Round 23 sees us face the GWS Giants in what could shape up as one of the defining games for our season. Unfortunately, thanks to a heartbreaking loss to Sydney, this game is crucial if we want to play finals. I’m honestly more worried about this one than the Collingwood game only because by the time Round 24 comes along, Collingwood will likely have very little to play with on top of the ladder already secured. Of course, there is a major dilemma in making finals for us… how will we perform if we do make it?
It seems the most likely outcomes for us are we managed to sneak into 6th and face the Bulldogs in the first week… oh yay, that worked out well last time, or we scrape into 8th and face the in-form, Carlton. As much as it would be amazing to get our first finals win and knock out Carlton as the time… I just don’t see it happening… We are Esstington afterall.
To finals or not, that is the question. I think it won’t matter, as we will lose this week anyways, and that brings me back to what I’ve been saying for a few weeks. This season is essentially a free hit; it means nothing in the grand scheme of things. A chance for Scott to review the team and see who he really wants in his team going forward.
For the guys stuck in the VFL, this probably means one of two things. He’s happy with you as a player, but wants to see stronger development before you come into AFL level, or, as I suspect is the case with Voss, he doesn’t see you as an AFL player and your papers are stamped.
Finals or not, I’m anticipating that it’s going to be an interesting off-season, that will reveal if we’ve actually learned anything over the past 20 years of failure. I also think that next season we will be s**t, and probably finish bottom 4, and I’m ok with this. We need to * off the whinging old nothings that keep using Essendong to prop themselves up whilst shitting on the club, and commit to doing the hard work, and to doing it properly this time. * off with the marketing spin for a season; * off with worrying about the image, and get down and dirty and learn to fight. (metaphorically)
The Round that Was
Why are we celebrating a 9-point win over the 17th side.. Cause * it! that’s why.
I hate that we think McKay will fix our problems, our back 6 does remarkably well considering the rest of the team’s defensive efforts.
What a game by Martin. Showed he can be highly effective as a HFF; still miss him on the wing though. You know Langford has become a good player when he is considered “well-held” and still kicks 3 goals.
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
With the Giants still to play, I probably won’t have time to update this until it’s too late for anyone to care..
The Last Time We Met
A Solid game in which we would have won by a decent amount if we had kicked straight, we were 6.19 at one stage. Feels an eternity ago now though; we were young, optimistic; full of hope for what the season would bring. Heppell was the sub for this game, in what seems to have been a bit of a wake-up call for him, as he has gone on to have a very good season since his per showings early. Heppell was somewhat fortunate to get brought on fairly early in the end with Sam Weideman suffering a head known and concussion in the season quartered. I don’t want Heppell to go on with us next year.. But I love that he has had a good season this year.
Onya Hepp.
ESSENDON 2.8 3.13 8.19 11.22 (88)
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY 4.0 6.5 9.7 11.9 (75)
GOALS
Essendon: Stringer 4, Martin 2, Langford, Merrett, Draper, Redman, Perkins
Greater Western Sydney: Himmelberg 3, Ward 2, Kelly 2, Greene 2, Daniels, Coniglio
BEST
Essendon: Parish, Merrett, Draper, Stringer, Redman, Kelly
Greater Western Sydney: Green, Kelly, Ward, Haynes, Whitfield
INJURIES
Essendon: Weideman (concussion)
Greater Western Sydney: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Essendon: Dyson Heppell (replaced Weideman in the second quarter)
Greater Western Sydney: Cooper Hamilton (replaced Conor Stone at three-quarter time)
The Team
Possible Ins:
Tricky one this week. No VFL games and a few players coming back from injuries.
Tex - Been good in the VFL
Setterfield - With Martin pushing forward, have we made room for Setters?
Draper - Straight in?
Shiel - Surely VFL first though
Caldwell - Will he be right this week?
Possible Outs:
Snelling - Hard to judge a sub
Baldwin - Will be match-up dependent on whether he stays in. I hope he stays in
Cox - Would like to see some dominant VFL performance.
Phillips/Bryan - One will have to make way if Draper is back.
Kelly - I understand playing him on the wing to try and improve our defensive efforts over the ground, but I don’t think it’s working.
