Changes vs Geelong

[yaco55]

OUT: Lovett Murray (Sus)
IN: Hurley

Leave Jetta. Give him another 3 weeks. Was really impressed with his work rate and effort last night, as well as his chasing that could only be admired from being at the game. The amount of situations he got to was sensational and he got himself in the right positions, he just appeared to lack confidence in himself, resulting in a few rushed handballs and a few fumbles. Had he not fumbled last night, had he been a bit more calm, he would've been very very good last night, and i think a confident Jetta will eventually reduce his amount of fumbling. Give him his chance.

Laycock i think will eventually take Bellchambers spot, but not this week, maybe next. Make Laycock earn his spot (Even though it appears he played well today) and really make him work hard.

Lucas for Neagle, no, one of Neagle's lesser games last night, and yet he still contributed more than Lucas was when he was playing. Neagle is the future, is very promising, and whatsmore is still playing better footy than Lucas. Don't suggest playing all 3 as 3 slow forwards will get towelled up by Geelong.

McVeigh, didn't see the Bendigo game, but mustn't be ready, if he's not getting in the best at Bendigo, thats not the McVeigh that we know, don't bring him back until he's absolutely right.

Prismall is border line this week, a chance, but i'm not too sure who you leave out. Maybe 1 more week for him with Bendigo, no need to rush him back just because it's his old club.

It is funny how people see games.

Yes, Lucas has been struggling ( big time ) but he was the leading taker of marks at the time of his ommission.

 

[yaco55]

It has to be Pears. You need Pears to go with Johnson in the air. I wouldn't have thought that Johnson would be that much quicker either.

Agree

 

[daffo]

Was pretty good last night - 100% efficiency.

First off, Houli shouldn't be dropped he played decent. 100% efficiency is quite misleading. Watch the game again, there were 5 or so long kicks to contests which either were turned over or went out of play, when there were better options around him.

Out : NLM, Longergan
In : Hurley, McVeigh

 

[james_omahoney]

First off, Houli shouldn't be dropped he played decent. 100% efficiency is quite misleading. Watch the game again, there were 5 or so long kicks to contests which either were turned over or went out of play, when there were better options around him.

Out : NLM, Longergan
In : Hurley, McVeigh

Yeah I'm not sure where they got that stat from. Definitely caused some turnovers.

 

[Mad Bomber Sean]

If Dempsey is ok, who thinks he could play on Stevie J ?
Pears & Hooker can swap between Hawkins & Mooney
Who plays on Stokes ? ( not Slatts - too quick for him)

NLM is a big loss this week especially against the size/speed of the Cats.

 

[half time raffle]

Hooker for Hawkins, Hurley for Mooney, Pears for Johnson. Although it wouldn't surprise me if they tried slattery on Johnson - i hope not tho! I'd say houli might be the best choice for stokes.

Hocking for Ablett seems a reasonable match up

I think Essendon are a realistic chance this week, need to start well

 

[Mad Bomber Sean]

Pears on Stevie J eh ? Not sure how that would work..

Hooker for Hawkins, Hurley for Mooney - who comes out if NLM & Dempsey are good to go ?
Houli on Stokes - I like that match up..
Hocking on Ablett works for me too.

 

[half time raffle]

Johnson is 189cm and 87kg and Pears is 191cm and 91kg, pretty handy match up physically and i think at the moment he is our closest checking player with his real strength being his one on one contests. Johnson is Geelongs most dangerous forward so you give him the best defender and at the moment i think that is Pears

 

[Thrust]

Would have loved Mcveigh to go to Steve Johnson but it looks like he won't be back this week.

 

[Knight Ryders]

Pears on Stevie J eh ? Not sure how that would work..

Hooker for Hawkins, Hurley for Mooney - who comes out if NLM & Dempsey are good to go ?
Houli on Stokes - I like that match up..
Hocking on Ablett works for me too.

I wouldn't tag Ablett because it doesn't seem to matter if you tag him or not. What you need to do with Ablett is have a team strategy to correl him and try to stop him running forward with the football. I'd put Hocking to Bartel and try to get a Watson/Corey match-up, but I'm pretty sure they will give Watson a hard tag from Ling.

Johnson will be way to elusive for Pears. I think Knights will give the job to McPhee or NLM (if he plays) who I would have thought both don't have the footy nous to play on him. I'd start McPhee and see how he goes.

 

[james_omahoney]

Johnson is 189cm and 87kg and Pears is 191cm and 91kg, pretty handy match up physically and i think at the moment he is our closest checking player with his real strength being his one on one contests. Johnson is Geelongs most dangerous forward so you give him the best defender and at the moment i think that is Pears

Johnson's biggest asset is his workrate and ability to find space. I've no idea how Pears would go on a roaming half forward. I would like to see Hooker have a crack but Pears could be plan B. Thoughts?

