U18 Champs Round 2 - South Australia vs Vic Country

[Holden Hillbilly]

Pudney a Power NGA player. Will likely be drafted by them.

Frederick also a NGA player but more likely to be rookied.

 

[Eastcoasteagle]

View attachment 513550

Wow Valente 14 tackles. This seems to be a jet.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Wow Valente 14 tackles. This seems to be a jet.

Just the nature of the game really, a real midfield in & under, in tight scrap-fest.

Vic Country were gifted first use of the ball on a platter by Bowman & Williams, but their midfielders simply weren't good enough to take advantage, other than Walsh.

Put simply, it was the class of Lukosius & Rankine who made the difference up forward to the result of the game.

I also note that the nong in the AFL write-up either completely missed or ignored entirely the complete midfield dominance of both Bowman & Williams, who were clearly Vic Country's best, along with Walsh.....Did he even watch the game?

 

[jjami15]

Wow Valente 14 tackles. This seems to be a jet.

Not having a go but when someone gets excited about the amount of tackles a player has then it's a bit of a sad day for Australian Rules.

 

[GreyCrow]

Not having a go but when someone gets excited about the amount of tackles a player has then it's a bit of a sad day for Australian Rules.

Why? In a junior match that is intent. I dont care if you are talented or not if you cant get the ball or want the ball then I dont want you in my team. I would have a Valente over a Rankine any day

 

[Chris25]

I also note that the nong in the AFL write-up either completely missed or ignored entirely the complete midfield dominance of both Bowman & Williams, who were clearly Vic Country's best, along with Walsh.....Did he even watch the game?

Bowman and Williams won their position, so you could argue they deserved to be named in the bests. But that's also not saying much. James Braidwood was holding his own in the first half I thought, he wasn't being pushed around as he should have been. And when he went off injured, it was the 187cm Ben Jarvis and Hugo Munn doing the ruckwork.

There was definitely a hitout dominance, but not a complete midfield dominance from what I saw. I don't think they made the most of their advantages.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Bowman and Williams won their position, so you could argue they deserved to be named in the bests. But that's also not saying much. James Braidwood was holding his own in the first half I thought, he wasn't being pushed around as he should have been. And when he went off injured, it was the 187cm Ben Jarvis and Hugo Munn doing the ruckwork.

There was definitely a hitout dominance, but not a complete midfield dominance from what I saw. I don't think they made the most of their advantages.

They clearly never made much of the advantage at all....But that was due to the inept fumbling of most of the small mids.

Bailey Williams was the clear stand-out tall & B.O.G without question, to half-time.....There is no 2 ways about it & Bowman was completely dominant in the ruck giving his midfielders first use.

 

[ft2010sc]

They clearly never made much of the advantage at all....But that was due to the inept fumbling of most of the small mids.

Bailey Williams was the clear stand-out tall & B.O.G without question, to half-time.....There is no 2 ways about it & Bowman was completely dominant in the ruck giving his midfielders first use.

There is more to playing ruck than tapping the ball


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[Chris25]

When you win the hitouts 61 to 23, you'd expect to win the clearances by more than 4.

Clearly the Vic Country midfield was weaker than South Australia's, but the ruckmen also have to give them the best chance to win the ball. And I just think Williams and Bowman could have done that better, given their obvious size advantage.

 

[Procrastinator35]

There is more to playing ruck than tapping the ball

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Indeed....I suggest you go back & watch the tape.

 

[Arthur Dunger]

Chris25 , do you think Pudney is showing enough to be drafted? I liked his game except for his kicks appear to lack penetration but he certainly runs his ass off.

 

[Chris25]

Chris25 , do you think Pudney is showing enough to be drafted? I liked his game except for his kicks appear to lack penetration but he certainly runs his ass off.

He's been a real ball winner in the SANFL, and should have done enough yesterday to keep himself in the SA side. I think he'll get drafted, particularly being an Academy player for Port. There's little risk there. But at this stage, I wouldn't expect it to be much earlier than the fourth round or so. Good size, excellent athletically and racks up the touches. But lacks a bit for impact at the moment. Enough to work with though.

 

[philthy05]

I liked that Williams gets involved after the tap. Was hunting the ball on the ground and attacking it in the air. Just didn’t do enough to really be dominant (very much a game of ‘almost’ for him) but I still liked that endeavour.

 

[TragicFootball]

Don’t get the hype on Hately. Strong player against lighter frames. Seen him a few times now and would put him in the 11-20 range, not 1-10. I’d take Valente ahead of him, who’s very clean in tight and a better kick (IMO).

I’d also take Bowman ahead of Williams. Better ruck and kick. Williams can take a big grab, but I fear he will get found out.

