Preview Round 16: Essendon vs Geelong, Kardinia Park, Friday 02/07/2021 @ 7:50 PM

[eth-dog]

Does Ried come in to run with him?

he has the tank - but no where near the strength to one on one

I'm keeping Zerk in personally.

 

[Mercurial89]

I'm keeping Zerk in personally.

Could be the making of him, has had a few weeks to find his feet .

If he has a poor one though they will come for him.
My only issue with the matchup is if the ball hits the deck he can't compete with him. In the air I feel he would be ok.

 

[Nifft]

Interesting discussion the last few pages regarding whether Geelong should be allowed to play this game at Geelong. Personally I thought we'd mostly forgone "home ground advantage" for clubs in this state to reduce costs and allow for flexibility with scheduling games, to maximise attendances and therefore profits. If there was supposed to be a proper home ground advantage for clubs in Vic then surely we'd still be playing games at Windy Hill and Optus Oval etc. Playing our home games at Marvel and MCG against other Vic sides is not a proper home ground advantage.

On top of that, we found out last year that the AFL doesn't have a bottomless pit of money. Considering we're allowed to have 80% capacity here in Vic (I believe), I would've thought all games would be played at the stadiums where they can have the largest possible crowds, and therefore bring in the most money. And the AFL should be thinking about maximising crowds at the moment in case there's another big outbreak and they have to play in front of empty stadiums again, or even cancel games.

 

[Ati Tude]

Interesting discussion the last few pages regarding whether Geelong should be allowed to play this game at Geelong. Personally I thought we'd mostly forgone "home ground advantage" for clubs in this state to reduce costs and allow for flexibility with scheduling games, to maximise attendances and therefore profits. If there was supposed to be a proper home ground advantage for clubs in Vic then surely we'd still be playing games at Windy Hill and Optus Oval etc. Playing our home games at Marvel and MCG against other Vic sides is not a proper home ground advantage.

On top of that, we found out last year that the AFL doesn't have a bottomless pit of money. Considering we're allowed to have 80% capacity here in Vic (I believe), I would've thought all games would be played at the stadiums where they can have the largest possible crowds, and therefore bring in the most money. And the AFL should be thinking about maximising crowds at the moment in case there's another big outbreak and they have to play in front of empty stadiums again, or even cancel games.

Geelong own KP and therefore they make more money out of playing games there with lower crowds than having many games at the G or Marvel with mid level crowds given the amount of money that goes back to the venue owner/operator. It is only the big games, which we have often been classified as, that are worthwhile them holding at the G. It is their home ground, they got a lot of government money to help them redevelop (as did we re Tullamarine and others for what they have done to improve training bases), so be it.

 

[Nifft]

Geelong own KP and therefore they make more money out of playing games there with lower crowds than having many games at the G or Marvel with mid level crowds given the amount of money that goes back to the venue owner/operator. It is only the big games, which we have often been classified as, that are worthwhile them holding at the G. It is their home ground, they got a lot of government money to help them redevelop (as did we re Tullamarine and others for what they have done to improve training bases), so be it.

What's the capacity at Geelong? Do we know for a fact that the overall intake is more for a 30K crowd in Geelong than it would be for a 70K crowd at the MCG? I think for the greater good of the competition the bigger games in Vic are normally moved to the bigger grounds to allow more people to attend and bring in more money. That's probably why we haven't played at Geelong for such a long time.

Edit: Sorry didn't read your post properly the first time, you pretty much said the same as me that it's beneficial for the bigger games to be played at the G.

