He looked Gassed to me Dave. He, like a lot of his mates, was really good at the start of quarters but in Reef's case by the 15 minute mark of the quarters he was looking spent.
I had a different perspective to lots of the other posters here.
After watching the whole game I was really excited by lots of our draftees. McMahon was covering heaps of ground for little reward but with his few possessions he showed beautiful disposal and his mark and goal was pure class. He'll take time to get a tank but when he does....look out! He'll be very valuable.
Poulter showed bursts of absolute brilliance, often cutting back inside and delivering with his long left boot. He was one youngster who was really prepared (all day) to take the game on and he also showed some poise in the final minutes when he could have blazed a long kick forward (and handed the ball back to the Werribee defenders) but he instead sought a handball target outside and in so doing, maintained possession at a vital stage. He's no Bont, but he's a lot better than Zannotti and I really hope that Pendles gets in this young blokes head. Poulter is a gun!
Reef was good in patches but I figure he's behind the others in match fitness due to his injuries and he struggled to run out quarters (at one stage in the third quarter he struggled to run off the ground when he was being interchanged! No doubting his intent though and he had several great clearances.
Chugg was prominent throughout the game and was often tasked with delivering the ball out of defence. He has a lovely left foot not unlike Daniel Rich. I'm bullish about this young bloke and think he could settle quite snugly into the senior defence.
Kelly looked good down back and lets face it, thats where he's played most of his junior footy. He attacked the aerial contests and often backed his judgement by leaving his own player to kill another contest. If Moore is playing forward and Keane gets rubbed out (for the trip) then Kelly could slot into CHB pretty well.
Tyler Brown was good in tight but fumbled a bit when he was playing outside. Ruscoe had chances but couldn't capitalise (i'd like to see him play off half back) Murphy was very good in the first half. Ginniver is classy but under-utilised at the present time. Wilson...doesn't seem to get near it much? Tohill however had a couple of really big opponents including Buzza and he was able to spoil, outmark a couple of times and run off them much like Darcy Moore does! He's making strides this season, much like Keane did last year.
Now for the two aerobic beasts. Rantall seemed to be everywhere and as the game wore on he just got more and more involved. He runs, he contests, he tackles, he blocks and shares the ball much like Taylor Adams does. His kicking was no worse than anybody else's and he was able to get clearances from both ruck men.
Which leads to my final review. I've loved watching Max Lynch's home movies and his antics in general would endear him to most of his team mates. But for a while I've wondered if big Max was just there making up the numbers. He's sort've been the 3rd or 4th Rucking banana for years now and I'm not sure that his coaches have ever thought he might succeed. Well today he played like a BIG MAN. Up against Matthew Lobbe and Wylie Buzza (both ex AFL players) Max took on all comers and rucked for 90% of the game and won hands down! He marked around the ground, he palmed the ball well AND SMACKED IT FORWARD when he couldn't find a mid, his attitude was just aggressive right from the start. And his presence around the ground assisted our young mids and they did the rest.
So all in all, I loved today's game. We should have kicked a few more goals, but overall we were desperate, we were courageous and we deserved to win.
for your post.
