This game is set for Sunday afternoon at Windy Hill :( at 14:05.
We've lost our way the last couple of weeks, while the Drug Cheats won last week.
No idea yet as to what our lineup will be like. But one of our Emergencies will definitely not play, maybe 2.
Our lineup for tomorrow:
B: 41 Matt Duffy 33 Lewis Young 47 Wade Dersksen (This will change, as Derksen is already been placed into the seniors.)
HB: 28 Harry Charleson 37 Jordan Boyd 42 Adam Saad
C: 36 Cooper Lord 46 Matt Cottrell 59 Cooper Vickery
HF: 8 Lachie Fogarty 70 Darcy Hogg 6 Zac Williams
F: 43 Ashton Moir 40 Hudson O'Keefe 58 Jack Sammartino
R: 38 Flynn Riley 31 Campbell Chesser 16 Ben Camporeale
Int: 66 Sam Paea 68 Taj Logan 74 Logan Prout 62 Ollie Warburton 75 Liam Farrar
Em: 64 Archie Stevens 69 Cooper Hamilton 61 Dane Harvey 57 Alwyn Davey (jnr) 67 Tom Evans 77 Will Cookson 78 Tyson Gresham 65 Jed Rule
[1] 15 AFL listed Blues named, but only 12 or 13 will probably play. Derksen is already in seniors, replacing Weitering. One of the other subs will probably not play.
Dane Harvey will probably come in: he has been quite reasonable as a key defender this year.
[2] Interesting to see how Riley goes now that he is a listed player. It will take a while getting used to him in 38 after having him in 57.
[3] A pity that Magor and Reinhold are unavailable. They looked good earlier. Hopefully, they won't be out for long.
[4] Structurally, I still think our side is a work in progress. I think Paea will help: he was as impressive as Derksen was in the pre-season and might have got the spot if he hadn't been injured. That said, I don't expect him to start like a house on fire: knee injuries take a while to recover from. But having more marking targets won't hurt us in the least.
[5] I am worried about Hudson O'Keefe. He isn't getting time in the ruck and he isn't hitting the scoreboard. If any of our rucks is under the most pressure, it would be him.
[6] We are probably expected to win, but Essendon won last week. I hope we turn up this week.
Quarter time in the VFL
Essendon leading 6-0 -36 to Carlton 3-3-21
Fogarty (11 disposals) and Ben C (10) getting plenty of the ball.
Fogarty playinhg more as midfielder, Moir also playing well away for goal
Riley winning most of the ruck contests but we don't seem to be getting a big advantage.
Cooper Lord...a shocker trying to beat the man on the mark in defence.
Luckily no damage done
Lord's a mile off it at the moment after an interrupted season.
Harry Charleson showing a bit.
Like to see him given an opportunity soon.
Moir looks to be playing around half-back.
We're behind by 22 at the moment and they look a much better side.
Cottrell gets a'much needed' back to 16.
Back out to 22.
Three times the Bombers have kicked long range goals over the top, into open goals with no Blues anywhere near the goal line.
28 now
9-4 to 4-6
Who is coaching the 2s now that Fraser is busy......?
They look very disorganised. And as for their kicking at goal......
Interestingly, Moir is playing off half-back
Damian Truslove
He's been the coach all year.
Fraser's been working with the seniors.
He's actually had them going pretty well
Lord getting more involved now.
A couple of goals and we're back to 14.
Matt Duffy - lining up forward - largely unsighted
Lewis Young - typically solid but unremarkable
Harry Charleson - steady at best but seems to handle the ball more surely than most of his teammates
Jordan Boyd - so so
Adam Saad - doesn't look like an AFL player
Cooper Lord - looks like he is playing in cement boots
Matt Cottrell - meh
Lachie Fogarty - tries hard but still plays slow
Zac Williams - meh
Ashton Moir - playing at HB but not doing much - apart from some crappy turnovers
Hudson O'Keefe - seems to have regressed
Flynn Riley - at least he can contest centre ball ups but hasn't done much else
Campbell Chesser - not sure what we recruited him for - rubbish
Ben Camporeale - best of an ordinary lot - lining up on the wing
Binns playing for the Bummers but not doing enough to wish we had kept him around
....and just orchestrated a shocking turnover. TBH, he looks lost.
