I had a shocking night last night. [1] NB's got thrashed by 100 points, which I discovered when I got to the ground. [2] Carlton got beaten because we couldn't kick straight and the umps wouldn't know a free kick if they got one in the backside. [3] I missed the train: it left as I was on the platform trying to get their attention. I got home at 1:45 and wasn't happy. So, I was actually hoping someone else would start up this thread this week. Well, probably too many people were as irritated with the game as I was, so nobody thought of it. Doesn't matter. Here it is. Poor out your feelings. This round last year we had a record smallest number of voters and none of them was happy. We'll see how many want to vote this time around.
Remember: [1] At least 3 players need to get a mention. [2] No more than 10 votes for any one player. [3] Give a rating of team performance. It can be anywhere from A+ to F. [4] Votes must add up to 15.
Overcast and colder than a politician's promise. Drizzled for a few minutes in the 2nd quarter but apart from that it remained dry. Ground was in good nick.
Picked a really bad game to get some idea of where some of our young blokes are at. Hardly any positives so I had to watch certain blokes really closely to see how they were handling getting beaten so comprehensively.
We lose by 100+ pts and beat Franger by more than that. Wow, Franger must have sent out their under 15s last week.
Didn't see Byrne out there.
I thought Tyrone Armitage was probably bog, closely followed by Fields, then Bransgrove, Soncin, Dick and perhaps Fraser Russell. To be honest though, our better players were blokes who weren't beaten badly, just beaten.
Walsh: Yes he has a terrific attitude and goes in hard but he's not clean enough with his hands at the moment and is too easily knocked off the ball or out of the contest. Going to also be tough for him due to his size. When you're that small you'd better have some tricks. Astonished he was mentioned in the better players.
Fields: For me he was one of the brighter lights. A good size and puts in strongly. Second efforts need work. One of the better NBs listed blokes. He let one go from full back and it was sensational - clipped the wing of the 3:45 Qantas flight Melbourne to Perth. Every bit of 75 metres+. When he is simply passing to a team mate can do the Ang C. thing with a 50+ metre left footer. Thinks like a footballer. Considering the dominance of the Dishlickers he was a brighter light.
Liam Jones: Looked much better in the ruck. And he's not that good in the ruck. Took a screamer in the first quarter. I watched him closely to see what he did off the ball - FA. He tried hard and his second efforts were there but for me his problems are all between the ears. He has the skills but there's something missing with understanding the game and working when the ball is not in his vicinity. I would suggest calling in Doctor Michael Hfuhruhurr to perform a brain transplant between Slug Ellard and Liam Jones.
Watson: Matty Watson only had one big problem in the game - an opponent. And this opponent did really weird things like body up and was quicker than Watson. When he was allowed to be loose in the backline in the last quarter he racked up possessions... no opponent. Did precious little. Though he did take one contested mark!!! Pick yourself up off the floor Ye Rat O' the River and have a stiff brandy.
Dick: Was one of the brighter lights in a very dim game. Put in and did some good things. Spent plenty of time in the midfield. Probably worth persisting with but has a fair way to go. Good size and probably only in the midfield due to so many mids in the seniors. With development you could see him as a 3rd strong defender.
Jayden Foster: Just not up to it at present. Showed glimpses but has a long, long way to go. Not sure I am that optimistic.
Jaksch: Had his shnozzle flattened early in the game so was very easily identified by the bandage around his head from then on. Had plenty of opportunities to show his wares with the aggott spending so much time in the Dishlickers forward line, but failed. Looked so much better when he could create ie getting himself loose as an attacking option off the backline. When this happened he looked capable and made good decisions. For mine he's being played out of position. Should be groomed as a key forward - would have been a better option than Watson and Foster. There is something there to work with.
Fraser Russell: Beaten like all his mates but showed something. Like to see more of him.
Dillon Hyphen: Hopeless. Didn't see anything to enthuse about.
