Preview North Melbourne V Essendon rd 1

[Kimbo]

The winner will be showered with glory and the loser taunted until my throat is sore!

Your throat will be fine Lance.

 

[blackkav]

I'm officially bored with the fact you don't acknowledge any rivalry with North. I honestly couldn't give a ****.

Now stop clogging up the thread with inane s**t.

Don't acknowledge one because it isn't there.
Fair enough your board your thread. Seeya

 

[Kcrack]

Be nice Tef...

 

[ThePezDispenser]

Essendon supporters over rating their side as per usual...

 

[Old Skool]

Be nice Tef...

He's crapping up the entire thread and undermining his original premise of indifference by continually carping on about it.

We need to set the opposition knob allowance to a 16 years and over age limit.

 

[GarnerSmash]

Essendon supporters over rating their side as per usual...

It's the 'we're good because, well, we are Essington' thing. Typical protestant upset middle class entitled w***er attitude. No real depth to their sheltered cultural existence.

 

[Gimp]

Do Essendon people actually believe what they're saying?

All supporters feel the need to show some bravado when talking about their team but my god, they're all enormously delusional. I have no issue admitting North aren't world beaters but when reading Bombers supporters posts you'd think they had won the last 5 flags.

After watching the majority of Essendon games last year there was nothing to write home about other than a few bursts of excellence, which all teams show at one stage or another. For them to reach the heights expected by Bomber fans this year they'd want to have stolen more than just the coach from Geelong, would need to have adopted their entire midfield as well.

 

[Woodson]

Over the offseason I've done a bit of lurking on the Essendon and if I could sum up what they are saying regarding us, we are a very s**t side. The consensus over their board is we a very average side, they have us covered all over the field and we rely heavily on one player in Boomer.

Yet despite all that, the head to head record in say....the past 10 years doesn't get much of a mention . I'll leave it that.

Essendon supporters over rating their side as per usual...

Damn right... call it blind love or whatever.. it's funny how every time they play North it's the same 'OTT expectation' (from them) then the big kick in the pants result that sends them cowering with their tails between their legs.

Even though it's R1, it's still a eight point game. Not much in it. Hopefully North can hold that momentum and run out the game.

 

[Woodson]

It's the 'we're good because, well, we are Essington' thing. Typical protestant upset middle class entitled w***er attitude. No real depth to their sheltered cultural existence.

Best to not get sucked in to lowering our standards to theirs.. by misspelling their team name..just lowercase is enough. One thing to remember that their coach was GOOD ENOUGH to be walking off the field **WEARING** the NORTH jumper while Arch just threw his (essendon jumper) over his shoulder like a mechanic does with a dirty oily rag after a C of a day @ the office. Enough said.

 

[roosmad]

This is the most important game of our season in my opinion......

we need to get off to a flyer a number of teams should improve similiar to ourselves, and teams like the bumbers we need to beat to take their place in the 8, personaly i think our pre season was so so nothing special...

i can not understand people saying we have them covered??????

essenscum always get off to a flyer, happens every year, they get a couple of what we believe are s**t players have awesome games and next thing they are 4 zip.....

Want to win, think we can win but we need to play 4 good quarters...

 

[Juryduty]

There is a shitfight going on now between north an essendon supporters which was stirred up a long time ago by HAD and SLF has stoked the coals on our board for ages.
Doesn't make it a Rivalry. If I hated North there is no reason why I would deny it.


edit- but each to their own, I only followed AFL since 95 so I might have missed a few defining moments that others arround here still feel.

So since you have only been following the AFL since 1995 and you are still very unsure how North Melbourne has a strong rivalry with the bombers, I guess you have not missed a lot with these two sides I suppose.....

Except for 2 of the greatest games ever played in the history of VFL/AFL football in 1999 and 2001, which I am sure will irk fellow North supporters on here as we lost both games, the second one I still hate to think about to this day.

