Eagles v Pies- GBU
Hope you enjoy a rather rushed GBU for this week- I forgot to ask a Collingwood fan to do their bit, so its a bit reduced.
(Reading from the Book of Woosha, chapter 2, Round 8.)
..And so it came to pass that the 22 disciples of Woosha found themselves facing the black and white abyss of defeat. And as the three quarter siren sounded, Woosha went down unto the disciples, and ministered unto them, and said: Be not dismayed, lads, for I have not brought thee to this poorly surfaced wilderness to suffer defeat. Believe in thyselves, as surely as thou'st believeth in me. Run hard, good long kicks out of the centre, and tackle the bastards if they even have a sniff of the pill. Do these things in my name, and ye shall triumph. Do them not, and Jako shalt kick thou asses when thou returnest.
Disciple #32 heard Woosha sayest these things, and he wept, saying- 'Master, we are tired. Our feet art swollen, and our run hath dried up. Also, the umpires hath sodomized us all day. How can we do these things that you ask?'
At this, Woosha was consumed with great wrath, and said: Embers, quit being such a pussy. Ye shall find the will to do these things, and in doing so, ye shall be a beacon unto others. Yea, I shall make thee the instrument of my will. Now get out there and vanquish them, or I shalt bitch slap ye so hard that I shalt smite thou halfway to Perth!
And Disciple #32 heard these words, and was filled with great fear and new energy, and he went out onto the field and moved amongst the followers of the Dark Lord Mick, and smote many of them, and gathered many possessions and kicked several goals. And even as Woosha had said, the disciples triumphed, and returned to Perth. And Disciple #32 even managed to get the number of the daughter of Dark Lord Mick when she spake unto him after the game, and he resolved to return soon and convert her to the bright way of blue and gold.
We are officially in the mix. This weekend, the Eagles flew to Victoria with a bevy of out of sorts core players, a pygmy forward line and a 3 game winning streak to back up. They'll head back home with a blistering first quarter, a gutsy win, and a huge amount of respect.
The Good
How much balls did our team have today? If I were a literal type, I'd suggest West Coast had roughly forty four (+ 2 for the coach) but for the sake of the metaphor I'll settle for ****loads.
Andrew Embley was without a doubt best on ground, capping off an excellent year so far with a career high performance. He was in everything- started strongly in the midfield, spent some time mopping up in defence, and was the spark that ignited our fight back in the dying minutes of the game, kicking one goal from a juggled pack mark, and snapping an absolute blinder whilst being swung in a tackle. Embley's workrate this year has been impressive, but what I've really liked is the fact that in the three close games we've fought this year (Hawks, Cats, and this one) he's lifted when crunch time arrived. Can't wait to see him play finals.
Gardiner also impressed, working incredibly hard all day. I had a dose of flu this week, and I'm still spending most of my time hunkered down on the lounge with half a box of tissues up my nose and a packet of strepsils handy. Gardie also had the flu, but that didn't stop him from wheeling out another dominant ruck performance, some sterling around the ground work and an inspirational running goal. (his first for the year!)
Cousins looks to have shaken his injury concerns, and played close to peak form. He was quality all day and simply invincible in the first quarter. He was assisted by Kerr and Judd, the latter had what could be best described as a low volume/high impact game- not a huge number of touches, but every one of them a winner, including three classic Judd goals.
Aside from these leading lights in the midfield, its also worth mentioning Michael Braun. If anyone actually pays attention to my ramblings over the weeks, they might get the impression that I'm a bit anti-Braun. After this game, I'm a bit of a convert, actually. Brauny was gutsy, particularly when it counted in the final quarter. He knows no fear when marking, and provided crucial run for us- his running goal echoed the sealer he kicked last week. Furthermore, I love the fashion statement Braun makes by just wearing the single black and silver glove- its sort of like having Michael Jackson coming off the interchange bench for us.
