2013 season

[pazza]

And so we are underway.

Was at Werribee for Port Melbourne's moved home game down there.

Werribee were ultra impressive.

Ben Warren's 11.1 from over 30 touches was only part of the story.

The control across the ground would have surely impressed West - even if the Borough were down on numbers without the likes of Valenti.

Pretty good game down at Torquay on Sunday with the Cats shining.

Next match is up at Bendigo on Friday night as the Gold play host to Essendon's return as a standalone VFL side.

 

[Woefully Inept]

Essendon should win that one comfortably, having said that I thought the same thing about Williamstown...

Quite a few good acquisitions by clubs this year, looking forward to a good competition

 

[pazza]

Results:

Essendon 23.9.147 - Bendigo 8.9.57
Collingwood 16.11.107 - North Ballarat 6.9.45
Northern Blues 20.10.130 - Werribee 17.13.115
Port Melbourne 14.9.93 - Box Hill 13.11.89
Casey 23.11.149 - Frankston 12.9.81
Coburg 18.13.121 - Sandringham 13.11.89

No surprise that the Bombers sit on top of the ladder - joining them undefeated are Collingwood, Casey, Coburg, Northern Blues and Geelong.

Bendigo prop up the ladder and yet to win also are North Ballarat, Box Hill, Frankston, Williamstown and Sandringham.

Round 2:

Northern Blues v Bendigo (Visy Park)
Williamstown v Coburg (Point Gellibrand)
North Ballarat v Casey (North Ballarat)
Essendon v Box Hill (Windy Hill)
Werribee v Collingwood (Werribee)
Frankston v Port Melbourne (Frankston)
Sandringham v Geelong (Beach Road)

 

[Yoda_]

Went along to Casey v Frankston (@ Casey Fields) on Sunday and Casey were dominant through there big men (Max Gawn & Jake Spencer) along with the bigger bodied Melbourne listed midfielders (Mitch Clisy, Michael Evans, James Magner, Rohan Bail), whilst the forward structure of Melbourne built around Jesse Hogan (who is an absolute monster of a kid - he is still 17 ) and Luke Tapscott (6 goals) were simply too good for the undersized Dolphins defenders.

On Frankston, the much vaunted off field recruitment was such a fizzer. Russel Gabriel was pantsed in the ruck by Spencer and Gawn, was comprehensively beaten in the centre square contests whilst his usually mobile self was far to busy following the big men around.
Former Sandringham big man Michael Lourey was good early, his innacurate kicking let the Dolphins down with 1.3 to half time, finished with 4 but could/should have been 6 and enabled the Dolphins to be within striking distance. His strong marking was a feature whilst he really had a presence to him, something the Dolphins line up hasnt had for a few years (probably since Aaron Edwards JJ Liston/Frosty Miller medal year), add Khan Haretuku (who missed yesterdays game) and the future for the Dolphins isnt that bleak. Ziggy Alwan (former Noble Park star) was a real livewire and really could possibly do a Tory Dickson this year after starring for the same local club a year earlier. Same type of player as Dickson, leading forward who can tackle and pressure whilst he has very good foot skills and seems like a smart footballer around goals.

Former Bendigo Bombers Lachlan Delahunty and Sam Lloyd were both impressive for the Dolphins. It is easy to see why Delahunty was selected in the young guns game 2 years ago. A big 191cm running utility who took some big marks and kicked a couple of goals. On Lloyd, the former Mt.Eliza junior was a standout in attack for the Dolphins. He was a real livewire and took an absolute hangard early in the second right in front of the grandstand.

Overall, the Dolphins are in better shape than they have in years, add Khan Haretuku back into the line up, and they have something genuinely to cheer about. A tough home game against a dwindling Port Melbourne will be a good early acid test for this developing group.

Other winners from round 2 I predict will be:

NORTHERN BLUES v Bendigo Gold
Williamstown Seagulls v COBURG TIGERS
NORTH BALLARAT v Casey Scorpions
ESSENDON BOMBERS v Box Hill Hawks
WERRIBEE TIGERS v Collingwood Magpies
Frankston Dolphins v PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH
Sandringham Zebras v GEELONG CATS

I would have picked 4/7 in round 1; so lets keep a running tally shall we?

 

[pazza]

Through doing it on Footytips I got 4 myself this week Yoda!

For me:

Northern Blues
Williamstown
North Ballarat
Essendon
Werribee
Port Melbourne
Geelong

 

[CrowdedHouse]

For the tipsters, Sandy v Geelong is now being played at Geelong. Sandy's ground is unplayable.

Round 3 also sees a move. North Port Oval change rooms not ready, thus Port v Sandy at Frankston (on Sunday 21 April)!

 

[pazza]

For the tipsters, Sandy v Geelong is now being played at Geelong. Sandy's ground is unplayable.

Round 3 also sees a move. North Port Oval change rooms not ready, thus Port v Sandy at Frankston (on Sunday 21 April)!

When are the works at Port Melbourne and the oval at Sandringham expected to be ready?

 

[CrowdedHouse]

When are the works at Port Melbourne and the oval at Sandringham expected to be ready?

Sandy say their ground will be right by Early May.

Port's change rooms should be complete in the next few weeks.

