Humble Minion
Team Captain
Nice to have the double-header on at Box Hill Oval today - cuts down the travel time if it's in my neck of the woods!
Hardest round of the season to watch, imho. I'd just gotten used to the new numbers blokes are wearing for the u18s, then they change back, plus trying to get the hang of a bunch of the players who got a promotion to cover for reps and did well enough to keep their spot. Not helped at all by the fact I haven't seen Gippy or Bendigo at all this year, so this report is going to be even more flaky and inaccurate than I usually am...
Dry day, actually warmish early in the first game, but plenty chilly as the day went on. Bit of wind, but not blowing a gale and consistent rather than gusty. Middle of the ground was a mudheap, but that's only to be expected considering how much footy's being played there this year.
First game was Calder v Eastern. Patton sat it out unfortunately, so missed out on the big Talia/Patton clash. Another Eastern kid I didn't recognise was at the game wearing one of those external head/shoulders metal armatures used for extremely serious neck injuries - like actual broken necks. Hadn't heard of any players copping anything so severe in the TAC. Without wanting to invade the kids privacy, does anyone know if this was a footy injury, or a car accident or something? Was sure we would have heard about it if it was footy.
Real shootout early. Not a flowing first quarter, but high-scoring, goals mostly kicked by smalls. Qtr time it was 7.0 to 7.3 or something, Eastern's way, but it fell apart a bit for them after that. Talia had Bussey well under control all game, but the rest of the Cannons backline really solidified around him after qtr time to lock the Ranges out, and the superior depth of the Calder midfield really started to show. Without Patton, the Eastern forward entries were structureless and directionless. Blew out to 9 goals by 3/4 time. Bussey went into the ruck in the last to get into the play, and Ranges got a run-on to start the qtr while calder adjusted to playing on a small forward line, but the Cannons found gear again, and the final margin was I think in the high 30s.
For Calder, Uysal BoG. Very dynamic in the middle in the first half, enough pace, and pretty good with the footy. really led from the front. Think he ran out of petrol a bit later, since he spent a lot of the second half as a fwd, but even there he led fast, tackled hard, marked well, and kicked 4, from marks, crumbs and genera; play. Really quality game from him, and good to see him step up as a 19yo after last season. Very draftable imho.
Talia dominant down back. Slaughtered Bussey, who hasn't been having the greatest year when I've seen him. Bussey taller and faster, but Talia the more intelligent reader of the play, stronger, more aggressive and, well, just plain looked a lot better at football. Kicking was slightly off at times, but nothing that hurt him.
Jack Solomon really presented as a mid-sized key forward. Big-bodied kid, powerful. Always provided an contest. Got a lot of the ball - but he allso got a lot directed at him which he couldn't quite nab because he didn't have separation on his opponent. One of Calder's best, but I'd have to see him a few more times before calling him draftable.
Markworth a really interesting one. Was playing well as a leadup fwd earlier in the year, now pretty much in the guts from the start of the game. He's an overager, but if I remember right this is pretty much his first year of serious football, so presumably Calder are trying to let him show what he can do all over the ground before the draft. You can sorta see he's still a bit new to this at times, doesn't always run to the right spots, gets lost at stoppages at times, but he just looks like a footballer. Great size, good speed, nice hands, good skills by foot (hands in close can be more of a problem), very flexible position-wise. Kicked 3.
Tom Sheridan's game I liked, especially since most of the times I've seen him previously he was playing more of an outside winger role, but today he was very much in amongst it. Nice height and pace for a mid. In close, loves to handball a high one directly over an opponent to a teammate on the other side, even at quite short range - not sure he'll get away with that in the AFL, gives the opposition a lot of time to look at it and to get to a pressure position on the recipient.
O'Rourke some nice work on the wing. Skinny and underage, but can play. Smart winger with a bit of pace, used the ball well, cool head down back.
