Preview Round 7: Essendon vs Western Bulldogs, Carrara, Friday 17/07/20, 7:50 PM

[Bombers36]

Going to be hard now - no Ambrose, Daniher, Heppell, McKenna, Shiel, Stringer....thats 6 of our best 22 missing...
Still - our depth gives us some hope and if we can manage to manufacture a win here it will be huge.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

I reckon the boys should be pretty fired up for this one. Just having a look at the rnd21 side that lost by 104 points last year its crazy to see that McNiece was played ahead of Ridley. Hurley was missing with his shoulder and Saad was also missing. We should look a lot stronger in defence with those 3 all in good form. Also noticed that Myers and Baguley were in the side for what i think were fairwell games and Z Clarke was lone Ruck, so we should be seeing an upgrade there.

I think it was the most depleted team we’ve put on the field since 2016.

 

[ghostdog]

In a losing side v. Carlton;
Hunter 27 disposals
Macrae 26
Smith 26
Bont 22

Good numbers.

I feel like we need Phillips to show some dominance over English and give our mids first use. No Shiel or Heppel means we'll have fewer solid options if they decide to tag. Maybe we need to use two players in a tagging role to even the playing field. Give Clarke and Hibberd a role each on Bont and Macrae.

I also like the idea of Hooker forward. It's one thing being versatile from the back half, but if the front half can't take a mark it becomes more challenging to kick goals.
Hopefully plenty of goal kicking practise this week. They should book a night training session.

 

[Mercurial89]

In a losing side v. Carlton;
Hunter 27 disposals
Macrae 26
Smith 26
Bont 22

Good numbers.

I feel like we need Phillips to show some dominance over English and give our mids first use. No Shiel or Heppel means we'll have fewer solid options if they decide to tag. Maybe we need to use two players in a tagging role to even the playing field. Give Clarke and Hibberd a role each on Bont and Macrae.

I also like the idea of Hooker forward. It's one thing being versatile from the back half, but if the front half can't take a mark it becomes more challenging to kick goals.
Hopefully plenty of goal kicking practise this week. They should book a night training session.

I have seen zero of the Doggies play all year, but there has been quite a lot of media hype thinking they had what it takes.
I saw maybe a quarter and a half of last nights game and heard the commentators mentioning that the Doggies have been playing very controlling football, very precise disposal, the conditions and Carlton's pressure seems to have brought that undone. Think it was 6-1 at the centre clearances when i was watching. Did that clearance dominance continue?

Going to be a good test of where we are at. They have an ungodly good record against us and we are missing some genuine top 10 players and you could make the argument its 3 of our top 5 in Stringer, Joe and Shiel, its going to be a very big test for the young guys, especially around the ball.
Actually genuinely interested how the system goes as this will be a good test.

 

[DallasCrane316]

Danger game this week.

Don't wanna play the dogs after a heavy loss.

They got belted by the Pies, and then got comfortably beaten by the Saints (albeit 3 months later).

They are gettable, but they just seem to match up well against us. Doesn’t help that we generally leave JJ and Bont unaccounted for.

 

[Fridge16]

My fear is we are the same old Essendon where if we lose too many good players we just fall away and get smashed.

My hope is we have become one of those system based "soldier out, soldier in" teams that wins regardless of cattle.

This week will provide some confirmation of one or the other.

 

[Phat Toni]

I'd go -

Out: Shiel , McKenna
In: Francis , Redman

B: Fantasia Hurley Saad
HB: Ridley Francis Gleeson

C: Ham McGrath Merrett
Foll: Phillips Parish Smith

HF: Laverde Hooker Snelling
F: Tippa McKernan Townsend

B: Langford Hibberd Zaha Redman

this makes the most sense to me, the Dogs dont have much in the tall forward tool box so maybe Hurley/Francis do the defensive work on Bruce and Schache leaving Rids/Saad/Fanta to rebound and Gleeson to play the mad max interceptor role.

