Round 3 - Collingwood vs Footscray at Victoria Park

[thompsoc]

At least we know that Marsh can come in as a KPP for the back half of our AFL side.

[Kosh]

[mattys123]

Short review of listed each player;

1; Fasolo = started on fire, 2 early goals including a ripper from the forward pocket, then almost unisghted for the last 3 quarters. Went to half back late to help us hold on and did ok.
7; Kennedy; Brilliant return, stunningly good really. Didn't come on till the second quarter yet had an impact straight away. Won the ball a heap, used it well, ran through gaps. Looked great
12; Matt Scharenberg; Really impressive for his return game. Took some strong marks down back, took some kick ins and used it really well. Went off with 15 minutes to go and looked buggered, but got through the game ok it seemed.
14; Young; Injured again, not sure what but didn't see him after quarter time.
15; Witts; Rucked manfully against Minson and Campbell and for most of the game was the better ruckman around the ground, Kicked a crucial goal late on, is ready to play if we want to pick him.
17; Jonathon Marsh; BRILLIANT. I love this kid but he even impressed me today, saved the game time and time again in that last quarter with the right decision. He has the knack of finding the right space when the opposition are kicking inside 50. We didn't win that game without him.
21; Freeman; won a lot of hard ball today and tried hard. Didn't break the game open at all really. Was ok without being great,.
35; Jordan De Goey; THE GOOOO!!!! No one can question that we didn't make the right choice here. Brilliant at reading the ball off packs. Wins his own ball and uses it. One piece late was brilliant, read the ball off Minson and passed to Abbott inside 50. Ready to play seniors. Best on ground for mine.
37; Maynard; Knocked out early, taken out with concussion.
38; Goodyear; played a tagging role it seemed today, probably a good learning curve for him.
41; Brenden Abbott; Played like Stewart Dew today. Played at half forward and in the first half had a hand in 5-6 goals as well as a 45 metre snap that easily went through. Bloody huge kid (20 years old now), could play seniors this year.
46; Cox; continues his development, Kicked another freaky goal after dropping the mark today. Flew for some mad marks and took some nice ones down back.

Of the VFL listed players Hellier, Still, Wallin, Wills and Moloney were good for us.

Gutsy win considering we were 3 players down at the end, move to 1-2 on the season.

[rand corp]

Thanks Matty

[swoop42]

Thanks Matty.

Lots to like.

Rapt for Kennedy being able to make big impact and thankful Shazza got through unscathed.

[stui magpie]

A few random observations, I'm not going to try to name best players, just some things that caught my eye.

Ben Kennedy is class. Speed and great disposal.

Abbott is a beast. A little short for a KPP, I can still seem him playing a deep leading forward role, not many would stand in the hole in front of him twice. Goes hard.

Freeman has a big head (literally, not ego) and thighs and no calves. He has a dip, but didn't stand out onfield to me like Ben Ken did.

Witts did good in the ruck and I love his work when playing forward, he leads straight at the ball carrier, not into a fkn pocket, and marks with arms fully outstretched to catch the ball at it's highest point. No backman can spoil that without giving away a free.

Big Cox certainly has some tools. Looking at him standing next to Wittsy he's longer in the torso and arms and shorter in the legs and has the shoulder development of someone who played computer games as a teen and has never lifted a weight in his life. But he's actually a lot further developed than I thought.

Sitting right behind the bench, he listens and understands what he's told and can see the patterns in the game. He's got very good speed and agility, period. For a bloke his height it's exceptional. and by geez he can jump. He competed well in the ruck and didn't look lost around the ground, I've seen a lot worse from big blokes who've played the game their whole loives. He'll tackle, block and shephard, is learning how to use his body (beat minson a few times at hitouts) and when he gets the hang of reading the ball in the air he's going to take mark of the year one day. I'd rate him already ahead of Shae when he finished and well ahead of where Wittsy was in his first season. This guy WILL play AFL if he continues to improve. Lock it in Eddie.

Speaking of Edwardo, he showed up in third quarter I think it was, came out to the 3/4 time huddle then got stuck doing photos with people.

Saw Darcy Moore at the 1/4 time huddle, wearing shorts and the training jacket, looked like he was stripped to play. He had a chat to the big Cox, mimed taking a mark in front of his face and got a laugh and a hug from the yank. Seems like a popular bloke.

Fasolo, I like the guy and I think his team mates do too. He reads the play so well, and has great skills, he's not afraid to get his hands dirty. Heard him barking directions to players while standing on the boundary line waiting to get on. He's lost the beard and looks better for it.

Scharenberg got through the day, nothing special but nothing bad either.

Goodyear is a little bloke but looks good.

De Goey - thank you I'll have another one of these please. Like the kid.

Marsh - if this guy could kick he'd be banging on the door for a senior spot. If people say some of our current team butcher the ball, Marsh is a serial killer. But by geex he can play.

Ryan Pendlebury has got ticker. Very much like Kris but bigger, big enough to actually play AFL as a defender I reckon. Worthy of being rookie listed

[RudeBoy]

I only saw the first 3 quarters, so take what you will from my comments.

Kennedy was the standout for mine. Speed and class. He's too good for the VFL.

Fasolo was good in the opening quarter but then went missing.

Scharenberg took a couple of good marks and got through the game OK.

Freeman was OK, but to be honest there's nothing about him that suggests he'll be an A grade player. Hope I'm wrong, but apart from speed he doesn't seen to have much else to offer.

De Goey oozes class and though he was not dominant, everything he does he does well. He's ready for the AFL.

Witts played quite well against Minson, but his form did not scream "promote me" imo.

Marsh was just OK until 3/4 time, but apparently after I left he had a terrific last quarter. Early on, his terrible kicking was embarrassing.

[John Wren]

[Rick]

Sounds like a bit of a turn around from last weeks game.

Does Abbott have a bit of the Jake Stringers about him?

[Dave The Man]

[stui magpie]

[John Wren]

yeah, a bit of a snafu. not my doing, your honour. in fact it may have been i who pointed it out. anyway, i am claiming it.

[stui magpie]

Some of the boys are keen to come off and get their rest aren't they? Shit, back in the day you'd run laps of the ground to avoid being dragged to the bench, nowdays they're queuing up to get off.

[John Wren]

a lot of the play was on the old rush stand wing. when play is on the far side it creates challenges. then you sometimes end up with situations like that you witnessed.

that aside, cracking win by the lads. must say i was a little doubtful about us being able to stop them from over running us given our short bench.

[stui magpie]

The dogs were able to open us up running forward, overlapping run and they did it at will, we couldn't really match it. We really missed having key forward options IMO. Poor Fasolo must be wondering why people keep thinking he's 6'6" instead of 5'8" and banging the ball on top of his head and expecting him to outmark guys a foot taller while standing still. If Cloke can't do it when he's taller and stronger than his opponent, .................

pendlebury and marsh saved the game for us, they repelled attack after attack. Both are better than VFL level, if only marsh could kick he could be anything.

Overall, I enjoyed the game. The limitations of the VFL team are that we have to balance whats available with trying to develop kids. I'd love us to get a big old key forward who can just sit there and be a big body and let us teach the kids around him. Sort of like Huddo in the ruck.