Preview Round 3: Melbourne vs Essendon, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Friday 01/04/2022 @ 7:40 PM

[citizen-erased]

Why does everyone assume Shiel will be back next week?

 

[Halftimehero]

The only saving grace for me this week is I'm taking a lovely lady to her first AFL game Saturday night

So if we lose by 60 or less Friday night hopefully Saturday night I'll get to see the Lions pants the Roos by 100.

I’d skip the footy and rail her in the pisser instead.

 

[maskmcgee]

Well at last now I can stop wasting hours every weekend paying attention to us for the next year.

 

[Mikevk123]

In- BZT, Baldwin, Martin, Wanganeen, Hobbs, Bryan
Out- Stewart, Francis, Ham, Guelfi, Merrett, Cox

 

[JT_the_Man]

Merrett and Cox for Hobbs and Martin.

I see a case for playing Phillips against Melbourne as well.

 

[MarkJohnson#1]

Calm down ladies and gentleman.

Shiel (if fit) for Merrett
Martin for Cox (if injured) or Ham/Durham

Smith on thin ice but I just don’t think Tex is ready yet and so don’t see an alternative tbh.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I’d skip the footy and rail her in the pisser instead.

I assume you just mean “in the restrooms”… otherwise the kids have a whole new (and anatomically very difficult) sex act that I’m yet to learn about.

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

Out: Merrett, Smith, Ham, Cox
In: Shiel, Martin, Hobbs, Bryan

 

[BomberManU]

There's a real stench about the team, which to me, has come out of nowhere given how positive last season was. Old habits are back, unfortunately. This will be a big loss and will effectively kill off the season - the Adelaide game is 50/50, but after that I can't see a winnable game in the medium term.
Demons will hit their straps this week, on the 'big stage'. D's by 90+.

 

[andleanback]

Calm down ladies and gentleman.

Shiel (if fit) for Merrett
Martin for Cox (if injured) or Ham/Durham

Smith on thin ice but I just don’t think Tex is ready yet and so don’t see an alternative tbh.

Durham ?!?!?!

 

[Lore]

There's a real stench about the team, which to me, has come out of nowhere given how positive last season was. Old habits are back, unfortunately. This will be a big loss and will effectively kill off the season - the Adelaide game is 50/50, but after that I can't see a winnable game in the medium term.
Demons will hit their straps this week, on the 'big stage'. D's by 90+.

It’s the stench of having sky high expectations, the second most difficult fixture in the league, and a team full of babies expected to pull off a miracle.

We have a midfield that has depth and is maturing in their mid 20s, with developed games and developed bodies earning them AA spots.

The next proper spine for this rebuild is severely under-experienced in comparison however, two are sitting on one game each, and three currently on the sidelines so not actively gaining much experience either; Jones (16), Baldwin (1), Draper (23), Ridley (50), Reid (1).

While we wait for them to get healthy and grow into those roles, we have Stewart and Laverde switching to play as defenders 12 months ago, and Wright at the other end goes okay and seems to be building some confidence. Hurley is around and hopefully gets back to playing but it won’t be a long term solution.

It’s not enough though, we’re not going to win many games of footy when the average AFL experience of your key forwards and key defenders in their respective positions is around 20 games. We need the entire line to play together for a while and learn each other’s strengths so they can cover for each other and don’t get in each other’s way. Individuals need to build up their fitness and learn their craft too. It all takes time.

And that’s before you look at the smalls… we basically don’t have any. There’s almost no depth in the small defenders after Hind and Kelly, and the small forwards have been discussed at length too.

So while it better not be a 90-point thrashing, if it’s within 3-5 goals we’ll be going okay. Winning would take a minor miracle.

Going to be a long week.

 

[Keystone agony]

With Merrett injured now is the opportunity for Mcgrath to start in the square fir the next 6-8 weeks. Lets see what he is as an inside midfielder

Maybe even do a job, but id only do that once someone gets hot

Stringer, Mcgrath and Parish at furst bounce

 

[BomberManU]

It’s the stench of having sky high expectations, the second most difficult fixture in the league, and a team full of babies expected to pull off a miracle.

We have a midfield that has depth and is maturing in their mid 20s, with developed games and developed bodies earning them AA spots.

