This Saturday night vs Frankston, and we're on TV.
Frankston are 5th and playing well; we've got so many injuries that we no longer have a key forward or a key defender.
When my family and I last lived in Melbourne, I'd have gone to this one, as we lived nearby. Unlikely this time.
Frankston's ground can hold maybe 5000 people. How many Blues supporters will there be?
Playing interstate with travelling emergencies, the twos are going to be very light on. I wish them all the best down at Franganistan.
Looks to be a cold and damp night, anybody going?
I'm reorganising my sock draw that night, sorry.
We'll probably need some top=ups. Hopefully, we can trial Harry dean, as we as desperate for talls. Maybe we can play Zac Harding as a tall forward.
Whatever and whoever, we'll need to think outside the box to have anything close to a balanced team.
CARLTON
B: B. Wilson (35), E. Phillips (55), M. Duffy (41)
HB: H. Charleson (28), J. Boyd (37), R. Monahan (34)
C: A. Cincotta (39), J. Binns (25), L. Camporeale (21)
HF: D. Hogg (70), L. Nelson (57), C. Vickery (59)
F: H. O'Keeffe (40), D. Grainger-Barras (61), S. Phipps-Parsons (69)
R: F. Riley (56), P. Dozzi (53), H. Ramshaw (51)
Int: O. Warburton (78), O. Badr (72), S. Paea (66), K. Ferronato (50), T. Gresham (79)
23rd Player: T. Gresham (79)
Em: L. Farrar (67), O. Poole (75), T. Logan (68), N. King (63), J. Polkinghorne (76), D. Ayres (71), D. Harvey (73), A. Stevens (77)
IN: O. Badr, A. Cincotta, T. Gresham, H. O'Keeffe
OUT: H. Lemmey (hamstring), W. Hayes (unavailable), C. Hamilton, D. Harvey (omitted)
To be honest, I don't expect any of our emergencies to play. They'll all be in Perth for the Dockers game. So, this line-up, instead of having 9 listed players, we'll be lucky to have 6. Of those, only Cincotta has been a regular for us, and he's only there because he's coming back from injury.
So, we'll be very light on for experience.
We also a look at Tyson Gresham this weekend; he's been named. To use the German good luck wish, Hals- und Beinbruch! (Literally, break your legs and your neck, which seems apt, considering our injuries).
Tyson is small, but terrier-like and doesn't cop any flack. He is also a goal kicker, so ...
We also have another lad named as emergency for the 1st time: D. Ayres. I don't know anything about him yet.
It is also Heath Ramshaw's 50th game. As our Captain, that is a milestone I hope we can honour better than how the seniors did last week for Doc and Weitering.
I still don't know what Boyd is doing wrong, but that is another tale. I wouldn't have selected Lewis Young, but what do I know?
FRANKSTON
B: T. Milne (15), J. Lloyd (18), W. Hamill (9)
HB: G. Grey (6), O. Moran (28), N. Burke (17)
C: D. Hipwell (14), T. Owens (7), T. Blamires (23)
HF: T. Barlow (3), N. Gown (1), L. Riley (8)
F: B. O'Leary (10), C. Ellison (4), B. Lambert (22)
R: H. Coe (16), M. Nelson (32), K. Askew (42)
INT: J. Smith (25), M. Johnson (24), H. Jones (39), A. McComb (20), T. Campbell-Farrell (26)
EMG: C. Gay (34), T. O'Leary (41), N. Moodie (27), R. Mihailovic (38)
IN: T. Campbell-Farrell, M. Nelson
OUT: T. Murphy (calf), J. Voss (hamstring)
Not a lot of big names, but they're 5th and playing well. And it is also at their home ground.
I'll be watching with interest to see how they use Cinc... hopefully not as a lockdown but rather utilize his leg speed in a more creative role!
St Kildas Mitch Owens big brother is listed in the centre for Franga.
Franga dude just got a free for blatant high contact… from his teammate… 🤦🏼♂️
Tyson Gresham giving us a dress rehearsal. Hasn't done much.
Impressed by Darcy Hogg again. Not sure he can make the step up, but he has football smarts and a good carlton pedigree.
Skull o keefe giving a good account.
Impressed by Dane Harvey. Cincotta and charleson amongst our best afl players.
Edit: 20 mins in with a very favourable wind.
Billy & Murphy (? The curly haired big forward) have done ok and DGB has been standing tall and being physical
Only the first qtr but love the fierceness of our boys and answering the Franganistan aggression with plenty of their own: seniors take note.
Big test in the second with Franga having the breeze.
