Mead
13 Mar 2004, 17:45
I'll try and make this relatively short since most people have already put their two cents in and I'm tired, hungover, and have that wonderful boiled eyeball feeling you get from 2 hours of sleep last night. I've tried to include a bit of info about Hawthorn for any Hawkers who couldn't get along to the game.
The Good
Overall, that was a very good way to finish the preseason. The intensity level still wasn't out of sight, but overall, yesterday's game made us look like a side where all the pieces had fallen into place for the real thing. From where I was sitting, this was another win driven largely by Dean Cox and the midfielders. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the likes of Judd, Cousins, Embley and Fletcher were well on top of out of the centre. It still didn't quite feel like they'd hit top gear, but they were definitely a fair sight sharper than a month ago. Cox was very good in the first half, and comfortably beat Everitt in most of the ruck duels and was a solid contributor around the ground. I'm confident that anyone who hasn't been paying attention to Cox over this preseason is going to be quite surprised when the real stuff starts- he's playing that well that I think Gardiner is actually going to have to work hard to wrest the #1 ruck spot back from him. Off the bench, Seaby and Braun both got better as the game went on, with the latter being the only one of our midfielders who played out the last quarter well.
Up forward, McDougall was excellent in the first quarter, taking marks both on the lead and in contested situations. Although he failed to put any majors on the board after that, he was still getting a reasonable amount of the ball, (and against quality opposition!), he just wasn't kicking accurately. Putting that to a side for a minute, three goals from your full forward is three goals, and in my book that's his job for the day done. The flankers were also on their game, with Chick and Sampi looking red hot whenever they were near it, whilst Fido was his usual dangerous self. Jako beat Croad comfortably when he was shifted forward after Johnson got hurt.
The defensive lineup also functioned pretty well. Lynch was again outstanding at CHB, and has clearly been by far and away the biggest find for us this preseason, putting together four good performances from four game. This week he got good help from a variety of smalls- Wirrpunda was classy as always, Morrison used the ball well off the half back flank, and I was very pleased with how accountable Humm was. I would think on the basis of this game, those three are definite starters in round one.
For the Hawks, I thought Campbell Brown was good all day, Crawford was okay without really be excellent, and Vandenberg, Mitchell and Lekkas had decent outings, as did Danny Jacobs. Thompson was excellent up forward, and took a couple of great grabs, but his kicking let him down a bit, ditto Williams. In the last quarter, Robert Campbell was solid in the ruck and set up a lot of the Hawks' best play in the last quarter. It was also pleasing to see Hay (who actually spent parts of the second quarter at full forward!) get through the second half unscathed after the entire footballing world had him pencilled down for a reco a few weeks ago. Overall I thought the Hawks were finding a reasonable amount of the ball at various points during the game, they just didn't do a lot with it (more on that below)
The Bad
The most glaring hole in our team was at fullback. Jakovich was embarassed early on by a rampaging Thompson, and Jaymie Graham tried hard, but looked like what he is- a young player at least a year away from an AFL berth. I'm a little less certain about how Staker went- there were several times when he tracked his man to the ball and spoiled well, but he never really found enough of the ball to make an impact of his own- I'd say the suggestion that he lacks confidence at the moment is pretty spot on. Collica was the other defender who didn't impress me hugely- generally negated well, but his disposal was less than impressive. Looking back, the only real worry I have after this game is that we still lack a bona fide full back, and we're going to have to wait for either of Glass or Gaspar to return before we sort that problem out.
Up forward, our inaccuracy certainly limited our ability to post a huge score, with McDougall and Adkins the worst culprits in front of goals. There also were times when Doogs faded out of the game, most notably in the second quarter. I think the big thing he could do to improve his game is when the delivery dries up he needs to push up the ground and utilise his pace and agility to win his own ball. He'd probably outclass most fullbacks at ground level, so to be his most productive he needs to be prepared to almost drift out to the wing if the ball isn't coming his way, in a similar mold to Tarrant.
As for what went wrong with the Hawks, the impression I got was that whenever they found the ball, they just weren't moving it well up and down the ground- a lot of times, a Hawthorn midfielder would go in hard and win the ball, and then waste it courtesy of their mediocre disposal (Vandenberg was particularly guilty in this regard, he managed to spot up people in the crowd on several occasions!) The same went for when the ball was being cleared out of the backline- a Hawthorn defenders continually gained possession and then coughed it up to our players who'd send the ball sailing straight back over their heads. In the last quarter, the Hawks finally found some fluency in terms of being able to string possessions together, and when that happened they looked a lot better. In terms of poor individual performances, Graham got embarassed by McDougall early on, and Croad was entertainingly insipid all day- the roar which went around subiaco when he FINALLY got his first kick was quite amusing.