Hooker has be excellent down back so we've got to be careful of robbing peter to pay paul but we're going to break Townsend if we keep asking him to hit the packs like he is. Hooker as a deeeeeep forward is a handful so put him there until we can get one of Stinger/Stewart up and running or god forbid JD.

I might be way off-piste here but i'd really like to see Redman have a roll through the middle, one thing you can be sure of he will have a crack.

 

[Bjchan13]

I think it was the most depleted team we’ve put on the field since 2016.

Smith, Snelling and Townsend will be handy additions as well. Snelling has really lifted the last 2 weeks

 

[ghostdog]

I have seen zero of the Doggies play all year, but there has been quite a lot of media hype thinking they had what it takes.
I saw maybe a quarter and a half of last nights game and heard the commentators mentioning that the Doggies have been playing very controlling football, very precise disposal, the conditions and Carlton's pressure seems to have brought that undone. Think it was 6-1 at the centre clearances when i was watching. Did that clearance dominance continue?

Going to be a good test of where we are at. They have an ungodly good record against us and we are missing some genuine top 10 players and you could make the argument its 3 of our top 5 in Stringer, Joe and Shiel, its going to be a very big test for the young guys, especially around the ball.
Actually genuinely interested how the system goes as this will be a good test.

I didn't see the game, I listened vaguely, so I'm only speculating.
Yes, it sounds like Carlton brought heat to them like they did to us. Dogs have more handball numbers which speaks to that and their higher uncontested possession numbers. Blues more kicks. Dogs poor efficiency i50, so our defenders should definitely be able to emulate that. Clearance numbers about even.

We need to bring the same heat we did against Collingwood to give ourselves a chance. I'm looking forward to seeing how well the system stands up as well.

Taggers?

 

[eth-dog]

I have seen zero of the Doggies play all year, but there has been quite a lot of media hype thinking they had what it takes.
I saw maybe a quarter and a half of last nights game and heard the commentators mentioning that the Doggies have been playing very controlling football, very precise disposal, the conditions and Carlton's pressure seems to have brought that undone. Think it was 6-1 at the centre clearances when i was watching. Did that clearance dominance continue?

Going to be a good test of where we are at. They have an ungodly good record against us and we are missing some genuine top 10 players and you could make the argument its 3 of our top 5 in Stringer, Joe and Shiel, its going to be a very big test for the young guys, especially around the ball.
Actually genuinely interested how the system goes as this will be a good test.

And if someone argues against Stringer or Joe, the next in line would be Heppell anyway

 

[Halftimehero]

In a losing side v. Carlton;
Hunter 27 disposals
Macrae 26
Smith 26
Bont 22

Good numbers.

I feel like we need Phillips to show some dominance over English and give our mids first use. No Shiel or Heppel means we'll have fewer solid options if they decide to tag. Maybe we need to use two players in a tagging role to even the playing field. Give Clarke and Hibberd a role each on Bont and Macrae.

I also like the idea of Hooker forward. It's one thing being versatile from the back half, but if the front half can't take
a mark it becomes more challenging to kick goals.
Hopefully plenty of goal kicking practise this week. They should book a night training session.

There is no way we will tag two players, probably not even one.
The way we are playing at the moment is all about system and structure, we just need to apply team pressure and the back our game plan in to get the job done.

 

[Mercurial89]

I didn't see the game, I listened vaguely, so I'm only speculating.
Yes, it sounds like Carlton brought heat to them like they did to us. Dogs have more handball numbers which speaks to that and their higher uncontested possession numbers. Blues more kicks. Dogs poor efficiency i50, so our defenders should definitely be able to emulate that. Clearance numbers about even.

We need to bring the same heat we did against Collingwood to give ourselves a chance. I'm looking forward to seeing how well the system stands up as well.

Taggers?

We wont run with multiple taggers, we will most likely play Langford or Hibberd as an accountable Mid on Bont around clearances and have that HF defensive job on JJ. That is as defensive as we will go.

I think Redman for mckenna is pretty simple its what we do for Shiel that is the question.

