It has been quite a long time since my brain had a good dose of dopamine. Well, I got one today! A win for the Blues and a win for the Baby Blues and some of the best football we've played in the last 3 years! If ever we needed to justify the departure of Michael Malthouse, today was it. I won't get carried away: I'll wait until later in this thread. :)) :)) :)) ;D ;D ;D
This week's voting should be a much happier affair! Enjoy!
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.
Looks Like I've been assigned to start things up.
Team: A
Maybe I’m easily pleased because we actually won a game, but when watching yesterday’s game I liked a lot of what I saw. Yes, we allowed some very easy goals. Yes, we allowed Port back into the game when we were on top and flying. Yes, we had some passengers. But, my God! We won! We beat a team that killed us last time by close to 100 points. We played modern football. The desire shown by the guys, especially late in the game was great.
Considering what we have running around, we played an EXCELLENT game!
Votes:
My usual caveat after this sort of win: we really had a LOT of contributors and all of my votes are seriously under representative of what these guys deserve.
[2.5] Cripps
[2] Murphy
[1.5] Bell
[1.5] Graham
[1.5] Simpson
[1] Curnow
[1] Carrazzo
[1] Henderson
[1] Docherty
[0.5] Rowe
[0.5] Armfield
[0.5] Yarran
[0.5] Buckley
Explanations:
[2.5] Cripps: What an excellent effort: 12 tackles (most of them truly brutal), half his possessions being contested, at least 10 clearances, 5 official tap outs and 31 possessions. Cripps has stepped up. It was lovely to see.
[2] Murphy: A bit quieter in the last quarter, but his effort on the day was excellent.
[1.5] Bell: Tommy was a little quiet early, but he had 9 possessions in the last quarter and made few errors. His attack on the ball was excellent.
[1.5] Graham: Nick still doesn’t get enough of the ball at senior level, but he is working on it! There was no stop start football, but was all we saw under Malthouse. There were goals. There were really strong tackles. There were clearances and good disposal over distance, not 20 m chip kicks. I liked it!
[1.5] Simpson: Started strong and kept it going. A solid game from Simmo.
[1] Curnow: Did his bit in the negative department and attacked well.
[1] Carrazzo: 29 possessions.
[1] Henderson Looked like he cared today. Lead well and gave a really good option in attack.
[1] Docherty Started a bit slowly, but his desperation late in the game showed what today meant for our players.
[0.5] Rowe Did an excellent job in taking our Schultz. One of his best games this year.
[0.5] Armfield: An excellent effort. Was dangerous all day.
[0.5] Yarran: Excellent in defence and attacked well.
[0.5] Buckley: really tried his guts out. His best game this year.
Honourable Mentions:
Kreuzer: The big guy is so far from his best, but he tried hard in the ruck and cut Lobbe out around the ground. He was always dangerous in the air.
Tuohy: A solid game from Zach.
Gibbs: Not at his best yet, and doesn’t look 100 % fit. However, today was a solid step forward. The tackled and chasing was back and his kicking produced few turnovers.
Everitt: Andrejs is more effective as a forward and his 3 goals could have been 5. But he needs to improve his tackling and chasing.
White: A solid job in defence again.
Other comments:
Menzel: If he is 100 % fit, then I am a white version of Nick Natanui. Yes, he can still kick a goal, but he isn’t working hard enough. He didn’t get a single possession in the 1st quarter. If he isn’t 100 %, then we need to get him so. If he is, then he needs to be dropped to find some form and confidence and to start working the way we require him to. For a guy like him to be playing as he is, well, it isn’t acceptable.
Wood: Well beaten yesterday, but it hasn’t happened often. He has worked very hard at his rucking against guys who are much better at it and has surprised them a lot.
5. Murphy
4. Cripps
3. Rowe
2. Simpson
1. Carazzo
Team B
4 - Cripps
4- Murphy
3 - Curnow
2 - Armfield
1- Carazzo
1- Docherty
Team A
6: Cripps
4: Murphy
2: Rowe
1: Armfield
1: Carrazzo
1: Simpson
Team C+
4 - Cripps
3 - Bell
2 - Curnow
1 - Murphy
1 - Rowe
1 - Armfield
1 - Graham
1 - Docherty
1 - Buckley
Team A
5 Cripps
4 Murphy
3 Bell
2 Everitt
1 Graham
5-Cripps
4-Bell
3-Murphy
2-Graham
1-Carrazo
Team C
4 - Cripps
2 - Bell
2 - Curnow
2 - Murphy
1 - Rowe
1 - Graham
1 - Docherty
1 - Buckley
1 - White
5 Cripps
4 Murphy
3 Graham
2 Bell
1 Buckley
Team B
5 Cripps
4 Murphy
3 Bell
2 Rowe
1 Buckley
Team: B
5 - Cripps
4 - Murphy
3 - Bell
2 - Rowe
1 - Graham
A
8 Cripps
3 Murphy
2 Bell
2 Rowe
B+
Cripps - 5
Bell - 4
Murphy - 3
Docherty - 2
Gibbs - 1 (For making Dominic Cassisi cry)
Team. B
5. Cripps
3. Bell
3. Murphy
2. Docherty
2. Graham
Team A
5: Cripps
4: Bell
3: Rowe
2: Murphy
1: Everitt
HM's. Docherty, Carazzo, Buckley, Graham, Gibbs, Henderson
Team B
Murphy 4
Cripps 4
Bell 3
Rowe 2
Graham 1
Henderson 1
Team B
Cripps 5
Murphy 4
Graham 3
Rowe 2
Bell 1
Team - B+
5 - Cripps
4 - Murphy
3 - Bell
2 - Rowe
1 - Graham
Team = A
[4] Cripps
[2] Murphy
[2] Bell
[2] Simpson
[1] Curnow
[1] Carrazzo
[1] Henderson
[1] Docherty
[1] Rowe