VFL 2024 VFL Thread

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I just wouldn’t want to injure Croft at AFL level like Darcy was a few times. Smith could probably handle it but without the tank needed.

Is it really that bad to have one less tall?
 
out of finals said:
Busslinger is great to watch close up - had a contest near where I was and his positioning, timing, and leap is absolutely beautiful, hope he can crack into the senior team in a week or two
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And hope he stays and signs on
 

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Billy Gowers with 11 scoring shots 5.7. Not hard to guess who his direct opponent was unfortunately.
 
Was hoping Bedendo would play a good game, feel him or Khamis is a better fit in terms of a third tall that can apply some modicum of pressure going the other way. The problem I can see us having with us, presumably, bringing in Lobb for Naughton is that we lose a severe amount of forward pressure and end up looking too tall. Would prefer someone that can play taller than their height would suggest, ie Khamis/Bedendo
 
My thoughts

Oscar Baker - Had a lot of the ball, but it was a bit of a challenging day for him. Found himself hugging the boundary line with a lot of those possessions and had to handball to himself or would just throw it on the boot at times. Still worked through it and had some good impact and was involved in quite a few scoring chains all the same. Was one of our better players on the day and pretty solid overall. He could be an option for us to bring back into the seniors, maybe as sub if we want.

Dom Bedendo - Tried hard and flew for a lot of marks. Grabbed one of them and had a couple inside 50 marks late in the game. Really struggled to convert though and his field kicking was very scrappy. I counted 3 out on the fulls from him and on 2 of those occasions he had players out and was under minimal pressure with those kicks. He has to nail those if he's any chance because he's running out of time.

Jedd Busslinger - Very solid and is putting together a good block of footy. Looks a lot stronger in the contest now and had a few good wins as well as some good spoils. Tried to go inboard a few times with a handball which wasn't the right decision. Much prefer him kicking it where he is pretty good in that area and has some good penetration on his kicks. He's not that far away and must be putting a bit of pressure on Keath now. Still wonder how he will go against the more athletic type of forward in the AFL.

Luke Cleary - Was one of those players I focused on a bit more today. Was very much a mix of both good and bad from him. Managed to win a fair bit of the ball through intercepts and gave a bit of run too. There was one moment in the 4th where he dodged 2 opponents, ran his measure and kicked long to Lobb who marked and goaled. That was good play and he needs to take the game on more like that. I think he looks a bit too indecisive at times and sort of jogs out. But he just needs to pull the trigger sometimes and go for it. He really has to work on his handball game as well. Today, he had some easy handballs that dropped short of his teammate, one was lucky that it didn't cost a goal. I've noticed this happens in other games also and can disrupt the flow. Towards the end of the game he dropped two fairly easy marks also, one in particular was amatuer stuff and it cost a goal. Took a really good intercept mark going back into a pack having said that though. Had a uncharacteristic clanger kicking in as well, but is usually better then that. Defensively was a mixed bag also. When matched up on smaller opponents he generally looked good, but really does need to get stronger as other's have pointed out. Gower's looked way stronger then him for example, but did actually manage to halve two contests against him through superior positioning which looks to be one of his strengths. So yeah, not a great day for him and really shouldn't be considered for AFL this week and has a fair bit to work on.

Jordan Croft - Had a lot of good moments and kicked a couple important goals late in the game to get us home. Has been bobbing in and out of games too much, was good to see more of a consistent game this week. His marking appears to be getting better with each game. Still needs to do a fair bit of work on his kicking. Still looks a long way off it for mine and will need a good block of footy to even be considered IMO.

Arthur Jones - Hardly saw him apart from late in the game where he did kick a nice goal. I did notice his pressure late in the game also. Haven't seen much or if any improvement this year. Still isn't clean enough at ground level and isn't getting to the drop of the ball enough. I'm not very happy with his progression.

Buku Khamis - Was probably the worst player on the ground, maybe the only thing saving him was Gower's kicking 5.6. Struggled in one on one contests and couldn't match Gowers at ground level. Didn't seem to totally drop his head and had a couple intercept marks on him even late in the game which was good to see. I did have to laugh when one of the few times he beat Gowers in a one on one, he kicked it to Cleary who dropped the easiest of marks and then Gowers picked it up and snapped a goal. Not much went right for him unfortunately.

