Game Day Round 5: [REDACTED] and Friends v Essendon - Gabba, 17/4/21, 7.25pm AEST

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ESSENDON BOMBERS

An extremely frustrating night which resulted in yet another close game against the Swans being decided by, frankly, biased and disgusting umpiring.
Fed by umpire Jacob Mollison, who awarded 16 free kicks to Sydney and 1 (one!) free kick to Essendon, the undefeated Swans came away with a gifted, undeserved win.
These plucky Bombers are unbelievably exciting to watch.
The Baby Bombers Mk II, as they've been dubbed, are winning the hearts of the footy world, with exciting, committed, fast, pressure-infused play at every fiber of their collective being.
The coaching of Ben Rutten, Daniel Giansiracusa and Blake Caracella has started to bear fruit far quicker than any of us imagined, and it's coming from the output of a seriously impressive core group.
It all looked a little grim after Essendon lost Dylan Shiel, Jye Caldwell, and Sam Draper in one game a few weeks back, but the Dons have shown more ticker in those few weeks than they have in the past few years combined.
Gone are the days of bland, rehearsed pressers. Gone are the days of Plan A, no Plan B, and slow, mediocre play.
This team has got IT. The coach has got IT. The leadership group has got IT.
Jordan Ridley continues to cement his position as the best floating defender in the game. Another 30+ possession game, with nearly flawless disposal, and his directing of traffic across a backline where the oldest player is only 26 is proving to be a difference maker. The Swans had kicked 100+ points every week until they came up against this Essendon defence, who restricted them to 83.
Nik Cox is an enigma. Height of a ruckman, disposal of an outside mid, tank of a wing, and decision making of only the smartest footballers. He's going to be something extremely special, and most would argue that he already is.
Jake Stringer is in unreal form already, and has returned in brilliant touch. All he needs to work on is maintaining that level of output for the entire game.
Archie Perkins continues to do brilliant things, but is working his way into the game. He'll get there, and soon.
Nick Hind. St Kilda let him go for a half-eaten ham sandwich and now look so unbelievably slow out of the backline. He is, so far, the signing of the season. And it's not close.
Darcy Parish was quieter than his barnstormer against St Kilda, but kicked the goal of the year so far from the boundary.
Will Snelling is moving under the radar nicely. Scoring goals every now and then, and putting on huge tackles. He nailed 11 of them last week, which has brought him into the top 5 in the league.
Somehow, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher was cleared of wrong-doing because Isaac Heeney punching him in the face and breaking his own hand in doing so was BZT's fault. Yeah.
Waterman is an unreal kick of the footy. Just belts the living piss out of it, and doesn't miss. What a pickup.
Despite the ridiculous umpiring and the frustrating way it cost us this game, the vibe around the club is sky high right now.
This is the most excited we have been in years, and we all deserve it.
Up the ******* Bombers.

JACOB MOLLISON feat. SYDNEY SWANS 11.17 83
def.
BABY BOMBERS MkII 12.8 80

GOALS:
Stringer, Hooker 3, Waterman 2, Cox, Smith, Parish, Jones
BEST: Merrett, Ridley, Stringer, Parish, Cox

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BRISBANE LIONS

This doesn't feel like the same Lions that were so close to the big dance last year.
They improved their list, and the tips were all in that the Lions were going to dominate from the get go.
That hasn't happened as yet.
One win so far, against Collingwood, by a bee's dick.
Sure, the loss to Geelong shouldn't have been a loss. They should have won that 100%, and no-one can begrudge them of being salty over that result.
But the dynamic Lions, who showed so much heart and prowess in 2020, haven't shown up in 2021.
Have they drunk their own bathwater? Were they purely a result of the extenuating circumstances, allowing them to have the league based in their home state for once?
It's only Round 5, so it's too early to tell, but we can see that these Lions are not where they want to be, and I don't think they'll be there for long.
Last week, the Lions were sent from sunny Queensland to one of the coldest places in Victoria in Ballarat, and were simply outclassed in the conditions by the Bulldogs.
[REDACTED] kicked a pretty good goal from the boundary, but he's still a campaigner.
The Lions had some solid contributors in McInerney, McCluggage and Rich, but always seemed slightly off the pace.
They'll be out for blood this week.

