Lord Nev

Yeah, not a great game, but more saying that his work below the knees and the way he played further up the ground was pretty good.

Catch the game today Chief?

IN: Brown OUT: Sparrow I really like Sparrow and he was good for the amount of game time he had, but seems the most likely option. Jones or Melksham could possibly be close for Kozzy or Spargs who need to find a bit of form. Probably get one more week though based on their form the rest of the season.

Weid kicks a goal from a spot where Brown dropped a mark earlier today...

Your constant references of Weid are embarrassing.

Now it's 5.

Pending rest of the game, it could be something like Brown and Jones/Melk in, Sparrow and Spargo/Kozzy out.

Alright, lock in Browny next week I reckon.

That straight kick inside 50 was great, that's the Melksham I'd love to have back in the team. His kicks before that were poor though. Would love him to turn it on the rest of the game and get back in the side.

Jonesy playing an absolute ripper.

Haha good to see the over the top whipping boy posts don't stop when he's playing VFL.

He hasn't played for months. Bit harsh.

He'll play games this year.

We watching the same game?

Gut feel is he won't have to do a massive amount to get in, 2-3 goals along with a few marks and he gets the call up IMO.

Yeah, it really does become the chicken and egg thing doesn't it? Are we not worried about centre clearances because our defence is so good at intercepting, or are we so good at intercepting because we get so much opportunity due to losing centre clearances? Breaking even last night in that area is encouraging, although I really don't rate Essendon super highly in that area (they're 9th for team/opponent centre clearance differential), and I'm not worried if we're not smashing teams in that area, I just hope it's not a 'weakness' come September when they become more important.

Thanks mate, appreciate that! I have a strong feeling not many of those were in the centre, wish we had that stat. Something definitely doesn't seem to be quite firing in the middle for us. I personally think Gawn isn't able to get as much elevation as usual at the moment which means he's not getting as many of those amazing taps to one of our mids as he usually would.

No you don't... ;)

Just to clarify, we're talking centre clearances here. For the record - Merrett 0 centre clearances, Parish 2 centre clearances.

Let me know when the actual stats are out.

Again, I agree he dominated his opponent, I just can't agree he 'dominated the centre' when clearly that's not reflected in the team's performance in that area. Probably semantics, but i just think Gawn is a little off in the centre bounces this year. I'm guessing it's his leg but not sure.

How many were Gawn's? How many did Essendon have?

Hitouts on their own are a useless stat. What are the hitouts to advantage stats from tonight? I haven't seen them loaded yet, sounds like you have.

I agree Gawn was far better than Draper, no argument. My point is, if you're going to say a ruckman 'dominated the centre' then that should translate into winning the centre clearances. We didn't. I'll be interested to see the hitouts to advantage once they come out.

Sure, but if you're "dominating" the hitouts you would think you wouldn't lose the clearances yeah?