 

[Duckworth]

In: Cutler, Snelling

Out: Guelfi (omitted), Zerk-Thatcher (omitted)


Backs: Jayden Laverde, James Stewart, Jordan Ridley
Half-backs: Nick Hind, Mason Redman, Dyson Heppell (C)
Centreline: Nik Cox, Zach Merrett, Brayden Ham
Half-forwards: Devon Smith, Harrison Jones, Alec Waterman
Forwards: Jake Stringer, Cale Hooker, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti
Followers: Sam Draper, Darcy Parish, Kyle Langford
Interchange: Tom Cutler, Will Snelling, Archie Perkins, Peter Wright

Emergencies: David Zaharakis, Matt Guelfi, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, Sam Durham

 

[DallasCrane316]

In: Cutler, Snelling

Out: Guelfi (omitted), Zerk-Thatcher (omitted)


Backs: Jayden Laverde, James Stewart, Jordan Ridley
Half-backs: Nick Hind, Mason Redman, Dyson Heppell (C)
Centreline: Nik Cox, Zach Merrett, Brayden Ham
Half-forwards: Devon Smith, Harrison Jones, Alec Waterman
Forwards: Jake Stringer, Cale Hooker, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti
Followers: Sam Draper, Darcy Parish, Kyle Langford
Interchange: Tom Cutler, Will Snelling, Archie Perkins, Peter Wright

Emergencies: David Zaharakis, Matt Guelfi, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, Sam Durham

I don’t get the changes this week.

Aren’t we too short now in the backline?

 

[Ati Tude]

What's the capacity at Geelong? Do we know for a fact that the overall intake is more for a 30K crowd in Geelong than it would be for a 70K crowd at the MCG? I think for the greater good of the competition the bigger games in Vic are normally moved to the bigger grounds to allow more people to attend and bring in more money. That's probably why we haven't played at Geelong for such a long time.

Edit: Sorry didn't read your post properly the first time, you pretty much said the same as me that it's beneficial for the bigger games to be played at the G.

I don't claim to have detailed knowledge on what crowds at the G become more profitable for the Cats than a KP crowd but I am sure they want to maximise profits also. Is pretty hard to argue that we shouldn't ever have to play at KP and it is well beyond it being our turn.

Capacity is 36,000 at KP from what I can find although with COVID restrictions, some of that becomes irrelevant. It may well be that a crowd of 30,000 at KP makes them as much money as 60,000 at the G but I don't know exactly what it is. You can imagine Hawks, Tigers and Pies ranking ahead of us for matches at the G and I think they play the Blues there, maybe thinking the Blues would make that big finals push this year and become a bigger draw than us. Ha ha.

Does this mean the Country game is now dead? Or only to be done occasionally???

 

[Duckworth]

Big jobs for Laverde and Stewart.

Ham is lucky, but I was expecting Cutler to force his way in.

I'd think that Guelfi is to be the medical emergency.

 

[Duckworth]

I don’t get the changes this week.

Aren’t we too short now in the backline?

Surely this is balanced by all the talls in the forwardline... Hooker, Stringer, Waterman*, Jones and Wright. That's how it works right?

 

[Falcon27]

I don’t get the changes this week.

Aren’t we too short now in the backline?

Was my first thought, but BZT form not great.

 

[Falcon27]

Big jobs for Laverde and Stewart.

Ham is lucky, but I was expecting Cutler to force his way in.

I'd think that Guelfi is to be the medical emergency.

Yeah Cutler deserves his chance based on his numbers in the VFL. Lets see how he goes?

 

[Duckworth]

Yeah Cutler deserves his chance based on his numbers in the VFL. Lets see how he goes?

I'm sure my frustration will kick in after about 5 minutes of watching him at AFL level. I had thought it would be Ham that made way for him.

 

[Mikevk123]

Zerk and Guelfi both very stiff

 

[Petrify]

Vindicated.. said BZT should be dropped for his absolutely soul crushing handball last week.

 

[JayJ20]

In: Cutler, Snelling

Out: Guelfi (omitted), Zerk-Thatcher (omitted)


Backs: Jayden Laverde, James Stewart, Jordan Ridley
Half-backs: Nick Hind, Mason Redman, Dyson Heppell (C)
Centreline: Nik Cox, Zach Merrett, Brayden Ham
Half-forwards: Devon Smith, Harrison Jones, Alec Waterman
Forwards: Jake Stringer, Cale Hooker, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti
Followers: Sam Draper, Darcy Parish, Kyle Langford
Interchange: Tom Cutler, Will Snelling, Archie Perkins, Peter Wright

Emergencies: David Zaharakis, Matt Guelfi, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, Sam Durham

I don't understand why BZT is omitted if Francis isn't playing. I thought our back 6 were excellent last week.

