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Feb 6 IntraClub- The Good The Bad The Ugly
High was the sun and bright our hearts, etc etc etc, as your not very humble correspondent ventured forth to Subi, for what turned out to be a very very interesting scratchmatch indeed.
The teams-
Away Guernsey- Judd, Morrison, Fletcher, Munro, Wooden, McDougall, Cox, McConnell, Nicoski, Waters, Butler, Staker, Johnson, Beeck, Wirrpunda, Matera and Edwards
v
Home Guernsey- Kerr, Banfield, Braun, Seaby, Adkins, Chick, Jones, Lynch, Jakovich, Sampi, Embley, Rudeforth, Green, Embley, Graham, Humm
Cousins, Gardiner, Gaspar, Chambers, Collica, Glass, Hansen, Selwood, Jones, Hunter and Carroll did not play.
The Outcome- Away team beat the home team by a very comfortable margin. McConnell copped a hamstring injury, Chick apparently got a minor thigh strain or corky.
The Good.
Wow. I suppose its difficult to know what exactly it is that you can take out of an Intraclub- I mean, you can hardly walk away excited because your team wiped the floor with... your team. In general terms though, what today did was left me absolutely desperate for the real season to begin. On the basis of what I saw, a lot of my worries about this year are gone, and I can't help but think that we are going to surprise a lot of people this season.
-Away Team-
First off, Chris Judd was absolutely outstanding, awesome, superb, or whatever other positive adjective you feel like inserting there. All the talk about him this preseason appears to be true- he really does look to have grown a couple of cm and is certainly much beefier looking- he's actually a dead ringer for Milli now! Basically, he won a nearly all of the contested ball on offer, and breezed his way through the midfield all day. The thing which impressed me most, was that rather than doing a few freakishly good things, he was the dominant on ball player all day and never stopped finding the ball. Ended up with 2 goals kicked in typical Chris Judd fashion, an absolute bundle of possessions, and probably dramatically shortened brownlow odds.
Cox dominated the ruck all day and was excellent around the ground, alongside Judd, Nicoski and Wooden provided good support in the midfield, whilst Fletcher got better as the game went on.
McDougall was the standout forward on the ground, and basically embarassed everyone who was on him. Took a lot of marks including a few outstanding contested grabs in the middle of packs, and kicked 4 (i think) goals. Really liked his game, and left me pretty excited about his future this year. As others have mentioned Aaron Edwards was an enormous surprise packet on the half forward flank- he kicked 2 goals, and impressed with strong marking, great vision, and silky skills onthe ground. On the basis of that effort, he may very well find his way into the seniors this year, and will almost certainly book himself a spot in the Round 1 Wiz cup team. Matera was his usual dangerous self (despite apparently not being supposed to play)
In defence, Staker was very good indeed. I was actually very surprised at how much he has beefed up- he played at CHB mostly against Lynch, and handled himself well in the one on one duels, took a lot of marks, and pushed forward and kicked a goal late in the game. Actually, on the basis of this game, a pretty big weight is lifted off my mind in terms of where our key defenders will come from- on the basis of this game, I think Staker will be a pretty decent defensive option this year. Wirrpunda was also definitely amongst the best afield- he has slimmed down noticeably, and seems much lighter and quicker on his feet. Wirra was mopping up absolutely everything in defence, and also took a number of excellent pack marks.
Finally, the new boy Beau Waters was definitely thrown in the deep end starting on the HBF opposed to a very fit and in form Chick. The two fought a very entertaining and inconclusive draw, but Waters showed some very good signs- was great in and under, disposed of it well under pressure, and slapped some huge tackles on Chick (and also received more than his fair share!)
-Home Team-
Chick was wonderful for the home team. When played up forward on Waters, he never really got on top, but when on-ball, he seems to have found an extra yard of pace, and, no surprises here, his tackling was excellent, even running down Judd on a couple of occasions (the only guy to get near him all day) Embers was also good in the midfield without ever really breaking the game apart, and Braun and Jones picked up a few good touchs.
Up forward, the home team never really found a target. Lynch, who played at CHF, was well held by Staker when in attack, but when moved onto the ball, he rucked okay. Sampi had a few good touches, and took one outstanding mark, but was well and truly shaded by Wirrpunda (who in all fairness to Samps, was in absolute red-hot form) I actually also liked the look of Michael Embley (aka Embers Junior), who, whilst only picking up a few touches, moved very well for a big man, and used the ball nicely when he had it.
