Analysis Peel Thunder 2015 (TV schedule in OP)

[PurpleReign]

Yeah that's what I meant. Deluca looks like a quality footballer and all, right up until he has to do something remotely classy with the ball. He just doesn't seem to have anything near AFL level skills - but again, I'm really going on very little, I just don't have time to check out the WAFL much at all these days. Be interested in PurpleReign's take on him.

I agree with yourself and yakka. I don't want to be too harsh on him and I hope I'm not going too early but I think he's the only one from last year's draft that looks like he won't make it. He's strong and committed but just looks like a decent wafl player rather than afl quality.

 

[go_the_dockers]

Sheridan started like the proverbial train but faded in the second half. He tried hard all day and was one of the few shining lights for Peel. He was good inside and distributed the ball nicely. I thought he showed real leadership which is a sign of his growing maturity.

Thanks, and great to see. Always rate players higher who perform under adversity.

 

[DudleyDocker]

I didn't get to the game until halfway through the second quarter; I think it was 8 goals to 5 in Swans' favour at the time. From there unfortunately it was all downhill, with Swans doing pretty much what they wanted and Peel looking very second rate. I think there were a couple of factors, apart from one team which obviously is well drilled in their game plan versus one which struggled to hold theirs together under pressure.

I think the biggest problem was a throwback to what we saw last year, with too many talls and not enough pace - Swans were able to run the lines very easily. I love big Griff, but he is as slow as a week of watching Eagles replays. Michael Apeness is very slow with the turning circle of a Hummer, and young Moller just seems to trudge around the field not impacting the play at all.

The other think is the "non-Freo" Peel players. There are a couple of beauties (and I am really coming to like Dick Flasher) but some of them just look like they are way out of their depth. When Peel line up with 15 Freo players they look strong, with 12 it seems like they are easily exposed.

Positives for me? I REALLY like Brady Grey. I did read that he had a forgettable first quarter, but from when I arrived he was fierce at the ball, and when he went into the middle I thought he had a real impact. His kicking at times was poor, but so was the whole teams'. Other times I have seen Brady his kicking has not been too bad at all, so I'm hoping it was just one of those days.

Alex Pearce did some nice things, and I am sure he will be a very good player for us for a long time.

Lachie Weller oozes class, and like Stephen Hill when he gets the ball good things generally ensue. Kid will be a jet!

Thought Blakely had a quiet one. Ballard, Sheridan and Crozier did not impress me today, although I believe Sheridan did well in the early part of the game so maybe I missed his best. Duffy was very poor today, just didn't seem to get to good positions and made some errors with his disposal.

Interesting one for me is Ethan Hughes. His disposal is terrible at times, but he does seem to read the play well and gets a lot of the ball. I believe he came to the game late, so maybe his kicking can be improved, in which case he might be a very handy running back - he certainly can run and break lines.

Lastly, I have to say the umpires were again terrible. At times it felt like they were polling the crowd before deciding whether or not to award free kicks. A couple of times the play had gone on for one or two phases before the baying of the crowd convinced the umpires to pull it up and award a kick. Well done Swannies' crowd! But what I really want to know is who got that extra free kick against the Swans if it wasn't Peel???

 

[E Shed]

I really hope they fast track Weller into the 1's. He's too good to be playing in a poor team.
I believe he could easily handle playing sub and getting a taste. Has the potential to be Hill like in the way he delivers the ball.

 

[PurpleReign]

I'm keen to see Weller play for Freo too but I saw him get smashed by riddoch, who plays like a raging bull, in a contest today which made me think we're doing ourselves a long term favour by letting Weller ride out the year in the magoos.
I mentioned it last week but I saw it again a couple of times today, Blakely can get wrapped up in a bear hug, arms pinned and carried forward in the tackle but somehow he can get his forearms free and hit a target with a handball just before being face planted into the ground. It's early days yet but I do wonder what Carlton saw in boekhorst that blakely doesn't offer. Blakely has some things he needs to work on but I still see him getting a game before Weller.

 

[Mr Peabody]

Peel got hammered yet dominated the hit outs 62 to 23? Did they get smashed at the clearances? Would be strange as there were still some handy mids amongst our lot (Croz, Sherro, Weller, Blakely, Ballard, etc).

 

[Scham]

I'm keen to see Weller play for Freo too but I saw him get smashed by riddoch, who plays like a raging bull, in a contest today which made me think we're doing ourselves a long term favour by letting Weller ride out the year in the magoos.
I mentioned it last week but I saw it again a couple of times today, Blakely can get wrapped up in a bear hug, arms pinned and carried forward in the tackle but somehow he can get his forearms free and hit a target with a handball just before being face planted into the ground. It's early days yet but I do wonder what Carlton saw in boekhorst that blakely doesn't offer. Blakely has some things he needs to work on but I still see him getting a game before Weller.

