Thoughts on the game - player review

[Snoop Dog]

Never going to win this game but also looked like a rabble early on. Suspect you get that when you have 8 changes. That being said we got belted and looked ordinary around the middle. We still had OBree, Pendles, Swan and Davis thru there and they were ave. OBree got 20 or so but many were ineffective. Pendles a heap and was good without being brillent. Davis good in 2nd and 3rd.

Lockyer - tried hard but delivery was poor.

Swan - he is injured.

Cook - Went just ok. Betts outmarking him looked poor.

Obree - When you have that may out you need a senior player to step up. Passage in the third and he had 3 handballs - 2 of which he coughed up. DaVe will hate this but somehow OBree never stands up in adversity. Cannot recollect the last time he was BOG for us. He just goes and thats about it.

Wood - #8 belted him......enough said.

L.Brown - like toovey he has a go but no good.

Clarke - good.

Wellingham - i like this bloke but i think he needs to have good players around him. would persist as he is always have a crack.

OBrien - good.

N.Brown - ok. like many of the backs he was pretty good. gave a contest. it was our mids that got done. not our backs.

Corrie - i thought he was ok early but then taken off and not seen again.

Toovey - tries his bum off but hopeless. We had all momentum when he committed to bad sins in 3 mins. One was when he let Simpson knock him off the footy and the second when he took Stevens high.

Pendles - superstar.

Cox - Shocking. For a bloke who has all he has to offer he is either scared is just incredibly laconic. Take your pick but either way I am off him.

Reid - Didnt get a lot but presented. Clearly they want him back and hence was surprised Dawes wasnt picked. Had his lead ignored so many times I couldnt believe it. The skills of our midfield almost ensured he was never going to be hit.

Sidebottom - very good.

Beams - just ok.

Maxwell - He was all over the place early. His worst was when he spoiled back into the corridor. Followed closely by his delivery at CHF which resulted in a turnover. At other times was very good but gee he can make some errors. Loved it when he kicked to himself when kicking out yet still managed to kick it the second time in the box.

Presti - Sensational

Anthony - Had a crack all day. Well done.

Davis - pretty good although was not sighted early. thats the knock on him isnt it.

H.Shaw - Difference between his best and worst is enormous. I think he is still finding the pace but he is making some bad choices. He will come good.

 

[smiddaz123]

Clarke was the opposite of good. He was shocking.

 

[goalpie]

Cook, L Brown, Toovey and Cox not good enougth for AFL. All 4 need to go at years end.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I turned the tv over but can report that Sharelle McMahon was bog for the Vixens.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Maxwell - He was all over the place early. His worst was when he spoiled back into the corridor./quote]

Didnt he do exactly the same last week against StKilda to gift Milne a goal?

 

[HFF]

Leroy Brown, Anthony Corrie, Alan Toovey and Shannon Cox not upto AFL standard footy.

Anthony Corrie had 4 possessions and played 65% of the game. Rubbish output from a rubbish player.

Leroy Brown had 5 disposals, 3 kicks (all ineffective), 2 handballs and played 71% of the game.

Time to cut our losses.

People are being a little harsh on Cook.

Was ok without being great.

Don't understand why he was opposed to Betts when he got outmarked. He is not a small defender.

Careers are on the line IMO.

Some of these guys would not survive under a new coach. Time to plan for the spring cleaning and let Bucks work his magic.

 

[smiddaz123]

Too harsh on Cook?

He is a complete moron of a footballer.

Does not think at all. The first option he sees he goes for hurridly in a panic.

 

[HFF]

Too harsh on Cook?

He is a complete moron of a footballer.

Does not think at all. The first option he sees he goes for hurridly in a panic.

He is alot better than Toovey, Brown and Corrie all of whom have been given ample opportunity in our best 22.

There are many others who should go before him IMO.

 

[Primetime Pricey]

Anyone who thinks Toovey and Cook are AFL standard have rocks in their heads. They r list cloggers. How many times does Cook just bomb the ball?
His effort in the marking contest against Betts was a disgrace.

How about Toovey being unable to hit targets all game?

Leigh Brown is a spud as well. You could keep on going with other players.

Presti was our best, kept Fev goaless. Though Sidebottom tried hard. Not good enough when a 2nd game player is probably in your top couple on ground.

Fair to say WCE are going tear us a new arseh*le. How can so many "AFL" players make VFL level mistakes.

Fair enough we have players missing and didnt have many options up front to kick a big score but the decision making was comical.

 

[smiddaz123]

Toovey is better than Cook.

I cannot see why people see value in Cook. A nothing football. And I really do mean it when I say 'nothing'.

