Re: Northern Blues vs. Williamstown Sunday 6th April at Visy
Reply #54 –
Just got back from the game. Terrific come back by the NBs after trailing by 6 gls at one stage - mainly due to silly erros. Little too much finessing at times which led to turnovers. Couple of howlers gave Willy easy goals.
No Lucas.
Beyond me why Heath Scotland is kicking the due off. An on-field General all day.
Blaine Johnson seems raw as raw but did some really good, strong things. Hard at it.
McLean didn't appear after half time. Until half time had done SFA. Must be carrying an injury.
Watson looked okay when the ball came to him, but was led to the aggott too often. Yep, rolling out the 'too slow' line again. For a bloke with KPP asperations at senior level, just didn't do enough against good but not very good opposition.
Holman was busy and knows how to hit the contest hard, but disposal needs heaps of work. Looks likely.
McInness was the usual terrific negator, but did little else. Has bulked up considerably. Needs another dimension to his game.
Wood. Liked his game. Does this really novel thing at Princes Park when you're a really tall ruckman - marks the ball around the ground!! Couple of really good saves in defence. Tap work needs work - hits it to the feet of the mids too often. Wouldn't have hurt his chances of coming of the Rookie list.
Reynolds. Really liked what I saw. Has dash and gets where the aggott is. Will be keen to monitor his progress. Looks and thinks like a 'real' footballer.
Graham got plenty of the ball and was really busy. Ball magnet. Only negative was I saw him take half steps on two occasions to avoid a big bump - made the crowd moan. Gotta clean this up. Maybe that's why he hasn't had a call up yet.
Levi was a bloody ripper. Kicking for goal still a bit wonky but I'd love to know how many contested grabs he took around the ground. Played in the ruck and high forward. Some terrific saves. Good ruck work. Best big man on the ground for mine.
Boots tried his heart out and did some good things; good defensive things. But spoilt some of his good work with some dumb decisions and at times just roosting the aggott out of defence without looking where to kick it... and the result was predictable - the ball whistled back over his head.
Cripps was the highlight for me. Started slowly (on the ball) but once he picked up the pace - wow. Now I don't want to overstate something here, but I really did see something we haven't seen at BlueBagger Land for a while. Someone who can grab a game by the cods and change the direction. We were 6 goals down and this kid just decided to impose himself on the contest and on the game. He got us back into it with great disposal, great tackles and 1st class reading of the play. I actually don't give a flying fig what his stats were. It was how he influenced this game, almost single-handedly. He, Graham, Levi & Scotland got us over the line.
Sheehan is one powerful unit. Still getting used to the tempo and skills, but something really fearless and dangerous about this dude. Will take a while, bit like Zackery, but I reckon it's there.
Armfield was busy and provided some much needed grunt and leadership when needed. Not sure he'd get a recall on this effort though.
Giles, unless something goes very wrong, looks the goods. Another one who got himself into the game and contest and looked right at home. Moves really well and thinks like a footballer (I know its the 2nd time I've mentioned this but it really seems our altered approach to recruiting has improved the quality of dudes coming into the place. Looking forward to seeing more of this cat.
Cachia was serviceable and did a good blanketing/run-with job. Nothing outstanding though.
Docherty was clearly underdone, but showed some terrific dash. Kicked the goal of the day after breaking loose through the guts, a bounce and let fly from just outside 50. Like a few others he was pretty knackered at the end (Cripps could hardly walk in the last 5 minutes but still worked his dot off).
Temay did some neat things but is just too slow and seems to give up too easily when the contest doesn't go his way. Nothing special.
Of the Preston boys... Joel Wilkinson is a beaut, got caught a couple of times but has real dash. Tyson Thomas was good without being a match winning. Made a couple of bad mistakes but it is only the first game. Was given a lot of time on the HBF.
Don't know what the NBs were thinking getting Jack Anthony. Kicked a couple of goals but, gee, for a bloke his size he was easily out muscled on a number of occasions. Left the field in the final qtr with a leg injury.
Well done NBs on the 4 pt win. They'll be better for the run.
Only negative would be that too much was left to 'name' players to get them over the line. Not nearly enough team cohesion.
Topic: Northern Blues vs. Williamstown Sunday 6th April at Visy (Read 24138 times)
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