 

[nickh32]

Great review. I don't think McVeigh will play on boomer, has spent most of the pre season playing forward. Heppell will spend more time on the wing so hibberd will probably play half back. Also not sure if Carlisle will play. Didn't play against the lions was in the vfl and wasn't very good. Still hoping for a late rookie promotion and Corey dell'olio gets a game.

 

[shinboner magic]

Essendon are bad losers and even worse winners.

Blame ths upms like you did last season.

The team with the most running bounces will win this one

 

[Groggyk]

Nice op.

But I'm calling it now, Hansens won't play.

 

[Dan]

Nice op.

But I'm calling it now, Hansens won't play.

On injury or team structure?

 

[Groggyk]

I think he's obviously carrying, Dan.

Hasn't played for about 3 weeks really if you count Carbs report of him being pulled from the ground early on the weekend.

On structure, he's a walk up start.

 

[AlwaysRight]

Should be a great game, looking forward to seeing Goldstein/McIntosh vs Ryder/Hille. Essendon obviously with an almost full strength squad and revised defensive gameplan should look a much better team from last year. Unless Petrie has another 6+ goal game i find it hard to see you guys scoring over 90 and as long as Essendon utilise our talls to get the mismatch im sure we can take full advantage.
Im looking forward to seeing the role that Jetta and McVeigh play on saturday, they've almost swapped positions throughout the NAB cup although with Dempsey back and looking good i think we have much better options in Heppel, Hardingham and Hibberd.
Also looking forward to seeing Tarrant after what i assume was an uninterrupted pre season.

Should be a really good head to head battle in the midfield, Essendon obviously struggled last year at times although we seem to have a lot more options that can rotate through the guts. Hopefully Wells goes alright, could easily be the most damaging player on the ground if he turns up and i cant see anyone being able to stick with him if he gets away. Colyer looks to be a much more consistent performer and will hopefully be playing a similar role that cunnington/zaharakis normally play

Hurley and Crameri compliment eachother amazingly and in tandom with Hille and Ryder resting forward North will need to be switched on as any of those guys could really get away and are all very capable forwards.

Im hoping our coaching staff actually show up this time though, it was unbelievable how many times you guys got away with kicking it to the same spot in the kick outs with the same effect.

should be a great game, with not a lot in it. Essendon by 15 and North to be very competitive for the 8 this year, only way i can see you guys not making it is through the quality of competition from other teams. Theres about 10 or 11 teams that do have the potential to make the 8 so it should be interesting to see how we fair considering we see our next premiership window being around 2013/14

 

[Keystone agony]

Should be a great game. Looking at the NAB form both teams seem in pretty good shape, but i hate to say it North looking in slightly better form and should be favourites heading in IMO.

NO Ziebell, Grima, Greenwood (will he play or is he simply not best 22 anymore?), possibly Hansen by the sounds of it although being pulled from the ground early could mean they are happy with what they saw and got enough game time into him for a 75-80% TOG match in round 1.

I think Essendon could win with dominance in the middle and i think Ziebell is a massive loss, if Greenwood doesnt play he should. Watson, Hocking, Zaka, Myers are some fairly sized bodies that are great around the contest and clearance situations. I think Hocking could do a number on Swallow if Essendon want that to be the case and than im not sure who will stand up and get the clearances after that. Cunnington, Bastinac? either too small or unproven, Wells not physically ready just yet against those bodies and preferable on the wing.

Does Liam Anthony get the job on Watson?

Edit: Just read OP

You got most of the matchups right. Zaka wont go head to head to wells I dont think.

I expect Fletcher vs Thomas, Hardingham vs Edwards, Hooker vs Petrie, Pears vs Tarrant, Hibberd vs Harvey. Than you guys have Adams (either Dempsey or Heppell will get him).

Adams, Wells, Harvey will have (Dempsey, Hibberd, Heppell) on them. I hope no one else. Who Hird thinks is best for them could go anyway.

I think you guys will tag either Stanton or Zaka. Im leaning towards Zaka because of his skill and finishing and B&F. I think with Anthony doing the jobs he has done in the NAB (judd) he will be an ideal matchup for either but especially Zaka as he can play HBF, deep back or defensively up on the wing.

