Richmond
B: 43. D. Eggmolesse-Smith, 42. R. Garthwaite, 50. M. Pickett
HB: 33. K. Mcintosh, 38. N. Balta, 45. P. Naish
C: 37. C. Menadue, 26. R. Collier-Dawkins, 28. F. Turner
HF: 39. J. Aarts, 40. C. Coleman-Jones, 21. J. Townsend
F: 31. O. Markov, 25. T. Nankervis, 36. C. Moore
R: 41. M. Chol, 27. J. Ross, 7. D. Butler
Int: 54. J. Ballard, 53. H. Beasley, 78. D. Coffield, 32. L. English, 46. B. Miller, 51. S. Morris, 64. T. Silvestro, 16. M. Weller
23P: 55. L. Street
Changes since the game between the two teams a fortnight ago are below. The lucky farkers are actually up an additional extra AFL player on us (would have been a draw except for the Thursday night scheduling removing Ridley). Our defence is much improved but they get Chol back.
(The AFL site — I know — lists us with 17 injuries and Richmond with 4.)
Out: Windy Hill
In: Punt Road Death Trap
Essendon
In: Hartley, McNeice, Bezerk Thatcher, McKenna, Aylett, Snelling, Landt, Lazarro
Out: Jok, LAV, Mosquito, Ridley
Richmond
In: Aarts, Nankervis, Chol, Ross, Ballard, Street
Out: Henderson, Stack
they will have a advantage in the ruck with Nankervis and Chol.
i thought nankervis was in doubt for next weeks afl game?
Glad Snelling is back.
What do you mean one player held back?
Can’t the senior listed players play next week in the afl if they play week one finals in the vfl?
They can. But on a five day break, unlikely.
I’ve assumed Ridley, on the back of two weeks form, is a possible AFL in.
Nankervis is one of the four listed as injured/test on the AFL website (adductor). Let’s hope he doesn’t get up!
(Only 10 of our 17 are absolutely guaranteed injured.)
That’d be some sweet timing for Ridley if he cracks back into the ones for a final.
I wish they were YouTube streaming this one. Oh well, I’ll just rely on the ever-dependable Blitz crew to do their finest for this o/s fan.
Man, the AwFuL site sucks. At 6:20, twenty minutes before the VFL teams are released, they put out an article on “mock teams” for next week.
And they’re immediately wrong.
That’s a pretty strong Tigers line up.
I reckon we should be playing Jok, Ham & Ridley, they still have 5 days to recover if they are required for the 1sts.
Will be a bit pissd if we lose this final in a close one, where a few extra decent players would have made the difference.
This is definitely the downside to playing our final on a Thursday, you can guarantee Richmond don’t need to rest any of their fringe players.
Snelling will also only play a half IMO
We guaranteed a second final come what may.
Much as a VFL flag would be nice this game won’t determine that, and the Firsts do need fit players as cover. 6 day break, maybe roll the dice, but 5 and a flight to Perth?
So long as this quirk of scheduling isn’t repeated
I would have thought Lav & DClarke would be all the back up you need, taking into account Hep, Raz, Hooker & maybe Stringer are all good to go.
I can see the situation where all 3 players I mentioned don’t play either game. Can you really see Jok playing in Perth in front of a feral crowd in only his 2nd game? Can’t see it happening myself & the experience of playing a VFL final would be great for him.
Nankervis and Chol are very handy ruckmen for Richmond, and 2wks ago Coleman Jones was also very impressive as a ruckman and marking tall around the ground.
Our only real big man is Bowman (Sibbald, Guccione, Hartley and BZT are tall but not ruckmen).
I thought Bowman was badly beaten by Smith, Abbott and Fort last week, so its been a hard couple of weeks for him. He could use some support, but there is none unfortunately.
To be fair, Geelong’s very AFL-experienced ruck combo was troubling Draper back before he got injured, and then they destroyed the remaining Goetz.
Chol was BOG against us earlier this year at Punt Road. It was the first complete game I’d ever seen from him.
Yes both Geelong’s and Richmond’s ruck depth is very good. We would love to have it. Both have 4 good quality ruckmen.
KEY STAT
Richmond’s two tight wins against the Bombers this season have come in very similar statistical circumstances. In Round 8, the Tigers lost the counts for disposals by 62, clearances by six and inside-50s by seven but crucially pipped Essendon in contested possessions 149-147. Two weeks ago, they again lost disposals (by 29), clearances (by 17) and inside-50s (by six) but saved themselves with a 163-159 advantage in the contest.
