Where and when: SCG, 7:20pm (AEDT)
Last time they met: R2 2020: Sydney 11.7 (73) DEF BY Essendon 12.7 (79)
The Bombers led from the outset at the SCG, but were never able to put the Swans to the sword and were instead made to defend valiantly in the dying stages to secure a nervous six-point victory.Essendon’s win continued the two sides’ tradition of closely fought encounters, with Darcy Parish’s stunning late goal proving the difference and ensuring the visitors would return to Victoria with the spoils. Zach Merrett (29 disposals, one goal) and Dylan Shiel (22 disposals, eight clearances) were pivotal in the win, with Jake Lloyd (29 disposals, one goal) and Luke Parker (25 disposals, five clearances) the best for the hosts.
Match Preview: Both teams were on the right end of upset victories last week, and big ones too. Sydney stunned the Tigers by 45 at the MCG while Essendon pounded a listless St Kilda to the tune of 75 at Marvel. This game will be at the SCG which you’d think would give the Swans the edge but that’s where the Bombers knocked them off last year. Having said that, there was no Buddy that day and Dylan Shiel, who looks done for the year, starred. We know the Swans were excellent last week. Was Essendon just as good? Or was St Kilda just plain awful?
Motts Watch:
Sydney
The kids! Chad, Errol, Logan and Braeden. I’ve got all of ’em and I’ll be looking for them all to continue their astronomical price rises. Haven’t got Lloyd so I guess I’ll have an eye on him as I pray for Essendon to throw a defensive tagger on him. Please don’t hurt me, Jakey.
Essendon
Zach Merrett isn’t doing quite enough for me right now. Averaging 103 with a 144 BE he’s probably going to lose more money this week. He’s the only Bombre I’ve got in the squad but Waterman will be tempting next week if he can back up his 81 against St Kilda.
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Structurally I don’t need Hickey. But look at his next 3 games and he’s a very enticing cash cow.
Just wondering how 115 points and a 110 point average out of a 261k player doesn’t make them a good cash cow?
I’d love some responses from those that gave thumbs down to justify their decision.
I didn’t vote but if I had to guess, it probably has more to do with your first sentence about structure. I think your ruck set up would have to be pretty unique for it to make sense to bring him in now, unless you’re planning on using multiple trades (which could also explain the downvotes).
Not really a unique ruck setup.
A lot of people are, like me, running R2 as Flynn and with him facing Grundy this week it would have made sense for this week, and probably the next two based on Hickey’s opponents…
By that time, you’re probably looking at when is the time to be culling Flynn.
Realistically you could have be talking Flynn + Hickey out to easy pay for Grundy/Gawn and Treacy pre byes.
I mean unique in that not a lot of coaches would be running a ruck set-up where bringing Hickey in would be an optimal decision.
Did you mean trade Flynn out and bring in Hickey? Flynn still has plenty of cash to make and you’d be stunting your cash gen if you brought Hickey in for him after one price rise.
The scenario that would make the most sense to me is if you had extra cash and bumped Flynn to R3. At that point, like you said, you could bring in Treacy and upgrade R2 to whichever of Grawndy you didn’t have. Downsides, you have a rookie scoring 80+ on your bench and it uses three trades for one upgrade. Although, you’d probably end up with an extra $100k or so on top of the cash you needed for your upgrade.
It’s an interesting idea, nonetheless.
It would have been bump Hickey in at R2, Flynn down to R3. Lose Hunter.
Then bring Treacy in at R3 on the bubble, or if there is still cash to be gained, bring Treacy in at F8 until it is time to cull Flynn.
Worth noting that yes it’s multiple trades but all of them are strong cash growth trades except Hunter which can be considered at rookie correction trade.
No Late Changes.
Medical Subs –
James Bell
David Zaharakis
.
Sydney have to be everyones ” second favourite team” at the moment.
Even more so with Buddy back!
Five Swans in this one for me.
Mills
Heeney
Gulden
Campbell
Warner
Remember to kick the ball to Buddy.