If had to give 5-4-3-2-1 votes for the game, i'd probably go
5. Judd (by a long way)
4. Mcdougall
3. Wirrpunda
2. Staker
1. Edwards
The Bad
-Away Team-
Munro failed to ever really get into the game, and still looked VERY skinny. I'm beginning to wonder if he has tapeworms or something. Morrison took some time to get into the game, and perhaps looked a bit out of sorts. He certainly finished better than he started. Fletcher, despite finding a lot of the pill, kicked wastefully on goal, and, predictably, had difficulties when forced to kick with his right. Paul Johnson wasn't that bad at CHF, but he never really hit his stride or looked comfortable, and failed to have much of an impact.
-Home Team-
I wouldn't count on Seaby displacing Cox just yet, as, from where I was sitting, Big Dean took Not Quite So Big Mark to ruckman school with a thoroughly dominant performance. Seaby did put together a few good touches and the occasional decent knock, but for the most part was well and truly shaded. Kerr played half a game with minimal impact, Rudeforth, and then Banfield were beaten soundly by Edwards whilst Jakovich and Graham struggled to contain the rampant McDougall. Adkins and Humm did little.
The Ugly
No huge injury concerns, but Daniel McConnell's first run was cut short with a rather bad looking hamstring strain, and Chick apparently strained his thigh/copped a corky, but seemed to pretty much play out the game.
Actually, I was stressing badly about possible injuries, something which wasn't helped by Hay doing his knee in the Hawks intraclub. Halfway through the game I was getting very very tense every time Judd or McDougall was involved in a collision, and the hard tackling on display wasn't helping matters. Quentin Lynch in particular showed a nasty predilection for picking up and dumping his smaller, more highly priced teammates when tackling. All things considered, I'm thinking its probably for the best that Cousins and Gardy sat this one out- no point in tempting fate.
Finally, it was embarassingly difficult to keep track of just how many new faces there were out on the field, with McConnell, Waters, Butler, Embley jnr and Graham suiting up for the first time ever, whilst rarely sighted rookies from last year, like Edwards Rudeforth and Beeck were also on the field. As EKA observed, there was actually a certain guilty pleasure in yelling 'Come on #45!' in stereotypical Chardonnay sipping fashion.
Apologies for the lack of photos, because a certain Eagle Fan who will remain nameless decided that earning a livelihood and driving under the speed limit were more important than the footy.
Anyway, thats it for now. Watch this space for the Book of Woosha later tonight.
High was the sun and bright our hearts, etc etc etc, as your not very humble correspondent ventured forth to Subi, for what turned out to be a very very interesting scratchmatch indeed.
The teams-
Away Guernsey- Judd, Morrison, Fletcher, Munro, Wooden, McDougall, Cox, McConnell, Nicoski, Waters, Butler, Staker, Johnson, Beeck, Wirrpunda, Matera and Edwards
v
Home Guernsey- Kerr, Banfield, Braun, Seaby, Adkins, Chick, Jones, Lynch, Jakovich, Sampi, Embley, Rudeforth, Green, Embley, Graham, Humm
Cousins, Gardiner, Gaspar, Chambers, Collica, Glass, Hansen, Selwood, Jones, Hunter and Carroll did not play.
The Outcome- Away team beat the home team by a very comfortable margin. McConnell copped a hamstring injury, Chick apparently got a minor thigh strain or corky.
The Good.
Wow. I suppose its difficult to know what exactly it is that you can take out of an Intraclub- I mean, you can hardly walk away excited because your team wiped the floor with... your team. In general terms though, what today did was left me absolutely desperate for the real season to begin. On the basis of what I saw, a lot of my worries about this year are gone, and I can't help but think that we are going to surprise a lot of people this season.
-Away Team-
First off, Chris Judd was absolutely outstanding, awesome, superb, or whatever other positive adjective you feel like inserting there. All the talk about him this preseason appears to be true- he really does look to have grown a couple of cm and is certainly much beefier looking- he's actually a dead ringer for Milli now! Basically, he won a nearly all of the contested ball on offer, and breezed his way through the midfield all day. The thing which impressed me most, was that rather than doing a few freakishly good things, he was the dominant on ball player all day and never stopped finding the ball. Ended up with 2 goals kicked in typical Chris Judd fashion, an absolute bundle of possessions, and probably dramatically shortened brownlow odds.
Cox dominated the ruck all day and was excellent around the ground, alongside Judd, Nicoski and Wooden provided good support in the midfield, whilst Fletcher got better as the game went on.
