Jobe and Hepp are out there, and the numbers look good, but they arent sharp yet in some of thd little things. Hepp in particular if off the pace in his game sense. Multiple times he recieved a handball whilst flatfooted with his back to our forward line, then had to turn and sum up options. At his best, he’s getting those handballs at a 45 degree run with full awareness of whats in front. It’ll come. Jobe spent most of the last up forward. Clearly managed loadings. They both reminded me of ACL returnees - it takes a while. The great thing is that they were getting plenty of footy.
Hurls has lost more body mass than id realised. I suspect it’ll take another preseason to get it back. I think Harts and Ambrose need to do the heavy work for a while.
My impression of the side as a whole is one of being tuned to be a hard running unit. We look a lot finer than many geelong players did.
Yeah. I’m sort of resigned that we might not burst out of the blocks like we’d wish. Will be 4-6-8-10-12 weeks before we get to where we want to be depending on how lucky we are.
For me the 2 biggest positives were Stewart and Colyer. Stewart looks well worth the punt and deserving of a round 1 spot
Colyer showed why he was such a big loss when he got injured and then last year. He’s improved in every game and a match on him means that teams have to find someone to match up on Fantasia. Few teams will be able to do that.
I went over to Bendigo with a mate - Geelong supporter.
Very disappointing second half. I commented at half time, that they had given up big leads in the first two games. If it happened again, it would suggest they’re not fit. Well, it sure did happen, so are we unfit? Or is it because half a dozen of them didn’t play last year?
If Hartley is available, I reckon he should be in the team, as they don’t have a tall enough backline without him.
Leunberger’s injury is so costly. If it’s a normal hammie, he’ll miss the first two or three games. That leaves McKernan and Stewart. Whilst McKernan always plays well as a follower, he’s not a true ruckman. And Stewart, as second ruck, would be totally outclassed.
The ruck division was a general weakness. Now, it’s a massive weakness.
Daniher’s goal kicking hasn’t improved at all. He simply didn’t want to kick for goals with a direct shot; apart from kicking right foot, that is. He doesn’t believe he can kick goals with his left foot.
I don’t think McGrath is worth a game yet, and Begley is nowhere near it. I compare McGrath with Heppell and Parish when they started, and I think he’s a long way short of where they were at back then.
I thought Baguley was poor and will struggle to be picked for round 1.
Walla showed he could be a forward. Stewart showed something up forward, and Langford looks as though he has taken a step forward. At times they looked real quick when they moved the forward at time.
Disposal was disappointing at times and let the Cats in too easily.
Overall, it confirmed what I thought after the Suns game. They will be competitive, but I think my early optimism was misplaced.
2016 vs Geelong pre-season. Essendon kicked 3 goals.
2017 vs Geelong pre-season. Essendon kicked 14 goals.
If we continue to improve at the same rate:
2018 vs Geelong pre-season. Essendon will kick 65 goals.
Alright, so I’m extracting the urine a little - but we’re not going to magically just romp all over the team that finished second on the ladder last year.
We are, though, in a couple of weeks, going to romp all over the team that finished third on the ladder last year.
We can’t really use 2016 preseason games as a benchmark for anything can we?
Literally lost half our side and were playing people like Grimley, Crowley and Jamar etc. Blokes that were never any good, or well and truly past it. The team playing in that preseason was probably one of the worst teams in AFL history.