Essendon vs Westcoast -Etihad Stadium - Saturday Night
Essendon 13th - 5-10 - 84.26%
Westcoast 16th - 3-12 - 75.16%
The Bombers should get a welcome reprieve on Saturday night when they take on the competitions worst side at Etihad Stadium in what is simply a must win game for the boys from Windy Hill.
Essendon find themselves in unfamiliar territory at the moment with coach Matthew Knights feeling the heat well and truelly after his side's 5th consecutive loss, this time to a Melbourne outfit that had won just one of it's previous eight matches before last week.
If the Bombers are struggling, the Eagles are at rock bottom however with Woosha's men staring their first ever wooden spoon right in the face.
Two games clear on the bottom of the ladder it's hard to see where the next win will come from for the Eagles who have lost all confidence and form.
Their performance against the Crows wasn't terrible last week, but they still weren't good enough to take advantage in some key moments and challenge for a victory.
Mark LeCras and Josh Kennedy are an excellent forward combination and would get a game in any side in the competition, but problems lie elsewhere for this group.
Their midfield lacks pace, and also slaughters the footy far too often.
Priddis and Dalziell can wrack up a million touches each, but lack penetration both in their kicking but also their running.
Selwood is a trier but also doesn't break the lines, and Daniel Kerr has played about three good AFL games in two and a half years and has been injured for the best part of the season.
Dean Cox is showing some concerning designs of being on the wrong side of the hill, and Natanui still has a way to go.
They also miss Darren Glass badly in defence.
Scott Selwood, Brad Sheppherd, Lewis Stevenson, Ashton Hams and co look ok and they need to build something around these guys, as well as Masten and Ebert in the middle.
The Q Train is struggling for form at present and McKinley is someone they need a lift from as well because if he finds form, it will help support Kennedy and Le Cras in that front half.
The Bombers have the hardest best 22 in the competition to define IMO.
David Hille is someone they miss badly, but they have too many similar players.
Angus Monfries will be better for the run, Dustin Fletcher will return which will help release Hurley back into attack where he played well a month or so ago, Scott Gumbleton should return as well.
Dyson, Houli, Prismall etc are players who should all be in Essendon's starting line up, but have struggled for consistency.
Stanton and Watson are quality clearance players but they lack inside presence to support them. Welsh is a solid tagger but too much pressure gets dumped on the aforementioned duo.
Winderlich has been in solid form for the Dons who are the definition of a confidence side.
When up and about, taking the game on and hitting targets they look fantastic, and have claimed the scalps of St.Kilda and the Western Bulldogs this year, as well as leading the Cats by five goals in Round One.
But conversely when the confidence is down they become hesitant, and very sloppy by foot.
With Pears out the Dons defence has been particularly vulnerable and Fletcher's absence has compounded that.
The Bombers have conceded a mark inside fifty from 51% of opposition entries in the past month, which is the worst in the competition.
They have also conceded a clearance from 45% of all centre bounces which confirms the fact that too much is left to too few in there.
Fletcher is back and will take either McKinley or Lynch,
But the Eagles problem has been getting the ball down there. They are last for Inside 50's in the last month, and 15th for scores once in there, so they don't appear to have the arsenal to exploit Essendon's vulnerability.
They are also last for tackles in the AFL and their young bodies will struggle to put enough pressure on Essendon who have a reasonable group of runners, and therefore should get opened up too often to seriously challenge.
This is a game the Dons simply must win, and win they will.
Essendon by 28 points
No comments:
Post a Comment