Ash35

After Bradshaws kick after the siren to draw the game last week, I was just about ready to spit it completed when Riewoldt was lining up for goal after the siren. Prismall shouldn't have missed, but Monfries should have taken responsibility and had the shot himself. We were out on our feet with no bench so I wasn't surprised when the Saints rocketed home. As much as I am wrapped to get the 4 points, and as important as that result is for us, the news that Fletcher, Dempsey and Ryder will all be missing for 2-3 weeks [virtually season over for them] means that if we limp into 8th spot, the result in that Elimination final could get ugly. But all that aside, I am very comfortable with the way Essendons future looks. Hurley and Pears could one of the best key back combinations in the AFL in 3 or 4 years.

Agreed. And he makes himself look like a goose with this comment : Demetriou defended a number of the moves made by coach Dean Bailey and his team before and during the game to The Age, including Paul Johnson lining up for much of the second half on Nathan Brown. ‘‘Leigh Brown played on Jonathan Brown the previous night. No one made a big deal out of that. Was that tanking?’’ he said. Is he taking the p!ss???? Comparing Leigh Brown on Johnno Brown after Presti went off injured to Paul Johnson on Nathan Brown just makes him, and his arguement that tanking doesn't exist, look ridiculous.

Exactly. You can't hand out priority picks and then watch that team win 3, 4 or 5 more matches for the rest of that season. The tanking talk would be in full swing then. The only way to fix it is to scrap priority picks full stop. Or leave them for the start of the 2nd round.

Richmond have been pretty competitive lately, losing to Adelaide by 17 points and Carlton by 20 points. They aren't going too badly. Freo are shocking, bad enough normally, but without their two best players [Pavlich and Sandilands, plus Palmer missing] they stink. Will be lucky to win another game for the year. I get the feeling the Melbourne players are enjoying that winning feeling. And don't discount the "Jim Stynes factor". Should beat Freo and might snag a win against either Richmond, Kangas or even Sydney. But the smart move would be to not win more than 4 games, and my money is on that happening. Although Richmond and Freo will be thinking the same, so those games will be farcical. I notice West Coast are flagging the idea of Dean Cox finishing up for the year with his groin injury. Let the games begin.

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You've been away? Didn't realise. Welcome back. Melbourne to kick 27.17? Sure you aren't tallying up the scores for the next 3 matches?

25,162

Do Melbourne supporters ever get sick of worrying about the umpires? Every teams supporters reckon they get a raw deal from the umps. Friday nights game, Essendon 36 scoring to Melbournes 18, twice as many. With the game in the balance at half time [16 points], Melbourne produce a 3rd quarter of 1.0 to 7.6. Yet the umpires are to blame.

I'm no McLaren fan, but if it's the incident I think you are talking about, Lloyd ask why didn't he get a free kick, and as you said, McLaren told him that he was holding him, as in 'you were holding him as well'. Both players holding = no free kick. It did seem like the umpires were in a time warp back to early in the season when everything was getting paid. It was frustrating, and had the game been closer, it would have been worse.

Good luck to both teams, but obviously I hope a bit more luck shines down on the Bombers. In all seriousness, it is probably Essendons best team ON PAPER so far this year, but with the likes of McVeigh, Welsh, Prismall, Reimers and Fletcher all not playing much football recently, we may be short on legs. Jamar is a loss for Melbourne, as everyone knows Ryder is virtually rucking alone, so Melbourne miss a chance to explot a weakness in Essendon there. Looking forward to Jurrah making his debut, and hopefully Jack Watts has an impact in game number 2 without the pressure he had in the build up to the Collingwood game. My prediction, Essendon by 22 points.

40,123

On a roll?? We have lost two in a row leading into the break. Geelong made us look second rate and the Adelaide game was very disappointing. It seems Melbourne hate Essendon more than Collingwood these days, and always seem to be competitive against us. Have some faith that the young Demons will rise to the Friday night occasion and put up a good show.

I think it was Blake Caracella.

