What I learned today

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

We need Benny Johnson back badly for finals to take that sweeping role up. Simon Buckley, while a decent fill in player, loses confidence when he makes a mistake. He was really poor today.

Jamie Elliot has a "lift" factor and some great hands.

We need Tarrant in that backline, even just to provide a kick it long option out of the kickouts.

 

[anshell]

I agree,all of those are good points.Johnson is twice the player Buckley and Clarke are combined,and it would be great to have him back for the finals.

 

[Yidaki]

Definitely need the composure of Pendlebury.

 

[Tippy78]

I am not enjoying seeing Heater up the field at the moment. With BJ out and Heater not there we are relying too much on Buckley as the sweeping role and he isn't up to it.

Marty Clarke had a stinker today. Kept finding himself in marking contests which really isn't his forte

 

[TheWoodsOf72]

1. Ben Johnson would have helped.
2. Harry still not good enough 1 on 1 and overhead. Looks at the man and missed the ball (watch the replay)

 

[jimmy35]

Yes Benny back would be a huge bonus.

 

[damuzzdu]

1. I think the other player we missed was Ben Sinclair...his tackling pressure in forward line was missed today
2. Mary Clarke had a stinker - turned the ball over too many times
3. Jamie Elliott = where does Derek Hind find these guys

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Marty Clarke had a stinker today. Kept finding himself in marking contests which really isn't his forte

To be fair to Marty I'm sure he wasnt asking for high balls to be kicked in his direction.

 

[SuperSub17]

I learned that the holding the ball rule has gone the way of the dinosaur.

 

[Tippy78]

To be fair to Marty I'm sure he wasnt asking for high balls to be kicked in his direction.

Definitely not. It was just a bad afternoon for him

 

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

Yeah Marty was ordinary, his worst game of the year.

Just interesting that the commentators were talking about how young West Coats was. I reckon there wouldn't be all that much difference in the average ages of the two sides out there today.

 

[rose jam]

Thought this was a good game for us, our skills were down but guys like Maxwell, Cloke, Thomas, and Swan can just seem to find efforts to pull the team through. It's a good sign, we played rusty and "off" but the key good experience got us through.

 

[standingroomonly]

I learnt that Simon Buckley's brain may have finally deteriorated to the point where we can put him on the long term injury list to to mental incapacitation .

 

[Greening Magic]

That it's 8 weeks now since I received the 45th copy of this on my phone.

 

[handy point]

1. We need to sign up Beams, stat.
2. Simon Buckley, although improved, still isn't a top 22 player.
3. I finally saw what everyone else has been saying about West Coast bringing their own umpires.

 

[Bay Pie]

We have a steely resolve that even when challenged and appearing out on our feet, someone finds something to turn the game back our way.

Essendon, Geelong, Crows and West Coast.

Love the Magpie ticker.

 

[lozza63]

I learnt that we have young kids made of some really stern stuff!
Elliott and Williams showed amazing composure under some real finals like pressure - both would be worthy of inclusion come September - especially Elliott.

Beamer shown to all and sundry that he has elite capability.

From the start of the year where i doubted our depth - 12 games in has proved we have a strong core of 25-27 (30-32 if you include those on the LTI list) to pick from - with Pendles, Tarrant, Sinclair, Dids and Wood all competing for spots - just keeps pressure on those in the team to keep performing which is just brilliant.

 

[Bloben]

We have a steely resolve that even when challenged and appearing out on our feet, someone finds something to turn the game back our way.

Essendon, Geelong, Crows and West Coast.

Love the Magpie ticker.

This is what I took out of it too. Every game which has gone down to the wire we have managed to do enough to get the win.

Imagine how our season would be if we had dropped games to Essendon, Geelong and West Coast

 

[The 10th Letter]

1. After originally being content with thinking he would at the very least be a consistent, quality contributor throughout his career, Beams has taken the next step and looks destined for elite status. As others have said, sign him up!

2. Cloke looked to be in a better head space, some amazing marks considering the attention he was receiving. That 5 goal bag couldn't have come at a better time.

3. Whilst the improvement of Sidebottom and Beams has been a highlight, Jarryd Blair also deserves a lot of credit for his work in the absence of Ball. Without checking the stats I'd guess that his contested possession ratio would be close to the highest in our team at the moment.

4. Jamie Elliott, despite missing that set shot to open the term, was a match winner in the last in only his fourth game -- some massive marks in some equally massive moments. A bit more time and a further sense of belonging might see him take a bit more ownership at ground level, as he does defer a little when he could go himself. I also suspect that after his heroics in the last yesterday, team mates might start looking for him a little more within 50.

5. Similarly Marley Williams is quickly winning over the army, also having some pivotal moments in defence under intense pressure. His kicking can be a bit of a worry, but when he doesn't try and kick the living crap out of the thing he gets it spinning a lot better. At ground level though, his ability to keep his feet, stay in the contest and work the ball to his advantage is terrific. That fly and spoil in the last, without killing the ball completely, was vital in buying us some time for the cavalry to arrive.

6. The Eagles will take some beating, whether it be over there or here.

7. Shaw, Reid and Toovey were all a bit rusty and will be better for the run. Plenty of improvement to come over following weeks, not least of all the return of Pendlebury.

8. Massive amounts of resolve in this team. As much as we'd like to cruise to comfortable victories and be looking a little sharper/more consistent over four quarters, wins like these are huge for belief -- especially when you've got a bunch of youngsters contributing to it.

9. Harry O returned to some good form, made some good spoils but it was his rebound, pirouetting and high-stepping dash that was most important. On the flip side, Simon Buckley took a step back and concerns will remain about his ability to stand up when it matters most.

Finally, FAIRANDBALANCED mentioned earlier about the carping on of how young West Coast were (and they do have plenty of youth over the park) but he was right in suggesting we're no different. I believe footywire.com had us as being five months younger on average (and a game less experience) than the Eagles yesterday.

Nine in a row since that forgettable night early in the year, loving it.

 

[Heater39]

Good call, BJ is the forgotten man. Easily best 22 when fit. I think it's a long shot for him to be back by finals time unfortunately however. Will probably need to come back a month before finals to get his match fitness up to scratch. Really hope he does come back though.

 

[Rusty22]

so the question is will benny be back for finals???

 

[wicksy]

Simon Buckley.....

DISCLAIMER: That's what I feel like doing... Not what I want him to do.

 

[loki04]

Thought Buckley was put under the pump on a fair few occasions and everyones favourite 'the skipper' was a bad offender in bombing blindly yet people sing his praises and slam Buckley...

 

[rose jam]

Thought Buckley was put under the pump on a fair few occasions and everyones favourite 'the skipper' was a bad offender in bombing blindly yet people sing his praises and slam Buckley...

he holds onto the ball too long. He often doesn't like his first option and then spends a long time with ball in hand waiting for a better one and he gets done. Turnovers = death, and he's accumulting a lot of death penalty.

 

[Ant85]

This is what I took out of it too. Every game which has gone down to the wire we have managed to do enough to get the win.

Imagine how our season would be if we had dropped games to Essendon, Geelong and West Coast

Bit of a difference with the WCE game.

We dominated Essendon and Geelong for most of the game, just didn't take our chances to bury them.

WCE pushed us off our game, made our structures crumble at times, and forced us to make errors we haven't seen before. That worries me, we need to be able to absorb high intensity and pressure.

We did the same to them as well, which just shows there's a bit more parity between us and WCE than the other two.