After a spirited first quarter the the EP colts just seemed to have the Cardinal boys measure. It was a high quality game that allowed players from both sides to show their skills. Paton and Darcy for the red and blue did well but their team work as an overall aspect that kept them in the game, For EP J Tunstill, J Amiss, K Harbour, S Soka, T Graham are listed as the best players on the WAFL site but again it was the whole team effort which made the difference. Our backline was solid, the mids controlled the game for long periods and the forwards did their job. Two boys from the SW played their first colts game - Joshua Harris and Darcy Craven, well done boys.
Yes I know Amiss is getting a lot of coverage on line and elsewhere but without getting to carried away he is worth the coverage, what seems to set him apart from at least one other EP prospect is that he is not effected by the attention and continues to go abt his game.
The ressies seemed to have got back their mojo! What has changed who knows but they are playing really good ressies football. Dittmar has made the step up from colts into ressies and seems to be at ease against bigger bodies, Daniel Rome continues to be solid in the backs whilst Nathan Eaton shows a level above reserves level but … .
Question for those more learned that I am but we have a player who is in our best three in the mids for clearances, tackle pressure and disposals but he was used to tag a player who may get 30 possessions but is not all that effective, where did we lose the game in the middle and with WP’s run, oh well I will look forward to the colts and reserves next week.
The game certainly wasn’t lost in the midfield Grump. It was lost on score from turn over, speed and skill level. The philosophy to tag or not is an interesting one. Pebbles is the only one with the toughness to do it for us. When the tag was dropped we played much better so food for thought. Need much more from Young, Kerr, Magro, Simpson amongst others. Hille who had been in career form recently was so putrid I couldn’t possibly pick him next week.
Eaton was outstanding in the reserves but what position should he play in the league Grump?
39 hitouts to very few by comparison, as to tag there is a perfectly good tagger (proven against the tigers) in the ressies.
Young is worth his position cos he can play anywhere in the mids forward, Magro is a goal kicker, Kerr in my opinion has reached his used by, No 33 is just not upto league football on a consistent basis (3 and 3/4’s of crap last week doesn’t cut it for me and yes he kicked the goal but only after resting all day).
Eaton can play forward or back, he has a significant boot on him if they would just use it!
Underwood did well but one game is not a sample size I would trust. I think Pebbles is built for it but a full tag on Nelson was a mistake. I am a huge fan of Young but his form is average so reserves would be a blessing for him. Eaton is a magnificent kick, can that overcome his lack of size and mobility at league level? For him he will always battle at the level, but he is doing his best no doubt.
[quote=“Grump post=209172 userid=855”]39 hitouts to very few by comparison, as to tag there is a perfectly good tagger (proven against the tigers) in the ressies.
Young is worth his position cos he can play anywhere in the mids forward, Magro is a goal kicker, Kerr in my opinion has reached his used by, No 33 is just not upto league football on a consistent basis (3 and 3/4’s of crap last week doesn’t cut it for me and yes he kicked the goal but only after resting all day).
Eaton can play forward or back, he has a significant boot on him if they would just use it!
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grump i know you hate eddie but give us a creditable option.yes eddie had a off day yesterday but so did a lot of players yesterday.he had his two best two games in the last couple of weeks and we won.you could replace him with sebit who played the first two games and didn’t kick a goal.maybe untried archie hall who played forward yesterday and kicked two goals.if you bring another tall forward will merritt stand up.4 goals from 6 games.eddie has 18 from 8 games.figures speak for themselves.eddies good is good but his bad is bad..
[quote=“ROYAL 2019 post=209180 userid=1454”]Underwood did well but one game is not a sample size I would trust. I think Pebbles is built for it but a full tag on Nelson was a mistake. I am a huge fan of Young but his form is average so reserves would be a blessing for him. Eaton is a magnificent kick, can that overcome his lack of size and mobility at league level? For him he will always battle at the level, but he is doing his best no doubt.
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surprised he got a game yesterday.the three games before his injury resulted in zero goals.i would rather play mcguire as a forward.our small forwards are not kicking enough goals and zero pressure.as someone said to me yesterday from the kickouts.here comes another goals as west perth backs rolled to one side with no forwards near them.
What we desperately need is a power forward like the Noranda junior turncoat,who unlike the poor creditors,has had his wages paid courtesy of the WAFC,and those forwards unfortunately don’t fall out of trees.Pebbles is strong and willing but his disposal is at times at haphazard,but did do an outstanding tagging job on Schloithe and i feel is best suited to that role.We actually won the ruck and stoppages but we again got killed by the Falcons run and spread which was addressed pre game but some players are either incapable or unwilling to competently fulfil their role and i feel players like Jack Cooley are the way of the future as he has the size, strength,speed and class to play midfield,and should be injected into that role A.S.A.P. As far as our backline is concerned you take out Nathan Blee the back 5 have a total of 50 league games experience between them,and yes Nathan Eaton is a solid enough player and you could swap him with Taylor North,but for mine its a case of like for like and another major shopping priority is an experienced strong key defender which is another glaring deficiency that needs to be addressed.
Chaddy I don’t hate Eddie, I actually don’t hate anyone, it is a waste of emotion. Eddie is just not upto it and the trouble is we do not have a creditable option.
The fact remains that that you structure around what you have and you play to that and I do not think we are!
As for M Young play him at FF and just tell him to run around and lead, he is not that much smaller than Sokol and Subi get away with it. Or just play Kuek and put up with it, he will at least lead an hold a catch!
