Essendon team? wtf= tanking?

[kelvin_sheedy]

Because they make young players better.

Why play Hird, Lloyd, Lucas etc either then?

Lets roll out Thomas Hird now...

Yep they've made them play well.. well enough to avoid the spoon and finish bottom 4. I guess if you take that as progress the good luck to ya.

Carlton don't have an overly tall forward line.
We don't need the extra tall defender.

Fevola, Setanta, Waite, Whitnall.. and Fisher can play tall. Bzzzzztt..try again.

So Houli plays instead of Hocking and you're happy?

No happy.. just less angry

There is no spot for Bradley, so the only bloke missing out is Houli.

There wasn't a spot for Johns against Hawthorn yet he played. There is a spot with Hille out of the side.

No, he didn't get a game because he doesn't pick up his opponent, when he has the ball he puts himself under pressure by making bad decisions and ends up either handballing to the wrong option or bombing it high and wide unless he's actually running through the corridor.

Did you see Houli play last week?

You have to learn sometime and what better way then to pit yourself against some younger blokes at AFL level.

Yes.. I did see him play and I thought he played well. I know he still has a long way to go but we need to get games into him.

 

[SOT4]

You guys do realise these changes mean we aren't tanking, dont you? We brought in the people who we feel are going to win us the game. FWIW I would've liked Houli in but must admit i didn't see him play on the weekend.

 

[Longy413]

Yep they've made them play well.. well enough to avoid the spoon and finish bottom 4. I guess if you take that as progress the good luck to ya.

If we go on to win 11 games thats a fair improvement in 12 months. Especially given we would have debuted 7 players.

Fevola, Setanta, Waite, Whitnall.. and Fisher can play tall. Bzzzzztt..try again.

With Thornton one of those will play back, at least.

Someone has to play on Lucas, Lloyd and Gumby.

Lovett-Murray, McPhee, Michael, Fletcher. Looks like we have them covered.

Nash and Welsh can also play tall.

There wasn't a spot for Johns against Hawthorn yet he played. There is a spot with Hille out of the side.

No and no.

You have to learn sometime and what better way then to pit yourself against some younger blokes at AFL level.

So a bloke that isn't up to the pace when it's slower is a better chance to learn to adjust when the pace is faster?

Weird.

Yes.. I did see him play and I thought he played well. I know he still has a long way to go but we need to get games into him.

Just as well he'll be playing footy on the weekend then.

 

[Crave]

Dont agree with Pev and Hille being dropped. The only explanation I can find with Laycock is to give him another crack at 100% ownership of ruck duties.

Ill go on record as stating if he cant take the points in the ruck over the next fortnight (assuming he's our No 1 ruck against Carlton & Richmond), Id hope they consider him as trade bait. Sounding like a broken record here, but yet to convince me of anything or instill me with any confidence that our ruck capabilities are in good hands for years to come.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

So a bloke that isn't up to the pace when it's slower is a better chance to learn to adjust when the pace is faster?

Weird.

What's weird is that a bloke that has shown much much less than Houli in Hocking - who is slower and has more questions about his kicking is given a game.

Smells of Ben Jolley last year. You don't need to be Einstein to know that either Jolley or Hocking won't make it.

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Wow, we are going to have to be bad to lose this one. Sheeds the crafty old bugger, tripping Carlton up one last time.

We did send Thornton for season ending surgery however. Lance and Lappin back, good or bad? Time will tell.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Sending Thornton for season-ending surgery was pretty bad, but I must say Lance has trimmed down quite bit, looks a different person in the photos I saw in the HUN. Lappin is one of your better players IMHO.

Very strange changes for Essendon, but I would have thought Hird was unlikely after the reports coming out of training...?

 

[monty1104]

Hocking is a far better player than Jolley. Hocking is an in and under type player. We dont have many of them at Esendon, so it is important to see whether or not he can make it. Its better to do it this year than drafting him and then finding out he isnt up to it next year, wouldnt you say Kelvin?

On the other ins, MJ didnt deserve to be dropped after just 1 poor game. He had played prety well in the weeks leading into the Hawks game, and then all of a sudden he was dropped.

Campo was always going to play. This, more than likely being his final year, he was always going to play against Carlton.

 

[Longy413]

What's weird is that a bloke that has shown much much less than Houli in Hocking - who is slower and has more questions about his kicking is given a game.

Subjective.

Hocking has a better onfield work ethic than Houli.
He makes less mistakes with the footy and he's a much better proposition than Jolley.