The Ugly
I think Johnson's injury looked a lot worse initially than it actually was- the official word is he just bruised his ankle, and I don't think he'll be fine for round one. In terms of the injuries, I'm actually a bit more worried about Chick's thigh strain late in the game- I've no doubt he'll also be fine for the first game of the season, but this is the second time his thigh has flared up this preseason, which raises the spectre of it being a chronic problem over the course of the season.
I certainly felt for Hawthorn people after Barker was helped off by a couple of trainers- classic nasty looking knee injury, can but hope for the best I hope. In any case, spare a thought for yours truly, who had the express enjoyment of sending an SMS of doom to Goalden_Hawk- 'Barker Injured.. looks bad, knee iced, being helped off by trainers.'
Also worth noting was Bateman and Cousins' blue in the third quarter- from where I was sitting, there was certainly a bit of feeling, but I don't think it went further than just the typical touchy feely wrestlin you get these days.
All up, I think we can be pretty happy with this match, and our preseason for that matter. At the start of this preseason, I would have said the three main question marks hanging over us as a team were our ability to fill the key defensive and key forward positions, particularly at CHB and CHF, our lack of a tight marking small defender, and our midfield's ability to fire without Gardiner. Since then, Lynch and Johnson have come from nowhere to fill CHB and CHF, McDougall has shown a lot at FF, Cox has been outstanding, and Humm has shown quite a bit in defence. Really, that means that despite our dire injury list, we'll go into the season with pretty much all our questions answered except perhaps at FB, which is a pretty decent position to be in. In any event, roll on the real season (I absolutely promise there will be a new BOW after the Dogs game, really!)
Anyway, on the basis of this game and the preseason as a whole, here's what I reckon our round one side will look like, assuming Glass, Gaspar and Hunter are not available, and Carroll and Johnson and Gardiner are entirely fit.
FF Matera McDougall Gardiner
HF Sampi Johnson Chick
C Embley Cousins Fletcher
HB Morrison Lynch Green
FB Humm Carroll Wirrpunda
R: Cox Judd Braun
Int: Jakovich, Staker, Banfield, Jones.
The Good
Overall, that was a very good way to finish the preseason. The intensity level still wasn't out of sight, but overall, yesterday's game made us look like a side where all the pieces had fallen into place for the real thing. From where I was sitting, this was another win driven largely by Dean Cox and the midfielders. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the likes of Judd, Cousins, Embley and Fletcher were well on top of out of the centre. It still didn't quite feel like they'd hit top gear, but they were definitely a fair sight sharper than a month ago. Cox was very good in the first half, and comfortably beat Everitt in most of the ruck duels and was a solid contributor around the ground. I'm confident that anyone who hasn't been paying attention to Cox over this preseason is going to be quite surprised when the real stuff starts- he's playing that well that I think Gardiner is actually going to have to work hard to wrest the #1 ruck spot back from him. Off the bench, Seaby and Braun both got better as the game went on, with the latter being the only one of our midfielders who played out the last quarter well.
Up forward, McDougall was excellent in the first quarter, taking marks both on the lead and in contested situations. Although he failed to put any majors on the board after that, he was still getting a reasonable amount of the ball, (and against quality opposition!), he just wasn't kicking accurately. Putting that to a side for a minute, three goals from your full forward is three goals, and in my book that's his job for the day done. The flankers were also on their game, with Chick and Sampi looking red hot whenever they were near it, whilst Fido was his usual dangerous self. Jako beat Croad comfortably when he was shifted forward after Johnson got hurt.
The defensive lineup also functioned pretty well. Lynch was again outstanding at CHB, and has clearly been by far and away the biggest find for us this preseason, putting together four good performances from four game. This week he got good help from a variety of smalls- Wirrpunda was classy as always, Morrison used the ball well off the half back flank, and I was very pleased with how accountable Humm was. I would think on the basis of this game, those three are definite starters in round one.
