Post match: vs StKilda

[mxett]

Did you see the drop-kick in the first half as he was running towards 50? Id prefer to see Hocking get more of a go.

Yes I laughed a heap when I saw the old drop kick bought back!

Would have been even better if he had meant it!

 

[adamcf]

It was good to see the young blokes out there having a dip. I just feel they have a little way to go in relation to disposal and tackling technique. I can't fault their effort at the ball, but no doubt the steadying influence of Fletch down back will help them.

I do feel that you can only have one of Ryder or Dempsey down back and at the moment Ryder gets the nod.

I thought that the ruckmen were beaten around the ground by both King and Gardiner. Laycock looked like he ran out of steam in the last quarter. His pack marking was very good, however, his set shot kicking left a bit to be desired.

Great effort so far for the boys. Ease in Fletch and Lloyd next week and into Round 1

Btw, how good was SOM (Son of Merv)

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Don't get too excited about Jay folks. He got 2 soft goals and looked like he would struggle to outrun Stewie Dew.

Monfries - my fears about him were highlighted again tonight. Struggles to compete against the bigger, stronger bodies. He just seems a little small and not quick enough to make an impact at times.

Disappointing games from Johns, Welsh and a few others.

Dick and Chartres are not even close to AFL standard.

Positives were :

Dempsey - continues to improve and show us he has what it takes
Stanton - looked good in his first game and his kicking was sublime.
Nash - Pretty good once again. Has the hbf role locked in
Peverill - Another good game. Made a few mistakes but I think we'll need either him of JJ for round 1. Pev is miles in front.
Watson - starting to work into the game and was getting some clearances towards the end
Ryder - Athleticism is just fantastic. Needs to put it all together a little more but he's about to bust it open.

In the end it was left to too few and we didnt' have the depth of quality to get over a pretty strong Saints side, midfield wise.

 

[ant555]

I would suggest that Pevs disposal has been far better this season and we had players that missed more targets than him tonight.

He is ordinary in defence. Twice he ran to the wrong side of a contest rather than sticking on Dal Santo and both times the Saints got a goal.
If Pev, JJ and Watson all play in the same side for most of the year we will finish bottom 4. None of them have the ability to catch anyone from the opposition when the footy goes back the other way and they really struggle to run to position. Watson wins the reprive out of the three becasue he is extremely good in the clearance's.

 

[Merv]

Did you see the drop-kick in the first half as he was running towards 50? Id prefer to see Hocking get more of a go.

Yes i did see that, and it was actually that he changed his mind just as he was about to drop the ball.

That is one instance.....

Hocking is not fighting for Pevs position

 

[essendon]

It has been a good 3 weeks to date and its only February, there are some good signs there, but I hope our kids get rotated during the year and not suffer any fadeouts, I'm only worried about this happy handball disposal game which looks good when it works but it doesnt work all the time I hope there is a plan B by knighter b/c it will come under scrutiny by the opposition and it will make for a frustrating year other wise if they just stick to this type of gameplan

But in all good start bombers, have given us something to look forward too
this year


Jay Neagle
Leroy Jetta
Dempensay
Reimers
Houli
Ryder
Gumbleton
Myers
Pears
Hocking
Daniher


........remember tonite we also had no
Lloyd
Fletcher
Mcphee
NLM
Winderlich
Lovett
Dyson (based on his first 2 games this yr)

who would all start in the best 22

 

[Blind Turn]

Slatts. Stuff all possessions and still gives away dumb free kicks.


Slattery would want to be doing a magnificent nullifying job coz he's a liability in any attacking sense.

The goal under pressure by CJ gives me hope that he might stiull offer something. He just doesn't know how to find space in the forward 50. He always seems to lead into oncoming traffic.

 

[ant555]

Don't get too excited about Jay folks. He got 2 soft goals and looked like he would struggle to outrun Stewie Dew.

