Player Watch #5: Brandon Ellis - off to GC pick 39 as compo

[Coxy_]

He is not the reason we lost but would you say he's 24 disposals had an impact? I'd say no.. than you couple that in with a few shirked contest and the opposition just shrugs him off like a ragdoll.

Quite a few of them did, yeah. On a rewatch I reckon you'd see he had a good involvement in quite a few scoring chains. He made some mistakes which hurt too. On the whole it wasn't a good game, I just don't think it was the disaster that quite a few others seem to.

 

[biaseddustyfan]

goneski

 

[Bazzar]

Ahh yes, 2014, it had been years since we'd made finals before 2014, you'd have to go all the way back to 2013.

That's even better then

 

[THE_GUN]

Was a shit night

Drank way too much

Shit game

I knew i should not have logged on to this site tonight

Not going to blame or pot any players as there is probably 10 that should hand back their match payments

But the team that was selected - My God the match committee really needs to take a good hard look at them self's , Really terrible team selection tonight

Moore , Balta , Ross instead of Ellis , Markov , Castagna would have been a better set up

 

[wegetpumped]

B Ellis was one of the better players for us, so that describes what sort of a night we had.

 

[captain blood 17]

The question we have to ask ourselves now is once we get a couple back from injury, do you play a guy like Brandon over Oleg?

 

[TigerImposter]

I continue to say this yet people just don’t understand.
What happened in 2014-17 is irrelevant , we need to look at the present and towards the future. In 2018 a few of our premiership players started to show signs they were floundering.
This mentality was a major reason why we failed to progress for three and a half decades. Our bottom ten players in the 1980 premiership side basically disappeared by 1982. In football time waits for no one and if you get hung up on certain individuals and continue to go to the well with them and come up dry then you’re running the dangerous game of potential long term failure. The RFC of 2017 introduced new faces and got the ultimate prize , but what I’ve seen since is failure to put faith in kids like Miller, Garthwaite, Stack , Baker, RCD , Balta ( dropped after one game)and Moore . Yet pr0n stars with small nobs like Brando Castagna and Markov get gigs as well as the flat footed spud in Weller.
All of 2018 we were screaming out for quality midfielders yet we blew our money on Lynch who is pretty well useless if we don’t have the quality ammunition in the guts to spoon feed him. We drafted young mids so let’s play them and develop them bc what I’ve seen so far this year is that the current set up won’t get us deep into finals. Rant over as I’m seeing PF 2018 results minus the gastro excuses and nothing is being done about it.

 

[TigerImposter]

The question we have to ask ourselves now is once we get a couple back from injury, do you play a guy like Brandon over Oleg?

They both play in the VFL for the rest of 2019 where we hope after the season ends Brando is traded off to the Suns and reunited with his brother The Silky Butterfly and Oleg is delisted and if he’s lucky Frankston picks him up.

 

[Sol23]

I continue to say this yet people just don’t understand.
What happened in 2014-17 is irrelevant , we need to look at the present and towards the future. In 2018 a few of our premiership players started to show signs they were floundering.
This mentality was a major reason why we failed to progress for three and a half decades. Our bottom ten players in the 1980 premiership side basically disappeared by 1982. In football time waits for no one and if you get hung up on certain individuals and continue to go to the well with them and come up dry then you’re running the dangerous game of potential long term failure. The RFC of 2017 introduced new faces and got the ultimate prize , but what I’ve seen since is failure to put faith in kids like Miller, Garthwaite, Stack , Baker, RCD , Balta ( dropped after one game)and Moore . Yet pr0n stars with small nobs like Brando Castagna and Markov get gigs as well as the flat footed spud in Weller.
All of 2018 we were screaming out for quality midfielders yet we blew our money on Lynch who is pretty well useless if we don’t have the quality ammunition in the guts to spoon feed him. We drafted young mids so let’s play them and develop them bc what I’ve seen so far this year is that the current set up won’t get us deep into finals. Rant over as I’m seeing PF 2018 results minus the gastro excuses and nothing is being done about it.

Yeah I just don’t know what they expected playing guys like Brando,Weller,markov........I got what I expected! They spudded it up just like I thought. Now is the time where we have to weed in some youth to reinvigorate the side. Dusty just looks disinterested

 

[BF Tiger]

I'm like a lot here, I wish it wasn't the case but he just hasn't improved. When he was making the AA squad, finishing second in the B&F, a rising star nomination and making three 22under22 sides I thought the sky was the limit for the kid. Sadly, he hasn't improved since then. It's sad because he should be looking at his next contract being $500,000+ for multiple years, but it'll be minimum wage for one or two.

