VFL Round 3 - Sandringham vs Collingwood at Trevor Barker Oval (Pies lost 93-113)

[Saintly Viewed]

Dave thanks for all the stuff you post like this.
Much appreciated.
Even if it's off the club website saves me going there as I'm a bit lazy sometimes

 

[robertg22]

Tahana > Freeman

 

[jackcass]

Does anyone else rate Wills highly? I think his contribution to our second half of last year was immense - he is a contested ball animal, good decision maker, big kick and he lays a very strong tackle.

Love the way he plays, is an absolute beast.

 

[jackcass]

Wills is pretty hard to overlook with numbers like that. Whose spot in the 22 would/should he by eyeing off?

I think he's competing with Greenwood mainly. DeGoey and Crisp to a lesser extent.

 

[HFF]

Couldn't disagree more with this assessment. His main role is to win the contested ball and it again shows people watching games get seduced by flashy players who run and carry rather than inside ball winners. To highlight a few examples of highly-regarded midfielders in the AFL, Matthew Priddis has 46 kicks and 120 handballs for the season, while Tom Mitchell has 77 kicks and 129 handballs. Both play important roles for their team.

Wills does need to work on exiting stoppages, both offensively and defensively, however his tackling and tendency to not leave quickly also creates a sense of balance (offensive vs defensive presence) around the contested situations, especially when the AFL side has a number of players who love to run forward and attack.

There is no point trying to turn him into a player like Stephen Hill or Isaac Smith.

Seduced by flashy players?
Who said I want him to turn into Stephen Hill or Smith?

We are a team that is full of "inside ball winners".
We need players capable of doing both.

What's wrong with being a Pendlebury or a Sam Mitchell?
Hardly flashy players.
However brilliant inside and out.
There was an article mid week where Pendlebury spoke about Mick hammering him one day for handballing more than kicking despite racking up huge numbers.

I certainly think it's an area he needs to address if he is to carve out a regular career.
Kicking is paramount.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I think he's competing with Greenwood mainly. DeGoey and Crisp to a lesser extent.

Hes behind them all. Wills is a massive unit but we dont have a shortage of big bodied midfileders.

 

[Mark W]

Hes behind them all. Wills is a massive unit but we dont have a shortage of big bodied midfileders.

He shouldn't be. Wills composure in close, his ability to deliver a handpass onto the chest of a Collingwood player, even when being tackled is far far better then Greenwood and Crisp. Both these players cough it up under pressure. Greenwood simply isn't a good disposer of the footy. Crisp tends to fumble under pressure. No doubting Greenwood and Crisp have terrific work rates, but Wills is much much cleaner.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

He shouldn't be. Wills composure in close, his ability to deliver a handpass onto the chest of a Collingwood player, even when being tackled is far far better then Greenwood and Crisp. Both these players cough it up under pressure. Greenwood simply isn't a good disposer of the footy. Crisp tends to fumble under pressure. No doubting Greenwood and Crisp have terrific work rates, but Wills is much much cleaner.

Wills will get his chances. Greenwood and Crisp were two of our best on Sunday though. Good problem to have.

 

[Finnishpie]

I think he's competing with Greenwood mainly. DeGoey and Crisp to a lesser extent.

exactly

 

[robertg22]

6 tackles to go with Kirby's 3 goals is encouraging. Hope he keeps that up.

 

[jackcass]

Hes behind them all. Wills is a massive unit but we dont have a shortage of big bodied midfileders.

He is currently but that is due to the greater flexibility of those 3 and Rup's delayed start to 2017. I think he's arguably 1 of our best clearance players, just doesn't yet offer the same capacity to go forward or onto a wing as the others meaning he's either in the midfield or on the bench. Think his forward work will improve over time but his capacity to improve the quality of our clearances late 2016 was 1 of the major reasons we turned our form around.

 

[pablo disco bar]

So is josh thomas starting to get back to the playerhe was?

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

So is josh thomas starting to get back to the playerhe was?

Yes he was good.

 

[CFC2010]

So is josh thomas starting to get back to the playerhe was?

I can answer this one..........who would you prefer in the seniors Pablo?

Phillips, Wills, Aish, Daicos, Brown, Kirby...........or Thomas?

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I can answer this one..........who would you prefer in the seniors Pablo?

Phillips, Wills, Aish, Daicos, Brown, Kirby...........or Thomas?

That doesnt answer the question.

He has to play extremely well to move past all of them but all (nothing we didnt know six months ago) he can do is play his best. Was very good last start.

 

[CFC2010]

That doesnt answer the question.

He has to play extremely well to move past all of them but all (nothing we didnt know six months ago) he can do is play his best. Was very good last start.

As I have posted Timmy I would have loved for Hine to find another Phillips and Aliir.......two years ago.

They will be delisted at years end.....happy to be proven wrong on this one.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

As I have posted Timmy I would have loved for Hine to find another Phillips and Aliir.......two years ago.

They will be delisted at years end.....happy to be proven wrong on this one.

Ancient history and with the development of depth in our midfield you're likely to be proven right. Or maybe he will play well enough to earn the club some trade value to help us land the next allir.

If only nailing rookie picks was as easy as cherry picking what other clubs have done....

For what it's worth this years rookie pick is kirby. Technically we took him in the ND to gazump Richmond... But he has all the hallmarks of exactly the sort of blue sky pick you think we have missed out on by keeping keeffe and thomas

 

[MagpieBat]

Just a couple of final things to tie this one off, before we send it off to the archives (apologies for overlooking these until now)...

Firstly, no less than 3 separate photo galleries to peruse. We have the usually exceptional talents of our old friend Shane Barrie on display, along with those of Kadek Thatcher (the young woman whose shots I posted in here following the Coburg game) and Sandringham regular Dave Savell. Enjoy!




Which brings me to the second and last item (and I suspect I am going to regret this, but you only live once)...

I mentioned over on Nick's last week that I was unable to do the usual score updates because of "logistical difficulties", which was true, because there is simply no way I could have been using my laptop while doing this. On a whim, I decided to dig out my old handicam, and after getting my hands on a tripod, I headed down to Sandringham to try my hand at what you might call a field trial/experiment, namely filming the game for possible upload and repost to Youtube.

Suffice to say, the results were not entirely satisfying. While I am pleased that I accomplished the task I set out to do, the camera work leaves something to be desired (again, I claim rookie amateur status here; Gregg Toland I am not), the choice of filming positions (particularly in the first half) were not especially wise and there are more clangers here than... well, than an episode of Clangers. But Margaret and David gave it 2 and half stars out of 5, which is the equivalent of a participation ribbon (or, to put it another way, the equivalent of a spot in the Collingwood VFL bests). But, if you can overlook all the flaws, take this for what it is and dose up on your motion sickness medication, then this homemade replay might be able to help put things into context a little bit more, especially when looking at the form line of those running around in the reserves whom you might want to see come into the seniors.

So, without further adieu and for probably the only and last time, here is what I came up with:



Be gentle, or be quick if you must be brutal...