 

[Boucks09]

Sometimes people should think about what they are posting before they type it. I've never seen some many ridiculous comments as some of those in this thread.

Lets face facts people; we are playing the top side in the competition this week who have two very strong assets.

1). A great midfield
2). A great backline who provides exceptional rebound

Those two points alone make the comments about dropping Jetta absolutely ridiculous. Yes Leroy lacked confidence but that is because he is probably the only player in our team that is playing for his spot every week. Nobody else has been in and out as much as Leroy. He needs to be left in the side and given the chance to perform over a sustained period. It's no surprise that Alywn had his best game of the year because Leroy was with him.

If we drop Jetta we lose 5 goals this week. The Geelong defense will simply zone off and run amuck with only Alwyn providing forwardline pressure (Monfries and Zaharakis are more lead up players).

The calls for Lucas are also silly. Why would we bring in an out of form player who provides no forward pressure and no second efforts against the best defense in the comp? The Bulldogs showed on Friday night that you must have a mobile forward line to beat Geelong. Hardly surprising that it was Johnson and Akermanis who were the leading goalkickers for them. I see Zaharakis/Monfries as being more dangerous than a Lloyd/Lucas combination this week.

Neagle should be kept because along with Lloyd he is actually capable of taking a strong contested mark. Of his 4 possies on Saturday, he took 2 contested marks. He was used as a decoy IMHO. He will get better and plays well at the Dome. He will also take a strong defender and force them to be accountable, but in comparison to Lucas will also provide second efforts and chase. He can also kick 3-4 goals from very few opportunities.

McVeigh won't play. You can bookmark that. The match committee (and Mark) got it spot on by bringing him back through Bendigo. He played 60mins and had minimal impact in the 2's. He would be no better than any of our other midfielders at the moment due to his lack of fitness and touch - regardless of his obvious class. He needs another week in the 2's.

Prismall will also need another 2 weeks. Prescott said as much on BomberTV today. Yesterday was his first full game since his injury. Very promising signs though.

Ditto Reimers.

Skipworth is a chance to play as he is the one player that has only missed 4 weeks of football and did a complete preseason. I think he should be brought in as a hard bodied midfielder at the expense of Lonergan. Sammy is struggling and making poor decisions when running the ball. He needs to get some more of the ball and currently he can only do that at Bendigo.

McPhee will play, from all reports he is fine.

Dempsey is also a strong chance. However we need to be careful with him given his history with injuries and obvious importance to the team. However if he is fit he should play. If not then we bring in Myers and free up Houli.

Laycock is the interesting one. He is severly underdone but would he provide more than Bellchambers? It is so very tempting but I think we will err on the side of caution and give him a few more games in the 2's. Atleast Tommy is providing a contest in the ruck, which is what we need. Blake and Mumford are not the sorts of players to hurt you around the ground so he will probably keep his spot.

If we were to make a change down back I would go with Darcy over Hurley at this stage. Apparently Darcy went back yesterday and did a great job in the 2nd half, whilst Hurley struggled. I also think Darcy provides more flexibilty on the types of forwards he could play on (e.g. Rooke, Johnson). However he will only come in if Nat Rat gets suspended which I hope doesn't happen.

Changes:

Outs: Lonergan
Ins: Skipworth

 

[efcboy]

ok my changes are based on defensive and forward matchups as well as fitness. against geelong we cannot afford to carry any passengers and need blokes who will run out 4 qtrs strongly - with this in mind i don't think any of laycock, mcveigh, reimers, prismall will be fit enough yet.

Selection criteria A (defensive matchups on forwards):

M.Stokes - H.Slattery looks a decent matchup (Houli next choice).

Hawkins - Pears to stay at full back on hawkins in the absence of the injured hurley.

S.Johnson - Daniher to have first crack - has the pace to more than match him, the height and it will be interesting to see how his endurance goes. Other options Pears, Hooker, Dempsey, McPhee.

Ablett - Hocking, our main tagger will surely go to ablett.

Mooney - Hooker looks a perfect matchup size wise and endurance wise as Mooney does cover a bit of ground.

Kelly/Varcoe - against the 6th forward Dempsey takes the role should he play.

Selection Criteria B (midfield matchups):

Selwood - Lonergan - can hit him hard and stay close at the clearances.
Bartel - Watson
Corey - Stanton
Enright - Lovett
Ryder - Blake (i like this matchup - paddy should kill him around the ground)

Selection Criteria C (forwards): with geelong's strength in key positions with Scarlett, Harley, Taylor and Milburn then I believe it would play into Geelongs hands by playing either of Lucas or Neagle - both would be beaten overhead by these opponents and are poor when the ball hits the ground. With this in mind i'd put McPhee up forward instead with Lloyd leading out of the square.

Davey - Wojcinski
Lloyd - Scarlett
Monfries - Milburn
McPhee - Harley
Zaharakis - Mackie
Jetta - Rooke or Kelly.

