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Essendon - Supporter Support

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I agree - the decision by Knights is a great one. Although it raised some eyebrows late last year, he stuck to his guns and felt that Lovett was not part of a culture that they wanted at Bombers.

St Kilda on the other hand must be absolutely filthy. Gave away a decent draft pick, as well as big contract(which can be undone) as well as the distraction and bad publicity for the club.

Congratulations Jobe - it might be the making of him. He will do the Bombers proud I'm sure. As for Weshy - I have no doubt that he is a wonderful clubman, but so was Mark Bolton. I really hope the added responsibility helps his development (with McPhee going Welsh becomes an even more important link). He needs a decent pre-season hopefully he can take the next step.

The draw looks hard for the Bombers and is a worry!! Not many "gimmes". As the Herald Sun wrote...."If the Bombers make the 8 in 2010, they will have earned their spot"!!!! At least we only get 3 interstate games to compensate for double ups against last years Top 8 (and Hawks).

Duckman
 

Not an easy draw Duckman but the lack of travel is great even though I am interstate, we have done our fair share of travel over the years compared to a lot of the other Victoria based clubs, a lot of younger players stood up last year and will now have another pre seaon under their belts, a lot of hard decisions were made that while emotional will benefit the club in the long run. I think Jobe will make a great Captain and I believe it will be a great year for him again regardless of the added load, getting Hille back this season will only bolster the ruck and he will be keen to get back to his best, Ryder gained a year of development as a ruckman during Hilles absence and with Hille back we have two mobile Ruckman again, looks like another exciting year as the Bombers consolidate on last year.
 
Putty7 said:
getting Hille back this season will only bolster the ruck and he will be keen to get back to his best, Ryder gained a year of development as a ruckman during Hilles absence and with Hille back we have two mobile Ruckman again,
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Will be very interesting to see how these two are played. Hille will go back to Ruck I suppose, but what about Ryder? Does he become the second string out of the pocket, or does he turn into a key position, or what? Back to CHB? Or...Wing?
 

Fully agree with your comments about Hille. Having a dominant "big man" to help Ryder no end. I think Watson will carry the captaincy with ease. Yes, some of the younger players will be all the better "for the run" last year. Hopefully we can get an effective forward line working together. I'm not as concerned about our backline or midfield. It will be an interesting and hopefully exciting year. I really hope I'm forced to apologise to Neagle through the sheer brillance of his performances this year.

Duckman
 
kennas said:
Will be very interesting to see how these two are played. Hille will go back to Ruck I suppose, but what about Ryder? Does he become the second string out of the pocket, or does he turn into a key position, or what? Back to CHB? Or...Wing?
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I agree - difficult. Hille has to play ruck because he is first and foremost a ruckman. Ryder is more likely to play a KP role - however I'm struggling to think of many players that have successfully held down a KP post as well as been a successful ruck.

Maybe Ryder will have developed more since last year - but it was the makings of him breaking out of a confined role and have him following as a ruckman. It will be intriguing to see how the Bomber coaching staff play him. We may well see some experimental stuff in the pre-season to accomodate them both.

Duckman
 

I thought Ryder was an excellent backman before he had to step up to fulltime ruck duties, that said he has done alright up forward to since being given some freedom, Hille has shown he can kick goals, I think when Hille gets fully fit we will have the luxury of 2 good ruckmen with different styles to match up against, with the recruiting of more midfielders (to be tried out this year), ruckman become essential to Knights running game plan and even though Ryder stepped up so well last year, he wasn't as dominant as Hille.
 

Considering that our forward line should consist of a possible combination of Neagle, Gumbleton, Hurley, Monfries and Williams - I think a backline spot would best suit Ryder. He has a touch of "Fletch" about him, floating across or over the pack to either mark or spoil.

I think Ryder will be a brillant "pinch-hitter" in the ruck going forward. He just got very little help last year and opposition teams worked him a) out, and b) into the ground.

I still believe that Ryder made massive improvements to his game last year by having the freedom to run the ground. The coaching staff need to make sure that his game isn't stifled by taking a back seat role to Hille. If Hille plays to his best form our midfield will make big inroads into the opposition this year (which in turn will assist our forwards).

It was certainly tough for our forwards in 2009 with the delivery they were getting. Both the midfielders and forwards did as well as they could under the circumstances. If you don't know what I mean - have a look at the first final against Adelaide and see how a midfield and forward line can struggle without a decent ruckman making a contest at the breaks.

Duckman
 
Sniffffffffffffffffff..............................

Is that goanna oil I can smell? Hmmmm get a whiff of those musty old footy socks and boots? Now.....where did I put the mouthguard?

WHAT!!!

Oh come on....it can't be still be early January

Come on the Dons!!!!!! Can't wait.

