PJ Power
21 Aug 2004, 02:41
Well, we would have taken a six goal win at the start of the week, when one considers the injury to Tredders and the subsequent furore over selection.
I thought it wasn't a game that should be bracketed as one of our best efforts and in truth there were lengthy periods of the game where we were either asleep or we lairized far too much, especially coming out of defence.
Even so, there were also patches where we played awesome footy, predominantly due to the efforts of Brendon Lade and his troop of hard-nuts in the middle: Dimma, Jamesy, Kane Cornes and to a lesser extent Carry and Burger.
Very disappointed with the TV commentary so it took me about 10 minutes to switch over to 5AA. I have to say that most commentary lacks real insight into what goes on out there. It is though people are just filling in time telling us the same things. Nevertheless, the early bias re umpiring calls and the unevenness of excitement shown when the respective teams scroed goals, made the TV crew a bit hard to bear. Eddie starts it, but the other three do nothing to lift the standard. Really surprised at how far Commetti has dropped with regards to his uneven calls.
Re the game:
Certain things surprised me about the way we started. I would have thought Kingers had earned a spot on the ground after the last month, and we missed his run early. Also, even though he did pretty little, I thought Cassisi could have been on the ground from the outset to show some desperation. Our second half of the first term was typical September stuff from our guys, with players literally looking frightened to do anything positive: Mahoney and Thurstans set the early scene with really weak attacks on the ball.
Quarter two was fantastic. Could not have been in starker contrast to the early laziness.
Have to say, if we want impact and clearances out of the middle, Dimma has to be on the ground. He has set a new standard for toughness in the last eight weeks. Just doesn't give away anything in a contest, even when out of it. Also impresses with his clearances, usually by hand but still effective.
Lade was brilliant. Ebert was asked on 5AA why Williams would have used Brogan in the ruck first, given Ladey's excellent recent form. Was it a kick in the guts for Brendon? Russell told us predictably that it was about sharing the workload and Brendon understood that.
Dean Brogan's early form resembled that of finals 2004 - from champ to chump.
Lade rectified it all. He now must be our main ruck force. Broges actually looks better and more competitive as a tall forward.
James was our best midfielder without question. Now you appreciate why he was so sorely missed last year.
Kane got plenty of it, but must have had a 50% clanger rate up to half-time. He was pretty cute with his disposal and was getting into Schofield and Burgoyne habits with his dicky handball and chip kicks out of defence.
Thought Peter Burgoyne evaded well, but disposal errors could have hurt against a quality team.
Carr looked more direct and interested tonight. Slowly, slowly he is resurrecting his season and kicking goals is a great sign.
Tredders was wonderful in the middle-part of the game. Took a great array of contested and leading marks. Inaccuracy would have cost him Brownlow votes tonight. He kicked terribly for goal. Again Russell blamed his shoulder injury.
Chad was pretty good really. Know his opponents got a bit of it, but each of Buckley's possessions were in no-man's land and he was rendered ineffectual. When there were 1-on-1s, they broke pretty even.
Wilson was solid. Probably one of only 2-3 guys in our side (along with James and Hardwick) who could have stopped Burns in some of those gut-wrenching hardball situations. Did very well.
I love that JB is still in defence. He is quality all over and reduced Neon Leon to a mere form of Peon (the Greek word for pus!).
Byron showed good signs - arguably his best game for a longtime.
Wangas was the cream on the cake and early he and Dimma were the only two players who didn't look to be playing in traditional Power September mode.
Now to players who did not do so well:
1. Mahoney and Cassisi - you could argue that they were due for poor games, but they seemed to fumble so much. They made Woewoedin look like a supreme aerialist on occasions. Neither provided any real class tonight. I only hope they don't go missing like that in two weeks.
2. Toby: the final statistics will show 2 goals. But it was a pretty meek effort really. Considering the quality of ball coming in and the lack of defensive prowess he was standing, it was really a downer by Toby. This is the last I will say about it here, but Damon must have been scratching his head and wondering just what Toby offers up there that he doesn't. Tonight should have been about Toby standing up and crashing through balls and packs and taking 6-10 quality marks. The opportunity was there. I think he met it half-heartedly. If you think a lack of composure or experience should deny players a finals spot, I think laconism is a bigger flaw by far. Not good enough for a final big fella.
3. Wakelin: really was unsure with his hands. He, Bishop and Chad on occasions made us look like the three stooges in defence. Didn't have much to do, but needs to bring a better game to the table.
I also thought that Monty looked a bit scratchy after two good weeks. Took a wonderful grab and didbn't play badly, but just wasn't clinical in snaring the footy and giving off well.
As for Cochrane - nice goal. I loved that little handball in that tight pack near the end of the third term at CHF, when Toby couldn't trap that half-volley. Pity Stuey the handball went to a nest of opponents. Don't panic mate.
Finally, when we were at our best tonight, the tackling was magnificent. We were at our worst when we overdid the handball and the criss-crossing short kicks out of defence.
Rucks tonight: 9/10 (Lade 7 of those and Brogan 2)
Forwards: 7/10 (inaccuracy and our reliance on Tredders, Pickett and Wangas let us down. More required from Mahoney, Cassisi and Thurstans)
Midfield: 9/10 (brilliant for the third week in a row)
Defence: 6/10 (some real botch-ups running out of defence despite being on an impotent forward opponent).
