VelvetSledge
Moderator
- May 24, 2007
- 17,857
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- Essendon
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- Liverpool FC, Melbourne Storm
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- #1
ST KILDA SAINTS
St Kilda's sudden resurgence under new old coach Ross Lyon looks to be gathering legs, after the Saints comprehensively dismantled a pathetic Western Bulldogs outfit last week.
The Saints had the perfect start, kicking the first five goals of the game, while the Dogs could only manage to boot five goals in total.
Mattaes Phillipou has proven that the confidence he had in his own ability prior to being drafted was not at all misdirected - booting three goals including a massive roost to steady his side in the third.
The scary thing about this Saints side is that two of their biggest scoring threats - Max King and Tim Membrey - are both sitting on the sidelines.
Mitch Owens, Jade Gresham, ex-dog Zaine Cordy, and Anthony Caminiti all gelled superbly in what looks to be a makeshift forward line.
Gun ruck Rowan Marshall showcased his strength around the ground whilst Mason Wood is playing the Matthew Richardson role - a former key forward turned into a big-bodied wing, and he's having a huge year so far.
Jack Steele and Jack Sinclair continued their typical run of form from the middle and off half-back respectively - the only sour note to this performance was the skipper breaking his collarbone, seeing him ruled out for a month.
Defensively, this is a typical Ross Lyon side. Relentless pressure around the ball, and giving opposition forwards no time to make decisions or find space.
Offensively, it shows growth in the Ross Lyon game. Instead of boring, slow, lockdown footy, the Saints have a certain flair to them that makes them fun to watch, whilst still maintaining the core points of what made Ross a successful coach in the first place.
WESTERN BULLDOGS 5.11 41
def. by
ST KILDA 14.8 92
BEST: Steele, Sinclair, Owens, Crouch, Marshall, Wood, Phillipou
GOALS: Phillipou, Owens 3, Gresham, Cordy, Caminiti 2, Wood, Steele
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ESSENDON BOMBERS
Is Kyle Langford the most attractive person in the world right now? Absolutely.
A career-high five goals from our number 4 after a last-minute position change has both excited and confused us Dons fans - He's so good forward but we're still missing half our forward line as is. How do we fit them all in?
In a tight arm wrestle of a match where the lead was constantly changing, the Bombers superior fitness overpowered the Suns and the boys from Tullamarine came away with a tough-fought 28-point win.
With scores locked at 72 a piece going into the final quarter, the Dons added 5 goals and 6 behinds to the Suns 1.2 in reply, consigning the Suns to a 0-2 start to the year.
The Dons were forced to field a smaller forward line after new recruit Sam Weideman didn't get up with an injured toe, but the Suns were in the same boat after dropping Mabior Chol.
The Dons were hapless in the first quarter, finding it extremely difficult to score, before Dylan Shiel popped up with a couple of majors, including a brilliant snap from the boundary to give us an unlikely 2-point lead at quarter time.
Zach and Darcy, our two most prolific midfielders, put in plenty of work at the coalface, with the latter securing 6 tackles to go with his 30 touches. This in itself shows the Brad Scott mantra in effect - There wouldn't be many times in the last couple of years that would see an accumulator like Darcy get those sorts of tackle numbers.
Brandon Zerk-Thatcher's development into one of the better one-on-one defenders in the game has been rapid, and he took another scalp last week in the form of Ben King. His day ended early with a rolled ankle but looks to be fine for this week.
Will Setterfield has become a key part of the Essendon engine room almost immediately, and it's clear why Dodoro has been hunting his signature for years. He fits our list perfectly and is the big-bodied mid we've needed since Jobe retired.
Dyson Heppell had a shocker last week and the footage of him copping the sub vest last week was not fun viewing. It's starting to look like the writing is on the wall and has been for some time.
Hep's sub-replacement Matt Guelfi instantly drew a 50 after getting belted in the head and then kicked 2 himself.
Go Planes.
ESSENDON 16.12 108
def.
