Despite the scores being close at half time it was all a bit ho-hum. It just seemed that the 2 teams were going through the motions and from a Dockers perspective there were no standout individuals. You've all seen Matt Rosa play, so to put the following appraisals into perspective I think that Rosa looked a class above everyone else out there. He looked very classy and put everyone else in the shade. Having said that, there were a few very encouraging performances from our boys.
The Peel lads were very good and Peel would not have won had it not been a couple of terrific games from Ugle and Jetta. The other Peel boys were solid and there were no glaring clangers from them that I noticed today.
As
sleiwos said Moller was quite good. Now, he was by no means best on ground, and he wasn't even the best tall on the ground but compared to how he played last year I am amazed at how he has turned his performances around. He's always shown that he has the skill to play footy but this year he looks like he wants it. He's starting to display a bit of presence around the ground too and is demonstrating good physicality in contests and in some of the off-the-ball stuff. His second efforts were good and that bump he laid on Bennell was a bone cruncher. Duffy was on a 3 bounce run along the boundary being pursued by Bennell and Moller crunched him with a huge bump. It left Bennell stunned, I don't think he knew what hit him. Duffy weaved around another player after that shepherd but then kicked the ball out on the full. That play sums up Duffy, he does some great stuff but then undoes it with a clanger.
In the first half Grey started in the middle and ran with Hutchings, although it wasn't a hard tag. Grey found plenty of the ball but his kicking let him down a bit, he didn't kick with any depth. Once again he was tough in the clinches and when he tackles he really hurts his opponent.
As usual Tanner was tough, courageous and hard in the contests but he's just not very good IMO. In the first qtr he went back with the flight and got a fist on the ball but a free was given to EP, not sure if it was against Tanner. Later in the qtr Tanner got a fist on a ball in another marking contest and again a free was given against him. He shows plenty of competitive spirit but little in the way of footy nous. The post game analysis thread will light up if Tanner gets a game for Freo this year.
Zac started slowly, he was good in the ruck but when he's at FF and camped under an incoming kick he doesn't seem to be able to read the flight of the ball. In one contest he and Moller were going for a mark in the goal square and Zac misread the ball and went too far under it but Moller read it much better and got both hands to the ball but dropped the mark. In fact Moller got both hands to the ball but dropped the mark on maybe 5 occasions today. In the second half Zac put on a clinic he took marks all over the ground and kicked some wonderful goals. It was a dominant big man performance, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him come back in after the bye.
DeBoer was a clearance machine and tried hard all game. Same could be said for Ballard but based on a couple of recent performances you'd have to say that DeBoer was a better player than Ballard. Duffield was average, he took the kick ins but also drifted forward on a few occasions.
Blakely started slowly but when Peel really needed someone to step up in the second half Connor clicked up another gear. He was really impressive in the last qtr and cleared the ball from the centre bounce with good speed and good execution by hand and foot. I was really impressed by his leadership.
Weller was pretty quiet today and I didn't see Langdon after the first qtr, he must have picked up an injury. Hughes was pretty good but didn't get a lot of the ball. TV went mostly unnoticed although he did take a terrific mark in the 3rd qtr when he came in from the side and floated across the front of the pack. He put the ball straight over the umpire's head from the set shot, 45m out.
Griff was good in the ruck but Zarke was the best big man on the ground.