Duckman
 
I remember a few years ago reading a comment Sheeds made to someone about having found a new Polly Farmer in his recruiting, can't help but think he wasn't far wrong with his assessment of Ryder, agree Duckman it's hard enough for a seasoned ruckman to handle the bulk load of ruck work and they get worked over week in week out, not many teams get to the business end without 2 good ruckman to share the load over the season. I would think Hille would spend some time up forward for the first half of the season as he gets conditioned, Ryder will still have to shoulder the bulk of the ruck work for a little while yet while they get Hille right.
 

As an Eagle supporter, I find it funny how Vic clubs don't like to travel. Makes the comp a bit of a joke when we travel back and forth every second week.
Shows why the Eagles are a great club, to still win Premierships with such a handicap.
 
Gspot said:
As an Eagle supporter, I find it funny how Vic clubs don't like to travel. Makes the comp a bit of a joke when we travel back and forth every second week.
Shows why the Eagles are a great club, to still win Premierships with such a handicap.
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It is not that Victorian clubs don't like to travel, it is the opposite. Essendon love travelling, unfortunately they really get into the holiday mode a little too much and spend most of their Saturday's and Sundays interstate sightseeing and wandering aimlessly around famous Australian sporting grounds (such as WACA, SCG, AAMI Stadium, GABBA, etc).

Most Victorian teams travel poorly Gspot. It is an unfair advantage that the interstate clubs have. At least West Coast has a home ground. I don't think that is fair. Victorian clubs don't have a home ground advantage for the majority of their games. Whereas every second week West Coast is playing someone with a poor travelling record.

The more I think about it........yes the comp is a joke....when are the AFL going to stop handing things on a silver platter to the interstate clubs!

Duckman
 
Gspot said:
As an Eagle supporter, I find it funny how Vic clubs don't like to travel. Makes the comp a bit of a joke when we travel back and forth every second week.
Shows why the Eagles are a great club, to still win Premierships with such a handicap.
Click to expand...

Essendon usually play both the Eagles and Dorkers over here once and both in Vic once, whats unfair about that ??
 
Putty7 said:
I would think Hille would spend some time up forward for the first half of the season as he gets conditioned, Ryder will still have to shoulder the bulk of the ruck work for a little while yet while they get Hille right.
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Unfortunately Neagle is going to be without a full pre-season conditioning AGAIN, after his groin surgery late last year. Of all the players who would benefit from a solid pre-season to get fit.......it of course would have to be Neagle who suffers the injury!!!

Duckman
 


I'm still not sold that he is our great white hope as a full forward but I will be happy to be proved wrong, they should have kept Lloyd for one last year at full forward and given him the incentive to kick 1000 career goals in his last year with some hopefully better disposal into the forward line coming in 2010.
 

Everyone who has played for a vic club and a wa club says the same thing. "the travel factor is really hard." (You wouldn't hear that on the east coast, because of vic ingnorance)
They don't say playing Subiaco oval is really hard or the scg is really hard, just flying 4-6 hours at high altitude after a bruising game.
If Vic clubs like the Bulldogs have to travel to WA twice within a couple of weeks it's a huge factor, that makes the news. However the fact the Eagles and Dockers do it every second week is forgotten about, (deliberately).
If your teams crap and needs a dunghill like Windy Hill to get an advantage, to be competative, well that ain't good for the game.
But the AFL, is a joke of a comp compared to other leagues, dom or int.
 
GSpot what you have said sounds like every eagle supporter. Your team was good..but not anymore. Yes the eagles and dockers travel every second week, so they should be used to it. Windy Hill wasn't the best ground...but Subiaco is not a lot better... I live in Perth and have to deal with all the whinging eagles supporters on a daily basis... The eagles are very hard done by.

My

Trav
 

My
True Trav in the fact Subiaco is a disgrace. The stands are a joke.
The Afl and WA should concentrate more on getting this sorted out, as so many WA footy fans miss out going to a game. Unfortunately getting 3000 to the gold coast is more important to 'fat faced Demetriou.'
As far as whinging goes, lets get 5 interstate (no vics) people on the AFL board, as well as getting a CEO, and dep ceo from outside of vic. Lets also make it compulsory that 1 final is played outside Vic during finals, so even if you deserve to play home you don't, and while we're at it let's get more vic teams playing in Perth in concective away games.
THEN YOU WILL SEE WHAT WHINGING IS!
 


Gspot, the only person whinging on this thread is you. All I said was that it was good we only had 3 interstate games (because as every Essendon supporter knows - we seem to be a 50% worse side when travelling interstate).

You are calling Demetriou names, you are complaining about the lack of interstate games Victorian teams play, you are complaining about the lack of back to back travel the Victorian teams have, you are complaining about the structure of the finals, you are complaining about the Subiaco ground, you are complaining about the make up of the AFL Board.........(need I go on)

Gee whiz - supporters of Victorian clubs get called the biggest whingers.... but we aren't even in the same weight division as you Eaagles boys!!!

Duckman
 
Anyone care to start constructing a starting line up this year for interest sake, or is it too fluid?
 
Maybe the Weagle boys could start their own thread and go sook over there instead of ruining the ambience in the Essendon thread
 
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