I’d love to see him kick 10 tonight.
Swans by 12 goals.
Stacked in this one as well, FT.
Lloyd, Gulden, Warner, Campbell, McDonald and Zerrett. My round either kicks off spectacularly or I’ll know I’m f*cked from Thursday lol.
Expecting Mills to go large btw, good luck.
Evening GD and FT.
I have four in this but got an eye on a couple for future trades?
Now you have me thinking CT.
Would one of them be named Callum perhaps ?
Good call FT.
Evening, CT.
Lol, knew Mills would pop off. Nice one, FT. Think Chillo has him as well.
dont swear in chat tom powell hater
their might be some kids on the conversation
Who are you? I’m Frankie. Guess I’ll add lbjc
big game for me
i got
ridley vc
campbell
gulden
warner
mcdonald
lloyd
Keep up those behinds Sydney!!
Why does the sliding rule not count near the goal square? Should have been a free for Stronger there!
If somebody cud put up HT SC scores wud me much appreciated ..
Isaac Heeney subbed out hand injury.
James Bell on.
No 🙁
Freo Tragic carn the mighty Dockers! Hopefully we beat the Hawks at Optus this weekend.
Poor old Heeney just can’t get a consistent injury-free run.
J Lloyd 74
C Mills 70
J Kennedy 64
E Gulden 64
L Parker 60
I Heeney 49
C Warner 48
L Franklin 42
B Campbell 34
L McDonald 15
Essendon
D Parish 58
D Heppell 57
Z Merrett 51
N Cox 48
D Smith 46
A McGrath 42
J Ridley 40
A Waterman 40
Thanks CT
Anyone else having trouble getting the SC scores from the fanfooty site?
Nope, Kov?
CT’s posted them above anyway.
No. Try clicking on the actual game instead of the match blog/picture report. Here is a link to the FanFooty Match Centre. https://www.fanfooty.com.au/live/2021/7628-swans-bombers.html
Awesome. That works. Thanks.
Yeah no luck today and it was down all week.
I got it to work fine with some perseverance. Home page… then on the game top header
Happy with Gulden, Lloyd and Warner’s first half. Need more from Ridley (vc) and Campbell in the second half. Also what the hell is going on with Logan McDonald? He’s having a good old sleep in the forward line. 16 points from 77% game time in the first half. Seriously?
If I hadn’t watched the game, I’d be happy with the half time score. My bombers gotta sort out the clearances and i50 swans marks. Wright is no ruckman.
Lloyd, zerrett, cox, heppell all going well for me. Left v on Bont but Lloyd always kills us.
Evening, Wighty.
Yeah, Cox working out a treat for you (Dons and SC). Not much you can do about the clearances without a proper ruck, so just need to structure up expecting the I50 and rebound.
Hoping for a big second half from my new inclusion Ridley , Merrett to lift to 110+ and continued scoring from Warner , Gulden and Campbell .
Hey, Paul.
Yeah, Zerrett’s doing my head in. 16 touches, 8 contested and 6 tackles but a dirty 31% DE. Watch him get 30 touches and not ton lol.
Super coach a funny game GB.
Merrett doesn’t seem to be receiving reward for effort .
On paper best side I have started with in years but a somewhat sluggish start .
As I once said, I have a great side on paper…..unfortunately the game is played on an oval.
Agreed Zerret tackles and no reward
Zach Merrett
27 disposals. 48% contested. 3 frees for and 9 tackles, 104 points because 3 clearances, 44% disposal efficiency and 9 turnovers.
A dirty night GD.
All the best, mate.
Dirty indeed lol.
Catch ya, CT.
Good luck. I’ve got Ridley as well.
Hi Guys. I’m posting my team to get some feedback. Please feel free to leave honest thoughts.
