My 3 word player analysis V The Magpoos

[Red Sox 2]

Bartram - outstanding attacking defender

Bate - only occasional cameos

Bruce - please never kick

Davey - inspiring link game

Dunn - no Casey performance

Frawley - rock and inspiring

Garland - wonderful all day

Green - uncharacteristically poor disposal

Grimes - brave but loose

Gysberts - had no impact

Jamar - heroic and dominant

Jetta - failed to impress

Jones - had tough role

Miller - actually provided strength

Moloney - inspiring and prolific

Morton - relished new role

Rivers - kept at task

Scully - disposal is worrying

Trengove - was rarely sighted

Warnock - tough and determined

Watts - was a liability

McKenzie - great in packs

Joeboy - a pretty harsh description of a few guys IMO. Are you saying Dunn was not good and should have kicked 8? He was fantastic in a defensive role on Heath Shaw who can be one of the most damaging defenders in the game.

Watts - a liability? For 2 or 3 bad decisions? Well 2 probably, one slip at the interchange gates didn't look great, but 11 touches, 6 marks is far from a liability and he continues to look good with the ball around his ankles. Still getting used to playing with men and still only ever done half a pre-season - the upside is plenty, be patient and take the positive.

Trengove - a vital link through the middle with his handball, not his best game of the whole 11 of his career, go easy.

Scully - got over 20 touches again, sometimes rushed to make a decision that seems him turn it over, his penetration etc will not be a worry moving forward as he gets more strength in the legs.

Think you need to back off a little as IMO you are being a bit harsh and these guys played their role quite ok. Gysberts was pretty quiet but was on Pendlebury for most of the game (who IMO he resembles quite a bit), he will learn a lot from that

[sylvinator 96]

Mark Williams does a pretty honest assessment of all players

http://www.melbourne...24/default.aspx

[PeterJames 46]

Dunn had 0 touches in the second half and i see some people gave himn votes. I unfortunately missed the game so i was just wondering what his role was. With 7 possesions in the first half it seems he was tagging someone.

[Red Sox 2]

Dunn had 0 touches in the second half and i see some people gave himn votes. I unfortunately missed the game so i was just wondering what his role was. With 7 possesions in the first half it seems he was tagging someone.

Peter, he tagged Heath Shaw as a defensive forward. Shaw had only 12 touches for the game and amazingly only 1 in the entire first half....an amazing shut down job.

Like Petterd did in Round 2....

[titan_uranus 22,480]

Dunn was good in the first half at both quelling Shaw and providing a target.

But I'm sure Shaw went in unfit. He never spends as much time on the bench as he did yesterday and I reckon he was limping at times.

That said, Dunn still did his job for a half.

In the second half Dunn didn't even get near getting a possession, and Shaw got a lot better.

Overall just an OK game, disappointing that he wasn't given the freedom of just playing full forward though.

[trudders 0]

lol

what... its not that far off. he didnt do any worse then gysberts scully, mckenzie or trengrove

[beelzebub 22,225]

Mark Williams does a pretty honest assessment of all players

http://www.melbourne...24/default.aspx

Marks comments with mine in Italics

Clint Bartram - Barty was quite solid without having a big influence on the game

Actually thought he was pretty good ...

Matthew Bate - Matty worked really hard and provided a good option up forward.

good assessment

Cameron Bruce - Was good and used as a switch option as a player who could run out of the backline.

Funny how we never hear from an MFC stafer how crap Bruce is with disposal.. it just undoes his efforts!!

Aaron Davey - Ran hard up the ground, provided run-and-carry and had really good composure.

was good ..agree

Lynden Dunn - Dunny presented well and took a really good contested mark. He had opportunities to kick goals and that’s all we want from him. We just want him to work hard, present up and finish his work.

Dunn's was a pretty solid effort

James Frawley - He played on Paul Medhurst, beat his opponents and ran at the ball hard. He won a lot of one on ones.

was Medhurts out there....lol......well done Chipper

Col Garland - He was outstanding. Some of his spoiling and contested possession work was fantastic.

spot on

Brad Green - Just a fantastic option up forward and always is. He always hit the target. You can’t fault the way he presents and the way he targets.

