Preview Round 22 - Essendon v The Gold Coast - Marvel Stadium - Saturday 10/8/24 - 7:30pm AEST

[ant555]

Defenders: McKay, Hayes, Weideman; Cox, Kelly; McGrath, Redman

Midfielders: Parish, Merrett, Caldwell, Shiel; Durham, Jones, Roberts; Draper, Bryan

Forwards: Caddy; Langford, Stringer; Gresham, Davey, Menzie/Hind (one sub)

Probably will not happen but I would be fine with this.

 

[iDon]

Laverde won't be dropped but he should. No way Scott has the balls.

 

[ant555]

 

[Vindicater]

Still need someone in the back half if Martin is full time wing and Cox is sub .
Doubt Wanganeen goes forward given he has been playing half back for the last 5 weeks.

I reckon Merrett could slide back as well to help cover the kicking.

McGrath, McKay, Redman, Hayes, Kelly as full time backs.

Merrett, Roberts, Martin and Durham to spend some time there as well rotating

 

[Schnitzengruben]

Interesting. Gold Coast's horrible on the road record vs our historic inability to back up a big performance.

Truly will be a "immovable object vs unstoppable force" type of match.

 

[bombreys]

You’ve swayed me on Hayes.

The other problem with Bryan is he’s quite clearly worse than Draper and can’t play anywhere other than ruck so he’s hard to justify playing imo. Would rather have Jones or Cox pinch hit

On Perkins it’s just that we don’t have any forwards or even real flanker depth with Guelfi and Duursma injuries plus the coach seemingly not trusting Hind. There’s zero point in bringing in the names you’ve listed and have them not rotate through the guts

Agree on Bryan - at least right now, he’s just a back up ruck. Which is fine. If Goldy retires, I’d be fine with Bryan in as cover for Draper the weeks he misses - and also in along with Draper against any oppo Scott likes to play the dual ruck.

True re Perkins, don’t you think he’s more like Langford/Stringer than Guelfi? Perkins is the better player, but in that forward line (with Caddy, Langford, Stringer, Gresh and Draper as the pseudo FF) I think I’d prefer a Davey type even.

 

[bombreys]

We'll probably be unchanged in the midfield but I'm still not sold on being able to carry both Parish and Shiel in the same team at the moment where they both don't appear 100% fit. Last week showed that if we can win the clearance and it comes to either one of them like in the 4th quarter we can work it in our favour but if we aren't winning the initial contest or we need to transition the ball back then you start to notice them both, and that was definitely the case in the 3rd quarter.

Losing Duursma is really not great for our structure as we don't have many players with his tank or his marking. I'd be tempted to put Hind at half back and move Martin to the wing.

Question for me is can we get four quarters out of our structure this week. We played a man-to-man game for the first half against the Dockers and were getting exposed, we got a little more improvement when we went to a zone after half time but it didn't really work until the last quarter.

He is also our best player at defending the wing for mine, and by a country mile. As you said, massive loss for our structure. Outside McKay, he might be our most important in that context.

Might not be the right game given finals are still on the line, but I really want to see Archie Roberts get a full game in defense and license to just roam/the Martin role, with Martin back to a wing.

 

[nipst@r]

Setterfirld, hobbs and hayes.

Duursma, menzies and laverde/Cox out.

Durham, Martin, cox, setterfield - wings.

Davey into starting team and cox as sub

 

[Beerfish]

Is anyone else nervous that we will Essington our way to giving GC their first win on the road in 18 months?

More resigned than nervous.

 

[Shanghaistu]

I’m going to be (pleasantly) stunned if Wright and Hepp don’t come straight back in

 

[brutus76]

Either we smash them or the Suns (who butcher the ball inside 50 WORSE THAN US) will come good and beat us

 

[windyhill]

No Touk, we win.

 

[Ambrosia]

Agree on Bryan - at least right now, he’s just a back up ruck. Which is fine. If Goldy retires, I’d be fine with Bryan in as cover for Draper the weeks he misses - and also in along with Draper against any oppo Scott likes to play the dual ruck.

True re Perkins, don’t you think he’s more like Langford/Stringer than Guelfi? Perkins is the better player, but in that forward line (with Caddy, Langford, Stringer, Gresh and Draper as the pseudo FF) I think I’d prefer a Davey type even.

Guelfi plays pretty tall but I was more thinking both Davey and Perkins with Jones pushed to the wing in Duursma’s absence.

It’s all moot though as I think it’s probably best for Perkins to get some confidence in the 2s

 

[Kong]

Out: Kelly
Out: Kelly

 

[ant555]

View attachment 2069703

Agree with some parts, disagree with others.

