Saturday night at 19:05 in Hobart. Couldn't be further away from the seniors. Not sure what our team will look like, but I strongly doubt that any of the Senior's emergencies will play.
I'd say there will be a pretty strong VFL contingent playing this week.
Already we've lost Pittonet to hand surgery and Elijah Hollands. We've lost H to concussion. We've also lost the Camporeale twins, so they're not going to go to Perth.
It looks like Reidy is going to be our ruck. He is going to want to show something against his old mob, but he is up against a good, jumping ruck. That does not bode well. Derksen looks like he may well be our CHF, although he could be required to match Freo's 3 tall forwards.
Team: C+ I don’t normally score a loss this high, but we were the better team for most of the day. When we were overtaken, we struck back and should have drawn the game at the very least. And, to be honest, any kudos our guys should get for their performance is now going to overshadowed by the disaster that was Elijah Hollands’ game. Instead of being remembered for what it was, it will be remembered for that.
I don’t normally watch much of Channel 9’s footy show, but the fact that they only mentioned Collingwood players, other than Elijah turned me off completely. We won most positions on the field, and yet all that hard work is forgotten by a bunch of idiots who only looked at the last quarter and still couldn’t see the effort we put in to get back into the game. But then, I don’t put any faith in the media these days. They wouldn’t recognize a good performance if it kicked them in the head.
Votes: [1.5] Sam Walsh [1.5] Zac Williams [1.5] Matt Carroll [1.5] Harry McKay [1.5] Mitch McGovern [1.5] Patrick Cripps [1] Marc Pittonet [1] Jacob Weitering [1] Ben Ainsworth [1] Will Hayward [1] Ollie Florent [0.5] Nic Newman [0.5] Lewis Young
Explanations: [1.5] Sam Walsh: I was impressed by Walsh. He showed some real leadership today. He managed 28 disposals, 7 tackles and 4 clearances in a solid display. [1.5] Zac Williams: Zac managed 26 disposals, 4 tackles and 2 clearances in a really strong game. [1.5] Matt Carroll: Playing more on a wing, Matt Carroll played one of his better games to date. 17 possessions and 2 goals were a good return. I might have ranked him higher if his last 2 shots at goal were better. For a good kick, to have 2 deliberate shots for 1 point really hurt us. [1.5] Harry McKay: The most effective forward on the ground, H destroyed his opponent. Only our inability to get the ball near him, and his poor kicking stopped him from a great game. How he didn’t get a free when he was concussed also defies imagination. [1.5] Mitch McGovern: Mitch just couldn’t get near it early, but he really lifted when we needed it. 3 goals and 4 tackles show his improvement this year. [1.5] Patrick Cripps: Cripps couldn’t buy a free, but that is another tale. He still managed 25 possessions, 6 tackles and 5 clearances in what wasn’t his best game. [1] Marc Pittonet: Marc remains as lion-hearted as ever, taking on 2 rucks and getting the better of them for most of the day. Unfortunately, it was Steene’s ability to jump over Pitto that proved the difference in the last quarter. But Marc still fought back! [1] Jacob Weitering: Totally dominated his opponent. [1] Ben Ainsworth: A solid contribution with 2 great goals. Always dangerous. [1] Will Hayward: I wouldn’t say that Hayward had a great game, but he was a contributor who did some really good things. Much better than he has been recently. [1] Ollie Florent: 23 disposals, 2 clearances and 4 tackles showed that Florent had probably his best game in our colours. [0.5] Nic Newman: Still not back to his best, but Nic is getting better each week. He managed 24 possessions and 4 tackles. [0.5] Lewis Young: Had a job to do in defence and did it pretty well. His ruck work early in the game was problematical, but it was much better later.