McBean was one I hadn't seen before. Very skinny underaged tall, looks a bit gangly but got results. Hands pretty good, kicks straight (got 3) and has a pretty decent sidestep for a big bloke, but more importantly, is smart enough to know his limitations and doesn't use it all the time! Cannons are already looking good next year - O'Roarke and Atkins in the middle, Plowman down back, McBean and Daniher the talls - they even found some time to give Bailey a run in the midfield when the game was safe in the final qtr. Already thinking of next yr.
Hal Hunter got injured applying the smother of the year in I think the 2nd qtr. If there's any justice, it'll be on that wanky army award or whatever that Future Stars do tomorrow. Awesome work. Didn't come back on.
Eastern played a lot of blokes I wasn't familiar with, and it's wasn't til the game was over that i realised I could have replaced my ancient Record with a new one that had all of Eastern's new players in it. Duh, well done, genius. So I'm bound to miss some contributors here.
Greenwood probably ranges best. Did a mountain of work, was one of the few who was able to think his way though traffic. Evasive, good by hand, despite playing almost a lone hand through the 2nd and 3rd qtrs. One of the better games I've seen him play.
#9 was a bit of a mystery to me. Listed as Nathan Mill in my prehistoric TAC record, but obviously wasn't Mill, who is much taller. Nippy little hff type who got a lot of the ball, was creative, and dangerous around goals. Kicked a few - maybe Mitchell Honeychurch, who is listed as ending up with 4 on the TAC site?
Ben Slattery was very important early, and was one of the main reasons Eastern kept up with Calder in the 1st qtr. Hbf/md with good size and pace, willing to put pressure on and get intercepts, read the play well and continually moved the ball fast and caught Calder napping. Much more subdued in the second and third qtrs, came back into the game a bit in the last when Eastern had a bit of a crack.
Gippsland vs Bendigo a bit one-sided, to be honest. Bendigo have some good players, including probably the bog, but Gippy go a lot deeper, and they are just far better drilled and set up. Bendigo coaching staff at qtr time made two points. First was to watch for Gippy going the handball backwards at the stoppage, second was to use their ruck dominance, since Crowley (he's listed at 193cm, got to be taller than that) was well on top. Unfortunately, for the rest of the game, Gippy just kept merrily getting the backwards handball at the stoppages, and for some reason I'll never understand, Crowley was replaced in the ruck by Valentine in the 2nd qtr, shifted forward, and spent the rest of the game getting cold at ff while the pioneers no longer had the advantage in the one position they were unambiguously winning in the first qtr. I'm glad I know nothing about football, since otherwise I'd be tempted to say that was an incredibly ridiculous coaching move, particularly after the qtr time emphasis on Crowley. But anyway.
Game was dominated by a lack of presence across both side's half forward lines. Gippy did a lot of blind bombing in hope early and looked like they were badly missing Marusic, to which I suppose Bendigo were perfectly entitled to say "Jake Stringer. Cry me a river."
Stringer (or someone who looked a lot like him) was at the game, walking around with no sign of a limp by the way. Hopefully he's on the mend.
Very even contribution from Gippy. Butcher probably the most eye-catching, though some of that is undoubtedly the hair. Interesting contrast, Butcher and Clay Smith. Both good players. Neither of them ever stop running, but Smith just looks like he's found a good pace and won't stop running til doomsday, while Butcher always looks like he's accelerating into some desperate kamikaze play that will decide the game and possibly save the universe. "Need to get to that contest to add numbers - banzai! Ball running loose on the wing - banzai! Need to get loose throught the middle to offer an option - banzai! Have the ball with space in front of me - banzai! Have to tackle this bloke before he gets the clean takeaway - banzai! Today is a day ending in 'y' - BANZAI!" Can't fault his attitude, though sometimes he goes a bit TOO hard and fast, and either gets in someone's back when he lays a tackle, or gets fixated on bursting through straight ahead that he neglects a better sideways option. The latter limits his productivity at the clearances a bit - simply gets tackled too often or is limited to a hurried kick from the pack when handball would be more productive. But his gut-running is superb so he got a lot of uncontested ball, he was almost continuously involved in the play, and kicked a couple. Excellent game.
