Coburg Report

[_RT_]

Coburg had their practice match yesterday and here is some news from the game:

• Polak played about 3 quarters kicking 2 goals and could have had 5-6 according to Rawlings, who also said he felt that Polak is starting to get his marking skills back to what they were before the accident.
• Andy Collins kicked 5 goals playing up forward.
• Hislop played well. Rawlings said that since arriving at the club Hislop had got himself fiiter and had impressed with his attack on the ball and ability to win the ball in contests as well as kick goals.
• Silvester played well.
• Vickery suffered a badly broken nose and concussion in an accidental head clash.
• Gourdis also suffered concussion.
• Unfortunately I am unsure about the result of the game as that was not mentioned.

 

[Haggard H]

One thing we can learn from this is that Troy doesn't turn on his computer before 1.49 on a Sunday.

 

[THE_GUN]

troy's still at andy collins place giving andy a rubdown, good on the kid hope he has a good year & really comes on he certainley has a few role models at punt road know.

 

[mhill]

One thing we can learn from this is that Troy doesn't turn on his computer before 1.49 on a Sunday.

Or that he spent a lazy morning in bed with his andy collins man doll, may have cooked him breakfast in bed.

 

[coke_zero]

what a game by andy. good to hear polak is playing good footy.

 

[bigstyletiger]

I was also at the game and can add a few thoughts.

Firstly the ruckmen

Dean Putt and Vickery were smashed in the ruck by Willy's ruckman. Putty doesn't look like even getting near the ball in a ruck contest even though he can move like a midfielder around the ground. Vickery was similarly ineffective and it is ironic that when Vickery was injured Putt was not put into the ruck for a while and Nat Carusso instead played as the ruckman and we started winning the clearances. Vickery again dropped a couple of marks he should have taken and he will need some time before he is up to senior footy. Putty should be tried as a wingman or a forward and not a ruckman.

- Polak's hands are much better than they were at the intra-club game. His kicking for goal however is still not as good as it needs to be.

- Jake King was very good apart from a couple of miss kicks. He was much better defensively over head, mopped up everything and provided heaps of run out of the backline. He is a cut above VFL but with Raines in the side he wont get a look in. He was also very audible and is the obvious leader of the backline.

- Nahas got around the ground, playing on the ball for a bit and getting some kicks as far down as the back pocket. He looked dangerous around goals (not sure how many he kicked). He does have a Nathan Brown like problem in that he calls for the ball when he shouldn't and there were a couple of times players heard his voice, dished it off to him as he ran passed only for a Willy player to tackle him straight away.

- Alroy Gilligan can find the ball. He is a very smooth mover in traffic and very good at ground level. He has very good pace and can tackle. Needs to work on his marking though and his body language. When he was on the bench he just looked like a kid who wasn't really interested. Still in a couple of years Gilligan and Nahas could be a very dangerous combination in the forward line and will add the much needed defensive element.

- Post did some good things but will need more time in twos to build his confidence and stength.

- JON was ok. Didn't do anything aweful nor did he do anything that great. He does have a realy crack though. Was used accross half forward.

- Dean Polo was also ok from the half back line apart from one instance in which he should have made a contest but instead was easily marked on. Think it was more confusion as the Willy guy was sandwhiched inbetween two tigers and i think the other one thought they would go up and neither did. He used the ball well and while he is slow he has a great sidestep and gets his hands free when tackled.

- Gourdis was knocked out in the 3rd quarter i think. Kicked one goal in the first half but was hardly cited. Not that the ball got down to the forward line much in the first half. Not sure about Gourdis to be honest. He looks like a pure athlete, his kicking style doesn't look that bad either, but for a bloke with his pace and apparent strenght i expect more.

- Thomson was ok. Thought he would be better however he did his job. Also drifted forward for a couple of goals i think.

- Hislop is very hard at the footy. Played as a forward and went straight at the ball. Looked good overhead and won a few frees playing in front. Didn't look slow at VFL level but afl level is obviously a step up. Hislop probably wont get many opportunities at senior level this year but he must be admired for his committment.

- Best on ground for me was Andy Collins. The kid can seriously play. He has good awareness and uses the ball well under pressure not to mention his obvious ability to finish.

- All in all it was a good experience to get down to Whitten Oval. Saw Cotch in the carpark. For part of the game i stood next too Patto and Cleve. Saw Terry and Wayne down there and also couldn't help but notice david bourke has a bit of a pin head. From where i was standing i could hear Jade Rawlings giving instructions which was interesting and it's a good experience to get out and listen to t he coaches at the quarter time marks.

 

[one eyedtiger]

Thanks for the report mate. Really good to hear about Collins, Hislop and King playing well. From the sounds of it Andy might get a look in some time this year but he needs to keep dominating at VFL level. Agree that King will struggle to get a game this year. Raines atm is ahead of him and imo is our best small defender. Kingy needs to prove himself to be able to defend before he plays.

