AFL Toast Marsh Series 2: 4 point win against the Cats

[Lore]

 

[ghostdog]

Liking Francis in the ruck.

Wtf!?

 

[JT_the_Man]

Does that mean TBC is going to get up for round 1?

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

Wtf!?

Phillips is doing well 3rd man up down back as well.

 

[srobbo]

Well I feel a hell of alot better about entering Rd 1 this year than 12 months ago.

Gees I was impressed with BZT & Ridley. Actually the whole back 6 were sensational & we still have Ambrose to slot in. Hooker’s played his last game back there all things being equal.

McGrath & Parish look like they’re going to take our mids to the next level as well & just hope we take our time bringing back Hepp.

We need to be looking at starting 3-0!

 

[Cold Sober]

View attachment 836413

Gold jacket at the dry cleaners

 

[faible]

Thought it was a good hit out, Cats applied some good defensive pressure and even though it was a bit scrappy at times it looks like we’re much stronger around the ground than last year.

Don’t need to read much in to the scoring as both WCE and GEE had significant outs (plus preseason) but compared to last year we look more prepared for round one.

 

[11kgm]

Who's the bloke with a mullet in our backline?

On SM-G960F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Shane Heard]

Phillips was great I thought. A real competitive nature, fairly agile, wins taps and has a very nice drop punt kicking action.

TBC looking like a backup man.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Good game, McGrath, Ridley and Zerk were impressive. Still think real big tall forwards could trouble. Taberner and Lobb will test us.

Impressed with Townsend as well..good pressure, three goals and even got a few touches up the ground in the third.

Good to see McGrath straightening up a bit and went more north south although a few times made wrong decision. He’ll learn.

 

[Shane Heard]

Who's the bloke with a mullet in our backline?

On SM-G960F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Is Ham. Is good.

 

[brutus76]

Dangle a 5 year deal for the Parish. Kid is a stud and a tough little nugget.

 

[11kgm]

Is Ham. Is good.

He looked amazing in the brief glimpses i saw of him

On SM-G960F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[VelvetSledge]

God I love McGrath and Parish.

 

[blitzer]

I liked a lot of what we saw today.
Hurley was back to his best today and his disposal seems much better.
Smith with his lazy 10 tackles. I thought he did a great job making sure that most of Dangerfield's touches were under immense pressure.
McGrath was prolific and had some very good touches. Looks super fit and agile right now.
Parish is simply blossoming into the bonafide midfielder we all hoped for. Could end up a player like a Dom Sheed I reckon.
Ridley hits target after target all day. He's an interesting one though because defensively he plays more like a small than a tall which makes him hard to fit in the side. Had a great game though.
Saad tidying up from the backline with great aplomb. Was a bit rough with some of his kicks though.
Redman didn't have a huge game but that double tackle effort which lead to our first or second goal was enormous and set the tone.
BZT had a really good game. Its obvious though that he's not strong enough to battle one on one with someone like Hawkins (few are) but i think he'll go just fine along Hurley and Francis.
Gleeson had a good game and was consistently in the right spots. He's just a smart footballer. Also enjoyed him beating Rohan in a few contests. Wasn't a fan of him taking a kick-in though. His kicking and pace are decent but even from the named backline I would rather Saad, Hurley, Redman and Francis comfortably before him.
Phillips just battles along all game long and took some towering marks. Frankly I'm questioning why we would bring Bellchambers back. I reckon Phillips is first ruck.
Townsend put great physical pressure on and kicked straight. I also liked the part where he tackled Laverde and pushed him to the ground in the 4th. It was almost like he was echoing my sentiments that this bloke is a pretender who should never don the Essendon colours again.
Tippa had a quiet game and couldn't buy a free kick (was pretty unlucky I thought) but still did very well defensively - also moved into the midfield in the 4th and had an impact. Thought he laid some absolutely bone crunching tackles. If this is his poor game then he is set for a big year.
Fantasia was deathly quiet early but gradually worked into the game and kicked a nice one in the last. Looks incredibly skinny as always. But the key with Fantasia is always whether he can run and at the moment he hopefully he can build from here.

