View Full Version : Bendigo Verse Geelong, 28/3/09
yodellinhank
28 Mar 2009, 22:36
Thought i'd post a few thoughts, memories are a little sketchy and thus an amateurish report; so hopefully someone else who went down can add/comment, but thought i'd get things started.
Geelong dominated the opening of the first quarter, kicking towards the "city" end, and got the first couple. Bendigo fought hard to work their way back into the game, and at quarter time were down by a couple of goals.
Second quarter was all Geelong, and it looked like it was going to be a long, hard day barracking for bendigo. The cats lead blew out to about 8 goals.
Third quarter Bendigo worked their way back into it with Jetta and Zaka providing really some spark, Bendigo getting a roll on and closing the gap to 10 or so points at 3qtr time, setting up an exciting finish.
Geelong came out and got the important first goal of the final term, Bendigo went inside 50 twice after this and were unlucky not to capitalise, the cats took it up the other end to stretch their lead to four goals. After that they weren't challenged and ran out victors by 8 goals.
Geelong 22. 12 (144) to Bendigo 14.12 (96)
David Zaharakis: As reported on Player watch, Zaka was our best if not the best. I counted 6 goals, but missed Bendigo's first of the second half. It was said on Player watch 32 disposals and 7 goals. I'm not about to argue with that, he was excellent.
Leroy Jetta's first half showed why he is in the twos. Looked ok in patches, but just not as involved as he should be. His second half was fantastic, showing how much talent he has and that he should work hard get himself in the ones. Kicked 3 or 4.
Darcy Daniher had a good battle with Hawkins, probably lowered his colours overall, but was very good in the third quarter. Hawkins had a bit too much bulk for him and kicked 5, but you couldn't question DD's endeavor and he won quite a few contests.
Michael Still really provided something up forward. Snagged a couple and was the only consistent option i noticed up forward. To think how young this guy is, he'll be one to watch for the future.
David Myers disappointed me to be frank, i think mainly just because i hear so much hype and didn't see any justification today. May have won a few clearances, be happy if somebody else noticed that and disagrees with my assessment, but looks like he'll be in the twos again for at least next week.
Jay Nash was skillful, providing some drive off half back and through the middle. Very comfortable at VFL level, hopefully he can take some confidence into the next shot he gets in the seniors.
John Williams was ok early, think he got a minor injury, disappeared at least from my consciousness.
Cale Hooker still work to do. Not sure if Podsiadsly was his direct opponent all day, but Pods was pretty good.
Rhys Magin noticed him more in the second half when the bombers were travelling ok. Has the skills to be a decent link player, and we're all aware of his shortcomings. Another one given time may improve vastly.
Tyson Slattery battled. It's hard being a defender in a team that is under the pump for most of the day. Appeared to jar his knee in the second term, but returned to the field. Loves to make a contest; just hope that, like Hooker, he has some development left in him and is not battling out of his depth. Can't question his commitment.
Christian Bock is as skinny in person as he is in photos and youtube highlights. Obviously bodied out of contests by West and Simpson, but as they say could be a decent tap ruckman once he puts on 20 or 30 kilos. Played a bit up forward and took a few good marks, looks to have a great pair of hands... but can't kick. I believe the best we can hope for at this stage is a player the ilk of Mark Blake. Wish the guy could get some confidence and prove this a ridiculous statement, but that's how i seen it today.
Nathan Lovett-Murray showed great poise and leadership in the first half. Scoreboard would've been much worse at half time without him and Zaka. Another player i hope can take some confidence back with him into the seniors, clearly not a VFL player on today's first half performance, although i didn't really notice him in the second half... anyone?
Bryce Carroll, Kade Klemke, Tom German sorry but didn't pay enough attention to write anything much about these guys.
Michael Quinn is a gem. If he never plays a game for Essendon, it won't be for lack of trying. Only really started watchin him in the last half, but he found good position, ran and tried to break the lines, and showed all the enthusiasm he's probably shown since arriving at the club. Kicking obviously the worry, missed a shot at goal in the last, but you have to love a bloke who gives his all no matter what the score.
