Preview Round 18 - Essendon Bombers vs Geelong Cats - Saturday, July 15th - 7:25 pm - GMHBA Stadium

[Beerfish]

Do we think there's any chance that Ridley plays? Reading on it today, it sounds promising.

I'd be shocked but I haven't read anything.

 

[andleanback]

Hadn't matched up well against Richmond either

On the Draper front, why does it feel that we'll continue down this conservative approach, only to see him go in for surgery when his chance of returning this season is gone... Dr Donlav suggests we should have put him in for surgery as soon as there was the niggling injury, with the hope to get him up by the back end of the season.

If they put every player in for surgery that had a niggling injury throughout the season. You’d have 15 players out for most of the season

 

[Runk]

We'll get spanked but don't worry, we play the Eagles in round 21 so we'll get it back

 

[supportyourteam]

Only a matter of winning it out of the centre and kicking straight to be a chance. No smacking expected.

 

[the PILL]

I wouldn't mind seeing us switch it up a bit this game and maybe tag Stewart quelling his interceping and rebound at that horrible skinny ground, where he only needs to shuffle across a bit and cuts off a lot of attacks... I know we play a zone shifting style now but with how narrow GMHBA is, he is a master of chopping it off and pumping it back over heads to their set-ups.

Yes there's Henry and De Koning still but they don't do damage like Stewart does I feel.

Maybe a good job for Archie or ?...

 

[Zephyr Effekt]

Can't play Weid this week.
Will not touch the ball at Kardinia.

You know that's literally his job right?

 

[DeezNuts]

We'll get spanked but don't worry, we play the Eagles in round 21 so we'll get it back

We’ve been pretty competitive just about every game this season I doubt we’ll get smashed

 

[ghostdog]

As an aside, Ben McKay

32

Ben Mckay

Age

26

Ht

202cm

Wt

104kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

7.5

2star

K

3.7

1star

HB

3.8

3star

M

2.7

3star

T

1.7

4star

MG

77.2

1star

D

7.5

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

3.0

2star

M

2.5

3star

T

1.5

2star

MG

88.5

2star

D

7.0

2star

K

3.4

2star

HB

3.6

3star

M

2.4

3star

T

2.0

4star

MG

67.8

1star

's career bests for intercept marks have been against Geelong.

Carry on.

 

[Beerfish]

We'll get spanked but don't worry, we play the Eagles in round 21 so we'll get it back

Grind out a 10 point win

 

[Yoda_]

I wouldn't mind seeing us switch it up a bit this game and maybe tag Stewart quelling his interceping and rebound at that horrible skinny ground, where he only needs to shuffle across a bit and cuts off a lot of attacks... I know we play a zone shifting style now but with how narrow GMHBA is, he is a master of chopping it off and pumping it back over heads to their set-ups.

Yes there's Henry and De Koning still but they don't do damage like Stewart does I feel.

Maybe a good job for Archie or ?...

Ratugalea (Wright)
De Koning (Weidemann)
Stewart (Langford)
Henry (Stringer)
Tuhoy (Menzie)
Gutherie (Snelling)

We match up a bit better than I thought looking at that.
At there best will genuinely come down to how our smalls go against the Cats rebounders.

 

[MiguelM]

Ratugalea (Wright)
De Koning (Weidemann)
Stewart (Langford)
Henry (Stringer)
Tuhoy (Menzie)
Gutherie (Snelling)

We match up a bit better than I thought looking at that.
At there best will genuinely come down to how our smalls go against the Cats rebounders.

I think the Wright/Ratugalea match up favors us but DeKoning will be smoking Weid.

 

[ghostdog]

DeKoning will be smoking Weid.

 

[Yoda_]

I think the Wright/Ratugalea match up favors us but DeKoning will be smoking Weid.

Reid just needs to compete..

Was also thinking about the Cats mids, I think we match up reasonably well now.

Stanley (Bryan)
Dangerfield (Merrett)
Atkins (Parish)
Blicavs (Hobbs)

Depth may even slightly favour us with the form they are in. Caldwell, Martin, Durham, Perkins and even Stringer can go in and influence. The top end talent probably favours Geelong depth wise, but do we bat deeper?

 

[MiguelM]

Cats have a knack of murdering us in the midfield, esp Dangerfield.

Could Perkins/Stringer sacrifice their games and tag him?

 

[MiguelM]

Reid just needs to compete..

Was also thinking about the Cats mids, I think we match up reasonably well now.

Stanley (Bryan)
Dangerfield (Merrett)
Atkins (Parish)
Blicavs (Hobbs)

Depth may even slightly favour us with the form they are in. Caldwell, Martin, Durham, Perkins and even Stringer can go in and influence. The top end talent probably favours Geelong depth wise, but do we bat deeper?

Forgot about Blicavs, too tall for Hobbs?

Probably the hardest player to match up on in the league.

