I can’t see them both fitting unless one of Stanton. Kelly or Gleeson of to be left out - which I don’t see happening save fit injury.
Conor is no chance of playing imo
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I’m not going to compare McGrath and McKenna. But I will say I think McKenna and Dea have a right to be a little ■■■■■■ about only getting one JLT match each after their form last season.
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Good luck Pigeon!
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■■■■ this ■■■■ club.
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I’ve seen a lot from Conor to suggest his defensive skills aren’t up to AFL standard just yet (though his attacking skills are very good). Conor gets lost a little bit in defensive structures and finding his man.
McGrath meanwhile has focused on his defensive size and his ability to fit into the team. We’ve only seen glimpses of his attacking skills but it’s nice to see that he has honed in on a role and looks to have won a spot in a round 1 Essendon side ahead of a lot of fit and experienced campaigners. That’s all you can ask of him at this stage.
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He dropped 2 marks in the jlt game.
ambrose giving freekicks off lead to more goals than conor.
We’re dropping conor because hes ‘weak’ defensively while keeping absolute glacial players in our midfield, and small defenders.
they both play, move bags and stanton on.
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Plenty to play out. Round 1 team is by no means an indication (injuries aside) of what we’ll be seeing by ANZAC. It’s gonna take a few games for them to work out what it is our best 22 actually looks like.
There’s as many as 12 guys competing for 6 backline positions. It’s actually a GREAT thing that we have depth and selection conundrums back there for the first time in aeons!!
Agree with this. Look I know stanton is a great bloke and all but he is not the future - Conor is. Stanton going to the backline looks like the reclamation of whipping boy status when he inevitably gets 4+ kicked against him every week.
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Unbelievable disrespect there
Conor has done 4/5ths of fark all. Stanton is a club champion and if Matthew Boyd can play until he is 34 off a HBF, and Montagna keeps on keeping on then so could potentially Stants.
Can go on about the future but until Conor is actually a better option not just potentially he stays in 2’s to work on the limitations to his game until he is ready to supersede others. Just like other players in other positions do.
Personally I’d prefer see Conor on a wing, where he still pushes back and helps defence and can attack from there but isn’t responsible for a fwd and less likely to end up on last line of defence.
McGrath already has him covered on the beating his man and composure under pressure in defence front hence would be far more likely in frame for rd1 selection for keeping one of hawks dangerous smalls under control.
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If McKenna’s done 4/5ths of fark all, surely McGrath’s done 1/5th of fark all, tops.
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McGrath has played all 3 JLT series games.
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Heaps on blitz say not to read into the jlt too much.
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That may be true. But he was always gonna play round 1. The club needs as many good news stories as possible in 2017 - Number 1 pick debuts in round 1 at the G in front of 85k - that is PR gold.
Selection committee would have decided a month ago (unless of course pidge broke his hand playing with his dog) that he playing against the Hawks.
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I dont believe this.
I believe Worsfold when he said its touch and go with Pigeon. He is very close.
Marketing department doesn’t pick the footy team.
Number 1 pick debuting round 2 or anzac day is just as big a story as rd 1, probably more given round 1 we have the return of Watson, heppell and others which is a bigger story than McGrath.
Plus also Heppells first game as captain and Roughies return and first as captain.
If Mcgrath is selected for round 1 its on Merit.
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You’ve got three small forwards to man up and I wouldn’t feel in any way confident that McKenna could contain any of them. Doesn’t matter how good he is offensively, you have shut those guys down first or else they will carve up.
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No I think Merit’s playing for us. More likely he’ll be selected to play on Poppy
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Based on what?
No thankyou
Can someone remind me of the games last year where Conor got carved up as a small defender?
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