Player Review vs Carlton

[Snoop Dog]

Need to be quick this week but a hell of a lot to take out of that game. We were really challenged and to fight back as we did and smash them was great. Pendles, Swan and Cloke were the ones who got us back in and they were all v v v good.

3 - Pendles (turned the game our way)
2 - Swan (finsihed them off)
1 - Cloke (turned the game our way and was good all day)

Special mention to Wellers, Ball and Dids!

Davis - threatening but quiet. Not sure he is going hard enough but he is at least pressuring the ball carrier.

Didak - fantastic. Bobbed up with the ball when we needed him to and used it v well.

Maxy - very poor for mine. DIdnt get third man up much at all and apart from a couple of neat handpasses and marks didnt really influence game.

Meddy - V good. Competed well and led hard.

Harry - did well keeping Betts quiet but still had two kicked on him. Third qtr goal outstanding.

Pendles - was v critical of him in the third as didnt think he was going hard enough but along with cloke was the one who got us going again. For that BOG for me!

Ball - terrific. 20 touches and 3 goals from a mid. take that anytime!

Thomas - good early but faded and frankly thought he blew up there at one stage.

Brown - ok. Did a few nice things but went to ground a couple of times.

Beams - outstanding. he hurt them on 2-3 occassions.

Jolly - v good. kept kruezer really quiet and hurt him the other way.

Reid - Poor. Had 2-3 kicked on him and whilst the delivery was white hot he was out of position to many times.

Wellers - Bloody brilliant to see this kid really come on. Decision making was good today,.

Sidey - good game and developing well but gee i would like to see him finish better.

Fraser - ok. Did some nice things and kept them quiet but was out muscled a couple fo times

Johnson - really good game and ran hard all day. spent some time on judd and thought he was the most effective along with wellers.

Mac - ok but v good late. turned scotland inside out which was great.

Dawes - fantastic game and wished the coach listened to us earlier. competes hard, nimble and runs and runs.

Cloke - thought he was near BOG. magnificent in the third but a great 4 qtr effort. loved his game.

Tooves - love the kid but gee you have your heart in your mouth at times. Was ok and kep tGartlett pretty quiet.

Swan - really good game. Ran all over them late and was the one who pushed our ascendancy.

Shaw - got better but not his best. prob got a few touches but didnt do a heap.

 

[chop_me]

seems that Cloke is really enjoying having Dawes taking some of the pressure off!

and with Dawes, i think it's good that we didn't rush him in.... he came in on the back of a string of top notch performances ... confidence can do wonderful things!

 

[Plogs]

Good write-up but i didn't think Leon was threatening at all. He is really struggling at the moment.

 

[prestiisalegend]

Thought Reid lost his footing too much to what you'd like in front of goal - showing his inexperience. Early days tho and he'll be better for the experience.

 

[Bloben]

First half I thought Reid played quite well. His kicking was pin point and he rebounded strongly. Just lost his way a bit in the second with a few silly mistakes and slip ups.

For me he did well to persist with for now. Wasn't our worst player IMO

 

[Blur]

Good write-up but i didn't think Leon was threatening at all. He is really struggling at the moment.

I second this. He is trying to do things, but nothing is working at the moment. He is being very selfish at times (trying to kick a banana from 50, and trying to take a few speccy's again), and simply isn't putting the effort in. I can't wait for Dicky-knee to get back into the team.

Reid looked uneasy. He tried, but a lot of his efforts weren't good enough. He went to ground too easily, and he spoiled a ball that Maxwell was going to mark.

Kudos to Ball, Dawes, Beams, Wellingham, Pendles, Sidebottom and Jolly.

 

[Zahki]

I see Sidebottom bagged himself a couple. Was he playing forward again? I saw in Brians pics he was training with the forward group.

 

[Rustin Cohle]

Swan was immense in the third quarter and got us up and running again. Pendlebury was awesome at the start of the final quarter when it looked like Carlton were coming. Ball was very good all day - as were Wellingham, Beams, Sidebottom and Didak.

Dawes was great. His presence is something we need in the forward line. Cloke was also pretty good.

Davis was poor. Don't know what's wrong with him. Ried was also bad, but he's young and has time to improve.

Oh, and Jolly's game was great as well.

 

[Heater39]

Very harsh on Maxwell! I thought he was v good early.

Also disagree that Davis looked threatening, is he injured? seems to be going at everything one handed and not putting his body behind the ball.

 

[chop_me]

we can't risk JA coming in for Davis..... can we?

 

[kevind]

Thought Reid lost his footing too much to what you'd like in front of goal - showing his inexperience. Early days tho and he'll be better for the experience.

With Reid, this seems to be a constant problem. It's a horrible trait to have. It puts you completely out of the contest. At this rate we could nickname him 'autumn leaves'.

I though both he and Nathan Brown showed today that they have both a long way to go to become good AFL players.

Leon, Medders and Fraser were pretty ordinary as well. Other than that most played well. Great time for Luke Ball to play his best game for us.

 

[bucksisbest]

I agree that it was Pendles and Swan with the important , telling touches in those game shaping moments.

