Round 5: Team vs Essendon

[smiddaz123]

You must have missed last weeks game then, he was clearly the Eagles best player. Almost every goal they kicked was because of a Hooker mistake.

I didn't watch last week's game. Were most of them from clangers or poor decisions with the ball? The rebounding aspect of him game is his weakness imo, but in terms of pure negating, I think he's reasonable.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Our average age [using years not months] has just dropped from 25.18 to 23.91. Pretty significant change, I hope it's not too young.

Thanks, I was looking around for that exact information, good stuff.

Have a wander over to the Essendon board and you'll get the impression we've promoted three armless and legless talls and that Hurley is an elite forward.

Haha, our three top picks from 2006 (two of them first-round), coming in with overall excellent VFL form and having played at times extremely well in the AFL... but they're no good because some ignorant knob who thinks "childs" is the plural of "child" says so.

 

[Damon_3388]

From those who've been selected, I'd like to see this set-up at the opening bounce:

B: Johnson - Brown - Maxwell
HB: Shaw - Reid - O’Brien
C: Wellingham - Swan - Thomas
HF: Sidebottom - Cloke - Didak
F: Davis - Dawes - Medhurst
R: Jolly - Pendlebury - Ball
I: Fraser - Toovey - Beams - Macaffer

Defensive Match-Ups:
Nathan Brown on Michael Hurley / David Hille
Ben Reid on Scott Gumbleton / Patrick Ryder
Harry O'Brien on Angus Monfries / Kyle Reimers
Nick Maxwell on Kyle Reimers / Scott Gumbleton
Ben Johnson on Rick Dyson / Jason Winderlich
Heath Shaw on David Zaharakis / Angus Monfries

 

[Optimax]

I'd be happy with 2-3 from Chris, and about 15 possessions, 8 marks, and 3 goal assists that would do.

Your asking for a good game from a senior player

Id take 10 touches, 1 goal, and no girlish refuse to raise his arms for a mark efforts

 

[mattys123]

Your asking for a good game from a senior player

Id take 10 touches, 1 goal, and no girlish refuse to raise his arms for a mark efforts

I'm considering the opposition too, if he gets a Hooker or a Pears (like most expect), then the step up isn't really too far off a VFL game IMO, so I will expect about 80% of what he has been delivering at VFL level.

However, if Fletcher goes to him (can happen, although Meds usually gets Fletcher) then Dawes may struggle with the experienced back.

I expect a bit more from Dawes this week then I did from MaCaffer or McCarthy when they came in, just based on his size and his form more then anything.

Am I expecting too much? You may be right, but I'll set the bar high and hope he can meet it.

 

[smiddaz123]

The step will always be well up from a VFL game. Firstly, both Hooker and Pears are much better than your random VFL defender. Secondly, guys like Fletcher are actually able to cover for their team mates effectively.

1 or 2 goals from Dawes is what we'd be after, and genuine aerial contests. He probably won't get to many chances, so it's important he takes them.

I'm actually hoping Dawes plays up the ground and Cloke plays deep, but I don't think that'll happen.

 

[Optimax]

The step will always be well up from a VFL game. Firstly, both Hooker and Pears are much better than your random VFL defender. Secondly, guys like Fletcher are actually able to cover for their team mates effectively.

1 or 2 goals from Dawes is what we'd be after, and genuine aerial contests. He probably won't get to many chances, so it's important he takes them.

I'm actually hoping Dawes plays up the ground and Cloke plays deep, but I don't think that'll happen.

They will alternate in match much in the same way, Tarrant and Rocca did, Rocca and Trav did, and trav and anthony do

 

[Michael_knoth]

I'll be hAppy if Dawes just has a pressence

 

[drummoyne]

Don't underrate Pears, that bloke is a gem.

A return of 3 or 4 from Dawes would be great for his confidence. That is well within reach if he gets Hooker.

 

[Boris the Contradiction]

I'll be hAppy if Dawes just has a pressence

I'd be happy if ANYONE on the Essendon list thought; (of Dawes and Nathan Brown) "They're babies so I'll rough them up"

Either one of them would take down half the Essendon list with no arms, a blindfold and 2 wooden legs. They are massive, massive dudes and I want to see them throw their weight around.

 

[YouBeauty]

This is a big risk that we have taken to bring in such young players all at once.

I find it funny how some supporters are happy if these players just do a little bit but the truth is, we will lose this match if they don't contribute enough. If we have ideas of putting Reid/Brown down back and Dawes up forward, they must do something or we'll lose.

I have a very bad feeling. The other thing is that it will give the Essendon forwards/backs a lot more confidence to play like champions because they are playing on VFL players.

They must step up or this is an experiment gone wrong. I might be wrong about this also.

 

[mdc]

^^^We need one of Reid or Brown to do a decent job on Hurley. Other than that, we can win (and comfortably) without a good game from any of them.

Really, our midfield is several tiers above the Dons', and if the mids do their job we'll get the win.

edit: Calling it an 'experiment' is completely unfair to Dawes and Reid. They're in because they're in better form than the players they replaced, simple as that. Age has nothing to do with it.

 

[Frankie23]

Hooker and Pears are decent stoppers and both are in good form.

I'd expect Hooker to go to Cloke as he can run with and Pears to go with Dawes. If Dawes can kick 2-3 that will be a great return. Also I'd expect Fletcher to take Fraser/Jolly.