Overall a sound win but one we will need to tidy up on to make the big one.
I thought it wasn't a game that should be bracketed as one of our best efforts and in truth there were lengthy periods of the game where we were either asleep or we lairized far too much, especially coming out of defence.
Even so, there were also patches where we played awesome footy, predominantly due to the efforts of Brendon Lade and his troop of hard-nuts in the middle: Dimma, Jamesy, Kane Cornes and to a lesser extent Carry and Burger.
Very disappointed with the TV commentary so it took me about 10 minutes to switch over to 5AA. I have to say that most commentary lacks real insight into what goes on out there. It is though people are just filling in time telling us the same things. Nevertheless, the early bias re umpiring calls and the unevenness of excitement shown when the respective teams scroed goals, made the TV crew a bit hard to bear. Eddie starts it, but the other three do nothing to lift the standard. Really surprised at how far Commetti has dropped with regards to his uneven calls.
Re the game:
Certain things surprised me about the way we started. I would have thought Kingers had earned a spot on the ground after the last month, and we missed his run early. Also, even though he did pretty little, I thought Cassisi could have been on the ground from the outset to show some desperation. Our second half of the first term was typical September stuff from our guys, with players literally looking frightened to do anything positive: Mahoney and Thurstans set the early scene with really weak attacks on the ball.
Quarter two was fantastic. Could not have been in starker contrast to the early laziness.
Have to say, if we want impact and clearances out of the middle, Dimma has to be on the ground. He has set a new standard for toughness in the last eight weeks. Just doesn't give away anything in a contest, even when out of it. Also impresses with his clearances, usually by hand but still effective.
Lade was brilliant. Ebert was asked on 5AA why Williams would have used Brogan in the ruck first, given Ladey's excellent recent form. Was it a kick in the guts for Brendon? Russell told us predictably that it was about sharing the workload and Brendon understood that.
Dean Brogan's early form resembled that of finals 2004 - from champ to chump.
Lade rectified it all. He now must be our main ruck force. Broges actually looks better and more competitive as a tall forward.
James was our best midfielder without question. Now you appreciate why he was so sorely missed last year.
Kane got plenty of it, but must have had a 50% clanger rate up to half-time. He was pretty cute with his disposal and was getting into Schofield and Burgoyne habits with his dicky handball and chip kicks out of defence.
Thought Peter Burgoyne evaded well, but disposal errors could have hurt against a quality team.
Carr looked more direct and interested tonight. Slowly, slowly he is resurrecting his season and kicking goals is a great sign.
Tredders was wonderful in the middle-part of the game. Took a great array of contested and leading marks. Inaccuracy would have cost him Brownlow votes tonight. He kicked terribly for goal. Again Russell blamed his shoulder injury.
Chad was pretty good really. Know his opponents got a bit of it, but each of Buckley's possessions were in no-man's land and he was rendered ineffectual. When there were 1-on-1s, they broke pretty even.
Wilson was solid. Probably one of only 2-3 guys in our side (along with James and Hardwick) who could have stopped Burns in some of those gut-wrenching hardball situations. Did very well.
I love that JB is still in defence. He is quality all over and reduced Neon Leon to a mere form of Peon (the Greek word for pus!).
Byron showed good signs - arguably his best game for a longtime.
Wangas was the cream on the cake and early he and Dimma were the only two players who didn't look to be playing in traditional Power September mode.
Now to players who did not do so well:
1. Mahoney and Cassisi - you could argue that they were due for poor games, but they seemed to fumble so much. They made Woewoedin look like a supreme aerialist on occasions. Neither provided any real class tonight. I only hope they don't go missing like that in two weeks.
2. Toby: the final statistics will show 2 goals. But it was a pretty meek effort really. Considering the quality of ball coming in and the lack of defensive prowess he was standing, it was really a downer by Toby. This is the last I will say about it here, but Damon must have been scratching his head and wondering just what Toby offers up there that he doesn't. Tonight should have been about Toby standing up and crashing through balls and packs and taking 6-10 quality marks. The opportunity was there. I think he met it half-heartedly. If you think a lack of composure or experience should deny players a finals spot, I think laconism is a bigger flaw by far. Not good enough for a final big fella.
3. Wakelin: really was unsure with his hands. He, Bishop and Chad on occasions made us look like the three stooges in defence. Didn't have much to do, but needs to bring a better game to the table.
I also thought that Monty looked a bit scratchy after two good weeks. Took a wonderful grab and didbn't play badly, but just wasn't clinical in snaring the footy and giving off well.
As for Cochrane - nice goal. I loved that little handball in that tight pack near the end of the third term at CHF, when Toby couldn't trap that half-volley. Pity Stuey the handball went to a nest of opponents. Don't panic mate.
Finally, when we were at our best tonight, the tackling was magnificent. We were at our worst when we overdid the handball and the criss-crossing short kicks out of defence.
Rucks tonight: 9/10 (Lade 7 of those and Brogan 2)
Forwards: 7/10 (inaccuracy and our reliance on Tredders, Pickett and Wangas let us down. More required from Mahoney, Cassisi and Thurstans)
Midfield: 9/10 (brilliant for the third week in a row)
Defence: 6/10 (some real botch-ups running out of defence despite being on an impotent forward opponent).
Overall a sound win but one we will need to tidy up on to make the big one.