Aside from Embley, noone really dominated up forward. Rowan Jones was lively, taking some outstanding marks, setting up several goals but spraying his kicking all over the place. Sampi continued to impress- he actually looks a lot better when playing at half forward, where his skills, decision making & tackling means he sets up as many as he kicks- case in point was his outstanding pick pocket job on a Collingwood player in the last quarter. Hunter toiled hard out of his size and weight division at CHF, kicking truly in the final term when we needed it most.
In defence, Wirrpunda slotted back into the side like he never left, and played a truly outstanding game. Wirrpunda backed himself to run off Leon Davis time after time (ok, anyone who bothers to play Leon Neon tight is a bit of an idiot) and continually dropped in front of Collingwood forwards to take marks. His kicking was artistry personified- his usual combination of exquisitely placed chip kicks, and some jaw droppingly huge torpedos, some of which travelled 70-80m. Having a guy who can place the ball anywhere between himself and the centre square on kick ins gives us a huge tactical advantage on kick ins, and even if it didn't, I reckon Wirra deserves some sort of merit award for being the only guy left in the league with the bottle to bring out the torp in general play.
Kasey Green was also strong in defence, whilst Banfield, Carroll and McIntosh toiled hard against quality opposition all day. Glass deserves props for a decent effort (and thoroughly filthy scrag job) on Tarrant which kept Collingwood's most dangerous forward to a single goal, assisted of course by some diabolical kicking on Taz's part.
The Hummer also had an interesting one- he struggled early on, until midway through the final term, he copped a elbow in the face from a heavy Rocca bump. Ths seemed to sort Humm out good and proper, and after that, he lifted his game and played some pretty impressive defensive football, with several tough marks in defence and a sledgehammer tackle he seems to have been copying off Chick. The fact that he actually improved out of sight after getting a heavy knock on the head probably tells you everything you need to know about Humm- he just needed a bit of a dong on the noggin to wake him up!
The Bad
Great as this win was, in some ways it was really a loss with 4 points attached. Both this week and last, we've put ourselves in situations where the game could have gone either way- this time round it should have never happened- after the scintillating first quarter, we simply stopped, and by midway through the last, we were 15 points down, and on the bring of what would have been an enormously humiliating defeat. A combination of grit, class, and terror of Worsfold doing his nut on the plane home saw us snatch the game back, but there are some lessons that need to be learned from this game.
Cox failed to provide any meaningful backup for Gardiner, and Gardie was again forced to shoulder the load down the stretch. This is not going to cut it against Richmond next week- they have an okay ruck, and expecting Gardiner to take them apart for four quarters is a big ask. Cox needs to find some form, and fast- its not as if we don't have several rucking grunts cooling their heels in the WAFL. Of the on ballers, Fletch had a quiet day but it should be noted that Collingwood were sacrificing a matchup with Cousins to tag Chad.
For extended periods, the forward line simply did not function.
Haynes continued his poor form, and was missing all day. Even if he does set up several goals (which he didn't) even if his defensive pressure was fantastic (which it wasn't), and even if his second efforts were great (which they weren't) even if you can cite any number of strange unquantifiable reasons why he is really good value at Full Forward, it doesn't change the fundamental problem with his game. A Full Forward's job is to kick goals. If he doesn't kick goals, the rest of his game isn't relevant. For the same reason that McKee's ability to gather the ball out of packs doesn't make him a good ruckman, all of Haynes' other attributes mean squat if he doesn't lead, mark, and kick through the big sticks. At this stage, he looks like he'll be a good FF in a year or so once he gets a bit more meat on his frame, but in his current form he's a liability. At present, in: T. Wilson, Out: D. Haynes, or at least away from FF to the HF flank.
Matera had a quiet day by this year's standards (and still finished with 2 goals, which says what sort of year he's having) and potent as he's been, we shouldn't rely on him to kick big scores each week. Yes, we still kicked a decent score, but where did they come from? Of our 18 goals, 5 were from full time forwards (Matera, Sampi, Hunter) whereas Collingwood forwards kicked 9 of their 15 goals. Put simply we kicked a winning score because our midfield dominated. If the opposition just breaks even in the midfield, suddenly we're in trouble.
