Preview Round 3, 2021: Essendon v St.Kilda - Marvel Stadium, Saturday 3rd April, 4:35PM AEDT *STEELE 100TH* *CLARK 50TH* *CROUCH DEBUT*

[bird_man]

I personally think he should start on the ground. But if he’s sub he can still play VFL right?

That will only work if the VFL play after the AFL. They won't be playing a sub in the VFL prior to a senior game

 

[ScrappyDo]

Not that l expect Jake to be selected, but here we go.

FB: Long Howard Wilkie
HB: Coffield Carlisle Sinclair
C: Hill Steele Billings
HF: Higgins Battle Membrey
FF: Lonie King Butler
R: Ryder Crouch Gresham
I/C: Clark, Ross, Bytel, Jones

I'd rather try Salabakis now than go again with Phunter.

 

[Mowman]

Not that l expect Jake to be selected, but here we go.

FB: Long Howard Wilkie
HB: Coffield Carlisle Sinclair
C: Hill Steele Billings
HF: Higgins Battle Membrey
FF: Lonie King Butler
R: Ryder Crouch Gresham
I/C: Clark, Ross, Bytel, Jones

I'd rather try Salabakis now than go again with Phunter.

It’s a good side

 

[Stewart66]

Bytel is probably the one that goes out for Crouch unfortunately. The backline is a worry if Webster sits out, shame that we didn't keep Savage on as a rookie or something. Perhaps we send Ross or someone back to play off a flank.

Disagree politely mate .....Lonie no more ...Higgins gets reprieve only because he is a better player.
Steele forward ...rotating on ball for me ...

Webster out just means ...Clark , Coffield & Long ..playing back with Clark given opportunity on ball
later in game .....with Sinclair very very disappointing game from Jack has to respond or dropped.

Bytel Crouch Gresham Jones ..starting 4.......Ross on a wing Battle is FF .. King forward pocket take
pressure off the kid ........


Bombers will throw everything at us early hope we are ready for it.

 

[Joffaboy]

There was a 200cm bloke doing some rucking for Sandy on the weekend , i wonder if they are going to give him a crack at it next weekend

That bloke makes Hunter look like Gawn

 

[The Punter]

If Webster out, don't see much alternative to moving Clark into that rotation. With Geary still being unavailable, we're running low on small defenders. This opens up a spot in the midfield rotation for Crouch.

Better ruckmen come in for lesser ones, depending on availability.

I would also question Battle's position in the side, especially considering he may keep Bytel out of the 22 at this stage. I really like Battle, but I want to see him in a key position at either end of the ground and kept there. He looked lost at times on the weekend on a wing.

 

[CaptainRisky]

Disagree politely mate .....Lonie no more ...Higgins gets reprieve only because he is a better player.
Steele forward ...rotating on ball for me ...

Webster out just means ...Clark , Coffield & Long ..playing back with Clark given opportunity on ball
later in game .....with Sinclair very very disappointing game from Jack has to respond or dropped.

Bytel Crouch Gresham Jones ..starting 4.......Ross on a wing Battle is FF .. King forward pocket take
pressure off the kid ........


Bombers will throw everything at us early hope we are ready for it.

I wonder if they will try Jake as a back up ruck ?

 

[bennymc7]

Bytel screams defensive pressure and quality... Something one way runners like Jones need to practice...

He plays every week for mine. Lonie out for Bytel, Battle back for Webster shuffling every one down a size would probably help as well

 

[bennymc7]

Crouch should come out like a bloody hornets nest after seeing us get torched in the middle...

Cost us big time him not being out there

 

[chris_h_11]

Bytel screams defensive pressure and quality... Something one way runners like Jones need to practice...

He plays every week for mine. Lonie out for Bytel, Battle back for Webster shuffling every one down a size would probably help as well

Works the other way too - Bytel needs to develop his offensive game to offer more when we've got the footy, or he becomes just another midfield plodder.

I reckon with the way we want to play, having Crouch and Bytel in the same side is one too many, he's gonna spend some time at VFL level before he's a walkup start.

 

[Stewart66]

I wonder if they will try Jake as a back up ruck ?

We might mate .........

Think he is definitely in consideration......

