Essendon rounded off their 2010 AFL Pre-Season campaign with a thumping 75 point victory over Richmond on Saturday afternoon.

ESSENDON 5.3 12.4 16.7 23.9 (147)
RICHMOND 2.3 5.4 11.5 11.6 (72)

Goals: Essendon: D Zaharakis 3 A Monfries 3 K Reimers 2 M Williams 2 S Gumbleton 2 P Ryder 2 J Winderlich 2 D Hille J Neagle H Hocking J Watson B Stanton C Dempsey A Welsh. Richmond: J Riewoldt 2 Roberts 2 T Hislop 2 M Morton 2 B Nason R Nahas T Vickery.
Best: Essendon: S Gumbleton D Zaharakis D Fletcher B Stanton. Richmond: B Nason D Martin J Riewoldt R Tambling.
Injuries: Nil.
Reports: Nil.

By micool
few things i noticed from todays game

Neagle, he annoys the fark out of me. What he looks like is if someone got David Hille and hammered him on the head so he was a foot shorter, same weight just shorter. he is too heavy especially considering how long he has been in the system, BUT he is an absolute gun, if he gets his body right he will kick 100 goals.

Howlett, seems the goods, runs to the right spots and has good disposal I expect him to play quite a few games this year. Reminded me alot of Prismall didnt seem to get the hard ball (im not saying he is soft) but he works to position to make himself a good option

Hardingham, seems to be a good players sometimes a bit flustered when kicking the ball. Reminds me alot of David king who used to play for North Melbourne. Provided alot of run off half back and can match it on the ground with a medium forward and in the air. Didnt see enough of him one out to get a good idea how he would go isolated.

Pears, he was beaten today. was a real disappointing game from him, a few times the ball was in the air and he missed the punch or was outbodied.. jack reiwoldt beat him

Hooker, I said in the past the hooker being in our best 22 mean we will never win a flag. I was very impressed by hookers spoils and rebound, went up third man quite a few times with good punches

Watson, was tagged by Jackson and played well i thought wasnt his best game but wasnt his worst by any stretch

Hille, Extremely encouraging to see him running around looks extremely fit. Demanded the ball alot and took some strong marks, I’ve thought it will take him quite a few games to get back to his best but seeing him play today shows me he will be a real point of improvement for our team this year.

Ryder, Started in the ruck today and dominated. Hille and Ryder both dominated the ruck today. Ryder provided good contests when the ball was in his area, which created options for the small forwards to crumb the ball. He seems to be to be losing his larconic style which has been the bug bear of alot of fans

Stanton, was very good today. among our best. Stanton has always annoyed me he would always get 20-25 possies but he would never put his head over the ball when it was his turn. Today i saw him and a tigers player and the ball was between them, Stanton went in hard head over the ball and kept the ball infront of him going our way, where Stanton last year would have kept his body out and just put his hands for the ball. It seems just from this act to me that maybe the leadership responsibility may be a good thing for him.

Winderlich, one of my favourite players. runs hard until he is dead. handball run handball run hard more. some very good cameos, played out of the goal square at the start of most quarters.

Prismall, seem to get a fair bit of the ball without being amazing. was atleast as good as howlett but we have come to expect that from him.

Davey was good had clean hands and a few good side steps and a couple of great chases and run downs…..but fark Davey kick some goals, some of the goals he missed were sitters.

Reimers, did some good things today none the less than when Ryder had Simmonds on top of him wrestling, Reimers was the first to get over to him and help.

Dempsey and Dyson, both played well faded in and out of the game, I wouldnt say they were bad and at times they were both quite good.

if anyone wants my opinion on anyone else just ask

as far as the game play goes i think we may have found a good forward setup.

we seemed to swtich between two tall forwards Hille/Ryder and Gumby/Neagle and three forwards Hille/Ryder and Neagle and Gumby, this seemed to work. almost everytime the ball came in one of them had cause the pack to split and create the loose ball for a crumbers, if they didnt take the mark. Gumby played high alot like Nick Reiwodlt type of game, up the wings and back and forth across half forward while Neagle/ruckman played deeper, couple this with our small leading forwards and we had a very mobile forward line with endless options.

changes to last years gameplan i noticed when the ball was in Richmonds hands we seemed to be working very hard to cover all outlets. we didnt seem to have too many run forward and create the easy outlet and counter attack like in the past. our ruck had first hand to the ball which meant our mids could make the play with will help alot this year. having hurley come back for me I believe he will be a backman, to give us an extra option back there. we seemed to close the space alot for the Richmond player who took possie of the ball, somewhat like the saints.

Very happy with what i saw today, dont get me wrong I dont think we are a top four side yet, but the future is very promising. with a hard draw this year we should thinking it is quite possible to make the finals again.

ohhhhh i almost forgot.. GUMBY

Gumby Gumby Gumby…. this guy is going to be a gun. he has clean hands, runs to ourstanding position. I hope to god this guy can get his body right because if he can get some match fitness and confidence he will be one of the games great forwards. Thats all I’m going to say about him but fark I’m excited