I don't buy the 'we're leading the AFL in goals kicked, so there's nothing wrong up forward.' We've got the best 2 centre clearance combos in the competition in Gardie/Cuz and Gardie/Fletch, the ball goes into our attacking zone very frequently- if we weren't leading the league in goals kicked, there'd be something very wrong. Put simply, our midfield is that good that its doing enough work to cover for our forwards- when we're not thrashing teams out of the centre like we weren't during the middle part of this game, we struggle.
In defence, the lack of Jako showed, as we struggled to find the body to match up on Rocca. Milli was on him for the bulk of the day, but he couldn't get anywhere near him on the lead. His game was still pretty good, but after some very tough assignments over the last few rounds he looks pretty buggered. I'd want him fit as a fiddle to take on Lloyd in a fortnight's time, so it probably wouldn't hurt to give him a week off- with Glass's good effort this week, now could be the time.
The Ugly
We continue to get a pretty average run with injuries, with Chick going down. I don't think we've put our optimum best 22 on the park at any time this year, given our record, this could be seen as a good thing I suppose. Ideally, we'll hold it together, keep winning, and really hit our straps in a couple of months time. If we do lift above how we're playing now, Fear Us.
The umpiring was of the eccentric sort which saw both sides alternatively getting away with murder and then being raped. The decision which had me absolutely livid was the sequence which saw Wirrpunda pinged for supposedly stepping out of the goal square on the kick in (which he didn'), and then, to top it off, the subsequent bounce in the goal square was so bad that it missed both ruckmen and landed in the arms of a Collingwood player about ten metres away. Wrong Decison, Bad Bounce = goal to collingwood.
I'll save you my regular rant about channel 10 commentators. You saw it, you know what I'm on about. Farkin hell though, hopefully next year West Coast's fixture request will be a load of games on Fridays and Sundays, so we can actually listen to Cometti for a change. A special GBU '**** you' goes to Peter Daicos for his heart broken 'oh no!' when Embley slotted his awesome goal. Oh Yes, Daics, Oh Yes. However, Channel 10 almost made up for their entire shoddy coverage with a close up (yeargh!) two second shot of a sulking Joffa after we sealed the game. Made my day
Hope you enjoy a rather rushed GBU for this week- I forgot to ask a Collingwood fan to do their bit, so its a bit reduced.
(Reading from the Book of Woosha, chapter 2, Round 8.)
..And so it came to pass that the 22 disciples of Woosha found themselves facing the black and white abyss of defeat. And as the three quarter siren sounded, Woosha went down unto the disciples, and ministered unto them, and said: Be not dismayed, lads, for I have not brought thee to this poorly surfaced wilderness to suffer defeat. Believe in thyselves, as surely as thou'st believeth in me. Run hard, good long kicks out of the centre, and tackle the bastards if they even have a sniff of the pill. Do these things in my name, and ye shall triumph. Do them not, and Jako shalt kick thou asses when thou returnest.
Disciple #32 heard Woosha sayest these things, and he wept, saying- 'Master, we are tired. Our feet art swollen, and our run hath dried up. Also, the umpires hath sodomized us all day. How can we do these things that you ask?'
At this, Woosha was consumed with great wrath, and said: Embers, quit being such a pussy. Ye shall find the will to do these things, and in doing so, ye shall be a beacon unto others. Yea, I shall make thee the instrument of my will. Now get out there and vanquish them, or I shalt bitch slap ye so hard that I shalt smite thou halfway to Perth!
And Disciple #32 heard these words, and was filled with great fear and new energy, and he went out onto the field and moved amongst the followers of the Dark Lord Mick, and smote many of them, and gathered many possessions and kicked several goals. And even as Woosha had said, the disciples triumphed, and returned to Perth. And Disciple #32 even managed to get the number of the daughter of Dark Lord Mick when she spake unto him after the game, and he resolved to return soon and convert her to the bright way of blue and gold.
We are officially in the mix. This weekend, the Eagles flew to Victoria with a bevy of out of sorts core players, a pygmy forward line and a 3 game winning streak to back up. They'll head back home with a blistering first quarter, a gutsy win, and a huge amount of respect.