Across the whole of 2019, Richmond averages 16 fewer disposals but eight more contested possessions per game than the Bombers. Powered by leading contest players Jacob Townsend , Riley Collier-Dawkins and Callum Coleman-Jones , the Tigers clearly know which moments in a match are most important.
SELECTION NEWS
Richmond has made some additions to its Round 20 team that AFL watchers will have an eye on: 2017 premiership ruck Toby Nankervis as well as Mabior Chol , Jack Ross and Jake Aarts . Fellow AFL-lister Sydney Stack is out, while experienced VFL Tiger Jacob Ballard has been added to an extended bench.
Essendon gains some hardened experience in the form of AFL Bombers Michael Hartley , Will Snelling and Josh Begley as well as VFL-listers Danny Younan and Liam McKenna – with the latter playing his first match since Round 9 due to an ankle injury. AFL defender Jordan Ridley is an important confirmed out.
Oh, it’s on telly?
From that you might conclude:
Playing: Laguda, Tynan, McKenna, Guccione, Younan, Aylett, Bowman, HepA, Hocking, Landt, Marshall, + Day as 23rd
Not playing: Dixon, Lazzaro, Sibbald, Smith
This suggests no more AFL players will be withdrawn.
Despite having to deal with a number of changes due to injury or AFL selection this past month, Jordan believes the group is ready for Saturday’s task.
“It’s always a challenge when you’re playing with 30% of your side different from the previous week – I think we’ve had a minimum of six or seven changes (these past few weeks),” Jordan said.
“Having said that, I’m really confident with the side we’ll roll out on Saturday. They’ve all played with each other before, so should be fairly comfortable and have that trust and synchronicity.”
The VFL Dons have lost their past two meetings against the Tigers in close contests, but Jordan believes if they can bring their best footy, they are every chance of beating them.
“We probably haven’t been in the best form this past month, but thankfully given some of our earlier form in the year, we’ve put ourselves in the situation where we’ve got a double chance.
“We know we’re really going to have to bring our best footy to be in the game, and if we can do that we might potentially give ourselves a bit of an edge (over Richmond).
“The two times we’ve played Richmond this season have been two really tight games, and two great contests so I would expect nothing different from the boys on the weekend.”
Having taken the VFL Bombers to a preliminary final in his first season at the helm last year, Jordan said the preparation leading into Saturday has been different.
“Last year, we sort of fell into the finals in the last round, so we went out with a mentality that we’ve got nothing to lose and we might as well have a crack.
“We were quite confident our best footy was good enough, and we’ve still got that same confidence this year. It’s just a matter of being able to bring it, and playing a brand of footy that we think can stand up in finals.”
In that finals series last year, it was Essendon who ended Richmond’s hopes of a Grand Final berth, when they knocked the minor premiers out in a five-point semi-final upset.
Jordan is aware Richmond probably hasn’t let that one go.
“We got (the Tigers) in finals last year and I’m sure they are keen to atone for that, and they’ve been a really strong, consistent side all year. There’s a reason why they finished on top of the ladder and only lost a couple of games.
“We want to go right out and try and win this game and see if we can progress through to the preliminary final, but the main thing will be about our guys competing and bringing that mindset to be able to raise their game for finals-like pressure.”
While just nine players from last year’s semi-final have been selected in the squad for this weekend, Jordan said there’s a sense of belief among the group.
“There’s a few on our VFL list who were here last year and know what it takes, and similarly there’s a couple of AFL guys who were as well so given that, there’s a bit of confidence and expectation they can perform well on the big stage.
“We’ve prepared all year for this time of the season so we’ll go all out on Saturday – there are some things that we’ve done differently over the last month to prepare ourselves for this so we’ll just give it our best shot.
“If that’s not good enough, then we’ll walk off and be proud of the effort that we’ve put in.”
Essendon will face Richmond from 2:10pm on Saturday at the Swinburne Centre.
Brooke Varney is in the final year of her Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree at RMIT University. As part of their strategic partnership, Essendon Football Club and RMIT University are committed to providing opportunities for students, staff, players and the wider community.
Just not sure where the goals are going to come from in that side. Forward line desperately needs a bit of structure, jeez it’d be nice even if Gown was available.
