Funny thread.
JLT results are all over the place cos blokes are at different points in their preseason. Even makes round 1 a bit of a chook raffle each year.
Hoping to see some blokes turn a corner and realise some upside. Will prob be the case for Westcoast too.
West coast by 40+ They finish the game with 14 players to avoid injury and we score some junk time goals to bring margin back to 40 ish
id like to see more competitiveness in the midfield. Smith should help
matchups
Kennedy - Hurley big task
Darling - Francis
resting ruck - Zerk
mids
Kelly - McGrath
Shuey - Parish
Gaff - Merrett
Yeo - Smith
Sheed -Shiel
we will need to lower eyes going forward with lack of big targets.
avoid turning it over like we did to McGovern last time.
We’re not a succesfull club where we can take pre season matches as meaningless tho.
What will Essendon fans have to look forward to if the team plays poorly again? Fans will be like “here we go again another ■■■■■ season coming up”
Winning pre season matches gives the team momentum and fans hope for the upcoming season.
I think this is probably right. And everyone will say “Oh its only a preseason game”. And then we lose the next one by 60… and so on.
I think you’ll find McGovern won’t play
darling won’t either
Injuries, travel, heat, quality opposition and our usual slow preseason form is keeping my lid firmly on @theDJR.
I could be wrong.
NEEERRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDS
Winning or lose jlt doesn’t matter. Testing the game plan and seeing if it works and highlighting the successes during preseason so our dumb as ■■■■ players don’t need to revert to “they let us play with instinct” again.
I prefer we find form during the pre-season, i.e. before round 1 starts. Rather than dropping games (we should be winning) because we are trying to find form and get our ■■■■ together with the game plan.
I’ll be very surprised if we lose by more than 5 goals
Bring in the Glouftsis.
Season done!
McKernan will need to stretch his neck?
Good on the AFL for taking these games out into the community (4.6km from Optus Stadium)
WC have not played outside WA in the preseason since 2016.
Not much new in this article but still I thought I would post it -just to show there is much better insight into Essendon on Blitz than in the mainstream media.
Essendon is likely to welcome back stars Devon Smith and Michael Hurley against West Coast on Thursday as the Bombers’ key position woes intensify.
The Bombers trained on Sunday ahead of the clash against their elimination final conqueror after the untimely loss of key defender [Patrick Ambrose in a scratch match against Melbourne.
The underrated Ambrose will consult a specialist on a 10-week PCL injury that could still need surgery.
Ambrose has exceptional closing speed and last season showed the versatility to take the likes of Coleman Medallist Jeremy Cameron and Brownlow Medallist Nathan Fyfe as a tagging midfielder.
He consistently took the most dangerous opposition forward in 2019, including forwards Ben Brown, Tom McDonald, Eric Hipwood, Patrick Dangerfield, Jack Gunstan, Jack Darling and Aaron Naughton.
After falling to the turf in the contest that saw his knee driven into the ground, Essendon assistant James Kelly admitted it would leave the Dons thin in defence.
But Hurley is fully recovered from off-season shoulder surgery and will be strongly considered for the team to take on West Coast.
Devon Smith should also play after fully recovering from knee surgery in Round 8 last year, while star midfielder Dylan Shiel will lead the onball brigade.
The Dons expect both players to be ready for Round 1 but are already missing key talls Joe Daniher (groin), Noah Gown (foot), Sam Draper (ACL) and Tom Bellchambers.
Key forward James Stewart is also working back from a groin injury that ruined his 2019 season.
Bellchambers had minor knee surgery and is expected to be back quickly but with the delisting of Mitch Brown it will put pressure on coaches John Worsfold and Ben Rutten to structure the club’s forward line.
Daniher could miss the first half of the season, while the Dons are set to make contact with homesick Irish defender Conor McKenna this week to assess his progress.
Key position defenders Aaron Francis and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher will have to stand up in Ambrose’s absence, with the 195cm Zerk-Thatcher having played a single game after being taken at pick 66 in the 2018 national draft.
The Dons ran all over a Melbourne side with only eight listed players last week as they welcomed back David Zaharakis from knee and ankle surgery.
Andrew McGrath dominated in the midfield and Orazio Fantasia and Zach Merrett impressed, but Jake Stringer, Dylan Shiel, Devon Smith and recruits Jacob Townsend and Andrew Phillips sat out the game.
Seriously, can you please explain how losing abjectly and not giving a fark in the practice matches helps prepare us for the season proper?
How many of the seniors that played in the Melbourne game will play on Thursday? I would hope Merrett, McGrath, Parish, Zaka, Saad, etc only get wipped out in the last practice game
likely best 22 this week
Assuming Bellchambers, Hooker, Heppell, Saad(Big V), McKenna, Stewart ,Draper, Gown, Johnson all unavailable
B: Redman Hurley Zerk-Thatcher
Hb: Gleeson Francis Guelfi
C: Cutler Parish Ham
Hf: Stringer McKernan Zaharakis
F: Tippa Laverde Fantasia
R: Phillips Smith Shiel
Int: McGrath, Merrett, Langford, Townsend
Clarke, Ridley, Snelling, , McQuillan, Cahill, Mosqutio
Wouldnt be surprised if Jones or Bryan play a quarter as well to give them a experience of this level and given they played well against the Dees. It would also provide forward/ruck support for Phillips/McKernan
Im guessing McQuillan and Cahill will be selected as they didnt play against Melbourne along with Smith, Shiel, Phillips, Townsend, Stringer(niggles), Tippa (Calf), Zerk-Thatcher
Deleted… wrong info.
Mineral Resources Park.