Clay Smith was unobtrusive, but that's more because doing the spectacular isn't really his thing than for any other reason. In at every clearance situation, laying tackles all the time, running hard to provide a linking option, pushing forward to kick goals. Very hard worker. I've got a bit of a question on his speed for AFL - he's got endurance, but sometimes it seemed like Gippy would be running the ball fwd in a pack and he wasn't keeping up. And while he normally led his opponent to the ball, that was more because he read it better and knew where it was going before they did. Also was responsible for a few of the blind turnover bombs into the f50 earlier on, but I shouldn't focus too much on negatives in a very good game. Kicked 3, loads of touches.
Membrey not a huge possession-getter, but a very quick, short, hard lead from the goalsquare and good hands, kicked 4 I think. A bit undersized for a kpp, and might need to develop another dimension to his game to be an AFL option, but he's an underaged kid who is doing very well, and he has plenty of time.
Graham did a lot of good work through the midfield. A bit short and underaged, but can certainly play.
Tipungwuti played back pocket, which was unusual for him, but did it really well. Power trying the Chris Yarran strategy with him? Might be a very smart move. He really is a very good player, balanced, clever and powerful, and the back pocket forces him to get involved when he might otherwise be tempted to drift. Very evasive with a bit of pace, nice sidestep, good tackling pressure, and his defensive work was surprisingly solid. Got involved in rebound too, though engine might still be a concern as he didn't press as far up the ground as some of the other rebounders did.
I'm probably going to end up talk about more Bendigo boys than Power boys, since Power were very even across the ground so it's hard to pck the best, while with the Pios there were a handful of standouts who jump out at you. Chief among them was Oliver Wines, who really just played an excellent game, and it's hard to speak too highly of his performance. Underaged but already solid, he got hard ball, ran to link up and get uncontested ball, won clearances, tackled, kicked a goal, and just got a vast amount of touches and used them well. Clean hands, good brain, hard worker. Really standout performance, and was imho the best midfielder on the ground by a fair way, which is a pretty fair complement considering the quality of the opposition and how badly his team got done. To put it in perspective - I've seen everyone's OTHER favourite Vic Country underager Whitfield a handful of times in the TAC, and I've never seen him play as good a game as this. Tagged for a fair chunk of the game by Wyatt (Hector didn't play, who I imagine would be Power's first-choice tagger) who actually started on Kerridge but simply had to move onto Wines to try to slow him down a bit. Didn't help all that much.
Kerridge played forward more than middle, for some reason i'm not sure about - when he went into the centre in the 4th he immediately looked dangerous, got clearances and started collecting a bit of ball, but this was locking the stable doors after the horse had not only bolted, but had made its way to the city, had all sorts of horsey adventures, emigrated to America and settled down with a nice palomino called Daisy and eventually had a fine bunch of grandkiddy colts to tell stories about the old days to. So yeah, a bit late. Very clean hands are his big strength - in the air, on the ground, half-volley, under pressure - rarely needed any more than a single bite at the cherry. Always looked dangerous when he was near the ball, but today this seemed to happen in random cameos rather than as a result of him forcing his way into the play. Good size, accurate kick, ended up with three goals.
Sam Heavyside pretty tiny, but can flat-out play. Nice bit of pace, can twist and turn his way out of trouble, knows where his teammates are going to want to put the ball, and gets himself there. Links up well through the middle. A few fluffed kicks, but he's not disastrous. Size showed against him a bit in the clinches - gippy's mids were generally a lot bigger bodied.
Harrison Huntley a rock down back, and the margin would have been a lot bigger without him. Gippy without a dominant tall key forward (Membrey is a medium, and Huntley took the honours vs Staley and Deery when they were down there) left him to take mark after mark off the Power's f50 entries. Eventually Gippy got smart and started chipping or running it in, but he was still very good. Reasonable size, overager (but only by a few days), pretty sure with the ball.
Knox did a bit as a small leading fwd, but didn't have enough support to be truly dangerous. A bit like Lamb on Gippy's bad days last year. Kicked 2.