I think we would be crazy not to send Hocking to Swallow and like wise Greenwood to Watson. (HOWEVER I DOUBT GREENWOOD WILL PLAY, NOT IN THE BEST SIDE). So it will most likley be Cunners vs Watson, Hocking vs Swallow. We are not going to let any of your proven 3 midfielders run around free (Swallow, Harvey and Wells).

I personally would like to see Wells and Stants go head to head. Cant wait for them to bother about manning up . Melksham is also another good head to head battle with him, Zaka is not.

Up front it seems we could well be starting Mcveigh. Carlisle wont play round 1. Mullet will also play for you guys and could well go to Mcveigh or Monfries or someone like that.

FWIW im only going to look at the last 2 weeks of NAB with any importance. Jobe had a game against Sydney where he had 85% disposal efficiency (27 posses) and than 59% vs Brisbane (22-24 posses). So the great discrepancy can be seen between his good games vs his poor games. He could cut you apart if on, or turn the footy over 40% of the time. Hes far far a better footballer than Matthew Boyd.

Its funny how the OP focused on all the strengths of the roo players and all the weaknesses of the don players. Its natural bias.

What a game this is going to be.

 

[The Chiefton]

I think Dustin Fletcher will take a smaller forward, like he did last year when he lined up on Leigh Adams.

If we can stop the run of Dempsey off half back, the aerial ability of Ryder, and the creativity of blokes like Zaharakis and Heppell, we are a good chance to get the points yet again.

Watson is going to play good as usual, and he's always a real worry, but I'm backing Swallow to break even with him in another epic head to head battle.

We really need Hamish and Goldstein to work, especially this week, so that it gives us, and them, confidence for the 2012 season.

 

[Old Skool]

Should be a really good head to head battle in the midfield, Essendon obviously struggled last year at times although we seem to have a lot more options that can rotate through the guts.

Am I missing something?

 

[sross]

Nice op.

But I'm calling it now, Hansens won't play.

I think he's obviously carrying, Dan.

Hasn't played for about 3 weeks really if you count Carbs report of him being pulled from the ground early on the weekend.

On structure, he's a walk up start.

The Herald-Sun today on page 65 in the Footy Shorts column says Hansen is ruled out after re-injuring a hamstring in the VFL last weekend.

 

[Old Skool]

The Herald-Sun today on page 65 in the Footy Shorts column says Hansen is ruled out after re-injuring a hamstring in the VFL last weekend.

**** it!

No Grima, No Hansen...........Essendon will definately go tall up forward now.

 

[ozzyoslo]

**** it!

No Grima, No Hansen...........Essendon will definately go tall up forward now.

Pedo goes to the back line tef.......not my preference but he´s shown enough that he has the tools to do the job required. Keys looks a certainty as well now after last weekends performance.

I cant wait for this game........reading some of these bombre´s comments has got me bubbling with rage over here and has reminded me how much I hate their arrogant crap. The game will go either way but gee I really want it to go favorably for us.

 

[Old Skool]

Pedo goes to the back line tef.......not my preference but he´s shown enough that he has the tools to do the job required. Keys looks a certainty as well now after last weekends performance.

I would be taking Luke Delaney ahead of Pederson to combat a key forward.

Thompson can take Hurley, but we are going to need a genuine overhead nullifying defender for Ryder and Hille.

 

[Handsome.B.Wonderful]

If we have neither Grima or Hansen is it time to throw in both sets of Keys?

Probably not.

I think it's a bit of a fallacy that Essendon's tall forwards would maul us actually.

Apart from Hurley who is obviously going to cause trouble (for Car Keys I'd imagine) they have Ryder who is just as likely to take 10 marks as he is to take none. If he does take 10 marks he is as likely to kick 6 goals as he is to kick none.

SDT is the man for Ryder. If he can keep Goodes quiet like he did last year then he certainly has the capability to keep Ryder quiet.

As for Crameri......McMahon?