Are you scared? 88 point thrashing of the pies tonight.
I am not. I am really confident of showing them up. 9 day break to 6 should give us a huge advantage! I know they had 2 less days than the pies tonight but still 6 days is tough. I think we will win based on that. I shouldn't get confident cause everytime I do we lose hahaha and when I am pessimistic we win. In that case.... WE WILL GET SMASHED...NO HOPE IN HELL.......
I don't think we will get close next week unfortunately. Saints have a fairly seasoned team running around. I would however be very dissapointed if we got smashed like the Pies did tonight. Simply want to see an effort put in by all, and don't want us to go back into our shells if they take control. They are the benchmark at the moment along with Geelong. Will be a very good test considering the experience and class we are missing at the moment.
I actually think this will be a lot closer than what people might think... I am not convinced that the Saints are as good as their ladder position suggests.
We will match up OK with them in the middle. We have enough grunt and pace to keep it with them any day of the week. If Friday is any indication their forward line wont worry us all that much as long as we can hold Nicola.
Our biggest concern is stopping their run off half back and we need to really shut down Sam Fisher and Goddard. If we can do that we will put it right up to them!
As long as our boys play well and try and stick with the Saints i will be happy. a 5 goal loss would be ok but i just dont want them to be smashed and lose all the confidence they gained in the win this week.
Who were the Saints better players that we have to stop?
If it was at the MCG I would give us a strong chance, using the larger ground to get our fast running game up and going, it would also make it harder for the Saints to maintain there high pressure, high tackling game.
On the smaller ground we will struggle, just look at what the Kangaroos were able to do to us, and the Saints are a far better offensive and defensive team.
We are also demonstrating a habit this year of struggling to get up for the following week after massive wins the previous week!!
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.
Collingwood gave everything they ahd in teh 1st quarter...more contested and uncontested possessions and yet still they were a couple of goals behind.
St Kilda are on average keeping each team they play goalless for a quarter and only allowing one goal in another quarter....that's phenomenal.
They appear to have no obvious weaknesses so to some extent I think it's better that we have a lot of young guys in the team as they won't be so worried about the outcome as compared to their own performance.
But it's a scary prospect [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o<
"You can quote me on this... He is gawn" - bomberdonnie re Hurley's contract status 25 February 2012
If we run like last week I reckon we're a chance. The short break will have to have an effect on them late in the game. Bummer Collingwood didn't work them harder though... Might need some experience back in the team (If any are available..). It's a lot to ask of such a young list to back up and do it all again...
I'll say it again BEWARE of the Baby Bombers!!!
Not saying we will definately win but we are in with a big chance and I am tipping it will be a hell of a lot closer than the Colliwobbles. Don't forget No Medhurst,Didak or Leon. Dud Rocca and cloke. Really was their any competion against them?
This should be a cracker of a match. We have the speed and ability to go with them. I still believe that our defenders are our weakness even though they all played really well last weekend on Buddy & Roughy...
For mine, if we can match our 4 quarter intensity this weekend, we are a chance. That and having Fries do to his opponent this week as he did against Hodge will help in taking a lot of their HBF run away...
Looking forward to a cracking contest, but for mine, I think (as I did before the Dawks game...), we will have done well to get within 5 goals, but again, happy to be prove wrong...
If ever there was a time to string some consistency together, this is the week to start cause we have 15thmond after this and then another huge test against the pussies...
I've seen about 90 minutes TOTAL of footy from Essendon in seven games this season that would have us match the Saints in the two games I've seen them play so far. Their commitment to defensive pressure from their forward line right through the midfield is exceptional and they've also got the confidence and skills to turn defense into attack at a moment's notice. If the grand final was played today they'd beat Geelong by six goals.
So... looking at the two teams:
Up forward: St Kilda are clearly superior. They have two marking targets in the prime of their career - Reiwoldt is looking bigger and stronger than ever this year and Kosi, though a bit slow after his return from injury, has been in great form early. Schneider and Milne are genuine small forwards who are strong and quick, can tackle, crumb and have great goal sense. Monfries will need to play the game of his life, Neagle needs to hurt some people and we need another big performance from Lloyd. If we don't get goals out of our small forwards we're in real strife.