Rozee played off half back, and seemingly always on the outside. Reads it well in flight, quick, clean, but probably needs to get more of it.

Duursma has a very clean kick to players on the lead. Fair spring too. Quite impressed.

Grundy has some mungrel about him. Knocked Garoni to the ground, off ball, while he wasn’t looking. Bit to work with.


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I think with some of the talk about Sam Walsh being the best mid in the draft, I'm not sure I saw that in that game, his touches seemed rushed and not the class you might have expected. Putting him up against Hately I choose Hately everyday: Imposing size, used to playing against the men, and seems to be more effective with his disposals.

Also thought that Rozee needs to nail that "quarterback" kick of half back, couple of times in the game he found the Vic Country players. Rozee has played earlier in the year for North reserves in that role so needs to really find a teammate with that kick to polish off his game. When he has the ball in hand he looks classy.

 

[Thunderstruck]

Was at the game yesterday, must say it was a reasonably dour affair with the slippery conditions not assisting skills or a spectacle as a whole. Nobody stood out head and shoulders above the rest and nobody was excellent. Plenty of good players, plenty of average and quite a few very ordinary.

Player reviews...

SA

Pudney - Good game, glad he was included as he was pretty stiff to miss the first game. Has had strong SANFL reserves form and he brought that yesterday. Read the ball well out of the stoppages and received a lot of the inside work and accelerated away from congestion and regularly drove the ball inside 50. His kicking was a tad loopy and lacked punch and power but his overall football brain was pretty good and considering the slippery surface, thought he handled things pretty well. High in the best for SA.

Hately - Solid game without being dominant, did what was asked, won a lot of his own ball inside and also slotted well into the forward forays. Marked well and did lay some very strong tackles. You can see he is going to be one of the better players from this draft, strong big body, strong mark, works both ways and can go forward. Real blend of Cripps and Parker type. Only question is his pace and general punch on his kicks but he's absolutely a top 5 pick this year. Probably SA's best player on the day, certainly seemed that way from his work but could throw a blanket over about 5.

Betterman - Bit of a Giro look alike but stronger body, actually played well, won his fair share of the footy and laid some good tackles as well. Disposal not too bad and has a bit of a dash when he gets it.

McLennan - Good game, again patrolled the half back line fairly well and took some nice intercepting marks ala Easton Wood style. He certainly can read the high ball coming in and knows where to run to chop off those forward entries. Not as good as against WA but a reliable and consistent effort again.

Gould - Strong game, took a number of nice overhead marks in defence and used it well. He's one helluva prospect for an underage guy, huge man but can run like the wind. Looks so composed as well and has a great understanding of what to do next, makes good decisions.

Valente - Captain courageous, not as good as against WA but really buttered up and smashed his body in. Found at the bottom of every pack and tackled his nuts off and crafted his game perfectly to the slippery conditions, didn't do anything fancy or too much just in and under. He's going to be the consumate professional AFL footballer and to me could be playing AFL tomorrow. Well built, low skin folds, ticks just about every box. Reminds me of Liam Shiels and perhaps some James Kelly as well.

Lewis - Hard as a cats head, was very strong inside, smashed from pillar to post but tackled hard and won his own ball. Bit of the Tom Liberatore's about him in his hungry and mongrel like style.

Lukosius - Well down on his best but somehow like all good players do, found a way to get involved and still had 6 shots at goal kicking 3.2. Was very well held by Idun in patches during the game, he wore him like a glove, followed him wherever he went but when SA started to get on top he showed his smarts, couple of great 'right time right moment' goals and did what he had. Good game in the end.

Rankine - Seemed to spend most of his time up forward with only smaller amounts of mid time which disapoints me as he can be spectacular when playing in the middle. Did some classy things, not as magical as against WA but knew where the goals were and still kicked 3 important goals from being too smart and clever for his opponents. Head and shoulders above everyone else on the ground for pure natural footballing ability EVEN Lukosius but would love to see some more production and cocnsistency across his four quarters. Comes too little atm but whoever gets him is getting a freak of nature.

Kennerley - Thought he got more of the ball than the stats suggest, worked hard up and down the wing again and generally kicked fairly well. Solid game.

Rozee - Actually thought he was a late out for a while as I don't think I saw him till nearly half time. Had absolutely no impact whatsoever, couple of ok moments, nice kick or two and couple of good tackles that stood out but man he was quiet. He's had a lot of quiet and disappointing games for a while now, I think he needs to go back to SANFL Under 18's and just dominate. Talent is there no doubt.

