I thought I read the Zerk left the field early in the VFL praccy match against the Zebras on the weekend.
What was the injury, and did he come back on?
On The Sash podcast Paul Cousins said the doctors initial thoughts were a couple of weeks to a month. Won’t know until the scans come through. Will have to wait for the injury report.
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Thats no good.
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Bugger. I thought he was ready for a seniors call up.
20 disposals & 10 marks.
He was best on ground.
BRING ZERK IN.
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The boy is back, after getting his Blitz pep talk a week ago.
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This is exciting.
Our blitz chat has worked a treat, he has improved in the two games since.
Blitz pep talk, play great
Join the dots people
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We should have focused on TIPPA?
Zerk-Thatcher on the rise
Brandon Zerk-Thatcher says his confidence is growing amid an impressive run of form for Essendon VFL.
The promising young defender was one of the Bombers’ best in Sunday’s win over the Northern Blues , accumulating 21 disposals, 10 marks, four tackles and two rebound 50s in the 41-point victory.
It marked another step forward in the development of the 20-year-old, who signed a two-year contract extension in March.
“I’ve been focusing a lot on my footwork, and when I go up for marking contests to take the ball out in front rather than going behind,” Zerk-Thatcher said.
"I managed to play alright and take a couple of marks – as a defensive six though we played really well.
“The ball was coming (into our defensive 50) quite a fair bit in the first half, so for us to be able to stand up and repel that was really good.”
Zerk-Thatcher has been working hard on his positioning in marking contests. (Photo: AFL Media)
Since returning from an ankle injury in round three of the VFL, the 195cm key defender has averaged 13 disposals and six marks.
But more telling of his continual growth, Zerk-Thatcher has recorded an average of 16 disposals, eight marks and three rebound 50s from his last three games, including a game-high 11 marks against Richmond in round eight.
“I think I’ve slowly gotten better each week since I rolled my ankle, but definitely these past two weeks I’ve felt a lot more comfortable out there," he said.
“(I think I’m) reading the play better too, and just being more confident – because our back six are so good at working together, it gives me a lot of confidence to come off my man and impact.”
VFL senior coach Dan Jordan also praised Zerk-Thatcher, who has already been named an emergency this season as he closes in on an AFL debut.
“He’s been growing every week, especially after coming back from injury,” Jordan said.
“He’s now probably at the level he was prior to getting injured, where he was really knocking the door down to get into some AFL match committee selection.
“I think his last two games have been really solid and consistent in that format, and the challenge for him now is to keep that up so that can be his bar week in and week out – to perform at that level.”
Zerk-Thatcher will use part of the upcoming bye weekend to visit family at home in South Australia, and aims to come back mentally refreshed for the second half of the season.
Essendon VFL’s next match will be against Box Hill at Windy Hill from 2pm on Saturday, June 15.
Brooke Varney is in the final year of her Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree at RMIT University. As part of their strategic partnership, Essendon Football Club and RMIT University are committed to providing opportunities for students, staff, players and the wider community.
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Trying to win over more media people to our side.
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THAT’S RIGHT
BOOTY WORK
MOVE YOUR ■■■
GO BZERK
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Poor article. Didn’t mention his Blitz pep talk.
do you want me to add it in?
Was a rock down back Sunday. Love his work
I’m guessing there might be a direct correlation between this and his recent relative form slump in terms of clinking marks?
Doesn’t sound particularly related to me.
My primary concern with his play is that while/because he is a great clunk mark, he can over-commit and end up on the ground and in a poor position to make a second effort if he hasn’t actually marked. Get that out of his game and he may be collecting AAs for the next decade.
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He has been building the last 3 games but only really deserved to be in the bests in the Northern Blues game. But a kpd being nominated in the bests is a major acheivement. Well done Brandon.
What do you think of his pace and ground ball agility? Last year, on fairly limited viewing, I thought he looked ok, but this year on what I’ve seen, it seems Intercept marking is a big strength, but pace, agility, contested marking against KP size bodies is not as good as I had hoped for. Interested in your opinion.