 

[premiers2009]

Collins - Seemed to be everywhere. One minute he's down back running out of the back line and a couple of minuites later he's kicked a goal. Definitely works hard and ya get the impression he's gunna be one of these players who accumaltes possesions and ya don't really notice it until ya read the amount of stats he has in daily papers. Might be ready for a senior call up soon. The coaching staff awarded him best on ground at the after game review which they held out on the ground. Only slight negative would be most of his kicks tend to be little short kicks and most of his kicks seemed to hqave been gotten when getting out on his own and there weren't many contested possesions won, but still played a great game. Not sure if I would have had him best on ground though, probably 2nd best though.

Hislop - Seems to have fitted in well. Was quite vocal at the 3 quarter time team huddle with the mid fielder group. Took a couple of nice contestede type marks for a midfielder and does seem to work hard. Probably just lacks a bit of polish to his game to standc out a bit further.
King - great game by King, just continually runs hard all day and would have been one of our best 3 on ground. Still made a couple of the typical King run's and then seems to be lost as to what to do with the ball, but generally was very good. I think he got mentioned at the post match review out on the gorund also by Rawlings who stated Kingy started us playing our running game from the back line.

Oakley-Nichols - ?? Just don't know. Maybe the kid has some talent but he just doesn't show it. Everytime I watch a game game he really seems to struggle. I think the other Coburg players have lost confidence in him also as at times he seems to make a strong lead but they prefer to kick to other options. And the couple of times when his leads were honored, he did manage to not maintain possesion for the team.

Polak - Probably the good news story for the day. Presented well all day and took a couple of nice contested marks and kicked a couple of goals (couple of easy misses also). I would have had him in our best 6 today just on his strong presentations coming out of the forward line. Was also singled out for praise at the aftermatch by Rawlings.

Polo - Now I just don't understand why this bloke doesn't get more senior opportunities. Was my selection for Best on ground. May not have had as many posseions as Collins or King, but contested really well at half back, beat his opponent and rarely made any errors. Ran hard to create options, created well running out of the back line, spoiled well, skills were good. Overall a top game and yet he was not mentioned at all in the aftermatch review by Rawlings.

Post - can't say I noticed him that much and was on the ground for most of the game. When I did notice him he took a couple of strong marks in the back line. Probably his negative is his disposal. At one point he took a strong mark in the back line, but then semed to lack confidence in his kicking instead of honoring a strong lead by one of our forwards with a long kick he took the safe option of a short little nothing kick to Jake King I think it was.

Putt - Not that he did much but when Vickery went off and he had to go in the ruck I thought he did compete strongly. We may a have one with some serious potential here. He's 204cm and at one stage at half forward he swooped on the ball like a rover, but unfortuantely missed the goal. Was praised by Jade Rawlings on the microphone and the comments I think were "you're now playing like a man playing senior footy and not that under 18's stuuf". Some potential to be developed into a key position player I think, made a couiple of strong leads out of the forward line and took some strong marks. Didn't have an influentail game but shwoed some great signs in patches.

Thomson - I think it was him anyway. All the previous reports seem about accurate works hard, gets the hard ball disposal genarlly good. Probably would want to see him get it a few more times before he earns a senior selection.

Vickery - Hhhhhmmmm. I just don't know. While he showed glimpses of his ability in the collingwood game, he was very ordinary today. As a ruckman he just seemed to totally misjudge his jump at the ball and I can't seem to recall many occasions where he beat the opposing ruckman. I thought it may have been just me expecting a bit more from a 1st round selection but during the 3rd quarter when he was dragged I could hear Jade Rawlings message over the microphone somwething about " you have to give us a contest son, cause you ain't doing it sofar". Soon after he went back on a got conssued. Lets hope I just saw one of his bad games. Just nervous when I see one 1st round draft picks have an ordinary game, and very ordinary at that.

Silvester - Usual Silvester game for coburg. Reminds me so much of Prestigiacomo at collingwood. Good negator but that’s about all.

Nahas - Great little player this bloke. Chases everything which is what we really need. Probably doesn't get enough possesions at this stage to warrant a call up to the seniour side. Love the endeavour though.

Gilligan - I thimk we have a diamond in the rough here. Again similar to Putt in that they didn't have a great influence on the game, but the few things they do look really special. There was a few times where he was predator like on the outskirts of packs with the ball in dispute and he just has the ability to swoop on the ball come out of the pack and set someone up. I think there was one particular occasion in the 3rd quarter where he swooped on the pack and under pressure managed to pass the ball out to someone in the open who ran into an open goal. As Jade Rawlings was walking by to address the team at the end of the game I mentioned to him that that kid Gilligan might be special and he seemed to nod in agreeance. Curious if anyone else has seen any of the coburg games and how Gilligan has gone as it was the first time I've seen him play.

Gourdis - Concussed early in the game, so nothing to report.

 

[PHX]

thanks, premiers2009, great stuff.