Game Day Thread Rnd 1 V Bombers

[0918330512]

Make no mistake. We were very lucky and probably didn't deserve this win. Please keep a lid on it.

Lucky? perhaps.

Didn't deserve? Maybe.

But the team showed spirit & fight & belief. They earned that win. It is the type of quarter of football that has been described as season defining or turning the season around. I'm not saying it will, but it could arrest a 1:3 start to a season before it happens

[Simo]

Phew, lucky we got home, fair bit of banter going with my Essendon mates. Disappointed with our game plan, it's wet,play wet weather footy, the rules of the game have changed due to the way the swans play over the years, maybe they do t tell us about the changes, you can't just crash and bash anymore. For three quarters we just thought we would win, the last quater should how fit you need to be, luck y we played a team that hadn't had match practice, a team like the bullies, or wc would be tearing us a new one. I'm worried about our speed.... But I'll take the win, and hope this year our best game is in October.

One thing I did notice....towers, Jetta, Rohan....don't like to stick the tackles. Towers especially. Seems a bit soft to p,ay afl. He could have dumped a few today but didn't, I'd rather him give a free away but asert himself than get rolled over..

Go swans

[Scottee]

Great to see the turnaround but worth remembering that if the Bummers were fit we would have been creamed. Afraid Goodies looks gone in the ROK mould and Cunningham should never play in the wet again. Too many passengers.

[stevoswan]

Can anyone look me in the eye (metaphorically speaking) and tell me that This side wouldn't be better with Mitchell in it?

Agree entirely. Should have been in selected side, then should have come in due to the wet conditions! I hope Tom is not pissed off that he is, at this point anyway, lower in the pecking order to new boy (and gun!) Heeney, who won't be getting dropped any time soon!

[0918330512]

Great to see the turnaround but worth remembering that if the Bummers were fit we would have been creamed. Afraid Goodies looks gone in the ROK mould and Cunningham should never play in the wet again. Too many passengers.

From where I was sitting it didn't look like the Bombers ran out of legs. We just played poorly for 3 quarters but out best is as good as anyone. When we turn it on, we are formidable. We just don't always do it (eg GF 2014) but we have won a number of games with one incredible quarter of football.
& Goodsey is in the twilight of his career. A cameo player who when he's on he can turn a game in a short period. When he's off, he will still demand attention ensuring a lesser light player can have less attention and the other forwards or mids (depending where he's playing) can step up to cover his output a bit. I can still see a role for him & IMO he's not quite the same as the ROK

[ugg]

This is going to be a weird game to give TLM votes for. Parker was clearly our BOG until he was KOed but the comeback started after he was taken off so how would you account for that.

[Cosmic Wizard]

Reid must go!!

But why would we play so many tall in the wet???

Crap coaching, and crap players against a side who were not fit.

Next week against Port we are going to be show up if we play like that!

[Ampersand]

Out: Towers, Reid, Goodes
In: McVeigh, Mitchell, McGlynn

Richards is so, so bad in the wet. This was basically a replay of the Richmond game in the final round last year. Very lucky Essendon laid down in the last.

[Steve]

Definitely lucky we were playing Essendon. Great comeback, but the same old concerns remain - too many with average skill level and a dysfunctional forward setup.

We are always terrible in the wet - those who struggle to hit targets in the dry are no chance when it gets slippery.

The biggest positive is we get 4 points whilst getting enough of a scare to know we have a lot of room for necessary improvement.

[i'm-uninformed2]

One, that tackle shows what a competitive, driven bugger Buddy is.

Two, Rampe in the middle a bit .... Shame we don't have a replacement down back as he looked very good when he was in there for a patch in the last quarter.

Three, Laidler - in my mind - was Horse's big mistake last year when he got dropped in the obsession with outside run and speed. You need a mix of hard arrrrses and competitors, and Laidler's one. He showed it tonight.

Four, Pyke better sort his ruck play out as we look so much better with tippett forward, and so does he and Bud

Oh, and that young blonde fella can go a bit. Has much been written about him?

[Nico]

Agree entirely. Should have been in selected side, then should have come in due to the wet conditions! I hope Tom is not pissed off that he is, at this point anyway, lower in the pecking order to new boy (and gun!) Heeney, who won't be getting dropped any time soon!

Don't worry about Heeney, Mitchell is a far better footballer than Towers and Cunningham. Has clean hands and knows where the footy is at, and is prepared to cop the hits. He also racks up the possessions.

[BRISWAN]

2015??..REFUSE TO LOOSE?.

Well, famous-ish: at least it makes Round 1 memorable. And it was good to see the bloods return.

[Ampersand]

Gotta admit I was pretty pleased to see Cam Mooney end up with egg on his face after he said Essendon were dead certs for a historic win at 3/4 time.

[rb4x]

Got home at 3/4 time and watched only the last quarter. Just as well.

[dimelb]

I read the thread and we're just back from the Riser. Up to the end of Q3 we were ready to sack the coaches and half the team, and lynch the umpires. And then came one of those amazing turnarounds that Kirk used to warn people about. In the last quarter everyone was tired, not just Essendon, and we turned it on. Why I don't know; perhaps the combination of Goodesy going off and Lloyd coming on, Parker going off and the realisation that we would have to work bloody hard to achieve anything, and sheer stubbornness. Oh, and the umps evening up the free kicks!

As the team lifted so did the pub's roof. Fox went to Brisbane and we went to town on the song. Great stuff. One of those memorable quarters.

I think the standouts were Parker, Heeney, Kennedy, Bird, Rampe and Tippett. And Laidler after he moved forward. Between them they lifted the others and we came home with a wet sail.

There are still some problems. I'd keep Sam Reid going, but he needs to show what he can do pretty soon. Shaw and Jetta especially need to be more disciplined. I am concerned that Goodsey may have gone a season too far, but he deserves a bit of leeway. I thought others were still a bit rusty - Kieren at times, likewise Reg, but they will come good. And why was Essendon's ball handling so much better than ours overall?

And we should have had Mitchell instead of any one of several others.

But I'll happily take the win.