Second Tier Is Here

[Damp Squarie]

So we beat Pork in a team effort.
That was pleasing but more pleasing was the way the younger brigade were composed and didnt blaze away when they got the ball...all day.

We wouldnt've won without the next generation of players coming through on a day when most who have played in a showdown, compare it to a final.


The running corridor gameplan is even bearing fruit with the last two games giving the second tier a lot of confidence when theyve got the ball and desperation in the tackle when they havent.

McGregor, Johncock,Mattner, Shirley, Doughty, & Reilly, have all done well this year and can only get better with the confidence that comes with winning

The jury is still out with Skipworth & Begley; they need to work harder when they dont have the ball.

So to all the knockers out there that reckon our club is bereft of new blood;have another look.

 

[Gets!]

Yep even when Van Berlo got a few touches, he used the ball well.

Stiffy was fabulous, as was McGregor, rutten, doughty etc.

GOLD

 

[Damp Squarie]

Hell VB goes in hard eh.
I think the first two possies he earned he got hammered bigtime.

I forgot about Rutten he played well too and even showed a lil bit of PACE

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

Some on here, including myself, need to eat their words regarding Doughty and Reilly. They really threw there body over the ball today. Hudson was magnificent, Mattner sensational and Thommo is coming along nicely. We beat Port at their own game, hard at the ball and hard at the man.

Was anyone else impressed with the way The Count threw himself at the contest when he came on??

 

[-VC-]

Was anyone else impressed with the way The Count threw himself at the contest when he came on??

I was particularly impressed. When he came on at the end he made a couple of great plays to keep the ball away from Port.
The ball was on Port's forward 50 near the boundary line and he pounced head first at the ball and got his fist onto it on two occassions. I believe the second time forced a throw in, which was the ideal play for us at the time.
Good job with limited game time today. Not a bad first up at all.

 

[maccas_no1]

That was the best thing to come out of today, was the effort of the players that are going to not only be future leaders but there for the next 5-8 years, so pleasing to see and we need to keep it though.

Hudson really impressed me today with his ruckwork he is always aware of were other players are around him and directed the ball well.

Mattner's poise and the way he ran the lines today was nothing short of sensational, Burton should take a leaf out of his book His tackling is also a very big part of his game.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Hell VB goes in hard eh.
I think the first two possies he earned he got hammered bigtime.

PACE

What was so good about his initial efforts was that he wasn't chasing kicks but more concentrating on doing the team things - great to see, the possesssions will come later with greater confidence and feel for the pace of the game.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Some on here, including myself, need to eat their words regarding Doughty and Reilly. They really threw there body over the ball today. Hudson was magnificent, Mattner sensational and Thommo is coming along nicely. We beat Port at their own game, hard at the ball and hard at the man.

Was anyone else impressed with the way The Count threw himself at the contest when he came on??

Absolutely with VB.

We have to be careful in criticising players on a bad game, Doughty last week, Begley today.

We need to look at whether it is simply a bad game. out of form or simply not up to it.

 

[Bockchoy67]

Hell VB goes in hard eh.
I think the first two possies he earned he got hammered bigtime.

I forgot about Rutten he played well too and even showed a lil bit of PACE

Definitely.

Despite his lack of gametime The Count was working hard every second he was out on the ground. His efforts in the packs were fantastic for one so slight.

Hopefully he maintains his spot in the team this week. Neil Craig will probably want someone to make their way for Burton. Hopefully it isn't The Count.

 

[AJ_No.4]

Hell VB goes in hard eh.
I think the first two possies he earned he got hammered bigtime.

I forgot about Rutten he played well too and even showed a lil bit of PACE

Darren Jarman would look quick if he was playing on Matty primus.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Definitely.

Despite his lack of gametime The Count was working hard every second he was out on the ground. His efforts in the packs were fantastic for one so slight.

Hopefully he maintains his spot in the team this week. Neil Craig will probably want someone to make their way for Burton. Hopefully it isn't The Count.

Thats an interesting dilemma - not a lot of gametime but worked his backside off when on - I hope like hell he keeps in the side from a confidence and development perspective - let Skippy or Begley go back to SANFL.