The Good
How much balls did our team have today? If I were a literal type, I'd suggest West Coast had roughly forty four (+ 2 for the coach) but for the sake of the metaphor I'll settle for ****loads.
Andrew Embley was without a doubt best on ground, capping off an excellent year so far with a career high performance. He was in everything- started strongly in the midfield, spent some time mopping up in defence, and was the spark that ignited our fight back in the dying minutes of the game, kicking one goal from a juggled pack mark, and snapping an absolute blinder whilst being swung in a tackle. Embley's workrate this year has been impressive, but what I've really liked is the fact that in the three close games we've fought this year (Hawks, Cats, and this one) he's lifted when crunch time arrived. Can't wait to see him play finals.
Gardiner also impressed, working incredibly hard all day. I had a dose of flu this week, and I'm still spending most of my time hunkered down on the lounge with half a box of tissues up my nose and a packet of strepsils handy. Gardie also had the flu, but that didn't stop him from wheeling out another dominant ruck performance, some sterling around the ground work and an inspirational running goal. (his first for the year!)
Cousins looks to have shaken his injury concerns, and played close to peak form. He was quality all day and simply invincible in the first quarter. He was assisted by Kerr and Judd, the latter had what could be best described as a low volume/high impact game- not a huge number of touches, but every one of them a winner, including three classic Judd goals.
Aside from these leading lights in the midfield, its also worth mentioning Michael Braun. If anyone actually pays attention to my ramblings over the weeks, they might get the impression that I'm a bit anti-Braun. After this game, I'm a bit of a convert, actually. Brauny was gutsy, particularly when it counted in the final quarter. He knows no fear when marking, and provided crucial run for us- his running goal echoed the sealer he kicked last week. Furthermore, I love the fashion statement Braun makes by just wearing the single black and silver glove- its sort of like having Michael Jackson coming off the interchange bench for us.
Aside from Embley, noone really dominated up forward. Rowan Jones was lively, taking some outstanding marks, setting up several goals but spraying his kicking all over the place. Sampi continued to impress- he actually looks a lot better when playing at half forward, where his skills, decision making & tackling means he sets up as many as he kicks- case in point was his outstanding pick pocket job on a Collingwood player in the last quarter. Hunter toiled hard out of his size and weight division at CHF, kicking truly in the final term when we needed it most.
In defence, Wirrpunda slotted back into the side like he never left, and played a truly outstanding game. Wirrpunda backed himself to run off Leon Davis time after time (ok, anyone who bothers to play Leon Neon tight is a bit of an idiot) and continually dropped in front of Collingwood forwards to take marks. His kicking was artistry personified- his usual combination of exquisitely placed chip kicks, and some jaw droppingly huge torpedos, some of which travelled 70-80m. Having a guy who can place the ball anywhere between himself and the centre square on kick ins gives us a huge tactical advantage on kick ins, and even if it didn't, I reckon Wirra deserves some sort of merit award for being the only guy left in the league with the bottle to bring out the torp in general play.
Kasey Green was also strong in defence, whilst Banfield, Carroll and McIntosh toiled hard against quality opposition all day. Glass deserves props for a decent effort (and thoroughly filthy scrag job) on Tarrant which kept Collingwood's most dangerous forward to a single goal, assisted of course by some diabolical kicking on Taz's part.
The Hummer also had an interesting one- he struggled early on, until midway through the final term, he copped a elbow in the face from a heavy Rocca bump. Ths seemed to sort Humm out good and proper, and after that, he lifted his game and played some pretty impressive defensive football, with several tough marks in defence and a sledgehammer tackle he seems to have been copying off Chick. The fact that he actually improved out of sight after getting a heavy knock on the head probably tells you everything you need to know about Humm- he just needed a bit of a dong on the noggin to wake him up!
The Bad
Great as this win was, in some ways it was really a loss with 4 points attached. Both this week and last, we've put ourselves in situations where the game could have gone either way- this time round it should have never happened- after the scintillating first quarter, we simply stopped, and by midway through the last, we were 15 points down, and on the bring of what would have been an enormously humiliating defeat. A combination of grit, class, and terror of Worsfold doing his nut on the plane home saw us snatch the game back, but there are some lessons that need to be learned from this game.
