Praccy Matches

[s'dreams]

Carlton v Essendon at Ikon Park (Where?), Thursday 27/2 at 6.40pm AEDT


Anyone going?

I thought that Merrett was injured. Also wondering where TBell is?

ESSENDON
B: P.Ambrose 29, M.Hartley 36, J.Long 34
HB: A.Francis 10, M.Hurley 18, A.Saad 42
C: D.Heppell 21, K.Langford 4, Z.Merrett 7
HF: D.Shiel 9, M.Brown 28, D.Zaharakis 11
F: J.Stringer 25, J.Daniher 6, A.McDonald-Tipungwuti 43
Foll: Z.Clarke 20, A.McGrath 1, D.Parish 3
I/C: C.McKenna 45, T.Jok 46, S.McKernan 44, J.Ridley 14, M.Guelfi 35, J.Laverde 15, D.Smith 5, M.Baguley 12

Emerg: J.Stewart 17, S.Draper 38, T.Mynott 39, D.Clarke 37

Notable absentees: Martin Gleeson, Cale Hooker, Tom Bellchambers, Orazio Fantasia, David Myers, Matt Dea

CARLTON
B: K.Simpson 6, L.Plowman 20, P.Dow 2
HB: N.Newman 24, C.Polson 29, L.Jones 14
C: S.Petrevski-Seton 5, P.Cripps 9, Z.Fisher 25
HF: C.Curnow 30, M.Lobbe 27, A.Schumacher 19
F: W.Setterfield 43, M.McGovern 11, H.McKay 10
Foll: A.Phillips 34, M.Gibbons 40, E.Curnow 35
I/C: M.Murphy 3, J.Weitering 23, J.Garlett 21, S.Walsh 18, J.Silvagni 1, D.Cuningham 28, D.Thomas 39, L.O'Brien 4

Emerg: T.De Koning 12, L.Casboult 41, H.Goddard 45, M.Kennedy 7

Notable absentees: Sam Docherty, Alex Fasolo, Matthew Kreuzer, Caleb Marchbank, Darcy Lang, Jarrod Pickett, Tom Williamson, Liam Stocker

[BenDoolan]

Where is the MOSQUITO?

[Windy Hille]

When are they going to give that Zerk-Thatcher a crack? Thought he was excellent in the VFL last season...especially in the finals!

[F111]

Scum 13-6 early.

[s'dreams]

Scum 13-6 early.

Laverde, McKenna, McKernan, Smith not on ground Q1. Heppell and Shiel not in midfield .

Heppell, Ridley, Clarke, Tippa doing best Q1. Disposal being awful again.

[Ronny Rotten]

Bloody hopeless first quarter, scum 9 points up.
15 inside 50's to our 6. Mid-field non existent.

Hopefully the 2nd quarter will be a vast improvement.

[s'dreams]

Bloody hopeless first quarter, scum 9 points up.
15 inside 50's to our 6. Mid-field non existent.

Hopefully the 2nd quarter will be a vast improvement.

Cripps, Fisher, Petreski-Seaton on about 10 touches each. Tippa and Ridley most with 7 for Ess.

[Windy_Hill]

FIRST HALF REACTION

Game Plan - really cant work out whether the game plan sucks or the implementation of the game plan sucks. Lots of quick handballs to a player under the hammer forcing panic kicks long into the F50 which are ultimately cut off by Carlton defenders.

Midfield - Getting smashed at centre clearances and in general play. Carlton ten ahead on F50 entries. No pressure, no hard balls, bruise free.

Fowards - AMT looking sharp and Joey just being there is a positive. Nothing else to really say - lacking good delivery into F50

Defence - Hurley a beast, Saad looking sharp - backline under the pump on the back of intense Carlton pressure and multiple F50 entries

Only a praccy match but Essendon looking very average

[Ronny Rotten]

Half time: scum 19 points up, never seen so many fumbles & turn overs. Mid-field smashed.
2 set shots for goal just before half time. Stringer 15 meters out on a slight angle kicks out on the full. Then Daniher having a set shot 20 meters out kicks a point. Both shots are gettable at this level
It pains me to see Long playing at this level.....
I know it's only a practice match but gee whiz lets see some intensity.

[s'dreams]

Still kicking to 2 on 1s... Forward line not working hard enough. Set kicking still shit.