Rory Lobb - Tough day for him, was often up against 2 opponents, but found another gear in the last and contributed. Seemed to cop a bit of an injury when he courageously went back with the flight of the ball. Wasn't too happy with the umpires (I guess no one is lately) and actually went over and talked to them at least twice. Rucked pretty well in the 1st half too before the injury then didn't spend much time there after that. Not many stuck today, but think he's done enough to get back in the seniors.

Lachie McNeil - Converting his chances which is good to see now. Kicked 2 goals and thought his pressure was really good. Wasn't surprised to see he had 7 tackles when I looked at the stats sheet. Still could be a bit better with his ball use, but think he's a chance of getting back into the seniors this week. Not a favourite of mine, but he's had decent block of good VFL footy under his belt and if we want to move West and Garcia more into the midfield he could be the one to come in.

Caleb Poulter - Gave us some good run and showed some good link up in the 1st half. Kicked a nice goal where he intercepted and kicked the goal on the 50 which was a highlight. Didn't see him much at all in the 2nd half. I wasn't paying close attention to him, but I did see Roarke Smith a bit on the wing and wonder if he did a shut down role on him. In any case, I think he's done enough to be considered for seniors this week.

Lachlan Smith - Thought he was our best player today and really imposed himself in the ruck. Won a lot of hitouts, not sure on the stats, but looked like he had a lot of hitouts to advantage. Also had 8 clearances and he really should have kicked those 2 goals he missed. As someone that watched a lot of him as a junior, his improvement has been quite impressive. His ruckwork is much improved and is looking more composed inside the contest where at U18 level he would often just throw it on the boot and kick it as far as he could. At the start of the season I was thinking we would have to play Lobb and Darcy if English went down. Now I'm not sure, Smith is a lot closer then I thought he'd be. His fitness the only potential problem.
 
Last edited:
goodcop badcop said:
My thoughts

Oscar Baker - Had a lot of the ball, but it was a bit of a challenging day for him. Found himself hugging the boundary line with a lot of those possessions and had to handball to himself or would just throw it on the boot at times. Still worked through it and had some good impact and was involved in quite a few scoring chains all the same. Was one of our better players on the day and pretty solid overall. He could be an option for us to bring back into the seniors, maybe as sub if we want.

Dom Bedendo - Tried hard and flew for a lot of marks. Grabbed one of them and had a couple inside 50 marks late in the game. Really struggled to convert though and his field kicking was very scrappy. I counted 3 out on the fulls from him and on 2 of those occasions he had players out and was under minimal pressure with those kicks. He has to nail those if he's any chance because he's running out of time.

Jedd Busslinger - Very solid and is putting together a good block of footy. Looks a lot stronger in the contest now and had a few good wins as well as some good spoils. Tried to go inboard a few times with a handball which wasn't the right decision. Much prefer him kicking it where he is pretty good in that area and has some good penetration on his kicks. He's not that far away and must be putting a bit of pressure on Keath now. Still wonder how he will go against the more athletic type of forward in the AFL.

Luke Cleary - Was one of those players I focused on a bit more today. Was very much a mix of both good and bad from him. Managed to win a fair bit of the ball through intercepts and gave a bit of run too. There was one moment in the 4th where he dodged 2 opponents, ran his measure and kicked long to Lobb who marked and goaled. That was good play and he needs to take the game on more like that. I think he looks a bit too indecisive at times and sort of jogs out. But he just needs to pull the trigger sometimes and go for it. He really has to work on his handball game as well. Today, he had some easy handballs that dropped short of his teammate, one was lucky that it didn't cost a goal. I've noticed this happens in other games also and can disrupt the flow. Towards the end of the game he dropped two fairly easy marks also, one in particular was amatuer stuff and it cost a goal. Took a really good intercept mark going back into a pack having said that though. Had a uncharacteristic clanger kicking in as well, but is usually better then that. Defensively was a mixed bag also. When matched up on smaller opponents he generally looked good, but really does need to get stronger as other's have pointed out. Gower's looked way stronger then him for example, but did actually manage to halve two contests against him through superior positioning which looks to be one of his strengths. So yeah, not a great day for him and really shouldn't be considered for AFL this week and has a fair bit to work on.

Jordan Croft - Had a lot of good moments and kicked a couple important goals late in the game to get us home. Has been bobbing in and out of games too much, was good to see more of a consistent game this week. His marking appears to be getting better with each game. Still needs to do a fair bit of work on his kicking. Still looks a long way off it for mine and will need a good block of footy to even be considered IMO.