Cox failed to provide any meaningful backup for Gardiner, and Gardie was again forced to shoulder the load down the stretch. This is not going to cut it against Richmond next week- they have an okay ruck, and expecting Gardiner to take them apart for four quarters is a big ask. Cox needs to find some form, and fast- its not as if we don't have several rucking grunts cooling their heels in the WAFL. Of the on ballers, Fletch had a quiet day but it should be noted that Collingwood were sacrificing a matchup with Cousins to tag Chad.
For extended periods, the forward line simply did not function.
Haynes continued his poor form, and was missing all day. Even if he does set up several goals (which he didn't) even if his defensive pressure was fantastic (which it wasn't), and even if his second efforts were great (which they weren't) even if you can cite any number of strange unquantifiable reasons why he is really good value at Full Forward, it doesn't change the fundamental problem with his game. A Full Forward's job is to kick goals. If he doesn't kick goals, the rest of his game isn't relevant. For the same reason that McKee's ability to gather the ball out of packs doesn't make him a good ruckman, all of Haynes' other attributes mean squat if he doesn't lead, mark, and kick through the big sticks. At this stage, he looks like he'll be a good FF in a year or so once he gets a bit more meat on his frame, but in his current form he's a liability. At present, in: T. Wilson, Out: D. Haynes, or at least away from FF to the HF flank.
Matera had a quiet day by this year's standards (and still finished with 2 goals, which says what sort of year he's having) and potent as he's been, we shouldn't rely on him to kick big scores each week. Yes, we still kicked a decent score, but where did they come from? Of our 18 goals, 5 were from full time forwards (Matera, Sampi, Hunter) whereas Collingwood forwards kicked 9 of their 15 goals. Put simply we kicked a winning score because our midfield dominated. If the opposition just breaks even in the midfield, suddenly we're in trouble.
I don't buy the 'we're leading the AFL in goals kicked, so there's nothing wrong up forward.' We've got the best 2 centre clearance combos in the competition in Gardie/Cuz and Gardie/Fletch, the ball goes into our attacking zone very frequently- if we weren't leading the league in goals kicked, there'd be something very wrong. Put simply, our midfield is that good that its doing enough work to cover for our forwards- when we're not thrashing teams out of the centre like we weren't during the middle part of this game, we struggle.
In defence, the lack of Jako showed, as we struggled to find the body to match up on Rocca. Milli was on him for the bulk of the day, but he couldn't get anywhere near him on the lead. His game was still pretty good, but after some very tough assignments over the last few rounds he looks pretty buggered. I'd want him fit as a fiddle to take on Lloyd in a fortnight's time, so it probably wouldn't hurt to give him a week off- with Glass's good effort this week, now could be the time.
The Ugly
We continue to get a pretty average run with injuries, with Chick going down. I don't think we've put our optimum best 22 on the park at any time this year, given our record, this could be seen as a good thing I suppose. Ideally, we'll hold it together, keep winning, and really hit our straps in a couple of months time. If we do lift above how we're playing now, Fear Us.
The umpiring was of the eccentric sort which saw both sides alternatively getting away with murder and then being raped. The decision which had me absolutely livid was the sequence which saw Wirrpunda pinged for supposedly stepping out of the goal square on the kick in (which he didn'), and then, to top it off, the subsequent bounce in the goal square was so bad that it missed both ruckmen and landed in the arms of a Collingwood player about ten metres away. Wrong Decison, Bad Bounce = goal to collingwood.
I'll save you my regular rant about channel 10 commentators. You saw it, you know what I'm on about. Farkin hell though, hopefully next year West Coast's fixture request will be a load of games on Fridays and Sundays, so we can actually listen to Cometti for a change. A special GBU '**** you' goes to Peter Daicos for his heart broken 'oh no!' when Embley slotted his awesome goal. Oh Yes, Daics, Oh Yes. However, Channel 10 almost made up for their entire shoddy coverage with a close up (yeargh!) two second shot of a sulking Joffa after we sealed the game. Made my day