Monfries - my fears about him were highlighted again tonight. Struggles to compete against the bigger, stronger bodies. He just seems a little small and not quick enough to make an impact at times.

Disappointing games from Johns, Welsh and a few others.

Dick and Chartres are not even close to AFL standard.

Positives were :

Dempsey - continues to improve and show us he has what it takes
Stanton - looked good in his first game and his kicking was sublime.Nash - Pretty good once again. Has the hbf role locked in
Peverill - Another good game. Made a few mistakes but I think we'll need either him of JJ for round 1. Pev is miles in front.
Watson - starting to work into the game and was getting some clearances towards the end
Ryder - Athleticism is just fantastic. Needs to put it all together a little more but he's about to bust it open.

In the end it was left to too few and we didnt' have the depth of quality to get over a pretty strong Saints side, midfield wise.

Yaeh Stants looked really good if you ignored his total lack of defensive pressure or his abosolute unwillingness to shepherd or block on top of his ordinary efforts in the marking department.

 

[mxett]

If Pev, JJ and Watson all play in the same side for most of the year we will finish bottom 4.

Agree. Look at all the good sides. Their midfield is quick and have excellent disposal. A midfield of JJ, Pev and Watson is slow with ordinary disposal at best. We need other options and now!

 

[Merv]

He is ordinary in defence. Twice he ran to the wrong side of a contest rather than sticking on Dal Santo and both times the Saints got a goal.
If Pev, JJ and Watson all play in the same side for most of the year we will finish bottom 4. None of them have the ability to catch anyone from the opposition when the footy goes back the other way and they really struggle to run to position. Watson wins the reprive out of the three becasue he is extremely good in the clearance's.

I understand that but i was commenting on his disposal.

People are canning him, based on the their pre conceived ideas on his disposal, it has improved out of sight this pre season.

I don't think he is a defender either but it is a pre season, so let's see what happens when the real stuff starts.

 

[mxett]

It has been a good 3 weeks to date and its only February, there are some good signs there, but I hope our kids get rotated during the year and not suffer any fadeouts, I'm only worried about this happy handball disposal game which looks good when it works but it doesnt work all the time I hope there is a plan B by knighter b/c it will come under scrutiny by the opposition and it will make for a frustrating year other wise if they just stick to this type of gameplan

But in all good start bombers, have given us something to look forward too
this year


Jay Neagle
Leroy Jetta
Dempensay
Reimers
Houli
Ryder
Gumbleton
Myers
Pears
Hocking
Daniher


........remember tonite we also had no
Lloyd
Fletcher
Mcphee
NLM
Winderlich
Lovett
Dyson (based on his first 2 games this yr)

who would all start in the best 22

Where was Houli??

 

[douggie the don]

Spot on Merv.

And on Peveril, I thought he was ok tonight. He's ahead of JJ for me and provides more than Watson who looks to have lost a yard of pace. (if that is possible!)

Huh?????

 

[essendon]

Houli was sitting in Aisle 12, 3 rows in front of me with Jetta having a rest

 

[mxett]

Houli was sitting in Aisle 12, 3 rows in front of me with Jetta having a rest

Thanks. I missed the first quarter so I wasnt sure if he played and got injured early. We missed his attack on the ball tonight.

 

[dave_27]

Huh?????

I meant to say more run.

And their aint no one who could disagree with that.

 

[SirJimi05]

Considering the forward set-up just didnt work for half the match it was fairly good effort. Hooker, dont know what the recruiting staff have seen in this kid but I dont see anything at all, better kids in suburban leagues. Peverill just aint gonna win us matches, skills are horrible. Great to see Neagle make defenders hurt but has his pre-season consisted of 3 laps and a rubdown? Will be a star. Good effort from a far from full strength side.

Peveril was in our best few players tonight.

Hooker was drafted as a low end project player. Do you expect him to come in and set the world on fire?

 

[ant555]

I understand that but i was commenting on his disposal.