McDougall was the standout forward on the ground, and basically embarassed everyone who was on him. Took a lot of marks including a few outstanding contested grabs in the middle of packs, and kicked 4 (i think) goals. Really liked his game, and left me pretty excited about his future this year. As others have mentioned Aaron Edwards was an enormous surprise packet on the half forward flank- he kicked 2 goals, and impressed with strong marking, great vision, and silky skills onthe ground. On the basis of that effort, he may very well find his way into the seniors this year, and will almost certainly book himself a spot in the Round 1 Wiz cup team. Matera was his usual dangerous self (despite apparently not being supposed to play)
In defence, Staker was very good indeed. I was actually very surprised at how much he has beefed up- he played at CHB mostly against Lynch, and handled himself well in the one on one duels, took a lot of marks, and pushed forward and kicked a goal late in the game. Actually, on the basis of this game, a pretty big weight is lifted off my mind in terms of where our key defenders will come from- on the basis of this game, I think Staker will be a pretty decent defensive option this year. Wirrpunda was also definitely amongst the best afield- he has slimmed down noticeably, and seems much lighter and quicker on his feet. Wirra was mopping up absolutely everything in defence, and also took a number of excellent pack marks.
Finally, the new boy Beau Waters was definitely thrown in the deep end starting on the HBF opposed to a very fit and in form Chick. The two fought a very entertaining and inconclusive draw, but Waters showed some very good signs- was great in and under, disposed of it well under pressure, and slapped some huge tackles on Chick (and also received more than his fair share!)
-Home Team-
Chick was wonderful for the home team. When played up forward on Waters, he never really got on top, but when on-ball, he seems to have found an extra yard of pace, and, no surprises here, his tackling was excellent, even running down Judd on a couple of occasions (the only guy to get near him all day) Embers was also good in the midfield without ever really breaking the game apart, and Braun and Jones picked up a few good touchs.
Up forward, the home team never really found a target. Lynch, who played at CHF, was well held by Staker when in attack, but when moved onto the ball, he rucked okay. Sampi had a few good touches, and took one outstanding mark, but was well and truly shaded by Wirrpunda (who in all fairness to Samps, was in absolute red-hot form) I actually also liked the look of Michael Embley (aka Embers Junior), who, whilst only picking up a few touches, moved very well for a big man, and used the ball nicely when he had it.
If had to give 5-4-3-2-1 votes for the game, i'd probably go
5. Judd (by a long way)
4. Mcdougall
3. Wirrpunda
2. Staker
1. Edwards
The Bad
-Away Team-
Munro failed to ever really get into the game, and still looked VERY skinny. I'm beginning to wonder if he has tapeworms or something. Morrison took some time to get into the game, and perhaps looked a bit out of sorts. He certainly finished better than he started. Fletcher, despite finding a lot of the pill, kicked wastefully on goal, and, predictably, had difficulties when forced to kick with his right. Paul Johnson wasn't that bad at CHF, but he never really hit his stride or looked comfortable, and failed to have much of an impact.
-Home Team-
I wouldn't count on Seaby displacing Cox just yet, as, from where I was sitting, Big Dean took Not Quite So Big Mark to ruckman school with a thoroughly dominant performance. Seaby did put together a few good touches and the occasional decent knock, but for the most part was well and truly shaded. Kerr played half a game with minimal impact, Rudeforth, and then Banfield were beaten soundly by Edwards whilst Jakovich and Graham struggled to contain the rampant McDougall. Adkins and Humm did little.
The Ugly
No huge injury concerns, but Daniel McConnell's first run was cut short with a rather bad looking hamstring strain, and Chick apparently strained his thigh/copped a corky, but seemed to pretty much play out the game.
Actually, I was stressing badly about possible injuries, something which wasn't helped by Hay doing his knee in the Hawks intraclub. Halfway through the game I was getting very very tense every time Judd or McDougall was involved in a collision, and the hard tackling on display wasn't helping matters. Quentin Lynch in particular showed a nasty predilection for picking up and dumping his smaller, more highly priced teammates when tackling. All things considered, I'm thinking its probably for the best that Cousins and Gardy sat this one out- no point in tempting fate.
Finally, it was embarassingly difficult to keep track of just how many new faces there were out on the field, with McConnell, Waters, Butler, Embley jnr and Graham suiting up for the first time ever, whilst rarely sighted rookies from last year, like Edwards Rudeforth and Beeck were also on the field. As EKA observed, there was actually a certain guilty pleasure in yelling 'Come on #45!' in stereotypical Chardonnay sipping fashion.
Apologies for the lack of photos, because a certain Eagle Fan who will remain nameless decided that earning a livelihood and driving under the speed limit were more important than the footy.
Anyway, thats it for now. Watch this space for the Book of Woosha later tonight.
