eth-dog
Tier 1 WW Player
Like last year I'll do all the bells and whistles for the VFL finals preview. Obviously the stats won't be advanced as what we have in the AFL.
Observations
Richmond: Richmond's last game was against the Dons and they managed to get a 2 goal win against the men in red and black. Patrick Naish was excellent in the middle with 26 disposals and a goal, whist Daniel Butler, Luke English, Noah Balta and Connor Menadue kicked 2 apiece for the tigers.
Essendon: With limited AFL listed players availabe, Essendon managed to stick with Geelong for the first half before the Cats kicked away in the second half. Jordan Ridley was excellent off half back with 27 disposals and a goal, David Myers had 20 disposals in the middle whilst Matt Day kicked 2 goals in his second game in the VFL
Head to Head (last 5)
Richmond 4-1 Essendon
Form Guide
Richmond: 5W 0L
Essendon: 1W 4L
Sportsbet odds (available Friday)
Richmond:
Essendon:
Line: ($1.90)
Possible sides
Richmond vs Essendon
B: Martin Gleeson - Michael Hartley - Matthew Dea
F: Daniel Butler - Mabior Chol - Jacob Townsend
HB: Jake Long - Brandon Zerk-Thatcher - Ben McNiece
HF: Jake Aarts - Callum Coleman-Jones - Callum Moore
C: Jordan Ridley - Dylan Clarke - Brayden Ham
C: Luke English - Riley Collier-Dawkins - Fraser Turner
HF: Jordan Houlahan - Josh Begley - Tom Jok
HB: Oleg Markov - Ben Miller - Kamdyn McIntosh
F: Mark Baguley - Riley Bowman - Trent Mynott
B: Derek Eggmolesse-Smith - Ryan Garthwaite - Noah Balta
R: Zach Clarke - Will Snelling - David Myers
R: Ivan Soldo - Maverick Weller - Patrick Naish
I: Aaron Heppell - Kurt Aylett - Danny Younan - Heath Hocking
I: Marlion Pickett - Steven Morris - Riley Collier-Dawkins - Connor Menadue
I: Matthew Day - Nino Lazzaro - Josh Tynan - Daniel Guccione
I: Hugh Beasley - Thomas Sivestro - Daniel Coffield - Jacob Ballard
23P: Tynan Smith
23P: Bailey Henderson
Essendon in: Zach Clarke, Martin Gleeson, Michael Hartley, Dylan Clarke, Brayden Ham, Josh Begley, Tom Jok, Nino Lazzaro, Will Snelling; Out: Ben Fennell, Nick Dixon, Jacob Brown, Edyn Sibbald, Dylan Landt
Richmond in: Mabior Chol, Jacob Ballard, Jake Aarts; Out: Sydney Stack
Richmond defence vs Essendon forward line
Despite not having any tall targets of any quality for half the games Essendon still managed to be 2nd overall in terms of points scored this year behind Footscray. Richmond's defence has been stellar this season, conceding the second least amount of points per game this season, also behind Footscray. Essendon's main weapons have been through crafty players such as Danny Younan and Jordan Houlahan, who likely get Derek Eggmolesse-Smith and Oleg Markov this week respectively, whilst Josh Begley will play as a pseudo-tall on someone like Ryan Garthwaite deep inside 50. Mark Baguley is also a clever little forward at this level so his smarts around goals may be dangerous for the Tigers and Steven Morris, who had a similar AFL career to Baguley.
Midfield/rucks battle
Essendon have struggled in the middle in terms of clearances, ranking 11th overall coming into their last h/a game, but the additions of Dylan Clarke and Will Snelling should help that, but their main strength in the middle is their ability to stay aware on the spread, being the best uncontested possession and uncontested marks in the VFL so far this year, whereas Richmonds biggest strength is probably at the contest with the likes of Riley Collier-Dawkins, Maverick Weller and a dominant ruckman in Ivan Sodo at the coalface whereas their spread isn't really isn't Richmond's strength so far this season, their outside speed coming from mostly half back and the lies of DES.
Richmond forward line vs Essendon defence
Richmond rank 5th overall in points for this season, pipped by Port Melbourne by 2 points, whilst Essendon have the fourth stingiest defence in the league, showing why the two sides are in the top 4. Oddly enough the Tigers don't have a player that has kicked 20 goals this year, mostly due to Mabior Chol spending a lot of time in the AFL since his mid-season call up. Jacob Townsend has 18 and will be going to be played on by Martin Gleeson in all likelihood whilst key talls Chol and Callum Coleman-Jones will be taken by Michael Hartley and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher respectively.
Key stat
Richmond: Clearances. When they win these, they win, when theylose these, they lose.
