilst Jake Lever is likely to try to zone off Tom Edwards as the medium, whilst Isaac Kako will try to get ahold of Christian Salem with his speed and agility inside 50.


Midfield/rucks battle

Essendon are 16th and 18th for contested possession and clearance difference so far this year, whilst Melbourne are 12th and 8th in those areas respectively so far in 2026.

The Bombers inside will be hoping that Jye Caldwell and Sam Durham can get back into the form they were in the first half of last year and that youngsters Dyson Sharp and Elijah Tsatas will maybe get their chance in the middle of the ground, the latter having dominated the VFL for a couple of years. Melbourne's inside stocks are weaker than previous years but Jack Steele has been a more than welcome addition inside, whilst Tom Sparrow and Kysaiah Pickett have also been strong inside. Rucks wise, Wright will be hoping to nullify the influence of Gawn after rucking well the previous game.

Western Bulldogs forward line vs Essendon defence

The Demons have kicked a goal 25.11% of the time it enters inside 50, and scored 44.26% of the time, 8th and 12th in those stats respectively. On the flipside Essendon concede a goal 28.87% of the time it enters defensive 50, and a score 53.02% of the time, 17th in both stats.

Melbourne will be hoping that Jacob van Rooyen and Brodie Mihocek will be able to outwork Ben McKay and Lachlan Blakiston in the key defensive stocks, whilst Kysaiah Pickett will be hoping to have a good game against Essendon captain Andrew McGrath, same with Bayley Fritsch on returning Jordan Ridley.


Key stat

Essendon: Clearances. Last in clearance difference. Absolutely needs to get their hands on the ball inside.

Melbourne: Defensive efficiency. If Essendon can score inside 50 at their rate, the Dees will be in trouble.


Tip

Demons to extend Essendon's losing streak to 18.
 
Last edited:
OUT: Parish, Perkins, Guelfi ADW, Reid (injued?)
IN: Sharp, Tsatas, Caddy, Cox, Ridley

Prior McKay McGrath
Langford Ridley Farrow
SEH Roberts Duursma
Durham Caddy Kako
2MP May Gresham

Blaki Caldwell Merrett

Bench: Sharp Tsatas Johnson Cox Edwards

But we all know Brad don't do mass changes...!!

Edit: Tsatas in instead of (Robey)
 
Last edited:
Melbourne have been generous to us.

Gave us what is now our last premiership in the best season by any club ever after we were mocked for losing the prelim
Gave us what is now our last finals win when they just slipped out of the top four
Gave us a 148 point win when the saga was fresh
Gave us our first win in 2016 when no one thought we'd win a game
Gave us trade value for Melksham without a fuss when Dodoro was running riot. Melksham has since repaid them back.
Gave us two comfortable gather round wins
Helped us secure Kako by giving us good value in points and giving us an F1. They also didn't bid on Kako
Finished 14th last year to give us a high pick when they could have finished a lot higher
Essentially gave us Farrow who is probably the best kick in our side

In our darkest times, Melbourne have never failed to show up for us.

Sorry to ask again, but we need another 100 bucks for petrol...
I mean another win to stop us from our biggest losing streak ever.
We'll pay you back some day.
 
Last edited:

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Totally uninformed opinion due to not watching either game and just looking at stats but.
Parish out. Tsatas in.
 
OUT: Parish, Perkins, Guelfi, Reid (inj?)
IN: Tsatas, Ridley, Sharp, Caddy

If Ridley can stay on the park for a while he and Farrow will be so good together.

Edit: Langford & Gresham lucky. Robey, El Achkar/Unwin coming for them.
 
Last edited:
This should be the easiest selections but we just know Brad won’t make the necessary changes.

In: Ridley, Tsatas, Caddy, Sharp, Fiorini
Out: Reid, Parish, Langford, Guelfi, Perkins

McGrath McKay Ridley
Roberts Blakiston Farrow
Duursma Tsatas Fiorini
Caldwell Caddy Gresham
Edwards May Kako
Wright Durham Merrett
Johnson ADW SEH Sharp Prior
 
My prediction is:
Ins: Ridley Caddy Fiorini
Outs: Reid (inj) Guelfi Perkins/El-Hawli

Number of talls are an issue but it should be OK as long as we play some of our talls down back eg Blakiston/Langford.

I don't reckon they'll bring in Tsatas or Sharp.
Tsatas - dominated in terms of winning ball at VFL level but his disposal annoys the crap out of me. Often when he gets the ball we end up worse off than if he never got it at all. There's a reason he kept getting the ball at half back with no one standing remotely close to him.... Put it this way if Parish played Tsatas' game in the VFL I don't think we'd be that excited.

Sharp - now that he's missed a few games I reckon they'll be conservative and let him build up in the VFL. Plus honestly the role that he's been playing at AFL level is actually better suited to Robey so it'll be interested to see what happens. I'd kind of like to see Sharp in a full game in the midfield at VFL level.
 