Of the Bendigo guys, one i found to be of interest was Ky Miller. Noticed him in the Bendigo Ressies game against local GFL side St Marys (big loss to bendigo), and at quarter time of the senior game Bendigo coaching staff were discussing something about increasing the number of players, next thing they asked Ky (who was in plain clothes standing outside the huddle) to go suit up. He did a few good things in the seniors and looks a smooth mover. He'll definitely get a shot with the Bendigo senior squad, hope he does really well.
lemon chicken
28 Mar 2009, 23:31
David Zaharakis: As reported on Player watch, Zaka was our best if not the best. I counted 6 goals, but missed Bendigo's first of the second half. It was said on Player watch 32 disposals and 7 goals. I'm not about to argue with that, he was excellent.
:eek::eek::eek:. That is incredible. What position did he play?
yodellinhank
28 Mar 2009, 23:55
:eek::eek::eek:. That is incredible. What position did he play?
Mostly on ball. Cramped up in the last quarter, so he went to a forward flank.
BringBackCransberg
29 Mar 2009, 00:10
Thanks heaps yodellinhank, awesome write up. I'm trying not to get prematurely excited by Zaka's game....but, my lord. And I don't even have a lord.
The sort of thing that you reported with NLM, Nash, Jetta -- kinda finding the difference inside themselves that makes them AFL players, not VFL, and what they need to do to embody that difference -- hopefully that's what the EFC uses Bendigo for mostly this year, rather than have to use it to slowly bring back players from injury. It'd give us so much more consistency, I reckon, but obviously it's all dependent on injuries.
Thanks again.
rainman06
29 Mar 2009, 00:24
Good job mate :thumbsu: ZAharakis!!!!!!:thumbsu:
Sam the RAMA fan
29 Mar 2009, 05:26
Good stuff.
Great to hear about Zachka! :thumbsu:
stander
29 Mar 2009, 08:06
Jetta needs to hang around Quinn for a while and raise the desperation bar a bit higher. Good report there hank.
Thanks for the feedback hank, good stuff :thumbsu:
saladin
29 Mar 2009, 08:58
ant555 went and had a look, so we might get some more details from him at some stage.
thanks for your run-down, hank.
Wahooti Fandango
29 Mar 2009, 10:24
Cheers Hank. :thumbsu: Great news on Zacha and also it seems that Still may develop into a handy forward, which would be good if Gumby continues to have injury troubles.
Geelong v Bendigo
Would have posted last night but i ended up going to the St.Kilda v Sydeny game on the way home.
Just a quick work on the Bendigo seconds. They played St.Marys and went down by 6 goals. Pretty much an under 21 squad with a couple of 24 or 25 year olds. They may not win a lot of games but they will certainly be an improvement on last year’s lot.
Yesterday then ran and carried all day and never gave in despite looking like they would go under by 10 goals plus at one stage.
Ky Miller played seconds today and again looked good. Plenty of run and a nice side step. Kicked a great goal after a 60 meter , 4 bounce run. He played mainly midfield or wing. I do not think he has any real clearance talent but he certainly has plenty of talent for running with the footy and getting to the right spots to receive.
Another good player was Dane Coulson-Hoffacker. Had heaps of the footy and showed a bit of dash.
They have a few ex Murray Bushrangers playing so it will be interesting to keep an eye on how things go.
Now to the seniors.
The first thing that was noticed was the kicking skills where pretty good. Not really many terrible kicks that went straight to the opposition. There where some ordinary handballs to players standing still or under pressure and a few directed at the feet but over all the skills where pretty good.
One thing Hickmott does need to get under control is his bench. It was a circus. Hicky was giving instructions but I think their communications where coming out the other end in Chinese because the runners seemed to have no idea who they where brining off. If someone wants a voluntary job wearing the ear phones and passing on messages the messages to the runners then I would apply now because the current system is not working.
Both sides where close to full strength but the bad luck for Bendigo continued with 5 players suffering some sort of injury early in the last quarter leaving them with no bench against a pretty fit opponent.
Anyway back to the important issues.
