Fresh from a call-up to the Victorian squad, James Ferry appears set to match-up against one of the VFL’s best forwards this weekend.
The Bombers will square off against Port Melbourne and former Hawthorn and Brisbane AFL player, Jordan Lisle shapes as one of the key men to stop.
The key forward won the Frosty Miller Medal in 2015 as the competition’s leading goal kicker.
He’s started this season in form kicking nine goals across the first three games and Bombers Coach Paul Corrigan said Ferry shapes as a likely match-up.
“We will try to have a couple scenarios, obviously we’ve got Jimmy Ferry there,” he said.
“We will just have to configure that, we will have to see how much he plays high and how much he plays deep.
“We know he’s a good player so there are going to be times when he probably gets hold of us a little but we will try and contain him as much as possible.”
Port Melbourne is undefeated after three games and on top of the ladder.
“They are travelling really well, they look a bit different from previous years,” Corrigan said.
“They are moving the ball a bit quicker this year, they are still good around the contest as well but they look like they’ve just generated some ball movement on the outside and a bit more speed.
“We will have to be good at matching them in the contest but also watch them on the outside.”
Essendon has one win from its opening three games and the inaccuracy on show in the AFL side’s loss to Melbourne last week, was also evident at VFL level.
The Bombers booted 9.20 to go down to Werribee by 23 points.
“Last week’s game was an interesting one because there were certain areas of the game that I thought we did really well,” Corrigan said.
“I thought around the ball we were pretty good with our pressure and in the contest.
“Probably the biggest thing to come out of the game was execution and our ability when we went inside 50.
“When you look at it, the first quarter we kicked three goals, seven behinds and one out on the full, then in the third quarter we kicked one goal, nine behinds and three out on the full.
“When you take that into account you’re not going to win too many games.”
The final 23 squad will be named on Saturday.
“Obviously the AFL are playing Sunday so there will be a couple of players that go up and a couple that come down,” Corrigan said.
“We should still have a pretty strong contingent of AFL players and hopefully there will be some opportunities for VFL guys in there.”