B: J.Lloyd, J.Ridley (VC), R.Laird
HB: J.Clark, H.Chapman, L.Jones
Def Bench: J.Koschitzke, T.Highmore (Emg)
Mids: J.Macrae (C), T.Boak, M.Bontempelli, S.Walsh
Mids: A.Brayshaw, E.Gulden, B.Campbell, S.Berry
Mid Bench: P.Dow, T.Powell (Emg), T.Bruhn
Ruc: M.Gawn, M.Flynn
Ruc Bench: L.Meek (Emg)
HF: J.Dunkley, D.Martin, Z.Butters
FF: T.Walker, L.McDonald, C.Warner
Fwd Bench: J.Rowe, T.Brockman (Emg)
Info: I’ve used 6 trades so far, so all of them unfortunately. This week I traded out Hunter Clark and Hayden Young for Jordan Ridley and Heath Chapman. Next week I’m hopefully looking at just the one trade, getting rid of Dow. My cash left is $84,700.
Solid team Frankie but I would avoid trading until you absolutely have to .
String on every line and decent Bench cover to generate cash .
especially if Dow hits break even this week
Hopefully Jones and Chapman should have a decent opportunity to establish themselves .
Good luck
Thanks. Good Advice. Would you advise trading Dow after this weekend? Also, should I stand by McDonald after this abysmal performance? Leaning towards yes for both of these but I wouldn’t mind a second opinion.
As you have used 6 trades Frankie I would only trade Dow for someone on bubble like Waterman if you really want to .
McDonald – You have to persist with as has been a consistent scorer despite a tough night tonight and still has cash to make .
Ever since West Coast’s Dean Cox retired, it’s been embarrassing to yell, “I love big Cox!” at the footy.
Now Essendon’s 2m tall Nik Cox makes it ok again…
CD is a disgrace, Mills is being flat out robbed.
Looking at the stats I don’t understand how Parrish outscored Mills….
FfS..
Do the umps actually know what holding the ball is? Hickey had
4 ttempts to get rid of it on half back – INA TACKLE –
Drops it.. swans pick it up… play on.. sry but with 3 of em out there its pathetic at times the amount of errors they make
29 to 16 free kicks against essendon and the non call against hickey is the most disgraceful.
If you play by the rules you don’t give away free kicks, using the for & against numbers to validate an opinion of umpire bias is ignorant.
The Umps missed free kicks for both teams, and they always do, but only Essendon supporters blame the umpires every time that they lose.
You’d think they’d have learned their lesson about playing by the rules after James Hirds Drug cheating/experimenting on players but apparently not.
Hi David you sound like a happy soul, I actually barrack for richmond . Anyway forgive my ignorance I bow to your superior knowledge.
That’s a BS comment David. Most comments on here about how bad that umpiring was tonight are from non essendon supporters.
Bruce is Tigers, GD Eagles, Thommo the Hawks to name a few.
It was disgraceful umpiring and the worst of all the calls (or non calls) was that late one on Hickey taking it out of the ruck, trying to run out and non disposal – its a free every day of the week … worst still, it was in the wide open … mot blocked by a number of players … purely disgraceful, same as the one against the Lions two weeks ago.
I thought the lions one was fair… 😀
Umm, which game were you watching?
I don’t barrack for either side but their were several GALLING decisions/absence of decisions against the Bombers. If you didn’t come to the same conclusion then I’m not sure you know football very well…
Also, a drug scandal shot at Essendon? How original.
David, classy comments. Can you name one Essendon player who has failed a drug test ? You cant. On the other hand, players from several clubs going back to Justin Charles at Richmond have.
Put up or shut up !!!
And bombers the only supporters who have ever complained about umpires ??? You should crawl back under your log.
That Hickey one was a shocker and bombers would have been deep in attack. Free kick count was as good as swans having another player.
Absolutely, Wighty.
F*cked decision, but silver lining is the Dons look competitive. Pounded the Saints last week and gave the Swans a hot crack away from home. The wins will come, dw.
Nice neutral comment GD. After r5, bombers will have gone interstate 3 times. And yes, lots to look forward to, especially from Cox. The wind will come.