7 – Jetta. Quiet start. Only had a few touches early on. Started to find a bit more of the footy in the second quarter. He really put on a show in the third quarter . had a heap of the footy , kicked a couple of goals and played with plenty of excitement.
The highlight of his game was the very good use of the ball by foot. It was very smart and effective. Certainly put his hand up for selection.
11- Zaharakis – Best on ground. Hit the ground running in the first and kept it up all day. Won clearances , set up play, delivery into the forward line was excellent and he kicked a few roving goals plus did not miss when having a set shot at goal. The only down side I saw was he wont use his left foot. His only real poor disposals where when he did ¾ of a U-turn and kicked the footy to across goal to dangerous one on one contests rather than kicking on the left to a two on two contest. Both times it happened Geelong ended up scoring.
I have never been a huge fan of Zaka but I have to say if he plays up to yesterdays form he will certainly make an impact and will be a good player for us.
17 – Nash- typical sort of Nash game. Got the job done reasonably well early although his opponent in Brodie Moles also got a few touches early. He played a bit in the midfield during the game and did ok. The main thing was he kicked the footy well. No really shocking turnovers.
23 – Myers – Good game without being flashy. Started of a bit quietly and his first two kicks where turnovers. Really got going mid way through the second quarter and started to get a few possessions. Played mainly in the midfield and put on a few solid tackles. He did enough but it was not a real eye catching game.
24 – Williams – kicked an early goal. Flew for a couple of species . Went of injured and Ky miller had to take his place after playing a full game in the seconds.
26 – Hooker – had an indifferent day. Looked really good in parts of the game and his defending but he also struggled in patches to contain Podsiadly. Just lack the upper body strength and know how against very experienced opponents.
28 - Daniher – Footy is a cruel game. Daniher pretty much had Hawkins under control all day . He kept him to only a few shots at goal in the first half. His defensive was excellent. He got in front and took a few good marks and pretty much dominated him. In the third quarter Hawkins got a couple of goals but Daniher was still on top.
Sadly for Darcy in the last Hawkins kicked three goals , two coming from Bendigo turn overs when Darcy had pushed forward to help out and could not get back.
He still did very well in the last quarter considering the dominance of Geelong through the middle in the last quarter and the amount of footy that came inside 50.
34 – Magin – Steady game. Got involved here and there and did a few really good things but needs to take the game on more and not watch it unfold. Got a small payout from the coach at ¼ for sitting back and jogging rather than making things happen.
35 – Still – Nothing super exciting but he did take 4 or 5 nice contested marks. Kicking from gaol was ordinary.
36 – Slattery – did not notice him do a real lot. Came of early in the last with a knock to the leg.
41 - Quinn - excellent game. read the play well, timed his run from defence a lot better and his kicking was very good. Has improved a heap in that area. Was in our best 4 players.
40 – Carroll – did a couple of handy things but the coach is often sending him messages about his work rate.
42 – Lovett – Murray – Steady enough game. Did what he has to do and found a reasonable amount of the footy. Played a fair bit at half back with some time on the ball.
45 – German – did not notice him doing a real lot.
46 – Bock – better game against Geelong this time around. Won a few more hit outs and took a few marks up forward. Kicking for goal was terrible.
47 - Klemke – did not have a huge amount of the footy but his defensive work was good. Got to a lot of marking contests and put a spoil on.
Hopefully Zakka is a good player for us. I am sick of seeing other teams having 1st year players dominate straight away (ie Mitch Robinson).
bipolarbeaR
29 Mar 2009, 11:09
I was a little upset we didn't take Robinson, mainly because he is in my Supercoach league, and I support the Lauderdale Bombers in Tasmania who he originally played for, he made anyone he played on look stupid.
Great to hear about Zaha! I really think this kid has SO much passion for the club.
Jetta is getting closer to being consistant, he has to be come a 4 quarter player, reminds me heaps of McCleod when he is on top of his game.
I wish Myers would get some confidence in his game.
kelvin_sheedy
29 Mar 2009, 11:25
I wasn't convinced pre draft on Zaka but everything he's done so far has been fantastic.
