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Extended Teams: Round 1

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ESSENDON
B: Courtenay Dempsey, Mal Michael, Dustin Fletcher
HB: Henry Slattery, Patrick Ryder, Jay Nash
C: Ricky Dyson, Jobe Watson, Bachar Houli
HF: Leroy Jetta, Adam McPhee, Scott Lucas
F: Alwyn Davey, Matthew Lloyd, Sam Lonergan
Foll: David Hille, Brent Stanton, Mark McVeigh
I/C: Jason Johnson, Jason Laycock, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Adam Ramanauskas
EMG: Courtney Johns, Angus Monfries, Damien Peverill
 
Very happy with the team selection by Knighta.

Good to see him rewarding Sammy Lonergan's pre-season form.

Prob just about our best 22 IMO, with the exception of lovett, windas and welshy out.
 

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bomba4eva said:
Good to hear Dyson training well. He has impressed me during the pre season and Ill readily admit that that I had written him off. When he received his 2 year contract I was extremely surprised. I was willing though to give the kid a chance as I knew that Knights had seen him up close at Bendigo. He looks streamlined this season and I can see why Knights had singled him out to have a big season as he looks like he has actually had a massive pre season. Hopefully he carries on his promising form into the regular season.
Never write Lloydy off mate. Absolute champion. Will have kicked over 1000 goals by the end of his career. Expecting a massive season from him. Sure he is underdone, but class generally prevails. Expecting at least 3 from him. With him and Lucas up forward Im not particularly worried about our forward line. My main concern is the midfield. Loving Knights though:thumbsu:
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i'm not writing off lloydy - just making the point that don't expect much in the early rounds against kangas and cats. come round 3 v carlton is a different story - minimum 6!
 
I'm quite happy with that team. NLM should have always made the team, he is easily in our best 18. One of JJ/Pev were always going to get a game, personally I thought Pev was more up to it. Glad Rama made it, we need some class disposal and a cool head floating round the back-half.

Despite his mediocre pre-season form, I'm quite surprised to see Monfries miss... Surely he has more to offer the team than Slattery. I just don't see what Slatts brings to the table that Monfries doesn't, even in a defensive sense.

Ideally (including injuries); I'd have Monfries & Lovett in that team. With JJ & Slatts out. Also would have had Reimers ahead of Lonergan but ultimately I'm happy with either in the team.
 
I'm not unhappy about JJ getting a crack in round 1.
There is no doubt he is not the player he once was. But I still think he can be of value to our much younger mid-field rotation this season.

I would much rather see Knighta give JJ a chance early in the year to prove he can still be of value. Than to see him turn to JJ later on.
 
JJ gets stuck in when he's on, we still need a bit of that. At least until others prove they can take that responsibility.

Reimers doesn't make the team with Davey and Jetta in there, how many times does this need to be said. He's not competing against Lonergan or anyone else for a spot given what he's able to do at the moment. And he's behind Davey and Jetta.

Also: On BomberTV Knights said that the guys drafted last year are unlikely to play before mid year, if they play this year at all.
 
kelvin_sheedy said:
Not happy with JJ's selection.... he's been terrible in the pre season games thus far.

Monfries or Pev should have been in the team instead.

I hope he proves me wrong but thank god we are playing on Telstra Dome.
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I think it's a horse for courses selection.

With Daniel Harris, Adam Simpson, Andrew Swallow, Brent Harvey and Andrew Swallow rotating through the midfield, we're going to need guys that can get in and under in the centre.

Jason Johnson's far more likely to provide that than Damien Peverill or Angus Monfries.
 
GoDons said:
I think it's a horse for courses selection.

With Daniel Harris, Adam Simpson, Andrew Swallow, Brent Harvey and Andrew Swallow rotating through the midfield, we're going to need guys that can get in and under in the centre.

Jason Johnson's far more likely to provide that than Damien Peverill or Angus Monfries.
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Watson, McVeigh + Lonergan, Slattery rotating to go in and get the pill.

That's enough for me so I'd go in with another guy that can run a bit more.

I've seen nothing from JJ which makes me think he can give us any value and his pre-season form hasn't been as good as Gus or Pev.

Watching Freo today and how they got overrun I could not help but think of us and how we must strike the right balance.
 
GoDons said:
I think it's a horse for courses selection.

With Daniel Harris, Adam Simpson, Andrew Swallow, Brent Harvey and Andrew Swallow rotating through the midfield, we're going to need guys that can get in and under in the centre.

Jason Johnson's far more likely to provide that than Damien Peverill or Angus Monfries.
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Agreed.

I could just picture now Monfries getting absolutely smashed by Harris or Peverill getting the ball in open space and then turning it over.

JJ is the perfect front man for the likes of Watson, Houli, Stanton and McVeigh, he provides a perfect balance to that midfield.

Unfortnately, I have visions of Grant and Corey Jones ripping us apart up foward.:(
 
kelvin_sheedy said:
Watson, McVeigh + Lonergan, Slattery rotating to go in and get the pill.

That's enough for me so I'd go in with another guy that can run a bit more.

I've seen nothing from JJ which makes me think he can give us any value and his pre-season form hasn't been as good as Gus or Pev.

Watching Freo today and how they got overrun I could not help but think of us and how we must strike the right balance.
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I'll agree with you that JJ hasn't given us much of a showing this pre-season, and that's why his inclusion hasn't been straight forward.

However, I don't think we can rely on Lonergan or Slattery to provide much in the way of centre clearances. Henry will more than likely be following someone around and be focusing on them, and to add to that he's not a natural finder of the ball. Lonergan's still a young guy and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him filling Welshy's spot up forward for periods of time either.