 

[Grrr]

I continue to say this yet people just don’t understand.
What happened in 2014-17 is irrelevant , we need to look at the present and towards the future. In 2018 a few of our premiership players started to show signs they were floundering.
This mentality was a major reason why we failed to progress for three and a half decades. Our bottom ten players in the 1980 premiership side basically disappeared by 1982. In football time waits for no one and if you get hung up on certain individuals and continue to go to the well with them and come up dry then you’re running the dangerous game of potential long term failure. The RFC of 2017 introduced new faces and got the ultimate prize , but what I’ve seen since is failure to put faith in kids like Miller, Garthwaite, Stack , Baker, RCD , Balta ( dropped after one game)and Moore . Yet pr0n stars with small nobs like Brando Castagna and Markov get gigs as well as the flat footed spud in Weller.
All of 2018 we were screaming out for quality midfielders yet we blew our money on Lynch who is pretty well useless if we don’t have the quality ammunition in the guts to spoon feed him. We drafted young mids so let’s play them and develop them bc what I’ve seen so far this year is that the current set up won’t get us deep into finals. Rant over as I’m seeing PF 2018 results minus the gastro excuses and nothing is being done about it.

I agree with this but for one thing. Miller is out with appendix, Garth has half a game of VFL under his belt. Baker is ready, RCD is not. Stack has been at the club 5 minutes but the signs are good. Dropping Balta was a mistake (we were massively outcoached last night which goes to your point of Hardwick's stubborn approach to both playing personnel and game style/tactics), and Moore is just now starting to look like a player who might be able to play with some consistency at the top level.
So while I think you are absolutely right in reference to replacing bottom level players, some of the players who would be getting games have injuries or are not quite ready. They will get games in 2019 because we have come back to the pack due to injuries and the form of some of our supposedly senior players. Also I have never been in favour of picking up delisted (multiple times) players like Weller due to them getting 'automatic' selection over younger/developing players who have been at the club for a number of season.
Early days, and having injuries will in the long run work out for taking the club forward. Let's hope replacing under performing senior players is part of that.

 

[TigerImposter]

I agree with this but for one thing. Miller is out with appendix, Garth has half a game of VFL under his belt. Baker is ready, RCD is not. Stack has been at the club 5 minutes but the signs are good. Dropping Balta was a mistake (we were massively outcoached last night which goes to your point of Hardwick's stubborn approach to both playing personnel and game style/tactics), and Moore is just now starting to look like a player who might be able to play with some consistency at the top level.
So while I think you are absolutely right in reference to replacing bottom level players, some of the players who would be getting games have injuries or are not quite ready. They will get games in 2019 because we have come back to the pack due to injuries and the form of some of our supposedly senior players. Also I have never been in favour of picking up delisted (multiple times) players like Weller due to them getting 'automatic' selection over younger/developing players who have been at the club for a number of season.
Early days, and having injuries will in the long run work out for taking the club forward. Let's hope replacing under performing senior players is part of that.

You’re right in a way there mate , but we lost Rance so who did we replace him with? Then Balta another tall player was axed and who did we replace him with? We didn’t address the inadequacies of last years PF loss which was their ruck stocks and genuine midfield class , which was topped up further with Beams. We played five small forwards in Rioli Higgins Butler George and Weller in the hope some would go with or break even against the Pies elite midfield. In the end they were all so poor (apart from young Higgins )at doing their primary job that Short had to pop down the FL and snag two goals. Also adding two tepid HBF was another poor selection.
We didn’t learn one thing from last years game and it appeared we hid behind the gastro excuse rather than trying to match apples with apples. After the first 15 min we went into 2016 defensive mode bc the floodgates opening were inevitable. This is what happens when your rucks and midfielders are exposed for speed and class. I don’t care how young or inexperienced a player is bc in the end the experience will be a learning curve.
Cotchin Rance Jack and Dusty played as kids in much more inferior sides and we’re better for it. I will always argue that it’s better investing in raw talent rather squandering hope in spent players.

 

[Grrr]

You’re right in a way there mate , but we lost Rance so who did we replace him with? Then Balta another tall player was axed and who did we replace him with? We didn’t address the inadequacies of last years PF loss which was their ruck stocks and genuine midfield class , which was topped up further with Beams. We played five small forwards in Rioli Higgins Butler George and Weller in the hope some would go with or break even against the Pies elite midfield. In the end they were all so poor (apart from young Higgins )at doing their primary job that Short had to pop down the FL and snag two goals. Also adding two tepid HBF was another poor selection.
We didn’t learn one thing from last years game and it appeared we hid behind the gastro excuse rather than trying to match apples with apples. After the first 15 min we went into 2016 defensive mode bc the floodgates opening were inevitable. This is what happens when your rucks and midfielders are exposed for speed and class. I don’t care how young or inexperienced a player is bc in the end the experience will be a learning curve.
Cotchin Rance Jack and Dusty played as kids in much more inferior sides and we’re better for it. I will always argue that it’s better investing in raw talent rather squandering hope in spent players.

