Essendon vs St Kilda Match Preview Thread

[Madden]

They were absolutely phenomenal last night. Collingwood were severely undermanned but they gave it a red hot crack and they would have beaten most other sides last night - its just bad for them that they were playing the Saints.

We are up and coming, but we are playing against a disciplined, well drilled, experienced, and most importantly, injury free team. I have faith but it will be really tough. If we win it will probably be our best win since the 2001 comeback game IMO.

[Windy_Hill]

Well, this is the sort of game where you need Fletcher, Lucas, McVeigh, Welsh, Hille. Seeing that we haven't........hmmmm.......not looking good. But we have 3 extra days recovery than they do. Fingers crossed, clutch a rabbits foot, or visit Windy's prayer thread for this one.

Benny I happened to slip into the cheer squad rooms earlier today to see how they were progressing with this week's run through banner, managed to catch this on my camera phone. Not looking good for the coming game against the Saints

[tom9779]

......
Overall: No sensible person would put money on us. If we can win this game it will be one of the best Essendon wins I've ever witnessed. The 9 game vs 6 game break is probably the only thing in our favour - but for some reason long breaks can be a hinderance rather than a help.

edit all the stkilda loving spin.

no sensible person put money on us to beat hawthorn either. the big difference is stkilda will see us coming.
Any win against a genuine finals side is a big win for a team of juniors. I massively rate stkilda as a flag contender, but they will need to be smart to handle the essendon side.

I mean matching up on dempsey, lovett, davey must be an absolute headache for most coaches.
first use of the footy is going to be tough though, we really need a big game from watto around the stoppages.

looking forward to free flowing entertainment, it will rains goals(from both sides).

we will only get murdered if we cannot win enough of the footy, the ruck dual is massive here. the sainters just do not make many mistakes.

[Jazz_84]

i agree about 9 days possibly being a bad thing instead of a good thing, i know we can control our mindset to some extent but also you are used to playing with a 5/6/7 day break and so after time your body is used to it and with out thinking your ready for the game each week to some extent. such as 9 days your body will reach it's peak readiness at these 5/6/7 days, but after 9 days it might tapper off a little bit without realising. im relating to race horses here as i work with them and see them go up and down before races and it plays a big part of winning whether they are ready ("well in themselves" or not). but as i said im sure humans have a lot more control over that kind of thing but it's still something that shouldn't go without preparating as every coach and every team in the world i have no doubt does already but just sometimes it doesn't work out. and thats what ill be looking for this sunday against the Saints, whether we are just a touch "flat", especially in the first qtr. we might start working ourselves into the game from qtr time onwards but the game might already be lost by then, just have to wait and see i guess. basically from the get go if we play the first qtr well, fast, hard and free flowing ill applaud Knights for preparing for this game well, in every aspect not just my theroy about disrupted routines.

it's going to take a hell of a lot more then the teams lead up to this game to win..... C'MON BOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sismis]

We have no pressure on us. The Saints will be expected to win and win big. Even if we lose this one and the Geelong one we will look at being 5 or six wins at the halfway mark. WIth the talent we have coming in in the second half that is an awesome platform to get amongst some finals.

Once again we will need to play to our strengths and try to break their lines. We need to tackle tackle and tackle some more(because they sure as hell will). They aren't overly quick so we can hopefully exploit them on the turnovers.

[tom9779]

We have no pressure on us. The Saints will be expected to win and win big. Even if we lose this one and the Geelong one we will look at being 5 or six wins at the halfway mark. WIth the talent we have coming in in the second half that is an awesome platform to get amongst some finals.

Once again we will need to play to our strengths and try to break their lines. We need to tackle tackle and tackle some more(because they sure as hell will). They aren't overly quick so we can hopefully exploit them on the turnovers.

We will have to tackle tackle and tackle, because first use of the footy is not going to come easy. that is what worries me most. the sainters just do not make mistakes. Our pressure without the footy is going to have to be tops.

[Windy_Hill]

I think its a simple message, win this game and we can honestly consider ourselves a genuine finals prospect. Thats the challenge being thrown to a young, inexperienced team. Sit em down and show them a few games from 1993. I remember so clearly that season and the incredible never say die spirit of the team.

Saint Kilda are the real deal this year and cannot be dismissed lightly - they have torched every team thay have played. We must find a way to throw their game plan into disarray, just as we did to HAwthorn, if we are to be any sort of chance.

I

[Ronny Rotten]

Win the midfield, which we are capable of doing & we will give ourselves an great chance. Pressure their midfield (Delsanto especially), sit on that little turd Milne, that reject Schnieder is unlikely to kick 5 again & threaten Nicola with death if goes near the ball.

Use our pace to run through their defence & get in into our forward line QUICKLY where our forwards will have a great opportunity against ther backs. Their backline is their weakest link & if we exploit that by pressurising their ball movement from the backline, taking marks in our forward 50 & kicking ACCURATELY , (points give a free possession to the opposition) we will beat these front-runners. The filth got the ball into their forward fifty about equal with the ain'ts but their powder puff forwards like daisy & rocca were useless.

Pressure, Pressure, Pressure. See how to go when they have to fight hard to get a kick.

[F111]

I agree...get the ball in quick, and keep it there...maintain pressure in our forward fifty with pace and tackle hard.

However, their backline has had just 378 points kicked against them. That's 54 points a game We must be accurate.

The next best defensive team this year by points kicked against is Geelong at 535.

[azza78]

Dominate the middle. Ryder and Belly have to break even at least with King and Gardiner in the hit-outs, and Watson and Hocking and co have to get first hands on it. Use the ball effectively. Keep turnovers at a minimum, as they will burn us on the counter. Pressure and hard tackling must be the priority when they have the pill.

