Preview Essendon vs Port Adelaide, Docklands, Sunday 15/04/18 @ 1:10 PM

[eth-dog]

Observations

Essendon: Had a very poor loss against the Western Bulldogs, who jumped to a lead early and just kept the Dons at arms length for the rest of the game. David Zaharakis was productive in the midfield with 26 disposals whilst Joe Daniher and James Stewart kicked 2 goals apiece forward.

Port Adelaide: Port survived a scare from Brisbane, winning by a very tight 5 points in Adelaide. Scores were tight for most of the day and a goalless last term from Port gave the Lions a chance at the win. Jared Polec had 29 disposals whilst Sam Gray kicked 3 goals.

Head to Head (last 5)

Essendon 3-2 Port Adelaide

Form Guide

Esendon: 1W 2L
Port Adelaide: 3W 0L

Sportsbet odds

Essendon: $2.12
Port Adelaide: $1.73
Line: 4.5 ($1.92)

Possible sides

Essendon vs Port Adelaide

B: Brown- Hartley - Redman
F: Watts - Dixon - R Gray
HB: McKenna - Hurley - Saad
HF: Wingard - Marshall - S Gray
C: Parish - Stringer - Z Merrett
C: Polec - Wines - Motlop
HF: McDonald-Tipungwuti - Daniher - Langford
HB: Byrne-Jones - Clurey - Hartlett
F: Stewart - Hooker - Fantasia
B: Bonner - Howard - Jonas
R: Bellchambers - Goddard - Heppell
R: Westhoff - Ebert - Powell-Pepper
I: McGrath - Myers - D Smith - Zaharakis
I: Boak - Houston - Barry - Rockliff

Port Adelaide defence vs Essendon forward line

Essendon's forward line has been pretty effective so far this season, with a goals per inside 50 efficiency rating of 27%. Port's defensive rating has been pretty strong, conceding a goal only 23% of the time it enters their defensive 50. Young Dougal Howard has shown a lot in terms of pure stopping ability and is likely to get the match against Daniher, who has been quiet at the start of the season so far. This will leave Tom Clurey to take the formidable Cale Hooker and Tom Jonas to play on James Stewart as the third tall. Orazio Fantasia beat Darcy Byrne-Jones the last time the two sides met, the young competitor in DBJ will be annoyed and will want to get revenge for that, leaving the very impressive Riley Bonner to take "Walla".

Midfield/rucks battle

Essendon's pressure around the middle has been poor so far this season and it's shown in the numbers, the Dons being 15th for clearance differential, but a solid 7th for their contested possession differential. Port Adelaide are in 12th for both, confusing with the amount of good ball winners they have who can play inside midfield, including Ollie Wines, captain Travis Boak, Tom Rockliff, Sam Powell-Pepper and Brad Ebert form a pretty solid four or five players. Essendon don't have the big bodies that Port do and as such will struggle in the middle, with really only Dyson Heppell, David Myers, Jake Stringer and Kyle Langford as big bodies, and they all have various issues in the middle. Essendon will try to make it a quick game with the likes of Zaharakis, Parish and Merrett on the outside. Ruck wise, Tom Bellchambers should comfortably account for Justin Westhoff and Charlie Dixon, the latter pairing aren't pure rucks and will struggle to contain Bellchambers' influence.

Port Adelaide forward line vs Essendon defence

Essendon's defence has been under a lot of pressure this season, and has been a little poorer than last season, conceding a goal 25% of the time it enters defensive 50. Port have been good in their first few games this season, kicking a goal 26% of the time it enters their forward line. Port have quite a tall forward line with Jack Watts, Todd Marshall and Charlie Dixon to start there. I would expect Mitchell Brown, Michael Hurley and Michael Hartley to take these three respectively. Robbie Gray will be a tough match up for the Dons, which I expect Mason Redman to get coming into the side. Sam Gray is also crafty around goals, look for him to pop up with various chances. And nobody should forget the ability of Chad Wingard, who regularly cuts Essendon to shreds every year.

X-Factor Player

Dom Barry used to play for Melbourne, got delisted, dominated the SANFL and got brought into Port immediately again. The mature-age pick up has been solid for the Power so far and will want to continue to be that player.

Key stat

Essendon: Clearances. Essendon will dominate the taps so they need to take advantage of that fact and dominate the inside of the match.

Port Adelaide: Forward efficiency. Port's forward line has the potential to dominate the Essendon defence, but need to be effective.

