VFL Game Day VFL Round 19: Essendon vs Williamstown (18 point win; 119-101)

[Harlequin]

Thanks caboose and Ambrosia for the updates

 

[caboose]

(McKernan with 4 goals, btw. He is having a day out. Strong, aggressive, imposing ... playing mostly up forward but also doing a bit of work around the ground.)

 

[caboose]

Crowley goals from outside 50.

Bombers 112-68 with 5:00 gone in Q4.

 

[caboose]

Two quick goals to Williamstown.

Ess 112-80 with 9:00 gone in Q4.

 

[Harlequin]

Come on Bombers keep it going

 

[caboose]

Another goal to Williamstown.

Essentially all the same, getting over the back of our defence off turnovers.

Ess 112-87 with 14:00 gone.

 

[Harlequin]

*

 

[caboose]

Yes!

Goal to Hams ... nice play out of the backline, to McKernan in the middle, then pinpointed Will 35m out.

Ess 118-87 with 16:30 gone.

 

[caboose]

Williamstown reply.

Ess 119-93 with 20:00 gone.

 

[caboose]

Williamstown goal.

Ess 119-100 with 26:00 gone.

 

[caboose]

Siren!

Bombers win!

Final score: 119-101.

 

[Harlequin]

Great win especially in light of Eth's opening comment we would most likely lose.

Thanks again for the updates it's been much appreciated

 

[efcboy]

Great day winning the double. McKernan best on ground here should see him back at afl next week.

 

[eth-dog]

Great win especially in light of Eth's opening comment we would most likely lose.

Thanks again for the updates it's been much appreciated

Shocked, really. Coming off 2 absolute beltings, Willy are the reigning premiers. Can pencil our place in finals now, with North Ballarat and Preston being, well, crap.

 

[caboose]

Now that I've managed to catch my breath after the two great wins today ... here are a few additional thoughts from me on the game at Windy Hill in the hope they might shed a bit more light for people interested in what happened there.

Bear in mind, too, I certainly wasn't watching the game as forensically as I ordinarily would have liked to. (A big vote of thanks should go to whoever the campaigner was who scheduled this game to overlap with the seniors.) During the second half, I had one eye on Ess v GC and only the other eye on this. I also missed a few minutes of the first quarter.

Overall, the boys played an excellent game. As mentioned earlier in this thread, the side was very tall - but that didn't seem to matter too much as the structure was good and a number of our smaller guys had decent games. Williamstown definitely beat us for pace a few times on the outside and when running it into their forward line off Essendon turnovers, especially in the final quarter when they got a bit of momentum behind them.

McKernan was outstanding. The dominant player on the ground, and there was a lot to love about the way he threw himself into it. He had a slightly quiet patch for a little while in the second quarter; other than that, he pretty much tore the game apart. He didn't do an enormous amount of ruck work (Gach did most of that), but was good when he did. Even better was his marking. His hands were vicelike today, and he was playing with what looked like a lot of confidence. He had a magnificent period in the third quarter up forward, where he took a succession of big, contested grabs and went back and thumped through some goals (either two or three) on the back of them.

A lot of the rest of the guys were good; it was an impressive team effort. Hard to say who was next best, but Crowley got plenty of it and generally used the ball constructively. I really enjoyed Heppell's performance at half back; he was cool and calm down there all day and I can't recall seeing him make a mistake. Ashby was very good in the first half, but a fair bit quieter in the second. Hams and Edwards were pretty decent all day too. Edwards did turn it over a bit, though. Jamar did some great things early, especially in the second quarter, but didn't feature a lot in the second half. Sadly, I didn't think Redman had a huge impact, although his toughness in either avoiding or applying tackles was a pleasure to watch as it often is. Eades (and Kommer!) did a few nice things at times, but weren't particularly prominent.

I've seen very little of them before, but Boyse, Carboni and Hind all impressed me at times, too. Boyse must have ended with three goals, I think. Carboni was throwing himself around a lot in the first half, winning hard balls and making some great tackles. I didn't notice Hind a lot in the first half, but he impressed me a lot after half time. Each of those guys is only reasonably small, but they all had good pace and plenty of enthusiasm.

 

[Harlequin]

 

[Darealrath]

McKernan is such a tease.

 

[eth-dog]

Smack is done. Will finish with more VFL than AFL games this year, which tells a story.

 

[60sbomber]

I saw it (on the online stream) from about 10mins into the first, until half time, the early part of the third, and all bar the last 10mins of the last.
So not a comprehensive viewing by any means.
But, FWIW -
McKernan was dominant, as other have said.
HeppA played onball, rather than back. He got a fair amount of it, without being overly damaging. Mainly just quick kicks in contested situations. He could have been tagging, he always works hard at bodying his opponent at stoppages anyway.
Hind looked good at times. I don't know anything about him, age etc.
Boyse also looked pretty good. Again no idea of his background.
Edwards played a good version of a typical Edwards game - very flashy, tried to run and baulk a lot, with reasonable success and a few failures.
Eade got more of the ball than he has in previous games I have watched (which isn't saying much). He still has a long way to go in knowing what he is doing.
Redman was very quiet.
Freezer had a very good game.
Jamar was dominant in the second. Just too big and strong, and used the ball very well. In fact, a feature of the game was the way the whole team used the ball short, and continually picked their way forward with 20m passes.
Nyuon looks very ordinary. I know he is a long term project, but boy he is not even competitive as a ruckman. He literally avoids body contact. He also fumbles simple marks at times.
Kommer absolutely invisible. Just not getting the ball at all. Playing out time I'm afraid.
Ashby wasn't bad, nothing to get excited about though.
Hams was serviceable without being a standout. Slotted an important goal in the last. He seems a pretty reliable set shot.
Wallis, Michael and Langford didn't play, or at least, if they did, I didn't see them. I assume Langford was emergency for the seniors.

 

[Stopher]

Must capitalise on a great win and follow it up next week, given Box Hill and Richmond both have very tough games.

 

[grimlock]

 

[ezard15]

Shame about Mckernan. He must get too nervous at AFL level.

 

[84859300]

http://www.foxsportspulse.com/assoc...ID=91642&&news_task=DETAIL&articleID=46695777

Full replay

 

[efcboy]

Shame about Mckernan. He must get too nervous at AFL level.

He wasn't nervous when he was tearing it up at the end of last year at afl level

 

[ezard15]

He wasn't nervous when he was tearing it up at the end of last year at afl level

Maybe he felt he had nothing to lose at that stage and put a bit more pressure on himself this year. Or He's just not good enough