Sunday at 11:05 at Carlton.
Gold Coast are actually below us on the ladder.
Our line-up for the weekend looks very different.
CARLTON
B: M. McGovern (11), 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: O. Fantasia (14), E. Hollands (20), S. Phipps-Parsons (69)
R: M. Pittonet (27), W. Hayes (54), H. Ramshaw (51)
Int: Z. Harding (60), O. Badr (62), S. Paea (66), K. Ferronato (50), D. Harvey (73)
23rd Player: Z. Harding (60)
Em: L. Farrar (67), O. Poole (75), T. Logan (68), N. King (63), J. Polkinghorne (76), A. Stevens (77), C. Hamilton (80), P. Dozzi (53)
11 listed players this week, assuming everyone plays, which is not certain, given the number of Emergencies named.
IN: J. Binns, J. Boyd, O. Fantasia, Z. Harding, W. Hayes, E. Hollands, M. McGovern, M. Pittonet
OUT: H. O'Keeffe, B. Wilson (AFL), P. Dozzi, D. Grainger-Barras, T. Gresham, F. Riley, A. Stevens, O. Warburton (omitted)
NEW: Zac Harding, 19, 199cm, Murray Bushrangers, Wodonga Bulldogs
A little surprised to see Flynn Riley out, but we could be trying to hide him. (If so, we're probably a little late.)
I am pleased to see Zac Harding named. He has been playing very well in the U18 comp.
The side is still very unbalanced, as we have no key defenders but Phillips and no key forwards, with McGovern named in defence. He may start forward.
Having Hayes back is a huge plus.
GOLD COAST SUNS
B: C. Graham (46), S. Lemmens (23), C. Bell (31)
HB: D. Patterson (47), A. Eastham (42), N. Beikoff-Smart (55)
C: Z. Uwland (51), B. Addinsall (52), L. Johnston (38)
HF: L. Lombard (30), A. Sexton (6), T. Berry (16)
F: C. Lewis (45), J. Walter (4), H. Heathcote (57)
R: N. Moyle (21), D. Swallow (24), J. Rogers (29)
INT: C. Collins (56), L. Gulbin (39), L. Chapman (64), J. Tsitas (43), L. Cramp (60)
23rd Player: H. Heathcote (57)
EMG: H. Greenwood (61), C. Nancarrow (54), M. Hudson (49), J. Harris (58), G. Turner (53)
Gold Coast have more listed players than we do.
Gold Coast have been something of a bogie side for our VFL side in recent times.
4 points to 1 in their favour.
And then come Stirling Phipps-Parsons!
Pitto being thrashed in the ruck at the moment: 0 tap to Moyles' 7.
We're getting a lot of the ball, but ...
Dane Harvey: 2 shots, 2 misses. :(
Elijah Hollands get his first possession, and misses. :(
Jaxon Binns! Yes!
Binns has been relatively quiet, but we needed that one.
Zac Harding, playing his first game: 3 taps.
Pitto: 1 :(
Quarter Time:
Carlton: 2 - 4 - 16
Gold Coast 1 - 4 - 10
Gold Coast had the first 4 scores, but not much after that.
We've dominated possession: 101 to 79.
We have 6 of the top 7 possessions getters, including Zac Harding playing his 1st VFL game.
Moyle was ruling the rucks until Harding entered the scene, but still getting his hand to the ball first.
Ethan Phillips: 6 possessions, 3 marks.
Cincotta: 4 clearances
Peppering the goals, but can't find the big opening. We've had 8 of the last 9 scores, but only 1 goal.
Gold Coast getting all the possession this quarter: Lemmens up to 13. Our ball getters have been quieter.
Pitto is a professional AFL ruck, he needs to learn an opponent before he can get the better or break even with them. It's the difference between Pitto and someone like a TDK type who can rely on athletic ability, but look at last night under the current rules Witts could basically hold TDK away form the ball and not be penalised, last season that was a free kick against Witts every time it happened.
It's why at AFL level Pitto and TDK are a better combo at the moment, TDK still hasn't the skills yet to get someone like Witts under control, and when you team TDK with another newbie they are both going to suffer.
btw., A couple of years ago I had mentioned Moyle as a possible option for us, but it seems we didn't like him, he has both size and aggression.
