Preview Round 11: Gold Coast vs Essendon, Carrara, Wednesday 12/08/2020 @ 7:10 PM

[ant555]

Clarke midfield. Parish forward........Que outrage now .........

 

[OsteitisPubis22]

Alright well, to the naked eye, we have lost this game at the selection table. So instead of being upset when we lose, I’m going to choose to look at the positives.

The starting back 6 has an average of 45 games. Youngest in the AFL.

Dylan Clarke will get the opportunity to just play. No tag, just play.

The forward line is the most experienced part of our team. They must stand up and lead from the front, and out in the effort we need. If not we’ll then it’s time to make some big changes.


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[Schnitzengruben]

Glad they're taking the conservative route with Draper.

 

[Vindicater]

This idea of Clarke playing midfield while the other guys spend more time forward sounds good and sensible and logical.

We all know he’s going to be playing FF out of the square though.

Nah. Half back flanker.

That way we can really maximise his great kicking.

 

[Runk]

Clarke in eh? Guelfi stays in too? And Cutler? Ok!!

 

[blitzer]

I don't mind the team they've named. I think Bellchambers makes a lot of sense for this match and has been rested.
Clarke in I'm happy about as I reckon he deserves some opportunities.
Its a logical week to rest up Hurley as they only really have 2 tall targets and we do have Francis and Zerk-Thatcher fit and ready to go.
Plus we'll still have the intercept marking of Ridley (if he gets up in time) and to a lesser extent Gleeson to help out.
I do think this is a winnable game. If we are able to take advantage of our opportunities well enough.

We'll probably have to rest more players for the St.Kilda game so lets hope some more players like Fantasia/Hooker have recovered for that game in addition to some of the boys that have been running around in the scratch matches because I suspect we'll need every fit body for that one.

 

[CBombers17]

Really glad Clarke is in. Where they play him will be very interesting. Hopefully he's in for a block of games and they actually let him hunt the football.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Clarke in is great. Don’t like the other two changes.

 

[sameolds33]

The best sides know how to look after the ball and play tempo footy. We rarely do it

That's because we're not "the best sides". The best sides know how to do it - we don't

 

[sameolds33]

That's a fair point. You could count on one hand the amount of times we've put the opposition to the sword with our current side. It's almost uncharted territory

My point is that it is uncharted territory for us. People keep complaining about "learnings" and how long it takes to build a game plan. It does take a long time especially when there are lots of injuries to key players. And sometimes it take so long that group misses the window. It happens. It doesn't mean that players are lazy or just picking up a pay cheque.

 

[sameolds33]

TBH it's hard to see exactly where Ess can win this game. Who can turn the tide?

It's where the sum of the parts is greater than the individual components. a win can come if the coaching engenders enough self belief in the team

 

[SherbertLemon]

Clarke forward pocket

 

[eth-dog]

Structurally, we look like:

7 defenders: Gleeson, Ridley, Francis, Zerk-Thatcher, Guelfi, Saad, Redman
5 inside midfielders: McGrath, Parish, Merrett, Shiel, Clarke
3 outside midfielders: Snelling, Langford, Cutler
1 ruck: Bellchambers
6 forwards: Stewart, McKernan, Smith, Walla, Zaka, McKenna

Whereas they're going with:

8 defenders: Budarick, Collins, Lukosius, Powell, Ballard, Harbrow, Lemmens, Bowes (maybe shifted to OM? But played defence most of the year)
5 inside midfielders: Greenwood, Swallow, Miller, Anderson, Fiorini
2 outside midfielders: Weller, Ellis
1 ruck: Witts
6 forwards: Day, Ainsworth, Corbett, Rankine, Ainsworth, Flanders? (Maybe as a mid?)

I'd put Zerk on King, Francis on Day reluctantly, Ridley on Corbett, Saad on Rankine, Gleeson on Ainsworth, Guelfi on Flanders.

 

[Prochard123]

Hey guys, Zac Merrett played more on ball/inside mid recently, is this likely to continue for the game tomorrow?

 

[citizen-erased]

Structurally, we look like:

7 defenders: Gleeson, Ridley, Francis, Zerk-Thatcher, Guelfi, Saad, Redman
5 inside midfielders: McGrath, Parish, Merrett, Shiel, Clarke
3 outside midfielders: Snelling, Langford, Cutler
1 ruck: Bellchambers
6 forwards: Stewart, McKernan, Smith, Walla, Zaka, McKenna

Whereas they're going with:

8 defenders: Budarick, Collins, Lukosius, Powell, Ballard, Harbrow, Lemmens, Bowes (maybe shifted to OM? But played defence most of the year)
5 inside midfielders: Greenwood, Swallow, Miller, Anderson, Fiorini
2 outside midfielders: Weller, Ellis
1 ruck: Witts
6 forwards: Day, Ainsworth, Corbett, Rankine, Ainsworth, Flanders? (Maybe as a mid?)

I'd put Zerk on King, Francis on Day reluctantly, Ridley on Corbett, Saad on Rankine, Gleeson on Ainsworth, Guelfi on Flanders.

such a small fwd line
May see one of the smaller players (Smith, Zaka, McKenna) get up on a wing to bring Langford closer to goal.