Hardest round of the season to watch, imho. I'd just gotten used to the new numbers blokes are wearing for the u18s, then they change back, plus trying to get the hang of a bunch of the players who got a promotion to cover for reps and did well enough to keep their spot. Not helped at all by the fact I haven't seen Gippy or Bendigo at all this year, so this report is going to be even more flaky and inaccurate than I usually am...
Dry day, actually warmish early in the first game, but plenty chilly as the day went on. Bit of wind, but not blowing a gale and consistent rather than gusty. Middle of the ground was a mudheap, but that's only to be expected considering how much footy's being played there this year.
First game was Calder v Eastern. Patton sat it out unfortunately, so missed out on the big Talia/Patton clash. Another Eastern kid I didn't recognise was at the game wearing one of those external head/shoulders metal armatures used for extremely serious neck injuries - like actual broken necks. Hadn't heard of any players copping anything so severe in the TAC. Without wanting to invade the kids privacy, does anyone know if this was a footy injury, or a car accident or something? Was sure we would have heard about it if it was footy.
Real shootout early. Not a flowing first quarter, but high-scoring, goals mostly kicked by smalls. Qtr time it was 7.0 to 7.3 or something, Eastern's way, but it fell apart a bit for them after that. Talia had Bussey well under control all game, but the rest of the Cannons backline really solidified around him after qtr time to lock the Ranges out, and the superior depth of the Calder midfield really started to show. Without Patton, the Eastern forward entries were structureless and directionless. Blew out to 9 goals by 3/4 time. Bussey went into the ruck in the last to get into the play, and Ranges got a run-on to start the qtr while calder adjusted to playing on a small forward line, but the Cannons found gear again, and the final margin was I think in the high 30s.
For Calder, Uysal BoG. Very dynamic in the middle in the first half, enough pace, and pretty good with the footy. really led from the front. Think he ran out of petrol a bit later, since he spent a lot of the second half as a fwd, but even there he led fast, tackled hard, marked well, and kicked 4, from marks, crumbs and genera; play. Really quality game from him, and good to see him step up as a 19yo after last season. Very draftable imho.
Talia dominant down back. Slaughtered Bussey, who hasn't been having the greatest year when I've seen him. Bussey taller and faster, but Talia the more intelligent reader of the play, stronger, more aggressive and, well, just plain looked a lot better at football. Kicking was slightly off at times, but nothing that hurt him.
Jack Solomon really presented as a mid-sized key forward. Big-bodied kid, powerful. Always provided an contest. Got a lot of the ball - but he allso got a lot directed at him which he couldn't quite nab because he didn't have separation on his opponent. One of Calder's best, but I'd have to see him a few more times before calling him draftable.
Markworth a really interesting one. Was playing well as a leadup fwd earlier in the year, now pretty much in the guts from the start of the game. He's an overager, but if I remember right this is pretty much his first year of serious football, so presumably Calder are trying to let him show what he can do all over the ground before the draft. You can sorta see he's still a bit new to this at times, doesn't always run to the right spots, gets lost at stoppages at times, but he just looks like a footballer. Great size, good speed, nice hands, good skills by foot (hands in close can be more of a problem), very flexible position-wise. Kicked 3.
Tom Sheridan's game I liked, especially since most of the times I've seen him previously he was playing more of an outside winger role, but today he was very much in amongst it. Nice height and pace for a mid. In close, loves to handball a high one directly over an opponent to a teammate on the other side, even at quite short range - not sure he'll get away with that in the AFL, gives the opposition a lot of time to look at it and to get to a pressure position on the recipient.
O'Rourke some nice work on the wing. Skinny and underage, but can play. Smart winger with a bit of pace, used the ball well, cool head down back.
