yep..he seems a beauty,plus the players have the added bonus of yelling 'kick it twomey..kick it twomey!!'.

Essendon* could receive a massive boost for this week's blockbuster clash with Carlton as skipper Jobe Watson looks to return to the side

Along with Watson, Essendon* football operations manager Paul Hamilton said David Myers could also be a chance to return to the side.

Essendon* forward Alwyn Davey won't have a case to answer after the AFL match review panel cleared his contact on Adelaide's Matthew Jaensch.

The panel's view was that Davey did not deliberately run under Jaensch while the Crow was mid-air during the second term of Friday night's clash at AAMI Stadium.

Jaensch landed heavily on his right shoulder and failed to feature in the second half as the Bombers charged home for an 11-point victory.

Surely got to give AUSTIN a go soon! Watto out AUSTIN in! You have got to give him a few games to see what hes got! Because if not theres a chance he could be a gun CHB at another club next year!

Out: Watson, Joseph, Ellard
In: Austin, Armfield, Tuohy

Sub: Scotland or Yarran

Watson was a fair bit off the pace in my view and that will only be exacerbated against the Dons, who will use their smalls and counter-attack football to expose this as much as possible. Foot skills won't help him if he can't double back, or position himself to respond. Austin is the ideal replacement as he has a better read, more speed and a solid kick on him.

Joseph has improved overhead, runs and competes well but his disposal still lets him down, as does his game sense with and without the ball. You can see the strides he is still making but he needs to tidy up how he moves the ball otherwise he'll need to take more intercepting marks to make up for it. Armfield does all of this and sporadically shows ability with the ball, as well as a much better approach without (although he seemingly cannot combine the two in one game of football).

Ellard has been off the boil for a month now IMO, and other people are starting to come around. I don't see much of the blocking people are banging on about, I just see him getting in the way of things and now unable to work hard enough to provide an option through the middle and provide a kick to or a target for the forward line. Tuohy comes in for him to ensure we have plenty for Austin, Bower & Armfield to run and share with coming out of defence, as well as the athletic attributes to have more of an impact.

For the sub role, I thought it better to have a look at the existing team structure and see who needs a rest and if we can compensate for that. My first port of call was Judd - for obvious reasons - but on further thought it occurs to me that he has been moving very well for the last fortnight. Ditto Murphy, Simpson, Garlett, Betts, Gibbs & Robinson. Curnow should be better for the run, and Walker really should be ok this week. Sticking with the theme of midfielders and quick smalls, I came up with two names that while important players, could be afforded 2-2.5 quarters of rest for the sake of later on in the season: Scotland and Yarran.

This selection further pushes the case for Tuohy, and gives us a big impact should Walker look set for another down week after losing 8 kilos through food poisoning (think fat stores, muscle weakness, hydration levels). Personally I think this is a much better use of the sub, as we can either get a massive impact or add run as the game wears on, the team has minutes without relying on one of its prime movers as a good test within the game, and the player in question gets a much deserved spell. Food for thought.

As for the rest, Setanta needs time in the VFL to work on his touch (and needed it pre-injury IMO); Houlihan has simply not played enough football given the week off and the amount of sub roles he's had; McLean, Carrazzo & Russell are under injury clouds and the cautious approach should still be taken at this point in the season.

Away from that, O'Keeffe hasn't been sighted on a footy field for 3 games running, and Lucas is probably just shy of a recall, assuming that all other names mentioned as possibles are still on the real injury list.

OK ... I think we are dead in the water ... I don't want to be negative ... but I just see it coming ...

As far as I am concerned neither Austin nor Bower is the answer to our back line problems and we don't have a consistent Tall in the forward line to mark or at least contest the ball. Setanta would help but he is not to be seen.

Regardless of these 2 weaknesses ... there is something else that is against us ... Essendon* is just starting to run on ... we seem too fragile. Unless we play tough ruthless football we will lose this one and kiss our final four aspirations goodbye.

Come on Blue Baggers ... this is a line in the sand game. Prove me wrong ... please.

Fear not Blue Rob. It's easy to get carried away (as the media do) with Essendon*'s performance but seriously their last two games have been against Richmond and Adelaide (13th & 14th). The Tigers were all over them for 2 1/2 quarters (23 points up at the 16 minute mark of the 3rd) and the fact that Essendon* won says more about the Tigers and where they are at (as shown again this past weekend against GC) than the brilliance of the Bombers. And as for the game against Adelaide, without the injury to Johncock who was on fire when he went down, the Bombers would have struggled. Again it wasn't so much what Essendon* did but what Adelaide managed to stuff up.

Yes, we need to be on our game as they will come out all fired up. But if we play a physical, high pressure game we will win.

Austin for Watson or Thornton. Bower to get Hille/Ryder. Austin is a good match up for Hurley.

Touhy for AJ. Could get Zaharakis

Russell for Twomey.

Carrazzo is still injured and a case could be put forward for Lucas and OKeefe but probably need more footy.



Sub: Betts! Time to try a different set up up forward as sides are now working us out and Betts could have an impact in second half.

Bit hard on Twomey i reckon.
Armfield for AJ if he`s injured.
Touhy for Ellard.
Russell for Watson.

Would not replace Watson with a tall but i can see what the psycho is thinking. If the blues were going to rejig their forward line and play an extra tall then someone has to get out of there. So Betts makes way. Walker becomes a crumbing forward pocket replacing Betts and we can try 2 tall marking players + resting ruck. Big question is will Walker have as many pressure acts as Betts would and will the extra lumber in the forward line make it too easy for teams to get it out fast?

I think dropping Eddie is something that may need to be looked at. I'm certainly not saying Eddie is no good but as we can't take a mark inside the F50 we need that to change. Especially while Waite is missing. Unless Eddie is on a lead he can't take a mark. Jeffy to do the roving and harrassing with 1AW to take a mark and do some roving and harrassing also. You could call it team balance but I think it's worth a thought.

I thought Eddie was starting to get back into it on Sat`.
I`d stick to a forward set up for this week of:
F:Betts Walker Kruze
HF:Twomey Thornton Garlett

If it`s not working i`d have no hesitation in switching Tbird and Hendo(FB). Essendon* swing Hurley from one end to the other, i think Hendo can do the same.

I thought Eddie was starting to get back into it on Sat`.
I`d stick to a forward set up for this week of:
F:Betts Walker Kruze
HF:Twomey Thornton Garlett

If it`s not working i`d have no hesitation in switching Tbird and Hendo(FB). Essendon* swing Hurley from one end to the other, i think Hendo can do the same.

Hendo was a forward as a junior, was recruited as a forward and should play forward. FFS we need a strong forward.