Preview Round 10: Essendon Bombers vs Oliver Twist Kangaroos, Marvel Stadium, Sunday 19th May, 1:10pm

[silk]

Sliding doors moment…​

Alastair Clarkson reveals how 'basket case' Bombers blew it in their bid to sign him​

https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/alastair-clarkson-north-melbourne-coach-essendon-approach-too-late/5296bf72-2382-4cbc-a10c-4da30caeb68e

 

[Just A Tragic]

I went to the Nth - GC game with my boy as he loves all things footy. It is hard to overstate how poor North looked. It was a humid night and skills all around low, but they just all seemed very low on everything. Confidence, energy, and belief.

While I don't trust our team just yet, if they bring the right attitude, this has the potential to teach the group they don't have to grind all wins, but can also just be better.

On the other hand, if we don't bring the right attitude, it has the potential to remind everyone we still have a lot of maturing as a group to do.

Hopefully those learning have been made.

 

[ghostdog]

Round 10 sees us play in Melbourne two weeks in a row for the first time this season against the plucky spirited and always-fighting North Kangaroos as they try to avoid their 11th loss of the season… and I can’t bothered.. I was going to try and write an agnostic preview for this game I usually do just to fire up the north nuffies on BigFooty.. But they are just so s**t this season.. What’s the point?

Essendon is flying (pun intended) and is happily sitting in the top 4 after 9 games. It’s been 5 weeks since we last lost a game but the lid is still on even if the can is bursting at the seams right now. We’ve had many false dawns before, but something feels different about this one. I’ve moved from doubtful to... cautiously optimistic on the belief scale.

---

The Round That Was

Revenge is a dish best served on a cold Saturday afternoon. What a game that was! All was looking dire in the first quarter; we were on the back foot right away, kicking only 1 goal to their 4. Our turnovers were costly. Hogan took some early grabs and kicked and goal and suddenly a feeling of Deja Vu crept in, but the Essendon team has cojones.

Guelfi was awesome, Durham was awesome. Mckay was awesome, Merret was Merret. Langford is the beast! Redman’s back. Martin is AA. Great team effort all around.

ESSENDON 1.2 4.6 9.9 12.10 (82)
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY 4.3 6.6 8.7 9.8 (62)

GOALS
Essendon: Langford 4, Guelfi 3, Stringer, Redman, Perkins, Hind, Davey
Greater Western Sydney: Hogan 2, Greene 2, Stone, Riccardi, Kelly, Jones, Bedford

BEST
Essendon: Durham, Langford, Martin, Caldwell, Merrett, Redman, McKay
Greater Western Sydney: Green, Briggs, Coniglio, Taylor, Kelly

INJURIES
Essendon: Nil
Greater Western Sydney: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
Essendon: Ben Hobbs (replaced Alwyn Davey jnr in the fourth quarter)
Greater Western Sydney: Harvey Thomas (replaced Conor Stone in the fourth quarter)

Crowd: 37,295 at Marvel Stadium

Oh and just in case you missed it! 3rd!

North on the other hand… well bau you for them.

GOLD COAST 2.4 5.12 10.14 17.18 (120)
NORTH MELBOURNE 1.4 2.5 4.7 7.10 (52)

GOALS
Gold Coast: King 3, Walter 2, Long 2, Clohesy 2, Ainsworth 2, Witts, Sexton, Rogers, Miller, Johnston, Anderson
North Melbourne: Stephenson 2, Zurhaar, Tucker, Larkey, Davies-Uniacke, Curtis

BEST
Gold Coast: Flanders, Miller, Andrew, Clohesy, Collins, Anderson, Uwland
North Melbourne: Davies-Uniacke, Powell, Comben, McKercher, Fisher

INJURIES
Gold Coast: Nil
North Melbourne: Archer (foot)

SUBSTITUTES
Gold Coast: Bailey Humphrey (replaced Alex Davies at three-quarter time)
North Melbourne: Charlie Lazzaro (replaced Blake Drury during the third quarter)

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The Last Time We Met

Let’s be honest here.. This was a moral loss. We beat North twice last year by a combined winning margin was 15 points.. Actually, it was hecken hilarious! It had the Northies up and about and pretending that they were the real winners. Mckay was bloody good the last time we played him and I’m a little bit worri.. Oh wait.