The next proper spine for this rebuild is severely under-experienced in comparison however, two are sitting on one game each, and three currently on the sidelines so not actively gaining much experience either; Jones (16), Baldwin (1), Draper (23), Ridley (50), Reid (1).

While we wait for them to get healthy and grow into those roles, we have Stewart and Laverde switching to play as deithfenders 12 months ago, and Wright at the other end goes okay and seems to be building some confidence. Hurley is around and hopefully gets back to playing but it won’t be a long term solution.

It’s not enough though, we’re not going to win many games of footy when the average AFL experience of your key forwards and key defenders in their respective positions is around 20 games. We need the entire line to play together for a while and learn each other’s strengths so they can cover for each other and don’t get in each other’s way. Individuals need to build up their fitness and learn their craft too. It all takes time.

And that’s before you look at the smalls… we basically don’t have any. There’s almost no depth in the small defenders after Hind and Kelly, and the small forwards have been discussed at length too.

So while it better not be a 90-point thrashing, if it’s within 3-5 goals we’ll be going okay. Winning would take a minor miracle.

Going to be a long week.

A postive reply, appreciate it.
Within 3-5 goals would be a great effort and what most supporters would have expected in the first two rounds. With all the 'problems' you've listed, not sure why you'd be expecting the level of effort/cohesion that would get us that close? (From memory, we played really well against them last season)
I'm guessing the 'long week' comment refers to supporters who are frustrated with the current situation, and how much they/I annoy you?

 

[Lore]

A postive reply, appreciate it.
Within 3-5 goals would be a great effort and what most supporters would have expected in the first two rounds. With all the 'problems' you've listed, not sure why you'd be expecting the level of effort/cohesion that would get us that close? (From memory, we played really well against them last season)
I'm guessing the 'long week' comment refers to supporters who are frustrated with the current situation, and how much they/I annoy you?

We lost to Brisbane by 22 points - 3 goals 4 behinds. When you check the stat sheet, we actually dominated a lot of areas, had more shots at goal (25-22), and if we’d kicked straighter that margin would have been narrower perhaps with a different result. The fact it ended the way it did was expected, but the journey there shows we aren’t as far off as the chicken little routine would have you believe.

Doing similar against Melbourne would come in at the light end of my 3-5 goal range… 18-30 points. We should have Nic Martin back and Stringer should improve with time. Given the improvement from R1 to R2 I would also expect a bit more of a lift from the players who played in R2 as well. Draper will have his work cut out for him though and the midfield will be tested.

And yes, it’s going to be a long week. Last week was certainly atrocious, not in result then in application, but losing to Brisbane was entirely to be expected, the margin wasn’t that bad, and the game was quite watchable at least from the stands (don’t know about the tv replay, haven’t seen it yet).

In isolation that game played out as we should have expected, and yet reading this board you’d think we’d lost by 90 to the wooden spooners five weeks running. At least a Friday game means we can get it over with a bit sooner.

 

[andleanback]

With Merrett injured now is the opportunity for Mcgrath to start in the square fir the next 6-8 weeks. Lets see what he is as an inside midfielder

Maybe even do a job, but id only do that once someone gets hot

Stringer, Mcgrath and Parish at furst bounce

Caldwell over Mcgrath around clearance any day of the week

 

[Bombers36]

Injuries starting to pile up now - we are missing 6 starting 22 players - Shiel, Snelling, Merrett, Tippa, Jones, Langford…
Might as well bring in some youth in Martin, Wanga and Voss and tweak up the forward line. Throw Hind up there as well to play the small pressure forward role as Smith can’t anymore

OUT: Merrett, Ham, Smith, Cox
IN: Martin, Wanga, Voss, Phillips

Ridley Laverde Kelly
Redman Stewart McGrath
Durham Stringer Cutler
Perkins Francis Martin
Voss 2MP Hind

Draper Caldwell Parish

Bench: Heppell Guelfi Wanga Phillips
SUB: Waterman


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[TheUnicorn]

I'm Scared.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

This could be a blood bath

 

[Vindicater]

Okay.

Merret(inj), cox (inj) and Smith

For

Hobbs, Martin and Wanganeen.

 

[B4dg3r]

Way too many people on this board think Voss is some hybrid version of Nat Fyfe x Jason Johnson

Jason Johnson

Age

46

Ht

180cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

20.6

5star

K

13.0

5star

HB

7.5

5star

M

4.3

4star

T

2.7

4star

No current season stats available

D

8.8

3star

K

5.4

2star

HB

3.4

3star

M

1.2

2star

T

1.0

3star

. He’s not the answer. He’s (at best) a speculative pick that might result in a half decent role player who just happens to be 6.4 and have a thick neck.