Clem Smith: As for Dillon Hyphen.
Thanks, Baggers. It looks like 6 - 7 guys are worth 250 points: that was the turn around. Alas, we really didn't have a lot out there Yesterday. Last week we had some talent and Frankston just weren't in it.
Unfortunately your comments about Dillon VR and Clem Smith bode poorly, as they were among our poorest players last week. We just don't get any value from them at the moment.
To get 2 wins in a row after the start we had was very pleasing. However, the rating was down just a little compared to last week (9.00 compared to 9.26). It still represented an overall B, which was a pretty good result. It also got the voters out in large numbers. Thank you to everyone who voted. This was one of the biggest turnouts since I took over the reins. A fantastic effort!
The votes: Round 13: Carlton vs. Gold Coast Murphy, Marc 303 Bell, Tom 234 Docherty, Sam 128 Kreuzer, Matthew 125 Carrazzo, Andrew 116 Wood, Cameron 88 Armfield, Dennis 62 Tuohy, Zach 59 Everitt, Andrejs 54 Casboult, Levi 47 Graham, Nick 43 Cripps, Patrick 24 Simpson, Kade 24 Buckley, Dylan 21 Henderson, Lachie 9 Curnow, Edward 7 Holman, Nick 5
This was the biggest spread of votes we've also had for a long time.
Progressive Voting: 1742 - Cripps, Patrick (0) 1531 - Murphy, Marc (0) 1410 - Bell, Tom (0) 1369 - Docherty, Sam (0) 991 - Simpson, Kade (0) 872 - Judd, Chris (0) 608 - Curnow, Edward (0) 546 - Everitt, Andrejs (0) 445 - Wood, Cameron (0) 401 - Henderson, Lachie (0) 340 - Armfield, Dennis (0) 337 - Rowe, Sam (0) 325 - Casboult, Levi (0) 315 - Tuohy, Zach (0) 315 - White, Simon (0) 286 - Carrazzo, Andrew (0) 163 - Gibbs, Bryce (0) 137 - Kreuzer, Matthew (0) 128 - Graham, Nick (0) 125 - Yarran, Chris (0) 122 - Tutt, Jason (0) 89 - Menzel, Troy (0) 87 - Walker, Andrew (0) 58 - Buckley, Dylan (0) 14 - Byrne, Ciaran (0) 12 - Jones, Liam (0) 9 - Dick, Matthew (0) 5 - Holman, Nick (0) 5 - Jaksch, Kristian (0) 4 - Boekhorst, Blaine (0) 3 - Warnock, Robert (0) 2 - Ellard, David (0)
Cripps maintained his lead, but Murphy is catching up.
Footscray Bulldogs vs. Northern Blues Saturday, Jul 04 VU Whitten Oval at 2pm
Footscray Bulldogs
B: Prudden Talia Hunter HB: Fuller Russell Darley C: Prismall R. Smith Hamilton HF: Dale Campbell Hrovat F: Webb Pearce Jensen R: Cordy Biggs Crameri Int: Buchanan Barry Fort Jamieson Greenwood Fogarty W. Hayes Keras Coughlan*
Northern Blues
B: Wilkinson Jaksch McGuinness HB:Dick Fields Johnston C:Tutt Walsh Smith HF: Bransgrove Jones Viojo F: Foster M. Watson Murray R: Aurrichio Whiley Cattapan Int: Stevens Strachan Bolger Aujla* Wilson Armitage Russell Walton Soncin
The Blues looks a lot weaker this week and Byrne still hasn't made an appearance. His injury is more than an irritation. It really hurts us.
B: Kade Simpson, Sam Rowe, Michael Jamison. HB: Chris Yarran, Zach Tuohy, Simon White. C: Ed Curnow, Patrick Cripps, Blaine Boekhorst. HF: Dennis Armfield, Lachie Henderson, Tom Bell. F: Andrejs Everitt, Levi Casboult, Blaine Johnson. Foll: Matthew Kreuzer, Nick Graham, Marc Murphy. Int: Dylan Buckley, David Ellard, Nick Holman, Cameron Wood. Emg: Liam Jones, Jason Tutt, Mark Whiley.