We already have plenty of runners in the side (Dyson, Stanton, Jetta, Ramanauskas, McVeigh, Dempsey, Nash, Davey, McPhee, Lovett-Murray and Houli) and with McVeigh and Watson as our only proven hard ball winners, I see a spot for Johnno. I don't think he'll unbalance the side drastically like Bolton and Bradley did last ANZAC Day.

It may be a move that backfires but at the same time, JJ's leadership and hardness through the middle of the ground could take us quite some distance in the winning the game.

Time will tell.
 
Gutsy selections by Knights, but looks a good balance.

I think Knights will have the sense to use JJ quite sparingly so his ability to win the footy or at least provide a contest more than makes up for his lack of accountability.
 

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i think he is playing horses for courses. the roos midfield consists of simpson, harris, swallow and rawlings. all four of these blokes win the contested footy so knighta probably just wants another stronger body in the middle. he wouldn't have played if hocking was fit
 
kelvin_sheedy said:
Watson, McVeigh + Lonergan, Slattery rotating to go in and get the pill.

That's enough for me so I'd go in with another guy that can run a bit more.

I've seen nothing from JJ which makes me think he can give us any value and his pre-season form hasn't been as good as Gus or Pev.

Watching Freo today and how they got overrun I could not help but think of us and how we must strike the right balance.
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JJ did have a very good second half against the dogs with around 16 possesions in the second half (from memory). A bit harsh to say he has done nothing at all.
His game against the Saints was the ordinary one.
 
GoDons said:
I think it's a horse for courses selection.

With Daniel Harris, Adam Simpson, Andrew Swallow, Brent Harvey and Andrew Swallow rotating through the midfield, we're going to need guys that can get in and under in the centre.

Jason Johnson's far more likely to provide that than Damien Peverill or Angus Monfries.
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We only have one Andrew Swallow.
 
Give me JJ over Peverill anyday. :thumbsu:
 
[
B]I/C (from):[/B] Jason Laycock, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Damien Peverill, Adam Ramanauskas

Dempsey will probably play HBF and Slatts to tag Harvey imo.
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Nah mate, McVeigh will take Harvey as both ruck-rovers on teams sheet ;)
spike is better than Slats in Mid aswell

Forwards
Firrito VS Lucas = Lucas will be dominant forward becuase Lloyd didn't get full pre-season. Firrito will play Lucas coz he plays up the ground.
Watt VS McPhee = Height will help Watt, although McPhee is a good mark. McPhee is too fast for him tho.
Gibson VS Lloyd = Gibson might switch with Watt so Watt can use is skills in backline rather than Backline/mid where Gibson is better than Watt
Thompson VS Jetta = Jetta fast and has played on Thompson in VFL, so would know him well. Both inexperinced at AFL Level. Great Contest!!!
Wells VS Davey = Davey can stop his defencive run, and make Wells play a defensive role on him.
Pratt VS Lonergan = I would expect Pratt to underestimate Lonergan. Pratt will come off his man a fair to help with Jetta and Davey.
Mids
Simpson VS Watson = Watson is a good tackle, and won't need to be too fasat against Simpson. Watson to play wing for Houli.
Swallow VS Dyson = Hard to tell anything from this contest. Will be good to watch tho.
Pratt VS Houli = Expect Houli to play in the centre bounces and stoppages, he's got strength and stamina to take on Pratt.
Harvey VS McVeigh = McVeigh will have his hands full against Harvey, although Slats can take harvey and put McVeigh in the game.
Rawlings VS Stanton = Will be hard for Stants. Stanton will have help from Macca because Slats can take Harvey if needed.
Defence
Grant VS Slattery = Slattery will play a big role in the match. He'll play on 2 great players in the Kangas team. Grant and Harvey
Jones VS Nash = Both Medium Height, both can play mid roles. Great Contest!!!!
Thomas VS Dempsey = Hard task for Thomas, as Dempsey will be creating every move from from defence and will nedd to follow.
Edwards VS Ryder = Will have a small height advantage and will be able to run out of defence if Edwards plays up the ground.
Petrie VS Fletcher = I think Fletcher's experience will show, he will be able to play a more attacking role if Petrie goes down back.
Thompson VS Michael = Michael won't need to be too fast against Thompson. Another Great Contest
Rucks
McIntosh VS Hille = McIntosh will make Hille run Around the ground, but i think hes up to that.
Hale VS Laycock = This time Laycock will make Hale run. I wouldn't be surprised either of trhe 2 went forward especially consider Laycock is a great mark.
 
ant555 said:
JJ did have a very good second half against the dogs with around 16 possesions in the second half (from memory). A bit harsh to say he has done nothing at all.
His game against the Saints was the ordinary one.
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I thought he was pretty ordinary in both.

If the first half against the dogs he looked pedestrian and he finally got a bit of the ball in the second half once the game was done and dusted.

The pace and intensity will go up a fair bit from the NAB and I just hope he can keep up and give us something.

No excuses for him as he's had his best pre season for a while.
 

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kelvin_sheedy said:
I thought he was pretty ordinary in both.

If the first half against the dogs he looked pedestrian and he finally got a bit of the ball in the second half once the game was done and dusted.

The pace and intensity will go up a fair bit from the NAB and I just hope he can keep up and give us something.

No excuses for him as he's had his best pre season for a while.
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He actaullay played well when the Dogs challenged for a while in the third quarter. You are right in saying he did nothing in the first half but his second half was good. You can't get away from that.
I doubt he will be a factor for us this year. He has given us fantastic serice but i dont think he can regain his old form. Too many year of bash and crash footy has taken its toll.
Hope im wrong becasue he is one of my favourites but he just looks too slow working back the other way nowdays.
 

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Extended Teams: Round 1

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