He's also a proven contested ball winner. Something we lack and a natural replacement for Peverill.

You want to give kids a go, you want to play Johns/Bradley to see if they're up to it, yet you want to burn Buddha before he's even had a chance.

Hypocritical isn't it?

 

[Big John]

I have to say i don't really understand the selections.

Watson going out is the strangest, unless he's being punished for something we don't know about. Even if he is going to come in for Hird he should be on the teamsheat from the start.

MJ and Pev switching i also don't get as i think Pev as been better for us this year. And i would've thought Laycock would've got dropped before Hille even though both were pretty bad.

And Campo coming in is just crap.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Subjective.

Hocking has a better onfield work ethic than Houli.
He makes less mistakes with the footy and he's a much better proposition than Jolley.

He's also a proven contested ball winner. Something we lack and a natural replacement for Peverill.

You want to give kids a go, you want to play Johns/Bradley to see if they're up to it, yet you want to burn Buddha before he's even had a chance.

Hypocritical isn't it?

My beef isn't completely with Hocking.

It's giving guys like Campo and MJ a game before Houli and Bradley.

If Houli and Hocking were selected instead of Campo and MJ I'd have no problems whatsoever.

At the end of the day we can debate all we like but the bottom line is the team has been bottom 4, selection policies have been bottom 4, gameplan bottom 4.. everything has been bottom 4 for 3 years... It's impossible to defend.

The Essendon Football Club is not a bottom 4 side.

 

[SOT4]

The Essendon Football Club is not a bottom 4 side.

Then why do you not want to play the ebst available side so that we win and get out of the bottom 4? You're making a fool of yourself.

 

[The Dustbin]

Finally Peverill has been dropped. Watch the clanger count go down. Lloyd, Gumby and Lucas would be the most relieved.

Watson will play, Hird won't.

 

[Smyth94]

Subjective.

Hocking has a better onfield work ethic than Houli.
He makes less mistakes with the footy and he's a much better proposition than Jolley.

He's also a proven contested ball winner. Something we lack and a natural replacement for Peverill.

You want to give kids a go, you want to play Johns/Bradley to see if they're up to it, yet you want to burn Buddha before he's even had a chance.

Hypocritical isn't it?

Didn't Jolley win the Bendigo B&F last season, or feature very highly?

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Then why do you not want to play the ebst available side so that we win and get out of the bottom 4? You're making a fool of yourself.

Because the best available are the reason why were are a bottom 4 side.

It's not rocket science folks.

 

[hulld]

get over the bottom 4 crap kelvin. we are closer to 2nd position than we are to 14th.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

get over the bottom 4 crap kelvin. we are closer to 2nd position than we are to 14th.

Errr... we are 13th currently which is bottom 4.

 

[monty1104]

Yeah, but we are 3 games from 2nd, but 5 games from 14th which makes us closer to 2nd than 14th.

 

[SOT4]

Kelvin isn't very smart, surely you have realised that from his performance in this thread.

 

[monty1104]

yes I have known that for a while. I just love correcting him on all of his mistakes.

Actually, Kelvin and I go back a fair way. We have been fighting over how valuable Ricky Dyson is for the whole year.

 

[SOT4]

I'm betting the 5 disposals from Ricky last weekend didn't help your cause

 

[hulld]

Kelvin isn't very smart, surely you have realised that from his performance in this thread.

again you speak great sense

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

yes I have known that for a while. I just love correcting him on all of his mistakes.

Actually, Kelvin and I go back a fair way. We have been fighting over how valuable Ricky Dyson is for the whole year.

I think it's finally dawned on you that he's a dud and soft as butter.

As for these selections(Campo, MJ).. come back and see me when you realise how dumb they are.

 

[Crave]

get over the bottom 4 crap kelvin. we are closer to 2nd position than we are to 14th.

Ladder position aside, we're still a bottom four side. Surely the last 2 matches have proved that, despite our improvement on the ladder. We've made some inroads, yet only small steps in regards to our standing as far as the competition is concerned.

 

[Tambu]

Scott Gumbleton
Kyle Reimers
Jason Winderlich
Angus Monfries
Brent Stanton
Jason Laycock
Henry Slattery
Paddy Ryder
Jay Nash
Andrew Lovett
Heath Hocking

Anyone care to tell me what those blokes have in common?

I would say they're all youngens, but Lovett's nearly 25...
So I'm gonna go with they'll all play for Essendon on Saturday.