Mead
26 Aug 2002, 15:33
Apologies for the late post, was a very busy weekend for me- thank god its monday and I can get back to slacking off at Uni again :)
So, we lost, by 39pts at that, and all but extinguished our finals chances. What to say? To be honest though, when I trudged (soaking wet) out of Subiaco, I didn't really feel that devastated, certainly not as bad as I did about losing to Melb at subi- that, for my mind, was the one which got away. You certainly couldn't fault our endeavour, the fact is, in terms of cattle and skills, port are about 39pts better than we are right now. Thats why they are a premiership chance, and we're struggling for an eight spot.
So-
The Good: Chris Judd showed how to be a more damaging midfielder with 15 disposals than some people can be with 35, booting three (absolutely scintillating goals), and featuring significantly in several other passages of play that lead to us scoring . As the weeks go on, I'm more and more impressed with him. I don't really feel it would be overhyping him to suggest that in all likelihood, he is going to be one of the top five players in the league in a few years time, with he and cousins regularly stealing the 3 votes off each other.
Speaking of el Kapitan, he stood up strongly after several down weeks, which is not surprising given the importance of this game. Cousins' 26 disposals were pretty remarkable considering the quality of the opposition ranged against him.
Next off, a message to Trent Carrol- there's a place for you in this side. Carrol, never really an A class player, has made the most of his limited opportunities this year, and has well and truly earned his spot in the 22. Is handy either down back or up forward, and is a decent marking target and a good kick on goals. He tried his heart out against port (The nitwits at 6pr can insert their mikes up their asses, for all I care), took four marks and booted two goals. Carrol was a guy I would have happily seen delisted last year, but on the basis of his performance over the last few weeks, he deserves his spot in the side.
In defence, Collica played one of the best 5 disposal games you'll see in a long time, with some pretty impressive defensive work.
In an overall sense, the two big positive aspects for me was the charge late in the third- say what you like about the skills of this team, they never give up, which is the one aspect I want most in a team I support. Secondly, our tackling all day was ferocious, with the Eagles claiming several holding the ball decisions.
The Bad: Alas, Skill errors and horrifically bad marking were the order of the day for us. I lost count of the number of promising forays into attack that were cut off simply because our players couldn't hold a mark. Yes the conditions were poor, but Port seemed relatively untroubled, whilst we were dropping sitters. Key offenders were Banfield (whose complete inability to hold a simple chest mark blemished an otherwise decent game), Braun and Embley.
Speaking of Embley, I think the following things have been established. He is either an inconsistent forward flanker, whose abysmal defensive marking and poor kicking on goal blights his game, or a running defender, whose poor decision making and mind blowingly bad disposal blights his game- take your pick. Maybe (ok, most likely) I'm being a tad harsh, but I watched him pinpoint PA half forwards whilst kicking out of defense on several occasions. Twice, this resulted in easy returns and kicks on goal for Port- frankly, it comes down to this- Embley will get a spot in our side next year because he has potential, and we don't have anything better around. He could still come of age spectacularly, but right now, he looks disturbingly like a player who is going to go down the Troy Longmuir/Brendan Fewster career path. I'd be happier if he did that with some other team rather than us.
Aside from this, our big failing was our inability to find a focal point up forward. You aren't going to win many games when your leading goal kicker is a rookie midfielder- Lynch and Fido both had difficulty getting into the game, and after them there wasn't much else. I think sometimes we forget just how good Porno Wilson is- his ability to go straight through packs and still get to the ball is something that we really missed in recent weeks. Lynch has a bright future ahead of him, but he really isn't in the same class as Wilson at this point in time.
The Ugly: Well for starters, this wasn't the prettiest of games by any definition. Our skills were somewhere between poor and appalling for much of the game, and Port had their own issues, with their poor kicking on goal keeping us in it for a long time.
The announcer at subi seemed to have picked this night to try convince us all that he is a complete and utter idiot- I can't pass judgement on the CH 10 coverage, because my video recorder chose to die midway through the first quarter.
The Umpiring, as per usual, made me want to spit- the Port onballers did everything but sodomise Gardiner in the ruck without the men in white stepping in. Couple this with a few laughable 'high' decisions for port, and Kerr being coat hangered in front of goal a few moments later for no whistle, and you get the usual standard of AFL umpiring.. its been sooooo damn long since I've seen a well umpired game of footy.
Incidentally, our late withdrawals from this game came as a nasty surprise.. both Cox and Fletcher would have been pretty useful given how dominant port's midfield was.
Lastly perhaps the highlight of the game for me was an altercation after the game which I was witness to, between a West Coast supporting grandmother complete with scarf, beanie and (empty) chardonnay glass, and a Portsider with stubble, tight black jeans, and a pair of UGG BOOTS!!! Talk about stereotypes come to life!
Next week, the Roos at manuka, and our last chance to nail a finals spot. Despite the fact that I doubt we'll go far once the september action gets underway, finals experience is money in the bank for the young'uns like Kerr, Judd, Hunter and Lynch. More to the point, given the way our younger players have fired up this season, it would be a fair reward for them to take part in the greatest part of the AFL season. Here's hoping the results we need go our way, and the boys get a chance to earn their spot against the roos.