 

[surfer1]

Very Good:- Presti Davis

Good:- Pendles Anthony, Lockyer

Passable:- Cox, N Brown, O'Bree, O'Brien, Steely, Beams, Reid, Maxwell,

Bad:-Clarke, Wellingham, Wood, Cook, Toovey

Very Bad;- L Brown, Shaw, Corrie

Forgiven:- Swan obviously injured

Most of the bad I have put in due to shocking skill errors.

We have no hope if 8 of our players play bad

 

[HFF]

Very Good:- Presti Davis

Good:- Davis Anthony, Lockyer

Passable:- Cox, N Brown, O'Bree, O'Brien, Steely, Beams, Reid, Maxwell,

Bad:-Clarke, Wellingham, Wood, Cook, Toovey

Very Bad;- L Brown, Shaw, Corrie

Forgiven:- Swan obviously injured

Most of the bad I have put in due to shocking skill errors.
We have no hope if 8 of our players play bad

Davis very good AND good. Must have played an absolute blinder.

However, I will agree with your assessments.

What's worrying, is the fact that Leroy Brown, Anthony Corrie and Alan Toovey are always going to be "bad players", irrespective of how well they play.

Time to swing the axe.

There is no way under Bucks would these hacks get a game.

 

[Chief Ten Beers]

Presti a legend. Through and through, earns his paycheck.

There is no way under Bucks would these hacks get a game.

Totally agree....the sad thing is - what are we doing wasting away this season if these hack players are still in the team.

 

[Bay Pie]

Leroy Brown, Anthony Corrie, Alan Toovey and Shannon Cox not upto AFL standard footy.

Anthony Corrie had 4 possessions and played 65% of the game. Rubbish output from a rubbish player.

Leroy Brown had 5 disposals, 3 kicks (all ineffective), 2 handballs and played 71% of the game.

Cox was down today, but I do see some light with him, possibly as a winger but needs to work harder.

Why do these other chimps get a few games in a row when someone like Stanley gets 1 game here or there? OK Stanley may not make it at AFL level but give him a few weeks to adjust to the pace and then make a decision. Just seems odd we give others a decent go but not, probably our best VFL player.

 

[TheGreatGrundy]

Get rid of all the players mentioned, and there are probably more to add to the list -Wood, Bryan, Stanley, Thoolen etc. From seeming to have great depth, suddenly many of the second stringers are exposed for what they are - hacks. We have a lot of very ordinary players.

 

[mdc]

A few thoughts:

- Pendles and Presti excellent. Davis, Anthony, Maxwell all were ok to good. Lockyer tried too.

- Cook and Corrie both have no identifiable AFL skill. Especially Cook; for him to get opportunities over and over again whilst others miss out is inexcusable.

- I'm a Cox fan, but he was shocking today.

- Too many of our players are far too casual with disposal. This is fine when you're Akermanis, but when your disposal is iffy to begin with, it's a problem. Heath, Swan, O'Bree, Wellingham, Reid...all of them do it.

- Speaking of O'Bree, 3 shocking handball errors again today at crucial stages, to go with his usual quality disposal by foot. It's just not good enough from a senior player.

- Toovey played well in the first half, was shit in the second.

- Reid just floats around the ground. I'd like to see him given a role on a CHF at some stage, just so he learns when and where to run.

- The whole not tagging Judd thing didn't work too well. Who woulda thunk it?

 

[Invigoration]

I watched a different game than Snoop.

Corrie was never okay, he is absolutely useless, spud of the highest order. He is an ****ing squib as well, it is embarrassing watching him feign effort and a disgrace he gets to wear the jumper. I'm utterly baffled that Matthews played him for so long, Voss had the right idea.

L. Brown was pathetic. He can't play football, simple. If he continues to get picked I'm going to seriously consider gauging my eyes out.

Cook (along with Reid, Stanley, Thoolen, Toovey and Wood) is going to show our drafting hasn't improved anywhere near as much as we think. Cook is VFL quality through and through, nothing about him justifies a top 25 draft pick. He kicks the ball with a ****ing Sand Wedge.
I didn't see any benefit at all swapping him out for Stanley. Stanley at least had some deft touches in close and added a bit of grunt. Cook is like a cardboard cut-out, he is so ineffectual, offers absolutely nothing.

Wellingham is a decent player, but he is an absolute downhill skier. You'll never see him working hard when it gets tough, he'll always favour the lazy option. Like someone else said, he is good when everyone else around him is good.

Beams wasn't okay today, he might as well have still been injured. He is fine though and will be a star, just thought it was worth pointing out that he wasn't passable or okay today. Hardly spotted till he popped up for a goal in the last.