Tip

Port are favourites, but for some reason I feel that Essendon will win by 21 points.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Outs: Green, Brown, Goddard (rested), Baguley,
Ins: Merrett, Ridley, Clarke, Guelfi

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Out - Myers,Begley
In - Laverde,Guelfi,manaic defensive pressure

 

[SgtSchulz]

I’ve got a feeling you guys might get us at an opportune time. Including JLT we have player 5 consecutive games in 30 degrees. We are also woeful in the ruck without Ryder. Taking Dixon out of our forward line to play ruck makes our forward line lack an obvious target.

Bellchambers the one to watch this match. Will be interesting to see if we play a young ruck.

I’ll be coming over for the match. First time at Docklands.

 

[MiguelM]

I’ve got a feeling you guys might get us at an opportune time. Including JLT we have player 5 consecutive games in 30 degrees. We are also woeful in the ruck without Ryder. Taking Dixon out of our forward line to play ruck makes our forward line lack an obvious target.

Bellchambers the one to watch this match. Will be interesting to see if we play a young ruck.

I’ll be coming over for the match. First time at Docklands.

Depends which Belly turns up. Was beaten by a 19 yr old twig yesterday.

 

[Runk]

Too soon

 

[Bombers36]

Time for Hooker back now. Give ZMerrett a rest theres something not right there, bring in Luey to exploit their ruck weakness, and play Bellcho down forward for good chunk of the game - at the very least he can kick straight! Start Daniher on the bench to give him a bit of a wake up call. FFS i hope we put in a better performance than the trash we dished up against the Dogs...

OUT: Myers (please), Brown, Baguley, ZMerrett
IN: Laverde, Langford, Dea, Luey


Dea Hooker Saad
Goddard Hurley McKenna
McGrath Heppell Fantasia
Langford Stringer Tippa
Bellcho Stewart Green

Luey Zakka Smith

Bench from: Parish Laverde Begley Daniher

 

[Tassieboy]

Can we please just put Myers out to pasture? Shame we have little option but to replace him with an entitled, lacklustre soft utensil in Langford. But at least there’s some hope and if he flops we can officially rule a red line through him at the end of the year.

 

[eth-dog]

Time for Hooker back now. Give ZMerrett a rest theres something not right there, bring in Luey to exploit their ruck weakness, and play Bellcho down forward for good chunk of the game - at the very least he can kick straight! Start Daniher on the bench to give him a bit of a wake up call. FFS i hope we put in a better performance than the trash we dished up against the Dogs...

OUT: Myers (please), Brown, Baguley, ZMerrett
IN: Laverde, Langford, Dea, Luey


Dea Hooker Saad
Goddard Hurley McKenna
McGrath Heppell Fantasia
Langford Stringer Tippa
Bellcho Stewart Green

Luey Zakka Smith

Bench from: Parish Laverde Begley Daniher

Why would we drop Brown after he was one of the few players that won his position against a team that plays 3 or 4 key forwards?

 

[Vindicater]

Out: Baguley, Begley and Myers

In: Langford, Redman and J. Merrett

FB: McKenna, Hooker, Saad

CHB: Goddard Hurley Redman

C: Z. Merrett Stringer McGrath

CHF: Fantasia Brown Walla

FF: J. Merrett Daniher Stewart

R: Bellchambers Heppell Smith

Int: Parish, Zaka, Langford, Green

 

[DapperJong]

Brown did ok. He doesn't deserve to get dropped.

 

[Bombers36]

Why would we drop Brown after he was one of the few players that won his position against a team that plays 3 or 4 key forwards?

So we can play Hooker back - out of interest - why on earth would you keep Myers in the side?

 

[eth-dog]

So we can play Hooker back - out of interest - why on earth would you keep Myers in the side?

We're not going to play Hooker back and if we did it wouldn't be at the expense of Brown, it would be in addition to Brown, as they play Marshall, Watts and Dixon as key forwards.

 

[srobbo]

Port will pump us so hard. Honestly even if we improve 50% on that turdfest we served up against the dogs, they’ll still spank us.

 

[srobbo]

So we can play Hooker back - out of interest - why on earth would you keep Myers in the side?

Oh no he’ll go fwd again, because it makes no sense to play him where he was an AA. In the meantime we’ll fill the position with hacks like Brown & Hartley.

 

[Cold Sober]

Bellchambers CHF.
Danniher FP with freedom to roam or put him on the wing.
Play all the so called kids for next three games, can't do any worse.

 

[footylover18]

we've seen J.Merrett on numerous occasions. He's not AFL standard, doing ourselves no good recalling him again. He's a known quantity and that is too good for VFL, not good enough for AFL. He'll dominate the VFL, but that doesnt necessarily mean he should get the call up.

We need to see what Clarke has got. Dominating VFL in a position we need badly. Get him in the guts and if he shanks a few kicks, so be it.