Honourable Mentions: Harry Dean: Dean shows a lot for such a young defender. Can’t helped but be impressed, even though he didn’t get as much as he usually does. Ollie Hollands: Wasn’t that bad, even though he was flogged in the last quarter. Still, his first 3 quarters were more than acceptable. Brodie Kemp: Dynamic early, Kemp really fell away. I think the occasion got to him, as he stopped do the fundamentals as well as he had. His kicking for goal was a major reason we didn’t win. Jagga Smith: Jagga didn’t have the influence this week, but he still managed 20 possessions, 4 clearances and 3 tackles. I would really like to see him work on his body strength as a number of his tackles were broken. Adam Cerra: Quite a lot of the ball, but mostly ineffective. Cerra’s disposals and decision making were just not what he can produce. Lachie Cowan: Like Cerra, Lachie got a fair bit of the ball, but he wasn’t holding his marks and his decision making was deplorable at times. Still, 20 possessions and 2 tackles was reasonable.
AFL 2026 Rd 5: Carlton vs Adelaide I've left the voting thread open for longer, because of the short week. But, losing turns voters off, and another fail hurts.
Trends: [1] There were 10 voters this round, which is a considerable fall off from our opening game. Nichevo. When we lose, it is difficult to get voters to care enough to vote, especially when we don't show that we've learnt anything from those losses. Please do voteplease do vote, win, lose or draw: it is something we appreciate and it makes our statistics a lot more reliable. And our statistics hold up pretty well when it comes to John Nicholls Medal night!
[2] The rating was a 7.33, which represents a D+, shows just how frustrated our voters are this week. Considering that the rating was our 2nd best for the year just shows how dissatisfied we've become.
[3]17 players managed a mention again this week. Clearly, almost everyone of doing something, enough to get noticed, just not enough to get us over the line.
[4] The average vote this week was 24, which is also our 2nd best for the year. Scores are around 30 when we win, so read into that what you will.
[5] For the second week in a row 4 players managed 100 votes or more. But...
[6]Sam Walsh was BOG for the 3rd time this season with 246 votes. He was followed by Pittonet, Cripps and Haynes.
[7]Two players managed votes from everyone this week, Cripps and Walsh. Pittonet missed from one voter.
[8] It was hard to determine a trend among the vote getters this week, as so many of our players did something. However, 3 of our midfield players were among our top 4, so I'll say that our mids were our best division.
[9] The Hollands brothers and Matt Carroll were probably our most effective youngsters on the night. What a sad reflection that is at the moment, especially with a cloud now firmly over Elijah's future.
Votes: Walsh, Sam 246 Cripps, Patrick 187 Pittonet, Marc 165 Haynes, Nicholas 114 Carroll, Matthew 95 Hollands, Oliver 66 Hollands, Elijah 44 McGovern, Mitchell 44 Newman, Nicholas 33 Ainsworth, Ben 33 Florent, Oliver 33 Young, Lewis 15 Evans, Francis 7 McKay, Harrison 7 Cerra, Adam 4 Smith, Jagga 4 William, Zac 4
Progressive Voting: Walsh, Sam 977 Pittonet, Marc 642 Patrick Cripps 446 Hollands, Elijah 426 Smith, Jagga 401 Mitch McGovern 385 Weitering, Jacob 339 Hollands. Ollie 232 Matthew Carroll 193 Ainsworth, Ben 148 Lord, Cooper 144 William, Zac 122 Haynes, Nick 114 Florent, Oliver 94 Newman, Nic 91 Kemp, Brodie 90 Hewett, George 75 Young, Lewis 69 Dean, Harry 51 Byrne, Talor 34 Harry McKay 30 Boyd, Jordan 27 Cowan, Lachie 24 Evans, Francis 16 Cerra, Adam 16 Will Hayward 8
Sam Walsh is the early leader, ahead of Marc Pittonet!