 

[Crow-mosone]

Thats an interesting dilemma - not a lot of gametime but worked his backside off when on - I hope like hell he keeps in the side from a confidence and development perspective - let Skippy or Begley go back to SANFL.

he'd have gotten more out of the pregame routine and preparation than his limited game time. nothing to be lost by letting him now go back to the sanfl, and reflecting on the experience.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Some on here, including myself, need to eat their words regarding Doughty and Reilly. They really threw there body over the ball today. Hudson was magnificent, Mattner sensational and Thommo is coming along nicely. We beat Port at their own game, hard at the ball and hard at the man.

Was anyone else impressed with the way The Count threw himself at the contest when he came on??

Mate I was stoked with VB's first effort. I saw him come on and the very first thing he did was fly into the pack and earn himself a free. And to think some "experts" were labeling him as an outside runner.

I thought everyone played well apart from Begley, Biglands and to a lesser extent Skippy.

Am I the only one that thinks Torney was stiff not to get the Showdown Medal. I thought he was just superb all day today. The amount of ground he covered and the number of opponents he blanketed today was just superb.

Welcome back JT

 

[Stiffy_18]

Absolutely with VB.

We have to be careful in criticising players on a bad game, Doughty last week, Begley today.

We need to look at whether it is simply a bad game. out of form or simply not up to it.

Well said

I said during the week that NC shouldn't drop Doughty because that would just kill him off and it will be an over-reaction from the match committee. I had a feeling doughty would bounce back. He played well today but I would like him to use his foot more rather than handball.

Begley is badly out of form and I think he really should play with Sturt until he gets back into some sort of solid form. For mine he was VERY lucky to get a game this week. He is better than that though.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Thats an interesting dilemma - not a lot of gametime but worked his backside off when on - I hope like hell he keeps in the side from a confidence and development perspective - let Skippy or Begley go back to SANFL.

One of my pet peeves is youngsters getting a game and then getting dropped the following week even though they played well.

If VB gets dropped this week I will be VERY disappointed.

 

[jo172]

One of my pet peeves is youngsters getting a game and then getting dropped the following week even though they played well.

If VB gets dropped this week I will be VERY disappointed.

Interesting. I would not say the count played well however this is mainly due to not getting the chance to. Right now i would keep the team unchanged for next week unless Clarke or Burton show alot of form on the training track and even than my order for dropping players goes -

1. Begley
2. Skipworth
3. Biglands - This is only if Clarke can come in
4. Van Berlo

Give the kid a chance to play in the big league!

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Mate I was stoked with VB's first effort. I saw him come on and the very first thing he did was fly into the pack and earn himself a free. And to think some "experts" were labeling him as an outside runner.

I thought everyone played well apart from Begley, Biglands and to a lesser extent Skippy.

Am I the only one that thinks Torney was stiff not to get the Showdown Medal. I thought he was just superb all day today. The amount of ground he covered and the number of opponents he blanketed today was just superb.

Welcome back JT

Stiffy, I agree with you on JT, as I thought he played the Benny Hart role beautifully in defence & his 2nd/3rd/4th efforts were awesome. Anything he missed, Stiffy cleaned up from the 2nd quarter. Our defence was rock solid today.

Begley stated ordinary, but did get better as the game ent on (eg. pass to Trent), but still looks underdone.

Skippy looks like his is a boy playing with men - very indecisive when he has the ball.

However, we had very few passenger today & was a great team effort. We won the clearances & ran harder with more players around the ball.

For theose Dogga knockers, how hard did he run through that pack in the last quarter & set it up to Mattner ... then goal.

Mattner for most improved this year. You don't want to be on the end of one of his tackles!

 

[tribey]

Well said

I said during the week that NC shouldn't drop Doughty because that would just kill him off and it will be an over-reaction from the match committee. I had a feeling doughty would bounce back. He played well today but I would like him to use his foot more rather than handball.

Doughty was tremendous today, although I'm still frustrated at his tendency to handball too much, but hey, as long as he's creating run - and there was loads of it today - all's well that ends well.