GOLD COAST 11.14 80
BEST: Merrett, Langford, Redman, Parish, Setterfield, Shiel
GOALS: Langford 5, Shiel, Menzie, Guelfi 2, Davey Jnr, Perkins, Martin, Phillips, Setterfield
ST KILDA EMERGENCIES: Ben Paton, Jack Bytel, Cooper Sharman, Tom Campbell
ESSENDON EMERGENCIES: Will Snelling, Nick Hind, Kaine Baldwin, Andrew Phillips
ST KILDA OUTS: Steele (Injured), Paton (Omitted)
ST KILDA INS: Webster
ESSENDON OUTS: Phillips (Omitted), Zerk-Thatcher (Injured), Guelfi (Sub)
ESSENDON INS: Weideman, Stringer
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Sub to be chosen from the emergency list one hour prior to bounce.
The already-depleted Saints were dealt a crushing blow last week with engine-room maestro and captain Jack Steele going down with a broken collarbone. The Saints have kept it simple this week and brought back veteran Jimmy Webster into the ones, whilst also dropping Ben Paton to the emergencies.
The talk of Tullamarine was the fitness of Brandon Zerk-Thatcher and whether or not he'd be alright to play this week after a rolled ankle late in the Gold Coast game last week. It became apparent on Thursday's main training session that he wouldn't get up, as he didn't train at all. His absence does leave a key-position-sized hole that we haven't filled, as the St Kilda forward line is, frankly, tiny. Only Zaine Cordy could be considered as a key forward and the rest are a band of small and medium forwards - which has worked well for the Saints so far.
There was also plenty of discussion about former skipper Dyson Heppell considering his somewhat lackluster start to the 2023 season, and his surprise at being subbed off last week. He made the claim earlier in the week that he considered his spot safe, which is probably fair, as his role in the side is very flexible and being subbed out doesn't cost us structurally. He may find himself being subbed out a fair bit this year, so might want to adjust quickly.
Andrew Phillips played a really great game last week as a second ruck (sans having butter fingers a few times), so could possibly be considered stiff to miss, but with Sam Weideman overcoming a toe complaint and being able to compete in the ruck whilst also playing as a key forward, the coaches have decided to send him back to VFL. Jake Stringer did exactly what was asked of him to get his fitness back to where it needs to be after a myriad of off-season niggles, and with 3/4 of game time last week in the twos, his explosive power and incredible tendency to flip the game in a second will be a welcome addition to this Essendon side.
Despite his 2 goal showing late last week, Matt Guelfi has been sent back to the VFL and will not be named as the sub as he isn't on the emergency list. I would imagine Nick Hind will be our sub today, but wouldn't surprise me to see Snelling get the vest instead.
ROUND 14, 2022
Marvel Stadium
17/6/22
ST KILDA 11.6 72
def. by
ESSENDON 15.17 107
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ST KILDA GOALS: Gresham 3, Billings, Higgins 2, Ryder, Long, Marshall, King
ESSENDON GOALS: Wright 4, Stringer, Draper, Guelfi, Jones 2, Perkins, Durham, Martin
ST KILDA BEST: Gresham, Sinclair, Ross, Billings, Hill
ESSENDON BEST: Redman, Wright, Hind, Caldwell, Perkins
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CHANGES SINCE LAST TIME:
ST KILDA OUTS: Jack Billings, Tim Membrey, Max King, Patrick Ryder, Zak Jones, Ben Long, Ben Paton
ST KILDA INS: Dougal Howard, Liam Stocker, Mason Wood, Mattaes Phillipou, Zaine Cordy, Anthony Caminiti, Mitch Owens
ESSENDON OUTS: Peter Wright, Nick Hind, Ben Hobbs, Brayden Ham, Matt Guelfi, Andrew Phillips, James Stewart (unused sub)
ESSENDON INS: Sam Weideman, Alwyn Davey Jnr, Kyle Langford, Will Setterfield, Darcy Parish, Jye Menzie
Happy birthday, St Kilda. May your 150th go about as well as ours did.
Bombers by 19.
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