Preview Round 2: Essendon vs Brisbane, Docklands, Saturday 26/03/2022 @ 4:35 PM

[kelvin_sheedy]

Plenty of midfield to play a good game. Merrett, Parish, Caldwell, McGrath with Stringer and others for support.

There is no big midfielder on our list to replace Shiel to make the natives happy but the Ham selection shows once again lack of quality depth. It looks as though Hobbs isn't doing enough and possibly can't play any other role than mid so may be a while until we see him.

Fork in the road for this team tomorrow.

 

[Simbatheking21]

Best of luck for tomorrow boys and girls

Going with my Essendon girlfriend… could be an awkward day haha but whatever just hoping it’s a good game but it’s just GREAT!!! To go back to the footy… been so long with all the covid stuff. All the best

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Best of luck for tomorrow boys and girls

Going with my Essendon girlfriend… could be an awkward day haha but whatever just hoping it’s a good game but it’s just GREAT!!! To go back to the footy… been so long with all the covid stuff. All the best

Enjoy! Despite our putrid performance last week it was great to just be back the footy.

 

[Bombers36]

Surely Wanga has to be substitute- can’t have Zerk or Phillips for team balance


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[JayJ20]

That’s not got nothing to do with another midfielder, that’s just the way we got bullied at the contest. Shiel ain’t fixing that. And we more than competed against the dogs (r21) , the dees and Sydney both times and gws.

Our midfield dominance against Dogs was unusual. Still, we well and truly lost the territory battle and relied on Wright to kick 7 straight.
Sydney in the first game destroyed our midfield around clearances and in contested ball. We did well in the second game. We also did pretty well against GWS and Melbourne (though Melbourne smashed us in contested ball).

The problem with our midfield is reliability. I look at the named midfield and it isn't as reliable as the other top 8 teams simply because it's easy to shut down around stoppages. It's not how many mids are named. It's about the ball winning ability of the overall midfield group.
Our midfield will mainly consist of Stringer (centre clearances), Parish, Merrett, Caldwell and McGrath. Great at centre bounces because of Stringer, but that midfield is not going to worry the top sides around stoppages.

Brisbane have one of the better midfields. If we identified contested ball as one of our deficiencies last week, then bringing in Ham for Shiel doesn't make sense when we selected the best pure inside mid in the draft last year. Sure he won't be great on debut, but I'd rather play Hobbs as it gives us the opportunity to develop a player we need in the side.

 

[thaibomber]

anyone know why shiel is not playing?

 

[eth-dog]

anyone know why shiel is not playing?

Side strain apparently

 

[Foxx]

This could get real ugly.

 

[Shanghaistu]

This could get real ugly.

Could???

 

[BombersDave]

We will never be a serious threat if Ham is in our top 26 players in the coaches eyes. Terrible decision!!

 

[blitzer]

If we are going to play Ham I agree that we should at least play him on the wing where he can use his running as a strength and he has a bit more time.
I'd also like to see Cox spend a bit of time up forward and see if he can offer anything up there.

We aren't that short on midfielders though - we just need the ones we do have to actually bring some intensity and defensive pressure. If we do then we have a chance to be right in the game. If not well it will get real ugly.

 

[MiguelM]

Side strain apparently

Hopefully a minor injury...next minute he is out for 8!

Only joking...but I know I shouldn't!

 

[Bombers36]

So with the Shiel out line up will be more like;-

Ridley Stewart Kelly
Heppell Laverde McGrath
Redman Caldwell Durham
Perkins Francis Guelfi
Stringer 2MP Smith

Draper Parish Merrett

Bench: Cutler Hind Ham Cox
SUB: Wanga or Water?

We can still win this! To do so though we will need Stringer and Caldwell to have big games and rotate through the middle & forward line. 2MP needs to kick 4+ & all of Perkins/Guelfi & Smith need to hit the scoreboard
A BOG from Parish and/or Merrett would help as well. Comon Dons - you can do this....!!!

 

[Call Me Cake]

Reckon we're being a little harsh on Ham. It was only 1 match, we may as well let him try and redeem himself, pretty sure an initial omission would have done it's job to provide an inner spark. Hopefully. We'll see.

But I agree, it's not a like for like replacement.

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

I really think we should turn up and be a lot more competitive today. The boys had been clearly drinking their own bath water expecting natural progression. Stringer will more than likely be under done and our forward line misses a classy x factor small...so I don't see us kicking a large enough score to really hurt them. However...we are a good team, much better than what we dished up last week. Lions should be too strong and experienced across the park...their 18th to 22nd player will be better than ours atm. We will need to make the most of our chances...kick straight. Hopefully we hit form and they are a little off. That's our best chance. Hopefully we can keep it under 5 goals and if things go our way maybe closer. You never know.

 

[Gumby2Hurley]

Just don't play like we did against the dogs in 2019 pls...

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Reckon we're being a little harsh on Ham. It was only 1 match, we may as well let him try and redeem himself, pretty sure an initial omission would have done it's job to provide an inner spark. Hopefully. We'll see.

But I agree, it's not a like for like replacement.

But based on most of his other games, I still don't rate him.

 

[ghostdog]

Reckon we're being a little harsh on Ham. It was only 1 match, we may as well let him try and redeem himself, pretty sure an initial omission would have done it's job to provide an inner spark. Hopefully. We'll see.

But I agree, it's not a like for like replacement.

I respectfully disagree. He has been a total Ham more than once. The most memorable for me was his failure to convert his chances v. Richmond last year. Found himself in good spots through his running power but just couldn't finish. It was infuriating then, too.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

I respectfully disagree. He has been a total Ham more than once. The most memorable for me was his failure to convert his chances v. Richmond last year. Found himself in good spots through his running power but just couldn't finish. It was infuriating then, too.

His worst habit is getting the ball close to goal with an opportunity to take a shot and he dishes off a hospital handball to a teammate.

 

[ghostdog]

His worst habit is getting the ball close to goal with an opportunity to take a shot and he dishes off a hospital handball to a teammate.

Ham seems like a nice guy. He just needs to develop that composure, bring on his inner shark and make it happen. I don't know how they'd coach that but I'd prefer that let Stants do it and play Hobbs instead. Why last year's MO re: Perkins and Cox doesn't apply now, I'm not sure. I just feel like we're wasting games on Ham.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Ham seems like a nice guy. He just needs to develop that composure, bring on his inner shark and make it happen. I don't know how they'd coach that but I'd prefer that let Stants do it and play Hobbs instead. Why last year's MO re: Perkins and Cox doesn't apply now, I'm not sure. I just feel like we're wasting games on Ham.

Yeah, to be clear, I really hope he plays well today and wish him all the best for the game.

 

[ghostdog]

Yeah, to be clear, I really hope he plays well today and wish him all the best for the game.

Me too, he just needs to focus and develop.

 

[Milanista28]

Will be hard to win but if we could leave the ground today and think yep Francis can and will do the job we need this year then I'll be rapt.

 

[JT_the_Man]

Would just like an effort.

 

[Beerfish]

Would just like an effort.

Oh you'll get an effort. Will it be pissweak though?