For the Hawks, I thought Campbell Brown was good all day, Crawford was okay without really be excellent, and Vandenberg, Mitchell and Lekkas had decent outings, as did Danny Jacobs. Thompson was excellent up forward, and took a couple of great grabs, but his kicking let him down a bit, ditto Williams. In the last quarter, Robert Campbell was solid in the ruck and set up a lot of the Hawks' best play in the last quarter. It was also pleasing to see Hay (who actually spent parts of the second quarter at full forward!) get through the second half unscathed after the entire footballing world had him pencilled down for a reco a few weeks ago. Overall I thought the Hawks were finding a reasonable amount of the ball at various points during the game, they just didn't do a lot with it (more on that below)
The Bad
The most glaring hole in our team was at fullback. Jakovich was embarassed early on by a rampaging Thompson, and Jaymie Graham tried hard, but looked like what he is- a young player at least a year away from an AFL berth. I'm a little less certain about how Staker went- there were several times when he tracked his man to the ball and spoiled well, but he never really found enough of the ball to make an impact of his own- I'd say the suggestion that he lacks confidence at the moment is pretty spot on. Collica was the other defender who didn't impress me hugely- generally negated well, but his disposal was less than impressive. Looking back, the only real worry I have after this game is that we still lack a bona fide full back, and we're going to have to wait for either of Glass or Gaspar to return before we sort that problem out.
Up forward, our inaccuracy certainly limited our ability to post a huge score, with McDougall and Adkins the worst culprits in front of goals. There also were times when Doogs faded out of the game, most notably in the second quarter. I think the big thing he could do to improve his game is when the delivery dries up he needs to push up the ground and utilise his pace and agility to win his own ball. He'd probably outclass most fullbacks at ground level, so to be his most productive he needs to be prepared to almost drift out to the wing if the ball isn't coming his way, in a similar mold to Tarrant.
As for what went wrong with the Hawks, the impression I got was that whenever they found the ball, they just weren't moving it well up and down the ground- a lot of times, a Hawthorn midfielder would go in hard and win the ball, and then waste it courtesy of their mediocre disposal (Vandenberg was particularly guilty in this regard, he managed to spot up people in the crowd on several occasions!) The same went for when the ball was being cleared out of the backline- a Hawthorn defenders continually gained possession and then coughed it up to our players who'd send the ball sailing straight back over their heads. In the last quarter, the Hawks finally found some fluency in terms of being able to string possessions together, and when that happened they looked a lot better. In terms of poor individual performances, Graham got embarassed by McDougall early on, and Croad was entertainingly insipid all day- the roar which went around subiaco when he FINALLY got his first kick was quite amusing.
The Ugly
I think Johnson's injury looked a lot worse initially than it actually was- the official word is he just bruised his ankle, and I don't think he'll be fine for round one. In terms of the injuries, I'm actually a bit more worried about Chick's thigh strain late in the game- I've no doubt he'll also be fine for the first game of the season, but this is the second time his thigh has flared up this preseason, which raises the spectre of it being a chronic problem over the course of the season.
I certainly felt for Hawthorn people after Barker was helped off by a couple of trainers- classic nasty looking knee injury, can but hope for the best I hope. In any case, spare a thought for yours truly, who had the express enjoyment of sending an SMS of doom to Goalden_Hawk- 'Barker Injured.. looks bad, knee iced, being helped off by trainers.'
Also worth noting was Bateman and Cousins' blue in the third quarter- from where I was sitting, there was certainly a bit of feeling, but I don't think it went further than just the typical touchy feely wrestlin you get these days.
All up, I think we can be pretty happy with this match, and our preseason for that matter. At the start of this preseason, I would have said the three main question marks hanging over us as a team were our ability to fill the key defensive and key forward positions, particularly at CHB and CHF, our lack of a tight marking small defender, and our midfield's ability to fire without Gardiner. Since then, Lynch and Johnson have come from nowhere to fill CHB and CHF, McDougall has shown a lot at FF, Cox has been outstanding, and Humm has shown quite a bit in defence. Really, that means that despite our dire injury list, we'll go into the season with pretty much all our questions answered except perhaps at FB, which is a pretty decent position to be in. In any event, roll on the real season (I absolutely promise there will be a new BOW after the Dogs game, really!)
Anyway, on the basis of this game and the preseason as a whole, here's what I reckon our round one side will look like, assuming Glass, Gaspar and Hunter are not available, and Carroll and Johnson and Gardiner are entirely fit.
FF Matera McDougall Gardiner
HF Sampi Johnson Chick
C Embley Cousins Fletcher
HB Morrison Lynch Green
FB Humm Carroll Wirrpunda
R: Cox Judd Braun
Int: Jakovich, Staker, Banfield, Jones.