Bullants practice match

[accountabilityPlease]

A side under Tarks played VFL club Northern Bullants in a practice match at Gosch's Paddock from 11am yesterday.

There was no scoreboard however obvious to most watching the game was the dominance of the Bullants making it a fair assumption they won.

Players representing the AFL list included:

Luke Rounds
Scott Reed
Tom Young
Jye Bolton
Shae McNamara

None of these players had much influence on the game in the second half.

Absent from players expected to represent the VFL list this year were:

Kris Pendlebury

Amongst the handful of people in the 'crowd' were two AFL-listed players:

Ben Sinclair
Lachlan Keeffe

At half time Lockyer was substantially disappointed with the intensity shown in the first half and pointed out that whilst the conditions were hot and windy, those conditions were identical for the opposition. So frustrated was Lockyer he suggested to his players that if they were not going to have a crack, "get off the ground and give someone else a go".

19 inside 50s and 20 clearances in the first half were stats indicative of the Magpie effort.

Assistant coach Anthony Rocca spoke to the forward group and asked for a lift in intensity, stating that the same lack of intensity shown in the first half had been evident in the practice matches from previous weeks.

In the third quarter, the defense was stronger, rebounding multiple times only to see turnovers up field result in the Bullants switching to the opposite side of the ground and moving the ball into their forward line at twice the pace.

Nevertheless the defense did improve and prevented what could have been a training run for the Bulllants who were kicking to the Yarra River end with the aid of a substantial hot wind at their backs. All the Bullants had to do was reach the half forward line and any set shot was likely to clear the goal line.

The midfielders managed to stem the tide through forcing some congestion and throw ins on the Punt Rd side of the paddock. However the ball was rebounding too often from the half forward line due to the difficulty the midfielders were having in cleanly clearing or passing through that line after accepting defensive rebounds.

At three quarter time Lockyer singled out the two most highly rated forwards asking them for a lift in effort. Lockyer stated he didn't care about kicks and handballs but rather wanted the players to show him what they were made of. The coach was asking for more of the signature inside 50 pressure that the AFL side is now renowned for as the forwards had been unable to lock what had often been shallow and inaccurate forward entries into the attacking zone.

Despite the desperate pleas for forward pressure, Lockyer then applied a positive spin on the efforts of his players when addressing all players. Lockyer stated that they had improved every quarter and he urged them to finish out the game in the same fashion.

In the fourth quarter the Pies managed more than one impressive coast-to-coast goal from defensive kick-ins. Delivery into the forward line was also more precise. At least once a midfielder was able to drill a pass to a leading forward who took the mark on his chest uncontested having managed to get a one metre break on his opponent thanks to the faster midfield ball movement.

However the lack of desperation in what was often a forward zone dominated by red and white guernseys must still have baffled the coaches who included Craig McRae, Paul Licuria as well as Rocca and Lockyer.

Late in the game the new VFL coach was heard barking instructions from the back of the ute providing the coaching panel with a rudimentary elevated viewpoint, as well as the game's siren, on the Olympic Park side.

Lockyer focused on ensuring his players were pushing into the positions he wanted as well as offering some constructive guidance to some players as they arrived on the nearby boundary line but were unable to sit down due the lack of even country-football level facilities at the paddock.

After the game finished on the Punt Road side all Magpie players gathered in front of the nearby Bullants bench for the shaking of hands and to conserve energy after the 32 degree midday sun had taken a lot out of them. Slowly they made their way to centre of the ground where a post-match analysis was given to the players as they sat in the sun as opposed to the shade of the boundary. It was unclear if coach Lockyer issuing punishment for a substandard effort or creating some space away from prying eyes and ears within which to give his players a solid reality check.

Perhaps the man renowned for creating a 227 game career out of sheer hard work was doing both, unable to accept mediocrity from players vying for a spot on the VFL list for 2011.

UPDATE: found the final score on the VFL site: Northern Bullants 15.12.102 d Collingwood 7.6.48

[Presti35]

Awesome post mate.

Although it sounds like a sloppy game. Dissapointing to hear that players seemed to not give it a good crack.

Fitness level down a bit? Bullants just too good? Or was the heat just too much for them?

Jye Bolton & Shae McNamara played in Perth last week, so its a little dissapointing that they didnt have a better influence. I mean these guys could have played on Friday with a bit of luck.

Still, we've had a few hitouts so far and I think most of them have been possitive. Hopefully they can learn and give it a better crack next time.

(Looking for a big year from Shae).

[perthmagpie]

Great report! Thanks. Still thought Jye Bolton looked a beauty. Found a real gem there Maxy. Rounds was quiet first game back. Reed was disappointing, but Tom Young was ok. Like the look of Brett Eddy, very strong mark forward. Tarks certainly has a different approach to Browny. Very intense and direct instructions. Nothing wrong with that though.

