Round 20 - Essendon

**Cheer Squad** · 1st August 2011, 10:45 AM

What a refreshing break from football the bye is.

Now back to business. It's well known our record against Essendon in Melbourne is not very good - only one victory in over 20 years!

No wonder Bombers fans always pencil in their home games against us as a win.

Add to that the poor record of teams this year after the bye, including us, and you could be excused for thinking we don't have much chance this week.

Essendon looked quite good for the first half against Collingwood yesterday and then were hit hard by injury. It ended up a rather bad loss for them. They simply must win this week to keep their finals hopes alive.

What does all this mean? It ultimately depends on what frame of mind we're in. If we turn up showing the same sort of hunger that we did against Collingwood, we might get across the line.

Probably not by much. Swans by 1.

**Big Al** · 1st August 2011, 11:17 AM

Absolutely vital we start well in this game. If we're blown away early then the crowd gets involved and it'll be tough to come back. If we are close at half time the Swans fresher bodies should prevail.

Swans by 16

**Red** · 1st August 2011, 11:28 AM

I hope for the best, but expect the worst.

Inaccurate goal kicking will cost us against an Essendon team at home and desperate to make the finals. Bombers by 18.

**Glenn** · 1st August 2011, 12:15 PM

Given the way the Bombers folded vs Collingwood will the mental scars from that resurface, or will the Bi-polar Sydney side turn up and poor decision making, poor goal kicking lead to the downfall.

Heart says Sydney by 14
Head say Essendon by 18

**MattW** · 1st August 2011, 12:29 PM

The Bombers will be pretty tired after yesterday. We should take them. Swans by 14 points.

**Go Swannies** · 1st August 2011, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by O'Reilly

The Bombers will be pretty tired after yesterday. We should take them. Swans by 14 points.

This.

**Nich** · 1st August 2011, 02:22 PM

Knowing that we don't often rack up high scores I will be happy to be 1-2 goals down at the start of the 4th. That way they may tire and we can fnish hard and silence the crowd. Id rather them not chasing us and bringing the crowd into it. Sounds strange I know but I think we can run over them instead of trying to hold onto a lead down there.

**longmile** · 1st August 2011, 02:48 PM

It should be a tight game, but we'll run away with it in the end.
The bombers seem really sore and tired at the moment, especially after versing Collingwood, which raised many injury concerns.

**ShockOfHair** · 1st August 2011, 02:49 PM

Feeling strangely confident about this game. Apart from the fresh bodies, I think our guys took a lot out of the win over the Bulldogs.

**ernie koala** · 1st August 2011, 04:16 PM

Given the Bombers have only a 6 day break and took a bit of a pounding from the Magpies, and looked very tired given their lack of rotations...
4 injuries at last count but they do have Fletcher, Hurly and Hocking as possible in's......Hmmmm
If we had a decent forward line.......but we don't..
As it stands I'll say Swans by 9.

**neilfws** · 1st August 2011, 05:36 PM

Originally Posted by ShockOfHair

Feeling strangely confident about this game. Apart from the fresh bodies, I think our guys took a lot out of the win over the Bulldogs.

Agreed and I hope these are factors. A good win, a good rest, training well and the Bombers bruised and battered from the weekend. You'd think we're a good chance - if we get it all right.