In: Michael Jamison, Blaine Boekhorst, Blaine Johnson
Out: Andrew Carrazzo (Toe), Sam Docherty (Hamstring), Troy Menzel (Knee)
Carrots and Doc are huge outs for us. Jamo is a big in. As for the others, well, they do have a chance to show they have what it takes.
Western Bulldogs
B: Easton Wood, Joel Hamling, Matthew Boyd. HB: Robert Murphy, Fletcher Roberts, Jason Johannisen. C: Jack Macrae, Marcus Bontempelli, Tory Dickson. HF: Luke Dahlhaus, Jordan Roughead, Jarrad Grant. F: Mitch Wallis, Jack Redpath, Jake Stringer. Foll: Will Minson, Koby Stevens, Liam Picken. Int: Toby McLean, Mitch Honeychurch, Caleb Daniel, Dale Morris. Emg: Lukas Webb, Bailey Dale, Ayce Cordy.
In: Jack Redpath, Mitch Honeychurch, Caleb Daniel.
Out: Lukas Webb (Omitted), Tom Boyd (Knee), Bailey Dale (Omitted)
New: Caleb Daniel
I think our team was ready for Tom Boyd. I'm sorry he missed out.
So, after all that, we must have a couple of rookies eligible to be elevated due to Judd and Warnock. Who do we move up and give a chance to??
At the moment Fields would lead the race. Walsh has looked promising and can't be too far away, but he will be better next year. Johnson might get a go: he has some inbuilt issues for his position, but with the change in our playing style he might be interesting. Besides, he can hardly get fewer possessions than Menzel is at the moment. If he is 100 % fit, my name is Göring.
Team: B+ I know I’ve rated this win below last week’s, but I think the opposition wasn’t quite as fierce this time around. Still, it was an excellent effort and one I am happy with. It is also the first time all year we have totally dominated the ruck.
Votes: My usual caveat for a good win: these votes are severely deflated. Every single mention deserves about double what they are going to get. But 15 votes are all that is available. [2.5] Bell [2] Murphy [1.5] Tuohy [1.5] Kreuzer [1.5] Wood [1] Graham [1] Docherty [1] Cripps [1] Armfield [0.5] Curnow [0.5] Buckley [0.5] Carrazzo [0.5] Everitt
Explanations: [2.5] Bell: Tom had a great game, all except his kicking at goal. lLove his strength and attack on the ball. [2] Murphy: Another excellent game. [1.5] Tuohy: His best game for some time. He ran down field excellently and was really dangerous. [1.5] Kreuzer: His best game in years. Dominated in the ruck and got possessions around the ground. [1.5] Wood: Like Kreuzer, he really did well in the ruck and managed clearances as well. [1] Graham: With Cripps being quieter this week, Graham stepped up and did a fine job. [1] Docherty: Very solid in defence. [1] Cripps: A solid tag with some questionable tactics, but Cripps still got it 20 times. Would have been even better if his kicking for goal was on target. [1] Armfield: Dynamic! [0.5] Curnow: Very solid in the midfield. [0.5] Buckley: Kept his man quiet and provided some nice dash from defence. [0.5] Carrazzo: Very solid in the middle. [0.5] Everitt: Playing more consistently at the moment. Could have been much better if he had kicked straight.
Honourable Mentions: Simpson: Had Simmo not kicked so poorly, he would have had votes. Unfortunately his disposal was way off the mark this week. White: Very solid in defence, especially considering the difference in size between his and his opponents. Yarran: Definitely vote worthy. How did he miss out? Ellard: His best senior game for ages, because he spent time on the ball. He managed to do a good negative job and still get in the action. Henderson: Worked very hard. Casboult: Looked like having the game of his life for a while, but fell out of the game at times. His marking was excellent.