Send Aaron home till the draft!

[Fire Up]

yea great report.

also stubbs was playing in the game.

bolton and young were rested the last 15 mins of the game (they were sitting in the shade in front of tarks and the ute)

bolton was trying all day went in to get the footy a few times
stubbs- tarks was not happy with his game. kept on getting out of postion and at clearances would have his opponet goal side of the play. (he will learn from it)
rounds- was impressive without being dominant. few clearances and few decent kicks
shae mac- just has to learn to tap the ball to a player from centre bounce (words from tarks) few times he went for the punch but missed the ball

what killed us was the turnovers, not hitting targets by foot or hands. but the bullants came out firing. there was a couple of plays where if the pies had switched the ball we could of got it to our forward line but went down the line for a turnover

[accountabilityPlease]

Thanks for the positive feedback guys.

I should have written a few caveats though. I was very interested in seeing what the stats/video guys were doing throughout the second half so I wasn't entirely focusing on the game nor could I be near the coaching action on the wing until the end.

I also missed the first 40% of the game cause I had to wait for a plumber to turn up

Why they start these games at 11am I'll never understand.

Shame I missed out on spotting Stubbs. I really want to get a look at all the new kids.

Shame also that we never give out team sheets whereas the Pussies give them out to everyone, even the opposition (though reluctantly!). With spots up for grabs on the list I guess I can understand this but it makes things quite difficult for those of us with a desire to know everything there is to know

I hope I wasn't too harsh on some of the boys in stating that their influence was limited. Note I opted not to mention who got the biggest bakes.

I have Tarks on video giving the forwards I mentioned a good honest constructive bake. However later at half time, Pebbles asked me to stop filming so I did and now I feel that publishing any video would be against club wishes. Disappointing but there's no way I'll put any newshound instincts ahead of the club's best interests, naturally. Pebbles is also a big bloke, bigger than me LOL

Overall I'd suggest the side was short of AFL-list talent and the VFL players were largely overwhelmed by what appeared to be a strong Bullants side. They were runner's up last year after all and we barely made up the numbers at finals time.

Re Bolton, do not get me wrong ... I am a big fan, but I didn't notice him have a huge influence. I also think Luke Rounds is either a cobbled thoroughbred (year one when he had groin trouble) or the next Graham Wright (when he's up and running). The latter is of course uber exciting. but on saturday he looked more like his injured earlier incarnation.

I'm not a big fan of the Yank. I'd rather see Keeffey get more development opportunities in the ruck as well as down back. The Yank has a big leap and all, but I dunno, there's something about his lack of awareness and gameplay instincts (perfectly understandable given his background) that just looks like it will take too long to develop. Really he should be compared to Jolly because that is the unfortunate reality as I see it ATM: can he ever really push Jolly out of the side? I can't see it happening myself. On the other hand Wood looks like he's put on heaps of weight so his already debatable usefulness in general play is now compromised further. Leigh's had a shitty pre-season. Needs his touch back fast. Otherwise theoretically i guess the Yank could play that secondary mobile ruck/key position role that Leigh plays but with another season in the VFL, so could Keeffe who is absolutely a gloriously better kick than the Yank. I have a lot of time for the Keeffey man.

[Fire Up]

i was near the coach's the whole game. rounds done most of his hard work on the (coach's side) of the ground. i was also listening to the talk from tarks about the game situation. i don't think the forwards did what he wanted them to do. do a formation or something.

bolton was even throwing up in last qtr on the boundry.

i got a team sheet from the previous game. im going to use that next game.

[accountabilityPlease]

[Fire Up]

[Fire Up]

oh also you forgot to mention this:

n.buckley has already started coaching. he had his 2 sons with him again. at 3/4 qtr time he told them to run to the opposite side of the ground touch the board (crazy john's) and run back. ayce and jhett both ran all the way up and back. ayce was 1st back to bucks as he is the older kid, then bucks said to go get jhett who was still running to his dad. ayce was holding jhetts hand and jhett broke away and ran all the way to his dad.

tom gordon and ceglar (im sure its ceglar) were also there watching the boys near the coach's in the roped off area. gordon almost went flying when he was holding a umbrella for himself

[tommo]

[accountabilityPlease]

[accountabilityPlease]

[Fire Up]

im pretty sure is spelt jhett. ayce might be the older 1 i cant remember now.

gordon i think was rested as tarks was more keen to try and finalise his playing list for the vfl season. daniel farmer (well dtm said) was also watching from the sidelines

don't forget when the season starts he will have players like fasolo and 1st year players who didnt play

[Dave The Man]

In the 1st QTR Tarks said about Sharp "What the F**k is Sharpie Doing"?

[Dave The Man]