Swan Districts v West Perth Eagles Update

[Voice of Reason]

Well, a car of us went over to Bassendean Oval today for a bit of grass roots footy. Great fun. Kick to kick on the oval. Beer and bourbon & coke in cans. On the hill eating peanuts in the sun. Free milo for the kids. Memories of Rolf Harris.

Bluey McKenna nearly ran me over as we entered the ground before saying gooday and then drove round to the flank to view the game from the hill. His passenger was Woosha. They left at three quarter time, waving happily to the kids (both Eagles fans), having seen a pretty ordinary game of football.

Having confirmed my deafness by picking up exactly zero words of Darren Harris's quarter time address, I went over to hear Toddy talk to the Black Ducks at three quarter time. His inspiring address (they were 31 points down) was basically "don't let yourselves down, show the fans you're competitive, run forward of the ball and win the last quarter". Which they did, but lost the game by 24 points. Go Falcons.

Richard Taylor - played as if he is expecting to be delisted at the end of the season. Tried reasonably hard as usual but couldn't have a great impact on the game. Pretty soft effort at half back flank which led to a goal (but it was a shocking kick to him). Ended up on the half forward flank, where there wasn't much chance of doing anything. Not helped by an atrocious Swans forward line - couldn't take a contested mark in the forward half (never mind 50) to save their lives.

Mark Merenda - soft as. And I'm a Falcons fan. He just showed nothing that would encourage me to pick him in the AFL. Less inspiring than last week, which wasn't very inspiring. On a lot of money, approaching the end of his contract and would free up a lot of salary cap for younger players coming through.

Kane Munro - my friends (one of whom supports and played for Swans) refused to accept that he was playing in the first half. So I think we can say he was quiet. Did OK, but nothing special.

Ashley Hansen - did the odd good thing in bursts, but also pretty quiet. See above comments on Swans forwards - contested marks not a strong point.

Quentin Lynch - probably the best of them today. He is massive. Still on the "welly it as hard as I can" approach.

Brendan Fewster played a poor, one-handed, confidence-free game too, sabre.

WAFL players like Dean Brunton and Corey Johnson outplayed the lot of them and the young Swans ruckman, Piggott, got a lot of the ball. Poor quality game - but very enjoyable day out for us traditionalists.

 

[Goldenblue]

Thanks for the info VOR, I did not keep an eye on the game today as I had some personal issues to attend to.

It is sad to see how the WAFL has developed, but as they say, its progress (for the AFL)

Richard Taylor is a worry for me as I always loved the way he played and I honestly hope he does not get delisted at the end of the year. Maybe he is worrying too much and needs to just play footy again instead of worrying about his career.

Merenda is a worry as he can do good things when on song and we do need players in form to take the spots of those who are either suspended, injured or out of form, but it also must be hard to play with passion when there is hardly a crowd at the game.

Good to see Fewster back playing again and hope it all goes well for him.

Once again, thank you for the post VOR.

 

[jod23]

Thanks for the info VOR....sad news for me, i really like Taylor and Merenda and right now they aint playing well enough to be around next year...

 

[Voice of Reason]

Pleasure GB & Jod. Pass me another bourbon & coke.

 

[Visro]

I watched the East Perth - South Fremantle match on TV yesterday and it was basically a replay of last year's grand final. Report on the players:

Prior - would have played about two thirds of the game. Didn't get the ball terribly much, kicked a goal from a redirected free kick, but still ran when he was on and he will be better from the experience. Skills looked quite good. I reckon he will take Banners spot in the weeks to come.

Sampi - didn't do terribly much today. Went missing in patches but still kicked a couple of goals. He is being played in the midfield but doesn't appear to have the endurance to keep up with it there.

I know I'm missing a player but just can't think who it is.

Now I remember, Tuckey. Strange that I forgot him cause he played a pretty good game. Marked strongly all day, presented well and kicked a few goals. Did some of the ruck work as well which he won most of the time (WAFL ruckman tend to be smaller than AFL ruckman though). I still reckon though that unless he performs very well in the WAFL for say 3 or 4 weeks straight, he won't be brought back into the team.

And the best part of the whole game was that my Dad's a South supporter. Should have seen the pain on his face.

The Bullies are the Royals bitches!!!

 

[GoEagles]

Thanks for the WAFL wraps VoR and Vis.

It will be hard to see Munro getting another AFL game this year, Taylor seems out of sorts, Hansen is still developing and Merenda isn't consistant enough to get picked in the AFL.

I've seen a few games on TV with young Lynch and he seems a good prospect for the future - the club should definately retain him on the rookie list for 2003 with a possible promotion to the seniors list if he continues to perform.

Unfortunately, Darren Glass is really struggling at Perth. Is this a make or break year for him or is he assured of a spot on our list in 2003?