Arthur Jones - Hardly saw him apart from late in the game where he did kick a nice goal. I did notice his pressure late in the game also. Haven't seen much or if any improvement this year. Still isn't clean enough at ground level and isn't getting to the drop of the ball enough. I'm not very happy with his progression.

Buku Khamis - Was probably the worst player on the ground, maybe the only thing saving him was Gower's kicking 5.7. Struggled in one on one contests and couldn't match Gowers at ground level. Didn't seem to totally drop his head and had a couple intercept marks on him even late in the game which was good to see. I did have to laugh when one of the few times he beat Gowers in a one on one, he kicked it to Cleary who dropped the easiest of marks and then Gowers picked it up and snapped a goal. Not much went right for him unfortunately.

Rory Lobb - Tough day for him, was often up against 2 opponents, but found another gear in the last and contributed. Seemed to cop a bit of an injury when he courageously went back with the flight of the ball. Wasn't too happy with the umpires (I guess no one is lately) and actually went over and talked to them at least twice. Rucked pretty well in the 1st half too before the injury then didn't spend much time there after that. Not many stuck today, but think he's done enough to get back in the seniors.

Lachie McNeil - Converting his chances which is good to see now. Kicked 2 goals and thought his pressure was really good. Wasn't surprised to see he had 7 tackles when I looked at the stats sheet. Still could be a bit better with his ball use, but think he's a chance of getting back into the seniors this week. Not a favourite of mine, but he's had decent block of good VFL footy under his belt and if we want to move West and Garcia more into the midfield he could be the one to come in.

Caleb Poulter - Gave us some good run and showed some good link up in the 1st half. Kicked a nice goal where he intercepted and kicked the goal on the 50 which was a highlight. Didn't see him much at all in the 2nd half. I wasn't paying close attention to him, but I did see Roarke Smith a bit on the wing and wonder if he did a shut down role on him. In any case, I think he's done enough to be considered for seniors this week.

Lachlan Smith - Thought he was our best player today and really imposed himself in the ruck. Won a lot of hitouts, not sure on the stats, but looked like he had a lot of hitouts to advantage. Also had 8 clearances and he really should have kicked those 2 goals he missed. As someone that watched a lot of him as a junior, his improvement has been quite impressive. His ruckwork is much improved and is looking more composed inside the contest where at U18 level he would often just throw it on the boot and kick it as far as he could. At the start of the season I was thinking we would have to play Lobb and Darcy if English went down. Now I'm not sure, Smith is a lot closer then I thought he'd be. His fitness the only potential problem.
Click to expand...
Really good summary.

Oscar Baker played one of the widest games I've ever seen an Aussie rules footballer play today.

It was more akin to a winger in soccer who hugs the touchline.
 
Wizard17 said:

VFL Team | Round 9​

Footscray v Port Melbourne
Saturday 25 May, 12.05pm AEST
Mission Whitten Oval, Footscray • Wurundjeri/Boon Wurrung

B: Bedendo, L. Smith, Baker
HB: Poulter, Lobb, A. Jones
C: Hunt, McNeil, Spicer
HF: Craig-Peters, Busslinger, Gilbee
F: Orgill, Khamis, Kellett
R: Croft, Cleary, Dahms
IC: Willoughby, Crofts, Bianco, Lewis, Kizan
EMG: C. Smith, Stretton, Bade

In: Cleary, Lewis, Kizan, Crofts
Out: Scott (AFL), Sanders (AFL), Clarke (injured), Maple
Click to expand...

dogwatch said:
Haha I love their weekly jokes ... Lobb at CHB, Locksmith at FB, Arty at HBF (that is a joke, right?), Cleary roving.

Who is Kizan? Can't recall seeing his name before.
Click to expand...

Wizard17 said:
Kizan is debuting for us.

The team reminds me of when they put the whole team in reversed positions in like under 12's
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Thunderoad said:
Bit over the way we take the p155 with how we name our VFL team.

Yes, the VFL is ultimately about developing players for senior footy and the likes of Croft and Khamis have been played out of position recently but this is just ridiculous.

It does a disservice to supporters of the club as far as I'm concerned.
Click to expand...