As I said, we were beaten as soon as Riewoldt lined up in the ruck (and not Balta). As you say, we learned nothing from the Prelim., in fact I would say we looked to have done nothing as far as game plan approach over the summer. The way Collingwood played last night was genuinely good coaching, and a plan that they worked on in preparation. Soak up our energy then expoit us when we ran out of legs. It didn't help that Grundy handed Nank his first real pasting in the ruck. Our midfield was slaughtered.
The only thing I can say is that the draft this year highlighted our lack of midfield depth and went and recruited mid field depth. Therefore leaving out another ruckman, especially after watching the mobile Stanely beat Grundy after half time the week before with his athleticism, makes the decision to leave out Balta all the more baffling. On that point, Riewoldt actually won two centre clearances by staying down. Great. After which Cox smashed the ball to CHF. Blueprint for all other clubs from now on if we go the Grigg ruck approach.

 

[Delediodamage]

Tried his guts out for us tonight but if you're an outside player you need three things... speed, clean hands and a penetrating kick. Ellis constantly fumbles, runs all day but is slow and his kicks although have some depth take to long to arrive. There just isn't a role for a player like Ellis in the modern game. I'd prefer to offer more opportunities to Menedue, Naish or Bolton. They might not be ready but at least they have the tools to play the role which Ellis seems to be in the side for.

 

[banana_bus]

Menedue

No.

 

[mopsy]

As another person said he will get 25 soft useless possesions and spend a fair time crapping himself.
He may have got 40 last week but his ball use was reported as horrible.Ross and Stack should both have been picked this week and Balta being dropped is absurd.

A typical Ellis game 24 disposals with the above still applying.
This really is the norm for this bloke and why he should not be getting games. Nothing will change what you see is what you will always get.Its been the norm for most of his career.
It really is madness doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. It is time for the club to move on not just Ellis but several premiership players.

 

[Coxy_]

Gotta love how a loss turns some alcoholic ****wits into football experts.

Get rid of half the premiership, look to the future and forget about the present.

2019 is a write-off folks.

Amen

 

[mopsy]

Gotta love how a loss turns some into vitriolic over the top excuse makers.

 

[Sir_Rancelot]

I continue to say this yet people just don’t understand.
What happened in 2014-17 is irrelevant , we need to look at the present and towards the future. In 2018 a few of our premiership players started to show signs they were floundering.
This mentality was a major reason why we failed to progress for three and a half decades. Our bottom ten players in the 1980 premiership side basically disappeared by 1982. In football time waits for no one and if you get hung up on certain individuals and continue to go to the well with them and come up dry then you’re running the dangerous game of potential long term failure. The RFC of 2017 introduced new faces and got the ultimate prize , but what I’ve seen since is failure to put faith in kids like Miller, Garthwaite, Stack , Baker, RCD , Balta ( dropped after one game)and Moore . Yet pr0n stars with small nobs like Brando Castagna and Markov get gigs as well as the flat footed spud in Weller.
All of 2018 we were screaming out for quality midfielders yet we blew our money on Lynch who is pretty well useless if we don’t have the quality ammunition in the guts to spoon feed him. We drafted young mids so let’s play them and develop them bc what I’ve seen so far this year is that the current set up won’t get us deep into finals. Rant over as I’m seeing PF 2018 results minus the gastro excuses and nothing is being done about it.

Well said, this has been coming for a while now, you could see that mid way though last season we were flat. Players were playing on reputation only, people saying we lost our hunger is bull crap, I think we have been found out and teams no longer allow us to play the game style we were used to. Hawthorn never lost the hunger to win all those GF's so what gives the current playing group the right to think that they don't owe the supporters and not put in 110% every week. I feel stupid for being so emotionally invested in the teams performace when they clearly don't give a flying Fu%$ what happens. I'm glad we have 2 away games it will give me a change to chill, I have already penciled them down as a loss.

Also don't expect RCD to do much, he wasn't tearing it up in the TAC so I have very limited expectations on him.

 

[Marcel Proust]

Ellis is not good at football.

 

[THE_GUN]

Gotta love how a loss turns some alcoholic *******s into football experts.

Get rid of half the premiership, look to the future and forget about the present.

2019 is a write-off folks.

Amen

Some of us were actually saying the same things when the team was announced, Before a drink and the loss

 

[Marcel Proust]

Some of us were actually saying the same things when the team was announced, Before a drink and the loss

he has been rubbish for some time

he was carried, like Grigg, by the better players in the premiership season

 

[tugga]

Horrible selections this week.
They went back to the tried and tested small side, except that ship sailed late last year.
Really poor coaching last night and during selection.
Seems like they are trying to replicate the formula that won us a flag, which is fine in theory, but in practice it's treading water.

 

[THE_GUN]

Nothing wrong with having the smalls but you cant just pack the team with them, Balta was a stupid decision to leave out

I can actually understand bringing Ellis into the team but Dropping Balta after the loss of Rance as well as Leaving Weller in if you are bringing Castagna was just stupid stupid stupid.

 

[tugga]

Nothing wrong with having the smalls but you cant just pack the team with them, Balta was a stupid decision to leave out

I can actually understand bringing Ellis into the team but Dropping Balta after the loss of Rance as well as Leaving Weller in if you are bringing Castagna was just stupid stupid stupid.

I had no problem with Brando coming in. Just mind boggling that Balta was left out.
Surely the Butler/Castagna combo is gone? May as well throw Bolton and Baker in.