Ebbs and flows. There were some dubious calls for and against both teams. Ebbs and flows. Who won??
In this case it sounds like Sydney.
Which isn’t fair to Essendon right now. But Historically Sydney (and St Kilda) get pounded on the free kick front so it’s nice to come out on top for once.
Luckily for anyone who wants to dispute this fact there’s always AFLSTATS.
Mate, I hate the Bombers and even I reckon you were screwed by the umps.
Hind was impressive that 2nd half ending up with 93 when he was on 22 at half time. Loving my POD
Take Ridley’s VC score of 123
Who is your captain option?
TU. Ridleys 124
TD. Gawn
something seriously wrong with the scoring on Mills
25 possies at 80% DE
5 marks, 2 tackles, 1.1 goals
2 frees for and 1 against
9 contested possessions, 7 clearances … absolutely robbed by the scoring – especially comparing his stats to players scoring around him or more than him …
CD are a joke.
Mills was a minor player in the outcome of the game. He got easy stats and didn’t have an influence on the game. His SC score flatters his game if you compare it to Lloyds.
Blaming CD for your dumb choice when selecting your team is like blaming the umpires when your team gives away free kicks, essendonish.
David – with respect – piss off this site if that’s the best you can offer. You speak rubbish and for your information, I DONT OWN HIM!!
Even the commentators were rating his performance BOG just now … so try knowing facts before you post rubbish mate.
Macca you know I’m a critic you normally but 100% with you now. CD solid until close games happen. Then all logic goes.
100%. I was watching the scores fluctuate up and down in the last quarter. Too much emphasis put on a tight last quarter. If x player score 20 in 3 quarters then has an influence in the last he scores 90 and vice versa
David, there’s an old saying……”best you don’t say anything more….. you will totally confirm that you are a tool (or any other suitable word) unless you do.”
Soundest advice you will get on here.
Not sure which commentators were rating Mills best on ground, but I guess they watched a different game to me. Parker BOG by some margin, followed by Cox, Reid, Ridley, Warner and Lloyd.
The problem with looking at a player’s score in isolation is that there are still only a set number of points assigned to a game. Giving a player a higher score means taking points off someone else. Who should that be? Look at some of the other performers in this game:
Parker 32 disposals, 16 contested, 2 clangers
Lloyd 25 disposals, 7 marks, 11 intercepts
Warner 23 disposals, 11 contested, 6 tackles
Reid 15 disposals, 7 marks (6 contested), 8 hitouts
Kennedy 22 disposals, 10 contested, 0 clangers, 81% DE
Merrett 27 disposals, 13 contested, 9 tackles
Ridley 28 disposals, 656 metres gained
Cox 18 disposals, 5 hitouts, 83% DE
Parish 25 disposals, 12 contested
Heppell 23 disposals, 82% DE
Hind 19 disposals, 532 metres gained
Stringer, Hooker and Franklin 3 goals each
It was a high quality game with a lot of fantastic performances. I’m sure that we would all like to see “good” players all get 120+ every time, but that’s not how the system works. Comparing players between games is irrelevant, all you can do is compare players within the same game.
Fox discussion after the game.
Mills stats were better than all of those, other than Parker.
Certainly better than those all around him (Kennedy, McInrney, Warner, Rampe etc) – Kennedy 17 points more, but with about the same sort of stats – Mills more disposals and a goal, same FE etc …
AND remember, this is the stats on a page as recorded – not necessarily what should have been recorded and was recorded incorrectly / missed for both him and others
He did get to 92 / 93 but was scaled back at the end and I think Buddy was scaled up with points for his last goal …
BUT – no matter which way you look at it, and if you watched that game, he was scored poorly / harshly by CD.
I don’t own him, I’m not making a case for him in my side … for whatever reason, he was not given the rub of the green in the scoring
and I should have said as well – that’s inherently the problem with their system.