So, we lost, by 39pts at that, and all but extinguished our finals chances. What to say? To be honest though, when I trudged (soaking wet) out of Subiaco, I didn't really feel that devastated, certainly not as bad as I did about losing to Melb at subi- that, for my mind, was the one which got away. You certainly couldn't fault our endeavour, the fact is, in terms of cattle and skills, port are about 39pts better than we are right now. Thats why they are a premiership chance, and we're struggling for an eight spot.
So-
The Good: Chris Judd showed how to be a more damaging midfielder with 15 disposals than some people can be with 35, booting three (absolutely scintillating goals), and featuring significantly in several other passages of play that lead to us scoring . As the weeks go on, I'm more and more impressed with him. I don't really feel it would be overhyping him to suggest that in all likelihood, he is going to be one of the top five players in the league in a few years time, with he and cousins regularly stealing the 3 votes off each other.
Speaking of el Kapitan, he stood up strongly after several down weeks, which is not surprising given the importance of this game. Cousins' 26 disposals were pretty remarkable considering the quality of the opposition ranged against him.
Next off, a message to Trent Carrol- there's a place for you in this side. Carrol, never really an A class player, has made the most of his limited opportunities this year, and has well and truly earned his spot in the 22. Is handy either down back or up forward, and is a decent marking target and a good kick on goals. He tried his heart out against port (The nitwits at 6pr can insert their mikes up their asses, for all I care), took four marks and booted two goals. Carrol was a guy I would have happily seen delisted last year, but on the basis of his performance over the last few weeks, he deserves his spot in the side.
In defence, Collica played one of the best 5 disposal games you'll see in a long time, with some pretty impressive defensive work.
In an overall sense, the two big positive aspects for me was the charge late in the third- say what you like about the skills of this team, they never give up, which is the one aspect I want most in a team I support. Secondly, our tackling all day was ferocious, with the Eagles claiming several holding the ball decisions.
The Bad: Alas, Skill errors and horrifically bad marking were the order of the day for us. I lost count of the number of promising forays into attack that were cut off simply because our players couldn't hold a mark. Yes the conditions were poor, but Port seemed relatively untroubled, whilst we were dropping sitters. Key offenders were Banfield (whose complete inability to hold a simple chest mark blemished an otherwise decent game), Braun and Embley.
Speaking of Embley, I think the following things have been established. He is either an inconsistent forward flanker, whose abysmal defensive marking and poor kicking on goal blights his game, or a running defender, whose poor decision making and mind blowingly bad disposal blights his game- take your pick. Maybe (ok, most likely) I'm being a tad harsh, but I watched him pinpoint PA half forwards whilst kicking out of defense on several occasions. Twice, this resulted in easy returns and kicks on goal for Port- frankly, it comes down to this- Embley will get a spot in our side next year because he has potential, and we don't have anything better around. He could still come of age spectacularly, but right now, he looks disturbingly like a player who is going to go down the Troy Longmuir/Brendan Fewster career path. I'd be happier if he did that with some other team rather than us.
Aside from this, our big failing was our inability to find a focal point up forward. You aren't going to win many games when your leading goal kicker is a rookie midfielder- Lynch and Fido both had difficulty getting into the game, and after them there wasn't much else. I think sometimes we forget just how good Porno Wilson is- his ability to go straight through packs and still get to the ball is something that we really missed in recent weeks. Lynch has a bright future ahead of him, but he really isn't in the same class as Wilson at this point in time.
The Ugly: Well for starters, this wasn't the prettiest of games by any definition. Our skills were somewhere between poor and appalling for much of the game, and Port had their own issues, with their poor kicking on goal keeping us in it for a long time.
The announcer at subi seemed to have picked this night to try convince us all that he is a complete and utter idiot- I can't pass judgement on the CH 10 coverage, because my video recorder chose to die midway through the first quarter.
The Umpiring, as per usual, made me want to spit- the Port onballers did everything but sodomise Gardiner in the ruck without the men in white stepping in. Couple this with a few laughable 'high' decisions for port, and Kerr being coat hangered in front of goal a few moments later for no whistle, and you get the usual standard of AFL umpiring.. its been sooooo damn long since I've seen a well umpired game of footy.
Incidentally, our late withdrawals from this game came as a nasty surprise.. both Cox and Fletcher would have been pretty useful given how dominant port's midfield was.
Lastly perhaps the highlight of the game for me was an altercation after the game which I was witness to, between a West Coast supporting grandmother complete with scarf, beanie and (empty) chardonnay glass, and a Portsider with stubble, tight black jeans, and a pair of UGG BOOTS!!! Talk about stereotypes come to life!
Next week, the Roos at manuka, and our last chance to nail a finals spot. Despite the fact that I doubt we'll go far once the september action gets underway, finals experience is money in the bank for the young'uns like Kerr, Judd, Hunter and Lynch. More to the point, given the way our younger players have fired up this season, it would be a fair reward for them to take part in the greatest part of the AFL season. Here's hoping the results we need go our way, and the boys get a chance to earn their spot against the roos.