2nds 2018 Stand Alone VFL - Inaugural season over. Time for reviews.

ansonholt

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Oh well.

Thanks for your updates BTW. Very much appreciated.

Unlike ansonholt who needs to get his priorities straight :tearsofjoy:
You're harsh, but fair.

At this stage planning to go to Coburg next Sunday. Really nice ground and Coburg are rubbish so we should go well.

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SMaturin

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More questions than answers from me following the game.

Franga went with a small forward line and got great returns all day.

They really benefited from an open forward line while we were dominating territory on the last half.

Durds took some nice marks - but he’d have wanted to as his opponent was a foot shorter.

Preuss came good for 5 minutes in the last by going beast mode at stoppages, but didn’t influence the and at all around the ground.

From what others have said sounds as though we managed a few players and several others missed altogether. Will be interested to hear what Loader has to say.

Ahern looked fantastic. Was really impressed. Found the footy inside and used it well.
 

roos_fanatic08

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Goals: Close 4, Larkey 4, Cameron 2, Rippon, Harper, Williams, Holmes, Preuss, Rodd & Leoniardis.

Best: Close, Nielson, Ahern, Larkey, Xerri & Rippon.

Key points from my mate who was at the game:
- hrovat, Hayden, Wood and Junker didn’t play. Junker has issues with a concussion a few weeks back. Hrovat didn’t pass the fitness test on Friday.

- Frankston won too many easy centre clearances. Our tackling and pressure was good all day but we lapsed at times.

- we broke down across half forward too often going long to contests instead of hitting up leading targets.

- Garner played a bit in the midfield and wing. Took a few good grabs but wa blowing up early on.

- Hibberd and Durdin turned it over way too much across half back.

- Nielson and McKay were solid across half back and the last line all day.

- general consensus was that we lacked any drive off half back. Moving the ball really slow out of the back resulting in turnovers

- Ahern excellent. Cleanest player on the field, but not quite there yet with match fitness.

- Rippon, Holmes and Close all excellent for non listed players
 

wolvesRoos

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I went along today. Was good to see a lot of senior players in the stands. Good photo opps for the kids if that continues. Its ok to take dogs along i think i saw someone ask that once. Disappointing a bit of ill disapline cost us when we hit the front. Bit of fighting and a few 50 meter penalties
 

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SMaturin

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What happened with Wright?
Gave away a couple of frees inside defensive 50 and a fifty for abuse that cost a couple of goals within 5 minutes in the second. Wasn’t his best day.
 
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rickety

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Spent the day on the other side of the bridge, watching some footy. Took my little boy for his 1st game at this level and he failed to disappoint. Had some fantastic Northern stand seats behind the interchange, or the bus stops as my little boy called them. Had LMac, Marley, EVW, Dec Mountford, Jy Simpkin and quite possibly one or 2 others as neighbours for the day. Big Majak showed up during the 1st quarter and my little boy, suitably impressed by the "big man from the tv" went and offered him a burger ring! Big Maj was gracious enough to snag said burger ring and keep a bit of an eye on the antics of my little boy, who also caught the attention of LMac after he jumped from a stair or 2 back onto the pathway. Nathan Hrovat eventually showed up along with BBB, and my little mate promptly wanted to pat Hrovats dog. Then the lovely Mrs. D. Neilsen showed up with their woofer dog so my little mate took his beaming smile and went dog patting once again. Up and down the stairs a few times with his footy, play times during the breaks and finally fast asleep before we had left Werribee. Very nice to see that these young blokes come down to watch the 2's. I know that they are all the same club, but still. Equally impressive is the fact that they all give moments of their time to interact with us mere mortals who "know so much about them" during their own time. Admittedly my little boy is a better crowd puller than a brand new puppy, but they were all happy to interact. Well done and thank you.

In between watching all of that I managed to see some footy! Ahern had a few good centre clearances, G.Narrier has some wheels and some tricks, time will make him a star. Sammy battled but as previously mentioned, gave away a couple of frees .... it happens. Sammy Durdin in the last got pinged for rushing a point so franga go a free kick goal .... I thought that maybe an idea would be to handball into the legs of his opponent and the ball would rebound for a point ...... easier from the stand. Morgan had some good run and played pretty tight, Durdin, Xerri, Preuss and McKay all took good marks at times and often the ball movement was quite good. Larkey has fantastic goal sense, got fairly cleaned up by Jake Batchelor when coming off the bench, looked like it bloody well hurt.

