Preview Round 14: Hawthorne vs Essendon, Adelaide Oval, Thursday 27/08/2020 @ 4:40 AEST

Who shall have more points by full time?


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Swerving Irv

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Dec 2, 2019
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The difference between the two is that Phillips is a better tap ruckman and concedes marginally fewer free kicks. He's not a good player.

He was okay. We overrated that performance, myself included, at the time due to the fact Bellchambers is super cooked.
Wrong. McKernan's actually a very good tap ruckman. He's just 2-3cm undersized and gives away far too many free kicks. He's played some absolute blinders in the ruck for us. I'd venture to say that his best games in the ruck were better than anything Bellchambers has given us.
 
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Dec 14, 2008
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Reeling off a back up rucks games played over a career span is a s**t metric to define ability

1- rucks often sit gameless for 4+ years early while they develop

2- backup rucks often have to wait if they are behind a decent incumbent

3- injuries happen at unfortunate times

Saying Phillips is a spud cause he's played 50 games over 7 years is akin to saying that fire hydrant is no good cause it's never been used.
 

Swerving Irv

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Reeling off a back up rucks games played over a career span is a sh*t metric to define ability

1- rucks often sit gameless for 4+ years early while they develop

2- backup rucks often have to wait if they are behind a decent incumbent

3- injuries happen at unfortunate times

Saying Phillips is a spud cause he's played 50 games over 7 years is akin to saying that fire hydrant is no good cause it's never been used.
The bloke can lay a tackle. That automatically makes him more effective than Ding Dong.
 
You're doing the opposite. You hold Phillips to a high standard and gloss over TBC's horrible output this year.
TBC's efforts against Richmond and Carlton were woeful. If Phillips played like that, you'd be rioting. You mention his effort against the dogs but fail to mention TBC's bad games.

TBC hasn't put together a game as good as Phillips has vs Collingwood so calling him a spud is harsh unless you hold TBC to the same standard.

Will he play well today? Probably not, but he's only here because Draper is unavailable. We're just saying that Phillips is a capable depth player. Nothing more and nothing less.
No, I've said it a hundred times that Bellchambers is cooked and won't be on the list next year.
 
She’s on 4 plus goals for the big dirty mo and the bags are on me

* the goals ill just be happy if he makes it through the game un injured
 
Wrong. McKernan's actually a very good tap ruckman. He's just 2-3cm undersized and gives away far too many free kicks. He's played some absolute blinders in the ruck for us. I'd venture to say that his best games in the ruck were better than anything Bellchambers has given us.
... You're kidding, right?
Reeling off a back up rucks games played over a career span is a sh*t metric to define ability

1- rucks often sit gameless for 4+ years early while they develop

2- backup rucks often have to wait if they are behind a decent incumbent

3- injuries happen at unfortunate times

Saying Phillips is a spud cause he's played 50 games over 7 years is akin to saying that fire hydrant is no good cause it's never been used.
45 games in 9 years, at his 3rd club.

The guy is s**t but hey, what do I know? I've only seen him more than pretty much anyone else on this forum.
 

Swerving Irv

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... You're kidding, right?

45 games in 9 years, at his 3rd club.

The guy is sh*t but hey, what do I know? I've only seen him more than pretty much anyone else on this forum.
You find me a game where Bellchambers has had a game even remotely resembling one of McKernan's when he had regular stints in the ruck. If my memory serves correctly, he had 25 disposals, 10 marks, three goals and 30 hit-outs. He also followed up with 26 disposals, another 30 hit-outs and a goal the next week. The year he finished top 10 in the best and fairest from 9 games. He's never been given a fair crack as the 2nd forward giving chop-outs in the ruck. Has more talent in his finger than Bellchambers and circumstances haven't allowed us to see it.
 
