dogwatch
Premium Platinum
Thought I'd try this as an adjunct to the weekly autopsy thread.
The idea:
When you're watching the match or a replay you sometimes see a brief moment that encapsulates a trend, an emerging talent, a turning point in the match, a player's flaw or strength, a coaching flaw or strength ... and so on.
It doesn't have to be one of the match highlights. In fact it's more interesting when it's not. Sometimes it's just when you see a young kid do something sublime and you think "he's got it". I was thinking about this idea the other day and then somebody posted that exact sentiment about Josh Dolan (in the autopsy thread I think ... sorry I've forgotten who you were). Not only that, it was precisely the same passage of play that had caught my eye and gave me the idea in the first place.
Doing this in a dedicated video highlights thread helps separate it from the avalanche of comments in the autopsy threads too. We can use this same thread for the whole season.
How to contribute:
When you see such a moment, note the quarter and the time on the clock (or the elapsed time on the replay) and post it here with your observation as to why it's a definitive or pivotal moment. Then we can easily check it out ourselves. Better still, if you can find a standalone clip, or edit that moment into a short video clip yourself, just post it straight into this thread.
So let's get started.
Round 6
There were a few special moments in the St Kilda game (rd 6) but here are the two I thought were worth posting:
MOMENT 1. Q1, 9:00 left on the clock, 17:50 into the replay. Dolan swoops on a loose ball and is instantly on the move. A handball sideways to Darcy who reels it in and passes to West for a mark and goal.
What I liked was Dolan's confidence, vision, the balance, the purposefulness. His instinctive feel for the game. Even the look in his eye. And of course the vision and temerity to execute a lookaway handball. He didn't stop there either. He kept sprinting forward after dishing off the handball to be a part of the next play, whether that was a return handball or a spillage from Darcy's kick to West. You can't teach that sort of quick thinking and reading of the game when a player is already at AFL level. They've either got it or they haven't. We can all name a few who haven't, even one or two on our current list. But when you see it in a kid who has only played a few games, it's heart warming. And it has by no means been the only example from Dolan. We've been seeing glimpses of it for weeks. He's going to be something special. Maybe a type of player we haven't seen at the Dogs for quite a while.
MOMENT 2. Q4, 15:53 minutes left on the clock, 1:39:10 elapsed on the AFL's replay. Libba has just completed that celebrated run-down of Brad Hill on the far boundary and earned himself a free kick.
It's not the run-down and tackle that I'm highlighting (yes it was brilliant and team-lifting, but it's been played and talked about a thousand times already). It was Joel Freijah's little run-through and ruffling of Libba's hair before he even took his kick. That brief moment told me a lot about Freijah. His self-confidence. The young whippersnapper going out of his way to congratulate one of the revered elder statesmen of the side and say "well done, sonny". Not self-conscious like a lot of 19yos in senior company. Those moments are the ones that tell us this kid has leadership potential. That he's a team first man. That he's already comfortable in his skin. In this side. Despite having played only 19 games. Some players are only just finding that sort of poise after 100 games.
The idea:
When you're watching the match or a replay you sometimes see a brief moment that encapsulates a trend, an emerging talent, a turning point in the match, a player's flaw or strength, a coaching flaw or strength ... and so on.
It doesn't have to be one of the match highlights. In fact it's more interesting when it's not. Sometimes it's just when you see a young kid do something sublime and you think "he's got it". I was thinking about this idea the other day and then somebody posted that exact sentiment about Josh Dolan (in the autopsy thread I think ... sorry I've forgotten who you were). Not only that, it was precisely the same passage of play that had caught my eye and gave me the idea in the first place.
Doing this in a dedicated video highlights thread helps separate it from the avalanche of comments in the autopsy threads too. We can use this same thread for the whole season.
How to contribute:
When you see such a moment, note the quarter and the time on the clock (or the elapsed time on the replay) and post it here with your observation as to why it's a definitive or pivotal moment. Then we can easily check it out ourselves. Better still, if you can find a standalone clip, or edit that moment into a short video clip yourself, just post it straight into this thread.
So let's get started.
Round 6
There were a few special moments in the St Kilda game (rd 6) but here are the two I thought were worth posting:
MOMENT 1. Q1, 9:00 left on the clock, 17:50 into the replay. Dolan swoops on a loose ball and is instantly on the move. A handball sideways to Darcy who reels it in and passes to West for a mark and goal.
What I liked was Dolan's confidence, vision, the balance, the purposefulness. His instinctive feel for the game. Even the look in his eye. And of course the vision and temerity to execute a lookaway handball. He didn't stop there either. He kept sprinting forward after dishing off the handball to be a part of the next play, whether that was a return handball or a spillage from Darcy's kick to West. You can't teach that sort of quick thinking and reading of the game when a player is already at AFL level. They've either got it or they haven't. We can all name a few who haven't, even one or two on our current list. But when you see it in a kid who has only played a few games, it's heart warming. And it has by no means been the only example from Dolan. We've been seeing glimpses of it for weeks. He's going to be something special. Maybe a type of player we haven't seen at the Dogs for quite a while.
MOMENT 2. Q4, 15:53 minutes left on the clock, 1:39:10 elapsed on the AFL's replay. Libba has just completed that celebrated run-down of Brad Hill on the far boundary and earned himself a free kick.
It's not the run-down and tackle that I'm highlighting (yes it was brilliant and team-lifting, but it's been played and talked about a thousand times already). It was Joel Freijah's little run-through and ruffling of Libba's hair before he even took his kick. That brief moment told me a lot about Freijah. His self-confidence. The young whippersnapper going out of his way to congratulate one of the revered elder statesmen of the side and say "well done, sonny". Not self-conscious like a lot of 19yos in senior company. Those moments are the ones that tell us this kid has leadership potential. That he's a team first man. That he's already comfortable in his skin. In this side. Despite having played only 19 games. Some players are only just finding that sort of poise after 100 games.