This was touched on in a previous thread, but Dogga's reaction at the end of the Collingwood game gave me a newfound respect for him. He looked gutted. Like we'd been beaten, and hadn't just won a tremendous victory. Clearly he knew that effort against the Pies' debutant Rowe would be highlighted both by the Channel 9 team, the match committee and we the fans. He knew it was a shocker, and his reaction told us that he knew he had to bounce back. He did today, bigtime.

The reason I'm placing so much emphasis on Dogga's postgame reaction last week is because I remember back about 5 or 6 years ago, David Gallagher had an absolute stinker (clangers, poor efforts, the works) in a home win, but during the song in the rooms he winked at the camera and generally behaved like he had a Brownlow in his cupboard.

Thankfully, as far as knowing his limitations and what he has to do to extract more out of himself, Dogga's head is screwed on.

Begley is badly out of form and I think he really should play with Sturt until he gets back into some sort of solid form. For mine he was VERY lucky to get a game this week. He is better than that though.

When he dropped that mark my reaction was to shout something along the lines of 'FFS Begley, put down the microphone'.

People bagged the hell of Crawford a couple of years ago for his (seemingly) increasing media commitments after a run of poor form, but noone seems to be into Begley about his journalistic role at Channel 9. Without wanting to stick the knife in, because on account of Begs' potential I've always erred on the side of forgiveness when he puts in a poor match like today, does anyone know just how much time he spends in his role as a journalist?

It just seems to me that Begley is at the stage of his career where he has to make a choice of career path. Purely theoretical, but he just doesn't seem to be concentrating on his footy enough. As Denis Pagan once said to a young Eddie McGuire, 'it's either football or journalism son, you can't do both.'

 

[WaynesWorld19]

he'd have gotten more out of the pregame routine and preparation than his limited game time. nothing to be lost by letting him now go back to the sanfl, and reflecting on the experience.

He'd be much more relaxed tonight.

Week 1 goes to Melbourne to get used to the travel routine and as you say get the feeling about the pre-game and whats involved during the game.

Week 2 gets to be part of it with all the nerves ect

Week 3 IMO he would be relaxed, reflective and believing he could be a stronger contributor next week.I would and I think NC will leave him in the side.


Just a footnote - lets be realistic about this kid - he will be no superstar but could be a good player.

 

[macca23]

Just a footnote - lets be realistic about this kid - he will be no superstar but could be a good player.

Disagree WW.

In time he will be a very good long term player IMO.

At the moment he is 18 years old and fighting several classes out of his correct weight division.

He's got the basics of skill, courage, run, team-work and a desire to succeed.

Time will take care of the rest.

 

[GoSarge]

Seems he has the making of a good player. Go the count, a reasonable debut. Hope he can stay in the side over the next few weeks and get some more exposure to the tough world of the AFL.

Just a footnote - lets be realistic about this kid - he will be no superstar but could be a good player.

Crystal Balling ? How do you know he never will be ?

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Disagree WW.

In time he will be a very good long term player IMO.

At the moment he is 18 years old and fighting several classes out of his correct weight division.

He's got the basics of skill, courage, run, team-work and a desire to succeed.

Time will take care of the rest.

To be fair too early to say which one of us is right or wrong - my opinion is based on that theory of what great skill does he possess that stands him apart from the average players - Speed. Marking, Physicality???

 

[macca23]

To be fair too early to say which one of us is right or wrong - my opinion is based on that theory of what great skill does he possess that stands him apart from the average players - Speed. Marking, Physicality???

Of course it's too early.

However I'm prepared to stick my neck out now, because I like what I see.

What do I like?? The fact that he's got all the attributes to make a top player - they're just in a young immature body at the moment.

I'll go one further. IMO he's the best young running player we've drafted for years. Time will tell.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Of course it's too early.

However I'm prepared to stick my neck out now, because I like what I see.

What do I like?? The fact that he's got all the attributes to make a top player - they're just in a young immature body at the moment.

I'll go one further. IMO he's the best young running player we've drafted for years. Time will tell.

Better than Stiffy

 

[macca23]

Better than Stiffy

* Sticks his neck right out*

Yep.