Under Malthouse in the 80s, he was annoyed at having to submit a final team plus 3 emergencies on a Thursday night for a Sunday game (may even have been an Easter Monday game?). Our team list as it appeared in The Sun and The Age was 23 players listed by jumper number, no positions.
I think we got a 'please explain' and fine from the then-VFL. But he made his point. 😀
 
Just pick CCP in the mid season draft.

He is a footballer.
 

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goodcop badcop said:
If he was a bit taller sure.
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I've read the rulebook and there is nothing that states we can't glue players together

English-Peters will be unstoppable
 
VitalDread said:
I've read the rulebook and there is nothing that states we can't glue players together

English-Peters will be unstoppable
Click to expand...
I think there's a rule that says you can't have players with more than one hyphen in their surname.
 
The lack of news re buss has me really worried, especially when the contract has been reportedly sitting there for him.

Would hate to lose him but I’m preparing for it given that it’s the most likely outcome.
 
goodcop badcop said:
My thoughts

Oscar Baker - Had a lot of the ball, but it was a bit of a challenging day for him. Found himself hugging the boundary line with a lot of those possessions and had to handball to himself or would just throw it on the boot at times. Still worked through it and had some good impact and was involved in quite a few scoring chains all the same. Was one of our better players on the day and pretty solid overall. He could be an option for us to bring back into the seniors, maybe as sub if we want.

Dom Bedendo - Tried hard and flew for a lot of marks. Grabbed one of them and had a couple inside 50 marks late in the game. Really struggled to convert though and his field kicking was very scrappy. I counted 3 out on the fulls from him and on 2 of those occasions he had players out and was under minimal pressure with those kicks. He has to nail those if he's any chance because he's running out of time.

Jedd Busslinger - Very solid and is putting together a good block of footy. Looks a lot stronger in the contest now and had a few good wins as well as some good spoils. Tried to go inboard a few times with a handball which wasn't the right decision. Much prefer him kicking it where he is pretty good in that area and has some good penetration on his kicks. He's not that far away and must be putting a bit of pressure on Keath now. Still wonder how he will go against the more athletic type of forward in the AFL.

Luke Cleary - Was one of those players I focused on a bit more today. Was very much a mix of both good and bad from him. Managed to win a fair bit of the ball through intercepts and gave a bit of run too. There was one moment in the 4th where he dodged 2 opponents, ran his measure and kicked long to Lobb who marked and goaled. That was good play and he needs to take the game on more like that. I think he looks a bit too indecisive at times and sort of jogs out. But he just needs to pull the trigger sometimes and go for it. He really has to work on his handball game as well. Today, he had some easy handballs that dropped short of his teammate, one was lucky that it didn't cost a goal. I've noticed this happens in other games also and can disrupt the flow. Towards the end of the game he dropped two fairly easy marks also, one in particular was amatuer stuff and it cost a goal. Took a really good intercept mark going back into a pack having said that though. Had a uncharacteristic clanger kicking in as well, but is usually better then that. Defensively was a mixed bag also. When matched up on smaller opponents he generally looked good, but really does need to get stronger as other's have pointed out. Gower's looked way stronger then him for example, but did actually manage to halve two contests against him through superior positioning which looks to be one of his strengths. So yeah, not a great day for him and really shouldn't be considered for AFL this week and has a fair bit to work on.

Jordan Croft - Had a lot of good moments and kicked a couple important goals late in the game to get us home. Has been bobbing in and out of games too much, was good to see more of a consistent game this week. His marking appears to be getting better with each game. Still needs to do a fair bit of work on his kicking. Still looks a long way off it for mine and will need a good block of footy to even be considered IMO.

Arthur Jones - Hardly saw him apart from late in the game where he did kick a nice goal. I did notice his pressure late in the game also. Haven't seen much or if any improvement this year. Still isn't clean enough at ground level and isn't getting to the drop of the ball enough. I'm not very happy with his progression.

Buku Khamis - Was probably the worst player on the ground, maybe the only thing saving him was Gower's kicking 5.7. Struggled in one on one contests and couldn't match Gowers at ground level. Didn't seem to totally drop his head and had a couple intercept marks on him even late in the game which was good to see. I did have to laugh when one of the few times he beat Gowers in a one on one, he kicked it to Cleary who dropped the easiest of marks and then Gowers picked it up and snapped a goal. Not much went right for him unfortunately.