One of the things that has bothered me this year has been the relatively poor contribution of the Preston part of the Northern Blues. I can understand why: when you pay peanuts you often attract monkeys. However, we got a good contribution this week from most of those guys:
[1] Tom Wilson Wilson is a VFL player because he isn’t express paced and he is small. Otherwise he is a real goer. To see him going up against 2 or 3 taller opponents and do enough for the mark to be incomplete tells you a fair bit about him (and no small amount about the idiots kicking it to him, expecting him to be a marking target). He is an excellent inside player and gets over 20 possessions each week. Well, he had a picnic this week. We won the ruck for about the 1st time this year and he reveled in it. I would not be surprised if he went well in the B&F, as he is one of the few VFL guys who really outs in each week.
[2] Dean Soncin Soncin is in and out of the side, but he picked an excellent week to be in. He had a very good game with 24 possessions and 6 tackles.
[3] Wilko Wilko is a big lump of a lad with a lot of athleticism who is often let down by his decision making. Wasn’t that way this time. He did an excellent job. He is one of the VFL guys the Northern Blues depend on each week.
[4] Kieran McGuinness For an assistant coach he provides an excellent example and get close to 20 possessions each week. He actually had a relatively quiet game, as he wasn’t required to do the heroics for a change. He has been an excellent pick up this year.
[5] Box Bransgrove Little Box is knee high to a grasshopper, but his heart is bigger than he is. He has struggled for form this season, but as Captain has had to play. This time he found his touch and had a good game. He was at the bottom of the packs.
[6] Alex Aurrichio The American they call Cheese had a good game, even though he only had 1 possession (a handball). He had 10 tackles and 37 hitouts, with almost every one going to our advantage. He is a big pump of a lad at 197 cm but he isn’t slow and he has an excellent leap. He has a long way before you’d say he was ready for senior footy, but he has made excellent steps in short time. He attacks the ball nicely and the man who might be silly enough to have it. He doesn’t move to the right places yet, but if he keeps going, we won’t be calling out so desperately for a ruckman for the VFL.
We need more depth and more consistency from our VFL guys, but we appear to be headed in he right direction. The question now is, can we keep these guys?
Sorry this has taken so long, but things have been busier than expected.
Thanks, RR, for your report. Always appreciated.
My 2 cents worth:
As a number of posters have identified, this was not the best representation of where our guys are really at. It is, however, one of the great demolitions and a record breaker in a number of ways. It also tells you how ordinary Frankston were as an opponent on the day.
One of the things it did suggest is that the new confidence and freedom of play that the seniors have discovered has filtered down somewhat to the NB's. For almost 3 quarters we attacked incessantly and moved the ball much better than we did only a few weeks ago. In the last quarter we played a more Malthouse sort of style and went round and round the mulberry bush. With Frankston playing their best footy, we really lost momentum. However, you cannot be anything but pleased by the result.
The players: [1] Liam Jones Jones had a day out, no doubt about it. He actually held a few marks – one grabbing them even. He also took 2 contenders for mark of the year. Because we didn’t muck around much early in the game, Jones didn’t have to work the way he had needed to earlier: a single lead was usually enough and he did manage to get some space. Nor was he under as much body on body pressure and it showed. Once he got his confidence up, he was unbeatable. Even his kicking was decent. Jones spent time in the ruck and was good, but Frankston really didn’t have a proper ruckman.
[2] Blaine Boekhorst Blaine did his best work early and got a lot of the ball. Like Jones, he thrived under the lack of physical pressure and was involved in some cleaver things. His run was nice. However, to me he still did not look like a 1st round draft choice. He did have 4 tackles, but he really didn’t run and chase that much. RR described him as playing one way and I would back his thoughts totally. There is much work to be done to turn Blaine into a serious senior player.
