eth-dog
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Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2007
- Posts
- 129,382
- Reaction score
- 89,050
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- Essendon
- Other Teams
- Coburg Lions, All Boston sides
Observations:
Fremantle: A huge loss in the Grand Final rematch has the dockers licking their wounds, and will be wanting to fire. Clearly missing Fyfe and Barlow around the stoppages hurt them as they were unable to cash in on Sandilands dominance in the hitouts.
Essendon: Completely dismantled the old foe in Carlton with one of the most clinical displays you'll see in 2014. With 2 blokes shouldering the ruck duties being KPF's they won the clearances despite the lack of hitouts for Daniher and Carlisle.
Head to head (last 5): Fremantle 3-2 Essendon
Sportsbet odds:
Fremantle: $1.65
Essendon: $2.15
Possible sides:
Fremantle vs Essendon
B: Spurr - Dawson - Johnson
F: Winderlich - Daniher - Chapman
HB: Duffield - McPharlin - Suban
HF: Goddard - Carlisle - Zaharakis
C: Hill - Mundy - D Pearce
C: Stanton - Watson - J Merrett
HF: Sylvia - Pavlich - Ballantyne
HB: Hibberd - Hurley - Heppell
F: Walters - Mayne - Clarke
B: Baguley - Hooker - Fletcher
R: Sandilands - Mzungu - Crowley
R: Ryder - Myers - Hocking
I: de Boer - Neale - Sheridan
I: Howlett - Gleeson - Hardingham
S: C Pearce
S: Melksham
Fremantle defence vs Essendon forward line
Fremantle's defence is excellent, the weakest link is Dawson and even then it's hard to exploit unless you have 2 star Key Forwards with Johnson being such an effective 3rd tall defender. Winderlich and Hardingham have crucial roles in that way, they need to make sure that they make him and Duffield accountable playing that lead up role. Spurr against Chapman will be interesting, if Chappy gets going like he has in the opening 3 rounds it could spell danger for Fremantle.
Midfield battle (rucks included)
This is where it'll be won and lost as usual. Both have got gun inside midfielders in Mundy and Watson, effective back-up crews in Sylvia, de Boer and Neale for the Dockers and Howlett, Myers and Melksham for the Dons, have very effective taggers in Hocking and Crowley, and the outside run for both sides is excellent as well with the likes of Hill, D Pearce, Mzungu and Suban against Merrett, Stanton, Goddard and Zaharakis. Hocking on Mundy and Crowley on Stanton loom to be the important battles for the night, both taggers could see some time in defence if that's the case. Sandilands on Ryder could be fascinating to see how Freo change their tactics from last week if Essendon do use similar tactics as Hawthorn did. Ryder breaking even in the hitouts to adv. count could make all the difference for Essendon's midfield.
Fremantle forward line vs Essendon defence
This could be crucial for both sides, with Fremantle's forward line being so flexible with the likes of Pavlich, Mayne and Walters all having excellent ability in the air and on the ground, as well as the nagging of Ballantyne, the height of the second ruck combines for a dangerous forward line, and Essendon's defence have been rock solid in the first 3 games, with all of them putting in some excellent performances at one point or another. Hurley on Pavlich looms to be the battle of this part of the ground, followed by Hooker on whoever the resting ruck is.
X-Factor players
Lachie Neale is an interesting little player. He's as tough as nails, likes it inside and can take the hits as well as anybody, especially at his size. He's been in and out of the side and been the sub a few times but he's got all the signs of exploding soon
Kyle Hardingham this year has been a good swingman for Bomber Thompson, as shown in round 1 when he kicked 2 goals in the first half, then in the second went into defence and shut down Lindsay Thomas who had kicked 4 that game already. Fresh off 3 goals against the blues before being subbed he looks like a pretty good X-factor to me.
Key area for each side:
Fremantle:
Essendon:
My tip
What a game this should be, and I reckon it'll be another tight contest, but I think Essendon's confidence is going to get them over the line and continue the winning streak against Lyon, so Essendon by 11 points
Fremantle: A huge loss in the Grand Final rematch has the dockers licking their wounds, and will be wanting to fire. Clearly missing Fyfe and Barlow around the stoppages hurt them as they were unable to cash in on Sandilands dominance in the hitouts.