Anthony was good today, love his endeavour, but he isn't a number 1 forward. We saw today we can't build a forward line around that. He is a decent 2/3rd tall, but he can't structure a forward line himself.
Makes it hard for him though with Malthouses gameplan. We move the ball so slow that consistently our forward line is flooded and given the time to set up the zone, while on the other hand Carlton could rebound, run it down to their forward line and ALWAYS be in one out duels. It was only the work of our key defenders that we held off their scoring a bit. If it wasn't for the likes of Presti we would have been obliterated.

Clarke has been very poor lately. His kicking gets far to much credit simply because he has learnt to kick a different shaped ball. It isn't anywhere near as damaging or penetrating as it was earlier in his career. His start to the year has me worried he has caught the disease and stagnated, been very, very poor lately.

If Toovey is our answer for stopping small forwards, I have to admit that I am worried. He was beaten again today. I like his heart and loved him getting into Waite late in the game, but he isn't a long term option. He is a gap filler and it is a snap shot of where our team is at if he is constantly playing.

It is so disheartening to watch our most senior players lack the ability to hit the most simplest of targets. Dane Swan (I realise he is injured, but it isn't isolated) is an appalling kick of the football, it is laughable some people throw his name about as elite. I love the bloke, but his effect on the game is shown by the fact teams never bother to tag him. O'Bree, another who can't kick (that's is two of our main engine room) and Nick Maxwell, our captain. He was good today, worked hard, but is another senior player who has been at the club for multiple years now and still can't kick the football.
3 of our most senior blokes and they are all second rate kickers.

Thank god we have 30-something year old Presti continually being the best player for our team. Better make the best of that because we'll only have that luxury for another season at the most.

 

[mdc]

Cook's kicking = Sand Wedge is one of the more accurate posts on this board for a long time imo.

 

[rose jam]

you just realise more and more how freaking good Didak and Medhurst are. Honestly, take those 2 out and we're a 15 goal worse team.

 

[Kirby]

Pretty good summary by Invigoration.

What the hell is wrong with Marty Clarke? He is playing terrible football at the moment. He always runs to his left foot and cannot keep his feet. When he does get it he just pops it up in there air or grubbers it along the ground.

He is really disappointing at the moment.

 

[Invigoration]

you just realise more and more how freaking good Didak and Medhurst are. Honestly, take those 2 out and we're a 15 goal worse team.

I don't think that we are 15 goals worse just without them.

I think we are 15 goals worse with Brown, Corrie and Cook instead of them though...

 

[Kirby]

you just realise more and more how freaking good Didak and Medhurst are. Honestly, take those 2 out and we're a 15 goal worse team.

I wish it was that simple.

 

[shawthing09]

On the plus side. Anthony actually looked pretty promising as a key target. Contested and brought down almost anything that came his way. Timed his leads well and on another day would have kicked 4 or 5.

Corrie and L Brown are just not good enough. As senior recruits they are going to end up being list cloggers. My issue with Corrie is for an outside runner he turns the ball over far to often.

L Brown had a huge negative impact today. The dropped mark in the goal square, turn overs in a 5 possesion match and stupid free kicks.

Wood started off well and looked to have good intent and pressence. Unfortunately that all dwindled away as the game went on. He was not the worst. Sadly, this game was a pretty decent represntation of what we have seen of Wood in his time. Some really good promising stuff in amongst massive periods of indifferent stuff.

Cook simply not good enough. Running around like a headless chook occasionally ending up in the right place at the right time more out of luck then football smarts and then proceeding to turn the ball over.

Reid presented well. Contested hard. Tried hard defensively. Gets a pass mark. I am on the bandwagon of whilst Cloke is out it may be a good oppertunity to play N Brown foward for a spell and Reid back.

Cox, for all his upside he really does go missing when the heat is on.

Pendles was very good all day. Clear leader and awesome player.

Davis another who is having a great season. Was patchy but had high impact when he did play well.

Shaw- Was the worst of our good players. So many mind boggling stuff ups. The run down the wing however was superb. I am not sure what the answer is for him. If the poor form continues a spell in the 2's could be the only option.

 

[Kirby]

Shaw was funny. I thought he tried really really hard and was fearless like usual. He did a few good things but made some big stuff ups.

His confidence just isn't there. I wouldn't drop him. There is no-one to bring in anyway.

 

[Heater39]

L.Brown, Cook, Toovey are not AFL standard. Cox and Corrie are borderline.

I was way up the top today so I had some trouble identifying the players but I thought Pendles was good, not outstanding though, Presti very good and Davis ok.