It locks in total points – which is crazy as players who do things and earn points get nothing later in matches …
It even results in players that have been subbed out of matches continuing to increase in their scores after being subbed out – which is farcical any way you look at it.
It lends itself to the complete subjectivity / bias of the scorers, resulting in the discussions and issues that we always see.
And there is no comparing across games in the above anywhere?
Simply – their system is wrong and open to misinterpretation / deliberate acts of swaying the scoring … which impacts the players of the game, many of whom form cash leagues and / or bet (rightly or wrongly)
Simple solution – get rid of the maximum points per game and scaling and simply award or remove points from players as they earn or lose them. No subjectivity. No bias. Clear for all.
Bothe the AFL umpires and CD are a corrupt joke
It took the first game of the season to see nothing had changed.
We need simpler to interpret rules, clear cut, with no grey areas or interpretation.
If that means a whole bunch of separate rules get dropped, or merged. For instance tackles around the neck, kicking in danger, stomping, low grade striking and wrestling etc all get rolled into “unduly rough play” then so be it.
Then of course if we’re going to throw the ball rather than handball it, or allow dropping the ball or failing to actually take possession either make it legal and play on, or crack down hard on any scoops, taps or blatant throws that do not involve a proper handpass.
Oddly enough the few rule changes this year have actually improved the game.
The blight on the game is the interpretations on old rules that we’ve been complaining about for so many years.
When do we get a review and appeal system for absolute stinkers? The precedent has already been set.
Couldn’t agree more. Considering he was on 70 points at halftime then only ended on 87 after touching it 10-12 times in the second half o_0
Fun game to watch and not just because I own half the players. Warner looks really good.
Very exciting game. As a Bomber, I feel frustrated by the result and the 50/50 calls that seem to go mostly against us, but happy about the intensity of the game.
Maybe the people doing the scoring for CD actually use a different algorithm? We all seem unhappy about it. (Except from David)
I give up trying to understand how it works.
IMO, there is too much “judgement” involved by the the CD scoring panel
…just a thought, who is the “official judge” of a first tackle, kick etc…… and are there bets that can be taken on these actions???
People,
Field umpires don’t have the luxury of the goal umpires and have multiple views and opinions to make a decision.
We pay frees on what we see.
Yes, mistakes can be made, often it’s because we may have about 10 – 12 players obstructing our clear view, often meaning we may have missed the first bit but saw the second.
eg. old day striking reports where we missed the implication but turned to see the retaliation and reported them.
So people, while you are enjoying view of the game from your position, please keep in mind umpires don’t have that luxury.
Ps How many times do we hear match commentators, take back their original comments when they view it from a different angle????
As someone who has tried to umpire the game on a few occasions, this is correct. In congestion, there’s a lot of guesswork and assumptions made. If the onfield umpires had the benefit of six different angles (and elevated ones at that), I’m sure there would be fewer controversial decisions made.
Thank you for your understanding Chillo.
Please keep in mind though, umpires do not make guesswork and assumptions, ……that’s what referees do.
We go on what we see……
Oh yes Chameleon and Chillo – no argument on some of your points there … BUT there are 3 of them out there … and sideline umpires (who should also have a say in what they see IMO) AND, if nothing else, that last non call on Hickey was not obstructed by any views and was as clear as day. He took the ball from a ruck contest, rather than choosing to tap it, he ran with it, he was then tackled by 1 player, he spun around and around … and he did not dispose of it. He had repeated opportunities to use the ball.
The umpiring was clearly swayed by the home town bias … and in that last situation by the reluctance of the umpires to make that call with time almost up against the home side … at least, that’s my take on it.
As I was watching I heard Devon smith give the umpire some lip on 2 occasions. The umpire glared at smith and that same umpire never paid ess another free i Barack 4 Carlton and hate the bombers.We need another umpires advisor some of these decisions are mind boggling We can’t pussyfoot around the umpires they should be accountable otherwise our great game is ratshit .it’s not that hard if a player has an opportunity to get rid of the ball and didn’t it holding the f. N ball