Last Quarter: What could have been: Carlton: 11 - 19 - 85 Collingwood: 7 - 12 - 54
[1] Kicking 1 goal 6 was disappointing, but we still dominated play. [2] As Lods noted, we have a couple of guys who stand out for what they do when they have the ball; Ashton Moir and Jack Ison. If only we could get them more involved! [3] Apart from missing his last shot, Flynn Young again showed why I think he should be in the senior team. He had 21 disposals and was just so dangerous. [4] On the other hand Flynn Riley disappointed somewhat in the last. He seemed to run out of a bit of juice, after his brilliant start. I would have liked to see O'Keefe ruck more, as that is his main function, but he is still a long way from the form I'd prefer to see from him. [5] An unsung named did a good job: Jack Sammartino doesn't get heaps of the ball, but he does a job. Pity we don't have someone who can do that sort of job in the seniors. For that matter, also some kudos to Dane Harvey who played well in defence. Collingwood had a lot of tall forwards, but we managed to minimize their effect on the game. I can't claim to be as satisfied with Tucker, but he wasn't bad. And he provides leadership, a mature body in a team that lacks them severely. [6] Jordan Boyd: he did some nice things, but he had 1 tackle in a team that had heaps of them. Ison had 3, Tucker had 5, Riley had 3, Chesser had 6, Lucas C had 6 as well, and we knw what happened to him.
Overall, I was really please that we won, as we hadn't won a game prior to this. I was disappointed we couldn't complete the rout, but it is a beginning. Hopefully, with a bit of continuity, we can improve our disposal and particularly, our goal kicking.
[1] Not a great quarter. Not only did Collingwood kick goals, we couldn't buy one. [2] We really don't have any forward system. The way we bombed the ball in with a minimum of marking targets was terrible. Last year we looked better because we had a key forward who leaded and offered a real target. We really lack that at the moment (and he can't get a game at Essendon, but that is another tale). [3] Even in the VFL we allow teams to get a run-in against us. [4] Fog played his best game for quite a while. He, at least, made some space and was a target. Pity he can barely kick 40 m! [5] We really need to get Moir into the game, because he makes things happen. 2 goals from Moir. [6] Ison's vision and disposal are a weapon.
2nd Quarter: We really got on top, getting the ball out of the middle and moving the ball with purpose and accuracy. Carlton: 7 - 8 - 50 Collingwood: 0 - 6 - 6
[1] Billy Wilson impressed. His first half was really good. [2] Our disposal is still a work in progress. But we did have some really nice patches this quarter. We also dominated the tackles. [3] They really disrespected Acres, whose run was back. Honestly, this was the best he's looked in a long time. Confident, good in the air and all over the park. [4] Cottrell was pretty quiet in the first half. But what he did was pretty good. [5] Flynn Young must be in the team next week. His set shots are excellent. [6] Lucas C was really brave in the incident where he was injured. I can understand why he may not have been picked up for his injury: the docs don't have a test for that and probably don't think of it. Kidney issues are often identified when there is blood in the urine. Hope he is better soon. [7] Collingwood only had 3 inside-50's for the entire term! [8] Logan didn't much time on ground, but he did stand out.
Looking at the replay, trying to get a better sense of what happened. 1st Quarter: Carlton 1 - 6 - 12 Collingwood 0 - 4 - 4
Not an impressive quarter from either team. Lots of turnovers, lots of simple errors, lots of less than perfect decisions. Remind you of anything? [1] Lucas C may not have had a great night, especially with how it turned out, but he does have a very nice pair of hands. He took a couple of nice marks. Still needs to work on his pace and his disposal. [2] We should have got more goals. Our lack of key forwards and our inability to find forwards was still obvious. But we did seem to lead more than we do in the seniors. [3] Harry Charleson had a great term: 10 disposals and 3 intercept marks. I still think he might make it, if he is given the chance. [4] Jack Ison's disposal: it really stood out in a rather messy quarter. I want to see more. [5] Duffy did a pretty good job in defence. Collingwood had a tall forward line, but we controlled their forwards quite well. Duffy was the most obvious tall defender, ad he only turned it over once. [6] Monahan appears to be growing into the game. He had maybe 7 or 8 possessions and really ran hard to attack and defend. His disposal was ordinary early, which was disappointing. In the pre-season it was pretty good. [7] Bryn Teakel was emergency for the VFL in the state game last week and Flynn Riley beat both him and Smit pretty well. Using his leap as well as his height, which impressed me. [8] Ben C knows how to get it, but he needs to work on his pace and his kicking. He got run down again in the 1st quarter.