I love Beams on the snap either foot.

 

[collingwood1992]

I agree that it was Pendles and Swan with the important , telling touches in those game shaping moments.

I love Beams on the snap either foot.

(Re; beams) I feel confident when he is lining up for goal, he never misses!!

 

[mdc]

With Reid, this seems to be a constant problem. It's a horrible trait to have. It puts you completely out of the contest. At this rate we could nickname him 'autumn leaves'.

He's still very young and he was far from terrible today. If not for a couple of lucky bounces Setanta wouldn't have looked nearly as good.

His closing speed is breath-taking.

Leon, Medders and Fraser were pretty ordinary as well. Other than that most played well. Great time for Luke Ball to play his best game for us.

Medders played fine.

We can't expect our forwards to gather his disposals every week now that we have such an even spread. The guy kicked 3 goals and chased like a demon, nothing wrong with it at all.

Fraser clearly WOG for mine, and I'd be looking at bringing in Wood next week against a strong NM ruck division.

 

[Pie eyed]

For mine it was a very even, very good game from the whole side.
There were mistakes sure, but they were very evenly spread. in a prtty willing game.
It will be hard to drop anyone with only Leon unproductive up forward yet still very busy around the ground.
Talk of replacing Dawes with anyone right now is just pot stirring. If Jack comes in it will be for Leon.

Anyone on this board who wants to start on any one player from todays game is just carrying a grudge.

Go Pies.

The most important win so far this year.

 

[Blur]

I'm looking forward to seeing Dawes improve in a way that our other young guns have (Beams, Bottom, Wellers) by revieveing back to back games. He'll be a staple of our forward line from now on, and I would like to see Anthony come back in at some time to compliment him and Cloke, along with our small forwards. All of a sudden, our forwardline looks very impressive!

 

[Just Kick It]

Leon has always been such a smooth handler of the ball but that has left him over the last couple of weeks. He had a hard tag on him in Joseph all day, saving Didak from having that problem weigh him down all afternoon.

He is still presenting and I believe still working hard. He'll come good sooner or later.

 

[PieBeast]

Apart from that long goal i thought Harry was very poor today.

Pendles was outstanding in the second half, he is back.

 

[kevind]

He's still very young and he was far from terrible today. If not for a couple of lucky bounces Setanta wouldn't have looked nearly as good.

His closing speed is breath-taking.


There is only so long you can keep this 'very young' thing going. Age has nothing to do with his constant 'going to ground' in contests. It's a very bad trait to have and there seems to be no improvement from year to year.

I am not expecting either Reid or Brown to be good AFL players at this stage, because yes , they still have youth on their side, but I do expect gradual improvements from year to year. Both players seem to be stagnating at this stage.

They are both playing in a very good team at the moment so it should be a lot easier coming into the side now and playing well. Just look at Dawes. If we were struggling at this moment, I would bet Dawes would also be struggling.

And it was not like either Reid or Brown were given jobs on class players.
I still maintian that both have a long way to go.

Dawes, despite his deficiencies, is at least showing steady improvement. I think we should at least expect that from Reid and Brown, particularly as they both have easier roles in the team.

 

[mdc]

Dawes went to ground last week more than Reid did this week.

There's also a marked difference between playing back or forward in a winning team.

Carlton just gamble like maniacs, so when they do go forward, they usually do so with little pressure. It's not like Reid was losing out in a bunch of 1-on-1 contests. Most were just lovely passes to Setanta on the lead.

 

[didaka]

I thought Fraser was disgraceful, he was absolutely monstered by a 4 gamer.

By far our worst, and probably only behind Brock McLean as the worst player on the ground.

I think he hurt his knee, it might open the door for Wood.

Carlton looked really threatening when Fraser was rucking.

 

[Thommo 42]

Davis was already out of form, and then they sent their #1 tagger to him. Will take that every week thanks!

 

[Footy guru]

By far Swan was best today, he was holding Judd back from getting clearances most of the time in the middle in the second quarter, even got the ball off him to kick it to dawes for a shot at goal, had the most tackles for the game and had 8 clearances, his goal in the third got the team going, Dunstall gave him the 3 votes, even when he was being held trying to get the ball he kicked it forward he just has the footy smarts out there, blues left him unattended too much two great tackles in the third got them free kicks in the middle. Pretty sure he flicked the ball over to ball in the second for another goal crawford said it was terrific. Some of the boys only came into the game near the end after being quiet when the game was done and dusted. Swan played four good quarters. Harry was quiet not near his best let Eddie get a few, thought the backline struggled in the third too many errors silly free kicks in front of goal. Swannie best for mine his work rate is amazing.

 

[mdc]

Carlton looked really threatening when Fraser was rucking.

Not scientific by any stretch, but I'd estimate that Carlton were up about 5-6 goals in the 35% of gametime that Fraser rucked.

And when he went up forward, they usually just ran it out straight through his space.

 

[Wooljay]

Reid and Leon were the two let downs for me today. Everyone else was either good, great, or inhumanly impressive.