Player Review vs Carlton

[Snoop Dog]

The Game

Phew......good win in the end and they were gutsy against a Carlton side whose midfield really belted us. How badly did we kick! I guess they did to at times but we certainly wasted a few more.

What I liked

They were up against it today. Remember they are young blokes and to deal with what they had to yesterday would have drained them emotionally so did well to get up

What I didnt like

The umps. Havent had to complain about the umps much this year but how were the non frees against Judd / Henderson and Duigan in that first half!

Votes

5 - Ball
4 - Ball
3 - Ball
2 - Ball
1 - Ball

only joking....

5 - Ball
4 - Thomas
3 - Davis
2 - Obrien
1 - Johnson

Players

Davis - was exceptional on Gartlett I thought. Absolutely pantsed him and only blemish was the speccy instead of the punh....but hey you want him to be offensive back there. Then went fwd and was terrific as well with a nice goal when we needed it. Seems to have lost a little kick penetration in front of goal.

Taz – no touches to half time but was good in just making sure the structure was settled and the ball was repelled in his area. The fact he could go back and play on Betts late was super. Nearly had heart flutters when Maher said he was being subbed out!

Macca – Look he didnt get a heap of it but he was on yarran and whilst let him off leash a bit late in the second he was otherwise solid in the first half. Seemed to move more to a wing in the 3rd and kicked a lovely goal that belied his usual blazing so that was good. Made a poor skill error here and there but did enough for another week. Love to see him have a good one soon.

Maxy – He has his own demons and not going to kick him while he is down. Look fwd to something better over next few weeks.

Kraks – I might have this way wrong as the commentators gave him a whack but I thought he was ok. Certainly more effective than their little blokes. He was very good over the ball and he was excellent when moved onto the ball in the third and then parts of last. I nearly gave him votes! Only blemish is that he lacks a yard and coupled his tendency to just not got the ball away a bit quicker can look slow or lethargic at times. For me going good but maybe a week off soon. Is he allowed to go to Arizona?

Obrien – was good on Betts who he seemed to have for the most part after he beat Gibbs early. Took some super marks in that last half and his body work in the contests was great. We just expect this stuff from him but was good without Heath.

Pendles – excellent first qtr but went out of it in the second and then let Betts put a goal on him at half time. Copped a whack in the the third which slowed him down but then I thought he came back pretty well in the last. I noticed he had a heap of DT points on the screen but I did think there mids go on top of us for most of the day.


Blair – Another who the commentators had a crack at but I am not sure they saw what his role was. He was on Scotland who whilst had a bit of it wasnt as usually destructive off the HB. In fact I felt he had him back deeper than that which was good. Ran it out to when a lot were tired. Couple of bad misses on goal which is unusual for him.

Ball – BOG for me. Beat his man all day and was just so strong at the ball. Marks, goals, hands, tackles did it all. How the hell Saint fans could sit through watching a game of him and not understand what Lyon was doing or why they gave him away is beyond me.

Thomas – excellent first half but geez he should have converted his chances. Still was probably the best mid along with Ball for mine. Some lovely marks, lots of gut running and finished with a nice goal after some bad misses. Simpson was on him and he had a bit of it but just thought Daisy was more effective.

Rounds – Was ok. Again one that spent some time on Scotland and deserves plaudits for that. Lovely pass to Clokey and nice spoil at end were other highlights. However he generally didnt use it well but that will come and it was good experience for him. Suspect Buckley will come back or one of Caff or Goldy though.

Brown – Again the commentators smacked him and to some extent I agree but I thought he had two roles today. One was as a fwd and generally he was poor but the other was taking turns on #8 for them and I thought he kept him very quiet.

Jolly – Got beaten by warkock I thought. Was outjumped and they belted us at clearances which is becoming a bit worrying I reckon. Gave away maybe 4 frees in first half and all were there. Couple of nice marks but the dropped one was shocking and the missed goal would have been a handy one. Not his best.

Reid – I must admit I didnt get a real good read on who he was on. Played well and was pretty good for most of the day I thought. His kicking is elite!

Wellers – Slow to get going but was good in the second I thought and ran well. Went a bit quiet in the third and gave away a terrible turnover on the wing but look he was super in that last qtr. When the legs were tired he was going and I thought our best player in the last qtr which was great. Ps Why didnt he take the shot on goal???

Sidey – Another that went well early but faded through the middle part of the game until he came good in the last 40 mins or so. When the game was there he was good wasnt he!

Keefe – Largely fwd and was good insomuch as provided a contest, seemed to lead ok for a guy who hasnt played much and when he all been back. Nice first goal so well done.

Johno – He was super early and again seemed to fade a bit. Was on Simpson for large junks as well as Thomas and I thought he probably had the better of him. Another who I expected to fade but seemed to run it out well. Lovely kick outs when Davis went fwd.