 

[eth-dog]

Our balance was slightly out last start, we had one mid more than usual and one less forward.

 

[DallasCrane316]

We wont run with multiple taggers, we will most likely play Langford or Hibberd as an accountable Mid on Bont around clearances and have that HF defensive job on JJ. That is as defensive as we will go.

I think Redman for mckenna is pretty simple its what we do for Shiel that is the question.

I like the idea of Cahill coming in and releasing Parish to play the full time mid role.

 

[TheGrizz]

I hope that if we bring in a forward to release Parish upfield, then we give it to Mozzie.

Has worked really hard and his energy and demeanour that would be heightened through a debut would be a welcome addition on the road.

 

[bennyg12]

Mozzie in please

 

[bennyg12]

maybe Clarke in the wet conditions to run with Smith

 

[CBombers17]

My fear is we are the same old Essendon where if we lose too many good players we just fall away and get smashed.

My hope is we have become one of those system based "soldier out, soldier in" teams that wins regardless of cattle.

This week will provide some confirmation of one or the other.

Your concern is understandable of course but i wouldn't judge us too closely on this week's outcome. It sounds stupid to say out loud but in terms of what we are building I'd only really look at a positive result as very positive and pretty much ignore a loss - unless it was a terrible, stop trying type debacle.

My rationale for this is a) Bulldog's will be on the rebound and b) this season is throwing up inconsistent results - results where extra effort seems to be having a big impact. Therefore If the Bulldogs come out and play with finals intensity we are quite likely to lose this one, no matter how well our systems are developing. .

 

[11kgm]

Gold Coast QLD
Friday
Sunny

22
°C | °F
Precipitation: 0%
Humidity: 60%
Wind: 24 km/h
Temperature
Precipitation
Wind

 

[HirdsTheWord]

danger game this one.

you'd think the dogs would come out firing after getting belted by Carlton.

they also have access to almost their best 22 and we have some serious injury issues.

need to have manic pressure to be a chance here.

 

[The Devils Advocate]

Gold Coast QLD
Friday
Sunny

22
°C | °F
Precipitation: 0%
Humidity: 60%
Wind: 24 km/h
Temperature
Precipitation
Wind

Actual perfect conditions

 

[citizen-erased]

I'd go -

Out: Shiel , McKenna
In: Francis , Redman

B: Fantasia Hurley Saad
HB: Ridley Francis Gleeson

C: Ham McGrath Merrett
Foll: Phillips Parish Smith

HF: Laverde Hooker Snelling
F: Tippa McKernan Townsend

B: Langford Hibberd Zaha Redman

Agree, though i'd keep Hooker back.
Gleeson becomes 7th defender. Zaka/Fanta shift up the ground a bit and Hibberd goes into the middle supporting Parish/McGrath/Merrett.

 

[FlyingV]

Let’s hope they persist with Schache... he’s a proper potato.
would love to see Cahill get a run but cant see it happening with Smith, Fant, Tippa, Snelling all playing well.

 

[andleanback]

Agree, though i'd keep Hooker back.
Gleeson becomes 7th defender. Zaka/Fanta shift up the ground a bit and Hibberd goes into the middle supporting Parish/McGrath/Merrett.

Yeah no need to change our defensive set up with it working so well. Hooker will take Bruce most likely, Hurley will get either Schache or whoever they bring in for him.

 

[BuffDog]

The Dogs tend to swing the axe after a poor performance so I’m expecting a few surprises that we may not see coming. We on the other hand are probably one of the most conservative sides selection wise.

Id personally bring Redman (or maybe Franga) in and debut Cahill. Shiel and McKenna the only outs. That allows Cahill to play forward and keep Fantasia at Half Back.

It’s a good week to move Hooker forward given Naughton is out and Bruce aside the Dogs don’t really have a strong KPF. Hurley, Gleeson and Ridley should be cover enough really. Hooker at least bringing the ball to ground for Walla/Cahill etc would be a nice sight!