[1] Lucas C has a quiet one: 13 possessions, 6 tackles and 1 point. On the other hand, Ben had 27 possessions, 5 tackles, 4 points and 3 clearances. Lucas was playing a different role, with Chesser and Acres on the wings for most of the night.
[2] Adam Saad: 25 disposals, with 13 handballs - something I don't mind seeing. Harry Charleson: 23 disposals Billy Wilson: 21 disposals
Carlton: 11 - 19 - 85 Collingwood: 7 - 12 - 54 If we could kick straight, then we might have won by what we should have. On the other hand, we have managed our 1st win for the season.
[1] Reidy didn't play. Is he being held over for next round in the seniors? Probably. Flynn Riley, on the other hand, had 33 taps, easily more than both Collingwood rucks. 4 clearances and 13 possessions was a good night for him. Duson O'Keefe, on the other hand, had 7 possessions, with 5 marks, 1 clearance and 18 taps. Not as poor as he has been, so a step in the right direction.
[2] No Derksen either. Probably also held over. However, it meant that we seriously lacked KP players. If there was a reason why we couldn't slaughter Collingwood, that is probably it. We are so short of guys who can be a focal point, that it is frightening.
[3] George Hewett: 29 possessions, 9 clearances, 9 tackles. Cooper Lord: 31 possessions, 5 clearances, 11 tackles. Blake Acres: 31 possessions, 2 clearances, 2 tackles. This is the sort of response we were looking for.
You have to ask what was he doing on the field? We have all this focus on concussion and looking for symptoms, passing tests etc and Elijah clearly wasn't right and even the general public could see he needed help yet he is allowed to continue. The AFL should investigate both player and club as it was a serious breach of care imo. Put yourself in the parents position seeing your son in that state on a football field and it should never happen again...
My only conclusion today EB is that the medical staff thought it best he be out there with his team mates. Up until 3/4 time he spent 84% TOG. They rested him in the forth and ended up on 60%.
That is probably the answer, they thought it would help him. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have been the correct call. The question then is obvious: was there a better option? Who decides?
B: J. Boyd (37), W. Derksen (47), A. Saad (42) HB:H. Charleson (28), B. Wilson (15), R. Monahan (34) C:C. Chesser (31), G. Hewett (29), B. Acres (13) HF:L. Fogarty (, L. Camporeale (21), J. Ison (30) F: F. Young (45), H. O'Keeffe (40), A. Moir (43) R:L. Reidy (25), B. Camporeale (16), M. Cottrell (46) Int: D. Tucker (50), T. Logan (68), M. Duffy (41), D. Harvey (61), C. Lord (36) 23rd Player: T. Logan (68) Em: J. Sammartino (58), C. Vickery (59), O. Warburton (62), F. Riley (56), J. Magor (51), A. Davey (57), L. Prout (74), W. Cookson (77)
IN: J. Boyd, W. Derksen, M. Duffy, G. Hewett, T. Logan, C. Lord OUT: N. Haynes (AFL), D. Hogg (injured), W. Cookson, T. Evans, L. Prout, J. Sammartino (omitted)
[1] With Lord named on the bench, I think he probably won't play. If he plays, it will be on managed minutes. [2] I know I've been carping on about this, but we seriously lack key position players out there. Collingwood don't have that much, but they have more than we do. [3] With the talent we supposedly have out there, we should not be losing. Not even thinking about it. We have 20 AFL listed players named! But, we haven't won a game yet.