Essendon: Completely dismantled the old foe in Carlton with one of the most clinical displays you'll see in 2014. With 2 blokes shouldering the ruck duties being KPF's they won the clearances despite the lack of hitouts for Daniher and Carlisle.
Head to head (last 5): Fremantle 3-2 Essendon
Sportsbet odds:
Fremantle: $1.65
Essendon: $2.15
Possible sides:
Fremantle vs Essendon
B: Spurr - Dawson - Johnson
F: Winderlich - Daniher - Chapman
HB: Duffield - McPharlin - Suban
HF: Goddard - Carlisle - Zaharakis
C: Hill - Mundy - D Pearce
C: Stanton - Watson - J Merrett
HF: Sylvia - Pavlich - Ballantyne
HB: Hibberd - Hurley - Heppell
F: Walters - Mayne - Clarke
B: Baguley - Hooker - Fletcher
R: Sandilands - Mzungu - Crowley
R: Ryder - Myers - Hocking
I: de Boer - Neale - Sheridan
I: Howlett - Gleeson - Hardingham
S: C Pearce
S: Melksham
Fremantle defence vs Essendon forward line
Fremantle's defence is excellent, the weakest link is Dawson and even then it's hard to exploit unless you have 2 star Key Forwards with Johnson being such an effective 3rd tall defender. Winderlich and Hardingham have crucial roles in that way, they need to make sure that they make him and Duffield accountable playing that lead up role. Spurr against Chapman will be interesting, if Chappy gets going like he has in the opening 3 rounds it could spell danger for Fremantle.
Midfield battle (rucks included)
This is where it'll be won and lost as usual. Both have got gun inside midfielders in Mundy and Watson, effective back-up crews in Sylvia, de Boer and Neale for the Dockers and Howlett, Myers and Melksham for the Dons, have very effective taggers in Hocking and Crowley, and the outside run for both sides is excellent as well with the likes of Hill, D Pearce, Mzungu and Suban against Merrett, Stanton, Goddard and Zaharakis. Hocking on Mundy and Crowley on Stanton loom to be the important battles for the night, both taggers could see some time in defence if that's the case. Sandilands on Ryder could be fascinating to see how Freo change their tactics from last week if Essendon do use similar tactics as Hawthorn did. Ryder breaking even in the hitouts to adv. count could make all the difference for Essendon's midfield.
Fremantle forward line vs Essendon defence
This could be crucial for both sides, with Fremantle's forward line being so flexible with the likes of Pavlich, Mayne and Walters all having excellent ability in the air and on the ground, as well as the nagging of Ballantyne, the height of the second ruck combines for a dangerous forward line, and Essendon's defence have been rock solid in the first 3 games, with all of them putting in some excellent performances at one point or another. Hurley on Pavlich looms to be the battle of this part of the ground, followed by Hooker on whoever the resting ruck is.
X-Factor players
Lachie Neale is an interesting little player. He's as tough as nails, likes it inside and can take the hits as well as anybody, especially at his size. He's been in and out of the side and been the sub a few times but he's got all the signs of exploding soon
Kyle Hardingham this year has been a good swingman for Bomber Thompson, as shown in round 1 when he kicked 2 goals in the first half, then in the second went into defence and shut down Lindsay Thomas who had kicked 4 that game already. Fresh off 3 goals against the blues before being subbed he looks like a pretty good X-factor to me.
Key area for each side:
Fremantle:
- Clearances. Sandilands is in excellent form in the hitout department, need to capitalise on it.
Essendon:
- Movement. Essendon's forwards get a bit stagnant at times during the game, and as such it's predictable to what they're going to do
My tip
What a game this should be, and I reckon it'll be another tight contest, but I think Essendon's confidence is going to get them over the line and continue the winning streak against Lyon, so Essendon by 11 points