Cloke – excellent for me. Henderson was ok on him but you just knew if the game was going against us the one out was a contest Cloke would win. Moved him around pretty well and only blemish again were a couple of misses albeit ....one in front was a shocker!

Tooves – v good for me. Seemed to get Walker early and I thought he belted him in the first half but then got lost on him a couple of times in the third. Again was one who turned it over which is a rarity for him. Lovely pass to Keefe in the last and just shows you how far his foot skills have come. Hurt hand late - how bad can this get!

Swan – I would have to say I thought he was average to ok. Was on Judd i thought had better of the clearances (but used it poorly). Didnt really get much done at clearances and not sure if that was bc Jolly didnt win enough. Still had a go and got himself into good spots at times. The miss in the third wasnt great and generally I thought his ball use at times was down.

Fasolo – When he came on he gave us something and his goal was just great when others were missing much easier shots. Beaut thing about him is he picks up the tempo of the game so quickly. Must be in the 21 next week and should stay there for a bit. If Dids comes back soon he and Kraks might be fighting it out.

Changes for the Suns;

Out: Pendles (rest that shoulder), Tooves (hand), Jolly (give the knee another rest) and Krakouer (again a rest I think)

In: Goldsack, MacAffer or Dids, Buckley and Wood (cant believe I am saying this)

 

[Dundalis]

I find it interesting that Brown often is overlooked after a poor game, because he fits a "role" supposedly where he can do different things. Apparently that gives him license to stay in the team despite doing nothing in games.

He's good when he bobs up and kicks a goal or two, but otherwise he never does anything in a ruck, he provides a decent contest in the ruck when the ball hits the ground, but it would be good to have a second ruckman that can actually get some hitouts while being able to go up forward.

 

[TradeDraft]

We are playing the Suns so a Few More Debuts might happen next Saturday Night

 

[Chronz]

Surely can't give jolly another rest next week, He's had 3/4 of the year off already. Needs to play every match of the season from here on out. Rest Pendles for sure (ouch my SC will cop it ). Wouldn't mind seeing Caff given a run as well.

 

[soreplums]

Brown's been ok without being great. Without Dawes he takes another tall and creates space for Cloke. There isn't anyone else who can play his role in the club atm. We don't need him to be BOG every week because the way he plays lifts performances of others.

 

[Shade]

why hate on leeroy brown love the bloke fav player for us does nothing but hes so hard at it and probably the best utility player going around in the afl atm

 

[mdc]

Judd was the best player on the ground? Whoa. Not in a million years. Judd was firing handballs to no-one, Pendlebury was firing handballs that created goals and you don't even have him in our bests. Very confused by that Snoop.

Swan played close to his worst game in 4 years, so I agree with that part, but Judd did not have a great game by any stretch. Got lots of hard ball, did very little with it.

 

[danielnajdek]

No way was Judd BOG. Just handballed blindly over his head about 10 times

Yet the commentators always talk up how good his disposal is lol.

 

[mattys123]

No way was Judd BOG. Just handballed blindly over his head about 10 times

Yet the commentators always talk up how good his disposal is lol.

This says it all;

Chris Judd was ranked 21st out of the 22 Carlton players for Disposal Efficiency, with a woeful percentage of just 57%.

If he gets three votes the Brownlow should be taken out of the umpires hands.

 

[jefffff34]

This says it all;

Chris Judd was ranked 21st out of the 22 Carlton players for Disposal Efficiency, with a woeful percentage of just 57%.

If he gets three votes the Brownlow should be taken out of the umpires hands.

He actually had five effective kicks for the entire match. (5/12)

 

[Collingwould]

This says it all;

Chris Judd was ranked 21st out of the 22 Carlton players for Disposal Efficiency, with a woeful percentage of just 57%.

If he gets three votes the Brownlow should be taken out of the umpires hands.

[post writing prequel: I don't know why I'm asking this because I don't really care who was BOG, we beat the scum and that's the object of the excercise]

so then serious question, as it was reported in the HS that "Carlton captain Chris Judd was best afield with 35 disposals, but the Blues lacked enough depth to upset the Magpies."

So what I'd like to know from the collective wisdom in here is: is this true? can a player be best on ground even though he plays with spuds and can't bring them into a game?

I'd love to know what constitutes, in the umpires brains, HOW a player is BOG? ok, that was a rhetorical question of sorts, but it begs the question for me, that if the "sports writers/reporters" from the paper are telling us this, but we deny it, and Judd keeps getting BOG's for handballing to "space" (ie spud teammate) then have we got it wrong in here?

BTW, I'm not having a go just trying to open up a sensible discussion. The same gets said of Swan by other supporters, that he racks up possies but apparently doesn't do anything with them.

[sigh] been a long day...

