impressed with rockliff especially given he played in the centre predominantly rather than in a pocket, good signs that he can match it with players like cross rather than just in the qafl. some quality commentating once again, and also good to see fevola contributing without the ball. tigger looked reasonably composed today playing behind the ball which could be a more permanent fixture, however with a beard like that it's hard not to look composed.
NAB Cup Round 1 - Brisbane Lions v Western Bulldogs
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Pie eyed
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Number 18 Todd Banfield.
I was at the game and came on here to mention him specifically. Looked very good in close and as has been mentioned he was like a terrier. The conditions suited him though but it was obvious he goes in hard, is not physically intimidated won't give up. All good signs.
Looks a similar type to Rich in play. Does not have the solid core Rich turned up with but could.
On Rich, he appears to have put on some height, or possibly redistributed some muscle. He looks taller anyway.
Other than that it was a pretty poor day to make too many assessments.
Fev's still a crowd pleaser and I had to laugh at all the Brissy fans still giving him heaps. Even had a one on one with him. He told me it was "****en wet" after sliding into the fence...lol
Thought Charman was very hard at the ball, every time he did that though I cringed a bit cause I didnt wanna see him get injured but its good to have him back in the team - one of his desperate dives on the ball created a Sherman goal.
Shouldnt be too hard on Collier, the wet weather probably did not suit him and wasnt used to it. Needs more consistent game time in my opinion.
Shouldnt be too hard on Collier, the wet weather probably did not suit him and wasnt used to it. Needs more consistent game time in my opinion.
chopperduck
Brownlow Medallist
Well im pretty sure Charmo did dislocate a finger, so he didn't escape totally injury free, however i'll take a finger over a knee any day. Banfield was good, Harwood was in amongst it as well. Banfield is the quicker more bright red head, Harwood is more of a blonde type ranga. Thought he did very well for his first outing as a first year player.
Jorgo
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Clearances all up today were 36-30 in the Bulldogs favour... pretty close considering that the Dogs had basically a full strength midfield and we were missing our two best mids.
Gotta agree with you there TBD. Certainly a pleasing stat.
I see Rich had 2 clearances. I vividly remember one of them. Rich trademark special. Rove the ball from the ruck contest, take a couple of steps and bang it 60m forward inside 50. Boy I could watch that all day
Considering Tom is Tasmanian, I would have thought he would have been fairly used to those type of conditions.
In any event, everyone has off days and his game against the Saints last year suggests that he is capable of playing at AFL level.
Oh, pshhh. What a load of bull haha. The grounds down here have better drainage and you'd be hard fit to find a place in Tasmania where it rains for a whole day let alone 2-3 days straight. Hobart is the second driest capital behind Adelaide after all. Collier wouldn't be used to it.
As a former Tasmanian, I support the above comments, but not totally. I can recall the odd lake, even at North Hobart oval, where the imperative is to keep the body over the ball to anticipate the skid, keep the ball moving with plenty of kicks off the ground, etc.
I remarked during the game that it was disappointing that neither Collier and Cornelius appeared to be familiar with these basics. I think the main problem with Collier appeared to be lack of decisiveness.
As to Rischitelli, Stiller et al, by now we know what you are going to get- hard work, honest endeavour, average skills. If we are content to live with this, fine. If we aspire to better, then we move on unless we get better standard performances. The status quo no longer applies.
Gibbo_88
Premiership Player
They only seemed to play in the first quarter and a little in the second and after that they didn't seem to care what happened.
It's hard to read into the skills but...
Didn't really notice that Redden had put on a lot of muscle but he looked like a clearance winner diving to the ground to be first to the ball on a number of occasions. Polkinghorne looked at home in the midfield to me.
Rocklobster looked great. At the very least he will have a great year in reserves and I didn't notice that he has a lack of pace. Hope Banfield debuts this year, did some good things in the first quarter.
Buchanon and Proud are fighting for the same spot in the team. Buchanon, at this stage has slightly better skills I think.
It's hard to read into the skills but...
Didn't really notice that Redden had put on a lot of muscle but he looked like a clearance winner diving to the ground to be first to the ball on a number of occasions. Polkinghorne looked at home in the midfield to me.
Rocklobster looked great. At the very least he will have a great year in reserves and I didn't notice that he has a lack of pace. Hope Banfield debuts this year, did some good things in the first quarter.
Buchanon and Proud are fighting for the same spot in the team. Buchanon, at this stage has slightly better skills I think.
First game of the year and somewhat disappointing after we had such a great start. We disappeared in the third quarter which cost us. That was a combination of poor play by us and the umpires continually awarding frees to the Dogs to ensure they kept momentum. After a good game on Friday night the umpiring for the rest of the weekend was woeful. Why do we have to put up with this crap every year?
