Q. With the loss of Dustin Fletcher in Round 17, why wasn’t Sam Hunt promoted? His form in the VFL would suggest he is close to a call up. He would add extra height, strength and pace – things we needed against St Kilda. (Mark Cooper)
A. We think that Ted Richards can play down back. Ted obviously got hurt early in the game last week, but we had our hands tied to what we could do with Dustin Fletcher, Scott Lucas and Sean Wellman out.
We think Kepler Bradley can play down back also. Sam Hunt is definitely not far away I must say. It only takes for him to play a few really good games where he dominates the reserves football. He may get his chance in the next couple of weeks.
Q. Why did you persist with playing Mark Bolton at full back against St Kilda after four to five goals were conceded in the first quarter? (Damien Hale)
A. What people need to know is how easily that ball came down to the St Kilda forwards. Mark actually played on two players (Nick Riewoldt and Fraser Gehrig) it wasn’t just on the one player that kicked six goals on him. Gehrig actually got a goal on Mark Bolton when David Hille was on him in a ruck contest. So it is a little bit deeper than just Bolton having six goals kicked on him.
Eventually we made the change and put Mark into the forwardline. Mark has been in pretty good form all year, sometimes you have to show a bit of faith in your players.
Even when we put Dean Solomon and Adam McPhee on them, Riewoldt and Gehrig still managed to kick goals. There probably wasn’t enough pressure in certain spots on the ground.
Q. What happened to Matthew Allan? He spent too much time on the bench against St Kilda? (Damien Hale)
A. As certain players are getting older it can be pretty tough for them coming back from Subiaco. We just thought that Matthew had been affected by that and we opted to give David Hille more of a run in the ruck. I thought it was a positive move the fact that David started to find some form.
Q. What does Mark Alvey need to do to be given a fair go? He is in and out and doesn’t get much game time when he is in the seniors. Surely he’s got to be a better option and faster one than Mark Mercuri. (Evan Broadway)
A. It is an interesting point. I guess the thing against Mark Alvey at the moment is that he has only been here for six months. We haven’t seen him play as well as he did at the Western Bulldogs. Mercuri we know has played well here at Essendon – we have seen him for 10 to 12 years.
Mark Alvey has still got to re-establish himself at our football club. He is doing that and going back into the seconds and getting 25 to 30 touches, but we also need him to do other things in his game. When such time comes that he is doing that, he will be back in the seniors.
Q. Where is Jobe Watson in his development? (Peter McDonald)
A. He has played for Bendigo for the past two weeks. He is working on improving his match fitness at the moment. If he strings four or five good games together, we will start to look at him at senior level. In the last 18 months, we have probably promoted Jobe a little bit prematurely into the seniors, therefore he has broken down at different stages. We just need to get Jobe’s body right and get him playing regular football at the moment.
