VFL Game Day VFL Round 1: Frankston vs Essendon, Frankston City Oval, Saturday 07/04/18 @ 2 PM

[eth-dog]

Seems like a good win for the boys. Big test next week against Williamstown.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

How did the bird throwing end up?

One of their parents came up and told them off. I can only assume it was something along the lines of don’t play with your dinner.

 

[DERO]

His work in tight has been impressive as has his physicality.
Laverde best on for mine.
Mutch good also.
Merret great first half.

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Almost a haiku.

 

[Harlequin Dream]

I have been thinking that Lav might be most useful as a medium defender lately. We are really missing one right now and it matches his skill set pretty well.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Lav was best on but Guelfi not far behind. Guelfi was excellent in tight, alot of the time not really standing out. Loves the hard stuff and uses the ball very well.



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The big issue I had with Guelfis game was the second quarter, was in the guts for most of it and we were absolutely smashed.

 

[60sbomber]

I thought Lav ran out the game well. I was surprised when he came back off the interchange at 28min into the last, given this was his first full game for the year. Maybe he would need more games under his belt to be ready for a full AFL game, but he was surprisingly good today, fitness wise.
He was very strong in the contest and showed every sign of being a good strong, dare I say it, onballer.

 

[BrunoV]

I've seen some positive comments about Zerk Thatcher.

I thought his game was almost really good but that it was only average.

He definitely knows what to do on the last line and was involved enough but he misread 6-8 high balls all of which should have been marks.

I like that his read of the play has him attacking the ball, he's the anti-Hartley in this regard, but the extent to which he was running under the ball was almost comical.

If he took 5-8 of those marks he would have been excellent.

I'll be keen to watch him in the next few weeks, that's for sure

 

[84859300]

Interested if anyone has opinions on how Draper went today, please.

 

[DERO]

I've seen some positive comments about Zerk Thatcher.

I thought his game was almost really good but it that it was only average.

He definitely knows what to do on the last line and was involved enough but he misread 6-8 high balls all of which should have been marks.

I like that his read of the play has his attacking the ball, he's the anti-Hartley in this regard, but the extent to which he was running under the ball was almost comical.

If he took 5-8 of those marks he would have been excellent.

I'll be keen to watch him in the next few weeks, that's for sure

Anyone else catch your eye?

 

[Duckworth]

yoda BrunoV or others at the game. How did Jackson Merrett go (I'm presuming as a small forward). Could you also throw in a comparison to Green in terms of a call-up as well. Cheers.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Interested if anyone has opinions on how Draper went today, please.

Okay, was a bit of a role reversal today. Luey struggled in the ruck but killed it around the ground and Draper killed the ruck with soft hands but didn’t get much time in there, struggled around the ground only getting forward late and kicking a goal.

 

[BrunoV]

Interested if anyone has opinions on how Draper went today, please.

He played mainly forward and was on the quiet side.

He presented and when he was around the ball his attack was it's usual ferocious level but he didn't really have an influence.

I missed a chunk of the first quarter but on what I saw his hands were not good. He's shown that he can do it and he'll need to hold more marks to influence a game playing 70%+ game time forward.

If it makes any sense, he doesn't look like a ruckman when forward. He looks quite natural and is either not taking his opportunities or not splitting a pack the way he should given his size.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

yoda BrunoV or others at the game. How did Jackson Merrett go (I'm presuming as a small forward). Could you also throw in a comparison to Green in terms of a call-up as well. Cheers.

Excellent, kicked 5. A few out the back but also gave off another 4-5 as well. Made two shocking errors in the first but was in our top three IMO. Probably needs to apply a bit more pressure, but in the realm of a call up if a small forward gets injured.

 

[Laverde2Smack]

The big issue I had with Guelfis game was the second quarter, was in the guts for most of it and we were absolutely smashed.

He played inside for most of the game and impressed. The whole team went to sleep for 15 minutes but you pin it on Guelfi?

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[Laverde2Smack]

Couldn't care less about how many stats Lav has at games end. Care about his GPS readings (for once). If he is running well and covering plenty of K's at decent pace then he comes into the conversation.