 

[windyhill]

We'll get spanked but don't worry, we play the Eagles in round 21 so we'll get it back

And norf in yet another grand final.

 

[Yoda_]

Forgot about Blicavs, too tall for Hobbs?

Probably the hardest player to match up on in the league.

just bring in Cox. Heck, why not

 

[Lore]

the counter point, of course, is that interstate teams don't get a big fat chunk of effectively neutral (or at least, significantly relatively so) away games just down the road; where as many of their supporters can get in as they like. Hostile home crowd, neutral away crowd for a lot of games. Hell of an advantage. Having said that, it's one extra game a club like Essendon has to play away, hardly a big deal in the scheme of things.

I really couldn't care less about the issue, but if I was the kind of guy who went to every match it would be pretty shitty that you can't get in to this one. Geelong get a lot of geographical advantages, and good luck to them I guess, but doesn't mean it's not true

The funny thing about that is a lot of interstate clubs play most of their away games against Victorian teams at a neutral-ish regional venue like Darwin, Townsville, Alice Springs, Cairns, Ballarat, Hobart, Launceston (New Zealand, China). They'll get 3-4 Docklands and 1-2 MCG games if they're capable of drawing a crowd in Melbourne, but otherwise it's planes, trains and automobiles to the end of the Earth every second week.

And then the little Victorian teams that sell 3-4 home game to regional locations usually get 3-4 away games at their home ground (which they use as "replacement games"). They ultimately play 12-13 games in Melbourne each year, which is not a lot different to playing 12 games at Perth Stadium (11H, 1A) or 13 games at Adelaide Oval (11H, 1A + 1 Gather Round).

The bigger Vic clubs and those capable of drawing a crowd (like a minnow playing finals for a bit) are less likely to get shipped out though; if they don't sell their own home games, it's not likely their opponents will sell them either. Reality of the free market I guess.

 

[Lore]

I presume you mean Redman. Did I miss something? Why is he a maybe?

The hamstring he kept grabbing at last week is apparently tendonitis, which doesn't seem to be a big deal

Hamstring Tendonitis: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment

Hamstring tendonitis is inflammation in the tendons at the back of your thigh. Symptoms may include thigh pain, aching, stiffness or swelling.

my.clevelandclinic.org

 

[Dan26]

Agree. Once the expansion is complete it should be 11 home games played there and finals against non Victorian teams.

You can't play finals there. We don't play home finals at Marvel. The Bulldogs and Saints don't play home finals at Marvel.

An MCG final for Geelong versus a non-Victorian side (like last years Prelim versus Brisbane) gives Geelong a big deserved home state advantage no difference to us hosting Brisbane at the MCG. But, by playing Victorian sides in finals at Kardinia Park, you would essentially have an advantage where all other Victorian sides who host Geelong at the MCG don't have an advantage (since the MCG is neutral when two Victorian sides play there.)

You can't have an advantage for a home KP final versus a Victorian team, while all other Victorian teams if roles were reversed at the MCG have no advantage over Geelong.

You get home state advantage for finals versus travelling Non-Victorian sides just like we do if we play an MCG final, and that's as far as it should go.

 

[Beerfish]

The hamstring he kept grabbing at last week is apparently tendonitis, which doesn't seem to be a big deal

Hamstring Tendonitis: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment

Hamstring tendonitis is inflammation in the tendons at the back of your thigh. Symptoms may include thigh pain, aching, stiffness or swelling.

my.clevelandclinic.org

Huh. I must've looked away every time he grabbed it

 

[boncer34]

You can't play finals there. We don't play home finals at Marvel. The Bulldogs and Saints don't play home finals at Marvel.

An MCG final for Geelong versus a non-Victorian side (like last years Prelim versus Brisbane) gives Geelong a big deserved home state advantage no difference to us hosting Brisbane at the MCG. But, by playing Victorian sides in finals at Kardinia Park, you would essentially have an advantage where all other Victorian sides who host Geelong at the MCG don't have an advantage (since the MCG is neutral when two Victorian sides play there.)

You can't have an advantage for a home KP final versus a Victorian team, while all other Victorian teams if roles were reversed at the MCG have no advantage over Geelong.

You get home state advantage for finals versus travelling Non-Victorian sides just like we do if we play an MCG final, and that's as far as it should go.

Counter of course is that Geelong isn't Melbourne. All other Vic sides, hell all other teams actually, get finals in their city but Geelong don't?

 

[yodellinhank]

Counter of course is that Geelong isn't Melbourne. All other Vic sides, hell all other teams actually, get finals in their city but Geelong don't?

Tassie don't even get a team if they don't build a suitable ground.

 

[boncer34]

Tassie don't even get a team if they don't build a suitable ground.

That's smaller capacity than Geelongs.

 

[yodellinhank]

That's smaller capacity than Geelongs.

In Tasmania.