People are canning him, based on the their pre conceived ideas on his disposal, it has improved out of sight this pre season.

I don't think he is a defender either but it is a pre season, so let's see what happens when the real stuff starts.

Im telling you now that we will finish bottom 4 again if we play the same midfield we have been playing for the last 3 years. It has been what i have watched the most in the last two weeks to see what has changed. Sitting on the wing on level three gives you a good perspective on how things unfold. The lack of ability to be able to run to parts of the ground to shut down the run or to have the ability to run with an opponent was very evident when Watson, JJ and Pev where all on the ground at the same time.
I really admire Pev for making a career from the ability he has and i have always been a huge JJ fan but they are pretty much finished with the style of footy they play today. The only thing that saves Watson is his ability to win the footy in the middle.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

He is ordinary in defence. Twice he ran to the wrong side of a contest rather than sticking on Dal Santo and both times the Saints got a goal.
If Pev, JJ and Watson all play in the same side for most of the year we will finish bottom 4. None of them have the ability to catch anyone from the opposition when the footy goes back the other way and they really struggle to run to position. Watson wins the reprive out of the three becasue he is extremely good in the clearance's.

Yep, we can't have 3 of those guys in at the same time. I think alot of us have been saying that for a while yet Sheeds persisted with it last season.

I think we might need to go with 2 as we will need the experience and bigger bodies.

Watson and Pev rotating off the bench with a lot of runners around them woudl be the go for me unless ( i can't believe I'm saying this ) Dyson can translate his NAB form to the real thing.

Houli would be a monty for me to be rotated through the middle off the bench.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Yaeh Stants looked really good if you ignored his total lack of defensive pressure or his abosolute unwillingness to shepherd or block on top of his ordinary efforts in the marking department.

Couldn't see that from where I was sitting ( the couch ).

I'm willing to cut him a little slack if he can get the pill the way he does.

 

[mustard]

Neagle is another reason why us DONS should be excited

 

[FullFathom5]

Peverill is probably the second best tag in the team (after McVeigh). I can't see anybody else doing a shut down job on a blue ribbon midfielder. Come to think of it, most of our running brigade are unproven on the defensive side of midfield. Hence the focus on team defense over the summer.

The coach did a great job in trying to whack out old habits. It will take time and a couple of wins should boost membership. Like most pundits, I think that Essendon will have high highs and low lows this season owing to (a) youth and (b) a new game plan.

 

[SIR SAINT HOTDOG]

Umpiring aside.

Neagle great. Great mark.

I don't think they were that much better than us at all. They made it look a bot easier though, but we had them as bedazzled at times as Lions and Dogs.

Lucas had a bad night kicking, and Welsh missed a sitter with a stupid checkside attempt. He should have just kicked through it.

Alot to like. Kositzke (sp?) and Gehrig aside, that was a fair St Kilda side out there.

PS: I was at the game near the Bombers supporters goal end. I really thought there might be a riot. I have never seen so much anger at the Umps in a Pre Season match. lol

dont forget our first 4 backman

Hudgton,Fisher,Maguire and Goddard

 

[lemon chicken]

Peveril was in our best few players tonight.

Hooker was drafted as a low end project player. Do you expect him to come in and set the world on fire?

What did you like about Pev's game?

Id like to see Hooker find some space and look like taking a mark. I know WAFL reserves to AFL is a big step but I aint seeing much in the way of raw talent. Looks to have no standout feature to his game apart from youthful willingness.

 

[SirJimi05]

Good comments all round. Pev is gone. We have enough young talent to let him miss targets at Bendigo.

Funny about Jay too. He's raw, but shows a heap.

Pev was close to our best player tonight.

He is a better kick than half the blokes in the team.

Was i watching a totally different game of football tonight?

 

[iDon]

Worked and got to see the last quater and a half thought our kicking was shocking in that time targets were missed, kicks were to the advantage of the defender, werent running into good posistions.