My Tip
It sucks to see the Eagles lose by 100+ a week after we struggled to even win over them. But we did win. And the Essendon of old would have lost both last week and this week…. Am I convincing anyone.. Didn’t think so… Giants by 30 and our season officially done and dusted.
It seems the most likely outcomes for us are we managed to sneak into 6th and face the Bulldogs in the first week… oh yay, that worked out well last time, or we scrape into 8th and face the in-form, Carlton. As much as it would be amazing to get our first finals win and knock out Carlton as the time… I just don’t see it happening… We are Esstington afterall.
To finals or not, that is the question. I think it won’t matter, as we will lose this week anyways, and that brings me back to what I’ve been saying for a few weeks. This season is essentially a free hit; it means nothing in the grand scheme of things. A chance for Scott to review the team and see who he really wants in his team going forward.
For the guys stuck in the VFL, this probably means one of two things. He’s happy with you as a player, but wants to see stronger development before you come into AFL level, or, as I suspect is the case with Voss, he doesn’t see you as an AFL player and your papers are stamped.
Finals or not, I’m anticipating that it’s going to be an interesting off-season, that will reveal if we’ve actually learned anything over the past 20 years of failure. I also think that next season we will be s**t, and probably finish bottom 4, and I’m ok with this. We need to * off the whinging old nothings that keep using Essendong to prop themselves up whilst shitting on the club, and commit to doing the hard work, and to doing it properly this time. * off with the marketing spin for a season; * off with worrying about the image, and get down and dirty and learn to fight. (metaphorically)
The Round that Was
Why are we celebrating a 9-point win over the 17th side.. Cause * it! that’s why.
I hate that we think McKay will fix our problems, our back 6 does remarkably well considering the rest of the team’s defensive efforts.
What a game by Martin. Showed he can be highly effective as a HFF; still miss him on the wing though. You know Langford has become a good player when he is considered “well-held” and still kicks 3 goals.
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
With the Giants still to play, I probably won’t have time to update this until it’s too late for anyone to care..
The Last Time We Met
A Solid game in which we would have won by a decent amount if we had kicked straight, we were 6.19 at one stage. Feels an eternity ago now though; we were young, optimistic; full of hope for what the season would bring. Heppell was the sub for this game, in what seems to have been a bit of a wake-up call for him, as he has gone on to have a very good season since his per showings early. Heppell was somewhat fortunate to get brought on fairly early in the end with Sam Weideman suffering a head known and concussion in the season quartered. I don’t want Heppell to go on with us next year.. But I love that he has had a good season this year.
Onya Hepp.
ESSENDON 2.8 3.13 8.19 11.22 (88)
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY 4.0 6.5 9.7 11.9 (75)
GOALS
Essendon: Stringer 4, Martin 2, Langford, Merrett, Draper, Redman, Perkins
Greater Western Sydney: Himmelberg 3, Ward 2, Kelly 2, Greene 2, Daniels, Coniglio
BEST
Essendon: Parish, Merrett, Draper, Stringer, Redman, Kelly
Greater Western Sydney: Green, Kelly, Ward, Haynes, Whitfield
INJURIES
Essendon: Weideman (concussion)
Greater Western Sydney: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Essendon: Dyson Heppell (replaced Weideman in the second quarter)
Greater Western Sydney: Cooper Hamilton (replaced Conor Stone at three-quarter time)
The Team
Possible Ins:
Tricky one this week. No VFL games and a few players coming back from injuries.
Tex - Been good in the VFL
Setterfield - With Martin pushing forward, have we made room for Setters?
Draper - Straight in?
Shiel - Surely VFL first though
Caldwell - Will he be right this week?
Possible Outs:
Snelling - Hard to judge a sub
Baldwin - Will be match-up dependent on whether he stays in. I hope he stays in
Cox - Would like to see some dominant VFL performance.
Phillips/Bryan - One will have to make way if Draper is back.
Kelly - I understand playing him on the wing to try and improve our defensive efforts over the ground, but I don’t think it’s working.
My Tip
It sucks to see the Eagles lose by 100+ a week after we struggled to even win over them. But we did win. And the Essendon of old would have lost both last week and this week…. Am I convincing anyone.. Didn’t think so… Giants by 30 and our season officially done and dusted.
Last edited:
