Round 1 last year was pretty big but for different reasons I guess…
Massive game this weekend!
NO, nothing that bad, but I would like to see that arrogant smirk wiped from his face.
Hope McGrath can do a job there, and keep him off the scoreboard.
Then nullify Breust, and let’s see if they can kick a winning score.
My hatred of the Hawks is still strong but without Bitchell, Lewis and Hodge in the team, I won’t be baying for blood.
That and the fact I’m taking the whole family for the first time. My 4yo probably doesn’t need to see me carry on like a pork chop just yet. Although she did wake me the other morning at 2am asking for the IPad. When I said get back to bed her reply was “if you don’t let me I’ll smack you”. So she might be comfortable with a bit of carry on.
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Yes, that arrogant smirk can be wiped off his face when he is being loaded on to the stretcher after being knocked out
Okay, mild concussion, miss 1 week, out of our game early.
I’ll allow it…
Assuming no other injuries, I think it should be:
OUT: Dea (concussion)
IN: McNiece
But if Walla has something —> Long
And if The Langford isn’t right —> Lav1.0
Thinking we are clear favs for this is silly in my opinion.
Hawks are coached well and even there bottom 4 or 5 players just stick there roles given and are disciplined.
On paper we look the superior team but that mid of Mitchell, O’Meara, Shiels and Smith is just as good as ours and thats where the game will be won.
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Yup. Ounce for ounce Breust is their second best player (Shaun Burgoyne is their best IMHO) and there’s no silver bullet, you simply have to keep the physical pressure going for 100 minutes. We have a few candidates - Saad, McGrath, McKenna. He’s super smart but not super quick and any of those three could run off him.
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Has anyone ever met a kid called Bradley that wasn’t a pain in the arsch.
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Of the 4 MCG losses … the Hawks game was Essendon’s 3rd in 11 days! Against the Blues they kicked themselves out of the contest. While the Tiges game was a predictable result, Essendon let themselves down against the Pies by not making the most of their midfield dominance in the 3 quarters before injury conspired to hand Collingwood the win in the last.
Hawthorns Achilles in recent years has been fast ball movement which Essendon has in spades so I’m expecting the win even though the Bombers are up against it historically (winning more than 3 in a row).
Weather on Sat is good although windy which shouldn’t impact the play
We are breaking sides eventually because of the amount of players rotating through midfield.
Other teams often have a better quality midfield top end but not enough support. Especially pace wise.
In the last quarter for example we had TIPPA in at centre bounce. Parker pushed him over just before the bounce. Then TIPPA pushed him away from ball drop and won footy and we were off.
Raz also is in there plenty as well. Literally had first 3 centre bounces of the last Q of GWS game IIRC
I don’t think Hawks are batting deep at all in midfield.
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Watch this, then come to the G on Sat arvo with your chest puffed out ready to be pounded like a fkn ape.
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Jumped out of my seat and nearly off the top of the Southern when Dysons goal bounced in.
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We have put ourselves in a position that making finals requires us to win pretty much every match for the rest of the season AND results from other matches have to fall our way.
I think the coaching panel have taken the sensible position of “if it happens it happens “.
As good as we have been post round 8 we were diabolical before that.
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The only fly in the ointment is we are still failing to impact the scoreboard given the inside 50’s. Took the side a whole half to lower their eyes and stop kicking to the advantage of Alir.
I mean if you look at our shot for goal counts for the last month or so we should be breaking sides open. In the last two weeks we have beaten sides pretty much by smashing the forward 50 count. If we increase our efficiency in that area then we should be pretty confident.
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2:6 was always gonna hurt. Forget Carlton. See it as a turning point anyway, just like prelim ‘99. Carlton love to think they derailed the Bombers on both occasions but in reality those losses set the club on devastating runs. Win 1 Freo or Dogs in the first 8 would have Essendon better placed. 3 very winnable games … that’s what really hurts.
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Carlton fixed us!
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Worsfold said on the AFL website that Dea and Langford are expected to be available this week. Dea was running laps this morning.
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That’s good news about Dea, so long as he wasn’t trying to run in a straight line.
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But that’s the thing. In assessing the season, post Rd 8 the club has played at the level most people expected at the start of the season. Losses to Bulldogs and Carlton were really unforgivable. In the end those losses have cost us finals opportunities.