McBean was one I hadn't seen before. Very skinny underaged tall, looks a bit gangly but got results. Hands pretty good, kicks straight (got 3) and has a pretty decent sidestep for a big bloke, but more importantly, is smart enough to know his limitations and doesn't use it all the time! Cannons are already looking good next year - O'Roarke and Atkins in the middle, Plowman down back, McBean and Daniher the talls - they even found some time to give Bailey a run in the midfield when the game was safe in the final qtr. Already thinking of next yr.
Hal Hunter got injured applying the smother of the year in I think the 2nd qtr. If there's any justice, it'll be on that wanky army award or whatever that Future Stars do tomorrow. Awesome work. Didn't come back on.
Eastern played a lot of blokes I wasn't familiar with, and it's wasn't til the game was over that i realised I could have replaced my ancient Record with a new one that had all of Eastern's new players in it. Duh, well done, genius. So I'm bound to miss some contributors here.
Greenwood probably ranges best. Did a mountain of work, was one of the few who was able to think his way though traffic. Evasive, good by hand, despite playing almost a lone hand through the 2nd and 3rd qtrs. One of the better games I've seen him play.
#9 was a bit of a mystery to me. Listed as Nathan Mill in my prehistoric TAC record, but obviously wasn't Mill, who is much taller. Nippy little hff type who got a lot of the ball, was creative, and dangerous around goals. Kicked a few - maybe Mitchell Honeychurch, who is listed as ending up with 4 on the TAC site?
Ben Slattery was very important early, and was one of the main reasons Eastern kept up with Calder in the 1st qtr. Hbf/md with good size and pace, willing to put pressure on and get intercepts, read the play well and continually moved the ball fast and caught Calder napping. Much more subdued in the second and third qtrs, came back into the game a bit in the last when Eastern had a bit of a crack.
Gippsland vs Bendigo a bit one-sided, to be honest. Bendigo have some good players, including probably the bog, but Gippy go a lot deeper, and they are just far better drilled and set up. Bendigo coaching staff at qtr time made two points. First was to watch for Gippy going the handball backwards at the stoppage, second was to use their ruck dominance, since Crowley (he's listed at 193cm, got to be taller than that) was well on top. Unfortunately, for the rest of the game, Gippy just kept merrily getting the backwards handball at the stoppages, and for some reason I'll never understand, Crowley was replaced in the ruck by Valentine in the 2nd qtr, shifted forward, and spent the rest of the game getting cold at ff while the pioneers no longer had the advantage in the one position they were unambiguously winning in the first qtr. I'm glad I know nothing about football, since otherwise I'd be tempted to say that was an incredibly ridiculous coaching move, particularly after the qtr time emphasis on Crowley. But anyway.
Game was dominated by a lack of presence across both side's half forward lines. Gippy did a lot of blind bombing in hope early and looked like they were badly missing Marusic, to which I suppose Bendigo were perfectly entitled to say "Jake Stringer. Cry me a river."
Stringer (or someone who looked a lot like him) was at the game, walking around with no sign of a limp by the way. Hopefully he's on the mend.
Very even contribution from Gippy. Butcher probably the most eye-catching, though some of that is undoubtedly the hair. Interesting contrast, Butcher and Clay Smith. Both good players. Neither of them ever stop running, but Smith just looks like he's found a good pace and won't stop running til doomsday, while Butcher always looks like he's accelerating into some desperate kamikaze play that will decide the game and possibly save the universe. "Need to get to that contest to add numbers - banzai! Ball running loose on the wing - banzai! Need to get loose throught the middle to offer an option - banzai! Have the ball with space in front of me - banzai! Have to tackle this bloke before he gets the clean takeaway - banzai! Today is a day ending in 'y' - BANZAI!" Can't fault his attitude, though sometimes he goes a bit TOO hard and fast, and either gets in someone's back when he lays a tackle, or gets fixated on bursting through straight ahead that he neglects a better sideways option. The latter limits his productivity at the clearances a bit - simply gets tackled too often or is limited to a hurried kick from the pack when handball would be more productive. But his gut-running is superb so he got a lot of uncontested ball, he was almost continuously involved in the play, and kicked a couple. Excellent game.
