We will win the midfield battle but lose the war at the bookends. Grimes will be horribly exposed by Danihers mobility and height and Griffiths will fail to fire and let the ball rebound far too easily out of defense like both did in the earlier game this year. These are our weak links imo unless they can change something drastically.
I would actually play Griffiths in the center bounces early against rider and have Maric play CHF then swap them as the game moves around the ground. I think Griffiths is a good match in terms of leap and athleticism for Ryder. Last game we were beaten early by Ryder out of the middle and the game was done in the first five minutes. Hampson played this game and was brought into the team for just such a match but failed miserably - surprize, surprize.
Watson killed us last time so his omission will help but Goddard, Zaharakis, Howlett and Stanton will all be playing and had fantastic games against us on the night. Fletcher was also, surprisingly, active that night but I think that spoke as much to the way we were bombing the ball in as to his form for the game.
We lost the contested battle last game but with Miles and Maric in the side we will be much more competitive around stoppages. Because we couldn't find space we just keep bombing the ball out which played right into their hands.
Expect a tight, rolling maul-type game early as Essendon try and shut down our time and space and force turn-overs. I think we have a good mix in tonight though to worry the Bombers.
Expect a much closer game but I think it may be a bit rich to say we should win by 10+ goals