Coleman - Not a great game, did a couple of ok things but also got caught with the pill a few times

Colwell - Snagged a goal but otherwise non-impactful

Jarvis - Late inclusion for Siviour, thought he tried hard again and was thrown into the ruck for most of the game as Braidwood went down injured or was benched for most of the game. Majorly undersized but fought hard. He's got talent as that floating 3rd tall who can push up the ground.

Munn - Managed to snag 3 goals and all mostly close to goal again from memory, played ok but was all about opportunity.

Frederick - Tried hard, made a few blues trying to create run but not the best game

Sparrow - Well down on last week, didn't see much of his power but did a couple of strong things in close.

Martin - Repelled ok but otherwise not noticeable

Tarca - Had a few opportunities near goal but didn't really have much of an impact

Sampson - Not as good as last week but you can see his talent when he has the ball in hand.

Chandler - Not much of the pill but geez he had a red hot go for a little fella. Tackled well

Grundy - Spoiled well but generally a fairly quiet game.

Braidwood - Started in ruck and won a few taps but was too small for Williams especially, then basically spent the last 3/4 on the bench either injured or otherwise.


VC

Walsh - Probably the best for VC, worked very hard around the packs, always seemed to be in every contest and tackled really well. Exhibited football nous in congestion and ran AFL like patterns over the ground contest to contest. Nothing outstanding but he was solid.

Duursma - Not bad, was a tough one to tackle, wiry and extremely strong with plenty of dash and run.

Lloyd - Got a bit of the pill but was fairly vanilla in most of what he did and non-impactful.

Serong - Build a bit like Nathan Freeman, strong body and muscly and did at times cause a few headaches with his power and run. Looks a likely type up forward and up the ground into the middle at times.

Fletcher - Roamed far and wide and used it well, bit of class about him one of the taller mids out out there.

Brownless - Kicking let him down a fair bit but he tried hard and was hungry for the contest.

Vandermeer - Not too bad, got some of the ball and used fairly well, not afraid of the rough stuff either.

McHenry - Started really well but faded as the game went on, was along with Walsh one of VC's best when they were on top in the second, certainly likes to run and has some speed. Tackled strongly as well.

Williams - Big strong lad, moved the smaller Jarvis and Braidwood quite easily and won lots of taps plus a few noticeable clean one grab marks. Quite a lot to like about him.

Stephens - Did see him from time to time, far from their worst but no real impact on the game

Taylor - There is some ability here but otherwise did not have much of an impact.

Berry - Was ok at times with ball in hand but did seem to go missing for large chunks

Bowman - Plenty of hitouts up against basically a half forward flanker so hard to gauge his ruck dominance. Bit of it around the ground but nothing that great.

Barzen - Has talent, showed glimpses of genuine smart half forward but overall no real impact.

Frawley - Bit of dash and run out of defence but also few mistakes that stood out.

Flanders - Can play the game but wanted to see a lot more! neat when he did use it.

Foot - Honestly say I can only remember him in a couple of passages of play

Garoni - Marked well up forward and has a nice kick on him for a couple of goals

Ash - 7 touches but no real impact on the game

Idun - Did notice him more because he was on Lukosius and stuck to him like glue at first and did a terrific job but by the end was beaten when led up the garden path by the far smarter and harder working opponent.

Reid - Solid lad, rebounded ok but otherwise no real impact

Bedford - Felt like he had more touches than the 7 on the sheet, really nippy and high octane player, loads of pace and strong defensive efforts were noticed.

McGannon - Must have got injured as I saw him run off and that was it

 

[Procrastinator35]

SA
McLennan - Good game, again patrolled the half back line fairly well and took some nice intercepting marks ala Easton Wood style. He certainly can read the high ball coming in and knows where to run to chop off those forward entries. Not as good as against WA but a reliable and consistent effort again.

VC
Williams - Big strong lad, moved the smaller Jarvis and Braidwood quite easily and won lots of taps plus a few noticeable clean one grab marks. Quite a lot to like about him.

Apart from Gould, McLennan impressed me the most....I like your Easton Wood comparison also....Very clean & very decisive this kid.

As to your summation of Williams......It's nice to see someone else recognise the bleeding obvious....Williams has a huge tank & his ability to get around the ground & agility for a bloke of 198cm is very impressive indeed....Top 20 pick for mine, with Bowman not far behind.

Other than Caldwell & Walsh, it's only the talls who will feature early for Vic Country come the draft.....Only Duursma & Vandemeer struck me as possessing anything like AFL qualities, with their pace out of the back-half.

 

[Eastcoasteagle]

Not having a go but when someone gets excited about the amount of tackles a player has then it's a bit of a sad day for Australian Rules.

Sorry, I didn't add he was one of the highest possession winners (sort of thought it was a given). Was the stat that really stood out. Impressive numbers and I think he'll be top 10 come draft night.