I wasn't really happy with Jetta's skills/efforts against richmond but if we start with a quick forwardline Geelong might be top heavy and slow in that area. This is one way we could beat them - under this setup there is no match up for harry taylor. So for the sake of playing to our strengths i'd give Jetta another week.

So i'd see the essendon lineup looking like:

B: H.Slattery, Pears, Daniher
HB: Dempsey, Hooker, Hocking
C: Stanton, Watson, Lovett
HF: Monfries, McPhee, Zaharakis
F: Davey, Lloyd, Jetta
Foll: Ryder, Lonergan, Winderlich
Int: Bellchambers, Houli, Dyson, Skipworth

In: Daniher, Skipworth
Out: Lovett-Murray (susp), Neagle


If Dempsey doesn't come up then either of Myers or Nash takes his place off half-back.

 

[Boucks09]

...
Selection Criteria C (forwards): with geelong's strength in key positions with Scarlett, Harley, Taylor and Milburn then I believe it would play into Geelongs hands by playing either of Lucas or Neagle - both would be beaten overhead by these opponents and are poor when the ball hits the ground. With this in mind i'd put McPhee up forward instead with Lloyd leading out of the square.....

I agree with your idea of moving McPhee forward. I thought it was a really good option last week but that decided to leave him back. I don't know whether Knighta is going to move McPhee until Fletcher comes back into the side. It seems that he is reluctant to having no senior players in the backline and I can't see that changing against Geelong.

I also think that Daniher could be a better 'in' than Hurley. Darcy played on Hawkins earlier this year in the VFL and apparently did a good job until the last quarter. I'm not sure Knighta would want to bring Hurley back against such as strong opponent.

 

[efcboy]

I agree with your idea of moving McPhee forward. I thought it was a really good option last week but that decided to leave him back. I don't know whether Knighta is going to move McPhee until Fletcher comes back into the side. It seems that he is reluctant to having no senior players in the backline and I can't see that changing against Geelong.

I also think that Daniher could be a better 'in' than Hurley. Darcy played on Hawkins earlier this year in the VFL and apparently did a good job until the last quarter. I'm not sure Knighta would want to bring Hurley back against such as strong opponent.

i could see daniher as an option to play on s.johnson - there is merit in that which would leave pears/hooker for hawkins/mooney. either way i'd want daniher or hurley in with mcphee going forward.

 

[Mad Bomber Sean]

I would like to see Jetta on Rooke as I think this could really work for us - provided Jetta works his butt off.

I am not so sure about Slatts on Stokes though, I would like Atkinson to play on him ( in the side for NLM). I would play Slatts on Kelly.

 

[Boucks09]

I would like to see Jetta on Rooke as I think this could really work for us - provided Jetta works his butt off.

I am not so sure about Slatts on Stokes though, I would like Atkinson to play on him ( in the side for NLM). I would play Slatts on Kelly.

Rooke plays in Geelong's forward line.

 

[Super Gusto]

Sometimes people should think about what they are posting before they type it. I've never seen some many ridiculous comments as some of those in this thread.

Lets face facts people; we are playing the top side in the competition this week who have two very strong assets.

1). A great midfield
2). A great backline who provides exceptional rebound

Those two points alone make the comments about dropping Jetta absolutely ridiculous. Yes Leroy lacked confidence but that is because he is probably the only player in our team that is playing for his spot every week. Nobody else has been in and out as much as Leroy. He needs to be left in the side and given the chance to perform over a sustained period. It's no surprise that Alywn had his best game of the year because Leroy was with him.

If we drop Jetta we lose 5 goals this week. The Geelong defense will simply zone off and run amuck with only Alwyn providing forwardline pressure (Monfries and Zaharakis are more lead up players).

The calls for Lucas are also silly. Why would we bring in an out of form player who provides no forward pressure and no second efforts against the best defense in the comp? The Bulldogs showed on Friday night that you must have a mobile forward line to beat Geelong. Hardly surprising that it was Johnson and Akermanis who were the leading goalkickers for them. I see Zaharakis/Monfries as being more dangerous than a Lloyd/Lucas combination this week.

Neagle should be kept because along with Lloyd he is actually capable of taking a strong contested mark. Of his 4 possies on Saturday, he took 2 contested marks. He was used as a decoy IMHO. He will get better and plays well at the Dome. He will also take a strong defender and force them to be accountable, but in comparison to Lucas will also provide second efforts and chase. He can also kick 3-4 goals from very few opportunities.

McVeigh won't play. You can bookmark that. The match committee (and Mark) got it spot on by bringing him back through Bendigo. He played 60mins and had minimal impact in the 2's. He would be no better than any of our other midfielders at the moment due to his lack of fitness and touch - regardless of his obvious class. He needs another week in the 2's.

