Practice Match Willi vs. Sandringham

[The Royal Sampler]

Nickelass and myself made the trip up to Trevor Barker Oval to see some of the young Pies play, with Collingwood having sought permission from the AFL to include Medhurst, Holland, Didak and Goldsack in the Williamstown team.

Unfortunately for us, Medhurst was the only Collingwood-listed player who played, not even our rookies were there.

Meds was having a very quiet day, he got involved a couple of times before I left, most notably taking a mark on the lead and then missing a set shot from just outside 50 early in the 3rd quarter. In his defence, the kicking into the forward line was awful, and that particular mark was the result of the only kick to a Medhust lead I'd seen for the day.

All in all it was a bit of a lost cause, I didn't stay long into the 3rd.

 

[Jabso]

So Willy lost?

 

[The Royal Sampler]

They were down by 5 points in the 3rd quarter when I left, 9.7 to 9.2.

 

[FIGJAM]

Weird we didn't play our kids. They will likely have next week off too. Maybe we're giving them a spell.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

I guess the guidelines only allow for those who've had an injury interrupted preseason to play, but that would still allow Goldsack, for instance to play.

 

[Medhurst Magic]

Shame Dids didnt play, I was hoping he would & get some match time under his belt.

I wouldnt worry bout Medders, he was coming back from an injury setback aswell & will be better for the run.

He is the type of player who will lift when pulling on the Black & White jumper.

 

[JAJH]

Practice match today 26/3/2007 at Trevor Barker Oval.
Pics HERE

 

[Dave The Man]

Who Won?

 

[JAJH]

Who Won?

Was close all day, Sandy ran out winners by around 4-5 goals.

 

[jonesy86]

AFL Rookie listed players didn't need special permission to play VFL matches....rookie list players are also eligible for VFL rep sides and team of the year

 

[Dead Eye Didak]

You should have checked the Williamstown footy club website before heading to the ground, you would have seen Medhurst was the only AFL listed player actually playing.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Yeah, yeah.

Well, jonesy86 is right, meaning Clarke, Wellingham, Macaffer and Nicholls could've played, I forgot about that. Strange that those guys weren't included.

Incidentally, Jack Anthony was taking set shots for goal at each of the breaks, I think it was with skills coach Alan Richardson. He was getting Anthony to shorten his run-up and speed it up, obviously they were working on a pre-shot routine of sorts. He looked like he was moving well while mucking around.

 

[Tas]

I guess the guidelines only allow for those who've had an injury interrupted preseason to play, but that would still allow Goldsack, for instance to play.

Club just has to ask for permission, I have never heard of them refusing. VFL just needs to know who is running out and what jumper numbers they are allocated.

 

[MarkT]

I ventured down to have a gander since it was near where I live. I went with my 2 young kids and spent much of the time chasing them around so I didn’t watch the game intently. Medhust didn’t like much chop at all. Williams always does a bit at this level. Quite a few skinny kids in Willi jumpers. Saw Ben Reid with Alan Richardson having a bit of a chat. A few other young bucks there as well. Reid is smaller than I expected. Not much to report really. Sandi won reasonably comfortably in spite of their inaccuracy.

 

[Aristotel]

Nickelass and myself made the trip up to Trevor Barker Oval to see some of the young Pies play, with Collingwood having sought permission from the AFL to include Medhurst, Holland, Didak and Goldsack in the Williamstown team.

Unfortunately for us, Medhurst was the only Collingwood-listed player who played, not even our rookies were there.

Meds was having a very quiet day, he got involved a couple of times before I left, most notably taking a mark on the lead and then missing a set shot from just outside 50 early in the 3rd quarter. In his defence, the kicking into the forward line was awful, and that particular mark was the result of the only kick to a Medhust lead I'd seen for the day.

All in all it was a bit of a lost cause, I didn't stay long into the 3rd.

Sounds like you left at about the same time I did.

Pretty uneventful match from Medhurst's point of view, but the delivery into the forward line was dismal. Willy seemed to fall down at half-forward, as were Sandringham, but I thought they had a couple more effective big blokes.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Wandered down myself as its just round the corner form my house (I dont live in Thomastown!!!)

Not much to report - only saw the first half - although I must say Melbourne can keep Colin Sylvia. He's only interested in going for speccies and then spends the next 20 minutes stretching, trying to get his hammies and groin and claves to work. Good player, but chroncially injured and not a team player.

Had a quick chat with JAJH and he tells me JA is looking like being a week or two away from full training, which is good news.

 

[Aristotel]

Timmy from Hampton?

 

[understudy]

Medhurst was ok, worked pretty hard and had some nice touches, setting others up into scoring positions. Conditions weren't great for forwards and there was a bit of a lack of supply.

Certainly will play rd 1 if fit.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Timmy from Hampton?

Indeed!!!

(its a Coodabeens reference)

 

[MarkT]

Medhurst was ok, worked pretty hard and had some nice touches, setting others up into scoring positions. Conditions weren't great for forwards and there was a bit of a lack of supply.

Certainly will play rd 1 if fit.

I thought he was ordinary. It was a VFL players with almost no AFL talent on the park. He should eat it up at half rat power. There was nothing wrong with the conditions. It was a beautiful day. A bit of wind at one end but not that bad and the visitors end was pretty sheltered. First time I’ve seen him in the flash. He doesn’t have the arms of a bloke that been on a list as a forward and doing weights as long as he has.

 

[understudy]

Not always easy to dominate at the lower level, especially playing down there (VFL), with those guys (Willi) for the first time and playing out of a forward pocket.

Thought his work ethic was fine, didnt do anything wrong, he had a run and hopefully got through unscathed (was icing his foot but hopefully own a precaution).

They are the main things.

 

[Lonie_from_50]

You would think that AFL players should be the best performers on the ground however, we have seen over time that it isn't always the case, so don't read too much into Medhurst's performance.

As we see with Egan, the logic behind it is that Egan is quite poor in the VFL, but is much better at AFL level...it happens to most small forwards I find. They perform in front of crowds and just adapt much better to the professional and quick game.

Medhurst would be in the same category.

 

[understudy]

Yes some of the assesments of him have been overly harsh in this thread.

 

[Nardz]

Yes some of the assesments of him have been overly harsh in this thread.

once upon a time people use to give our new aquisitions a chance to prove themselves (and most of the time they would never take that chance).

Now he's being hung out to dry from the word go, because everyone expects failure as with most of our other trades of late.

lets hope he goes against the trend...

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Yes some of the assesments of him have been overly harsh in this thread.

He played, thats all thats important. How well he went is almost irrelevant - it was a practice match in extremely blustery conditions playing with a bunch of skinny seventeen year olds, most of whom he would not even knwo by name.

What I really care about is the state of his foot/ankle, which of course its a bit hard to tell.