Hit targets ??? theres this little target comprising of two upright sticks... and uncharacteristically couldnt hit the side of a barn... A good option whilst not his best game by far.

Jack Grimes - Jack was a little bit like Barty. He too was solid, without having a major influence.

Curtailed by injury me thinks

Jordan Gysberts - He played his role, as a defensive inside midfielder. I actually think Collingwood paid a bit more respect to him this week, after his first two games. He was a bit limited in getting the ball.

fair assessment

Mark Jamar - Was fantastic in the ruck and took them on. He had 33 tap outs and pushed forward and kicked a goal. He also took some really good contested marks.

Boy has he stepped up this year...well done Russian

Neville Jetta - Nev was lively without having a big influence on the game.

Kind words !!

Nathan Jones - Jonesy battled really hard all day on Dane Swan. He got caught on the bench for a six-minute period, which wasn’t good, because Swan got a few touches then, but that wasn’t Jonesy’s fault. A lot of Swan and Jonesy’s possessions were one-on-one battles and that was good. Jonesy would’ve learned a little bit out of today’s lesson.

Jonesy I feel has found his new role... keep at it mate.

Jordie McKenzie - Jordie just defended really well and played a real team role.

Yep

Brad Miller - Brad worked hard up forward and presented often and gave us an option out of the backline.

Is pretty fair without being brilliant... does try hard though

Brent Moloney - Moloney had an outstanding game and worked really hard around the stoppages.

Great effort...could straighten up a little at times..

Cale Morton - We used him as a drop off player from the centre bounce. His use of the ball was good.

Coming back to best

Jared Rivers - Jared was very good. He attacked the ball well and took some good marks.

was quite good today not a major influence though...imho

Tom Scully - Tom was good. He set up really well and we thought his work-rate was good. His involvement in play was really noticeable and that was important.

A big day with lots of attention.. is coming along well. Needs a bit of coaching with kicking.. but thats nit picking

Jack Trengove - Jack was important in passages of play. He got involved with handball receives and got the ball inside 50.

yep

Matthew Warnock - Matty played a real team role and battled away. He tried to play close and get to the contest.

Good and bad..with the good outweighing the bad.

Jack Watts - Jack did some good things. He took some good marks and just needed a bit of length on his kicks a few times. He needs to keep going.

Felt he was let down at times. otherwise as above

[Deeoldfart 7,782]

Are we talking about the holding the ball in the middle of the ground? In the replay he looked to be completely hung out to dry by a more senior teammate on the scene. Even a half-baked shepherd would've saved him, but he got nothing.

I might watch the replay again later in case my memory's playing tricks, but that's as I remember it.

"Liability" is a ridiculously harsh assessment on Watts' game anyway.

No need to watch the replay Nasher. You are spot on!

[Mono 454]

Marks comments with mine in Italics

...............

Nathan Jones - Jonesy battled really hard all day on Dane Swan. He got caught on the bench for a six-minute period, which wasn’t good, because Swan got a few touches then, but that wasn’t Jonesy’s fault. A lot of Swan and Jonesy’s possessions were one-on-one battles and that was good. Jonesy would’ve learned a little bit out of today’s lesson.

Jonesy I feel has found his new role... keep at it mate.

........................

And what role would that be? Running around while Swan/whoever gets a million touches. Jones will find it had to keep his spot going forward IMO.

Edited June 15, 2010 by Mono

[joeboy 2,805]

No need to watch the replay Nasher. You are spot on!

Watch the replay and see how rarely he seriously chased , manned up , or made a serious second effort . Age and inexperience are irrelevant when talking about a senior team player . I stand by my comments - he WAS a liability with his failure to adhere to basic principles !