Realistically he’ll never play an AFL game. There’s a reason he wasn’t a top end draft pick. I’m not writing the kid off - just cooling the jets. Anyone who saw his output in the VFL and expect him to somehow make it through an AFL game, without all the BF list managers demanding he be dragged from the field and shot 5mins into the 1st, are kidding themselves. The kid ran into an open goal unopposed and literally dropped the ball

We played okay against Brisbane and terrible against the Cats. I think we’ll be somewhere in between this weekend. Ideally we’d continue to see cohesion between our different lines, a few good runs / quarters that we compete and even win, and enjoy it when a young star pops up and shows us a glimpse of our future.

Can no one remember we were all predicted bottom four the start of 2021? Give the rebuild a chance to ****ing happen, buy your bloody memberships and unplug you microwaves. #sackdodoro

 

[B4dg3r]

OUT: Merrett, Cox, Smith (sub)
IN: Shiel (if available), Martin, Waganeen

Happy for Hobbs to play if he’s ready but not sure that’s the opinion of the coaches.

 

[MiguelM]

With Merrett injured now is the opportunity for Mcgrath to start in the square fir the next 6-8 weeks. Lets see what he is as an inside midfielder

Maybe even do a job, but id only do that once someone gets hot

Stringer, Mcgrath and Parish at furst bounce

I would prefer to rotate Perkins fwd/mid.

I just don't think McGrath will ever be as good mid as he is defender.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

We lost to Brisbane by 22 points - 3 goals 4 behinds. When you check the stat sheet, we actually dominated a lot of areas, had more shots at goal (25-22), and if we’d kicked straighter that margin would have been narrower perhaps with a different result. The fact it ended the way it did was expected, but the journey there shows we aren’t as far off as the chicken little routine would have you believe.

Doing similar against Melbourne would come in at the light end of my 3-5 goal range… 18-30 points. We should have Nic Martin back and Stringer should improve with time. Given the improvement from R1 to R2 I would also expect a bit more of a lift from the players who played in R2 as well. Draper will have his work cut out for him though and the midfield will be tested.

And yes, it’s going to be a long week. Last week was certainly atrocious, not in result then in application, but losing to Brisbane was entirely to be expected, the margin wasn’t that bad, and the game was quite watchable at least from the stands (don’t know about the tv replay, haven’t seen it yet).

In isolation that game played out as we should have expected, and yet reading this board you’d think we’d lost by 90 to the wooden spooners five weeks running. At least a Friday game means we can get it over with a bit sooner.

Whilst I don't what too put a margin on it as long as the boys are hungry and do not have any massive lapses in skills than I am OK with a loss.

The game was there to be won against Brisbane and utterly poor set shots lost it, whilst that's upsetting it shows we are getting the ball into dangerous parts of the ground

 

[Howard Moon]

im not in the sky is falling camp - i expected to be 0 - 3 and that's where we will be, but there are a few curious things bugging me.

a: Hind. is he injured? playing a new role? He has absolutely lost all his pace for some reason, his main weapon, those blistering runs, have gone. Without them hes borderline best 22

b: Cox. hes not a wingman, will never be a wingman. Gets exposed for pace and decision making. The great bonus is having a marking option up the line but the pros dont outweigh the cons seeing as most teams most potent attacking weapon will be stationed on him - stop stifling his development any longer. Settle him as a roaming key position player if you have to, durham is a natural winger, leave him there.

c: Devon. Im sure Hobbs would offer at the very least as much as devon is as a fp - but with more scope

d: the absolute refusal to play a negative midfielder on a hot opponent. Been a thing forever, seems a change in coach hasn't changed that mentality

e: literally our only avenue to goal at some points in time is peter wright clunking it - so what happens when hes reliving in the ruck? just a huge void in the fwd 50. Might be time to visit a second ruck strategy?

We arnt miles off it, just need to tinker.

 

[andleanback]

I think we’ll go okay this week. I kind of hope shiel is out for another week so we get to see a pure midfield game from caldwell. If lever doesn’t play again this week the game will be a lot closer than many predict.