Lost by a point. With the talent we had out there today, that was a pretty good effort.
Sowans and Binns had 22 possessions, Binns only 7 after half time. Second game in a row he has run out of juice in the second half. Lewis Young has probably played himself into a senior spot: his best game in a while. O'Keefe has a long way to go, but he tried hard in the ruck. He needs to put on about ten kg of muscles and work on his tank. Other parts of his game show promise. Lemmey is still very much a work in progress. He wasn't bad as a defender, but he doesn't have the attack on the ball that I want to see. Monahan didn't have much impact: I'd be trying him in a slightly different role, where he can run around a bit and use his athleticism. Dom Akuei is cooked. Moir is some way off and may be injured. Billy Wilson going off cost us about 20 extra possessions; the guy has pace and can kick with depth. We really missed him.
Not enough talent on the park, and there will be less next week. Not many senior list Blues at all and we're on TV again.
Dom Akuei has 2 possessions up to 3/4 time. He's gone backwards, as there were times last year when he looked like he had promise. Sorry to see Billy Wilson off injured: probably concussed. ( 7 possessions to Moir, but he has been in it. A long way to go, alas.
Monahan hasn't done a lot: he's very much learning the caper.
We were ordinary when it mattered and allowed the Adelaide forwards far too much space. Walker seems to have Weitering beaten between the ears. Pitto was our best ruck. Tom was useless on the ball and delivered little as a forward. he had to have a down game, but I really hate it to be against Adelaide, whom I despise! Our midfield work was terrible; Adelaide just walked it out. We probably got as many centre clearances in the end, but ours were ordinary and under pressure. No such thing the other way.
Fantasia has to go back to the VFL: he was very ordinary today and provided us with nothing. We were killed on the ground in our forward line. Corey Durdin wasn't a lot better, but he was down as well. Three tackles this week, which wasn't enough. Matt Owies: robbed of a goal in the 3rd quarter and then has the worst brain fade in history in the last few minutes. Either of those, and it is game over. But he had only 9 possessions, double Fantasia's number.
Ollie H didn't have a great game. He needs to discover his run again. Elijah was also off the pace today, but he did do some very nice things. He'll probably survive. Carroll may not: almost invisible.
No Cincotta, no Big Durds. From the VFL lads, Ned Cahill is a big in. Kristian Ferranato named for his first game for us as well at 206 cm Flynn Riley. Darcy Hogg is an emergency. 10 AFL blues named, but that includes Akuei, Monahan and Harry Lemmey.
Voting is as usual: you have 15 votes to award pretty much as you will, with the following provisos: [1] 15 votes in total, no more, no less. [2] No more than 10 votes for any one player (even Sam Walsh or Patrick Cripps) [3] Three players at least must get a mention. [4] A grade for the game, A+ (what I want to see) to F-.
This week's line-up: Backs: Brodie Kemp Jacob Weitering Nic Newman Half-backs: Adam Saad Mitch McGovern Adam Saad Centreline: Ollie Hollands Patrick Cripps Blake Acres Half-forwards: Elijah Hollands Harry McKay Matthew Kennedy Forwards: Orazio Fantasia Charlie Curnow Matthew Owies Followers: Tom De Koning Adam Cerra George Hewett Interchange: Jordan Boyd Jack Carroll Matthew Cottrell Corey Durdin Sam Walsh
Emergencies: Jaxon Binns Lachlan Cowan Marc Pittonet
I would have played Pittonet: he has a good record against O'Brien; TdK doesn't. Ollie Hollands is pretty lucky. He hasn't been playing that well, even though he has contributed. Last week Sharpe killed him. Fantasia is also more than a little lucky. He did OK as sub, but otherwise hasn't done much. Corey Durdin as well, but he had 8 tackles last week. Walsh on the bench: is hat trying to tell us that he'll be a late out?
No Cincotta as sub? Amazing! He was much better than both Binns and Cowan against North.
AFL 2024 Rd 3: Carlton vs North Melbourne North gave us everything they had and we still won by almost 10 goals.
Trends: [1] There were 13 voters this round, a solid number of start the year but still less than our previous games. Good Friday? I left the thread open for longer than usual, but ...
[2] The rating was a 9.45, which is an B+. Fair enough considering that we won, and that we dominated significant periods of play.
[3]15 players managed a mention this week, which is one up on last week, but still significant. We are a champion team these days, rather than a team of champions and everyone is making a contribution. (I like writing this. )
[4] The average vote this week was 32. We don't often better this.
[5]4 players managed 100 votes or more again this week. This is becoming the norm when we win these days, and I am not disappointed in the least. May it continue!
[6] Harry McKay managed 414 votes to be BOG this week, a Judd-like display. Most weeks, Cripps' 291 votes would have been hard to beat.
[7] Only two players managed votes from everyone this week; Cripps and McKay. George Hewett missed from one voter.
[8] Elijah Hollands was the youngster who stood out this week.
[9] We were still a very even team this week, with significant contributions from the mids, the defence and the forwards. May that continue!
Votes: McKay, Harrison 414 Cripps, Patrick 291 Hewett, George 233 Cerra, Adam 102 Curnow, Charles 91 Weitering, Jacob 80 McGovern, Mitchell 58 Hollands, Elijah 58 Fogarty, Lachlan 25 Kennedy, Matthew 25 Acres, Blake 15 de Koning, Tom 11 Saad, Adam 7 Newman, Nicholas 4 Owies, Matthew 4
Progressive Voting: Harry McKay 854 Patrick Cripps 795 George Hewett 495 Mitch McGovern 431 Tom de Koning 351 Charlie Curnow 248 Adam Cerra 135 Adam Saad 134 Blake Acres 127 Nic Newman 93 Jacob Weitering 80 Lachie Fogarty 68 Jack Carroll 61 Elijah Hollands 59 Lewis Young 55 Jordan Boyd 52 Brodie Kemp 50 Zac Williams 45 Matt Kennedy 26 David Cuningham 13 Matthew Owies 10 Ollie Hollands 7
He's gone backwards, as there were times last year when he looked like he had promise.
)