"…ESSENDON spearhead Joe Daniher is set to play his first competitive match in 10 months when the Bombers kickstart their pre-season campaign on Thursday.
Provided Daniher recovers well from Monday’s full session and gets through Wednesday’s hitout unscathed, he will face Carlton in the opening match of the JLT Community Series.
It is understood the 24-year-old will feature on restricted minutes at IKON Park.
A promising showing in the Bombers’ intraclub has fast-tracked the decision to play Daniher against the Blues, with original plans to have him return against Geelong on March 7.
An All Australian and best and fairest winner in 2017, Daniher failed to play after round seven last season when an ongoing osteitis pubis injury worsened.
Having endured a modified pre-season program prior to Christmas, Daniher has since ramped up his fitness in recent weeks.
At training on Monday, skipper Dyson Heppell appeared to be running freely after managing hamstring tendinitis in the past month, while Zach Merrett showed no signs of an ankle sprain sustained five weeks ago.
Key defender Cale Hooker also trained on Monday as he overcomes a hamstring complaint but won’t meet the Blues on Thursday night.
Meantime, defender Matt Dea , who managed 12 games for the Bombers last season, was spotted watching on in a sporting brace on his left knee.
The Bombers are expected to clarify the severity of his setback on Monday afternoon…"
Cripps is 100% elite and i wouldn’t be surprised if he wins a Brownlow soon. The problem is he’s surrounded by trash which makes his hard work less damaging. It’s not just his clearances, he averaged 17.5 contested possessions a game last season. Dangerfield, Ablett & Fyfe are the only players who have equaled or topped that. Maybe you’re a little blinded by your hate for Carlton? Understandable, but credit where credit is due.
I’m not sure if you missed this or not - but we asked this question of Rob Harding and talked about it for a while. In simple terms - we tag, but only use players that will also provide the attacking element we need while doing it. Ambrose is a great negator, but sacrifices his attacking side to do it, therefore, he will never be used as a straight-up tagger. And anyone we do use to tag (Hepp, Myers, Smith, Langford, etc) will not appear to be an obvious and traditional ‘tagger’.
We need to put this one to bed at least for a while, now.