Our backline has never been an issue and will not be, our No1 ruck is not an issue, Ramsay is not an issue!
Royallucky, I felt sorry for our forwards because they didn’t get the “silver service” delivery that West Perth’s onballers provided Tyler Keitel and Co.
That said, the forwards’ defensive side was lacking (as chaddy22 mentioned) and the ball escaped far too easily yesterday.
However, it was very concerning that although the Falcons had seven more possessions on the day, they outtackled us 57-35.
This can be partially explained by their ability (or willingness) to make space and win lots of uncontested ball.
I thought our defence battled manfully given our midfield often allowed the Falcons’ easy access to their attacking 50.
[quote=“Archie Duda Goal Machine post=209212 userid=2436”]Royallucky, I felt sorry for our forwards because they didn’t get the “silver service” delivery that West Perth’s onballers provided Tyler Keitel and Co.
That said, the forwards’ defensive side was lacking (as chaddy22 mentioned) and the ball escaped far too easily yesterday.
However, it was very concerning that although the Falcons had seven more possessions on the day, they outtackled us 57-35.
This can be partially explained by their ability (or willingness) to make space and win lots of uncontested ball.
I thought our defence battled manfully given our midfield often allowed the Falcons’ easy access to their attacking 50.
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another terrible stat is that we had 45 inside fifties to west perth’s 51.i know a lot was because of the last quarter and don’t know whether west perth were too tired from out running us in the first three quarters.in the first quarter we had chances and we just botched our inside fifty entries thru inept kicking,decison making or stupidity.which continued thru the game.their is a big difference between our good and our bad.our bad against peel and west perth (twice) has been putrid.maybe time for barney to put on the think music on.maybe move msando or wilcox to a wing or cooley into the midfield..with the ressies improving maybe drop a few players back to the twos.
We are no good against the Tigers and the Joondaloopians who both run and spread,but could probably play another leading team in the Bulldogs next week and probably go close to beating them again as they structure up differently and don’t expose the laziness and un accountability of some of our players.
Pretty disappointing game to be honest. But there seemed to be a few out on the field who were not prepared to do the hard work and chase or be accountable…The tackle count shows this, although this is not always representative of pressure acts which there wasn’t too many of on Saturday anyway. As far as the tagging role is concerned Christian did a great job but it also took one of our best attackers and pressure players out of the contests. Not sure why they wouldn’t give someone like Underwood another crack as a tagger as he did a decent job against Claremont. I know one game doesn’t prove that he is a gimme for the role, but some of these ressies players are not getting the chance to back up some of their good efforts in their league selection. Not sure what young Harley Sparks had done wrong to be dropped either after some pretty good games. At least he runs and chases. Maybe I am barking up the wrong tree but it looks like for some of the senior players, the only way you will not play is if you are injured and it doesn’t seem to matter what your form attitude is like. If you aren’t prepared to give everything on the field, then give some of the ressies a go, most of whom would give hair left nut to play a senior game.
No need to press the panic button,we still at full strength have the nucleus of what will be a very good side,where we just recently defeated a Peel side that contained 9 current AFL listed players and 2 ex listed ones,as well as knocking off the reigning premiers who we have been extremely competitive against during Barney’s tenure. What we at limes lack is on field leadership and i believe Paddy McGinnitys departure and the loss of his onfield presence has been severely underestimated,as he provided that '‘Craig Wulff’'like inspiration with his selfless acts which lifts and rally’s what is basically still a very inexperienced side. As i previously said we really only struggle against 2 sides in particular and with selective recruiting i believe we can become a force in the not too distant future,but as far as the reserves players are concerned i only see the Sparks brothers and Sebit fitting into a Royals side that rises up the ladder.
There’s no plan “B” if the game plan doesn’t work, certain mids are the issue, unaccountable, chippers of the ball with no damage, move the ball in quick and direct to the forwards, give the buggers a chance to at least compete one on one
[quote=“SD351 post=209302 userid=2471”]There’s no plan “B” if the game plan doesn’t work, certain mids are the issue, unaccountable, chippers of the ball with no damage, move the ball in quick and direct to the forwards, give the buggers a chance to at least compete one on one
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as i said to someone on saturday it would be interesting to see the stats of the midfielders..as usual the mids got big numbers but can’t get it out of the centre.most get it out in the open and chipping the ball around.
Spot on Chaddy, other than Pebbles who has played quite well this year and has improved, the rest aren’t midfielders, half back flankers or wingmen at best. Get some size and grunt in there.
[quote=“SD351 post=209310 userid=2471”]Spot on Chaddy, other than Pebbles who has played quite well this year and has improved, the rest aren’t midfielders, half back flankers or wingmen at best. Get some size and grunt in there.
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I tried not to comment but what are you suggesting that 30 possessions is not good enough. Silly me here I thought from those more learned that it was!
If you want grunt then how abt Jones, Ramsay Pebbles and Wright changing with ? Dobson, Sparks Cooley, There is a bit of grunt and some skilled delivers to send it down forward to Eaton, Merrit, Magro, McGuire, Kuek.
So I’m getting the vibe most of us are thinking complete squad overhaul. Harley Sparks, Ugle and Dittmar would be in for me this week. Outs from Kerr, Scott, Blee, Hille, Simpson, Watts and Young. All either out of form or too soft for league football in my opinion.