HFF_07
11 Sep 2010, 13:46
First of all, it was a great season for the Bendigo guys to come back from where they have been for the past two season was great. You could sense some unity in and around the clubs during the games and you could sense the joy for guys like Flaherety and Skipworth who have busted a gut for the past couple of seasons to finally enjoy some finals action again..
The season took a vastly different approach to that of previous seasons with Bendigo being a defacto stand alone club for Essendon, hence playing alligned clubs, the 12 (AFL players) - 10 (VFL players) rule applied.
The reserves side was also scraped to ensure that the financially instable
Bendigo Bombers F.C could survive. This was mooted late last season and was implemented for the 2010 season.
The list was shortened from a full list of up to 60 VFL players to a list of 21.
The list includes players from in and around the Bendigo region whilst a Melbourne based training squad was also selected to train at Windy Hill.
Bendigo listed players here (http://www.bendigobombers.com/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?article_id=280&nav_cat_id=-1&nav_top_id=-1)
The team it self was ruined all year by the constant changing in the senior side and kept the reserves side unsettled all year. Was really hoping for some continuity at both AFL and VFL level this year in regards to team changes, guess not.
Any ways here is a bit of a review of the season.
BEST WIN:
Round 15 V Williamstown Seagulls
Played in attrocisou conditions at Williamstown's Burbank Oval, Bendigo skipped away to a nice 4.7 - 0.2 lead at quarter time with Jarrod Atkinson prominent and Jake Carlisle showing some very good signs.
As the day drew longer, the seagulls slowly pegged there way back into the match and finished the day 3 points shy of the Bendigo Bombers 9.16.70 scoreline for what was a memorable win for the boys from Windy Hill against the top of the ladder Williamstown outfit that has some very, very good footballers in there side.
Jake Carlisle underlined is talent with three goals and numerous marks, whilst James Flaharety held Frosty Miller medalist goal list in what was the catalyst in holding the 'Gulls' back from another barnstorming win.
WORST LOSS:
Round 12 V Port Melbourne
On the back of a super win against league cellar dwellers Frankston and a very competitive game against reigning premie North Ballarat the week before, Bendigo were on the march, Port Melbourne came out all guns blazing with an 8 goal to 1 first quarter to kill the contest. The game wore on and so did our effort as we ended up on the end of a 58 point hiding from Port Melbourne, with the Port Melbourne threesome (no homo) of Dean Galea, Adrian Bonnadio and Callum Sinclair kicking 12 of the teams 18 goals between them, Ben Duscher underlined his potential with a best on ground for Bendigo with Michael Quinn and Bachar Houli also trying hard all day.
DEFENCE:
Our defence held strong for the majority of the time, with the recruitment of Trent Shinners really paying dividends and showed his class at times. Am hoping for a top 10 B&F finish from the former Frankston Dolphin. Tyson Slattery was his able assistant for most of the year before the long season started to get a hold of his young body, certainly did some big jobs this year though (Nick Sautner - Round 18, Matt Little - Round 15).
The one thing that has been a major weakness of the Bendigo team has been the opposition small forwards. Jeff Garlett (round 1 - 5 goals), Robbie Hicks (round 9 - 3 goals), Luke Breust (round 9 - 3 goals) and Shane Tregear (round 18 - 3 goals) all having an impact playing as a small forward.
Jarrod Atkinson was one who was a constant as a small lockdown defender but gave his opponenet far to much lattitude to his opponenet and was often the player left duimbfounded by his opponents goals. John Williams showed some good signs playing as a small defender but injury again cost him game time this season and may have played his last game. The introduction of Brad Collins, Blair Holmes and Matthew Ladson all having a good effect before letting them selves down in the finals.
With the reintroduction of a reserves side next year, I am hoping for Bendigo to look for a small defender rather than rely on the Essendon stocks for the year.
My defender of the year award would go to Trent Shinners, closely followed by Tyson Slattery, whilst captain James Flaharety struggled to reach to the heights of 2009 and did not look right for the majorty of the second half of the season.