 

[forwardflanker]

Luke Ball was best on and probably the best game I've seen him play for us. Comparing the stats of him versus Judd/Thomas/ Swan just highlights how irrelevent possesions are becoming in modern footy imo.

edit: lol st kilda

 

[Snoop Dog]

stand corrected on Judd. Didnt look at the stats to be honest just knew he had a heap and was terrific at the clearances I thought. Obviously didnt pay enough attention to where it went!

Not saying Brown played well just that the ruck element I thought was ok.

 

[Knightmare]

Have to agree with Snoop with regard to the umps. So many non calls on frees for Krakouer, probably would have kicked 3 goals off the non called free kicks.

Votes:
5. Luke Ball
4. Leon Davis
3. Chris Tarrant
2. Travis Cloke
1. Dale Thomas

Notes:
Liked Fasolo's energy off the bench for the goal again and could be a September option as a sub.

Cloke beat an inferior opponent. Goal kicking was ok but disappointing from the point he missed the 15m goal - not unlike Lindsay Thomas' miss from the other week.

Tarrant didn't seem to lose a contest all day. Form over the past 2 months has been as good as anyone.

Ball was great all day. Did his usual stuff and got allot of marks around the ground. His goal kicking accuracy is a highlight of his game, just doesn't seem to miss.

Thomas really needs work on that set shot routine. Lost so much confidence in that shot of his, but showed great energy throughout the game. Was big in the 1st half in particular.

Davis was as good as any. Everything he seems to touch seems to turn to gold. Would say he rivaled Ball for B.O.G.

Krakouer was worth noting. Showed good effort and tackled well. On the very unlucky side of some calls and could easily have kicked 3/4 for mine.

Reid as always rebounded well from defence and continued to read the ball better than anyone else.

Toovey good as usual. Beat his man and is continuing to provide rebound and find targets with regularity by foot which is great to see.

Rounds I wasn't super keen on. Was obviously great last week but wouldn't keen him in the 1s.

Keeffe still needs to physically develop more if he wants to play as a forward. Best down back for now. Really surprised we didn't shift Tarrant forward and put Keeffe down back to go into combination with Reid in that 2nd half. When Dawes comes back will be out of the side.

Blair didn't back up his great effort from last week and would bring in Macaffer.

McCarthy was ok, but other than his goal and a good early tackle wasn't a huge factor either. Not fussed if he stays in or goes out.

Didn't have any huge issues with L.Brown, without Dawes more pressure on both he and Cloke so can't expect same level of production.


Changes for next week:
In: Macaffer (get him ready for finals -needs games and is ready), J.Thomas (debut him, perfect time), Goldy, Wood
Out: Rounds, Keeffe, Jolly (rest), Pendles (rest)

 

[loki04]

Brown's been ok without being great. Without Dawes he takes another tall and creates space for Cloke. There isn't anyone else who can play his role in the club atm. We don't need him to be BOG every week because the way he plays lifts performances of others.

He didn't take a tall he took Laidler who is closer to a medium backman and he certainly didn't make "space" for cloke who competed 2/3v1 most the game.


Brown has been relatively poor most the year, Maxwell has only played ok in 2 games (both we won easily so not much was asked of him) the rest he has been poor but he is captain so...Interesting Jolly had to come back through the magoos but he didn't.

The team is no where near our best 22 imo, people are worried to move Taz forward in Dawes absence but he and cloke make a very good pair and we have the ability to cover taz back more then the ability to cover Dawes nix Taz.

We are favourites for the flag but it's far from a certainty, very frustrating game as a supporter today.

 

[Snoop Dog]

Have to agree with Snoop with regard to the umps. So many non calls on frees for Krakouer, probably would have kicked 3 goals off the non called free kicks.

Votes:
5. Luke Ball
4. Leon Davis
3. Chris Tarrant
2. Travis Cloke
1. Dale Thomas

Notes:
Liked Fasolo's energy off the bench for the goal again and could be a September option as a sub.

Cloke beat an inferior opponent. Goal kicking was ok but disappointing from the point he missed the 15m goal - not unlike Lindsay Thomas' miss from the other week.

Tarrant didn't seem to lose a contest all day. Form over the past 2 months has been as good as anyone.

Ball was great all day. Did his usual stuff and got allot of marks around the ground. His goal kicking accuracy is a highlight of his game, just doesn't seem to miss.

Thomas really needs work on that set shot routine. Lost so much confidence in that shot of his, but showed great energy throughout the game. Was big in the 1st half in particular.

Davis was as good as any. Everything he seems to touch seems to turn to gold. Would say he rivaled Ball for B.O.G.

Krakouer was worth noting. Showed good effort and tackled well. On the very unlucky side of some calls and could easily have kicked 3/4 for mine.

Reid as always rebounded well from defence and continued to read the ball better than anyone else.