Just me didn’t think it was ruck where we were poor , ball use abysmal..., unacceptable around stoppage.
Played really unaccountable defence...all over ground , way too cute by half with ball use , tackled for
1st ..ten minutes of game ...then simply played very very soft played like statues in forward half.

 

[CaptainRisky]

We might mate .........

Think he is definitely in consideration......

Just me didn’t think it was ruck where we were poor , ball use abysmal..., unacceptable around stoppage.
Played really unaccountable defence...all over ground , way too cute by half with ball use , tackled for
1st ..ten minutes of game ...then simply played very very soft played like statues in forward half.

Agree 100% and it had nothing to do with last weeks game IMO

 

[CaptainRisky]

Disagree politely mate .....Lonie no more ...Higgins gets reprieve only because he is a better player.
Steele forward ...rotating on ball for me ...

Webster out just means ...Clark , Coffield & Long ..playing back with Clark given opportunity on ball
later in game .....with Sinclair very very disappointing game from Jack has to respond or dropped.

Bytel Crouch Gresham Jones ..starting 4.......Ross on a wing Battle is FF .. King forward pocket take
pressure off the kid ........


Bombers will throw everything at us early hope we are ready for it.

Yep , we cant play all three short people up there , Lonie out you go , we have gresh who can rest forward , billing can go forward , its time to give Bytel some decent game time

 

[Stewart66]

Works the other way too - Bytel needs to develop his offensive game to offer more when we've got the footy, or he becomes just another midfield plodder.

I reckon with the way we want to play, having Crouch and Bytel in the same side is one too many, he's gonna spend some time at VFL level before he's a walkup start.

Funny enough Melbourne with Oliver , Viney , Brayshaw asked in trade week if we were interested
in trading Bytel.

Small forwards have to tackle , pressure .........unfortunately they have to be consistent not great one week
awful the next..

 

[Yawkey way]

Disagree politely mate .....Lonie no more ...Higgins gets reprieve only because he is a better player.
Steele forward ...rotating on ball for me ...

Webster out just means ...Clark , Coffield & Long ..playing back with Clark given opportunity on ball
later in game .....with Sinclair very very disappointing game from Jack has to respond or dropped.

Bytel Crouch Gresham Jones ..starting 4.......Ross on a wing Battle is FF .. King forward pocket take
pressure off the kid ........


Bombers will throw everything at us early hope we are ready for it.

Higgins was terrible along with Jones, long had a shocker complete with turnovers and stupid free kicks.

Sinclair didn’t have a bad game, he turned it over a couple of times but was so far from our worst imo its way off the mark to talk about him needing to be dropped. I’ve watched the full game twice now, 21 disposals two tackles and 4 clearances just back up what i saw.

This was never going to be an easy season and we need to bring our A game every week or we won’t win too many.

 

[stavro#4]

Disagree politely mate .....Lonie no more ...Higgins gets reprieve only because he is a better player.
Steele forward ...rotating on ball for me ...

Webster out just means ...Clark , Coffield & Long ..playing back with Clark given opportunity on ball
later in game .....with Sinclair very very disappointing game from Jack has to respond or dropped.

Bytel Crouch Gresham Jones ..starting 4.......Ross on a wing Battle is FF .. King forward pocket take
pressure off the kid ........


Bombers will throw everything at us early hope we are ready for it.

If there was a week to muck around with Jake as a ruck or change the KPD look of our back 6. It must be this week. Can’t be stuffing around for the eagles game.


Lonie out for me. Too often cheats and runs to the back for the easy ball. Would rather see Gresh get the ball less over the course of a game but to much it more in our 50.

Don’t think it matters these days where you play King. He gets game planned because he is a threat aerially or ground level. Must be put on battle to lift now or consider wood.

If we want another small defender. Dmac comes in. I feel like in a more attacking team, his dumb moments won’t be as bad. So I feel comfortable if he comes in for Webster.

 

[The Punter]

After two weeks on the small forward ratings:

1 Higgins
2 Lonie
3 Butler

On performances in 2021, if you were to drop one, it would be Butler. But he has considerable runs on the board.

Personally, I wouldn't drop any of them this weekend, but I'd like to see increased output.

 

[stavro#4]

Higgins was terrible along with Jones, long had a shocker complete with turnovers and stupid free kicks.