I was interested in peoples perception that Essendon has had a "2 year head start" on rebuilding. I think most people agree that 1st round draft picks are the best way to rebuild. Occasionally a gem might come from a rookie list or late pick, but if you want to get real quality onto your list, 1st round draft picks are the way to go. Since the 2002 National draft, Essnedon has had 10 1st rounders while Melbourne has had 11. A couple of posters quoted 2005 as a starting point. Since the 2005 ND, Essendon and Melbourne have both had 5 1st rounders. It's very similar the number of 1st round picks both clubs have had in that period. 2002 Melb - D.Bell [14] & N.Smith [15] Ess - J.Laycock [10] & J.Winderlich [11] 2003 Melb - C.Sylvia [3] & B.McLean [5] Ess - K.Bradley [6] & B.Stanton [13] 2004 Melb - M.Bate [13] & L.Dunn [15] Ess - A.Monfries [14] 2005 Melb - N.Jones [12] Ess - P.Ryder [7] & C.Dempsey [19] 2006 Melb - J.Frawley [12] Ess - S.Gumbleton [2] 2007 Melb - C.Morton [4] & J.Grimes [14] Ess - D.Myers [6] 2008 Melb - J.Watts [1] Ess - M.Hurley [5] Where Essendon may have an edge is how early they have been getting their picks. Since 2005 ND, picks look like this in numerical order : Melb - 1, 4, 12, 12, 14 Ess - 2, 5, 6, 7, 19 So Essendon has had 4 top 10's compared to Melbourne's 2. Obviously that will change this year. All of this is just facts and stats, the knack of course is picking the right players with those draft selections. It's probably a valid point that Essendon started "rebuilding" a year or two in front of Melbourne. National Drafts 2005 & 2006 delivered the Bombers picks 7 & 2 compared to a couple of picks 12 for Melbourne. But Melbourne are coming from a fair way back. The Demons have only won 9 out of their last 50 games, and while the signs are better this season, I doubt Melbourne are stupid enough to win anymore than 4 games this season. Surely after adding 2 more very early picks, Melbourne must start to show improvement and win some games in 2010.

What point are you trying to make? McVeigh was in only his 3rd season in 2001. He is obviously a better player now. I think both Melbourne and Essendon supporters should be relatively satisfied with where their teams are at. Interesting talks about our [Essendons'] spine. Pears, Hooker and Neagle all made significant contributions against Hawthorn the other night, while Hurley, Darcy Daniher and Gumbleton [if he ever gets fit] are waiting in the wings. I'm not expecting brilliant results every week from this group right now, but I'm more than satisfied that when Lloyd, Lucas and Fletcher have moved on, that our key position stocks are healthy. All teams have injuries, but they do open up opportunities for others. Ryder has excelled in the ruck in David Hilles' absence. Perhaps if McVeigh and Welsh were fit, Zaharakis might not have got a chance to play. Fletcher out, Hooker plays on Franklin. Our game plan is interesting. I doubt we will be able to sustain it for the entire season. It seems very taxing. When it comes off, it looks great. If it goes pear-shaped, it gets ugly. We haven't been able to beat the Hawks for a few years now, and although they are probably at their lowest for that time, we did make them look tired and slow. At least Knights has a game plan, and he has recruited to suit that plan, and is sticking to it. Time will tell if it is a long term success. To be honest, I doubt either Essendon or Melbourne will be challenging for a flag anytime soon. At least both teams are heading in the right direction, unlike the Tigers.

Awesome work Yze_Magic. The "already built" backline will let through 17 goals, and the "still a while away" forward line will kick a mere 27 goals. Why do you waste your time?

"The Nude Assassins" are in.

I'm in. Looking forward to it.

Apparently at Carltons intra-club match this morning Setanta O'hAilpin king hit Cameron Cloke and then kicked him while he was on the ground in an incident Carlton coach Brett Ratten described as a "low act". At the Essendon intra-club practise game, Andrew Welsh broke his ankle in a sickening incident that is being compared to a 'Nathan Brown style' break. Welsh was rushed to hospital with his season looking in doubt.

I'm glad you answered my trick question.

Hilarious Yze_Magic. Absolutely hilarious, you've out done yourself this time. I agree with demonologist to an extent. Warnock flat out said he would rather play along side Chris Judd than his own brother. That is a massive slap in the face to the MFC. I still can't work it out. Lets face it, where ever Prismall ended up, Essendon or Melbourne, he is looking at a fair stint before he gets near a premiership. In the end he was looking for greater opportunity and game time, and both clubs offered 3 years.

If Lovett goes to Geelong, Prismall will be a Bomber.

I had a hypothetical question, but it looks like everyone has already answered it. I was going to ask if both the Prismall and Warnock deals fall through, and both were available in the PSD, which one would you all take. But by the reactions to Prismall, Warnock would be the choice. Is this correct?

It depends which way you look at it. If Melbourne are keeping their top 20 picks, that would leave picks 35 and 51 to use in the Prismall swap. I'm pretty sure Essendon will keep pick 5, but then could use 23 or 39. So going by your theory of Melbourne keeping top 20 picks, Essendon actually has the better pick to use, that being 23 compared to Melbournes 35. But then again, Melbourne might be willing to use pick 17 or 19 on a bloke who has played 25 games in 4 years and is coming of an ACL [Just kidding, Prismall is a good player]. Then again depending on what Essendon get for Lovett, and what happens with Brad Green, the bargining chips could change again.

The Herald-Sun is saying : The wooden spooner has been eyeing Prismall for several weeks. It is understood the Demons made an official presentation to Prismall last week, before the trade period started. Yet todays Age newspaper has : Geelong midfielder Brent Prismall yesterday toured Windy Hill and remains committed to joining Essendon. Looks like Melbourne have got to give these presentations the flick. First Warnock, and now Prismall. The presentations aren't working. Warnock said he'd rather play along side Chris Judd than his brother for gods sake.