You find me a game where Bellchambers has had a game even remotely resembling one of McKernan's when he had regular stints in the ruck. If my memory serves correctly, he had 25 disposals, 10 marks, three goals and 30 hit-outs. He also followed up with 26 disposals, another 30 hit-outs and a goal the next week. The year he finished top 10 in the best and fairest from 9 games. He's never been given a fair crack as the 2nd forward giving chop-outs in the ruck. Has more talent in his finger than Bellchambers and circumstances haven't allowed us to see it.
Yeah he's more mobile than Bellchambers, nobody has ever denied that but he averages 2.4 hit-outs to advantage a game over his career and averaged 3.3 frees against a game that particular year. He's not a good tap ruckman

McKernan not getting chances is the oldest excuse. He's played nearly 90 games of afl football and the majority have had one of Maric, Jacobs, Leuenberger, Giles, Bellchambers, Clarke, Phillips or Draper playing as the first ruck.
 

Sockeye

Team Captain
Aug 13, 2014
430
425
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Essendon
Hooker Hurley Saad
Gleeson Ridley Smith
Merrett McGrath Ham
Shiel Langford Mosquito
Stewart Daniher Tippa

Phillips Parish Snelling

Clarke Redman Guelfi Stringer


Like the idea of Smith off half back. He is calm and measured and has a good football brain. Can set us up, knows when to go quick and when to maintain possession which is something we have consistently lacked. (Decision making in coach-speak).

But would like to see something more like ...

Hooker Hurley Saad
Gleeson Ridley Smith
Merrett Parish Guelfi
Langford Mosquito Stewart
McGrath Daniher Tippa

Phillips Clarke Shiel

Redman Stringer Ham Snelling

Would like to give McGrath a bit of a game up forward, he has been doing a lot of the grunt work. Also haven't seen him up forward much at all so would like to see how he goes. Also give Parish a full game in middle.

With Hooker and Hurley back in am expecting a big game from Ridley as this releases him to intercept at will.
 

CBombers17

Premium Platinum
Jul 7, 2014
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Isn't the Knock on Phillips that he fades after a good first up game?

He's ordinary but shouldn't be the reason we lose this afternoon if we do.
 

Vander18

Norm Smith Medallist
Apr 22, 2011
5,397
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Essendon
Should win this. They are short handed and match ups look good.

Patton is the perfect match for Hooker, Hurley gets O’Brien and Ridley to Gunston. Will be great to see Ridley play on a really good opponent and see how he goes.

Can stretch them the other way with JD, Stewart, Langford and Stringer. We look stronger in the midfield too.

Bombers by 4 goals.
 

Swerving Irv

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Yeah he's more mobile than Bellchambers, nobody has ever denied that but he averages 2.4 hit-outs to advantage a game over his career and averaged 3.3 frees against a game that particular year. He's not a good tap ruckman

McKernan not getting chances is the oldest excuse. He's played nearly 90 games of afl football and the majority have had one of Maric, Jacobs, Leuenberger, Giles, Bellchambers, Clarke, Phillips or Draper playing as the first ruck.
I'd take that effective hit-out rate if he'd played there more often. I've seen him palm the ball down the throat of our on-ballers more than once and in general play. He's a good tap ruckman and it's been commented on before. I also said he hadn't had a chance to play alongside Daniher as a second forward long enough to develop a rapport. I'd like to see him get that chance before his career is through.

We all know you have a raging hard on for Bellchambers and dislike McKernan so we'll leave it at that.
 
Apr 23, 2016
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Patton is the perfect match for Hooker

Patton and Bellchambers might be the only two players in the AFL less mobile than Hooker. Can't wait to see Hooker burning Patton at ground level with a slow-side step and jog away!

I'd take that effective hit-out rate if he'd played there more often. I've seen him palm the ball down the throat of our on-ballers more than once and in general play. He's a good tap ruckman and it's been commented on before. I also said he hadn't had a chance to play alongside Daniher as a second forward long enough to develop a rapport. I'd like to see him get that chance before his career is through.

We all know you have a raging hard on for Bellchambers and dislike McKernan so we'll leave it at that.

McKernan would probably have been a decent AFL ruckman if he was 10cm taller, the problem is that against genuine ruck height players he gives away too many frees trying to compete above his size. If he'd played in the same era as his brother he'd have been fine, but without the leap of a Ryder or Natanui it's pretty tough giving away 5 - 10cm on a opposition ruckman. If he was a bit smarter and able to avoid the free kicks whilst nullifying the opposition ruckman from giving away an easy clearance, his mobility at ground level would make him a solid AFL level ruckman.
 
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