Waterman or stringer?
Stringer is an experienced 150 game All Australian player, who can step straight in and be a dangerous target.
Zerk-Thatcher is an inexperienced 10 game player, that will be expected to lockdown key forwards.
Cleary it’s a no brainer, Stringer comes in.
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Agreed… even if we play an undersize defence i’d back us in… it’s not like the hawks have gun talls…
Yep agree.
B: FRANCIS, HOOKER, LAVERDE
HB: HIND, RIDLEY, HEPPELL
HF: STRINGER, JONES, SMITH
F: TIPPA, WRIGHT, SNELLING
still very solid for mine
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We destroyed Stringers season last year by rushing him back early, we are good enough to beat Hawthorn without him.
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Would we play waterman as another forward and move hooker back?
Maybe play redman and go with 1 short as a key back?
we have options
not sure what’s best though
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Yeah actually Waterman for stringer then swap them after a few wks if need be. If we don’t play Waterman when he is in form and stringer is underdone, then what was the point in signing him.
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Appreciate the detail nackers. Fantastic report
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Seems like a team made up of bits and pieces. If you read that as a non Essendon fan, on paper, that looks terrible. Ridley and maybe Walla, the only ones with credit in the bank.
Rest are either unproven or underperformers.
we will win round 1 with or without THE STRINGS, imo. i just see no need for it. he’s historically not great coming back off injury straight away
like it was said before though, he’s playing round 1 and I fkg know it
I don’t know how any supporter could be anything but impressed with our game plan against Geelong particularly considering the age and inexperience of the team, both in games played and time spent in new roles.
As I suggested previously offensively you could really see the constant repetitive drilling of the ball movement from defense starting to take shape during a game. They looked to me to be considerably more composed than they have in previous years and rarely looked to be unsure what to do. They also combined slow play and fast very well. What I really like is the lateral 45 degree short pass, often to the centre of the ground which regularly opened up space to either side as well as forward, making the next kick or handball less predictable and harder to defend against.
Previously we have made a habit of either getting stuck in a pocket and then bombing down the line or going well backwards in a switch that would then get manned up on the other side of the ground for no net gain.
Defensively with a few exceptions when they got out the back it was great to see us largely stop Geelong’s run and carry, where in the past they have regularly cut us to ribbons. I think in the previous week against Carlton we didn’t get our spacings right with our zone enabling them to often carry the ball the length of the ground. I think they worked on remedying this during the week, particularly in a drill that I described where the defenders worked to move cohesively as a unit.
It all looked well and good against Geelong, the real test will come in the coming weeks where teams will put a lot more effort into combating our movement both offensively and defensively, where in practice matches most teams tend to work more on implementing their own game plans and style of play rather the working out the opposition.
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Must be interesting to watch the training program unfold, trying to make sense of things, then see it in action.
Geelong aren’t renowned for their defensive pressure. They also were in practice mode, so undoubtedly a few % off. The real thing will be more intense and won’t look as good, we will turn it over more than the practice match.
Your comments about the training being far more compressed than the actual game reassure me. If the training pressure is super high and space overly tight, the real thing becomes easy by comparison.
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This isnt true, in 2017 and 2018 he was pretty average for pressure acts but in 2019 he was excellent, up there with some of our midfielders.
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Nackers, your reports have probably been the major factor in sustaining my interest in the Bombers over the preseason. Without those reports, there is basically a black hole at Tulla for detail, with mostly puff pieces coming out of the Club media unit, some photos and a handful of training videos. Thanks for taking the time to produce such quality reports . Go Bombers.
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I have rarely seen our zone work as well, and our defence was well organised. So, whoever coaches the defence now Giansiracusa? seems to have done a great job . The Dogs have impressed me over the last 4 years with a well organised, disciplined defence. so whatever it is, the Richmond or Doggy defence methodology will really help us. imo. Its worthy of note that it has been improved with mostly new players in the defence. Stewarts injury is a real shame. He was doing so well.
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Are you kidding?
You should watch more closely. Stringer dominates the play when the ball is in our forward line. His pressure is immense.
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I’m not certain but I think it’s mostly Caracella, I think he’s responsible for ball movement and structures.
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Cara more offence with ball movement and gia defence with structures, right?
I’m not sure, but Caracella is always out in the middle of the ground overseeing things. I don’t know where the responsibility lies, but it could be as you say and Gia takes defensive structures.
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