5. Braun - he annoys me more than any other Eagles "midfielder" but I thought he was our best today. It's not just about accumulating possessions. Hard work, important tackles, game-turning chase, important goal, stayed on his player and got 20 himself
4. Embley - tried hard all day and although he made the odd blue, kicked 3 goals, tried to hurt Nathan Brown when tackling him as he kicked a goal, was there when it mattered in the last, if only he'd kicked that one on the run in the 4th - we wouldn't have got close without his hard work.
3. Chick - if he could actually stay on the field for the duration, he'd get my votes every week. Does more hard stuff than the rest combined, 8 tackles and several excellent shepherds. Calm, composed and disciplined under pressure, so he hits those targets.
2. Gardiner - the big man got 32 to 21 hitouts against Darcy, is a target at CHF, is our only reliable tall marking target from kick-outs. At this rate he'll be shot by the time finals come around - no wonder he's too tired to kick at the end of the game. HELP HIM OUT!
1. Matera - 5 goals and forward 50 defensive pressure that we missed last week
It's a protest. I refuse to give any votes to Cousins, Kerr, Judd or Fletcher because of their refusal/inability to man up when required (you can talk about game plan all you like - it's up to the players to man up as soon as the other team gets a run-on, which is defined as 2 goals on the run). I couldn't name a defender who had a good day, let alone beat his opponent.
I was very close to giving Cousins votes, because he did a lot of good things and Fletcher also. Jako presented well too.
In fairness, the other side were excellent today and we were not rewarded for our tackling by the umpires.