Frankston have a few decent players with a list that offers a fair bit of blue collar grunt. Batchelor is joined by ex roo Will Fordham and they will bring their experience to the Peninsula team.

Tom Murphy, get on him. Clean with balance

Pizza, coffee, little kid asleep, a pretty good day bar the result.
 

rickety

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Also, fwiw, the changing room for parents with kids has a very very impressive change table that is super duper electric in it's height adjustment. My little mate was up and down 3 times before I had his dacks changed. Probably shouldn't have given him the control ;-)
 

giantroo

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Peter Jackson VFL 2018

North Melbourne 2.3 7.5 12.9 17.14 (116)
Frankston 1.5 9.7 13.9 20.9 (129)

GOALS:
North Melbourne: Close 4 Larkey 4 Cameron 2 Holmes Harper Preuss Leonardis Rodd Rippon Williams
Frankston: Rich 5 La Fontaine 2 Pierce 2 Ferreira 2 Gill-Renouf 2 DeWit Harnett Fowler Grace Jarnestrom Raine McHale

BEST:
North Melbourne: Close Nielson Ahern Larkey Xerri Rippon
Frankston: Rich Gill-Renouf McHale Lylak Fordham Williams
 

Le Grille

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Spent the day on the other side of the bridge, watching some footy. Took my little boy for his 1st game at this level and he failed to disappoint. Had some fantastic Northern stand seats behind the interchange, or the bus stops as my little boy called them. Had LMac, Marley, EVW, Dec Mountford, Jy Simpkin and quite possibly one or 2 others as neighbours for the day. Big Majak showed up during the 1st quarter and my little boy, suitably impressed by the "big man from the tv" went and offered him a burger ring! Big Maj was gracious enough to snag said burger ring and keep a bit of an eye on the antics of my little boy, who also caught the attention of LMac after he jumped from a stair or 2 back onto the pathway. Nathan Hrovat eventually showed up along with BBB, and my little mate promptly wanted to pat Hrovats dog. Then the lovely Mrs. D. Neilsen showed up with their woofer dog so my little mate took his beaming smile and went dog patting once again. Up and down the stairs a few times with his footy, play times during the breaks and finally fast asleep before we had left Werribee. Very nice to see that these young blokes come down to watch the 2's. I know that they are all the same club, but still. Equally impressive is the fact that they all give moments of their time to interact with us mere mortals who "know so much about them" during their own time. Admittedly my little boy is a better crowd puller than a brand new puppy, but they were all happy to interact. Well done and thank you.

In between watching all of that I managed to see some footy! Ahern had a few good centre clearances, G.Narrier has some wheels and some tricks, time will make him a star. Sammy battled but as previously mentioned, gave away a couple of frees .... it happens. Sammy Durdin in the last got pinged for rushing a point so franga go a free kick goal .... I thought that maybe an idea would be to handball into the legs of his opponent and the ball would rebound for a point ...... easier from the stand. Morgan had some good run and played pretty tight, Durdin, Xerri, Preuss and McKay all took good marks at times and often the ball movement was quite good. Larkey has fantastic goal sense, got fairly cleaned up by Jake Batchelor when coming off the bench, looked like it bloody well hurt.

Frankston have a few decent players with a list that offers a fair bit of blue collar grunt. Batchelor is joined by ex roo Will Fordham and they will bring their experience to the Peninsula team.

Tom Murphy, get on him. Clean with balance

Pizza, coffee, little kid asleep, a pretty good day bar the result.
Lil Rickety seems like a good egg


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giantroo

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VFL: Report Card (Round 3, 2018)



Match result
Frankston Dolphins 20.9.129 defeated North Melbourne 17.14.116

In action
AFL-listed
Taylor Garner, Paul Ahern, Mitch Hibberd, Sam Wright, Nick Larkey, Alex Morgan, Ben McKay, Sam Durdin, Daniel Nielson, Braydon Preuss, Josh Williams, Tom Murphy, Tristan Xerri, Gordon Narrier

VFL-listed
Nick Rippon, Ty Leonardis, Mitch Rodd, Jordan Harper, Nash Holmes, Chris Jansen, Fraser Cameron, Louis Cunningham, Michael Close

Story of the game
It was almost a case of déjà vu for North Melbourne, which fell just short to Frankston in a thriller at Avalon Airport Oval.

Winless in its first two games of the VFL season, a determined Dolphins' outfit was unrelenting in its attacking pressure early.