Myers is done.

Get in Langdon, Clarke and in another 5 games get Mutch in.

 

[eth-dog]

we've seen J.Merrett on numerous occasions. He's not AFL standard, doing ourselves no good recalling him again. He's a known quantity and that is too good for VFL, not good enough for AFL. He'll dominate the VFL, but that doesnt necessarily mean he should get the call up.

We need to see what Clarke has got. Dominating VFL in a position we need badly. Get him in the guts and if he shanks a few kicks, so be it.

Myers is done.

Get in Langdon, Clarke and in another 5 games get Mutch in.

Langdon?

 

[footylover18]

Langdon?

ooops

Langford

 

[Phat Toni]

We are lacking two fundamentals of the modern game;

1: A natural inclination to defend at any position, outside of a small handful of players defense is something most of our guys do out of necessity and coaches request and they constantly have to be reminded to engage defensively! Honestly we are never going to develop any winning consistency until this can be addressed.

2: Kicking!! Our ability to lace out or even kick to advantage is terrible, I would argue there aren't many teams worse than us in this area and this isn't a new thing. Outside of a very small number of player in general we have 'dump' kickers, they manage to turn what should be a 75/25 advantage into a 50/50 contest at best.

I'm fast losing interest in this season as our games are really hard to watch.

Walla is on notice, really outside of one quarter v Crows what has he delivered with any real consistency!?! And has Goddard started wearing skirts? honestly never seen him shirk so many contest as he did on the weekend, is old age giving him a complex?

Also Woosha's ability to shift tactics/structure in game is terrible(always has been) but hey we get to watch his ultra conservative, slow and methodical approach for the next however many years....Yuck!

Out:
Begley - Let him play big game time in the middle in the VFL and build that side of his game
Myers - I'm tired of seeing him
Brown - time to get serious and put Hooker back

In:
Langford - I'm tired of not seeing him, give him an extended run and lets see what he can do, always seems to be 1st to be dropped when there are other 'big names' constantly get away with poor efforts.
Dea - We need extra small/medium defenders against the Power and I like the flexibility he gives our defense with the ability to play a little bigger than he is.
J. Merrett - It's been a while since his last senior game, lets see if he has found the ability to 2 way run and still impact the scoreboard

FB: McKenna - Hooker - Saad
CHB: McGrath - Hurley - Baguley
C: Smith - Langford - Parish
CHF: Fantasia - Daniher - Walla
FF: Green - Stewart - Stringer
R: Bellchambers - Heppell - Z. Merrett

Int: Goddard - Zaka - Dea - J. Merrett

The Power are gettable, they aren't as good as their ladder position suggests. If we can put more effort in with our blocking and shepherding maybe the few good kickers we have in the team can have a greater impact on the game and deliver the right result or at least make the game watchable.

 

[Macca18]

Port by 54.

Still more confident about this game than the Bulldogs one... the reason/s I think we will get done comfortably? I don’t think we have the passion right now to lift and improve after two dismal efforts in a row & Port were absolutely thumped when they played us here last year... I don’t think they will want lightning striking twice.

 

[pazza]

Out: Brown (getting outmarked by the Bont is embarrassing); McKenna (should he be suspended for biting); Begley (off the pace); Goddard (needs a rest)
In: J. Merrett, Langford, Laverde, Redman

B: McGrath, Hurley, Baguley
HB: Saad, Hooker, Myers
C: Z. Merrett, Smith, Zaharakis
HF: Walla, Daniher, Fantasia
F: Stringer, Stewart, Green
R: Bellchambers, Langford, Heppell
Int: J. Merrett, Laverde, Redman, Parish

 

[Alwaysacrow]

Good luck for the game. Please beat these campaigners.

 

[Bombers_95]

Out: Brown, Green, Myers, McKenna (likely suspension)
In: Langford, Laverde, Redman, Dea,

Saad Hurley Dea
Redman Hooker McGrath
Parish Langford Heppell
Fantasia Daniher Stringer
Walla Stewart Begley
Bellchambers Zaharakis Merrett
Bench: Goddard, Laverde, Baugley, Smith

Essentially Dea and Redman replacing Brown and McKenna. would rather play Begley and Laverde over Green given they are bigger bodies, offer more flexibility and can take a contested mark inside forward 50, Langford replaces Myers long term solution. Baugley stays in given McKenna loss

 

[IggypopsTshirt]

We are pathetic and spineless at the moment. A win in this game will do nothing but provide buoyancy where there should not be any.
A few more smashings might wake this list up to where they actually sit in the scheme of things.
Port by 60+