Overall I was really pleased with the defensive pressure. Our kicking for goal was absolutely crap but oh well you'll always have good and bad days. We are still definitely one tall forward short. Structurally if we could replace Laverde with Daniher and Townsend/Snelling with Stringer then you've probably got the right balance up there. Looks like we will have to persevere with this short forward line though for about a month until Hooker comes back (I'm hoping he plays forward upon his return).

 

[Shane Heard]

I liked a lot of what we saw today.
Hurley was back to his best today and his disposal seems much better.
Smith with his lazy 10 tackles. I thought he did a great job making sure that most of Dangerfield's touches were under immense pressure.
McGrath was prolific and had some very good touches. Looks super fit and agile right now.
Parish is simply blossoming into the bonafide midfielder we all hoped for. Could end up a player like a Dom Sheed I reckon.
Ridley hits target after target all day. He's an interesting one though because defensively he plays more like a small than a tall which makes him hard to fit in the side. Had a great game though.
Saad tidying up from the backline with great aplomb. Was a bit rough with some of his kicks though.
Redman didn't have a huge game but that double tackle effort which lead to our first or second goal was enormous and set the tone.
BZT had a really good game. Its obvious though that he's not strong enough to battle one on one with someone like Hawkins (few are) but i think he'll go just fine along Hurley and Francis.
Gleeson had a good game and was consistently in the right spots. He's just a smart footballer. Also enjoyed him beating Rohan in a few contests. Wasn't a fan of him taking a kick-in though. His kicking and pace are decent but even from the named backline I would rather Saad, Hurley, Redman and Francis comfortably before him.
Phillips just battles along all game long and took some towering marks. Frankly I'm questioning why we would bring Bellchambers back. I reckon Phillips is first ruck.
Townsend put great physical pressure on and kicked straight. I also liked the part where he tackled Laverde and pushed him to the ground in the 4th. It was almost like he was echoing my sentiments that this bloke is a pretender who should never don the Essendon colours again.
Tippa had a quiet game and couldn't buy a free kick (was pretty unlucky I thought) but still did very well defensively - also moved into the midfield in the 4th and had an impact. Thought he laid some absolutely bone crunching tackles. If this is his poor game then he is set for a big year.
Fantasia was deathly quiet early but gradually worked into the game and kicked a nice one in the last. Looks incredibly skinny as always. But the key with Fantasia is always whether he can run and at the moment he hopefully he can build from here.

Overall I was really pleased with the defensive pressure. Our kicking for goal was absolutely crap but oh well you'll always have good and bad days. We are still definitely one tall forward short. Structurally if we could replace Laverde with Daniher and Townsend/Snelling with Stringer then you've probably got the right balance up there. Looks like we will have to persevere with this short forward line though for about a month until Hooker comes back (I'm hoping he plays forward upon his return).

Laverde will come good. He’s a big unit of bloke now and must be matched up by the opposition with a similar size..which is a good thing.

He’s a confidence type and that mindset will return soon...

hopefully

 

[BrunoV]

Laverde will come good. He’s a big unit of bloke now and must be matched up by the opposition with a similar size..which is a good thing.

He’s a confidence type and that mindset will return soon...

hopefully

Haven't seen any real gains in Laverde's game, to be honest.

I don't really understand why he is being used the way he is. It would make much more sense to have McKernan in that role.

Laverde's definitely not the player to kick long and high to as that negates all of his strengths against a KPD who will always be a bigger guy.

He can play full forward if he is given a chance on the lead but we have about 3 players who can hit a leading target and who can get near the forward line.

Not sure what to make of the handball game, other than to say that there is not much point getting carried away. Attacking ball movement has hardly been a problem. I doubt its being done as a concession to the inability of our players to hit targets by foot.

It seems that the important part of the handball game would be to improve the quality of our secondary contested ball/clearance work which has been in the bottom few in the AFL.

Still thought our clearance and stoppage work was poor. We still spent the majority of the game in our back half. All of that is much more important than handballing.

Good to see the players up for the pre-season. I'd echo the sentiments most recently expressed by eDPS. The negativity about the season isnt warranted.

I'm not saying that equates to more than 1 finals win as I see it but that's hardly doom and gloom. Hopefully we can get to September playing a healthier brand of footy. That's what is most important.

Would be good to get something our of Smith, Shiel and Fantasia.