In: Ridley, Tsatas, Caddy
Out: Reid (managed), Langford, Perkins.
will need a shuffle, but Langford was already playing wing at some stages

Forward setup
Edwards May Kako
Guelfi Wright Caddy

See, that forward line doesn't look like it misses Perkins or Langford.
 
blitzer said:
My prediction is:
Ins: Ridley Caddy Fiorini
Outs: Reid (inj) Guelfi Perkins/El-Hawli

Number of talls are an issue but it should be OK as long as we play some of our talls down back eg Blakiston/Langford.

I don't reckon they'll bring in Tsatas or Sharp.
Tsatas - dominated in terms of winning ball at VFL level but his disposal annoys the crap out of me. Often when he gets the ball we end up worse off than if he never got it at all. There's a reason he kept getting the ball at half back with no one standing remotely close to him.... Put it this way if Parish played Tsatas' game in the VFL I don't think we'd be that excited.

Sharp - now that he's missed a few games I reckon they'll be conservative and let him build up in the VFL. Plus honestly the role that he's been playing at AFL level is actually better suited to Robey so it'll be interested to see what happens. I'd kind of like to see Sharp in a full game in the midfield at VFL level.
Click to expand...
There’s no vfl next weekend btw
 
BomberTime said:
This should be the easiest selections but we just know Brad won’t make the necessary changes.

In: Ridley, Tsatas, Caddy, Sharp, Fiorini
Out: Reid, Parish, Langford, Guelfi, Perkins

McGrath McKay Ridley
Roberts Blakiston Farrow
Duursma Tsatas Fiorini
Caldwell Caddy Gresham
Edwards May Kako
Wright Durham Merrett
Johnson ADW SEH Sharp Prior
Click to expand...
This team is pretty spot on for me.


Did SEH get injured? If so I’d bring in unwin
 
BomberTime said:
This should be the easiest selections but we just know Brad won’t make the necessary changes.

In: Ridley, Tsatas, Caddy, Sharp, Fiorini
Out: Reid, Parish, Langford, Guelfi, Perkins

McGrath McKay Ridley
Roberts Blakiston Farrow
Duursma Tsatas Fiorini
Caldwell Caddy Gresham
Edwards May Kako
Wright Durham Merrett
Johnson ADW SEH Sharp Prior
Click to expand...

This x 1000
 

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What I would like to see:

In: Caddy,Sharp, Tsatas, Nguyen.
Out: Perkins, Langford, Guefli, Parish.


What will happen:
In: Caddy
Out:May

Melbourne look good only get smacked at Freo.
Generally we match up ok against them but they will win.

I just hope we can compete for closer to 4 quarters.
 
JayJ20 said:
Melbourne have been generous to us.

Gave us what is now our last premiership in the best season by any club ever after we were mocked for losing the prelim
Gave us what is now our last finals win when they just slipped out of the top four
Gave us a 148 point win when the saga was fresh
Gave us our first win in 2016 when no one thought we'd win a game
Gave us trade value for Melksham without a fuss when Dodoro was running riot. Melksham has since repaid them back.
Gave us two comfortable gather round wins
Helped us secure Kako by giving us good value in points and giving us an F1. They also didn't bid on Kako
Finished 14th last year to give us a high pick when they could have finished a lot higher
Essentially gave us Farrow who is probably the best kick in our side

In our darkest times, Melbourne have never failed to show up for us.

Sorry to ask again, but we need another 100 bucks for petrol...
I mean another win to stop us from our biggest losing streak ever.
We'll pay you back some day.
Click to expand...
We gave them a win under Mark Neeld, so probably even.
 
Reid news

Ridley - Z.Reid - Mckay
ZakJo - Prior - A.Roberts (Nguyen) (Farrow)

Duursma - Durham - Fiorini (Perkins)
2MP - Caldwell - Mcgrath (DSharp) (Tsatas)

Zerrett - Kako - ADW (A.May)
Langford - Caddy - T.Edwards


May have forgotten someone obvious
Out:
DP3
Guelfi
SEH
GRESHAM
Ect

No Robey.... just yet

I doubt Scott makes these changes, but id like this to occur
 

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When is Nick Bryan in our 1s side Rucking with 2m as secondary?
Blakiston as a Back (potentially our best backman Tall/mobile as)
when is Perkins getting the arse and Jones getting a go?
(so over his cameo autograph signing sweet f/a posessions.)
(jones was what trialed as winger... means he has the tank of a marathon runner. Tall Defensive half forward would be perfect no?)
 
are there any Adelaideans on here going to the pre-game event with the players at Unley Oval on the Friday? I press-ganged my 6yo son into going with me - I mean, my 6yo son can’t wait to go and keeps talking about it 🥰
 
Realistically, we’re probably only making two changes. There are more that could be made, but the trend’s been pretty clear & trend is your friend here.

IN: Caddy & Ridley
OUT: Reid (managed) & SEH

If Fiorini’s fit, he’s a chance to come in as well. I’d give Sharp another week & load him up with a solid training block with no VFL this week.
 

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