Preview Dreamtime at the 'G

[Wahooti Fandango]

Re: Dream Time at the G

There is no way mcc visitors tickets will sell out.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Re: Dream Time at the G

No Watson
No Hocking
No Hurley

Will test our depth.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Re: Dream Time at the G

Watson to miss? I thought Hird said he is likely to play.

 

[Kong]

Re: Dream Time at the G

I expect Hurley and Watson to play.

 

[dave_27]

Re: Dream Time at the G

Cant wait for this.

Davey will surely come in.

 

[DVD Player]

Re: Dream Time at the G

I expect Hurley and Watson to play.

Certainly hope so.

 

[eth-dog]

A big game coming up here against Richmond. Their first 2 wins of the season the competition was like "meh, they beat Brisbane and North Melbourne". About 3% of the football population expected them to beat Fremantle. They did beat Freo, and they played good footy to win it. Essendon are coming off scrappy wins against West Coast and Brisbane, even if the team thrashed Gold Coast the week before West Coast. The difference is that many believe Essendon to be a top 4-6 side.

Essendon forward line vs Richmond back line:

Essendon's forward line is probably their biggest weakness at the moment. They have been playing 3 ruckmen with Hille and Ryder playing forward most of the time. Crameri has been the surprise packet this season, coming off the rookie list to be Essendon's leading goal scorer with 18. With Jetta, Melksham, Watson, Zaharakis, Monfries, Reimers and Howlett going through there, Essendon has a solid depth of midfielders/small forwards who can all kick goals.

The defence of Richmond is weak. Yes, Newman and Deledio are class players, but they have weak KPD's IMO. McGuane is serviceable and so is Moore, but they just lack the quality (as well as height and strength) to go with players like Hille and Ryder all day. They also have to deal with Crameri, who is one of the toughest players to match up on. He was held goalless against Collingwood this year, and that's the only time he has been held goalless all year. I just don't see Richmond's defence beating our forward line.

Essendon back line vs Richmond forward line

The defence of Essendon is the biggest improvement for the bombers this year. Fletcher has been, well, Fletcher, and Hooker has improved a lot. Hardingham in the BP has been excellent, McVeigh has been good and Heppell is currently the favourite for the rising star, or should be. Hurley has looked more settled in defence and has been playing well. With Myers going through there, it should be a good game. The million dollar question is: who takes Jack? His run of form started against Essendon last year. He is the best FF in the game. I think we'll start Hurley on him. Strong enough and good enough to play on jumping Jack. We also have Fletcher, Hardingham and Hooker to run across him and spoil his attempts.

The Richmond forward line is a little 1-dimensional. Yes, the push-up king has popped up this year, but 75% of it goes to Jack. White is poor, Vickery hasn't done much, and Martin has been good in bursts while up there. They need another target. All in all, I think Essendon has the advantage at this end of the ground.

Essendon midfield vs Richmond midfield:

Essendon has been excellent in the middle third of the ground. Jobe Watson has been instrumental, Howlett, Lonergan, Jetta, Melksham, Zaharakis and McVeigh have all been good while in there. They have mixed pace with hard nuts well. Bellchambers having a lot of hit-outs, allowing our midfielders the first use of the ball has also helped. Add Stanton this week and we have a midfield that is very well balanced.

Richmond's midfield is good, without being great. Cotchin, Martin, Tuck are all good players and play well inside. The problem is their depth is very weak. Sure, their top 3 may match our top 3, but do they have as good depth that Essendon do? And Angus Graham is a solid ruckman, but does he have the hitout to advantage ratio that Bellchambers has? I think not. I'm calling Essendon in this one.

Team (IMO):

Hardingham-Hurley-Fletcher
Hibberd-Hooker-Heppell
Stanton-Watson-Zaharakis
Monfries-Ryder-Crameri
Reimers-Hille-Jetta
Bellchambers-Lonergan-Howlett
Colyer-Myers-Melksham-McVeigh

 

[Macca18]

We will be up and about for this game before our Bye the following week.

Our big guys will give the Tigers plenty and plenty of headaches.

Richmond had a couple of narrow wins over North Melbourne & Brisbane (in Melbourne) before their MCG victory over Fremantle. Most of these games were played with very little pressure on them... today is going to be different as they expected by most people to beat an undermanned Bulldogs. I want to see how they respond to this first.

We like Dreamtime and our indigenous boys usually step up to the plate. It's highly unlikely the Tigers will even play an indigenous player on the night. We've had two good wins in the last two years on the occasion and optimistic we can make it a third and go into the Bye with plenty of confidence.

 

[Rack Watts]

I'd love to see Hurley on J.Reiwoldt

 

[BomberTime]

So Hurley looks set to miss again.

Wonder if Hirdy has any sentiment and will bring in Davey for the match?

 

[Rack Watts]

We need go get 43 games into him so we can steal his children, they're jets.

