It's easy to be negative after a game like that. But, there are some positives!
Docherty looks like he's going to be a player and Jones will be an effective third tall, when he is played alongside Casboult and Henderson. Casboult needs to play every week.
Jaksch will be an effective third tall back when he is played as one and not given the job on the big CHF. An early Michael Sexton played third tall for years before graduating to the CHF and FF. Everett is more equipped than Jaksch to play key back right now.
Wood, Rowe, Curnow, White try but are really fairly ordinary AFL players, but good WAFL/VFL players. Ditto Matthew Watson, Ellard and Armfield. Not too sure about Graham, Bell or Boekhorst. When these guys a struggling for a game we will be on the move.
Walker, Thomas, Kreuzer, Warnock, Casboult, Buckley, Sheehan and Byrne are all either upgrades or have more upside. Let's hope Foster comes on.
Next week I'd be bringing in Casboult, Warnock, Byrne and Buckley and omitting Rowe, Wood, Curnow and Smith.
What about Docherty? I've been pinning my hopes on him, but he just hasn't delivered the sort of form that I had hoped he was capable of. Isnt he supposedly going through the midfield this year? if so, he should be dominating these sort of matches.
Also, everybody keeps talking about three talls in the F50 - Casboult, Henderson and Jones, but isnt Casboult spending half the time in the ruck? I'm not sure I can take another year of Casboult playing forward when he's spent.
Based on tonight's game there's a bit to look forward to with Clem Smith, Patrick Cripps & Kristian Jaksch, but very poor efforts from Liam Jones, Jason Tutt, Blaine Boekhurst and Matthew Dick. Matthew Watson was MIA and Tom Bell's decision making was relatively poor.
I agree Wood showed way more, he actually takes a few marks around the ground. Warnock is useless.
Warnock is clearly a better player than Wood, who was languishing in the Reserves after being discarded unceremoniously from the AFL system. If you're looking to Wood, god help us.
Warnock can have an influence - just needs some consistency and strength through the shoulders/arms for marking.
Last year we really only had Gibbs, Murphy, Everett and arguably Simpson consistently producing good quality football through the middle.
This year there's upside from [Warnock?], a full year from Judd and expected improvement from all of Thomas, Docherty, Bell, Graham and Cripps. And, who knows what we'll get from Menzel, Yarran, Buckley and Boekhorst. Plenty to look forward to, but I'm expecting a lot from Docherty and Bell in particular - in fact, I'm hoping that Tom Bell can become our Dane Swan, not pretty but highly effective.
A starting midfield of [Warnock], Gibbs, Murphy, Judd, Everrit, Thomas, Docherty, Bell, Simpson aint too bad.
McLean by far and I'd go as far as to say he cost us the game -recall an errant pass, handpass to geelong on the wing when we were clear in the last quarter and then of course, Selwood. He's a player I've never warmed to and I doubt whether he would get a game at any other club. Who would play McLean part from Carlton?
Oh and Big Levi may butcher a kick or two, but fcuk me he gives absolutely everything he has out on the field....he does the attacking stuff, he does the defensive stuff, he takes marks in the goalsquare, he shares the ruck duties, the guy is a Goliath out there. He's a deadset keeper for mine. As Waite and Hendo continue to wallow in their own personal putridness, Levi shines like a beacon as far as I'm concerned.
Many on this site berated and ridiculed me for supporting Casboult, so great to read some unrestrained praise for the big man.
At the other end of the spectrum, Brock McLean. It's so hard to watch him running on the spot, handpassing to the opposition and generally farking things up (think selwood). Surely Graham can't be worse??
Not sure I agree with the commentary that the game was a poor standard - Adelaide's midfield is fairly accomplished and all of Thomson, Sloane, Dangerfield and Douglas are first class, so I was pretty happy to gets across the line.
Well done to Docherty, Everrit, Menzel, Gibbs and Casboult. And, the roar Daisy got in the last quarter was deafening - I for or let rip after 8 weeks of every man and his dog reminding me that he Isa 700k mistake. Well, who knows??
I think most people had the expectation that MM would get us to a final within 2-3 yrs because it's MM.
We were a team with young players, who struggled with the defensive side of the game, was inconsistent and in recent times struggled against the best sides. It seemed that tweaking was all that was needed. Finals seemed a more than reasonable expectation but Now we're an old rubbish bottom 8 side and we say the players are no good because the guy who gets the blame if the players aren't woeful says so.
In a nutshell.
@Jon Dorotich
If things don't turn this year I don't want to place another season's worth of drafting and trading in his hands.
Agreed - he's proven that he should be nowhere near the trade table
Wood managed 73 hitouts in the VFL last match. What about rewarding his efforts? He can kick straight, and can take a mark.
With that number of hitouts in a losing side you'd have to wonder how well they were directed. It doesn't look like we had the advantage that type of dominance would suggest.
Fun trivia fact Most hitouts in an AFL game- Gary Dempsey (Nortyh Melb) 63 ....but Hawthorn won the match 32-14-206 to North 15-22-112
I'm not suggested we should expect similar from him if he was picked for us, but you gotta reward his effort. He'd be backup to Warnock and would spend time down forward. (essentially the same role Casboult is playing now). The main reason for his inclusion, besides reward for effort, is to have an increased output in front of goals. In short, he can kick!
Not against the move at all Kruds, I was more interested in the dominance of Wood, just from a statistical viewpoint, and wondered why it didn't have an impact on the result. Just wouldn't pick him solely on the basis of the hitout numbers, and a few folk have suggested that he didn't do much around the ground.
I'm not picking him based solely on the hitout numbers...but the reason those numbers stand out is of interest. 73 hitouts meant he got to 73 contests. That shows some decent running/endurance abilities in itself. I'm sure we're well aware that he wouldn't have won every contest, so he may have made it to 100 contests, winning 73% of them. Shows the kind of hard working efforts that we require at senior level.
As for why he didn't do much around the ground....was probably stuffed for rucking solo all game. He won't have that problem in the 1's.
Prefer a bloke who can take a mark around the ground. I'll go with Casboult to back up Warnock. Sure Warnock will win alot of taps too but that'll be it.
Love to see Casboult play a full game forward, without having to run all over the ground like a mule in the ruck for half of the game - ffs give the guy a chance to succeed. Don't see any other CHF doing it, so not sure why we expect it of Levi.