Sinclair didn’t have a bad game, he turned it over a couple of times but was so far from our worst imo its way off the mark to talk about him needing to be dropped. I’ve watched the full game twice now, 21 disposals two tackles and 4 clearances just back up what i saw.

This was never going to be an easy season and we need to bring our A game every week or we won’t win too many.

I don’t think we need our A game. But I’ve heard a lot of external commentary about Hollywood ball use (mainly aimed at Hill) and I agree.

I still stand by that if we just used the first target or hit the simple kicks more often then we probably win - even with the midfield smacking.

But again, I don’t think we gain anything with a win this week. It’s a must, but we need 4-8 points from the 3 after that.

 

[BrutThough]

Not that l expect Jake to be selected, but here we go.

FB: Long Howard Wilkie
HB: Coffield Carlisle Sinclair
C: Hill Steele Billings
HF: Higgins Battle Membrey
FF: Lonie King Butler
R: Ryder Crouch Gresham
I/C: Clark, Ross, Bytel, Jones

I'd rather try Salabakis now than go again with Phunter.

Hunter is still a better option that Alabakis.

 

[BrutThough]

We might mate .........

Think he is definitely in consideration......

Just me didn’t think it was ruck where we were poor , ball use abysmal..., unacceptable around stoppage.
Played really unaccountable defence...all over ground , way too cute by half with ball use , tackled for
1st ..ten minutes of game ...then simply played very very soft played like statues in forward half.

Agreed. We entered the game knowing we would be demolished in the ruck. That wasn't where we were let down.

We should be more concerned with the mess that it our defence rather than what we already know is a worst case scnerio ruck set up.

 

[bennymc7]

Works the other way too - Bytel needs to develop his offensive game to offer more when we've got the footy, or he becomes just another midfield plodder.

I reckon with the way we want to play, having Crouch and Bytel in the same side is one too many, he's gonna spend some time at VFL level before he's a walkup start.

Disagree, he reminds me of Steele in 2017... We need some defensive minded blokes to cover Gresham and the like who want to take off fwd of the ball

 

[BrutThough]

If there was a week to muck around with Jake as a ruck or change the KPD look of our back 6. It must be this week. Can’t be stuffing around for the eagles game.


Lonie out for me. Too often cheats and runs to the back for the easy ball. Would rather see Gresh get the ball less over the course of a game but to much it more in our 50.

Don’t think it matters these days where you play King. He gets game planned because he is a threat aerially or ground level. Must be put on battle to lift now or consider wood.

If we want another small defender. Dmac comes in. I feel like in a more attacking team, his dumb moments won’t be as bad. So I feel comfortable if he comes in for Webster.

I think we need Jake in defence this week so he has an AFL game under his belt before the West Coast and Richmond where he will desperately be needed. But I also have zero faith in the coaches to pick him for those games despite everything.

DMAc would be worth a try. His rd1 game was one of the best he has played in a while. Seemed to be very selfless in doing the small defensive things first and knew his limitations so always did the simple pass to a teammate than try to be the hero himself.

 

[Stewart66]

If there was a week to muck around with Jake as a ruck or change the KPD look of our back 6. It must be this week. Can’t be stuffing around for the eagles game.


Lonie out for me. Too often cheats and runs to the back for the easy ball. Would rather see Gresh get the ball less over the course of a game but to much it more in our 50.

Don’t think it matters these days where you play King. He gets game planned because he is a threat aerially or ground level. Must be put on battle to lift now or consider wood.

If we want another small defender. Dmac comes in. I feel like in a more attacking team, his dumb moments won’t be as bad. So I feel comfortable if he comes in for Webster.

We have to improve our contested football ...sure we had great win against Giants but we
lost contested ball by 30 ...got absolutely smashed in contested ball by Demons .....

 

[MCG-Unit]

Haven't they got Andrew Phillips as a back up ruckman he is serviceable.

Phillips might be injured as well. Nick Bryan next in line I think.
With Wright

 

[The Punter]

We have to improve our contested football ...sure we had great win against Giants but we
lost contested ball by 30 ...got absolutely smashed in contested ball by Demons .....

This is what Crouch was recruited for, right? We also got thrashed in the ruck both games, which might have something to do with this number.