Anyhow out of the blocks we looked exceptionally good. We looked sharp and focused on using a quick handball game. There has been a lot of work on this aspect of our game over the preseason and it was good to see it pay off early. Now we just need to play like that for an entire game.
Our clearances were good early but we reverted to form there too as the game progressed. Black and Power back will certainly help there and Buchanan looks like he will be used as a bit of a wrecking ball to create some space and make teams something to worry about. We dominated in the ruck contests and I thought on the day should have done better in the clearances.
I thought our back set up was very solid and defensively did a very nice job apart form giving away a few stupid frees. All of the backs were very accountable even Johnstone who was playing the Drummond role. Going forward however our defensive unit was bad and cost us a lot of shots on goal. Conditions were difficult and our backs felt it more than most missing entirely too many targets. With Cornelius playing yesterday exclusively in the backs I think it is pretty clear that Maguire will play at CHB and Patfull as the third tall.
We started encouragingly up forward with Staker providing a high marking option, Banfield showing some great straight line speed going both ways and Fev leading strongly. After the first quarter though our forwards were terrible. Fev was the only option and the delivery he got was terrible. Our small forwards disappeared, did not provide any pressure and were definitely no goal scoring threat. We DID look for Fevola too much but no-one else provided an avenue to goal. The lack of any kind of small forward option continues to plague us and I can’t believe we overlook this area year after year when there are guys around who could help us.
In the rucks I thought Leuenberger won the first battle for the second ruck spot. He had some good taps, look physically read and made himself available around the ground well. If anything our players didn’t use him as much as they should. He picked up a few nice grabs and moved well. Charman also did pretty well and provided a good physical presence in the ruck situations although he didn’t contribute around the ground at all really.
On a few players:
Rockliff – another game like that and you can write his name down for round 1. Covered a lot of ground, seems to have picked up a yard of pace, got a lot of the ball and used it well. Could not have done more. He improved as the game went on which a lot of our guys didn’t.
Redden – was a tackling machine and got a bit of the ball but he burnt the ball too much. I really rate his skills but they were not evident yesterday.
Cornelius – did well as a KPD I thought. He was very solid defensively and his men were really not dangerous at all. Admittedly he didn’t have a lot to match up on but it was encouraging nonetheless. I still see him as a forward though and I would have liked to have seen him thrown forward for a stint in the front half.
Collier – copped a lot on here and probably rightly so. He made a few howlers with the ball in hand and the interchange infringement was inexcusable. Defensively though I thought he was good and really played tall in the marking contests on a few occasions which had been a criticism of him. Hopefully he gets another chance and can show us what he can do.
Harwood – played the first half and was at the bottom of many packs. Has good size about him now and I think he will play a fair few games this year. Solid run from the first year player and he is one who could help Black down the track.
Buchanan – was the star of the first half with a bullocking display in the middle of the ground. He went a lot quieter after the half though. He was ineffective when he went up forward and his disposal skills were very poor after his initial burst. He will provide a physical presence in the middle this year but I think he might be fairly frustrating as well.
Staker – started the game well getting some high marks but disappeared after quarter time. His kicking was ordinary throughout and he was not a goal scoring threat. I didn’t notice in the middle of the ground at all. A few more games like that and he will be out of the side.
Adcock – played very deep and very accountable. Was used a bit but did not get it as much as I would have liked. It will be interesting to see how he works with McGrath back.
Johnstone – was okay early but really ordinary late. He is the epitome of a front runner. When the team is up and going he looks good when they are not he looks terrible. In the second half he constantly missed targets. Defensively he was okay though which was a bit of a surprise. He was playing the Drummond role and it will be interesting if it is intended to for him to play down back this year.
Stiller – was given the job on Higgins and did it well. Noticeably he was one of the few who really worked hard in that third term and kept running and providing options when a lot of others had stopped.
Rischitelli – was good in the first half playing as a soft tag on Cooney. He got a fair bit of it himself and used the ball pretty well for him.
O’Brien – played only the first half and looked good with a couple of classy possessions and a nice goal from a contested mark which showed his strength.
Merrett – made a few dumb decisions and seemed to be labouring a few times. I think he needs to trim down a bit and build his endurance and speed a bit again.
Fevola – okay and the delivery was terrible but he did not get the separation you would like to see. Was double and triple teamed a fair bit which didn’t help things.
Banfield – started strongly but again fade a bit. Playing up forward he showed some impressive pace and pressured the ball but again did not work hard enough to get meaningful ball and is not a crumber. Worth persisting with though although his position needs to be better defined.
Austin – got a few possessions but did not seem to get a huge amount of TOG. So so with the ball in hand.
Beams and Dyson – invisible.