WESTERN BULLDOGS 10.13 73
def.
BRISBANE LIONS 8.6 54

GOALS:
Hipwood 2, Andrews, Fullarton, Lyons, Bailey, McCluggage, [REDACTED]
BEST: McCluggae, Lyons, Andrews, Rich, Neale

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ESSENDON INS: Zach Reid, Mason Redman
ESSENDON OUTS: Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, Matt Guelfi, David Zaharakis (All omit)

BRISBANE INS: Daniel McStay, Jaxon Prior
BRISBANE OUTS: Deven Robertson, Thomas Berry, Tom Fullarton (All omit)

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Subs announced approx. one hour before bounce.

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DEBUT:


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ZACH REID, ESSENDON - #31
Pick #10, 2020 National Draft, Gippsland Power (VIC)
Defender, 202cm, 82kg

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It's been a long time since we've had so much excitement over the youngsters that the club has brought in, and so far, the gamble of playing the kids is showing huge dividends. Tonight, Zach Reid makes his debut for the red and black, bringing back the famous number 31 jumper for the first time since 2015, when Dustin Fletcher retired. This means that our three top 10 picks in last years draft, Nik Cox, Archie Perkins, and Zach Reid, are all going to be in the side within the first 5 weeks of the season. Reid is a towering defender with brilliant decision making and laser sharp disposal, and will be a very handy inclusion into the Essendon defence, replacing Brandon Zerk-Thatcher. Matt Guelfi could consider himself stiff to be dropped, but Mason Redman is back in seriously impressive form. The way this club is playing, there will be competition for spots every single week. This is a great thing. David Zaharakis was omitted even though he didn't actually play last week as an unused sub.

Brisbane have dropped one of the Berry boys, alongside Deven Robertson (who's Mum doesn't know how to spell Devon), and Tom Fullarton. The Lions have brought in experienced campaigner Dan McStay and youngster Jaxon Prior (who's Mum doesn't know how to spell Jackson).


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ROUND 9, 2020
Metricon Stadium
31/7/2020

ESSENDON BOMBERS 3.10 28
def. by
BRISBANE LIONS 14.7 91

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ESSENDON GOALS: Smith 2, Parish
BRISBANE GOALS: Cameron 4, Neale 2, Lyons, Zorko, McCarthy, Ellis-Yolmen, Hipwood, Skinner, Ballenden, Rayner

ESSENDON BEST: Uhhhh
BRISBANE BEST: Neale, Witherden, Cameron

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CHANGES SINCE THEN

ESSENDON OUTS:
Shiel, Hurley, Zaharakis, Cutler, Saad, Draper, Gleeson, Zerk-Thatcher, Townsend, Stewart, Bellchambers, Cahill
ESSENDON INS: Laverde, Reid, Heppell, Langford, Waterman, Jones, Perkins, Hooker, Cox, Hind, Stringer, Wright

BRISBANE OUTS: Witherden, Answerth, Ellis-Yolmen, Skinner, Rayner, Ballenden
BRISBANE INS: McStay, Prior, Rich, Adams, -REDACTED-, Lester



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You know what? Why not.

The Lions don't look right, and despite results, we're playing some seriously good footy.

Essendon by 2.


Well aware this will come back to bite me.
 
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CBombers17

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Jul 7, 2014
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Velvet's intro brought this to mind - could be a good victory song suggestion for C4L :)....

Gone are the days of complacency.
Gone are the nights of indifference.

Saturday night. Big stage set to show another 4 quarters of effort and a win against the Bears.
 

Macca18

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Jul 6, 2009
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Torrential rain and thunder about 10-15 minutes from the Gabba, heading in that same direction. Will, at the very least, be a considerably wet start to the game.
 
Mar 10, 2007
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Torrential rain and thunder about 10-15 minutes from the Gabba, heading in that same direction. Will, at the very least, be a considerably wet start to the game.

So we need to get Mark McGough on the phone? Late inclusion.
 
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