They had another pick after Boekhorst and before Blakely too their drafting and recruiting has be diabolical the last 4 or 5 years.

 

[E Shed]

I'm keen to see Weller play for Freo too but I saw him get smashed by riddoch, who plays like a raging bull, in a contest today which made me think we're doing ourselves a long term favour by letting Weller ride out the year in the magoos.
I mentioned it last week but I saw it again a couple of times today, Blakely can get wrapped up in a bear hug, arms pinned and carried forward in the tackle but somehow he can get his forearms free and hit a target with a handball just before being face planted into the ground. It's early days yet but I do wonder what Carlton saw in boekhorst that blakely doesn't offer. Blakely has some things he needs to work on but I still see him getting a game before Weller.

Blakely is more AFL ready and will be a fine player but we have Mundy, Barlow, Fyfe and Neale who all excel at doing what he's good at around a stoppage. Weller has the ability to play like another Hill and IMO could add that bit of cream to our scoring potential. He has the highest ceiling and class factor of anyone not incumbent in the team. To put it in perspective if we had another Stephen Hill in the ressies we'd get him in pretty quick.
He's slight but he's hard at a contest and doesn't appear to take a backward step.
I'm not saying next week or even month but by the mid point of the year start playing him as a sub.

 

[Clubber79]

Sean Hurley named best player in reserves with 17 possessions and 9 marks.

Good to hear that Sean is settling in. From watching him with Kildare before he left, he would have been very similar to Paddy Brophy in terms of physique & playing style.
Brophy seems to be progressing very well with the Eagles, despite also only having played a handful of reserve games thus far.
I presume Hurley is playing in a defensive role atm as that seems to be the best way to learn the game but both he and Brophy would have been inside forwards in gaelic football.
Any thoughts on which position he might be best suited to from an AFL persepective, or will it be the typical HBF role?

 

[PurpleReign]

Blakely is more AFL ready and will be a fine player but we have Mundy, Barlow, Fyfe and Neale who all excel at doing what he's good at around a stoppage. Weller has the ability to play like another Hill and IMO could add that bit of cream to our scoring potential. He has the highest ceiling and class factor of anyone not incumbent in the team. To put it in perspective if we had another Stephen Hill in the ressies we'd get him in pretty quick.
He's slight but he's hard at a contest and doesn't appear to take a backward step.
I'm not saying next week or even month but by the mid point of the year start playing him as a sub.

I actually agree with everything you say, but after seeing Weller getting lifted off the ground and dumped into the turf yesterday, it was quite concerning. We played Hill and Fyfe too early through necessity and I think we now have the luxury of protecting our young players. Crozier is a classy, enthusiastic and talented player who has never really had a good run at cementing a spot in the team. He has good depth on his kick and has a few pre-seasons under his belt. We need to see if he is capable of adding to our arsenal of accurate and creative inside-50 kickers. But sure, if there is such a thing as an easy game in the afl then I would love to see Weller get a run as a sub.

 

[PurpleReign]

Good to hear that Sean is settling in. From watching him with Kildare before he left, he would have been very similar to Paddy Brophy in terms of physique & playing style.
Brophy seems to be progressing very well with the Eagles, despite also only having played a handful of reserve games thus far.
I presume Hurley is playing in a defensive role atm as that seems to be the best way to learn the game but both he and Brophy would have been inside forwards in gaelic football.
Any thoughts on which position he might be best suited to from an AFL persepective, or will it be the typical HBF role?

Interesting post Clubber79. Do you know who played full back for Ireland in the International Rules game last year? I was very impressed by the way, whoever that was, played. He displayed some good AFL qualities opposed to Riewoldt (from memory) which made me think that Hurley's transition to AFL would be almost seamless. Hurley looked clueless at FB a couple of weeks ago against Perth and, although I only saw his last quarter yesterday, he didn't seem to have progressed much.
I was a little surprised that he had been given BOG for Peel yesterday. He was very good in the 1 on 1 contest but his opponent was a good bit lighter than Hurley. On 2 or 3 occasions in the last qtr Hurley used his body to good effect and moved his opponent off the ball to take some strong overhead marks on the last line of defence. But also in that qtr, he had his kick smothered after taking a mark simply because he didn't get back far enough to take his kick, he tended to watch the ball in congestion instead of closing down outlet players and with his last kick of the game he spotted up 2 peel players running through the centre and he tried to hit one of them with a kick from HBF but it went between the 2 of them and hit a swan. He went down with cramp straight after the kick so maybe he was fatigued by then.
As for where he should play? I think its probably easier to learn the FB role than the FF role but now that you mention his inside forward role in Gaelic, I wouldn't mind having a look at him as a key forward for Peel.