Clay Smith was unobtrusive, but that's more because doing the spectacular isn't really his thing than for any other reason. In at every clearance situation, laying tackles all the time, running hard to provide a linking option, pushing forward to kick goals. Very hard worker. I've got a bit of a question on his speed for AFL - he's got endurance, but sometimes it seemed like Gippy would be running the ball fwd in a pack and he wasn't keeping up. And while he normally led his opponent to the ball, that was more because he read it better and knew where it was going before they did. Also was responsible for a few of the blind turnover bombs into the f50 earlier on, but I shouldn't focus too much on negatives in a very good game. Kicked 3, loads of touches.
Membrey not a huge possession-getter, but a very quick, short, hard lead from the goalsquare and good hands, kicked 4 I think. A bit undersized for a kpp, and might need to develop another dimension to his game to be an AFL option, but he's an underaged kid who is doing very well, and he has plenty of time.
Graham did a lot of good work through the midfield. A bit short and underaged, but can certainly play.
Tipungwuti played back pocket, which was unusual for him, but did it really well. Power trying the Chris Yarran strategy with him? Might be a very smart move. He really is a very good player, balanced, clever and powerful, and the back pocket forces him to get involved when he might otherwise be tempted to drift. Very evasive with a bit of pace, nice sidestep, good tackling pressure, and his defensive work was surprisingly solid. Got involved in rebound too, though engine might still be a concern as he didn't press as far up the ground as some of the other rebounders did.
I'm probably going to end up talk about more Bendigo boys than Power boys, since Power were very even across the ground so it's hard to pck the best, while with the Pios there were a handful of standouts who jump out at you. Chief among them was Oliver Wines, who really just played an excellent game, and it's hard to speak too highly of his performance. Underaged but already solid, he got hard ball, ran to link up and get uncontested ball, won clearances, tackled, kicked a goal, and just got a vast amount of touches and used them well. Clean hands, good brain, hard worker. Really standout performance, and was imho the best midfielder on the ground by a fair way, which is a pretty fair complement considering the quality of the opposition and how badly his team got done. To put it in perspective - I've seen everyone's OTHER favourite Vic Country underager Whitfield a handful of times in the TAC, and I've never seen him play as good a game as this. Tagged for a fair chunk of the game by Wyatt (Hector didn't play, who I imagine would be Power's first-choice tagger) who actually started on Kerridge but simply had to move onto Wines to try to slow him down a bit. Didn't help all that much.
Kerridge played forward more than middle, for some reason i'm not sure about - when he went into the centre in the 4th he immediately looked dangerous, got clearances and started collecting a bit of ball, but this was locking the stable doors after the horse had not only bolted, but had made its way to the city, had all sorts of horsey adventures, emigrated to America and settled down with a nice palomino called Daisy and eventually had a fine bunch of grandkiddy colts to tell stories about the old days to. So yeah, a bit late. Very clean hands are his big strength - in the air, on the ground, half-volley, under pressure - rarely needed any more than a single bite at the cherry. Always looked dangerous when he was near the ball, but today this seemed to happen in random cameos rather than as a result of him forcing his way into the play. Good size, accurate kick, ended up with three goals.
Sam Heavyside pretty tiny, but can flat-out play. Nice bit of pace, can twist and turn his way out of trouble, knows where his teammates are going to want to put the ball, and gets himself there. Links up well through the middle. A few fluffed kicks, but he's not disastrous. Size showed against him a bit in the clinches - gippy's mids were generally a lot bigger bodied.
Harrison Huntley a rock down back, and the margin would have been a lot bigger without him. Gippy without a dominant tall key forward (Membrey is a medium, and Huntley took the honours vs Staley and Deery when they were down there) left him to take mark after mark off the Power's f50 entries. Eventually Gippy got smart and started chipping or running it in, but he was still very good. Reasonable size, overager (but only by a few days), pretty sure with the ball.
Knox did a bit as a small leading fwd, but didn't have enough support to be truly dangerous. A bit like Lamb on Gippy's bad days last year. Kicked 2.