This is Hayes pre season ^^ I feel like people get caught up in the young KPD thing. He is young and he is years from his prime/peak, but he’s not some twig that’s nowhere near ready for AFL. He’s always going to have the tall and gangly look. It’s obviously a massive jump from VFL to AFL, but I think he’d provide more than Laverde right now. Laverde’s getting beaten by his man week in, week out - and he’s killing us going the other way.

If form means anything at all, agree that Davey should come in for Menzie. And agree Cox probably needs a spell.

Bryan I thought was okay without being great. Given we’ve put 5 years of work into him in the VFL, I’d rather see what he can do over a month long block than send him straight back. Wright shouldn’t be straight back in for mine - he’s a far worse ruck than any of Draper/Goldy/Bryan - and if he’s not kicking goals he’s close to useless.

Agree with Setterfield - but I don’t think Perkins should be anywhere near the senior team at the moment. I still think he makes it long term, but right now there should be a heap ahead of him - he was poor at AFL level for quite a few weeks. Setterfield and Hobbs at a minimum should be in front of him in the queue - I think you could argue Hind too (and Tsatas, though it seems like they may be set on keeping him playing midfield at VFL level for the time being).

Yet Hayes has not been given the number 1 KPF much in the VFL . It has been Weideman or Hoare who have had that job .
He has struggled a bit on the bigger blokes.
Pictures do not always tell the true story.
Would I play him in front of Laverde this weekend. Yes for sure.
I am just playing Bryan . Even with his deficiencies he is a better option than most of the plonkers available that are available to get this year.
Just play him and hold him to next year’s contract. Unless someone offers a deal we can not refuse.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Had a poor game but still think Laverde is a better option than Weed and Hayes. If Reid and Baldwin were available I’ve no doubt Lav would be dropped. Hayes is ok but I think he’d struggle even more one on one with some of the players Lav has played on.

 

[eth-dog]

Had a poor game but still think Laverde is a better option than Weed and Hayes. If Reid and Baldwin were available I’ve no doubt Lav would be dropped. Hayes is ok but I think he’d struggle even more one on one with some of the players Lav has played on.

Apart from a good second half against West Coast he's been pretty bad consistently since the bye.

 

[JayJ20]

Look at all of you being so optimistic and naive.

We all know Duursma out means Heppell comes back in.

 

[div12ressie]

I’m going to be (pleasantly) stunned if Wright and Hepp don’t come straight back in

Can easily see Heppell coming straight back in since Duursma is out, surely not Wright though

 

[bombreys]

Yet Hayes has not been given the number 1 KPF much in the VFL . It has been Weideman or Hoare who have had that job .
He has struggled a bit on the bigger blokes.
Pictures do not always tell the true story.
Would I play him in front of Laverde this weekend. Yes for sure.
I am just playing Bryan . Even with his deficiencies he is a better option than most of the plonkers available that are available to get this year.
Just play him and hold him to next year’s contract. Unless someone offers a deal we can not refuse.

Fair points.

With Hayes, I think this week might be the best week to play him. Is there anyone (healthy/available) on our list better suited to play against Mac Andrew?

Pictures certainly don’t always tell the story, but I don’t think he’s quite as small as some make out. It’s a lazy comparison, but he’s got a bit of the Fletcher-like build with that gangly frame. He’s certainly a ways away from his peak (physically), but he’s never going to have a huge build.

Agree re Bryan. As good as he was earlier in the season, I think Goldy’s cooked. May as well see what Bryan can do at AFL level now.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Either we smash them or the Suns (who butcher the ball inside 50 WORSE THAN US) will come good and beat us

we havent smashed anyone to date, even teams much worse than the suns.

it will be a close game in a loss or a win.

 

[fairbump_playon]

Interesting. Gold Coast's horrible on the road record vs our historic inability to back up a big performance.

Truly will be a "immovable object vs unstoppable force" type of match.

It’s a classic in the making. Kind of a modern day Ewan Chatfield vs Kepler Wessels

 

[The Airing of Grievances]

Interesting. Gold Coast's horrible on the road record vs our historic inability to back up a big performance.

Truly will be a "immovable object vs unstoppable force" type of match.

Sort of- if viewed through a mirror standing on one's head

 

[faible]

Is anyone else nervous that we will Essington our way to giving GC their first win on the road in 18 months?

Don't think of it losing to GC away for the first time this season, think of it as improving our draft position. Every loss brings us closer to a star draftee and further from playing Heppell / Wright / Goldstein over some kids for the last few games.

 

[jannissary]

family coming down from QLD preventing me from going it's so ****ed up