At this stage he can't run out a VFL game so weeks away for mine

He ran out the game very well today.

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[60sbomber]

yoda BrunoV or others at the game. How did Jackson Merrett go (I'm presuming as a small forward). Could you also throw in a comparison to Green in terms of a call-up as well. Cheers.

He went very well today. Not just when the going got easy in the second half, but in the first, when the play was pretty scrambly without much clean possession going forward, he kicked goals and was involved in a few others. If he could produce anything like his VFL form in the seniors he would be an improvement of Green. He is a better kick and quicker. Green attempts to put pressure on the defenders trying to clear our forward area, but lacks the pace to be effective doing it. Unfortunately, Merrett has consistently failed to produce anything at the top level, but to be fair, he hasn't been given many opportunities since 2015.

 

[BrunoV]

Anyone else catch your eye?

Not really. Lots of guys did a few nice things but didn't have a sustained impact.

It's hard to get back into the flow of watching the games.

The game of Langford and Guelfi in particular could get better on paper. Langford was a constant presence and may well have had 30 but I don't recall him really setting phases of play up from the inside more than just a few times.

 

[Despair]

I was within touching distance of Dodo today and went to speak to him but my palms started sweating and spaghetti fell out of my pocket so I quickly ran off to the carpark.

 

[BrunoV]

He ran out the game very well today.

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He was basically doing a recovery jog on the ground for the first 15 minutes of the last quarter. He then got put into the middle for 5 minutes and did a few nice things.

That's not running a game out well.

 

[Laverde2Smack]

He was doing a recovery job on the ground for the first 15 minutes of the last quarter. He then got put into the middle for 5 minutes and did a few nice things.

That's not running a game out well.

He did a ton of work up and down the ground as a high half forward and at times was the first forward after a press due to work rate.
You do realise he had a slight injury scare in the 3rd qtr dont you? He still managed his allotted minutes and wasnt happy about coming off late in the 4th.



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[Yoda_]

He ran out the game very well today.

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You must have very low standards then. He blew up something shocking right in front of me on the stroke of the 3/4 time siren.

 

[Vindicater]

I've seen some positive comments about Zerk Thatcher.

I thought his game was almost really good but that it was only average.

He definitely knows what to do on the last line and was involved enough but he misread 6-8 high balls all of which should have been marks.

I like that his read of the play has him attacking the ball, he's the anti-Hartley in this regard, but the extent to which he was running under the ball was almost comical.

If he took 5-8 of those marks he would have been excellent.

I'll be keen to watch him in the next few weeks, that's for sure

I did not see the game but alot of younger and less developed (physically) defenders find themselves too far under high balls due to being worried about the bigger men (compared to the boys they are used to playing) coming up behind them. Normally takes them abour half a season to realise it is not an issue.

The fact he is reading the play is a good sign. His confidence and timing will come.

 

[BrunoV]

He did a ton of work up and down the ground as a high half forward and at times was the first forward after a press due to work rate.
You do realise he had a slight injury scare in the 3rd qtr dont you? He still managed his allotted minutes and wasnt happy about coming off late in the 4th.



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At the end of the third quarter he blew up. That's why he was hunched over (and why he struggled to make the distance from 40). He had put in a few efforts and then ran, let's say, as hard as he could, to give Boyse an option to kick to.

He started on the ground in the last. He was fine, just gassed. It's no surprise given that he was 5 quarters back from an 8 week hammy.

He'll be fine, he just needs a couple of weeks to increase his overall intensity for the whole match. Two more games should do it.

It's nothing new for him to take the piss and still dominate a VFL match.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

He played inside for most of the game and impressed. The whole team went to sleep for 15 minutes but you pin it on Guelfi?

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Not entirely but significant as to why I didn’t rate any midfielders game as a whole. Also wouldn’t say the whole team, can’t blame the forward line for that lapse as the ball didn’t get down there.

 

[bjisgod9]

Thanks for the updates guys. Happy to see Lav going well, would assume he comes in for Green which gives us even more flexibility to play him small bursts through the midfield. Obviously would be more capable than Green doing that (still love Greeny though). Did Begley not play or was held off as the emergency for Sunday game?