 

[The Dustbin]

Richmonds biggest weakness is their ruckmen. Vickery is ok, Graham is not up to AFL standard. Significant advantage with Hille, Ryder and T-Bell.

I'd give Hardingham first crack at Riewoldt.

 

[Howard Moon]

ive got a bad feeling about this game......

 

[Rack Watts]

ive got a bad feeling about this game......

Same, always get it against Richmond..
Hopefully sticking to our gameplan will get us over the line.

 

[gO_bOmBeRz]

Essendon forward line vs Richmond back line:

The defence of Richmond is weak. Yes, Newman and Deledio are class players, but they have weak KPD's IMO. McGuane is serviceable and so is Moore, but they just lack the quality (as well as height and strength) to go with players like Hille and Ryder all day. They also have to deal with Crameri, who is one of the toughest players to match up on. He was held goalless against Collingwood this year, and that's the only time he has been held goalless all year. I just don't see Richmond's defence beating our forward line.

Didn't he kick 4 goals against the Magpies ? Unless your referring to someone else.

 

[eth-dog]

Hopefully Bulldogs give them a tough, inside game that tires them. I wish they were playing Sydney tbh. Also: If Hurley misses, Nat-Rat comes into the side. Graham and Vickery will get domin8ed by Bellchambers, Hille and Ryder. Go bombers!

 

[Andronicus]

We need go get 43 games into him so we can steal his children, they're jets.

Next stolen generation huh?

 

[Summer Nights]

I'm fairly confident. I think Watson will stay in, I think Hurley and Slats will both come back in and we'll win by 30 points. Still a dangerous game though and one I'm really pumped about. Will be a HUGE crowd.

 

[Darealrath]

ive got a bad feeling about this game......

I'm a bit worried as Richmond's midfield combination of Martin, Cotchin and Foley is very good and we are likely to lose Hocking and Watson from our midfield, while Hurley probably won't be back.

We'll need big games from Lonergan, Howlett, Stanton etc.

 

[eth-dog]

Essendon forward line vs Richmond back line:

The defence of Richmond is weak. Yes, Newman and Deledio are class players, but they have weak KPD's IMO. McGuane is serviceable and so is Moore, but they just lack the quality (as well as height and strength) to go with players like Hille and Ryder all day. They also have to deal with Crameri, who is one of the toughest players to match up on. He was held goalless against Collingwood this year, and that's the only time he has been held goalless all year. I just don't see Richmond's defence beating our forward line.
Didn't he kick 4 goals against the Magpies ? Unless your referring to someone else.

Oh, my bad. I meant Carlton.

 

[Rack Watts]

Next stolen generation huh?

Not touching that sorry!

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

I actually think we may lose this game.

Agree with Hardingham on Riewoldt.

 

[blitzer]

At this stage its a bit hard to preview because we aren't 100% sure which players are going to available but I'll have a guess anyway. I really hope that Watson's hamstring is OK. Shame that Hocking went and got himself rubbed out, he has been integral to our midfield setup this year and would have been perfect for playing on a Cotchin/Martin. On the positive side Stanton/Slattery back should be handy.

Last year our rucks were completely dominant against theirs. This year i think it will be closer, Vickery has improved considerably since then and has even become a goal kicker himself so we will have to watch him, much like other teams have to watch Hille/Ryder. I think it will be closer but i expect our rucks to carry the day. Also on a side note, how good is Bellchambers contested marking, i've been very impressed and surprised.

Our smaller forwards have all been performing pretty good, and since Richmond don't have anyone the quality of a Merrett in their tall forward stocks, it may be a good chance for Ryder/Hille to kick a few. If we get the ball in enough we shouldn't have too much problem kicking a winning score.

In their forward line they are pretty predictable. We need to cover J.Riewoldt and then watch out for their little guys. I would probably back Hooker to take J.Riewoldt, Hooker is really strong in the air and should give a good contest and rely on our other defenders to reduce the amount of space he gets. Slattery should be a good matchup for Jake King who has gotten under the guard of a few defenses this year, one thing about Slattery is he has great concentration and King will need to earn any goals he gets next week.

In the midfield they have some good players. Without Hocking I'm not sure who will play on Cotchin/Martin. I reckon Mcveigh would be a great matchup on Nahas, I'd back him to clamp down on him and get some ball going offensively too. I think for the most part our midfields will go head to head without too much tagging except they will probably put someone like a Jackson on Watson. Its important that our ruckman are on their game and give us first use of the ball as much as possible.

 

[Kong]

How I expect the key matchups to unfold:

Deledio: Monfries

Martin: Slattery
Cotchin: Howlett

Riewoldt: Hooker
Nahas: McVeigh
King: Hardingham

 

[eth-dog]

I would put Hurley on Riewoldt still, because that frees up Fletcher to come as the third man across and really trouble the tigers. Hooker will play on Vickery IMO.