 

[rodney hoo]

I could not understand the starting of Alex P in the forward line yesterday, it went went from big Jack & lurch the previous couple weeks to ape & Alex, by the time it was changed they were well on top. If it was Cam shepards idea it did not work. No Mzungu in the middle this week & no coming coming back after bad start. Mind games then start & work ethic drops away. Freo got four or five guys in twos that play afl for other clubs & no unless injuries happen no show being promoted. My take on the poor result, there will be a review this week & then hopefully back to what we watched early in the season.

 

[Kram]

Blakely is more AFL ready and will be a fine player but we have Mundy, Barlow, Fyfe and Neale who all excel at doing what he's good at around a stoppage. Weller has the ability to play like another Hill and IMO could add that bit of cream to our scoring potential. He has the highest ceiling and class factor of anyone not incumbent in the team. To put it in perspective if we had another Stephen Hill in the ressies we'd get him in pretty quick.
He's slight but he's hard at a contest and doesn't appear to take a backward step.
I'm not saying next week or even month but by the mid point of the year start playing him as a sub.

Yeah I'd give Weller a game before Blakely from what I've seen, gets less of the footy but better disposal. Just looks like a classy mover and would be a good team fit for the current team. Still pretty small though and I wouldn't be surprised or that disappointed if he doesn't get a go this season in a seasoned side with blokes like Crozier around that are talented, physically built up and still waiting his turn first.

 

[Dockernut]

I didn't get to the game until halfway through the second quarter; I think it was 8 goals to 5 in Swans' favour at the time. From there unfortunately it was all downhill, with Swans doing pretty much what they wanted and Peel looking very second rate. I think there were a couple of factors, apart from one team which obviously is well drilled in their game plan versus one which struggled to hold theirs together under pressure.

I think the biggest problem was a throwback to what we saw last year, with too many talls and not enough pace - Swans were able to run the lines very easily. I love big Griff, but he is as slow as a week of watching Eagles replays. Michael Apeness is very slow with the turning circle of a Hummer, and young Moller just seems to trudge around the field not impacting the play at all.

The other think is the "non-Freo" Peel players. There are a couple of beauties (and I am really coming to like Dick Flasher) but some of them just look like they are way out of their depth. When Peel line up with 15 Freo players they look strong, with 12 it seems like they are easily exposed.

Positives for me? I REALLY like Brady Grey. I did read that he had a forgettable first quarter, but from when I arrived he was fierce at the ball, and when he went into the middle I thought he had a real impact. His kicking at times was poor, but so was the whole teams'. Other times I have seen Brady his kicking has not been too bad at all, so I'm hoping it was just one of those days.

Alex Pearce did some nice things, and I am sure he will be a very good player for us for a long time.

Lachie Weller oozes class, and like Stephen Hill when he gets the ball good things generally ensue. Kid will be a jet!

Thought Blakely had a quiet one. Ballard, Sheridan and Crozier did not impress me today, although I believe Sheridan did well in the early part of the game so maybe I missed his best. Duffy was very poor today, just didn't seem to get to good positions and made some errors with his disposal.

Interesting one for me is Ethan Hughes. His disposal is terrible at times, but he does seem to read the play well and gets a lot of the ball. I believe he came to the game late, so maybe his kicking can be improved, in which case he might be a very handy running back - he certainly can run and break lines.

Lastly, I have to say the umpires were again terrible. At times it felt like they were polling the crowd before deciding whether or not to award free kicks. A couple of times the play had gone on for one or two phases before the baying of the crowd convinced the umpires to pull it up and award a kick. Well done Swannies' crowd! But what I really want to know is who got that extra free kick against the Swans if it wasn't Peel???

Yep, quality post.

One thing I have noticed with the Swannies crowd, and I'm not sure if it's the crowd or the players, but there seems to be a guy out there that wouldn't be out of place as one of those "screamers" in an Emo band. Really gutteral, but high pitched, forceful screaming that I can seldom figure out wtf he's trying to say. Anyways, s**t game by Peel.

 

[Clubber79]

Interesting post Clubber79. Do you know who played full back for Ireland in the International Rules game last year? I was very impressed by the way, whoever that was, played. He displayed some good AFL qualities opposed to Riewoldt (from memory) which made me think that Hurley's transition to AFL would be almost seamless. Hurley looked clueless at FB a couple of weeks ago against Perth and, although I only saw his last quarter yesterday, he didn't seem to have progressed much.
I was a little surprised that he had been given BOG for Peel yesterday. He was very good in the 1 on 1 contest but his opponent was a good bit lighter than Hurley. On 2 or 3 occasions in the last qtr Hurley used his body to good effect and moved his opponent off the ball to take some strong overhead marks on the last line of defence. But also in that qtr, he had his kick smothered after taking a mark simply because he didn't get back far enough to take his kick, he tended to watch the ball in congestion instead of closing down outlet players and with his last kick of the game he spotted up 2 peel players running through the centre and he tried to hit one of them with a kick from HBF but it went between the 2 of them and hit a swan. He went down with cramp straight after the kick so maybe he was fatigued by then.
As for where he should play? I think its probably easier to learn the FB role than the FF role but now that you mention his inside forward role in Gaelic, I wouldn't mind having a look at him as a key forward for Peel.