MIDFIELD:
One area we should have improved on, and did ok in bits throughout the year. The re introduction of Hayden Skipworth was telling at times with his big body being crucial in some games (round 2 V Port Melbourne), whilst his leadership was also very good as a playing assistant coach. The young Essendon midfielders enjoyed there time in the sun however none were really knocking the house down for senior selection. At any one game we had a variety of Brent Prismal, David Myers, Bachar Houli, Ben Howlett, Marcus Marigliani, Stuart Crameri and Leroy Jetta all having games at Bendigo.
During the year though, Bendigo found some absolute gems with the selection of Bendigo Pioneer and 2009 Vic Country Shane Page proving an inspired choice. He was simply sensational, running harder than most and gradually improving his output as the season wore on, managing 10 of a possible 17 matches for a first year senior player was superb.
The other big recruitment was the re introduction of Ben Duscher, the former Bendigo Bomber and Bendigo Pioneer who took a couple of years off from the VFL scene. He stepped into the VFL side in round 11 and never looked back. He is playing in the VFL young guns game tomorrow at Box Hill City Oval at 11:00am if anyone is interested.
Back to the midfield, this was one area that we relied heavily on an Essendon output, as showed in the finals with hardly a sceric of Essendon representation.
RUCKS:
The rucks were solid to poor throughout the year with Jason Laycock threatening to return to his best but injury again curtailed (and possibly ended) his season (and career). Bellchambers is slowly coming to grips with how hard you have to work around the ground and would not be at all surprised to see him pinch a couple of games next year. Young Bock was also a revelation this year, managing every match this year and enjoying a purple patch in the middle of the year when he was forced to ruck on his own (ably supported by the versatile Shinners). Pity the Bendigo guys were not that crash hot in the ruck and left Bock out to dry. Some people have called for Bock's head, but one game during the year spoke to Gary O'Donnell and he said "we are happy with his progress, he does one good thing per quarter now, not one good thing per game which we are really pleased about" so they are happy with where he is at.
FORWARDS:
Our greatest glaring weakness was the forward line. Neagle was rubbish all year and is almost certainly going to have his work cut out to stay on the list at the end of 2011, Still was very young and very raw, Carlisle showed some signs also and worked hard, however, your not going to kick goals from the wing. The small forwards were also very disappointing with no small forward having a day out. Michael Quinn was a workhorse but we could not rely on a 3rd year irish experiment to kick all our goals. Bellchambers and Laycock showed some good signs at times before they were forced elsewhere and Jason Cloke was not left in the one position for more than a half all year. The plethora of 'tall' forwards that Bendigo recruited was very disappoining with non of Serhat Tehmel, Lochlan Delahunty or James Bristow doing much of a job when they were played.
I hope for a bigger recruitment of VFL guys for next season so we may find some what of a bit more potency in the front half around goal.
COACHING: Shannon Grant was an exceptional coach this year. He spoke clearly and precisely, never tried to over complicate things certainly from my point of view has the respect of the playing group as a whole. The assistants (Essendon assistants Adrian Hickmont - Ashley Prescott) were not as clear cut and precise and were the opposite. Complicating things, putting many ideas into the heads of our guys.
GAME PLAN: The game plan it self seemed very, very similar to that of the senior side. 2 handballs out to a player in space and then a long kick forward. Basic stuff really, we never had the skill set to fully implement this with a polished finish. Our clearing from the defensive kickout was another weakness we had through the majority of the year, often struggling to get it out. We lacked variety from out kick ins and hardly changed it up when we did stick with a zone kick in.
AWARDS: This season saw some outstanding contributions from some young raw kids whilst some of the more seasoned players were a figure of consistancy with the likes of Jason Cloke and Hayden Skipworth playing good football all year.
Nick Carter Best & Fairest Winner: Trent Shinners
Runners Up: Jason Cloke
Rising Star: Shane Page
Goal Kicking: Michael Still (20 goals)
Clubmen Award: James Flaherety/Hayden Skipworth
Hope people enjoy the read as I am just trying to shed some light on the year that Bendigo had.
