Francis just loves the inside-the-pack smashing of bodies. Would have killed some Fark Carltoners if he’d played last week.
Merrett did zero for the first three quarters. Then suddenly got busy in the last (but was still 50/50 on actual success in his contests). Was forward all day.
He’s the type who will hang on to the ball and bust open a scrimmage rather than dish off the nothing handball to a team mate standing still which we saw too often tonight.
Can’t wait to see the stats.
Some stats bolded below.
Essendon has opened its VFL season with a seven point loss to Sandringham at Trevor Barker Oval on Saturday.
The Bombers made a slow start kicking just one goal in the first half and trailed by 34 points at half time.
But the Dons kicked nine goals to five in the second half to draw within striking distance in the last term.
Sandringham steadied late in the match to hold on for win.
Heath Hocking, Nick O’Brien and Ben McNiece were the standouts for Essendon, raking in 77 disposals between them.
Aaron Francis was another solid contributor finishing with seven tackles, six marks and a goal.
McNiece was polished in defence, finishing with nine marks and 23 disposals.
“Benny McNiece was probably our best today,” Essendon Coach Paul Corrigan said.
“He was really controlled down back, he generated some really good ball movement for us when we needed it.
“I thought Aaron Francis was good, he played forward the first half and then went into the middle in the second half.
“Heath Hocking also did a lot of work inside for us, and was really strong around the contest.”
Nick O’Brien led Essendon out for the first time. He finished with 25 disposals.
“He played outside on the wing and also inside in the second half, he was very valuable,” Corrigan said.
It took until the finals seconds of the first quarter for the Bombers to open their account when Dons debutant Daniel Younan ran into the open goal after good lead-up play that included a one handed mark to Francis.
Sandringham owned the territory after quarter time, taking a 34 point lead into the major break.
Corrigan said the Zebras were ruthless on the Bombers mistakes.
“Sandy came really hard out of the contest. I thought they were really ferocious with their pressure on the ball in the first half,” he said.
“We probably didn’t adapt according to that, I thought we fumbled the ball a little and just weren’t clean around the contest.
“It was probably due to their pressure and I think there was sometimes a perceived pressure that caused a few of our mistakes and turnovers which they capitalised on.”
The Dons second goal of the game came nine minutes into the third term when Shaun McKernan marked strongly and converted.
Most of the third quarter was spent in Essendon’s attacking half but for all its territorial dominance, it struggled to make inroads on the scoreboard.
The Bombers booted five goals for the term to the Zebras three, leaving the margin at the final change 23 points.
Corrigan stayed composed in the three quarter time huddle, encouraging the team to play their game.
“We now how we want to play, we want to be exciting and want to be able to score quickly,” he said.
“It was more about just encouraging them to be free with their ball movement and making sure that we are still strong in the contest, winning it there.
“Then when we get the opportunity try and move the ball fast and get it into our forward. If we are able to do that then we give our forwards a chance one on one.”
The address helped, as Essendon came out firing in the final term.
The Bombers kicked three of the first four goals in the last quarter to cut the margin to ten points.
Sandringham found the steadying goal at the 27 minutes mark and eventually ran out seven point winners.
Essendon headed straight to the beach after the game to begin recovery in preparation for round two.
Corrigan will place major focus this week on cleaning up the side’s skills.
“I think it’s just back to the basic fundamentals, making sure that we are clean with particular things like ground balls, making sure we hit handballs and are effective with our kicking,” he said.
“These games are going to be more pressure than what practice matches are so the heat is going to come a little bit quicker.
“It’s about our ability to be able to dispose of the ball and be able to take the bumps now and then and still get the ball to our teammates.”
Essendon play Collingwood next Sunday at Windy Hill from 1pm.
Sandringham 3.4.22 6.8.44 9.10.64 11.12.78
Essendon 1.3.9 1.4.10 6.5.41 10.11.71
Goals: Merrett 2, McKernan 2, Francis, Begley, Stewart, Younan, Peters, Hind
Pretty fkn good effort. Play them again next week, … same guys, … we win.
Today I met the one and only DJR.
I always wanted to know how the hell he types so fast. There he was - binoculars in one hand and phone in the other.
So he kept that 3rd arm hidden from you eh?
He’s very good at doing that, if you don’t look very closely you miss it.
He also gave footy away for a bit before that. Then got back into it and we gave him a chance
I take this is a reference to Morgan, not DJR. The sequence of posts sometimes leads to interesting meanings.
In my view, Morgan had played a very good game prior to the injury. He and McNiece were both very good.
I also thought TBell dominated the ruck against a good quality opponent in Longer. Not sure why the criticism. He did only take one contested mark I suppose, which means his contribution is pretty much hitouts only.
What are you talking about? I was replying to Splitrounds comment.
'Went his whole U18 year uninjured. Admittedly he wasn’t actually playing footy that year, but still.
Edit: he did play local footy, apologies.’
So I either missed it or I’ve forgotten, and the efc site search is telling me nought, other than he had an uninterupted pre season unlike last year… do I remember Redman being injured again? If so, whats the story? I’ve got hammy coming vaguely from behind the Andruska’s disease.
My thoughts on others -
Francis - not polished at all, and at AFL level he will make a few mistakes and look bad at times. But he looks match fit. He didn’t look overly tired at any point. And he has a natural aggression at the ball that you can’t build into anyone. His kicking can be very good (real power and distance) but he miskicks a few when he tries to really drill it. Probably time to give him a run in the ones.
Merrett - a very frustrating player. He lacks that aggressive drive which Francis has in spades. He too often loses one on ones, and generally hangs around contests rather than actually contesting. I don’t think it is going to change.
Mutch - looks good. Seems to do pretty much everything well.
Clark - I don’t yet see any signs that he can be the clearance machine he was rated as in TAC cup. His worst clanger kick today was when he got himself into a tangle of options (after receiving a free), and kicked with his non preferred right, and it looked ■■■■■■ awful. But he needs to just win a lot more ball at stoppages. Still early days for him though.
McNiece - he surprised me with his body strength in marking contests. He is not just a laser kick. Looks like he could be worth a try at some point, maybe if Bags can’t come good.
Begley - he has obvious attributes in his strength and kicking. But he too doesn’t win the ball much as yet, and he missed the target twice when handballing to an overlapping player. He still has to improve a bit skills wise and maybe in knowing where to go to get a kick.
Draper - didn’t get near it today. I hardly saw him in the ruck at all.
Stewart - while he failed to take marks and kick a bag of goals, I thought he was pretty good from very limited opportunities. His ground play is really good for a guy that tall. He may not be a star at AFL level, but he could be a very useful contributor.
Hocking - plays VFL just like AFL. Workmanlike, but not that effective offensively.
Dea - very good overhead for his size, but not sure he can offer enough to contribute to the modern run and gun fast style possession game that is needed at the top level (compared to someone like McNiece, who has those attributes)
Missed this week with sore groins
LOL. I knew that. But your post came straight after BSD talking about DJR, which comically made it sound like you were saying DJR stood out of football for a year.
Just a joke.
Ahh. Cheers Splitty.
Am I doing a Timmy Watson?
Retire for one year, come back and deliver us a premiership?
The back is (hopefully) fixed…
Do we have an upgrade door available for mcniece?
Ricky Dyson made an appearance yesterday too. Looked in good shape, was chatting with the trainers. He must live in the bayside area.
I think so. Myers is off the LTI this week, but Laverde and Ridley are still on it.
Some one has to get injured, don’t they?