 

[Woefully Inept]

I would've got 4 i reckon last week, would've missed out on Blues, Pies and Geelong, thought Willy and Werribee were in much better positions than last weekend showed

picks this weekend
Blues
Coburg
Casey
Essendon
Werribee
Geelong
Port

 

[CrazyJoeFevola]

Was Franga's effort today the biggest upset of the last decade or more? They were brilliant, Port awful.

 

[pazza]

Fantastic for Frankston.

Goosey can't be doing a lot wrong. He's developing players for AFL footy and now they are starting to get wins.

 

[Yoda_]

Was Franga's effort today the biggest upset of the last decade or more? They were brilliant, Port awful.

It was a ripper win from the Dolphins but Port Melbourne were not even a shadow of themselves from last year.

Just had a look and a bit of a comparison between the side from today to the 2012 grand final side was:

Hugh Sandilands
Stephen Brewer
Shane Valenti
Sam Dwyer
Matt Dillon
Toby Pinwill

And that is just the starting 18, let alone 3 of there best half a dozen players right there (Valenti, Dwyer & Pinwill).

The Dolphins recruits were apparently good but it was the youngsters that stood up. Young Riley Heddles down back, the inside work of up and comer Jason Pongracic and the rapidly rising Zig Alwan has plenty down south on a high. A real boost after such a let down in round 1 against cross town rivals Casey Scorpions.

Perhaps the biggest result from the weekend was that of Box Hill over Essendon. Went along and we got outplayed and outmuscled by a hungrier Box Hill unit. The might of the Essendon VFL rcruits was a let down, Ben Duscher was the best of them but was far too often on the bench purely as a stop gap in between Essendon rotations. Josh Toy was ok, whilst the kid Sikora was handed a lesson to by the Boh Hill Hawks ruckmen (Johnathan Ceglar (26 hitouts) and Luke Lowden (22 tapouts).

 

[pazza]

Frankston win 2 in a row, Essendon get absolutely smashed but in the tragedy of the year..Daniel Menzel does hsi ACL again, for the 4th time.

 

[Yoda_]

Im not worrying to much into Essendon's results. Geelong, Collingwood have had stellar periods in the AFL with stand alone reserves sides, so obviously better to develop the kids in a pure single environment I imagine..

 

[Woefully Inept]

i was more intrigued by Williamstown demolishing Werribee, and the 2s winning by 140+ 2 weeks running

strong club down there, they've recruited brilliantly

 

[CATATTACK77]

Was lucky enough to get down to Simmonds Stadium on the weekend to watch the Cats take on the Box Hill Hawks.
As expected the Cat's continued there unbeaten 2013 season after getting the 4 points in a scrappy affair!

Couple of players who have impressed in 2013
Troy Selwood: Leading by example yet again and gives 110% every week

Jackson Thurlow: Starting to show alot of promise.

Dane Mcfarlane: Looks exciting when he has the ball, needs to work on the defensive side of his game, tackling, forward line pressure etc.

Go Cats 2007 2009 2011 ...... 2013!!!!

 

[CrazyJoeFevola]

Great fighting 16 point win by the Borough over Preston at Cramer street. Really good hard footy played by both sides. Was great to see a decent crowd back at Cramer Street!

 

[The Borough]

Great fighting 16 point win by the Borough over Preston at Cramer street. Really good hard footy played by both sides. Was great to see a decent crowd back at Cramer Street!

Good win. Back on our own dung heap next week too. Who are we??

 

[CrazyJoeFevola]

Borough boys excellent over the other side of the docks running over the top of Willi with Deano booting 6, the support on the Morris street wing was excellent too, put the locals to shame!

 

[Spanish Sahara]

Go the Dolphins!

3 in a row

 

[Woefully Inept]

Go the Dolphins!

3 in a row

We were woeful against you guys yesterday...again! I'm really getting sick of it!

 

[Spanish Sahara]

We were woeful against you guys yesterday...again! I'm really getting sick of it!

The weather made it a scrap at various stages, but you guys just lacked the ability to get good quality inside 50s.

Thoughts on the Richmond listed players performances ?

 

[CrazyJoeFevola]

Port boys were lacklustre, did just enough when they had to, but make no mistake some of the young Bendigo lads can play

 

[Woefully Inept]

The weather made it a scrap at various stages, but you guys just lacked the ability to get good quality inside 50s.

Thoughts on the Richmond listed players performances ?

Poor really, we had a midfield of Tuck, Lonergan and Arnot, who should be getting all the ball out, and then after that we didn't utilise it. Petterd floats around the back half but doesn't offer a lot, McBean struggled, as did McGuane, and we had no idea how to contain Lloyd. Elton did an alright job on Haretuku (I think that's who he played on), but it's the same story that the boys who want to play AFL don't stand up, we had 16 Richmond players! Verrier, O'Hanlon, Derickx, Griffiths (badly!), Nahas all failed to impact, McDonough only had one or two good moments, and once the ball was out of the middle, there wasn't enough effort, Frankston just took a heap of uncontested marks, played on well, and we didn't do enough to stop it.

For a side full of people who had a chance to get into the senior side, I think only Tuck, Lonergan and Arnot enhanced their credentials, maybe Petterd

 

[pazza]

History at the North Ballarat v Frankston match

http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=1-118-0-0-0&&news_task=DETAIL&articleID=24666093