The Coon Dog
11-02-2009, 11:09 PM
NAB Cup – Round 1
Western Bulldogs v Essendon
When: Friday 13 February
Time: 8.30pm
Where: Telstra Dome
A Change of Venue
When the draw originally came out for this game the venue was Darwin; that was until the horrific bushfires that ravaged much of Victoria on Saturday causing untold damage to life & property.
The AFL, Western Bulldogs & Essendon are to commended for agreeing at short notice to transfer the game to Telstra Dome to raise money for the victims of the bushfires.
The most significant effects of the venue change will be a near if not sell out crowd. Both clubs must be salivating at this prospect as it provides them with an all important, albeit unexpected opportunity to sell memberships.
The other factor is both clubs had originally decided to field squads comprising many of their respective younger players, allowing some of the more senior players a rest before the hurly burly of the season proper, particularly in the case of the Bulldogs who travel to Perth in rounds 1 & 4. Players such as Brad Johnson, Nathan Eagleton, Matthew Lloyd & Jobe Watson are now likely to play.
What can we expect?
Honestly, who knows? Last season we saw these 2 meet in the 2nd round of the NAB Cup with Essendon winning convincingly. Fortunately for the Bulldogs that form didn’t transcend into the AFL season where the Bulldogs finished the season as the 3rd best team winning 15 games & a final while Essendon would have been disappointed with finishing with just 8 wins in 12th spot.
One thing we will see is both clubs giving youth a chance to shine on the big stage that is Friday night football, live on TV.
Squads
Western Bulldogs:
1 Jarrad Grant
4 Daniel Cross
5 Matthew Boyd
6 Brad Johnson
7 Shaun Higgins
9 Lindsay Gilbee
10 Nathan Eagleton
13 Daniel Giansiracusa
14 Callan Ward
15 Ben Hudson
16 Ryan Griffen
18 Brennan Stack
20 Josh Hill
22 Dylan Addison
25 Ryan Hargrave
26 Jamason Daniels
27 Will Minson
29 Easton Wood
31 James Mulligan
33 Tim Callan
34 Wayde Skipper
36 Brian Lake
37 Cameron Wight
38 Dale Morris
40 Jarrod Harbrow
41 Henry White
42 Liam Picken
43 John Shaw
44 Paul O'Shea
Essendon:
1 - Neagle, Jay
2 - Dyson, Ricky
3 - Gumbleton, Scott
4 - Watson, Jobe
6 - Monfries, Angus
7 - Jetta, Leroy
10 - McVeigh, Mark
11 - Zaharakis, David
13 - Lovett, Andrew
14 - Lonergan, Sam
15 - Dempsey, Courtenay
17 - Nash, Jay
18 - Lloyd, Matthew
19 - Hille, David
20 - Slattery, Henry
21 - Skipworth, Hayden
24 - Williams, John
26 - Hooker, Cale
30 - Ryder, Patrick
31 - Fletcher, Dustin
33- McPhee, Adam
36 - Slattery, Tyson
38 - Atkinson, Jarrod
39 - Hocking, Heath
41 - Quinn, Michael
42 - Lovett-Murray, Nathan
43 - Houli, Bachar
44 - Bellchambers, Tom
46 - Bock, Christian
The bolded players listed above have yet to make their AFL debuts.
Those missing
The following significant Bulldogs haven’t been selected:
Robert Murphy, Andrejs Everitt, Mitch Hahn, Tom Williams, Adam Cooney
& Jason Akermanis.
The following significant Bombers are missing:
Alwyn Davey, Scott Lucas, Brent Prismall, Kyle Reimers, Brent Stanton, Andrew Welsh & Jason Wunderlich.
Rule Changes
• A free kick will be awarded against the team if one of their players deliberately rushes a behind for the opposition. Interesting to see how this is interpreted.
• A player who retards an opposition player after he has disposed of the ball to stop them moving on to the next passage of play will be penalized.
• Balls hitting the goal post will be worth one point. Previously it was play on if the ball bounced back into play.
• Two of the eight interchange players are to be designated as ‘substitutes’ and can be brought onto the field at any time. The player a substitute replaces can take no further part in the game.
Likely outcome
A fast free flowing game. I think this will be like a game of basketball with play going from one end to the other, with little emphasis on defence. In view of the national TV audience both clubs will look to equip themselves well & consequently a win on Friday night will have much greater significance than if it was just televised on Foxtel from Darwin. Expect both clubs to be much keener to win than a week ago.
What I’m looking forward to
Honestly I’d love to win, but to me it’s not the be all & end all. I’m looking forward to seeing the kids in action. For 12 months we have been awaiting the likes of Grant, Stack & O’Shea to step up & perform on the big stage. Hopefully they won’t suffer from stage fright & perform serviceably.
Who will win?
Hopefully the big winner will be the amount of money raised for the bushfire appeal. After that the Dogs to prevail by 5 goals in a high scoring affair.
