Preview Round 9: Essendon vs Brisbane, Carrara, Friday 31/07/2020 @ 7:50 PM

[OsteitisPubis22]

Spent a bit of time mulling over it,

I just think it sends a s**t message to drop someone who was brilliant without the ball..... something we have definitely improved on, Hibberd laid 10 tackles. I am going to let myself believe that he is being managed as others are, with the condensed fixture. But they had to write ‘omit’ just in case they need him.

That’s the negative! On the positive I’m so pumped for Draper to get a run, Shiel back in, Merrett in some decent form, and Ridley putting together an AA season. Plenty of positives.


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[donlav99]

I would love to see Draper start the first bounce in the ruck. Get him straight into the game, if they start him forward to get mauled by Harris Andrews first up its a mistake, let Bellchambers wrestle Andrews and just try and get the ball to ground.

BUT... I also want to see a centre clearance to a big Draper contested mark / goal. SO conflicted haha.

 

[andleanback]

Real acid test tonight, we’ll find out where this club is actually at. Contenders or pretenders .

 

[donlav99]

Real acid test tonight, we’ll find out where this club is actually at. Contenders or pretenders .

Unsure if I'd put that much emphasis on tonight's game. We still have a HUGE number of outs. I'm just looking for us to compete hard & not get blown out of the water.

 

[JayJ20]

Unsure if I'd put that much emphasis on tonight's game. We still have a HUGE number of outs. I'm just looking for us to compete hard & not get blown out of the water.

Yep this for me as well. I just want a competitive game. I'll take a 10 point loss. Too many injuries for us to cover.

 

[andleanback]

Unsure if I'd put that much emphasis on tonight's game. We still have a HUGE number of outs. I'm just looking for us to compete hard & not get blown out of the water.

Lions have a few outs as well, which evens it up. Daniher is unlikely to feature for most of this year and we’ve played 3 years without him. Other than Stringer, heppell Hooker we aren’t missing that much. We have enough of the park to try and a statement tonight, good teams find a way to win with a few out. I can’t see us beating gws next week, so this is a huge game unless we want to fall back in the pack.

 

[eth-dog]

Lions have a few outs as well, which evens it up. Daniher is unlikely to feature for most of this year and we’ve played 3 years without him. Other than Stringer, heppell Hooker we aren’t missing that much. We have enough of the park to try and a statement tonight, good teams find a way to win with a few out. I can’t see us beating gws next week, so this is a huge game unless we want to fall back in the pack.

We have 10 arguably top 30 players out in Langford, Daniher, Fantasia, Laverde (fringe), Heppell, Stringer, Hooker, Ambrose, McKernan and McKenna to their 6 in Martin, Rich, Lester, Smith (fringe), McStay and Adams (fringe). We have a lot more missing in terms of quality IMO

 

[donlav99]

Lions have a few outs as well, which evens it up. Daniher is unlikely to feature for most of this year and we’ve played 3 years without him. Other than Stringer, heppell Hooker we aren’t missing that much. We have enough of the park to try and a statement tonight, good teams find a way to win with a few out. I can’t see us beating gws next week, so this is a huge game unless we want to fall back in the pack.

I feel like you're really setting yourself up for disappointment haha.

Outs: Heppell, daniher, langford, fantasia, laverde, Stringer, Hooker, mckernan, mckenna . Arguably 9 walk up starts (maybe not Laverde) from our best 22.

When we have 5-6 of the 9 back, ill be putting the acid test on the EFC.

 

[84859300]

Well Shiel is back and plays that role. If anything, the change shows that they now view him as an inside midfielder.

The thing was - Hibbo dind't play that role, when he should of/still should be.

Shattered for him.

 

[andleanback]

I feel like you're really setting yourself up for disappointment haha.

Outs: Heppell, daniher, langford, fantasia, laverde, Stringer, Hooker, mckernan, mckenna . Arguably 9 walk up starts (maybe not Laverde) from our best 22.

When we have 5-6 of the 9 back, ill be putting the acid test on the EFC.

How am i setting myself up for disappointment, im one of the most realistic supporters youll find, i just think we have enough of our top end out there tonight to get the job done or give lions a scare. Facts are Daniher hasnt played in 3 years so you can scratch him off that list because he hasnt been out there and we might never see him again, fantasia has hardly been a solid contributor in recent times and his hardly a big loss when in recent weeks a lot of supporters have been calling his head, along with mckenna's and mckernan's. Laverde showed a lot last week but also has hardly been a solid contributor week in week out. So really Heppell, Stringer, Langford and hooker are the ones we'll really miss and if everyones honest only stringer is in our best 8 players (Shiel, Saad, Merrett, Stringer, Tippa, Hurley, Ridley, Mcgrath). So we have 7 of our best 8 out there tonight, thats more than enough talent to compete.

