Preview Round 3: Melbourne vs Essendon, MCG, Friday 05/04/19, 7:50 PM, The Melksham-Hibberd-Neeld Trophy

[srobbo]

If there’s no movement at selection table this week, I’m done until there is.

If Myers, Zaka, Baguley, MTW get games based on the rot they’ve turned in over 2 rounds worsfolds officially lost the plot.

Has to be examples made!!

 

[TDay]

At the rate we are going, the first rounder that we are giving to GWS will be pick -1

 

[Bombers36]

I really hope Worsfold doesn't just make the obligatory 1 or 2 changes again this week - and I'd much prefer to see at least 3 or 4 changes this week, and trying a couple of new faces also. I'd have;-

OUT: Guelfi (crap but not alone), Langford (needs a kick up the ass), McKernan (been very poor), Baguley (7 possession game - again..)
IN: Margaret (emergency twice deserves a go), Laverde (give him a chance!), Z.Clarke (cant be worse than McKernan), Jok (has to be better than Baguley..!!)

Line up;-

Ambrose Hurley McKenna
Margaret Francis Saad
ZMerrett Heppell McGrath
Laverde Brown Parish
Jok Stringer Fantasia

Bellcho Shiel Smith


Bench from: Zakka Myers Tippa Z.Clarke


Feel we are still going to struggle without Daniher and Hooker, but hopefully we can be competitive - the Demons have been pretty ordinary so far also so we may be a sneaky chance to get our season back on track...

 

[JayJ20]

Oh dear

Sorry too bold and wishful thinking.

Out: Francis
In: Ricky Dyson

 

[BrunoV]

Youré right.. One is a pressure small forward. the other a medium sized utility trying to find his spot at AFL level after a handful of years now

How is it that people continually get sucked in to this line of thinking?

Pressure forward is a euphemism for "shit truck I [the coach] will play because I want to make a point".

Some players, Baguley is certainly not on of these players, perform the role effectively. Some clubs demand this level of effort from a team and actually get the output from good players.

Baguley, Josh Green, Nick Kommer, all our my personal favourites, don't do a thing. It's an absolute fantasy that these players actually put more pressure on than Laverde or any other mid-sized forward or useful player when they play.

 

[westking]

Everyone deep down inside knows the only change will be:

Out: Parish
In: Dea

 

[HirdsTheWord]

I think everyone from Melbourne should be dropped (other than Oliver) and then your VFL team can play our VFL team with Oliver.

How about me and you play scissor paper rock instead of the game and save everyone the time and effort.

 

[lenny2013]

How Myers is an automatic selection is a mystery, he wouldn't get a game with any other AFL team. This is how we roll at Essendon these days.

 

[blitzer]

We definitely are carrying some mediocre senior players but damn its not like we are losing because of one or two of our fringe players. We are just not playing well as an overall team. Good teams can make average or mediocre players into useful role players. Right now we are making stars into average players.
By all accounts we have a few blokes in the seconds putting their hands up including Mutch, Clark, Mosquito. I'd love to see Mosquito get a game and engender a bit of youthful excitement considering our football as a whole this year has felt like a chore. Plus Ridley never deserved to get dropped to begin with. In saying that it sounds like Gleeson and Redman are getting close too and probably only need another few weeks in the VFL.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

With BZT and Laverde doing ankles it doesn't give us a lot of options.

Outs: Brown, Baguley, Zaharakis, TBell, McKernan
Ins: Clarke, Draper, Mosquito, Ridley, Jok

 

[Duckworth]

Out IN

Brown --> Draper. 666 rule means you need someone who can bring the ball to the ground. Bellchambers forward.
Longfark --> Ridley. Ridley shouldn't have been the one dropped in the first place. Langford needs to show more intent for winning the ball than he does for getting to the bench.
Zaharakis --> Clarke. Watching Zaharakis miss his teammates with handballs was terrible. Although he has taken missed handballs to a new level when he fresh aired the ball (handpass) while still holding it. This is seriously on par with failing to clap two hands together.

I will add to this for a 'key focus' for players
Zaharakis: handballing, chasing to tackle and contested marking.
McKernan: Goal Kicking
Fantasia: committing his body.
Walla: Getting the ball.
Shiel: Learning to cope with the stages of grief after coming to us.

 

[BrunoV]

We definitely are carrying some mediocre senior players but damn its not like we are losing because of one or two of our fringe players. We are just not playing well as an overall team. Good teams can make average or mediocre players into useful role players. Right now we are making stars into average players.
By all accounts we have a few blokes in the seconds putting their hands up including Mutch, Clark, Mosquito. I'd love to see Mosquito get a game and engender a bit of youthful excitement considering our football as a whole this year has felt like a chore. Plus Ridley never deserved to get dropped to begin with. In saying that it sounds like Gleeson and Redman are getting close too and probably only need another few weeks in the VFL.

I don't think anyone is saying that we are bad because we pick fringe players who are not AFL standard. It is symptomatic of a club that is completely deluded about its position.

People are wondering whether there even 1 point to support playing these players when we're a terrible side.

Who knows, Laverde, if he had not rolled an ankle at a cow paddock, could just need 10 games to get it together to make those games against Port and Melbourne the norm. Who knows, maybe a guy with a very similar set of attribute to a draft cohort who is currently setting the AFL on fire might be capable of having a similar impact.

 

[Topkent]

This might be the shittest game of all time.

I'm gonna create a banter thread on our board an I'll encourage all of yas to get across. Got a feeling it'll be which supporters take more piss out of themselves.

I dunno if I should just create it now so we can both forget this weekend happened

 

[rumply]

Melbourne vs Essendon is always a shitfight. When was the last time even one of us came into this game in good form?