Rucks: Hille and Ryder may have given us an edge but without Hille we are going to struggle against two very strong and experienced ruckmen. Gardiner is in some reasonable form and King is a very smart ruckman - stupid move by Geelong to let him go. They've also got a third option in Ben McEvoy who is a promising young footballer. Ryder is going to be very sore after this game and Bellchambers will have his work cut out. The one area where we may be able to expose them in with Ryder's pace - he needs to get forward as much as possible and make King and Gardiner work.
Midfield: Dal Santo, Montagna, Ball and Hayes are the prime movers with Goddard and Gram rotating through. Jones and Baker are defensive options. This is the one area of the field where I think we could have a slight advantage - but only if we can keep the midfield open. Providing Watson, Lonergan and Hocking continue to do their job at the stoppages I think we can nearly match them for grunt (although I'd be far more confident if McVeigh, Welsh and Pris were available). Stanton matches Montagna's run and I don't think they've got anyone remotely matching Lovett, Winderlich or Dyson for pace. The problem is that the Saints have bigger, harder bodies and I don't think that over four quarters we're going to be able to do the things we need to do to win this area of the ground consistently.
Defense: Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus. I know that Pears and Hooker did a good job last week but it's a bit much to ask two 18 year olds with <10 games between them to back up Franklin / Roughead with Kosi / Reiwoldt. I think we're going to have to bring in an extra tall option for down back - Daniher went alright in the twos from reports. Main thing is just to take it to them and don't go into our shells. Houli and Dempsey are going to have their work cut out but we need to make sure we keep focussing on doing our thing - even if we're getting smashed.
Lyon has the ultimate trump card up his sleeve in Sam Fisher. He reads the play exceptionally well and gets to just about every contest in the backline. His run and disposal are excellent, he's courageous and he has awesome hands. So Lyon plays him as a loose backman meaning you're left with two options - 1. You man him up, thus clogging up your forward line and giving Kosi, Reiwoldt, Milne and Schneider space up forward; or 2. You play your own loose man in defense and hope that he can hurt the Saints as much as Fisher will hurt you.
The only team that has a comparable player is probably Hawthorn with Hodge but the difference between St Kilda and Hawthorn is that as soon as one of your forwards leaves his man to try and pick up Fisher on the rebound, he distributes it to ether Gram, Goddard or Gilbert - all of who are absolutely deadly by foot.
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.
We have to play to our strengths. And they are pace and sheer grunt at the ball. We were able to match the Hawks at ground level which prevented them getting the ball out to their receivers. In fact, we did the reverse and got it out to our blokes. Messrs. Watson, Hocking and Lonegan were superb in this area and I believe that this area is a definite winner for us.
Once clear, we left them for dead. One area for improvement would be kicking into the forward line. There were at least eight occasions when we appeared to kick it straight to Hawthorn defenders.
Our tackling and pressure was another strength which needs to be maintained. We pressured Hawthorn into turnovers on several occasions and this is essential if we are to win.
Who would have thought that we would contain the Hawthorn forward line. The task ahead is just as daunting, but they have to hold firm to give us a chance.
We have the firepower to score and the pace to get it into the forward line. A little more composure prior to delivery will give our forwards even more opportunity.
I did not expect to win against Hawthorn even though I backed them. I am a little more confident against the Saints given the performance last week, but it will be a monumental effort to overcome the Saints who have probably peaked too early.
Too far for Baker now he's on to it, now he’s got it, OPEN GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Dons are in front by one point at the 8 minute mark
yup im watching with a Saints supporter mate up here in brissy haha going get very frustrating i would imagine.... for me
Kakadu Kangaroos
Captain of the first BomberTalk International Test Squad
BT Soccer World Cup Champion Captain of the Bombertalk Reds 3rd with 4 wins - 108.30%
(6 games) - 65 kicks, 33 marks, 52 handballs, 4 tackles, 3 Hit Outs, 2 goals