However, the visitors were unable to capitalise on their dominance with inaccurate kicking proving to be the story of the opening term.

This changed in the second quarter as both sides began to find the goal square with alarming regularity.

Goals from Nick Larkey, Mitch Rodd and Fraser Cameron helped ease the pressure for North, but Frankston continued to break away whenever the home side was within reaching distance of taking the lead.

The highlight of the opening half was a clever passage of play from Gordon Narrier, who spun out of a tackle in North’s forward 50 before providing a cheeky overhead handball to Larkey for his third of an eventual four goals.

The biggest applause of the day was saved for Braydon Preuss. The big man was rewarded for a tireless display in the ruck, scoring within minutes of moving into North’s forward line in the final term, much to the crowd's approval.

The Roos briefly hit the lead, but it was short-lived as the Dolphins finished the better with three consecutive goals in the dying minutes, sealing the result.

“We were really poor today,” North coach David Loader told North Media.

“Across the board we started sluggishly, didn’t set-up well around the ball and got beaten by a team that came to play a lot more than we did. That’s pretty much the game in a nutshell.”

“Because we wear things as a team, we’re disappointed with how we went.

“It’s really hard when you turn the ball over by hand and foot like we did today. Our ball use errors were really high today. If that happens, you probably don’t get a chance to play to the method you want to play to.

“In this game, you can’t sit on your hands, so we need to keep going forward.”

Best of the AFL
Daniel Nielson
Daniel Nielson was a mainstay in North’s back half, taking part in several key defensive plays while having an invaluable impact in maintaining a fast-starting Frankston, which came out of the blocks with a point to prove.

The hard-at-the-ball defender was outstanding, putting together four consistent quarters and steadily dictated terms out of North’s defence.

Nielson’s ability to consistently win the ball back in the air was a highlight on an otherwise difficult afternoon.

“It’s a bit disappointing coming to the boys after the game,” Nielson said after the game.

“We just have to set up and organise [ourselves] a bit quicker… we’ll let this one go and focus on next week.”

Best of the VFL
Michael Close
For the second consecutive week, Michael Close was amongst the best performing players for the royal blue and white, booting four goals.

North’s co-captain made the game his own and looked comfortable in his role leading the forward line alongside Nick Larkey.

Despite playing under duress from a well-conditioned Frankston defence, the 23-year-old stood-out, taking a handful of contested marks.

Close’s new-found role has bolstered North’s forward stocks, which relied heavily on Larkey in previous hit-outs.

Close’s strength was highlighted in several attacking sequences, while he continues to stretch opposition defences when contesting high balls.

Talking points
Garner’s return
Taylor Garner first step towards an eventual return to senior footy was a success.

The forward was eased back in his return from a groin injury, playing three quarters against Frankston.

It didn’t take long for the fan favourite to get his hands on the footy, having his first possession just minutes into the game. The 24-year-old started on the half forward flank and was rotated to assist his transition back.

Larkey’s goals
On a day where accuracy on goal was needed, Larkey was at his reliable best.

The versatile forward took several knocks, including a collision with the goal-post in the second half, but wasn’t deterred. Often praised for his creativity and inventive approach to footy, he scored four crucial goals.

Given his impressive pre-season form, it’s no surprise that the agile tall forward was able to work his way back into the game.

Wasted chances
Given the total scoring shots, the result should’ve looked much different.

Although there were circumstances in front of goal that were out of North’s control, such as rushed behinds, the inaccuracy of the Roos proved to be telling.

Frankston was also wasteful with its scoring opportunities in the first term with just one goal from six scoring shots. However, this improved drastically over the course of the game, with the Dolphins ending with just nine behinds.
 

Jabba the Trump

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I reckon so. Too tall.
No doubt this is true. I think a lot of people here got carried away with the quality of the list being assembled without considering that priority has to be development of our AFL listed players rather than winning games. We can't have guys like Xerri and McKay/Durdin playing in the EDFL just to balance the team.
 
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rickety

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Lil Rickety seems like a good egg


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Well he is turning out to be quite selective in his associations. Happy to dish out the solitary burger ring to big Majak, but not too keen on the paparazzi aspect of life. Only to be seen in public life with the smooth moving and very likeable Shaun Higgins, as well as Australias' very own Harry Kewell! Has the bright blue eyes and sandy blonde hair much coveted by the German hierarchy circa 1940 and a cheeky smile that distracts you while he is stealing your car.
 
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