Prismall will also need another 2 weeks. Prescott said as much on BomberTV today. Yesterday was his first full game since his injury. Very promising signs though.

Ditto Reimers.

Skipworth is a chance to play as he is the one player that has only missed 4 weeks of football and did a complete preseason. I think he should be brought in as a hard bodied midfielder at the expense of Lonergan. Sammy is struggling and making poor decisions when running the ball. He needs to get some more of the ball and currently he can only do that at Bendigo.

McPhee will play, from all reports he is fine.

Dempsey is also a strong chance. However we need to be careful with him given his history with injuries and obvious importance to the team. However if he is fit he should play. If not then we bring in Myers and free up Houli.

Laycock is the interesting one. He is severly underdone but would he provide more than Bellchambers? It is so very tempting but I think we will err on the side of caution and give him a few more games in the 2's. Atleast Tommy is providing a contest in the ruck, which is what we need. Blake and Mumford are not the sorts of players to hurt you around the ground so he will probably keep his spot.

If we were to make a change down back I would go with Darcy over Hurley at this stage. Apparently Darcy went back yesterday and did a great job in the 2nd half, whilst Hurley struggled. I also think Darcy provides more flexibilty on the types of forwards he could play on (e.g. Rooke, Johnson). However he will only come in if Nat Rat gets suspended which I hope doesn't happen.

Changes:

Outs: Lonergan
Ins: Skipworth

Probably the smartest comments so far. The only way we will beat Geelong is with our pace and by making Geelong accountable. Therefore we need to keep Jetta in the team.

Unfortunatly McVeigh, Reimars and Laycock need more of a run at Bendigo and shouldn;t be considered just yet.

Prismall is a slight chance but unless his fitness is 100% he will play a couple more weeks at Bendigo.

Outs: Lovett Murray (susp) Dempsey (Inj)
Ins: Hurley, Skipworth

 

[Super Gusto]

Just heard on SEN that Dempsey has been reported for rough conduct. Hopefully this will be just a fine.

Nothing on Lovett-Murray yet though.

 

[Phat Toni]

Probably the smartest comments so far. The only way we will beat Geelong is with our pace and by making Geelong accountable. Therefore we need to keep Jetta in the team.

Unfortunatly McVeigh, Reimars and Laycock need more of a run at Bendigo and shouldn;t be considered just yet.

Prismall is a slight chance but unless his fitness is 100% he will play a couple more weeks at Bendigo.

Outs: Lovett Murray (susp) Dempsey (Inj)
Ins: Hurley, Skipworth

dont think Hurley will be an in.

Michael Hurley
Wrist
TBC
Michael will undergo a surgical review this week after fracturing his scaphoid in the VFL.

 

[james_omahoney]

dont think Hurley will be an in.

Michael Hurley
Wrist
TBC
Michael will undergo a surgical review this week after fracturing his scaphoid in the VFL.

 

[efcboy]

Rooke plays in Geelong's forward line.

rooke is not a permanent fixture anywhere for the cats - depending on matchups he plays forward, defence and midfield on occasions. If essendon go small up forward then rooke could easily end up down back.

 

[Kaiser Powser]

Will redo my changes based on VFL form and Hurley's injury.

I think Laycock showing form in the VFL, despite it being only 60mins, will be enough to see him get the nod. As an interchange ruck, 60-70 mins should be enough.

McVeigh should be in, so long as he is fit, enough, the fact that he didn't dominate VFL is irrelevant, he has far too many runs on the board. Who goes out for him, probably depends on the role he plays. If it is forward, maybe Jetta, if it is back maybe Dempsey (only if injured). I will assume midfield and therefor either Dyson or Lonergan. Do we want the extra run or the more physical body, tough call. Based on the doggies stretching the cats at the death, I think we may go for the extra run and keep Dyson.

Just my opinion, obviously could be many more options with Reimers, Skipworth and Prismall all completing the VFL game.

Outs: Bellchambers, Lonergan

Ins: Laycock, McVeigh

 

[Ninty]

IN: Prismall

!!! I really want to see him play again.

 

[Sealz]

I think the calls for Lonergans head are a bit harsh… Sure he hasn’t been racking up massive numbers but he’s always doing the team things that go unnoticed… he’s hard at the ball… not afraid to get at the bottom of the pack and is quite capable of kicking goals if up forward… one of the better set shots in the team…

I hope they stick with Jetta for a few games…. I think the kid is feeling the pressure of playing for his spot every week… needs an extended run… offensive pressure is good and frees up Davey…

I reckon Lovett-Murray will get a week or two….

Out: Lovett-Murray, Bellchambers
In: Mcviegh/Skipworth, Laycock

I know Laycock has a limited fitness base… but still feel that he would offer more coming off the bench then Bellchambers is giving at the moment.... He has a lot to prove this year…

Go Bombers!!