 

[ant555]

Another interesting thing I just read from the AFL article -

After being touted as a forward earlier in the summer, McKenna played in defence as the Bombers' VFL line-up defeated the Cats by five points.

Played both ends .

 

[ant555]

Has Snelling had a uninterrupted pre season ? Looks off the pace today

Kicked 2 goals against the Eagles and was good. Did not do a lot yesterday.

 

[BrunoV]

Kicked 2 goals against the Eagles and was good. Did not do a lot yesterday.

He was good against WCE.

I don't like the forward structure, though. It's a dog's breakfast and looks like we're set up to bomb the ball in to then lock it up.

That's not what any good side is doing anymore, is it?

I'd like to see Stringer as the deepest forward to be replaced by Laverde when Stringhas a run on ball with Laverde higher as more of a half forward.

We're at probably 6 weeks away from having multiple high marking forward targets unless we revert to TBC in the goal square.

 

[Gabe251]

He was good against WCE.

I don't like the forward structure, though. It's a dog's breakfast and looks like we're set up to bomb the ball in to then lock it up.

That's not what any good side is doing anymore, is it?

I'd like to see Stringer as the deepest forward to be replaced by Laverde when Stringhas a run on ball with Laverde higher as more of a half forward.

We're at probably 6 weeks away from having multiple high marking forward targets unless we revert to TBC in the goal square.

This. Our forward line is our biggest weakness when trying to emulate the style of Richmond. If we don't find improvement in some tall forwards, we will be challenged every week.

 

[faible]

He was good against WCE.

I don't like the forward structure, though. It's a dog's breakfast and looks like we're set up to bomb the ball in to then lock it up.

That's not what any good side is doing anymore, is it?

I'd like to see Stringer as the deepest forward to be replaced by Laverde when Stringhas a run on ball with Laverde higher as more of a half forward.

We're at probably 6 weeks away from having multiple high marking forward targets unless we revert to TBC in the goal square.

Against West Coast we looked much better at lowering the eyes and hitting targets, whereas against Geelong, and moreso with the breeze, we tended to blast away high and long which suits precisely none of our forwards.

Getting the ball in to the hands of guys like Merrett, Tipungwuti, Fantasia, Redman, Francis or even McGrath and Ridley who seem more creative by foot is the key to quality i50 entries.

McGrath seems to be too defensively minded at times, looking to release a 'safe' handball sideway or backwards, but that passage of play where he took the aggressive forward handball to Fantasia was what we will hopefully see more of in the future. His ability to take possession and rapidly release a handball is elite, just needs to be more attacking.

 

[sameolds33]

My favourite moment was Redman bossing Ablett, setting up goal. He provides the spark and attitude that makes watching footy fun. There's no doubt that we are a better team than this time last year and a large part of that is the confidence and belief that players have in themselves and each other.

 

[ant555]

He was good against WCE.

I don't like the forward structure, though. It's a dog's breakfast and looks like we're set up to bomb the ball in to then lock it up.

That's not what any good side is doing anymore, is it?

I'd like to see Stringer as the deepest forward to be replaced by Laverde when Stringhas a run on ball with Laverde higher as more of a half forward.

We're at probably 6 weeks away from having multiple high marking forward targets unless we revert to TBC in the goal square.

It will look like crap at times I suspect. The players just have to work on not going long as much as they can. We are playing a Richmond style without the complete finesse and a smart forward like Jack (2017) and Jack and Lynch last year. As you say we are a way off having a second tall target so it may well look ugly at times. If ZBK , Ridley and Frances can continue holding down the defensive posts then Hooker can be an option forward but he is also post round 3.

 

[BrunoV]

It will look like crap at times I suspect. The players just have to work on not going long as much as they can. We are playing a Richmond style without the complete finesse and a smart forward like Jack (2017) and Jack and Lynch last year. As you say we are a way off having a second tall target so it may well look ugly at times. If ZBK , Ridley and Frances can continue holding down the defensive posts then Hooker can be an option forward but he is also post round 3.

I'm watching Laverde closely and the other deep forwards and often there is a bottle neck of smalls at half forward which closes down space for our players to work in to which is why I think the bombing is deliberate particularly from Cutler. It's almost like a wall is being set up to stop the rebound but it's too shallow to work.