Half time
Essendon 10-4 64 v Carlton 7-10-52
Fogarty 18
Hogg 16
Camporeale 15
Goals
Paea 2
Some of our blokes look they are done at the club and know their fate, Fogarty is probably the exception and has tried hard.
Young has been poor on Gerryn who has kicked three on him and Moir who is a great kick just turns the ball over with poor execution and lazy thought process on a regular basis.
Not sure who is playing on Edwards but he needs a spell on the bench, Derksen missing has left a gaping hole down back.
Ben Campo has been ok on the wing but not well enough to be playing seniors.
Darcy Hogg seems to do a good job every week.
Moir is one of the great wastes of obvious talent. Reminds me of Troy Menzel going back a few years. All talent but not the output to match.
Hogg is the definition of a good honest footballer, gives you effort and is team orientated.
Conversely Im not sure what has happened to Okeefe, he looks slow, cumbersome and lacking in effort.
A late F/son wouldn't be wasted on Hogg. Did OKeefe miss some pre season? Looking nothing like last year.
9.17. Kicking at goal isn't helping.
30 shots to 21 but a point down.
Lost by 8
Essendon 14-9-93 v Carlton 11-19-85
How can we lose to them? Hope our seniors dont take a leaf out of their book, I wouldnt be surprised thought.
Bad kicking is bad football.
Putrid effort given the number of listed players....but those players are probably in the twos for that very reason.
Carrying an injury
@ElwoodBlues1, it's obvious.
Impatience makes a club throw a bloke like this away, we are fools to pull the trigger too soon, as we have been already.
Really think jack ison is going to be what Moir should have been. Same skill level, but just harder and wants it more. Doing the little things well, which Moir hasn’t done
Moir doesnt appreciate the natural talent he has, the skills are easy for him but there is more to the game than just having great skills and having to concentrate for 4 quarters and not be carefree seems too hard for him.
It's funny.
I thought there were a lot of similarities between the VFL and the AFL side today in terms of performance
Both sides seemed a little 'off'
I'm just wondering with the bye coming up whether they worked really hard at training last week with the knowledge of an easier match tonight and a week off to recover.
Yep. In season 2026 and considering his talent, he's probably our biggest disappointment. Just seems to lack endeavour... unless he's trying to take a speccy. Too selfish?
AFL identifies your weakness and amplifies it, if you think you can cruise on your strengths you'll be irrelevant quicker than you can blink.
I watched the replay last night: yes, I must have masochistic tendencies. :(
What I gathered:
[1] Moir as a defender:
It wasn't that he did a bad job, even though he did make a couple of horrendous turnovers, it was that he still couldn't get more involved in the game. Considering how our forward line functioned, I think he would be better back as a forward.
[2] Our dislocation between midfield and forwards:
I know the senior got a bad rap for being unable to hit targets, but the 2's made this an artform on Sunday. Not that our forwards move well: they don't, and they don't make space well. However, when you kick the ball directly to the Essendon defenders, it makes the forwards look hopeless.
Tyler Sellers, who North flicked after starring against us, was again huge. he had 14 or 15 intercepts with 12 marks, because we kicked it directly to him. It was embarrassing.
Young Liam Farrar was probably the most effective forward on the ground when it came to getting the ball: he was an example more of our players should follow. Unfortunately, his kicking radar was just so off. He could have 7 goals: he managed 1 goal 3 with 8 marks.
Essendon players kicked them from everywhere, while we couldn't hit the side of a barn from inside.
[3] Our 'better' players didn't make the contribitions they could have.
Williams was OK, but he could have been better. I would have been tempted to have in the middle for a while.
Moir wasn't that bad, but he should be damned good.
Saad: I'm not sure he saw out the game, but he didn't do much when he was on. He is really struggling.
Ben Campo on the wing didn't really work. He wasn't bad, but he didn't produce the drive he can in the middle.
Flynn Riley won most of the taps, but we didn't get that much from them. And poor Riley provided nothing around the ground.
Hudson O'Keefe rucked reasonably well, and kicked a couple of goals, but just isn't getting it enough. Not a danger to other teams.
Matt Duffy: he has regressed terribly in the last month. He has the athleticism to play anywhere, but his game awareness isn't good enough to play anywhere at the moment.
Our guys play a high possessions game with short kicks and handballs, and it didn't suit the conditions at all. A lot of our guys got inflated numbers for play that went nowhere.