Toovey good as usual. Beat his man and is continuing to provide rebound and find targets with regularity by foot which is great to see.

Rounds I wasn't super keen on. Was obviously great last week but wouldn't keen him in the 1s.

Keeffe still needs to physically develop more if he wants to play as a forward. Best down back for now. Really surprised we didn't shift Tarrant forward and put Keeffe down back to go into combination with Reid in that 2nd half. When Dawes comes back will be out of the side.

Blair didn't back up his great effort from last week and would bring in Macaffer.

McCarthy was ok, but other than his goal and a good early tackle wasn't a huge factor either. Not fussed if he stays in or goes out.

Didn't have any huge issues with L.Brown, without Dawes more pressure on both he and Cloke so can't expect same level of production.


Changes for next week:
In: Macaffer (get him ready for finals -needs games and is ready), J.Thomas (debut him, perfect time), Goldy, Wood
Out: Rounds, Keeffe, Jolly (rest), Pendles (rest)

Knighta agree with all that including Thomas goal kicking routine. Geez that ball could catch a cold out there the way he swings it around. Pretty sure Blair would be dropped after that game. Did a lot of good work in a role on Scotland I thought. His fwd pressure if v important. Agree on Caf coming in though. Tooves will go out with an inj hand i think.

Ps no love for Buckley or Young? Young more likely than Thomas given he has been thereabouts would say.

 

[Knightmare]

Knighta agree with all that including Thomas goal kicking routine. Geez that ball could catch a cold out there the way he swings it around. Pretty sure Blair would be dropped after that game. Did a lot of good work in a role on Scotland I thought. His fwd pressure if v important. Agree on Caf coming in though. Tooves will go out with an inj hand i think.

Ps no love for Buckley or Young? Young more likely than Thomas given he has been thereabouts would say.

Haven't heard about Toovey. Certainly Young would be a good option if Tooves misses.

J.Thomas I'd like to see get a taste for some senior footy before the season is out. Mick in his press conference made mention that he wants to get Josh + Ben Sinclair a couple of games at senior level. Think against Gold Coast might be a good opportunity to bring some new ones in for an opportunity, if indeed we do at some point this season. Even with limited games J.Thomas in particular has still been effective at VFL level, even if underdone. At worst could be a sub option to inject some energy.

J.Blair's pressure has been good all season but just seems to have dropped off since his lightning start to the season. I think if he gets a few games in the 2s on the ball he might gets some form back. With a full list healthy I would have him just outside of our best 22 if Macaffer gets back to some solid AFL form.

Buckley after having looked pretty settled for a while there certainly didn't have a strong match against North Melbourne and I'd like for him also to force his way back into the senior side. With Ben Johnson in I wouldn't have him in there personally.

 

[soreplums]

I think that Blair popped up and did some very good things. I'd keeping him in the side and will go as far as saying that he is close to best 22.

 

[forwardflanker]

Yeah I also thought Blaire was ok yesterday and on his form this season its going to be very hard for them to drop him (and ive never been his biggest fan)

At this stage he's definitely first 22 for finals imo.

 

[lozza63]

Snoop and Knighta - love your work boys, but not to have Pendles in your votes anywhere? Is it 'cause you have higher expectations of him?

Sure have Bally best - yet Pendles had - 2 more contested possessions 2 more tackles 1 extra goal and same amount of clearances and that's even including Pendles looking inconvenienced for at least a third of the game?

He may need a rest although Fas could have come on for him instead of Keeffe if he had been that bad? Noticed that he had more movement in the shoulder at the end of the game.

 

[danielnajdek]

Pendles told Llyod he got a stinger in his shoulder.

 

[Angelus512]

I think its clear after today that we need to pull things together.....fast. Our injury list and add in H Shaw suspension is getting into deeply troubling territory now. Add to that a lot of the 2nd string midfielders. sidebottom, sharrod et al are NOT stepping up to the required level.

Yes we are winning but we are not looking like absolute GF certs. Which we should be looking like at this stage of year.

Most of the year we talked about the forward press and how we arent really using it and towards the end of H&A we'd bring it in. Yes we used it a lot in the carlton game but it doesn't seem to be as hard as it was last year.

The 1st quarter and a lot of the 2nd was perhaps when we used it best against carlton but beyond that...

Im still waiting for us to turn it on hard for finals because its coming close but I'm just not seeing it yet. That an inaccuracy is slipping back in.

 

[Shade]

i think where just cruising along in 2nd gear atm

 

[Angelus512]

Maybe so but I think its about time to get out of 2nd....We dont want to be dropping into finals giving other teams the impression we are vulnerable.

We want to be absolutely HULKING into finals having freaked the sh*t out of everybody else so when it comes time to play they figure they have no chance etc.

 

[Shade]

i agree i think we will really hit our straps after the port game