[Jurrahnator 0]

For what it's worth, I agree with Nasher's comments on the Watts incident in the last quarter. Yes, it looked bad and the young man should have made a better fist of disposing of the ball. However, in my mind, Miller was equally to blame. He could have either put a shepherd on Brown or dropped off Brown to give Watts an option for disposing of the ball. Instead, he stood and watched!

Watts is still young in so many ways - he has not yet done a full pre-season, Monday was something like his 9th or 10th game, he is still adjusting to playing against men (not school boys his own age), he has not learnt the art of knowing where the ball is going and then putting himself in a position to win it against his opponent. But these are not criticisms, simply facts. Jack may become a superstar of the AFL (I don't know - my crystal ball has gone on the blink) but I do know that he is an intelligent young man with an incredible intuition for football. He will learn, he will get bigger and stronger and he will provide a focal point for players down the ground when we attack from the HB line. Frankly, I don't care whether he's a superstar as long as Jack is the guy at CHF when we win the GF in 2013 or 2014.

[beelzebub 22,225]

You just get the idea sometimes that as this game speeds up and morphs that possibly what is old could be new again. In this vein I suggest some of the basics like shepeherding need to be utilsied more and more. Scully does it so well. Others ought to look to his positioning etc, providing blocks and allowing corridors for moving players is to be commended and copied. Watts was definitely hung out in that particular passage. it wasnt him per se thatgot lost..he just had nowhere to go thanks to a lack of team play by some who ought to know and do better.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

For what it's worth, I agree with Nasher's comments on the Watts incident in the last quarter. Yes, it looked bad and the young man should have made a better fist of disposing of the ball. However, in my mind, Miller was equally to blame. He could have either put a shepherd on Brown or dropped off Brown to give Watts an option for disposing of the ball. Instead, he stood and watched!

Agree. The pass to Watts was also a shocker but he should learn from all these experiences.

[RalphiusMaximus 5,993]

Agree. The pass to Watts was also a shocker but he should learn from all these experiences.

The pass was awful, but his clean pickup was pretty great. I just wish he'd followed it up with a pinpoint pass to a teammate at half forward rather than what he wound up doing.

[Guest Cougar Magic]

What i dont understand is that with Dunn coming off a 8 goal game in the VFL his confidence would really high so they should of just left him in the square most of the game. When he was there once, he took a good contested mark against Presti.

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

I hated Watts game at first, but on closer inspection, he actually had more than a few telling touches. The third quarter in particular he started to affect the game. With his polish, he can do more with 12-15 touches than many of his team-mates can with 20. I've since changed my mind and reckon he should play next week...

This post is dead on -

Are we talking about the holding the ball in the middle of the ground? In the replay he looked to be completely hung out to dry by a more senior teammate on the scene. Even a half-baked shepherd would've saved him, but he got nothing.

I might watch the replay again later in case my memory's playing tricks, but that's as I remember it.

"Liability" is a ridiculously harsh assessment on Watts' game anyway.

I had a close look at the replay finally, and loaded the bit where he got caught with the ball... I was peering through my fingers, thinking it would be this Bell-esque lack of awareness... In the end I reckon the incident is 100% Millers fault!!

If you take a close look the first person he sees when he looks up is Miller... He zigs to the right expecting a shepherd, and runs into him! Miller should have known he was too close to an opponent to accept a handball... Watts knew this which is why he cut right expecting to get some help. Miller had one option only. The Shepherd should have been put on. It's THAT simple. What's more you could see that with what he had in front of him, Watts would have HAD to read the play this way. In fact, it's kind of a very positive thing seeing that the 8 gamer read the game quicker and better than the 130+ gamer.

I hate Miller bashing, but I can't think of too many more instances (except the handball to Acker in the square a few years ago) where he's more clearly blame for a snafu. Watts must have assumed the minimum of help... the kind of thing a kid in the TAC cup would have known to do. In fact, if you look at him cut a swathe through his opponents as a kid, most of the time his team-mates are doing the one-percenters to get him into that position.

Who's coaching down there at Vic Metro anyway? We've basically recruited half his roster, and are benefitting from his coaching!