NORTH MELBOURNE 3.0 6.1 9.3 12.5 (77)
ESSENDON 2.1 5.2 10.4 13.8 (86)

GOALS
North Melbourne: Larkey 5, Stephenson 2, Cunnington 2, Simpkin, Ford, Davies-Uniacke
Essendon: Martin 3, Langford 3, Wright 2, Menzie 2, Tsatas, Perkins, Guelfi

BEST
North Melbourne: Davies-Uniacke, Larkey, Cunnington, Thomas, Sheezel
Essendon: Martin, Parish, Langford, Tsatas, Redman, Hobbs

INJURIES
North Melbourne: Simpkin (arm)
Essendon: Nil

LATE CHANGES
North Melbourne: Nil
Essendon: Will Snelling replaced in selected side by Kaine Baldwin

SUBSTITUTES
North Melbourne: Charlie Lazzaro (replaced Jackson Archer at three-quarter time)
Essendon: Will Snelling (replaced Nick Bryan in fourth quarter)

Crowd: 37,231 at Marvel Stadium

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The Selection Table

Possible Outs -
Hobbs - Full game somewhere needed
Davey -
Heppel - (Rest if he needs it)

Possible Ins -
Roberts
Tsatas - Very good in the VFL.. so I’ve read
Davey -
Bryan - Not sure for who, but he is good form.

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My Prediction - I don’t normally pick big winning margins; I know Essendon too well, but this should and will be a 30+ point win.

---

Housekeeping - Going to be a guest doing the preview next week.. Assuming ghostdog still wants to to do it, now that Richmond are truly back to their true selves.

Sure can
I will try my best.

 

[JayJ20]

One thing North will do is give it everything they have so I also believe it'll be a close game. We're good enough to run away with it in the 4th quarter similar to what we did to Hawthorn.

Bottom sides tend to play well against us because we haven't yet earned the respect of being a proper top 8 team. I suspect they'll see us as an opportunity for a big upset and we need to be prepared for that. It was only late last year that North pushed us.

 

[Runk]

I want to see every Norf player's head patted after the win. No shaking hands, pat the heads!!

 

[HirdsTheWord]

pleasure to be part of Norths grand final as always

kanga kanga kanga roo roo roo

 

[cAsEy_18]

I forsee a 25-30 point win that is actually perfectly acceptable in the grand scheme of things, but will have people up in arms about players "getting ahead of themselves" etc...

North cannot score. I don't think they have the genuine ability to possess the ball well enough and attack consistently enough with any decent targets up there.

Having said that, if they choose to then play a overly exaggerated defensive gameplan - pile big numbers back, that kind of thing. For all our better performances, we're not yet equipped to be 20-22 goals on a team. We're playing a fantastically contested, physical, nothing easy for the opposition type of style which is fantastic. We still have a ways to go in terms of scoring opportunity generation.

I can see us being about 20 points up basically all game, and everyone feeling underwhelmed, with North technically still being "in it" on the scoreboard for most of the day, but never really being in it.

And that's okay.

 

[The Donners]

OUT: Jones & Heppell
IN: Tsatas & Roberts

Team;-

Kelly McKay Lav
Martin Redman McGrath
Hind Parish Tsatas
Perkins Stringer Gresham
2MP Langford Guelfi

Goldy Durham Merrett

Bench: Caldwell Hobbs Roberts ADavey
SUB: Cox

2MP needs to start clunking some marks - hopefully North can play him back into form


The following week for dreamtime bring in JDavey - let the two Davey's light up the G..!!

Is Hepp injured or you thinking a rest? Didn’t think he’d be good enough to hold his spot this year but he has been.

 

[Pweter]

A strong win will be evidence our mental maturity has taken a step forwards. Falling over the line or, heaven forbid, coming second, will show we're not nearly as advanced as many would like to think.

 

[mcgrath_truther]

wouldn’t mind heppell getting a rest, he’s earned it. old codger needs a break

 

[Gabe251]

Media hype around bombers is truly in full swing.

Please block it out boys.

 

[Phat Toni]

Almost feel sorry for the North supporters been bloody tough going for about 5 years....... then i remember they lead the charge on "how many days since we won a final" campaign...... Well how about this, by Sunday its going to 2927 days since they have beaten us, so im hoping Stringer kicks 10, McKay takes 20 intercept marks, Goldy is BOG and Brad is seen to flipping them the bird as he walks to the car park after the game, then Ill never think about them again until the same game next year

 

[Milanista28]

Can't expect Norf to play as bad vs us as they have been, and tbf it doesn't matter how they play, we control what we can with our effort, if we bring the right mindset we win.