Cutler in is expected after his VFL performance. Hopefully he takes his chance.
Not a big fan of omitting Guelfi though. Cutler for Ham makes more sense, but I guess they want Cutler in defence.

 

[11kgm]

Lav takes Cameron
Stewart takes Hawkins
Ridley on Rohan

 

[Ati Tude]

I don't understand why BZT is omitted if Francis isn't playing. I thought our back 6 were excellent last week.

Cutler in is expected after his VFL performance. Hopefully he takes his chance.
Not a big fan of omitting Guelfi though. Cutler for Ham makes more sense, but I guess they want Cutler in defence.

Tend to agree. End up with next to no flexibility if things not going well. Don't think too many of us rate BZT, but without Francis, we have no options (other than Hooker going back or using Cox???)

 

[Megabattimus]

*sees that we dropped BZT and didn't bring Reid in*

God I hope we know what we're doing.

Guess we're gonna run with:
-Stewart on Hawkins
-Laverde on Cameron
-Ridley on Rohan

Honestly the biggest thing going for us is O'Connor being out injured. Means Merrett and Parish can play their natural games without getting tagged.

We're probably gonna lose, but god I hope we win.

On Pixel 3 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Seb78]

Probably helps us Esava is out. Him being in would've really stretched us. I'll back Lav in against Cameron. I mean Jezza is good but he's no monster. I actually think Cameron is very dangerous when the ball hits the deck as well and I reckon Lav can go with him. Height as a defender is overrated imo. Ambrose at 191cm took many a scalp on 2019 as a defender, almost all his opponents were significantly taller than him.

Also looks like it will be a wet night, ball will most likely be on the ground a fair bit.

 

[jmoo wan]

Guelfi’s out? you were a huge wrap for his game last week right boncer34 ?

check out the discussion on episode 9 of the pod!

Podcast - 2021 Bombercast - E19 - Grand Final Edition! - Listen now on YouTube, Spotify and iTunes!

As most (some) of you know other Bigfooty boards have their own podcast, in the past we've had our very own special one here with varying levels of success. The mods have approved my attempt to again get one up and going for this board to talk all things Essendon both the team and the Bigfooty...

www.bigfooty.com

 

[Megabattimus]

Probably helps us Esava is out. Him being in would've really stretched us. I'll back Lav in against Cameron. I mean Jezza is good but he's no monster. I actually think Cameron is very dangerous when the ball hits the deck as well and I reckon Lav can go with him. Height as a defender is overrated imo. Ambrose at 191cm took many a scalp on 2019 as a defender, almost all his opponents were significantly taller than him.

Also looks like it will be a wet night, ball will most likely be on the ground a fair bit.

Wet night is probably why they dropped BZT. That and Rohan being quick. There's just no match-up for him tomorrow night.

It sucks, but he'll probably get another a shot at some point. Hopefully he does enough to get a one year extension so we can take our time with Reid and Brand.

On Pixel 3 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[brutus76]

Dropping the Guelf

 

[boncer34]

Guelfi’s out? you were a huge wrap for his game last week right boncer34 ?

check out the discussion on episode 9 of the pod!

Podcast - 2021 Bombercast - E19 - Grand Final Edition! - Listen now on YouTube, Spotify and iTunes!

As most (some) of you know other Bigfooty boards have their own podcast, in the past we've had our very own special one here with varying levels of success. The mods have approved my attempt to again get one up and going for this board to talk all things Essendon both the team and the Bigfooty...

www.bigfooty.com

Rumor has it Truck heard it and sold me down the river.

 

[BrunoV]

Vindicated.. said BZT should be dropped for his absolutely soul crushing handball last week.

I'm sure that's what it came down to.