Thanks guys
HFF_07
The season took a vastly different approach to that of previous seasons with Bendigo being a defacto stand alone club for Essendon, hence playing alligned clubs, the 12 (AFL players) - 10 (VFL players) rule applied.
The reserves side was also scraped to ensure that the financially instable
Bendigo Bombers F.C could survive. This was mooted late last season and was implemented for the 2010 season.
The list was shortened from a full list of up to 60 VFL players to a list of 21.
The list includes players from in and around the Bendigo region whilst a Melbourne based training squad was also selected to train at Windy Hill.
Bendigo listed players here (http://www.bendigobombers.com/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?article_id=280&nav_cat_id=-1&nav_top_id=-1)
The team it self was ruined all year by the constant changing in the senior side and kept the reserves side unsettled all year. Was really hoping for some continuity at both AFL and VFL level this year in regards to team changes, guess not.
Any ways here is a bit of a review of the season.
BEST WIN:
Round 15 V Williamstown Seagulls
Played in attrocisou conditions at Williamstown's Burbank Oval, Bendigo skipped away to a nice 4.7 - 0.2 lead at quarter time with Jarrod Atkinson prominent and Jake Carlisle showing some very good signs.
As the day drew longer, the seagulls slowly pegged there way back into the match and finished the day 3 points shy of the Bendigo Bombers 9.16.70 scoreline for what was a memorable win for the boys from Windy Hill against the top of the ladder Williamstown outfit that has some very, very good footballers in there side.
Jake Carlisle underlined is talent with three goals and numerous marks, whilst James Flaharety held Frosty Miller medalist goal list in what was the catalyst in holding the 'Gulls' back from another barnstorming win.
WORST LOSS:
Round 12 V Port Melbourne
On the back of a super win against league cellar dwellers Frankston and a very competitive game against reigning premie North Ballarat the week before, Bendigo were on the march, Port Melbourne came out all guns blazing with an 8 goal to 1 first quarter to kill the contest. The game wore on and so did our effort as we ended up on the end of a 58 point hiding from Port Melbourne, with the Port Melbourne threesome (no homo) of Dean Galea, Adrian Bonnadio and Callum Sinclair kicking 12 of the teams 18 goals between them, Ben Duscher underlined his potential with a best on ground for Bendigo with Michael Quinn and Bachar Houli also trying hard all day.
DEFENCE:
Our defence held strong for the majority of the time, with the recruitment of Trent Shinners really paying dividends and showed his class at times. Am hoping for a top 10 B&F finish from the former Frankston Dolphin. Tyson Slattery was his able assistant for most of the year before the long season started to get a hold of his young body, certainly did some big jobs this year though (Nick Sautner - Round 18, Matt Little - Round 15).
The one thing that has been a major weakness of the Bendigo team has been the opposition small forwards. Jeff Garlett (round 1 - 5 goals), Robbie Hicks (round 9 - 3 goals), Luke Breust (round 9 - 3 goals) and Shane Tregear (round 18 - 3 goals) all having an impact playing as a small forward.
Jarrod Atkinson was one who was a constant as a small lockdown defender but gave his opponenet far to much lattitude to his opponenet and was often the player left duimbfounded by his opponents goals. John Williams showed some good signs playing as a small defender but injury again cost him game time this season and may have played his last game. The introduction of Brad Collins, Blair Holmes and Matthew Ladson all having a good effect before letting them selves down in the finals.
With the reintroduction of a reserves side next year, I am hoping for Bendigo to look for a small defender rather than rely on the Essendon stocks for the year.
My defender of the year award would go to Trent Shinners, closely followed by Tyson Slattery, whilst captain James Flaharety struggled to reach to the heights of 2009 and did not look right for the majorty of the second half of the season.