Although the two codes have a lot of similarities, the game dynamics are quite different.
You can see in the IR series that the Irish guys are very conscious of being tackled to the ground as it is completely alien to them.
As a result they tend to rush kicks and make a lot of mistakes as the alarm bells go off any time an Australian comes within 5m of them.
There may be an element of that with the new recruits like Hurley.
In gaelic football, he can use his size to burst past a defender as the defender can't wrap him up.
Likewise, he can step to the side, even if an opponent is right on top of him, and still get his kick away.
Obviously he can't do that too often playing aussie rules.
How many games has he played so far?
I'd be confident that with his athletic ability and skills he will improve quickly once he gets his head around the ebb and flow of the game.

 

[Ripper]

Your absolutely right. It's the

The What?

 

[Apenesslike]

Don't worry, thought dockernut was taking the piss, but turned out his post cut out. Just having some fun.

 

[beetz]

- No Tanner Smith again? Becoming worrying.
- Any one hear why Langdon didn't play?
- Apeness - has he taken a step back this season?

 

[PurpleReign]

- No Tanner Smith again? Becoming worrying.
- Any one hear why Langdon didn't play?
- Apeness - has he taken a step back this season?

I saw Tanner in the stands, he left at 3/4 time. He didn't look to be carrying any sort of an injury so maybe still suffering the after effects of his concussion sustained against Perth. Langdon was listed as general soreness.
Last year after watching Apeness play a pretty good game for Peel I went home and watched Ben Brown make his debut for NM. At the time I thought our guy was easily 30 draft picks better than BB. Since then BB has gone from strength to strength whilst Apeness doesn't seem to have progressed at all. Apeness plays his best footy when he's on the move, his 2 last qtr goals against Perth were taken on a lead straight up the ground. I wish he'd get out on the lead more often because Peel certainly have the mids to deliver it to him. He tends to camp under the ball and I don't think he's that kind of forward. He's added some size this year and, like Tabs, his set shot routine is vastly improved. I think we're gonna have to continue being patient with him.

 

[Frank J Moose]

I saw Tanner in the stands, he left at 3/4 time. He didn't look to be carrying any sort of an injury so maybe still suffering the after effects of his concussion sustained against Perth. Langdon was listed as general soreness.
Last year after watching Apeness play a pretty good game for Peel I went home and watched Ben Brown make his debut for NM. At the time I thought our guy was easily 30 draft picks better than BB. Since then BB has gone from strength to strength whilst Apeness doesn't seem to have progressed at all. Apeness plays his best footy when he's on the move, his 2 last qtr goals against Perth were taken on a lead straight up the ground. I wish he'd get out on the lead more often because Peel certainly have the mids to deliver it to him. He tends to camp under the ball and I don't think he's that kind of forward. He's added some size this year and, like Tabs, his set shot routine is vastly improved. I think we're gonna have to continue being patient with him.

Ben Brown is two years older than Apeness and spent time in the VFL before he was drafted. Would be happy to see Apeness at Brown's level in two years.

 

[Kram]

I think with Apeness at worst we should end up with just an ok player, big blokes often take a long time to come on anyway and it's only his 2nd year.'

 

[yakka man]

http://www.wafl.com.au/games/view/10390

Tanner Smith is named here to play for Peel. According to this Sean Hurley will make his league debut

It's really strange seeing Mzungu named to play a full game for Peel.

 

[democritus]

Great to see Tanner back and even better to see the Irishman named!

Athletically speaking, Hurley is quite the specimen. Very interested to see how he performs over the next few weeks. Will definitely take some time to adjust, a few glimpses into what could be though!

 

[Quokka]

Commit, play well and you'll get your chance (Pearce & Hurley)

Don't buy in and there's nothing here for you (Sylvia)

Can't ask for more then that

 

[ydraw]

Commit, play well and you'll get your chance (Pearce & Hurley)

Don't buy in and there's nothing here for you (Sylvia)

Can't ask for more then that

Pearce only got his chance because all 3 of the guys in front of him were injured at the same time. (And Hurley is being promoted to replace Pearce)

I wouldn't read a lot into that if I was a young guy at Peel.