Yep, have been to the last couple, wont be wasting my time or money on this one

 

[Cold Sober]

This might be the shittest game of all time.

I'm gonna create a banter thread on our board an I'll encourage all of yas to get across. Got a feeling it'll be which supporters take more piss out of themselves.

I dunno if I should just create it now so we can both forget this weekend happened

Maybe call it 'The Day The WORSBOLTED'

 

[cAsEy_18]

It has not crossed my mind at any stage so far that we could potentially win this.
I don’t expect that to change.

 

[Milanista28]

Zaharakis out, Ham in
Myers out, D.Clarke in
Mackernan out, Draper in
Baguley out, Laverde in (if fit)
Guelfi out, Ridley in

Saad Ambrose Francis
Mckenna Hurley Ridley

Draper Shiel Merrett
Mcgrath Heppell Parish

Tippa Brown Smith
Stringer Belly Fantasia

Langford Laverde Clarke Ham

Draper comes in as he's a modern day ruckman up for a scrap, Belly can plonk himself forward and bring the ball to ground, kicking deep to Tippa doesn't work.

Ridley comes back in, enough said.

Ham, run and class on the outside something Zaka is not providing, Ham will run all day.

Laverde, It's time for him to play extended time in the seniors

D.Clarke, More dynamic than Myers, Loves getting on his hands and knees and extracting, Once he picks up the pace at AFL level he will have no trouble finding the ball.

The youth will get out out of this mess.

 

[Albertross]

We all know that the club won't make massive changes to the team this week, 1 or 2 at the most. Worsfold will back the boys in to turn it around.

Any senior player dropped, (which I doubt will happen) will be back in the following week because they played a blinder in the VFL against a bunch of kids or sub par footballers, and a kid that's playing his guts out and we should be developing for the future, will be dropped again.

It took 8 weeks of putrid football last year before we made wholesale changes. By then the season was gone, let's hope if it needs to happen, we do it before it's too late again.

 

[blitzer]

Zaharakis out, Ham in
Myers out, D.Clarke in
Mackernan out, Draper in
Baguley out, Laverde in (if fit)
Guelfi out, Ridley in

Saad Ambrose Francis
Mckenna Hurley Ridley

Draper Shiel Merrett
Mcgrath Heppell Parish

Tippa Brown Smith
Stringer Belly Fantasia

Langford Laverde Clarke Ham

Draper comes in as he's a modern day ruckman up for a scrap, Belly can plonk himself forward and bring the ball to ground, kicking deep to Tippa doesn't work.

Ridley comes back in, enough said.

Ham, run and class on the outside something Zaka is not providing, Ham will run all day.

Laverde, It's time for him to play extended time in the seniors

D.Clarke, More dynamic than Myers, Loves getting on his hands and knees and extracting, Once he picks up the pace at AFL level he will have no trouble finding the ball.

The youth will get out out of this mess.

I actually really like the idea of bringing in Draper for McKernan and playing Bellchambers forward a fair bit more. Especially vs Gawn a double team might be a good option and Bellchambers is actually a pretty good forward and is hard to match up with size wise.

 

[DallasCrane316]

If there’s no movement at selection table this week, I’m done until there is.

If Myers, Zaka, Baguley, MTW get games based on the rot they’ve turned in over 2 rounds worsfolds officially lost the plot.

Has to be examples made!!

Why would there be changes when both the coach and captain have said they were satisfied with the teams response?

We are screwed for this game. Just hoping Hooker is right to come in. In which case, they’ll make one change.

 

[ghostdog]

Outs: Francis
In: Dea

What? Why?

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

What? Why?

Thats what I think the coaches will be looking at if Dea was fit and healthy but its a little pisstake.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Our forward line is a joke! Kicking it on Tipungwuti’s head!

[McKernan only thing resembling a forward target, took 4 contested marks]

Drop McKernan!!!

 

[Scythe94]

Call it a draw and bank two points each?

 

[faible]

Not sure about bringing Draper in to tuck against Gawn for his first AFL game... Gawn actually has the killer instinct to take a young ruckman to the cleaners that Bellchambers doesn’t.

I’d like to see something like the following;

D.Clarke in for Zaharakis; Zaharakis is a good outside player but his effort / disposal has been poor so far. Play Clarke on-ball and use someone like Smith, Merrett, Fantasia or Tipungwuti on the wing.

Ridley in for Baguely; Ridley should never have been dropped and can play in defence or on a wing. Push guys like Smith, Parish, McGrath, Shiel or Merrett forward more often to cover the small forward role.

Either play McKernan out of the square as a leading forward, or drop him for Z.Clarke. Use Clarke / Bellchambers to rotate RUC/FWD so we’ve always got a genuine ruckman on-ball.

I’d back Guelfi & Langford as younger players to have another week to respond to their brain fades. Zaharakis is too experienced to get multiple chances.

I thought Ambrose looked much better this week, but Hartley’s kicking out of the goal square would be a legitimate weapon that none of our other back 6 have. Plus we might need his height on Gawn / Weideman / T.Mac.

Laverde sounds like he’s injured otherwise I’d bring him in for an extended run to actually build continuity.

Guys like Fantasia & Tipungwuti will come good with more opportunity. Tipungwuti looked in brilliant touch in the JLT but has regressed and fumbled in both games so far.

I wouldn’t go wholesale changes but I think we need to re-work our structure a bit and drop senior guys who don’t put sufficient effort in.

Honestly I’d put Merrett on notice that he needs to start doing the physical work or he’s playing VFL too. That hospital handpass to McGrath was absolutely appalling and just looked like he was avoiding contact.