Round 20 - Essendon

[Cheer Squad]

What a refreshing break from football the bye is.

Now back to business. It's well known our record against Essendon in Melbourne is not very good - only one victory in over 20 years! No wonder Bombers fans always pencil in their home games against us as a win.

Add to that the poor record of teams this year after the bye, including us, and you could be excused for thinking we don't have much chance this week.

Essendon looked quite good for the first half against Collingwood yesterday and then were hit hard by injury. It ended up a rather bad loss for them. They simply must win this week to keep their finals hopes alive.

What does all this mean? It ultimately depends on what frame of mind we're in. If we turn up showing the same sort of hunger that we did against Collingwood, we might get across the line.

Probably not by much. Swans by 1.

[Big Al]

Absolutely vital we start well in this game. If we're blown away early then the crowd gets involved and it'll be tough to come back. If we are close at half time the Swans fresher bodies should prevail.

Swans by 16

[Red]

I hope for the best, but expect the worst.

Inaccurate goal kicking will cost us against an Essendon team at home and desperate to make the finals. Bombers by 18.

[Glenn]

Given the way the Bombers folded vs Collingwood will the mental scars from that resurface, or will the Bi-polar Sydney side turn up and poor decision making, poor goal kicking lead to the downfall.

Heart says Sydney by 14
Head say Essendon by 18

[MattW]

The Bombers will be pretty tired after yesterday. We should take them. Swans by 14 points.

[Go Swannies]

The Bombers will be pretty tired after yesterday. We should take them. Swans by 14 points.

This.

[Nich]

Knowing that we don't often rack up high scores I will be happy to be 1-2 goals down at the start of the 4th. That way they may tire and we can fnish hard and silence the crowd. Id rather them not chasing us and bringing the crowd into it. Sounds strange I know but I think we can run over them instead of trying to hold onto a lead down there.

[longmile]

It should be a tight game, but we'll run away with it in the end.
The bombers seem really sore and tired at the moment, especially after versing Collingwood, which raised many injury concerns.

[ShockOfHair]

Feeling strangely confident about this game. Apart from the fresh bodies, I think our guys took a lot out of the win over the Bulldogs.

[ernie koala]

Given the Bombers have only a 6 day break and took a bit of a pounding from the Magpies, and looked very tired given their lack of rotations...
4 injuries at last count but they do have Fletcher, Hurly and Hocking as possible in's......Hmmmm
If we had a decent forward line.......but we don't..
As it stands I'll say Swans by 9.

[neilfws]

Feeling strangely confident about this game. Apart from the fresh bodies, I think our guys took a lot out of the win over the Bulldogs.

Agreed and I hope these are factors. A good win, a good rest, training well and the Bombers bruised and battered from the weekend. You'd think we're a good chance - if we get it all right.

[Jeffers1984]

We are useless after a bye usually

Bombers by 14

[longmile]

We are useless after a bye usually

Bombers by 14

We almost beat Collingwood after our first bye.
Considerable since they usually double other team's scores, even with their shocking goal-kicking efficiency.

[msb]

Id like to think our more experience players and bigger bodies will get us over the line in such a crucial game....the bombers just cant run out games, although they were 2 down yesterday (not that it would of mattered). Im hoping for a typical swans type scrappy game that sees us win by about 3-4 goals.

[liz]

It is hard to know what to read into the Bombers' performance against the Pies. On the one hand, their field kicking, especially in the first half, was very very good, and they ran hard to support each other two. Watson had a very good return game after a long lay-off.

On the other hand, there was a lot of luck involved in many of their first half goals. Sure, they were bold and skilled, but on most days, long shots like that won't get the fortuitous bounce that sees them go through for goals. They were clearly "up" for that game, despite their inability to sustain their energy levels. But teams often come down to earth with a thud after a good effort against a top team - witness the Swans effort against the Crows the week after their credible performance against the Pies. Watson may find his second game back a lot tougher than his first. That's a common trait amongst players on return from relatively long term injuries.

A lot will come down to who is available to them come Thursday afternoon. The players they lost at the weekend certainly hurt their run in that game, but Prismall and Coyler are not core to their team at the moment so are replaceable. The returns of any of Hocking, Hurley and Fletcher will make a big difference to them. Fletcher, in particular, will have a field day with our long, directionless bombs into the forward line unless he can be made accountable.