MIDFIELD:
One area we should have improved on, and did ok in bits throughout the year. The re introduction of Hayden Skipworth was telling at times with his big body being crucial in some games (round 2 V Port Melbourne), whilst his leadership was also very good as a playing assistant coach. The young Essendon midfielders enjoyed there time in the sun however none were really knocking the house down for senior selection. At any one game we had a variety of Brent Prismal, David Myers, Bachar Houli, Ben Howlett, Marcus Marigliani, Stuart Crameri and Leroy Jetta all having games at Bendigo.
During the year though, Bendigo found some absolute gems with the selection of Bendigo Pioneer and 2009 Vic Country Shane Page proving an inspired choice. He was simply sensational, running harder than most and gradually improving his output as the season wore on, managing 10 of a possible 17 matches for a first year senior player was superb.
The other big recruitment was the re introduction of Ben Duscher, the former Bendigo Bomber and Bendigo Pioneer who took a couple of years off from the VFL scene. He stepped into the VFL side in round 11 and never looked back. He is playing in the VFL young guns game tomorrow at Box Hill City Oval at 11:00am if anyone is interested.
Back to the midfield, this was one area that we relied heavily on an Essendon output, as showed in the finals with hardly a sceric of Essendon representation.
RUCKS:
The rucks were solid to poor throughout the year with Jason Laycock threatening to return to his best but injury again curtailed (and possibly ended) his season (and career). Bellchambers is slowly coming to grips with how hard you have to work around the ground and would not be at all surprised to see him pinch a couple of games next year. Young Bock was also a revelation this year, managing every match this year and enjoying a purple patch in the middle of the year when he was forced to ruck on his own (ably supported by the versatile Shinners). Pity the Bendigo guys were not that crash hot in the ruck and left Bock out to dry. Some people have called for Bock's head, but one game during the year spoke to Gary O'Donnell and he said "we are happy with his progress, he does one good thing per quarter now, not one good thing per game which we are really pleased about" so they are happy with where he is at.
FORWARDS:
Our greatest glaring weakness was the forward line. Neagle was rubbish all year and is almost certainly going to have his work cut out to stay on the list at the end of 2011, Still was very young and very raw, Carlisle showed some signs also and worked hard, however, your not going to kick goals from the wing. The small forwards were also very disappointing with no small forward having a day out. Michael Quinn was a workhorse but we could not rely on a 3rd year irish experiment to kick all our goals. Bellchambers and Laycock showed some good signs at times before they were forced elsewhere and Jason Cloke was not left in the one position for more than a half all year. The plethora of 'tall' forwards that Bendigo recruited was very disappoining with non of Serhat Tehmel, Lochlan Delahunty or James Bristow doing much of a job when they were played.
I hope for a bigger recruitment of VFL guys for next season so we may find some what of a bit more potency in the front half around goal.
COACHING: Shannon Grant was an exceptional coach this year. He spoke clearly and precisely, never tried to over complicate things certainly from my point of view has the respect of the playing group as a whole. The assistants (Essendon assistants Adrian Hickmont - Ashley Prescott) were not as clear cut and precise and were the opposite. Complicating things, putting many ideas into the heads of our guys.
GAME PLAN: The game plan it self seemed very, very similar to that of the senior side. 2 handballs out to a player in space and then a long kick forward. Basic stuff really, we never had the skill set to fully implement this with a polished finish. Our clearing from the defensive kickout was another weakness we had through the majority of the year, often struggling to get it out. We lacked variety from out kick ins and hardly changed it up when we did stick with a zone kick in.
AWARDS: This season saw some outstanding contributions from some young raw kids whilst some of the more seasoned players were a figure of consistancy with the likes of Jason Cloke and Hayden Skipworth playing good football all year.
Nick Carter Best & Fairest Winner: Trent Shinners
Runners Up: Jason Cloke
Rising Star: Shane Page
Goal Kicking: Michael Still (20 goals)
Clubmen Award: James Flaherety/Hayden Skipworth
Hope people enjoy the read as I am just trying to shed some light on the year that Bendigo had.
Thanks guys
HFF_07