West Coast Eagles - Round 12 Team
Three changes from the Round 11 team, and they are changes I like:
West Coast Eagles
B: Beau Wilkes, Darren Glass, Mark Nicoski
HF: Adam Selwood, Adam Hunter, Brett Jones
C: Andrew Embley, Daniel Kerr, Tim Houlihan
HF: Brad Ebert, Brent Staker, Sam Butler
F: David Wirrpanda, Quinten Lynch, Mark LeCras
Foll: Dean Cox, Matt Priddis, Chris Masten
I/C: Ryan Davis, Will Schofield, Mark Seaby, Tyson Stenglein
EMG: Steven Armstrong, Jaymie Graham, Jamie McNamaraIn: Ebert, Schofield, LeCras
Out: Michael Braun (knee), Chad Fletcher (back), Jaymie Graham
In come Brad Ebert and Will Schofield after missing just the one game and Mark LeCras who is back after missing the last 11 rounds with a groin injury.
The omissions are big - Braun and Fletcher with injury are significant, not because of their injuries or even their importance to the team, but because realistically this is a look at 2009 and beyond. After this season I doubt either will be at the club, so rotating them out now makes sense.
Jaymie Graham is probably a bit unlucky but there is no backline match-up for him in the Essendon forward line.
All that talk last week about losing being good, well, it stops here. If there is a game I want to win for the remainder of 2008, it is this one. There have been too many heartbreaks at the Dome and at the hands of the Bombers to ignore. Please Eagles, find form and thump ‘em.
Jun 12th 2008
Interesting to see how well, after such an intense game, the Eagles pull up. Probably a good time to come up against a bottom 4 team that you match up very well against.
What about playing at the dome, any issues with playing there for your boys
Jun 13th 2008
At least Hird won’t be around to do whatever the hell he wants with the umpires cheering him on. I busted my remote control just before half time in the corresponding game last year - Hird takes a mark in our 50m arc, plays on, is called to play on (which implies prior opportunity), gets tackled perfectly with one arm pinned. He then placed the ball on the ground, and then hit it away with the same hand. The siren sounded about 3 seconds later.
It was the most obvious non-called case of incorrect disposal that I’ve ever seen, and it would have given us a shot at goal from 35m after the half time siren. Given that we lost by a point, you could say that it was significant. (Everything else being equal, it cost us a home qualifying final.)
I bloody hate Essendon.
Jun 13th 2008
Let it go fordy. No Sheeds and the ‘bash ‘em’ tactics and no Hird - I reckon we’re a real chance.
Jun 13th 2008
Love it Fordy
I’m glad Sheeds and Hird are gone too. Too many times were we ripped off. Too much heartache at the hands of the red and black.