 

[Macca18]

One of those good games to watch tonight.

Literally nobody expects us to win... so if it doesn't happen, so be it.

And if we somehow manage to pull off an upset (which we are known to do quite often when significant underdogs like tonight), then brilliant. This team definitely performs better when there is little to no expectation.

Obviously hoping for the win but a decent performance in a loss wouldn't be the end of the world.

 

[PressureCooker]

Got the same nervous feeling about this one as I did before the Dogs game. Prove me wrong Dons!

Can't wait to see what Draper brings. Happy to to see Stewart back. Feel like TBC might walk a bit taller tonight with his young protege playing.

 

[MiguelM]

How am i setting myself up for disappointment, im one of the most realistic supporters youll find, i just think we have enough of our top end out there tonight to get the job done or give lions a scare. Facts are Daniher hasnt played in 3 years so you can scratch him off that list because he hasnt been out there and we might never see him again, fantasia has been hardly been a solid contributor in recent times and his hardly a big loss when in recent weeks a lot of supporters have been calling his head, along with mckenna's and mckernan's. Laverde showed a lot last week but also has hardly been a solid contributor week in week out. So really Heppell, Stringer, Langford and hooker are the ones we'll really miss and if everyones honest only stringer is in our best 8 players (Shiel, Saad, Merrett, Stringer, Tippa, Hurley, Ridley, Mcgrath). So we have 7 of our best 8 out there tonight, thats more than enough talent to compete.

Agree, anything possible esp this year.

Lions were lucky to beat Melb and look how bad they were last night. We have a lot out but you could argue Fanta, McKernan, Lav, McKenna not at their best for a while.

 

[BrunoV]

I don't mind the Brisbane match-up generally.

It's like Port. The Lions don't really set up to stifle ball movement which plays in to our hands.

Only real question for me is whether the bottom has fallen out of the team in terms of the available talent. It may have but we're going to have a spine which might help.

If we were playing West Coast tonight I would be stunned if we got withing 5 goals. I will not be surprised if we beat Brisbane tonight.

 

[Ambrosia]

Mosquito fleet? Berry is 192cm and 84kg. CEY is 189kg and 91kg.
Neale may be 177cm, but he is 85kg. That's almost 10kg heavier than Parish's listed weight.

I think we're definitely undersized in the middle so I'm a little disappointed we didn't consider that. We should have at least considered D Clarke if we were going to drop Hibberd. I'm hoping it isn't another Bulldogs game.

Parish is clearly over 80kgs now. I don’t think we should be concerned about Brisbane’s size around the ball.

 

[Sockeye]

Parish is clearly over 80kgs now. I don’t think we should be concerned about Brisbane’s size around the ball.

This argument is forgetting about Mitch Robinson and McLuggage. Apart from Centre bounces, one, if not both, are at every stoppage.

 

[R t james]

With all the first gamers and guys getting games after long lay offs do you think the bombers and other clubs dont care about a premiership this year , it’s just about getting to the end . So there just playing players to see how they go for next season , so it’s just getting thru healthy and financially and if you win it it’s just a bonus

 

[westking]

Which team will turn up tonight: the switched on ready to go, sharp as a tack team or the holiday resort one. Hope its the former.

I fear the good version of Essendon will turn up tonight but we still get beaten easy.

 

[fairbump_playon]

I fear the good version of Essendon will turn up tonight but we still get beaten easy.

ha ha, this is actually the worst possible option.

 

[fairbump_playon]

i can't help feeling hopeful... damn

 

[DapperJong]

With all the first gamers and guys getting games after long lay offs do you think the bombers and other clubs dont care about a premiership this year , it’s just about getting to the end . So there just playing players to see how they go for next season , so it’s just getting thru healthy and financially and if you win it it’s just a bonus

Dunno

 

[fairbump_playon]

With all the first gamers and guys getting games after long lay offs do you think the bombers and other clubs dont care about a premiership this year , it’s just about getting to the end . So there just playing players to see how they go for next season , so it’s just getting thru healthy and financially and if you win it it’s just a bonus

nah i reckon we're trying.

 

[ghostdog]

Lacks a bit of pace without Mckenna.

Some good vision and delivery by foot in Ridley, Francis and Redman though (providing Francis and Redman turn it on). Hopefully that makes up for the loss of run and carry.

 

[JT_the_Man]

At the start of the week I had a bad feeling.

Now I’m quietly confident.

It’s probably misplaced confidence, but I’m confident nonetheless.

 

[Jpw22511]

Booooooo