Witts and Xerri will be screwed next year when the rule changes.
Luke Nelson!
Ramshaw's 1`st 18 minutes were brilliant: 9 possessions. He hasn't had one since.
Elijah Hollands didn't touch it in the first 16 minutes, now has 10.
Stirling Phipps-Parsons! His 2nd!
Luke Nelson! His 2nd!
This isn’t on tv is it?
Darcy Hogg! He was quiet in the first term, but has dominated in this one. 13 possessiosns
No, but it is available on aflcom.au
Mirror from phone to tv 👍🏼
Half Time;
Carlton 6 - 10 - 46
Gold Coast: 1 - 6 - 12
The Blues dominated that quarter on the scoreboard, even though Gold Coast evened up the possessions considerably.
Pitto came back ion the ruck somewhat: only has 6 taps, but 5 clearances, all that term. Moyle usually dominates against us, but he has had a minimal presence around the ground.
Cincotta was quiet that quarter and has had only 8 possessions, but 4 of them were clearances.
Ramshaw has 13 possessions, although he went 30 minutes without any.
Hogg has 13 and a goal, after a very quiet first 20 minutes.
Elijah Hollands has 13, but has missed with his shots at goal.
Phillips only touched it twice that term, but has 5 marks in defence.
Dane Harvey: 3 shots for 3 points :(
Zac Harding: was presumably to play 2nd forward. He hasn't scored, but he's had 9 possessions and 4 marks. He got our only taps in the first quarter, but hasn't had one since. Not bad for his 1st effort.
Three goals in red time was excellent from us. We usually just leak goals in red time.
28 tackles to 17 in our favour! Not huge numbers, but I'll take it.
We kick 4 - 6 that term, to 2 points. Will we rue our kicking at goal? Probably, but I'd much rather be in our situation than Gold Coast's.
And guess what, we kick another point!
And they kick a goal :(
We seem to be kicking shorter and aiming to hit targets today. The long bomb isnt a feature so much today.
Dane Harvey find the middle opening!
Not many tall targets to bomb it to, not that that ever stops the seniors.
Orazio Fantasia!
Ramshaw find the middle!
That is a 48 point lead. That is a 168 point turn around compared to last time.
Stirling Phipps-Parsons get his 3rd!
Elijah Hollands! He has had a pretty good first up game.
That was play on by the Gold Coast player Walter. He was trying to run off. Umpires stuffed that.
Gave up a red time goal to Walter, who has had 7 possessions.
I reckon he was trying to play on after taking the mark. Monahan locked him up. Commentators said they could have paid 50 metres but I didnt see it like that. Was in the goal square anyway.
Harvey belongs at this level, does he have upside ?
Three Quarter time:
Carlton: 11 - 13 - 79
Gold Coast: 3 - 8 - 26
Another solid quarter from the Baby Blues.
Hits outs 20 to 27; Pitto doing better and getting clearances.
Clearance: 27 to 18 We've been much stronger around the packs.
We have the top 4 possession getters on the ground:
Ramshaw: 21 possessions and a goal.
Elijah Hollands: 20 possessions and 1 goal 3!
Darcy Hogg: 18 possessions and goal.
Harry Charleson: 18 possessions. He had a big term.
Will Hayes: 14 possessions - it is good to be leading without Hayes dominating.
Ethan Phillips: 14 possessions and 9 marks.
Mitch McGovern: 15 possessions and 7 marks.
Harvey is an 'almost' player: if he got really fit, he might become a top flighter. But, at the moment, he is tantalizing in what he can do, but how little he ends up doing.
That said, he has improved as the season has gone on.
Pitto misses. :(
Darcy Hogg! His 2nd, makes it an even 10 goals ahead!
Moyle trying to lift: just kicked a goal for GC. But if he or Rogers doesn't get the clearance, Carlton does. We have more players getting the ball from the middle.
The boys are falling asleep! 3 goals to GC in no time.
Time for our senior players to stand up.
And another one.
Panic? We need someone to stand up.
That is their 5th in a row. Awful!
We are trying to stuff it up. Only 4 goals the difference.
Would've been nice to keep our foot on the throat, but the win is still pretty good IMO.
