TAC OF THE TOWN

by Whispering Jack

Since I regard myself as a bit of a football traditionalist, I was disappointed to find that there was no AFL game on the Saturday afternoon of Preliminary Final week.

This left me with no choice but to set off for the home ground of football's underbelly to watch the penultimate finals games of the TAC Cup Under 18 series. Unfortunately the experience left me more disappointed than anything else.

I've been going to these games for many years dating back to the competition's inception and, on what I saw yesterday, the decline in standards that I've noticed in recent years is still proceeding and, if anything, more rapidly than ever before.

It was probably a combination of a number of things that led to my negativity. The weather was lousy – it was cold, a stiff breeze favoured the eastern end of the ground for most of the day and patches of rain dominated the odd glimpses of sunshine that made this a typical Melbourne day. The poor crowds and the decaying nature of the ground with its unkempt, dank and smelly stands were a bit of a turn off not to mention the ever-present insignia of the Melbourne Storm and the ominous reminders that the ground has a new name - Visy Park.

To me, it's a bit of a turn off to name a venue after an organisation that managed to recently cop a national record penalty for corporate cheating but then again, when your very survival and most of your operations are being propped up by that self same mob, I guess it's a case of who cares and how high can we jump for them (as long as their share value stays at a reasonably comfortable level)?

Oh, and since I came to have a look a some possible AFL draft prospects, I should add that the standard of football was pretty ordinary as well.

First off, the Dandenong Stingrays who are coached by former Demon Graeme Yeats took on the Gippsland Power in a game that never hit the heights and was mainly a battle of the defences. The Dandy boys had the benefit of the breeze in the first quarter but almost blew it (sorry) by outscoring their opponents by a mere seven points and the Gippy boys fared slightly better to turn the tables at half time. Dandenong was in trouble until late in the third term when it kicked clear by a couple of goals but managed to hold firm under fire in the last thanks to appalling kicking for goal which robbed the country lads of an opportunity to play in a grand final.

Only one player from each team has been invited to next month's National Draft Camp. For the losers, left footer Nicholas Heyne booted four goals (it could easily have been six) and he was impressive when going for marks and generally attacking the football. However, his chasing and accountability for his opponents was problematic.

Dandenong's Ash Smith ran hard coming off a half back flank constantly sweeping the ball out of defence and he worked well with key defender Steven Gaertner who was probably best on ground. Gaertner who has been invited to the state screening camp (a second tier to the national draft camp) was considered a strong draft contender last year but missed out. He's strong, fast and athletic and should get the nod this year*.

Gaertner spent a fair amount of the game on tall Gippsland youngster John Butcher who is being hailed as next year's number one draft pick but he was off his game a little yesterday. He took one or two strong marks but lived up to is name with his kicking. While promising, he still has a long way to go and will benefit from the extra year in Under 18 ranks. On the other hand, Dandenong youngster Tom Scully is the one who looks like challenging Butcher for the # 1 favourite spot next year. He showed out with some clever play on a half forward flank and will probably be a premier midfielder by the time he gets the call at the highest level.

The second game saw title favourites Murray Bushrangers beat off the Oakleigh Chargers after the latter squandered several opportunities in a horror first term in which they kicked 2 goals 9 behinds to 3 goals 1 with the benefit of the strong breeze. Murray responded with a six goal second quarter and although the Chargers fought hard in the second half, the Bushies were always going to win from that point.

The teams had a number of draft camp invitees in their ranks. Murray Bushrangers had Kade Klemke, Dylan McNeil, Riley Milne, Tom Rockliff, Steele Sidebottom, Caleb Tiller, Sam Wright and Jack Ziebell while Oakleigh Chargers had Dan Hannebery, Luke Shuey and James Strauss. The Bushies also had a number of others invited to the state screening camp; the Chargers also had a few (including Xavier Gotch whose father Brad was coaching Williamstown to a VFL preliminary final defeat a few kilometres away at Port Melbourne). Perhaps it was a case of collective stage fright but there were few outstanding prospects whose names I could pencil in as high draft picks.

Rockliff was probably the outstanding player of the match with his four goals from a dynamic performance up forward. I had seem him previously in Under 18 championships games and I wasn't totally impressed; he had looked a bit slow, appeared a trifle lazy and possibly a one trick pony as a small forward. This was a much better effort and while it didn't answer all of the questions I had about his capacity to become a top flight footballer, I started warming to him as a prospect for the future.

Sidebottom looks a classy midfielder who can take a nice mark and has good delivery with left and right foot and by hand. He worked his way into the game after quarter time and was one of his team's best. Ziebell is a really balanced footballer who worked constructively and had a hand in quite a few goals. He was reported and sent from the ground in the last quarter but there didn't appear to be much in the incident. He has been touted as a top ten draft pick so his absence in Friday's grand final would be a major blow to his team.

Shuey was finding the ball early for the Chargers and finished with a couple of goals, while Strauss showed some good pace and excellent delivery at times. Both are outside chances for selection in the top twenty of the national draft.

The major disappointment on the day was the fact that not a single ruckman stood out on the day. The conditions might have had something to do with this but I suspect that clubs looking for ruckmen in the forthcoming draft are going to have to look elsewhere.

The draft experts in the media and elsewhere on the internet have deemed that the top three picks are already set in stone – Jack Watts, Daniel Rich and Nick Naitanui and in probably that order with 200cm tall Tyrone Vickery as an outsider to push his way into that group. Watts and Vickery play for the Sandringham Dragons which didn't even make the TAC Cup finals while Rich (Subiaco) and Naitanui (Swan Districts) will be slugging it out against men today in the WAFL Grand Final. Rich is playing in his second grand final at this level at the age of only 18 and, after yesterday, I remain unmoved in my conviction that he will be far and away the best player available when the national draft meeting opens in two month's time.

Dandenong Stingrays 2.3 3.4 8.6 10.8 (68 )

Gippsland Power 1.2 4.5 6.6 8.13 (61)

GOALS:

Dandenong Stingrays: Pitt 3 Doria 3 Bastinac Purves Clark Hallahan

Gippsland Power: Heyne 4 Blair Weston Donchi Lehman

BEST:

Dandenong Stingrays: Gaertner Wragg Gillies Heddles Doria Pitt

Gippsland Power: Sing Blair McLinden Francis Heyne Butcher

REPORTED PLAYERS:

Dandenong Stingrays: Nil

Gippsland Power: Nil

2008 TAC Cup

Murray Bushrangers 3.1 9.5 9.8 14.12 (96)

Oakleigh Chargers 2.9 4.10 7.14 7.16 (58 )

GOALS:

Murray Bushrangers: Rockliff 4 Wright 2 Mangan 2 Sidebottom Browne Hamilton Martiniello Craven Ziebell

Oakleigh Chargers: Burstin 2 Shuey 2 Gotch Van Unen Nicolopoulos

BEST:

Murray Bushrangers: Rockliff Mangan Sidebottom Birthisel Bryce Hamilton

Oakleigh Chargers: Strauss Shuey Gotch Purcell Thompson Croft

REPORTED PLAYERS:

Murray Bushrangers: Jack Ziebell

Oakleigh Chargers: Nil

TAC CUP GRAND FINAL - Friday September 26

Murray Bushrangers v Dandenong Stingrays at Telstra Dome 4pm [The TAC Cup Final will be shown live on Fox Sports 1]

* and just for the record I spent the early game in the company of members of Steve Gaertner's family. The did not influence my views on Steve's game and the best player list was issued by his club not me!