Hawksley – did nothing to impress and will need to do more to secure a position in the side especially if the Johnstone to half back is persisted with.
Patfull – solid but if he is playing the third tall role he needs to get more involved with the ball coming out of defense. Needed to make himself more of an option than he did yesterday.
Rich – was tagged by Moles and handled it pretty well. Good hands and even his rushed scrubbing kicks seemed to be to our teams advantage more than others. A good hit out and he more than any other will benefit from Black and Power coming back in.
Sherman – looked very classy out there and was probably the best player for us. He did not get a huge amount of it but was quick and sharp. He used his pace well in difficult conditions and his three goals kept us in the match. His disposal skills were also as good as I have seen them which was very encouraging in difficult conditions.
Anyhow out of the blocks we looked exceptionally good. We looked sharp and focused on using a quick handball game. There has been a lot of work on this aspect of our game over the preseason and it was good to see it pay off early. Now we just need to play like that for an entire game.
Our clearances were good early but we reverted to form there too as the game progressed. Black and Power back will certainly help there and Buchanan looks like he will be used as a bit of a wrecking ball to create some space and make teams something to worry about. We dominated in the ruck contests and I thought on the day should have done better in the clearances.
I thought our back set up was very solid and defensively did a very nice job apart form giving away a few stupid frees. All of the backs were very accountable even Johnstone who was playing the Drummond role. Going forward however our defensive unit was bad and cost us a lot of shots on goal. Conditions were difficult and our backs felt it more than most missing entirely too many targets. With Cornelius playing yesterday exclusively in the backs I think it is pretty clear that Maguire will play at CHB and Patfull as the third tall.
We started encouragingly up forward with Staker providing a high marking option, Banfield showing some great straight line speed going both ways and Fev leading strongly. After the first quarter though our forwards were terrible. Fev was the only option and the delivery he got was terrible. Our small forwards disappeared, did not provide any pressure and were definitely no goal scoring threat. We DID look for Fevola too much but no-one else provided an avenue to goal. The lack of any kind of small forward option continues to plague us and I can’t believe we overlook this area year after year when there are guys around who could help us.
In the rucks I thought Leuenberger won the first battle for the second ruck spot. He had some good taps, look physically read and made himself available around the ground well. If anything our players didn’t use him as much as they should. He picked up a few nice grabs and moved well. Charman also did pretty well and provided a good physical presence in the ruck situations although he didn’t contribute around the ground at all really.
On a few players:
Rockliff – another game like that and you can write his name down for round 1. Covered a lot of ground, seems to have picked up a yard of pace, got a lot of the ball and used it well. Could not have done more. He improved as the game went on which a lot of our guys didn’t.
Redden – was a tackling machine and got a bit of the ball but he burnt the ball too much. I really rate his skills but they were not evident yesterday.
Cornelius – did well as a KPD I thought. He was very solid defensively and his men were really not dangerous at all. Admittedly he didn’t have a lot to match up on but it was encouraging nonetheless. I still see him as a forward though and I would have liked to have seen him thrown forward for a stint in the front half.
Collier – copped a lot on here and probably rightly so. He made a few howlers with the ball in hand and the interchange infringement was inexcusable. Defensively though I thought he was good and really played tall in the marking contests on a few occasions which had been a criticism of him. Hopefully he gets another chance and can show us what he can do.
Harwood – played the first half and was at the bottom of many packs. Has good size about him now and I think he will play a fair few games this year. Solid run from the first year player and he is one who could help Black down the track.
Buchanan – was the star of the first half with a bullocking display in the middle of the ground. He went a lot quieter after the half though. He was ineffective when he went up forward and his disposal skills were very poor after his initial burst. He will provide a physical presence in the middle this year but I think he might be fairly frustrating as well.
Staker – started the game well getting some high marks but disappeared after quarter time. His kicking was ordinary throughout and he was not a goal scoring threat. I didn’t notice in the middle of the ground at all. A few more games like that and he will be out of the side.
Adcock – played very deep and very accountable. Was used a bit but did not get it as much as I would have liked. It will be interesting to see how he works with McGrath back.
Johnstone – was okay early but really ordinary late. He is the epitome of a front runner. When the team is up and going he looks good when they are not he looks terrible. In the second half he constantly missed targets. Defensively he was okay though which was a bit of a surprise. He was playing the Drummond role and it will be interesting if it is intended to for him to play down back this year.
Stiller – was given the job on Higgins and did it well. Noticeably he was one of the few who really worked hard in that third term and kept running and providing options when a lot of others had stopped.
Rischitelli – was good in the first half playing as a soft tag on Cooney. He got a fair bit of it himself and used the ball pretty well for him.