Merrett having a shocker. Seems he takes a while to warm up. Good signs from Shiel, Francis and Ridley.

Laverde, McKernan, Smith still off.

On the other hand - Carlton have one in Walsh. Ink him in for Rising Star this year.

[Windy_Hill]

i dont get why Essendon lets the Scum flex its muscle against us...every f****** year, practice match or otherwise

I know everyone is going to say, well calm down killer, its just the JLT. true, against any other team. But not against the Scum

Hope for a better 2nd half effort

[Windy_Hill]

Still kicking to 2 on 1s... Forward line not working hard enough. Set kicking still shit.

Merrett having a shocker. Seems he takes a while to warm up. Good signs from Shiel, Francis and Ridley.

Laverde, McKernan, Smith still off.

On the other hand - Carlton have one in Walsh. Ink him in for Rising Star this year.

Setterfield looks a player too

[s'dreams]

Smith on - makes a huge difference. Nice kick by Laverde to hit up Stringer.

[s'dreams]

Seems we only score when Saad or McKenna get the ball on half back and take a run. Otherwise shit in the middle. This is a worry.

[Windy_Hill]

The sad thing is I think Carlton actually hate us more than we hate them. They never want to lose to us.

[BenDoolan]

If we lose to these f****** maggots during season proper, I’m gonna lose my shit like I’ve never had before FFS

Same Old Essendon we use to beeeeee

[Windy_Hill]

FULL TIME REACTION

The game was pretty much over when Essendon finally started to play some decent footy. A bit more midfield pressure and some simply stellar work by Andy McGrath and Devon Smith got them going

Mitch Brown did some nice work at CHF and Stringer was ok. AMT again, pure class but need Fantasia back to add some real bite. Bags largely ineffectual and Carlton had no real problems running the ball out of their half

Thought Ridley was great as a linking play maker off half back. Hartley was solid. Hurley faded after a great first half.

Guelfi tried hard and Saad and McKenna added some spark'

Parish was getting the ball but did little with it...need Myers in the team to add some inside grunt. Langford was average and his decision making often weak. Shiel looked good. His burst speed will definitely help - went off in the last qtr with a knock to the knee - nothing too serious

Zac Clarke was solid around the ground and did some decent things. Smack looked composed and his strong hands at the contested mark were again apparent.

Last QTR game style was far more impressive with better use of the ball going forward - first 3 qtrs was horrible in this regards

Better clearance pressure in the last QTR but again, the game was over and Carlton had switched off.

Overall, terrible first three qtrs - really nondescript game plan, no pressure, no effort, simply horrible disposal.

For 15 minutes in the last qtr we looked like a Top 4 side against a Bottom 4 side which to be fair - had completely shut down for the night.

A lot of work to be done to get this team playing hard, aggressive and committed football

BEST PLAYERS

5. McGrath
4. Hurley
3. Ridley
2. Smith (in 1 half of football)
1. Tippungwuti

[s'dreams]

OK, first praccy match of the year ... so can't read too much into it.

Good games from McGrath, Hartley, Shiel, Saad, Brown, Ridley & Clarke. Guelfi from half-time, Laverde from 3/4. Tippa and Stringer drifted in and out.

Questions have to be asked about Parrish (13 touches, 12 HB, 1 ineffective kick), Langford (17 touches, 11 HB 6 clangers and 53% efficiency) who played all 4 quarters. Frustrating as this should be the time in their development when these two are starting to really deliver.

I cannot see where the club thinks Long is going to fit in, but they keep persisting.

[Windy Hille]

I’m optimistic. Some excellent signs...but also some worrying ones. Some players appear to be “under the weather” - Merrett, JD and Hepps. Others were very good - Ridley, Saad, Hurley, Francis, McGrath, Tippa, and good ol’ Brown.

I thought Langford was going alright. Some sloppy stuff, but was doing ok. Guelfi a bit of a worry. And I don’t see Longy being any more than VFL standard.

Can we at some stage get our overall skill level to a reasonable standard? Horrid.

[s'dreams]

Some players appear to be “under the weather” - Merrett, JD and Hepps.

Thought Heppell played OK (one half only), Merrett looked injured.

JD though played his first game for 40 weeks so not going to be too hyper - though he did start looking for frees just before he was rested (and can someone please get the bugger to kick straight).