 

[andleanback]

Reid in for laverde

 

[outersanctum]

Hes already signed for another 3

Im not talking about legened status, im talking about happy to have him for the next 3 years, nothing will change my mind on that as i already wanted him beforehand and also what hes done so far

By ruthless at selection table what do you want him to do?

So ruthless at selection for me looks different week by week but I'd be looking to rotate a guy like Jones and Davey.. both have shown glimpses but haven't actually been that great. So giving the next blokes in a four week stint and seeing how they respond in the VFL. Being able to make the tougher calls on guys like Draper... I know he is injured now but before that.. Does he justify selection. Heppell is playing good footy BUT can Scott make the call if he drops away/ do we need to blood the next guy etc?

Ruthless can look like leaving shiel in the VFL until a spot opens up. It means picking guys on form rather than past glory/name basis. Can Scott ignore the 'win now' pressure to make sure we are still developing. Our progress this year has been excellent to watch.. truly great stuff.. but we are not ready for a premiership run this year. We aren't. So making sure that we don't get sucked into that narrative and that we continue to focus not on 'making finals' but 'winning finals'. I realise that probably makes no sense but I just feel that we have been too focussed on top 8 finishes rather than focussing on how to build a list capable of dominating.

I want a culture that doesn't promote fear (ie one bad game doesn't see you dropped) but also promotes competition (fail to achieve the standard/don't play your role - 2 chances and then back to the VFL).. and breeds effort and ongoing quality.

That is what I mean by ruthless at selection table. Perform or your are out of the team.

 

[Beerfish]

How many days has it been since they won a game?

 

[faible]

How many days has it been since they won a game?

By win a game you mean 'lose the Harley Reid cup' right?

 

[TheGrizz]

This would be the week for me to blood a debutant or two.

Any one (or two) of Jayden Davey, Archie Roberts or Hayes would be fine by me.

Davey looked the goods vs Williamstown and it would be cool to debut him with his brother in the side.

I would drop Hobbs for Davey and let him play 100% midfield time at VFL to build his form, and maybe rest Heppell (who is in good touch) for Roberts.

 

[windyhill]

Do norf still do their grand final breakfast this week ?

 

[Beerfish]

By win a game you mean 'lose the Harley Reid cup' right?

Ahhh that's right.

 

[Ati Tude]

Not sure I'd make any changes except perhaps to rest Hepp. Think it is important to keep playing Davey and Jones. Give them a chance against weaker opposition. Need to give them the opportunity to cash in when they might get a few goals. Scott has talked a lot about system and those guys play their part.

 

[faible]

Ahhh that's right.

Even when they won... they lost.

 

[maskmcgee]

We can't possibly go into the Carlton game on a 8 game undefeated streak, we're doomed we're going to lose one of these games.

 

[ant555]

This would be the week for me to blood a debutant or two.

Any one (or two) of Jayden Davey, Archie Roberts or Hayes would be fine by me.

Davey looked the goods vs Williamstown and it would be cool to debut him with his brother in the side.

I would drop Hobbs for Davey and let him play 100% midfield time at VFL to build his form, and maybe rest Heppell (who is in good touch) for Roberts.

Are we really in a spot to be doing this ?
It has taken us 20 years to get this sort of buy in back in the side. We have gradually improved our defensive efforts across the season as well. I am not sure it would be great for our development and the standards we are trying to set personally. Not sure the captain is on board with any lets give him a go thoughts either. They are trying to rid the club of sub standard attitude. My view is no free hits.
I know we are still in it for the long haul and we need to fill a few spots before we can really be considered genuine consistent top 4 contenders but I like how they are driving standards first.

Davey had zero tackles and from what I have watched in the first half very limited pressure as well. It was great he finally found a bit more of the footy and kicked 3 goals but lets see it over a few weeks and see the tackle count at 4 or 5 and not 0. He has also not been the best trainer.

From what I understand they are still working on Roberts defensive running which is why he has not been in serious consideration so far despite his form looking good.

Hayes I could entertain for Laverde although in saying that Lav was pretty good after 1/4 time.

 

[ant555]

Heppell does not need a rest. Does not look tired. Is not carrying an injury. Is only 32 and not 42.