I think if he plays 1 or 2 of the last 2 games will have a huge benefit on his preseason and next season.
Getting a hands on experience of how we are now playing and against two teams fighting for the premiership will give him a good gage of whats required to have a successful season next year. A lot has changed in the past 3 months.
He’ll still get a 2 month break between the end of season and preseason and you can’t underestimate game experience over watching from the sidelines.
TBH, I think we will try our absolute hardest to beat Richmond. Its about knowing where we are at, where we need to improve and what we need to add to our list to improve in 2019. We will get absolutely nothing out of an Essington performance, but gain a huge amount by giving it our best. Its going to be a final, so lets play like its a real final.
Thank god it was just “early onset OP” and he will only miss 4-6 weeks.
Imagine if he was truly stuffed and had chronic OP and would miss the rest of the season because they tried to ‘manage’ him for the first 10 weeks of the season even though he was clearly injured and hampered.
Why would you bother trying to get him back this season. Get him right and let him actually get a solid preseason (I think he has been restricted for at least the last two) and hit 2019 cherry ripe.
Glider isn’t a word I have heard in connection with the team in many years, but its a temptation after a tough year and your season is over at round 20. I meant to write " I hope we will try our absolute hardest…
I looked at video of some of the games in the first half of the 2013 season. We were 1 or 2 on the ladder and playing better than the 2018 team. After the announcement we were farked. Gutted.