To have a kid step into the VFL and dominate indicates he's got a few tricks up his sleeve. Probably our first draftee in a long time that has done this.
For me, already past Myers in terms of who should get a game next. If he can hold that kind of form in the VFL then he should get a lot of games this year.
Good to see Jetta playing well again. Lets hope he comes straight back in.
Tony Delaney
29 Mar 2009, 11:27
Do I recall Ant or another 'senior' poster posted Zaharakis wont play seniors for the Bombers. Looks like he may well.
Do I recall Ant or another 'senior' poster posted Zaharakis wont play seniors for the Bombers. Looks like he may well.
Pretty sure i said he won't play a lot of seniors this year.
He has only played one really good practice match and a couple of other handy games so i can still be correct :D
Of course in this case i hope i am wrong and he brings yesterdays form into the seniors sooner rather than later :)
Great reads, top job guys:thumbsu:
Has got me thinking, do kids who get drafted by the club the barrack for as a kid try "harder"
What do others think?
lamaros
29 Mar 2009, 12:28
Has got me thinking, do kids who get drafted by the club the barrack for as a kid try "harder"
I think it depends, but it certainly seems to be the case for some people.
Jonesy1987
29 Mar 2009, 13:43
Great reads, top job guys:thumbsu:
Has got me thinking, do kids who get drafted by the club the barrack for as a kid try "harder"
What do others think?
Definitely worked for Hird, hopefully we have another one of those on our hands :thumbsu::D
Ant555
I assume from your reports that if Quinn continues to improve - HE WILL PLAY SENIOR FOOTBALL THIS YEAR.
Ant555
I assume from your reports that if Quinn continues to improve - HE WILL PLAY SENIOR FOOTBALL THIS YEAR.
If he keeps improving at the same rate he is a real chance.
It was a little disapointing to read about Myers average game, I think he needs to get a little bit more 'match fit' before he moves back up to the seniors. From the readings it doesn't sound as though many would be pushing for round two selection.
saladin
30 Mar 2009, 10:14
It was a little disapointing to read about Myers average game, I think he needs to get a little bit more 'match fit' before he moves back up to the seniors. From the readings it doesn't sound as though many would be pushing for round two selection.
jetta and zaka. darcy maybe. but considering Hurley, in particular, and also Pears looked good, Darcy might have to wait a bit longer.
FBDonkey
30 Mar 2009, 10:15
Out of that game, who will replace Ricky Dyson this week?
Jetta, Myers, Zaharakis, Nash?
Out of that game, who will replace Ricky Dyson this week?
Jetta, Myers, Zaharakis, Nash?What? Dyson should and will be picked for Round 2.
Lance Uppercut
30 Mar 2009, 10:59
What? Dyson should and will be picked for Round 2.
I disagree. He just fell over on several occasions, and once again displayed that uncanny knack for influencing the game in the oppositions favour
Kaiser Powser
30 Mar 2009, 12:24
I disagree. He just fell over on several occasions, and once again displayed that uncanny knack for influencing the game in the oppositions favour
Out: Slattery and Dyson
In: Myers and Jetta/Zaha
The Donners
30 Mar 2009, 12:24
What? Dyson should and will be picked for Round 2.
I disagree. He just fell over on several occasions, and once again displayed that uncanny knack for influencing the game in the oppositions favour
I kind of agree with both of you. In his defense though, it seemed to me Essendon never had numbers at the ball and he tended to cough the ball up because there was no one for him to give it off to. Sufficed to say some Essendon players don't like to kick the ball.
On a side note, I wonder what the statistics were for Essendon players who kicked the ball to 2 or 3 on 1 contests - favouring Port Adelaide. Though I'm going to be caned for saying this, Skipworth was the biggest culprit.
Big Scottknowsall
30 Mar 2009, 13:58
It seems we had quite a few Essendon players playing, including some relatively experienced types...Nash, Lovett-Murray etc in the team.