I think our young key defenders can handle Kozzie and Revolt as long as the midfield pressure is there. Milne and Schneider concern me, as both can turn in on when given the chance (Milne in particular, the little so-and-so). I think McPhee and Monfires will be keys. McPhee as the 3rd man up in defence and with his run from defence; and Monfries as the forward tagger on Goddard who sets up so much of thier play.

We need to dictate terms as much as possible. Make them worry about stopping us. The quick guys like Lovett, Froggy and Winder need to have big games as the Saints will struggle with their pace.

[tom9779]

If essendon win on the weekend.

Will you:

1. back us in for top 4

and

2.
start thinking premiership threat?

because I think the saints are both those things given the form they are in.

[andrewb]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet... But yes, and yes.

As I said earlier, if we win this game with the personnel we have it will be one of the best wins in the EFC's proud history. But personally I think we'll slowly get strangled by a stronger bodied, highly committed and extremely talented team that might just be peaking too early (again).

They've got a trophy cabinet full of May premierships, the Saints.

[tom9779]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet... But yes, and yes.

As I said earlier, if we win this game with the personnel we have it will be one of the best wins in the EFC's proud history. But personally I think we'll slowly get strangled by a stronger bodied, highly committed and extremely talented team that might just be peaking too early (again).

They've got a trophy cabinet full of May premierships, the Saints.

not getting ahead of oneself...perhaps i should have emphasised the IF more.

but if you think about what it would mean if essendon were to get up, its pretty huge.(and had it not been for last weeks result, i doubt anyone would even entertain it)

[jimmyc1985]

Stop f****** overrating that perpetually underperforming bunch of flakes you pack of blouses. They haven't won shit in 50 years and they ain't winning shit this year. Yes, they'll probably beat us and may well win comprehensively, but who gives a f***.

[bomberdonnie]

Stop f****** overrating that perpetually underperforming bunch of flakes you pack of blouses. They haven't won shit in 50 years and they ain't winning shit this year. Yes, they'll probably beat us and may well win comprehensively, but who gives a f***.

Extremely well said

They are a bunch of failures and will prove it some time soon!

[damo22]

for us to win:

gus and co need to make st kildas defenders accountable otherwise they'll tear us up on the rebound

neagle needs to snag a few and bully zac dawson.. get pumped

lloydy must be up and about, kicking boots on... nick (tear muscle) reiwoldt hopefully misses frequently

leave schneider and milne to dempsey and houli and keep slattery right away from them.. put the hacker on one of their duds like mcqualter

their physical pressure will be a massive issue ala round 4 vs roos, but we have the speed weapon that many other teams lack.. remember chasing tail will tire the saints boys out so if we can get them chasing the pressure might drop off a tad

we are a long shot but if we are within a goal or two at 3QT we could be a show given the 3 extra days break

CARN THE DONS

[swoodley]

Stop f****** overrating that perpetually underperforming bunch of flakes you pack of blouses. They haven't won shit in 50 years and they ain't winning shit this year. Yes, they'll probably beat us and may well win comprehensively, but who gives a f***.

Maybe we're just giving credit where it's due...the past 42 years since they won their one and only flag is irrelevant to the form they are showing this year.

They are conceding 54 points per game which is unheard of this far into a season and have kept their opponents goalless in 7 of 28 quarters so far.

They have crushed all their opponents with the exception of Sydney in round 1 with a ruthless style of play that is most unlike them in the past.

Do I rate them highly on their efforts so far this season...damn right I do (and will continue to do so until proven wrong)

[Crazyman]

I do rate us as a good chance, but I am not confident we can do it against this Saints side...

Most of what needs to be done has been stated, however, if we can't string a couple of weeks together, then we are finals contenders who will really only get to week one IMO...

Tackle, Tackle, Tackle...have every player watch Davey's pressure on the ball carrier and to the best of their ability emulate (not everyone has Davey's closing speed to be sure...)
Slick and accurate disposals - We must minimise turnovers. In everygame we have lost, this is what has cost us dearly...
Accurate kicking for goal - Last week was a vast improvement over previous weeks and I hope it continues
Team stability - Whilst we have a few name players coming back, with interupted (pre)seasons, I would prefer that they got at least 2 weeks in the magoos (especially McVeigh who missed part of preseason and aggravated by coming back too early...)

We do these things and as stated our pace will hurt them...

Also, whilst we have the extra few days that in theory means we should be 'fresher', I don't think that that should make any difference. Just look at what happened to us in Brisvegas after an extra couple days break...

Finally, whilst I want to be the finals bandwagon, until we develop consistency, I am not going to go on the rollercoaster ride that most BT'ers seem to be on...after each win this year so far, we have followed up with an extremely disappointing performance the following week...if we can string 5 or 6 games together, then I may get a bit more excited

[BenDoolan]

Finally, whilst I want to be the finals bandwagon, until we develop consistency, I am not going to go on the rollercoaster ride that most BT'ers seem to be on...after each win this year so far, we have followed up with an extremely disappointing performance the following week...if we can string 5 or 6 games together, then I may get a bit more excited

I don't really have high hopes, but at the moment, there are 6 other sides in the top 8 who have been inconsistent thus far. We are every chance (as they are) of making the 8. It will be a matter of which teams outside of the current top 8 gets a wriggle on and forces them (or us) out with some consistent performances themselves. This season is shaping up to seeing a glut of teams with about 10 - 12 wins for the year.

[rockhole]

I'm not thinking finals at the moment. I am just enjoying the ride.