Western Bulldogs v Essendon
When: Friday 13 February
Time: 8.30pm
Where: Telstra Dome
A Change of Venue
When the draw originally came out for this game the venue was Darwin; that was until the horrific bushfires that ravaged much of Victoria on Saturday causing untold damage to life & property.
The AFL, Western Bulldogs & Essendon are to commended for agreeing at short notice to transfer the game to Telstra Dome to raise money for the victims of the bushfires.
The most significant effects of the venue change will be a near if not sell out crowd. Both clubs must be salivating at this prospect as it provides them with an all important, albeit unexpected opportunity to sell memberships.
The other factor is both clubs had originally decided to field squads comprising many of their respective younger players, allowing some of the more senior players a rest before the hurly burly of the season proper, particularly in the case of the Bulldogs who travel to Perth in rounds 1 & 4. Players such as Brad Johnson, Nathan Eagleton, Matthew Lloyd & Jobe Watson are now likely to play.
What can we expect?
Honestly, who knows? Last season we saw these 2 meet in the 2nd round of the NAB Cup with Essendon winning convincingly. Fortunately for the Bulldogs that form didn’t transcend into the AFL season where the Bulldogs finished the season as the 3rd best team winning 15 games & a final while Essendon would have been disappointed with finishing with just 8 wins in 12th spot.
One thing we will see is both clubs giving youth a chance to shine on the big stage that is Friday night football, live on TV.
Squads
Western Bulldogs:
1 Jarrad Grant
4 Daniel Cross
5 Matthew Boyd
6 Brad Johnson
7 Shaun Higgins
9 Lindsay Gilbee
10 Nathan Eagleton
13 Daniel Giansiracusa
14 Callan Ward
15 Ben Hudson
16 Ryan Griffen
18 Brennan Stack
20 Josh Hill
22 Dylan Addison
25 Ryan Hargrave
26 Jamason Daniels
27 Will Minson
29 Easton Wood
31 James Mulligan
33 Tim Callan
34 Wayde Skipper
36 Brian Lake
37 Cameron Wight
38 Dale Morris
40 Jarrod Harbrow
41 Henry White
42 Liam Picken
43 John Shaw
44 Paul O'Shea
Essendon:
1 - Neagle, Jay
2 - Dyson, Ricky
3 - Gumbleton, Scott
4 - Watson, Jobe
6 - Monfries, Angus
7 - Jetta, Leroy
10 - McVeigh, Mark
11 - Zaharakis, David
13 - Lovett, Andrew
14 - Lonergan, Sam
15 - Dempsey, Courtenay
17 - Nash, Jay
18 - Lloyd, Matthew
19 - Hille, David
20 - Slattery, Henry
21 - Skipworth, Hayden
24 - Williams, John
26 - Hooker, Cale
30 - Ryder, Patrick
31 - Fletcher, Dustin
33- McPhee, Adam
36 - Slattery, Tyson
38 - Atkinson, Jarrod
39 - Hocking, Heath
41 - Quinn, Michael
42 - Lovett-Murray, Nathan
43 - Houli, Bachar
44 - Bellchambers, Tom
46 - Bock, Christian
The bolded players listed above have yet to make their AFL debuts.
Those missing
The following significant Bulldogs haven’t been selected:
Robert Murphy, Andrejs Everitt, Mitch Hahn, Tom Williams, Adam Cooney
& Jason Akermanis.
The following significant Bombers are missing:
Alwyn Davey, Scott Lucas, Brent Prismall, Kyle Reimers, Brent Stanton, Andrew Welsh & Jason Wunderlich.
Rule Changes
• A free kick will be awarded against the team if one of their players deliberately rushes a behind for the opposition. Interesting to see how this is interpreted.
• A player who retards an opposition player after he has disposed of the ball to stop them moving on to the next passage of play will be penalized.
• Balls hitting the goal post will be worth one point. Previously it was play on if the ball bounced back into play.
• Two of the eight interchange players are to be designated as ‘substitutes’ and can be brought onto the field at any time. The player a substitute replaces can take no further part in the game.
Likely outcome
A fast free flowing game. I think this will be like a game of basketball with play going from one end to the other, with little emphasis on defence. In view of the national TV audience both clubs will look to equip themselves well & consequently a win on Friday night will have much greater significance than if it was just televised on Foxtel from Darwin. Expect both clubs to be much keener to win than a week ago.
What I’m looking forward to
Honestly I’d love to win, but to me it’s not the be all & end all. I’m looking forward to seeing the kids in action. For 12 months we have been awaiting the likes of Grant, Stack & O’Shea to step up & perform on the big stage. Hopefully they won’t suffer from stage fright & perform serviceably.
Who will win?
Hopefully the big winner will be the amount of money raised for the bushfire appeal. After that the Dogs to prevail by 5 goals in a high scoring affair.