 

[CBombers17]

Despite the changes appearing pretty vanilla i am a bit more confident about our chances now that they have added some help on the inside (even if they really didn't want to).

Assuming they play Clarke in the middle i think he offers enough of a dynamic to have a real impact on how we play and the outcome. If he can free up Shiel and McGrath, even just enough, we could actually see this group link up, run, and do some damage with the football (damage to them as opposed to us...), by reducing the dump kicks etc. Merretts output was much better last week, and if he can find space to get the laser going it will be a big factor in providing some actual service to Stewart and Smac - who both need to be on their bikes for us to win.

I also like that we have added more size, strength and aggression in Clarke plus retained Guelfi who also brings that crash, as well as a bit more marking contest. Perhaps now with Clarkes inclusion we see Smith up forward (where he belongs now IMO) partnering with TIppa and the little bull who is pretty much the Richmond prototype with his tackling and pressure.

All in all I think this gives us a much better balance accross the ground with these physical players prepared to hit bodies, tackle and do the grunt work, whilst reducing some of the physical pressure on our midfield group who can hopefully spread a bit more and find some forward targets.

If they understimate us they will lose IMO. They aren't GWS where they can flick a switch. Even then GWS needed luck/help to beat us. Essendon by 9 points.

 

[MiguelM]

GC hardly setting the world on fire.

If we can find intensity we had for the first half last week over 4 quarters we can win.

 

[11kgm]

Would have liked to see Crauford get a gig

 

[CBombers17]

Would have liked to see Crauford get a gig

Same but i think while there is a glimmer of hope for finals they need to play Smac with someone like T-Bell. Be a very big ask for Crauford to play forward and second ruck straight up IMO. Better to play him just as a forward with Smac as well as Draper if/when finals are out of the question.

 

[JayJ20]

I know we only let him tag at AFL level, but I'd like to see Clarke set off the leash on the inside today to see what he is capable of. We can try Guelfi as a tagger if we need to tag.

 

[fairbump_playon]

Personally I’m really looking forward to cementing our finals credentials with a very narrow win over GC tonight.

Mid week game night - bring it on!

 

[Halftimehero]

GC hardly setting the world on fire.

If we can find intensity we had for the first half last week over 4 quarters we can win.

If we found that intensity all the time we would win most weeks, problem is we only see it for a week or a half or a quarter here and there.

Our ability is as good as any side out there, our intensity, execution and consistency is as bad as any team out there.

 

[FlyingV]

Structurally, we look like:

7 defenders: Gleeson, Ridley, Francis, Zerk-Thatcher, Guelfi, Saad, Redman
5 inside midfielders: McGrath, Parish, Merrett, Shiel, Clarke
3 outside midfielders: Snelling, Langford, Cutler
1 ruck: Bellchambers
6 forwards: Stewart, McKernan, Smith, Walla, Zaka, McKenna

Whereas they're going with:

8 defenders: Budarick, Collins, Lukosius, Powell, Ballard, Harbrow, Lemmens, Bowes (maybe shifted to OM? But played defence most of the year)
5 inside midfielders: Greenwood, Swallow, Miller, Anderson, Fiorini
2 outside midfielders: Weller, Ellis
1 ruck: Witts
6 forwards: Day, Ainsworth, Corbett, Rankine, Ainsworth, Flanders? (Maybe as a mid?)

I'd put Zerk on King, Francis on Day reluctantly, Ridley on Corbett, Saad on Rankine, Gleeson on Ainsworth, Guelfi on Flanders.

Your post has pointed out how shite our outside midfielders are... and that our inside midfielders should actually be outside midfielders... and that because we have no inside midfielders, we have no outside midfielders and basically now they’re all resting forwards.
Go Bombers.

 

[vass44]

Really looking forward to the game tonight - like big Bellcho and Clarke coming in - I think once the game settles we will line up like;-

Francis Zerk Gleeson
Redman Ridley Saad
Merrett Shiel Parish
Snelling Langford McKenna
McKernan Stewart Tippa

Bellcho Clarke McGrath

Smith Guelfi Cutler Zakka


Comon Dons - win this and we are still in the mix for finals!


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[JuniorWatch]

Structurally, we look like:

7 defenders: Gleeson, Ridley, Francis, Zerk-Thatcher, Guelfi, Saad, Redman
5 inside midfielders: McGrath, Parish, Merrett, Shiel, Clarke
3 outside midfielders: Snelling, Langford, Cutler
1 ruck: Bellchambers
6 forwards: Stewart, McKernan, Smith, Walla, Zaka, McKenna

Whereas they're going with:

8 defenders: Budarick, Collins, Lukosius, Powell, Ballard, Harbrow, Lemmens, Bowes (maybe shifted to OM? But played defence most of the year)
5 inside midfielders: Greenwood, Swallow, Miller, Anderson, Fiorini
2 outside midfielders: Weller, Ellis
1 ruck: Witts
6 forwards: Day, Ainsworth, Corbett, Rankine, Ainsworth, Flanders? (Maybe as a mid?)

I'd put Zerk on King, Francis on Day reluctantly, Ridley on Corbett, Saad on Rankine, Gleeson on Ainsworth, Guelfi on Flanders.

Lemmens plays fwd. Think Flanders will play more mid and Swallow will have a rest fwd.