Pre Anzac Day match. Pies v. Dons - all comments please

[swoop42]

[MattyD]

Don't let that loss to the aints last night fool you.
Essendon will come out firing as they always do against us on ANZAC Day.

All things being equal, if we play like we did yesterday and in the first three quarters against the Tigers, we should win.

There were some great passages of play from our boys against North. I can see the development and where the team is going. Much to like.

We're sitting on level 2A in the southern stand which looks an awful lot like level 3 to me, but, whatever.

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

Their collapse has started about 6 weeks earlier than usual this year. The peptide is turning. No draft picks means this was their last shot. It aint gonna happen

[perthmagpie]

Went to the VFL yesterday. Left at 3QT but to that point Dwyer was clearly our best player followed by Adams. Kennedy's form has dropped off a bit and won't be coming in this week. Brown was solid but may not come back in as we would have to drop either Frost (that won't happen) or Keefe who is the right height and reach for Daniher. I think we need to bring in Dwyer somehow as he looks red hot. Not sure who goes out. Blairy is not getting a lot of the ball but I suspect the coaches are happy with his pressure acts and he will stay. Ball won't be sub again so perhaps Thomas may miss out although doesn't deserve to or perhaps Langdon.

Selection is going to get harder shortly as Reid, Sinclair, Karnezis, Seedy, Oxley, Broomhead and perhaps Williams will be pressing. And then there is Scharenberg who I believe will be a lock for the second half of the year all going well with his feet.

After watching Essendon last night we should win as they have no avenues to goals at present and we have tightened up defensively each week. If Caff can shut down Watson and someone keep Heppell quiet we will kill them.

[AN_Inkling]

^^The question will be: is Goddard back? He's very important to their offense.

[mattys123]

We win this game if we bring the pressure from the last two weeks, Essendon aren't a top 4 contending team, that's clear now, which means we should be beating them, even with the players we have out.

Their forward line and backline is experiencing real problems, and we should exploit that also.

No excuses, we should be 5-2 at the bye.

[Raw Hammer]

Langdon needs a spell. His foeld kicking has been sub par for most weeks. Blair needs a spell. Thomas is CLEAN. When all others fumbled yesterday, his mitts were vise like. He stays. Dwyer and Adams for Langdon and Blair. However, Langdon's kicking aside, if someone can tell me what his opponent has done over the last few weeks, I may be swayed to keep him.

[Pies4shaw]

Dwyer should come in for Blair. Ramsay looks to me like he is building to a senior opportunity at half back over the next few weeks (ideally against the Royal Park Easybeats) but if Langdon needs a break, JR might get a chance sooner. Like Raw Hammer, I think Thomas' clean ball-handling keeps him in the team. Players who can use it first time do well in finals.

Not sure about Adams coming in. I only saw the first half of the reserves yesterday but he did some very good and some very poor things whilst I was watching.

[RudeBoy]

The big question is do we stick with Witts? I thought he was almost a liability against the Roos. However, if he goes out then White and Keeffe will both need to help out in the ruck. That might open up a spot for Brown to return.

[John Wren]

[mattys123]

[Magpietothemax]

It was a great victory on Saturday, and the most significant and pleasing aspect of it was the frenetic intensity of pressure. This was reminiscent of 2010 standards of intensity. If we can reproduce this level of intensity of Anzac Day, I believe we will win. And, given the consistency of our last three games, it seems more and more that this intensity is being incorporated by all our players automatically into our game plan. I think McCaffer's new tagging role symbolizes the new level of intensity that is becoming our "default" setting.
The second very significant aspect was the return of Travis Cloke to form, and the emergence of Jessie White as a second key forward who now syphons defenders away from Cloke. This is very ominous for all other teams!
Third very significant aspect is the impressive development of our defence with Jack Frost's terrific form and Alex Fasolo's aggressive defence on the half back flank.
I am hesitant about removing Blair from our team and replacing him with Dwyer (or Adams). I am wondering if those who suggest this are underestimating Blair's countless acts of pressure and going in and under for the ball.
I think our main question will be: do we play Witts ? North had several very slow big guys, and this balanced out Jarrod's lack of pace. As another post said, we need to consider carefully who Essendon selects before we select Jarrod Witts.
Quietly confident about Anzac Day.

[Magpietothemax]

It was a great victory on Saturday, and the most significant and pleasing aspect of it was the frenetic intensity of pressure. This was reminiscent of 2010 standards of intensity. If we can reproduce this level of intensity of Anzac Day, I believe we will win. And, given the consistency of our last three games, it seems more and more that this intensity is being incorporated by all our players automatically into our game plan. I think McCaffer's new tagging role symbolizes the new level of intensity that is becoming our "default" setting.
The second very significant aspect was the return of Travis Cloke to form, and the emergence of Jessie White as a second key forward who now syphons defenders away from Cloke. This is very ominous for all other teams!
Third very significant aspect is the impressive development of our defence with Jack Frost's terrific form and Alex Fasolo's aggressive defence on the half back flank.
I am hesitant about removing Blair from our team and replacing him with Dwyer (or Adams). I am wondering if those who suggest this are underestimating Blair's countless acts of pressure and going in and under for the ball.
I think our main question will be: do we play Witts ? North had several very slow big guys, and this balanced out Jarrod's lack of pace. As another post said, we need to consider carefully who Essendon selects before we select Jarrod Witts.
Quietly confident about Anzac Day.

[Magpietothemax]

It was a great victory on Saturday, and the most significant and pleasing aspect of it was the frenetic intensity of pressure. This was reminiscent of 2010 standards of intensity. If we can reproduce this level of intensity of Anzac Day, I believe we will win. And, given the consistency of our last three games, it seems more and more that this intensity is being incorporated by all our players automatically into our game plan. I think McCaffer's new tagging role symbolizes the new level of intensity that is becoming our "default" setting.
The second very significant aspect was the return of Travis Cloke to form, and the emergence of Jessie White as a second key forward who now syphons defenders away from Cloke. This is very ominous for all other teams!
Third very significant aspect is the impressive development of our defence with Jack Frost's terrific form and Alex Fasolo's aggressive defence on the half back flank.
I am hesitant about removing Blair from our team and replacing him with Dwyer (or Adams). I am wondering if those who suggest this are underestimating Blair's countless acts of pressure and going in and under for the ball.
I think our main question will be: do we play Witts ? North had several very slow big guys, and this balanced out Jarrod's lack of pace. As another post said, we need to consider carefully who Essendon selects before we select Jarrod Witts.
Quietly confident about Anzac Day.

[bwphantom]