Round 18 - Essendon v Footscray Bulldogs • Saturday 26 July 2025 • 1:05 PM

[doggies ftw]

Go back and have a look at our back 6 on paper last night vs our mid/forwards plus the talent of Dolan,Doc,Buku,Hynes,Jones, Croft and Jaques playing forward today and the fact Cody and JUH are not playing. It's unbelievable when you think about it, the defence on the other hand has Selwood and Walker? I understand Bevo's system is an issue but it lacks serious talent across the list.

Surely we should be investing time into someone above to play in the back half?

Yeah we definitely need to invest in defence, but we need AFL quality small forwards just as badly, of which Dolan looks like one.

as I said I’m not sure why we’ve moved Jacques out of defence when he was drafted as a defender and looked good there, he’s the one we should be investing time into in defence.

[Mitcha]

And right on cue, Coffield seemingly unaware that it has been raining for a while tries to bounce the footy coming out of D50 and gets caught holding the ball leading to the first goal to the drug cheats in the first seconds of the third quarter.

[kruder]

Yeah we definitely need to invest in defence, but we need AFL quality small forwards just as badly, of which Dolan looks like one.

as I said I’m not sure why we’ve moved Jacques out of defence when he was drafted as a defender and looked good there, he’s the one we should be investing time into in defence.

Dolan gonna be a gun but he is struggling to find it, get the ball in his hands.

[doggies ftw]

Sellwoods looking bloody awesome, get him in ASAP.

Hes strong, tackles hard and sticks them. Desperate defensively but runs hard and creates offensively, and an aerial threat too. Ticks a lot of boxes I think we’ve got a player here.

I don’t love his kicking, it’s a bit loopy and I think it will cause trouble a bit under the pressure of AFL level but he generally gets it where it needs to go for the most part, and has more than enough tools to make up for it IMO.

Really excited about him, has to play this week and Giants have some good match ups for him

[Smads57]

3QT Dogs 54 to Ess 25. Conditions continuing to affect the skill levels of players on both sides

[Smads57]

Altho Davidson now up amongst the leading possession getters his DE would be hovering around 50%. He is guilty of a number of dinky kicks not hitting intended targets. Think he stays in the 2s for another week.

[Mitcha]

It's taken me a while but now realize Duryea is done. Noticed recently he tends to double grab a lot putting himself under the pump with his disposal. Conditions today haven't helped but have really highlighted that part of his game. I don't think I have ever seen anyone have more 'almost' moments than Josh Dolan. Might be a very good player if he can maximise more of his opportunities. Selwood quite good in that quarter with some good dash out the back end. Just needs to tidy up his decision making and execution.

[doggies ftw]

Altho Davidson now up amongst the leading possession getters his DE would be hovering around 50%. He is guilty of a number of dinky kicks not hitting intended targets. Think he stays in the 2s for another week.

Nah he’s clearly a class above and shouldn’t be there in the first place IMO. Tough conditions to judge his kicking too harshly IMO. Gotta be back next week if we’re serious, whose keeping him out?

[GVGjr]

Sellwoods looking bloody awesome, get him in ASAP.

Hes strong, tackles hard and sticks them. Desperate defensively but runs hard and creates offensively, and an aerial threat too. Ticks a lot of boxes I think we’ve got a player here.

I don’t love his kicking, it’s a bit loopy and I think it will cause trouble a bit under the pressure of AFL level but he generally gets it where it needs to go for the most part, and has more than enough tools to make up for it IMO.

Really excited about him, has to play this week and Giants have some good match ups for him

He's a defender who doesn't really defend an opponent.
Tackles strongly when he can but he's more of a ball hunter or interceptor with average or slightly better than average kicking skills.
Who does he replace and what good opponent match-ups against GWS would suit him?

[GVGjr]

Dogs getting the better of it this quarter and hitting the scoreboard.

[Smads57]

FT Dogs 13.17 Dons 5.2 - Harmes leading possession winner for Dogs along with Scott. IMO Harmes got better as the game progressed.

[doggies ftw]

He's a defender who doesn't really defend an opponent.
Tackles strongly when he can but he's more of a ball hunter or interceptor with average or slightly better than average kicking skills.
Who does he replace and what good opponent match-ups against GWS would suit him?

He definitely does defend, I’d go as far as saying he’s already our best small defender, defensively (says more about our list than him though). Hes rarely been beaten by an opponent since coming into the VFL side, strong in the contest aerially & at ground level mopping up (which is something we need drastically in the AFL)

Replaces JJ easily and is the best suited on our list for the likes of Greene and Riccardi, Brown when forward and the talls have their hands full with Hogan, Cadman & Stringer. Otherwise who goes to those guys?

[GVGjr]

He definitely does defend, I’d go as far as saying he’s already our best small defender, defensively (says more about our list than him though). Hes rarely been beaten by an opponent since coming into the VFL side, strong in the contest aerially & at ground level mopping up (which is something we need drastically in the AFL)

Replaces JJ easily and is the best suited on our list for the likes of Greene and Riccardi, Brown when forward and the talls have their hands full with Hogan, Cadman & Stringer. Otherwise who goes to those guys?

I'm intrigued, which players has he done good defensive work on at the VFL? He's played just 4 games so that should be evident.
He's a very good interceptor given his size and he reads the ball well in the air and to top it off he's a solid mark
The majority of his possessions though are wide from opponents.

[doggies ftw]

I'm intrigued, which players has he done good defensive work on at the VFL? He's played just 4 games so that should be evident.
He's a very good interceptor given his size and he reads the ball well in the air and to top it off he's a solid mark
The majority of his possessions though are wide from opponents.

I’m not talking about doing strict lock down roles or anything I’m talking about watching him in the contest when the balls coming to him & his direct opponent. He’s got good craft & doesn’t get outbodied. Has a much needed desperation about the way he defends.

Who are you playing on the likes of Greene, Riccardi, Brown etc surely not Cleary, Bramble and JJ?

[GVGjr]

I’m not talking about doing strict lock down rolls or anything I’m talking about watching him in the contest when the balls coming to him & his direct opponent. He’s got good craft & doesn’t get outbodied. Has a much needed desperation about the way he defends.

Who are you playing on the likes of Greene, Riccardi, Brown etc surely not Cleary, Bramble and JJ?

First up you say he’s already our best small defender, defensively in response to my comment that he's a defender who doesn't really defend an opponent.
Now you acknowledge that he's not strictly a lock down player but you also think that translates into him being better match up on the GWS players than all of the other smaller defenders we play.
In Supercoach speak you have projected him as a D3 status in our team. That seems more than a bit optimistic.
Sellwood's a good player and around the selection mix of players but I'm not quite seeing the same level of excitement in what he has shown us so far.
I also can't see a clear match-up him against the Giants. Perhaps XOH or Brown.
I'm all for people getting excited about players so I hope you're right.