O’Brien – played only the first half and looked good with a couple of classy possessions and a nice goal from a contested mark which showed his strength.
Merrett – made a few dumb decisions and seemed to be labouring a few times. I think he needs to trim down a bit and build his endurance and speed a bit again.
Fevola – okay and the delivery was terrible but he did not get the separation you would like to see. Was double and triple teamed a fair bit which didn’t help things.
Banfield – started strongly but again fade a bit. Playing up forward he showed some impressive pace and pressured the ball but again did not work hard enough to get meaningful ball and is not a crumber. Worth persisting with though although his position needs to be better defined.
Austin – got a few possessions but did not seem to get a huge amount of TOG. So so with the ball in hand.
Beams and Dyson – invisible.
Hawksley – did nothing to impress and will need to do more to secure a position in the side especially if the Johnstone to half back is persisted with.
Patfull – solid but if he is playing the third tall role he needs to get more involved with the ball coming out of defense. Needed to make himself more of an option than he did yesterday.
Rich – was tagged by Moles and handled it pretty well. Good hands and even his rushed scrubbing kicks seemed to be to our teams advantage more than others. A good hit out and he more than any other will benefit from Black and Power coming back in.
Sherman – looked very classy out there and was probably the best player for us. He did not get a huge amount of it but was quick and sharp. He used his pace well in difficult conditions and his three goals kept us in the match. His disposal skills were also as good as I have seen them which was very encouraging in difficult conditions.
I forgot Polkinghorne. I was very disappointed in him. These were conditions that should have suited him down to the ground i.e. in tight with foot speed not too much of an issue. He was hardly sighted all day and when he was it was not usually with the ball in his hand. Given how poorly our small forwards did I can see the Polks experiment in the midfield coming to an end pretty quickly.
stitchface
Team Captain
Didn't we also get penalised (but not stung with a goal) with an earlier interchange infringement? Everyone saw how poor those lines were on field after all the rain - do we have boundary people to watch for this sort of thing especially after the first incident? (It may have been Dyson the first time but they didn't actually name the person at the time on coverage but he seemed to be the newest one out on the field at the time)
Agree with most of your assessment for Buchanan. However, although he got a lot of the pill (mostly early on), I felt he was caught with it too often. He seemed to hang on to it even when given the option to hand off to a team mate and was caught too many times. Too self absorbed? Or was he following directions and was unlucky or too slow? On at least two occasions in the first quarter it cost us a possible shot on goal. (as we were streaming forward and he was caught on the wing just prior to the ball entering the 50)
Hollow Knight
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Best news of the day...
Probably would have taken that if it was offered to me before the game, regardless of the score.
Probably would have taken that if it was offered to me before the game, regardless of the score.
Agreed
Here's to a injury free year
very disappointing. rockliff had the game i expected polkinghorne to have.
Zoski
Debutant
Perhaps he was just a little distracted or not liking the conditions of Canberra but he is certainly a great player.
Not sure if it's been mentioned, but top 5 for SC points were:
1. Rockliff- 142
2. Sherman- 127
3. Griffen- 112
4. Redden- 112
5. Picken- 109
Impressive stuff by Rockliff!
I was happy with Fev, obviously terrible conditions for a guy as big as he is, but he did work very hard and showed all the defensive/tackling things we know he's capable of.
Hard to gauge much however, when conditions are as bad as they were.
Looking forward to a hopefully dry game in 2 weeks.
1. Rockliff- 142
2. Sherman- 127
3. Griffen- 112
4. Redden- 112
5. Picken- 109
Impressive stuff by Rockliff!
I was happy with Fev, obviously terrible conditions for a guy as big as he is, but he did work very hard and showed all the defensive/tackling things we know he's capable of.
Hard to gauge much however, when conditions are as bad as they were.
Looking forward to a hopefully dry game in 2 weeks.
Mavlions1961
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I have to disagree with you re Patfull, I thought he stood up down back, definately saved a goal with a very late tap.
Collier will be under pressure for the next game, or maybe Vossy will give him a run to see if it was just one of those games. Having said that the conditions were pretty poor.
It was good to see Charman back amongst it, the way he put in, he knows he has to earn his spot.
I thought the young tasmanian, Ryan Harwood was amongst it in the first half, got subbed out in the long break.
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When do the Lions play their next match?
Next week? or in a fortnight?
Next week? or in a fortnight?
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Having seemigly enough guys who can run through the midfield now, there really isn't much argument to not playing Power permanently in a forward pocket....
Is really the only smaller player we have who is also quick, skillful, defensive minded and can kick goals....
Is really the only smaller player we have who is also quick, skillful, defensive minded and can kick goals....
He's one of the more accurate kick for goals we have as well. I'm not so sure it will happen though.
