14 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

Brilliant composure and dash. Did the number 45 jumper proud for any Matty Whelan fans ❤️

Does move like him too

One of the more unusual debuts I’ve seen.

In that he didn’t play well at all. Killer fumbles early and generally poor (at best) positioning.

But he also showed more talent than most debutants do. 9 contested possessions, won some tough ball, backed his speed, clean handballs in space, tackled and pressured very well.

There’s probably only 1 other player on our list who I feel has such a wide range of career outcomes from here. You could tell me he plays a couple more games and is never seen again or you could tell me plays 200 games in any of 3 zones of the ground.

3 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

One of the more unusual debuts I’ve seen.

In that he didn’t play well at all. Killer fumbles early and generally poor (at best) positioning.

But he also showed more talent than most debutants do. 9 contested possessions, won some tough ball, backed his speed, clean handballs in space, tackled and pressured very well.

There’s probably only 1 other player on our list who I feel has such a wide range of career outcomes from here. You could tell me he plays a couple more games and is never seen again or you could tell me plays 200 games in any of 3 zones of the ground.

???

" 9 contested possessions, won some tough ball, backed his speed, clean handballs in space, tackled and pressured very well",  but your assessment is he didn't play well at all?

He's a debutant back pocket and spent large parts of the game alternating with McVee on Cameron or Bailey, both of whom are amongst the best small forwards in the game and both of whom had pretty minimal impact.

Genuinely bizarre self contradictory take

23 minutes ago, fr_ap said:

???

" 9 contested possessions, won some tough ball, backed his speed, clean handballs in space, tackled and pressured very well",  but your assessment is he didn't play well at all?

He's a debutant back pocket and spent large parts of the game alternating with McVee on Cameron or Bailey, both of whom are amongst the best small forwards in the game and both of whom had pretty minimal impact.

Genuinely bizarre self contradictory take

He was more composed as the game went on after early struggles and he did some special things.

But Rayner’s second goal came because he was completely asleep and left Hipwood alone at the drop of the ball in the goal square. And that’s just one occurrence.

Even if the ball didn’t go through his opponent - although Bruce Reville killed us in the second half after being swung forward - Brisbane had gaps everywhere and I feel confident in saying Andy was responsible for a number of them.

I can see the AMW moniker will be here for a long time.

Edited June 29, 2024Jun 29 by John Crow Batty

I liked his game but at times I thought he didnt know what he was doing.  More senior games please.

5 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

He was more composed as the game went on after early struggles and he did some special things.

But Rayner’s second goal came because he was completely asleep and left Hipwood alone at the drop of the ball in the goal square. And that’s just one occurrence.

Even if the ball didn’t go through his opponent - although Bruce Reville killed us in the second half after being swung forward - Brisbane had gaps everywhere and I feel confident in saying Andy was responsible for a number of them.

I know what you're saying and this has been the knock on him playing half back at Casey. I think he's a see ball get ball player and the weakness in his game is adherence to structure. 

I'm not sure we could tell from TV whether this occured last night though? He was at fault for the late Lohmann goal. Not sure Rayners second was his fault at all - all the bigs played that poorly and it should never have fallen front and square. 

I thought Reville had very little impact

He went from completely out of his depth in the first half to looking like he had played 100 games in the 2nd. Got some real dash!

20 minutes ago, fr_ap said:

I know what you're saying and this has been the knock on him playing half back at Casey. I think he's a see ball get ball player and the weakness in his game is adherence to structure. 

I'm not sure we could tell from TV whether this occured last night though? He was at fault for the late Lohmann goal. Not sure Rayners second was his fault at all - all the bigs played that poorly and it should never have fallen front and square. 

I thought Reville had very little impact

I’m keen to get a better look at him live but it looked reasonably clear to me.

Reville had 9 touches and 6 score involvements in the last quarter across half forward after doing nothing on the wing for 2.5 quarters. Whether he was the chicken or the egg in Brisbane finding free men everywhere I don’t know but he was huge in the last term. 

Congratulations Andy Moniz-Wakefield that was some game on debut 16 touches (9contested) 2 marks and 4 tackles. Took a while to adjust to the pace but overall a great first game, hopefully many more to come.

1 hour ago, DeeSpencer said:

He was more composed as the game went on after early struggles and he did some special things.

But Rayner’s second goal came because he was completely asleep and left Hipwood alone at the drop of the ball in the goal square. And that’s just one occurrence.

Even if the ball didn’t go through his opponent - although Bruce Reville killed us in the second half after being swung forward - Brisbane had gaps everywhere and I feel confident in saying Andy was responsible for a number of them.

So I take it you spent the whole game concentrating on a debutant, looking for any mistakes he made.

1 hour ago, DeeSpencer said:

I’m keen to get a better look at him live but it looked reasonably clear to me.

Reville had 9 touches and 6 score involvements in the last quarter across half forward after doing nothing on the wing for 2.5 quarters. Whether he was the chicken or the egg in Brisbane finding free men everywhere I don’t know but he was huge in the last term. 

Fair enough. That last term from Reville is really surprising, he didn't feel that impactful to me at all 

4 hours ago, Deemania since 56 said:

He's got that 'Laurie Fowler' style on the run, straight into good tackles, takes the bump and emerges with the ball, kicks to improve the team positioning - now for the forwards to be able to read it all (with movement to make him targets).

Wow Deemanina, that is an excellent comparison. Similar game to the great Laurie Fowler in the physical part of his game. If he can become as solid and reliable as Fowler that is a great get.

42 minutes ago, Maldonboy38 said:

Wow Deemanina, that is an excellent comparison. Similar game to the great Laurie Fowler in the physical part of his game. If he can become as solid and reliable as Fowler that is a great get.

Just initial impressions, MB38, these may not come through but it really was (for me) a solid series of comparators with a fish out of the Casey waters and still a few tricks to master.  

I thought he showed quite a bit. Certainly enough to keep McVee or Rivers up the ground. Same with Taj.

If this year is not a waste it will be through making Rivers a mid and getting reps into McVee through there. Can only happen by letting these kids shoulder some of the burden.

I thought it was a good debut, and reckon he will be a half forward who can rotate mid. Quick, physical, good distance on his kick too. Will make some errors back until he learns the system. Hope he plays the rest of the year and finds his groove.

Wheels. His nickname shall be wheels.

Contributed well today - good to watch live

Positioning/concentration still poor (but not the only Melbourne defender with that problem right now), disposal/decision making with room to improve but love his contesting and tackling. 

Still think it might be mid/forward but there’s an AFL level talent in there, just a matter of getting it out of him.

I thought his offensive positioning was outstanding a number of times, particularly in the first half.

A little fumbly at times, but game two, he's coming along really beautifully.

Well done, AMW.

Played well, lots of upside as has pace and hardness. Needs to choose the 35-40m pass over the 15-20m one a bit more.

Monners played with composure for me today.  Not a match winner but very safe when he had it.  And he does not panic.   Great to see 

The ideal outcome is that he becomes a really good shut down small defender and it allows us to unleash McVee to play higher up the ground.

McVee kicking inside 50 = winning

Very handy start to an AFL career.

Certainly can't fault his consistency - aside from a few extra tackles his stats are almost identical from game one to game two!