When we get our new coach, we are going to have a lot a lot of trades. [1] Because too many of players cannot complete simple skills, whether they are under pressure or not. [2] Too many of our players are physically weak and unable to run in the manner that the modern game requires. [3] We need to recruit a young ruckman of the leaping variety, assuming the rules are not changed. We do not have top ruckman, no matter how hard Marc Pittonet works. He can only do so much. To be honest, we haven't had a premier ruckman for a long time. Matthew Kreuzer was the closest, but his career was ruined by injury. Sauce Jacobs we let go. Hampson never quite made it, even with his extreme athleticism. Robert Warnock was the best, in a lot of ways, as he tended to lift in important games, even though he struggled to mark the ball. Injury ruined him too.
Got back not long ago. Not happy. Another game we threw away.
[1] At least we did come back after we'd been pounded in the first 8 minutes of the last quarter. The result should have been a draw, although we were the better team for all but about 8 minutes.
[2] We seriously need a new coach. I'm sure we'll get one at season's end. We were out-coached when it mattered by half a Collingwood side. Why? We do not learn. If we can see the issues we have for more than a year, and none of them appear to have been addressed, you ask what the problem is.
[3] I am seriously disappointed with Talor Byrne tonight. He did some good thing, promising things, but when it mattered he really failed to stand up. Three shots at goal from no more than 40 m for 2 points, including the last, when it mattered, were critical. Unfortunately, he wasn't alone. H kicked 1 goal 4 after dominating his position. That just isn't good enough for a professional key forward. I don't want to dump on Matt Carroll, because he played a good game, but in the last quarter he had a couple of shots for nothing. He is normally a good kick, but he really missed when it was important. Brodie Kemp: kicks the hard ones, but can't kick them from 20 out directly in front.
[4] I don't want to touch the Elijah Hollands matter. I've had anxiety issues: when it is really bad, you can't get out of bed, let alone play decent football. If he was that screwed up, we should never have played him. Flynn Young was available.
[5] Ollie Hollands is not a run-with player. he was given the job and came up really short. Daicos killed him when it mattered. His last quarter was like Walsh's 1st quarter last week: the difference. We need very badly to recruit or develop a really athletic run-with player who can keep the opposition's best mids out of the game. At the moment, we don't have one. Lord sometimes get the job, and he can do it well against anyone is similar speed. He wouldn't have been the match-up for Nick Daicos. Losing Cincotta has really hurt us.
[6] I'm not sure if it all about our coaching, but our players can be seriously stupid sometimes. (a) Lachie Cowan had some moment tonight that were just diabolical. Instead of taking the first option, he ran himself into trouble and screwed up. (b) Adam Cerra wasn't far behind him. His decision making under pressure was dreadful, as was his kicking. He panicked, and it cost us goals. (c) Kemp also stood out, fumbling marks he was taking early, falling over his own feet ... I just don't want to think about the rest. (d) Although he wasn't bad tonight, H can be like that. He goes to ground too easily too often and his decision making can be dreadful. But tonight he was pretty good, but for his kicking. he needs to go back and get his kicking right before he loses us another game.
[7] Free kick to H, directly in front in the last quarter? Of course not. He's taken off with concussion and he doesn't get a too-high free. I could go on about the umpires, but I've written enough about these guys. I'm over them. When we play well enough, we can go back to ignoring the stupid decisions they make.
[8] We probably lost the game by depending of Lewis Young as a 2nd ruck. I thought he wasn't bad, for the most part, but he was slaughtered in the ruck. It was the difference between winning and losing.
[9] I know Pitto works like a Trojan every week, but other rucks can lift in the last quarter and change the game. Pitto can't. When Steene got on top for those first 8 minutes, Collingwood got the ball out of middle quickly and we couldn't stop them.
, L. Camporeale (21), J. Ison (30)