Toast Practice Match 1: Western Bulldogs vs Essendon, Whitten Oval, Saturday 15/02/2025 @ 2 PM AEDT

[jmoo wan]

Had ice on his quad

better than coke on his t***ies (boobs) I guess

 

[TheUnicorn]

PLAYER	CBAs	CBA %	GAME TIME
N.Bryan	13	59.1%	Full Game
S.Draper	9	40.9%	Full Game
E.Tsatas	19	86.4%	Full Game
J.Caldwell	14	63.6%	3/4 Game
B.Hobbs	14	63.6%	Full Game
Z.Merrett	7	31.8%	First Half
A.Perkins	6	27.3%	Full Game
W.Setterfield	5	22.7%	Second Half
A.McGrath	1	4.5%	Full Game

@edbourke6

 

[ghostdog]

Where did el hawli play? Have a feeling his speed will be required forward 50. Outside of Kako there isn’t much leg speed with Davey going down.

He got a bit on a wing but a lot of his possessions were scrappy and disposals rushed because the conditions were poor.

 

[ghostdog]

Just watched the second quarter, and thought Duursma was outstanding on the wing. Ball shoots forward inside our 50 on his opposite wing. He holds his width and pushes deep inside 50. Opposition intercept marks and immediately looks to switch, but they can’t becuase Duursma is so deep. 5 minutes later same thing happens, they try to exit 50 along boundary line but he’s there waiting which results in a sketchy kick into the corridor.

Man I hope he gets a good run at it, we desperately have needed good wingers for so long.

Duurs' leadership abilities got talked up during the week (though I don't remember where or by whom) so maybe good for Roberts and El Hawli.

 

[ghostdog]

So what position is Edwards?

A Key Position or a third tall type?

Third I reckon.
Too many talls with Draper, Caddy, Jones, Langford and Edwards...

Although, Brad is okay with talls as long as they're mobile.

 

[Happyskeret]

I thought Brad said something profound to Cal the other day. A lot of focus is on what size a player is but it is more about the mobility! What I seen in Edward’s was a medium to tall forward who looked fairly mobile to me.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

The goals from Edward’s were great but it was the hit up to Kako that showed his quality. Can just football. Also really economical with his movement. Might have found one here.

 

[ghostdog]

Re: Edwards, am I remembering correctly that he kicked goals off both feet?

 

[Petrify]

I thought Brad said something profound to Cal the other day. A lot of focus is on what size a player is but it is more about the mobility! What I seen in Edward’s was a medium to tall forward who looked fairly mobile to me.

Hep said on the broadcast Edwards has a great engine for his size

 

[FootyGuru]

Only first practice match but wasn’t overly impressed with Bryan. Thought he was beaten in the ruck, mostly by a guy who doesn’t even have a guaranteed list spot. Had some nice passages with some smooth handballs in traffic and got in the way to intercept some marks though.

2mp was worse though, but could argue the conditions weren’t really in his favour.

Apparently match sims have had Bryan ahead of 2mp but think Draper looked better as both a forward and ruck compared to the others two.

Crichton medalist 2mp is the better option for our side, but if we get last seasons 2mp it looks like Bryan will be the guy.

 

[Yoda_]

Naughton 4 weeks yeah?

 

[Happyskeret]

Only first practice match but wasn’t overly impressed with Bryan. Thought he was beaten in the ruck, mostly by a guy who doesn’t even have a guaranteed list spot. Had some nice passages with some smooth handballs in traffic and got in the way to intercept some marks though.

2mp was worse though, but could argue the conditions weren’t really in his favour.

Apparently match sims have had Bryan ahead of 2mp but think Draper looked better as both a forward and ruck compared to the others two.

Crichton medalist 2mp is the better option for our side, but if we get last seasons 2mp it looks like Bryan will be the guy.

I can’t remember the bulldogs ruck players name but you are right he dominated in the strength holding your ground department against Bryan but other than that he didn’t have that much going for him. How old is Bryan? I dare say he will get stronger as he gets older. I have no idea how old the dogs ruck was but he looked a fair bit older?

 

[Happyskeret]

From the oppo’s side I liked the look of Croft I was a big fan of his old man.

 

[TheUnicorn]

From the oppo’s side I liked the look of Croft I was a big fan of his old man.

Jones from Doggies impressed me.

 

[FootyGuru]

I can’t remember the bulldogs ruck players name but you are right he dominated in the strength holding your ground department against Bryan but other than that he didn’t have that much going for him. How old is Bryan? I dare say he will get stronger as he gets older. I have no idea how old the dogs ruck was but he looked a fair bit older?

No doubt Bryan still has development to come. It just seems everyone’s expectations after this years pre season is that Bryan is ready to commence as Essendons number 1 ruck.

There will be many more stronger/ better rucks to face this season, just wanting other peoples opinions.

Are there opportunities for us to go Draper solo and then run someone else for 10% of the game like plenty of other clubs do. Who could that 10% be? Cox could potentially do it.

 

[Happyskeret]

Jones from Doggies impressed me.

Yeah I kept thinking they were calling our Jones! He did get a lot of shout outs from the commentators he was very good.

 

[Happyskeret]

No doubt Bryan still has development to come. It just seems everyone’s expectations after this years pre season is that Bryan is ready to commence as Essendons number 1 ruck.

There will be many more stronger/ better rucks to face this season, just wanting other peoples opinions.

Are there opportunities for us to go Draper solo and then run someone else for 10% of the game like plenty of other clubs do. Who could that 10% be? Cox could potentially do it.

Ok I get it. I didn’t understand where you were coming from. Me personally I would prefer Jones over Cox.

 

[FootyGuru]

Ok I get it. I didn’t understand where you were coming from. Me personally I would prefer Jones over Cox.

Yep could work. Jones didn’t do much on a wing today. He has a small frame but we could limit his cb stuff, and potentially gives us another midfielder type around the ground. Good suggestion.

 

[Happyskeret]

Yep could work. Jones didn’t do much on a wing today. He has a small frame but we could limit his cb stuff, and potentially gives us another midfielder type around the ground. Good suggestion.

No worries. I thought it was a good question. The only other option would be one of the defenders in McKay or Reid I believe. Sure you could try Caddy but I would be very against that unless we are in a situation where we are getting pumped and you just want to bring him into the game.

 

[Groundhog Day]

From the oppo’s side I liked the look of Croft I was a big fan of his old man.

His Uncle Bruce was a gun as well.

 

[Happyskeret]

His Uncle Bruce was a gun as well.

Mathew had relatives around where I lived in Avoca. I ran into him a few times and I don’t think I’ve ever met a more humble man. What position did his brother play?

 

[thebigboy]

Any word on who carried over and played mins in the VFL?

 

[eDPS]

 

[eDPS]

Any word on who carried over and played mins in the VFL?

Everyone bar Edwards who played the 2nd half only in the seniors played a half in the VFL. Only Setterfield and Gerreyn did anything of note in the VFL game from the AFL listed players.

 

[Happyskeret]

I haven’t mentioned Tsatas but I’ve been pro Tsatas from the Tsatart! I did not mind the high ratio of handballs to kicks. I encouraged it. I played with a guy called Karl Simonds who was a Henderson Medalist in the Ballarat league. The guy could do between 30 to 40 metre handballs. Let’s not forget Diesel and I thought smoking Joe was a pretty good exponent of the handball too. It’s an underrated art.