[3] Tom Fields In many ways Fields impressed the most. His kicking is always a feature, but in the dome it really stood out as a weapon. It was also about the 1st time he played on someone smaller than he was. He ran well, made space when attacking and chose targets excellently. I would like to see him work more on his defensive game: he is, after all, a defender. But his rebound is as good as any and his kick is a real feature.
[4] Matt Dick Dick played his most impressive game in our colours. He thrived against Frankston and he did an excellent job linking up and finding targets. He was one of the offenders in the ring a ring a rosie stuff, but nobody is perfect. He did more than most to suggest he might have a future, but there was considerable room for improvement.
[5] Blaine Johnson Blaine exhibited his best and his worst today. His best was very good. He had 14 possessions and played more of a small forward role, instead of a leading forward role. He took 6 marks and 1 tackle. He got up the Frankston players’ noses as well. His kicking was good and he managed to get goals with hard work and smarts. However, he rarely get the possessions he really needs to make it at the top level. He relative lack of pace hurts him as well. Blaine has been ordinary this year, but he had his best game and showed his strengths rather than his weaknesses.
[6] Jamo Jamo was the general down back and he ran down field as necessary. He really returned to form and looked like he is ready for a senior recall.
[7] Jayden Foster Foster moved around very well today and took a lot of marks. His kicking was good. If he can move around and offer a target like that every week, then he has a future. He did managed to out body his opponents, something that doesn’t always happen, but he got on his bike for a change. I liked that. He needs to do it more.
[8] Matthew Watson I cannot but echo RR’s words: Watson was really strong for 2.5 quarters until he landed awkwardly after taking a big mark. He took 10 grabs, most in the first half. He looks like he wants another go at senior footy.
[9] Mark Whiley Looking at the lad, I don’t think he is going to be the success we were hoping for. He gets caught too often for mine. Still, he has something to work with and he did get the ball.
[10] Kristian Jaksch I didn’t think Jaksch was that bad. He needs to work on his movement as a defender, as he doesn’t have a huge amount of closing speed. His marking was good. He would make a better forward, I feel, as he doesn’t react as quickly as a defender often needs to, and he needs to work a LOT on his body work. He is much better when he is proactive.
[11] Fraser Russell Russell doesn’t get enough of the ball, yet, but he has made great strides on where he was at last year. He took a couple of nice marks and kicks the ball effectively. He is getting better and may have a future on that effort. But he needs to be involved more.
[12] Brad Walsh Not as impressive as he has been, this time around. Walsh got 20 possessions but his kicking was definitely off. He makes good decisions and looks like he may make it, but the game didn’t suit his inside style this time: we got the ball out of the middle too easily. He needs to work on his outside game.
[13] Clem Smith Smith worries me. I’ll get back to him another time, but he played OK.
[14] Dillon Viojo-Rainbow Our worst player by some margin. He is really worrying me. Give him time and he is deadly, but under pressure he isn’t there. He is looking very lemony at the moment.
[15] Jason Tutt Good until half time, but he was Tutt. Without the pressure he was deadly.
I'd ignore the Frankston game in terms of player performances.....there was no opposition and clearly the VFL have a real problem with the Dolphins being so weak and uncompetitive...
The thing I find difficult is that Frankston haven't been total rubbish. Last time we beat them by 18 points. Yes, they haven't won one yet, but they have generally been competitive. Until today. Seriously, they were better value in most of their games than Carlton were under Malthouse. Today they were very ordinary and they seriously lacked talent. They didn't even have a proper ruckman: something I accuse us of most weeks. Aurrichio KILLED them in the middle.
It was an impressive day at Etihad for the 1st time this year.
Remember: [1] At least 3 players need to get a mention. [2] No more than 10 votes for any one player. [3] Give a rating of team performance. It can be anywhere from A+ to F. [4] Votes must add up to 15.
I'll put my 2 cents worth in tomorrow. In the mean time, enjoy!