Wilson and lucas started working their way into it a bit later. Dont know what to make of Denver grainger barras, but he's been getting into the grill of the opposition and kicked a nice goal.
Skull o keefe brings a hard man's no nonsense approach that makes me eager to see more at afl level.
Charleson and Billy Wilson did a bit off half back to be proud of.
Our forward pressure was good, ball lived in the attacking end of the ground so will be interesting to see how it unfolds later. Frankston are a mature group who hit us well on the rebound but they weren't playing well and still scored a couple against the run of play.
6.4 to 2.1 at quarter time.
Tyson Gresham didnt take a backwards step when its his turn to go, which was nice to see.
Something to add, dozzi, Stevens and ramshaw all are very busy, and help our younger boys a lot. Flynn Riley's an interesting player. Reminds me a bit of Justin madden without the same ability but is a promising player.
Dane Harvey kicks his 3rd with a goal assist from Gresham who's looked much better this quarter as an under ager. 169cm, but has speed and is capable of hitting targets by foot at this level. Will go the dangerous kick into the corridor.
Defense under a lot more pressure this quarter. Phillips, Riley and O'keefe doing a lot more intercepting.
Billy Wilson a mixed bag of good and bad at times trying to do too much. Charleson wilted a bit under the pressure and wasn't as prominent but having a dip. Conditions challenging for moving the ball contributing to the pressure.
Its been more of a scrappy contest in quarter 2. Boys are having a dip thats for sure.
One of the broadcast bozos likened HOK to a young big Oscar from Brizvegas
Edit: You are totally correct about Reilly being the subject of the discussion
@Thryleon
I think he said Flynn Riley who was a bit more advanced at the same stage due to omac playing more in the northern development league but ive had a couple of vodkas and may have that confused. :D
Either way its good to see a competitive outfit who's dishing out a bit of lip and cracking in.
The boys absorbed the pressure against the breeze and played a v good defensive game. Turned it into a scrap which prevented Franga getting any clean play/chains.
Flynn R has something. Takes the game on, we like that.
Good even contribution. Seemed Cinc was off for a good while but soon as he returned, he got amongst it. Like the look of Dane H. Ferronato and Ramshaw doing plenty.
Gotta take advantage of the breeze in the third.
It was Riley he was talking about.
Riley reminds me more of Kreuzer.
Both our rucks are going OK .
We've gone the right royal mozz. Looks like Frankston have swung the magnets have gotten on top and we have coughed up a handy lead when we had the wind. Thus has been the equivalent of a 6 goal turnaround given the conditions.
If someone were to ask where this has gone wrong for us, I think defensively weve been a bit fragile, and Frankston have looked like scoring with every forward entry as we look to lose our heads at times.
Up until quarter 3 where we were soundly beaten, weve performed admirably against a top 4 aspirant.
Not a
Not a lot of poise full stop, let alone the forwardline.
Boys need to dig deep and bottle it up in the last and take their chances when they do go forward
If we play it right, one or two goals in the last will be enough.
The umps have probably given the franga blokes a free ride here and there too with a few frees in front of goals.
DGB to put us back in front !
DGB kicks his 2nd, and it is less than a goal the difference. But do we have enough talent on the field to make it?
And he kicks a 3rd! Mirabile Visu!
And Frankston hit the front. :(
I guess the match hardened bodies make the difference.
Actually, however it goes, this has been a really brave performance by the 2's, as they are seriously undermanned.
Its interesting.
You can push a bloke.
You can throw the ball.
But if the guy you're tackling flings an arm over the shoulder its high contact. In other tackles you can go high and they dont pay it unless its bloody obvious. Weird.
The Ruck contests were interesting...
From our point of view we were on top early.
In the first half I thought Riley actually shaded O'Keefe who was still good, but Riley seemed to fade in the second half and O'Keefe was our better performer overall.
The Frankston rucks probably reversed the trend in the second half with Coe winning his share of contests, but it was more their efforts around the ground. Gown playing as a second ruck was damaging.
That may have been significant in reversing the trend of the game.
gown in the 3rd quarter swung the game going as a more mobile ruck option. We didnt cope well with that move.
Our mids lost the ascendency too. Ferronato, Stevens ramshaw all vanished after half time.
Gresham looks like he has some class and speed about him so weve got got a live one coming.
Gown changed the game, got physical with our rucks and made our players nervous. Frankston are very working class blue collar but their maturity and attack on the ball won out in the end.
Re : Gresham..very tiny and light, we will probably draft him and he has a go like he does for Scotch but he can't hold a tackle and just gets brushed aside so I'd be lowering my expectations on him being effective for four quarters and a high impact player in a bottom team that has too many non physical players to support him.