Rory Lobb - Tough day for him, was often up against 2 opponents, but found another gear in the last and contributed. Seemed to cop a bit of an injury when he courageously went back with the flight of the ball. Wasn't too happy with the umpires (I guess no one is lately) and actually went over and talked to them at least twice. Rucked pretty well in the 1st half too before the injury then didn't spend much time there after that. Not many stuck today, but think he's done enough to get back in the seniors.

Lachie McNeil - Converting his chances which is good to see now. Kicked 2 goals and thought his pressure was really good. Wasn't surprised to see he had 7 tackles when I looked at the stats sheet. Still could be a bit better with his ball use, but think he's a chance of getting back into the seniors this week. Not a favourite of mine, but he's had decent block of good VFL footy under his belt and if we want to move West and Garcia more into the midfield he could be the one to come in.

Caleb Poulter - Gave us some good run and showed some good link up in the 1st half. Kicked a nice goal where he intercepted and kicked the goal on the 50 which was a highlight. Didn't see him much at all in the 2nd half. I wasn't paying close attention to him, but I did see Roarke Smith a bit on the wing and wonder if he did a shut down role on him. In any case, I think he's done enough to be considered for seniors this week.

Lachlan Smith - Thought he was our best player today and really imposed himself in the ruck. Won a lot of hitouts, not sure on the stats, but looked like he had a lot of hitouts to advantage. Also had 8 clearances and he really should have kicked those 2 goals he missed. As someone that watched a lot of him as a junior, his improvement has been quite impressive. His ruckwork is much improved and is looking more composed inside the contest where at U18 level he would often just throw it on the boot and kick it as far as he could. At the start of the season I was thinking we would have to play Lobb and Darcy if English went down. Now I'm not sure, Smith is a lot closer then I thought he'd be. His fitness the only potential problem.
Click to expand...
Excellent summary gcbc. Pretty much how I saw it too (not that that influenced my comment at all :))

Your notes on McNeil raise a good point. No, he's not our favourite player, but if he were told his sole KPI was to apply relentless defensive pressure i50 next week he might just have done enough to get a one-game-only call-up. He is capable of doing that defensive stuff, especially if he is told not to worry about the rest of his stats. Besides, it kept Arty in the side for a string of games last year.

However in McNeil's case he'd probably be out as soon as Richards and Scott become available again.

This is probably only in the scenario where we didn't want to bring back Lobb. I couldn't see us bringing in both unless there are more injuries we aren't aware of.

Really, of the AFL listed players who aren't injured the only ones who could lay any serious claim to a senior spot next week would be:
  • Lobb
  • Busslinger (debut)
  • Poulter
  • McNeil (just)
  • Baker (just)
And of course JOD should be right to play after illness (we hope).

That's a bit disturbing tbh. The stocks are looking shallow. Makes me think at least one MSD pick is on the cards.

If Lobb doesn't get a game with 3 changes required, including one KPF, then he would have to assume his papers are stamped.
 
weltschmerz said:
I missed the surname part and was about to refer you to Kristie-Lee Weston-Turner.
Click to expand...
Haha I thought of that just before I hit "Post"!

Went back and added sur-
 
dogwatch said:
Excellent summary gcbc. Pretty much how I saw it too (not that that influenced my comment at all :))

Your notes on McNeil raise a good point. No, he's not our favourite player, but if he were told his sole KPI was to apply relentless defensive pressure i50 next week he might just have done enough to get a one-game-only call-up. He is capable of doing that defensive stuff, especially if he is told not to worry about the rest of his stats. Besides, it kept Arty in the side for a string of games last year.

However in McNeil's case he'd probably be out as soon as Richards and Scott become available again.

This is probably only in the scenario where we didn't want to bring back Lobb. I couldn't see us bringing in both unless there are more injuries we aren't aware of.

Really, of the AFL listed players who aren't injured the only ones who could lay any serious claim to a senior spot next week would be:
  • Lobb
  • Busslinger (debut)
  • Poulter
  • McNeil (just)
  • Baker (just)
And of course JOD should be right to play after illness (we hope).

That's a bit disturbing tbh. The stocks are looking shallow. Makes me think at least one MSD pick is on the cards.

If Lobb doesn't get a game with 3 changes required, including one KPF, then he would have to assume his papers are stamped.
Click to expand...

Agree, still don't think we should be picking Bianco though. I hope there's other's we are looking at.

Our VFL form is making our list better then it actually is in my opinion. We have a lot of good VFL players and have had a lot of good VFL players over the years.
 
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