Agree with all this - glass half full though, you’d hope one thing from the success with Smack et al last year is that they are less inclined to think Joe is indispensable and will be willing to rest / manage him where needed.
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Great news about Joe. Unlike 12 months ago when he meandered through the preseason, he seems more engaged (understandable) and lighter on his feet. Centre bounces are going to be fun if the mids can get first possession and either bullet a pass or bomb it long ‘cause jumping Joe and/or mauling McKernan are going to get you. Then there’s Brown ghosting into pockets of space to take those strong marks. On paper, Essendon have one of the strongest (top 3) forward lines in the comp, providing they’re all fit of course. A lot to be excited about…
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Watching some replays from 2017 this past week, He’s so ■■■■■■■ good when up and about, Top 5 player in the league good.
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Could be taken either way.
You’re forgetting the other All-Australian key forward we have on our list!
If Joey doesn’t get up they are considering Belly, Clarke & Smack?
This will end well…
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Stringer!
Another x-factor type.
How could I forget!?
Not to be purposefully contradictory, but I don’t see that in him this pre-season, to be honest. He is bigger, stronger, more ‘manly’, more determined, more outspoken. But he is heavier, and to date, is most certainly not ‘lighter on his feet’. He is slowly moving into full athleticism, but he has lost that puppy bounce we saw two years ago. For now, in any case.
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A bit like Parish, in that case.
Not entirely unexpected he ends up more of a power forward than the fast, leaping athlete he was earlier on.
Fair enough. You’re definitely best placed to comment. I’m only going by limited footage. I probably should’ve left my observation at, more engaged. Cheers
I would argue our 2017 forwardline was top 3 in the competition, no reason it cannot get there again. Fit Joe and Raz are so important to that.
At the risk of sounding a bit negative, I’d rather keep building up his fitness at the Hangar if playing JLT will interrupt that.
I’d think that he’d be building up his loads and they will have a best case scenario for him to be at match fitness and capable of playing a full game come round one- maybe JLT fits into it, maybe not.
Maybe we are better playing our rucks and seeing how they go in case we need them later on in the season.
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If he’s not ready he won’t play.
Agree
Those 2 are in our best 3 players. So missing them all last season was massive.
excellent - so not like 2018
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Exactly
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The thing about competitive games - and I’d argue JLT game are - is that players push themselves a little more than they might in a trial match. There was a lot of talk here last year about how our loss to the Tigers in JLT wasn’t going to be indicative of how we’d play the Tiges during the season… ended up being very indicative.
So, it’s absolutely important for Joey to get out and play some JLT and properly stress test his body before points are on the line… provided he’s close. He tweaks something in JLT he’s more likely to come straight off and learn more about where he’s at than in a home and away where he might stay on the ground, try help the team get some points, and risk more damage.
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