Yeah, 5 straight goals before Hogg kicked the sealer.
Dissapointing end, but ran the clock down professionally in the end.
We tried hard to lose it, but won by 4 goals. Still, it was a 144 point turnaround.
We dominated the stoppages: Rogers and Moyle were the only Suns to get any.
Pitto stood up after quarter time. He didn't beat Moyle, but he curbed his influence. Pitto had 17 taps and 8 clearances.
Harding disappeared after half time, but his first half was pretty good. Not bad for a 1st game.
We had 5 of the top 6 possessions getters, although most of them had quiet 4th quarters.
Ranshaw: 27
Charleson: 24
Hollands: 23 - he definitely ran out of gas.
Lucas C: 22, most after half time.
Binns: 22 - he had a huge 3rd term.
NcGovern: 21, 10 marks
Hogg: 21: Barely touched it in the last.
Sam Paea: 18 and 9 marks: his best game for us so far.
Will Hayes: 18 - the quietest game I can remember from him.
Jordan Boyd: 15 - very quiet for him.
Alex Cincotta: 13 possessions, only a couple of half time. he killed Addinsall, but he lost focus on getting the ball.
Monahan: 13 - with most of those in the first half.
Did anyone else notice that Cinc seems to be carrying an injury? Stuck with short steps rather than striding out? Hip? Groin? Favouring his left leg just a bit.
Yeah, reckon he might be cooked.
He's already had the hip surgery. He's still fighting on but only he knows how he's feeling. Turning 29 soon, and may have peaked.
Probably just paying the price for a very late start to the season. I'd say it's more likely to be a combination of no pre-season, rehab rather than normal training, and a drop in confidence.
Very disappointing. He is our only negative player.
Can we do a Matty Hogg/Adrain Whitehead and turn him into a back pocket? Got a few attacking back pocket/flankers, but no-one to actually sit on a dangerous small fwd
This year I reckon he has lost a couple of yards and doesn't accelerate as well as he used to - in fact, I believe his running posture has also changed and that this is affecting his acceleration.
Back or hip problems maybe?
When he arrived he could pick up on the run, he seems to be struggling to bend over at the moment.
Agree, cant keep up with the quicker mids and as we know the good taggers also get plenty of ball themselves and can be good offensive players. He seems to have lost all of that and probably lost his spot to Lord who restricted Anderson from GC but also picked up his fair share of ball too. I think he is 50/50 to remain on the list depending on whats available in the marketplace.
Cincotta is a footballer, not an athlete type, we haven't enough of them to waste.
How a footballer like Cincotta gets used, how much he is exposed or protected from various opposition tactics, comes down to our MC. If we have a good MC we can make good use of footballers, we don't have enough of them.
Interestingly, I now see Evans in a similar light.
Onball taggers also have an expiry date imo and eventually other teams catch up with them. Cincotta maybe needs to find a position on the field where he can find a bit more footy and be less negative as he has decent skills and could be trained in other roles.
I’m not writing Cinc off, but he will struggle in any role if he’s lost a yard.
Hopefully, he’ll find it again over summer.
For mine its a matter of the risk vs reward. Cincotta is not a main event player. He's not going to get better, and his best was also ran territory. That's ok, we need more also ran players that are afl capable, but if a kid like Wilson is going vs him, its so long cincotta. Can't afford to stuff around with players who's bodies are letting them down.
At 29 next year...if Cincotta's lost a yard in pace, he's unlikely to get it back...especially if injuries are impacting.
The fact he's playing VFL suggests he's on the cusp of a delisting.
He's in a similar position to Boyd (although Boyd has a contract for next year...so maybe a trade for a late pick in his case).
If it's a choice between Cincotta and someone like Billy Wilson (age 20) age may well be a deciding factor.
Every list needs some 24x7 blue collar types, if you have too many headliners they just end up trampling each other trying to get into the spotlight.
There are 3 types.
Those that are,
Those that will be,
Those that were.
Cincotta is showing, that his best may have past him by, and his best was an honest contributor rather than main event.
Thats not to say he should go, but his fate is more about what else happens rather than him, and he isnt a priority signing.
Thats not to say he does or doesnt deserve to go around again, but he's a good honest footballer who may have just had an unlucky run.