One thing you can be sure of is that Port Adelaide will take all its tall timber into the game. Matthew Primus, Dean Brogan and Brendon Lade would all appear certain starters. One or even two of those players could go forward and when you throw in the class of Warren Tredrea you can see the difficulties Port will pose in front of goal.
So just what can the Bombers do to cover these players yet still provide enough firepower themselves to kick a winning score? First and foremost, Scott Lucas will almost certainly go back and possibly get the job on Tredrea. Lucas did well on Jonathon Brown last season and Tredrea is a similar type of player.
The other tall options for the Bombers are probably Mark Bolton, Kepler Bradley and to a lesser extent Adam McPhee who can play tall. Other rough chances could be Ted Richards, who has played a lot of VFL football deep in defence, or even Jobe Watson, who played centre half back for a period of time in last weekend’s Wizard Cup semi-final.
But what does this leave Essendon up forward. Well, perhaps David Hille goes to centre half forward and Tristan Cartledge might be given his chance to partner Matthew Allan. It would be a big ask but he has made giant strides during the off season.
Of course, if it pours rain on Sunday, March 28th, none of the above will matter.
Whatever happens, there will be plenty of interest in this weekend’s match between Essendon and Sydney in Newcastle. A couple of young players will get their final chance to push for selection in the opening round of the season proper.
