Yeah I don't think our coaches and players will have any excuses if they don't put on a good showing against a team, that although better than their ladder position, still isn't that good. Both teams have some key players out. No excuses for not having vastly improved pressure than the past two weeks - especially if Switta and Cerra are back in.
Last year in Round 1 we lost the game by waiting until the final quarter to apply satisfactory pressure against Essendon @ Marvel. We had 15 of our 33 tackles in the last quarter and we lost by a goal after kicking 4 goals to 1 in the 4th. Sturt kicked our last two goals of the game, Brayshaw missed a sitter, and we stuffed around with the ball outside our 50 in the last minute of the game.
Even without Ryan our decimated backline should be capable of negating Essendon's forward line better than they did against WC and Brisbane's. Although Conca needs to not let Tippa get off the leash or he will punish us. Same goes for Merrett (13 i50s last week) and McGrath (12 clearances last week) in the midfield. GWS almost lost the game at the end last week by not being accountable on Essendon's key players.