Who, apart from tom hawkins, did Geelong have in to see they belted us good and proper?
yodellinhank
30 Mar 2009, 14:39
Geelong seemed excellent in their conversion when going forward. Big Podsiadly was a headache, DD battled hard with Hawkins all day. Djerrkura provided great rebound from their back half. Simon Hogan looked pretty good for them as did Taylor Hunt. Add to this the bigger bodies of West and Mumford in the ruck opposed to Bock and James Bristow (who ended up sidelined for the last quarter).
Best players listed on the cats website: Shane Mumford, Tom Hawkins, Byrnes, Podsiadly, Simon Hogan and Tom Allwright.
The other AFL listed cats were: Mitchell Brown, Kane Tenace, Dawson Simpson, Shannon Byrnes, Scott Simpson, Adam Donohue, Tom Gillies, Dan McKenna, Brodie Moles and Jeremy Laidler.
Chodders
30 Mar 2009, 14:43
I watched large portions of the Essendon game on Sunday and I didn't think Dyson appeared to be that bad.
I know from watching a lot of Carlton in recent years players like Dyson have been on the list for a few years and at times show glimpses that they will be a good player but then do disappointing things that will let themselves and the team down. This often leaves supporters divided about their place in the team. Wiggins is an example for us that comes to mind.
I think that Ess can beat Freo this week by punishing Freo turn overs and using pacey players on the fast Dome track. If I was an Essendon supporter I would like to see Dyson get another game this week.
yodellinhank
30 Mar 2009, 14:53
To add to a point Ant made in his write up there was often confusion at the Bendigo interchange bench. On several occasions this stemmed from the fact that rather than send out a runner with a message for a player, Hickmont would drag the player to have a chat on the phones. The player was only supposed to run to the phone, take the message and then run back on again, without being replaced.
Obviously the players were never informed the coach was going to use this method of communication. You can imagine the their reactions when they got to the interchange gate and nobody was there to run on and replace them. Best case scenario was the player would pause at the line quite confused for a while and asking who was coming on, but would be reassured they were indeed supposed to come off. On a couple of occasions the player would turn to run back on thinking he had made a mistake and the bench would then start shouting to get them off again.
Come season proper i'm sure Hickmont will have the runner relay his messages or bench the player properly. It certainly was a shambles the way it was done on the weekend and really looked quite amateur.
stay true
30 Mar 2009, 16:11
Thanks for the reports Hank and Ant.
Great to hear Zaka did well!
BIG SHOW
30 Mar 2009, 21:27
Pretty sure i said he won't play a lot of seniors this year.
He has only played one really good practice match and a couple of other handy games so i can still be correct :D
Of course in this case i hope i am wrong and he brings yesterdays form into the seniors sooner rather than later :)
Ant, just wondering how a couple of the bendigo listed boys went, namely paul scanlon and brent chapman
james_omahoney
30 Mar 2009, 22:02
Do I recall Ant or another 'senior' poster posted Zaharakis wont play seniors for the Bombers. Looks like he may well.
This is what I remember:
Massively underweight, shouldn't play until at least 2010
Ant, just wondering how a couple of the bendigo listed boys went, namely paul scanlon and brent chapman
Scanlon good. Knows how to find the footy. Turned a couple over but was his skills where reasonably good. He will do very well at this level as most thought he would.
Brent did not play in the seniors and i am pretty sure he was not out their in the seconds. Matt played seconds and was pretty good.
BIG SHOW
31 Mar 2009, 12:05
Scanlon good. Knows how to find the footy. Turned a couple over but was his skills where reasonably good. He will do very well at this level as most thought he would.
Brent did not play in the seniors and i am pretty sure he was not out their in the seconds. Matt played seconds and was pretty good.
Cheers ant
Lance_Armstrong
1 Apr 2009, 10:23
Scanlon aka CHEWY will be a good player this year for bendigo. Great move in recruiting him.
morphous
1 Apr 2009, 11:42
Scanlon aka CHEWY will be a good player this year for bendigo. Great move in recruiting him.
Did Saad Saad end up signing too?
I felt Zaharakis' kicking would hurt him at the next level and had him rated as a third rounder with Hanneberry, Walters and Robinson as preferred options.
However everything I hear about Zaha from a variety of sources have praised him unequivocably.