Essendon: Inside 50's. Need to create those chances for them to get over the top of Richmond
Tip
Essendon have been in poor form, Tigers by 15.
Observations
Richmond: Richmond's last game was against the Dons and they managed to get a 2 goal win against the men in red and black. Patrick Naish was excellent in the middle with 26 disposals and a goal, whist Daniel Butler, Luke English, Noah Balta and Connor Menadue kicked 2 apiece for the tigers.
Essendon: With limited AFL listed players availabe, Essendon managed to stick with Geelong for the first half before the Cats kicked away in the second half. Jordan Ridley was excellent off half back with 27 disposals and a goal, David Myers had 20 disposals in the middle whilst Matt Day kicked 2 goals in his second game in the VFL
Head to Head (last 5)
Richmond 4-1 Essendon
Form Guide
Richmond: 5W 0L
Essendon: 1W 4L
Sportsbet odds (available Friday)
Richmond:
Essendon:
Line: ($1.90)
Possible sides
Richmond vs Essendon
B: Martin Gleeson - Michael Hartley - Matthew Dea
F: Daniel Butler - Mabior Chol - Jacob Townsend
HB: Jake Long - Brandon Zerk-Thatcher - Ben McNiece
HF: Jake Aarts - Callum Coleman-Jones - Callum Moore
C: Jordan Ridley - Dylan Clarke - Brayden Ham
C: Luke English - Riley Collier-Dawkins - Fraser Turner
HF: Jordan Houlahan - Josh Begley - Tom Jok
HB: Oleg Markov - Ben Miller - Kamdyn McIntosh
F: Mark Baguley - Riley Bowman - Trent Mynott
B: Derek Eggmolesse-Smith - Ryan Garthwaite - Noah Balta
R: Zach Clarke - Will Snelling - David Myers
R: Ivan Soldo - Maverick Weller - Patrick Naish
I: Aaron Heppell - Kurt Aylett - Danny Younan - Heath Hocking
I: Marlion Pickett - Steven Morris - Riley Collier-Dawkins - Connor Menadue
I: Matthew Day - Nino Lazzaro - Josh Tynan - Daniel Guccione
I: Hugh Beasley - Thomas Sivestro - Daniel Coffield - Jacob Ballard
23P: Tynan Smith
23P: Bailey Henderson
Essendon in: Zach Clarke, Martin Gleeson, Michael Hartley, Dylan Clarke, Brayden Ham, Josh Begley, Tom Jok, Nino Lazzaro, Will Snelling; Out: Ben Fennell, Nick Dixon, Jacob Brown, Edyn Sibbald, Dylan Landt
Richmond in: Mabior Chol, Jacob Ballard, Jake Aarts; Out: Sydney Stack
Richmond defence vs Essendon forward line
Despite not having any tall targets of any quality for half the games Essendon still managed to be 2nd overall in terms of points scored this year behind Footscray. Richmond's defence has been stellar this season, conceding the second least amount of points per game this season, also behind Footscray. Essendon's main weapons have been through crafty players such as Danny Younan and Jordan Houlahan, who likely get Derek Eggmolesse-Smith and Oleg Markov this week respectively, whilst Josh Begley will play as a pseudo-tall on someone like Ryan Garthwaite deep inside 50. Mark Baguley is also a clever little forward at this level so his smarts around goals may be dangerous for the Tigers and Steven Morris, who had a similar AFL career to Baguley.
Midfield/rucks battle
Essendon have struggled in the middle in terms of clearances, ranking 11th overall coming into their last h/a game, but the additions of Dylan Clarke and Will Snelling should help that, but their main strength in the middle is their ability to stay aware on the spread, being the best uncontested possession and uncontested marks in the VFL so far this year, whereas Richmonds biggest strength is probably at the contest with the likes of Riley Collier-Dawkins, Maverick Weller and a dominant ruckman in Ivan Sodo at the coalface whereas their spread isn't really isn't Richmond's strength so far this season, their outside speed coming from mostly half back and the lies of DES.
Richmond forward line vs Essendon defence
Richmond rank 5th overall in points for this season, pipped by Port Melbourne by 2 points, whilst Essendon have the fourth stingiest defence in the league, showing why the two sides are in the top 4. Oddly enough the Tigers don't have a player that has kicked 20 goals this year, mostly due to Mabior Chol spending a lot of time in the AFL since his mid-season call up. Jacob Townsend has 18 and will be going to be played on by Martin Gleeson in all likelihood whilst key talls Chol and Callum Coleman-Jones will be taken by Michael Hartley and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher respectively.
Key stat
Richmond: Clearances. When they win these, they win, when theylose these, they lose.
Essendon: Inside 50's. Need to create those chances for them to get over the top of Richmond
Tip
Essendon have been in poor form, Tigers by 15.