Does anyone know if Sam Grant was injured? I'm not sure at what point in the game I recall last seeing him, but it was Penry taking the vast majority of the ruck contests after some point that I think was fairly early. The commentators didn't say anything about an injury, but they didn't seem to know our players well, and the recording cut out part of the first quarter as well.
As for the game itself, that is perhaps a bit of a reality check about how far we can get without playing a solid four quarters. The first quarter and the later parts of the third and fourth quarters were not good. Turnovers were a real problem - after better structure in recent weeks we had some very poor forward 50 entries again. Gave away too many free kicks as well - I'm not saying that all the free kicks against Port players were there (the umpires didn't seem to distinguish between dragging the ball in and having it held in), but enough of them were that it seems fair enough to cite lack of discipline or at least poor decision-making as a problem. Not enough tackling, either. This week I also did think that we looked too tall up forward, or at any rate that we were at a disadvantage when the ball hit the ground in our forward 50. It could have been worse, certainly; it's not surprising that it was a tough game, and the team did continue to show the ability to make in-game adjustments.
Thoughts on the midfield? I'm not entirely sure what to make of the midfield's performance this week - aside from Hobbs who was great - though having watched Willy's midfield beat Box Hill's, I definitely think our mids will be up against it when we play Willy in two weeks. Our mids did do better in the clearances than might be expected given Crossley's ruck dominance. Penry certainly fought hard and led us for tackles, but the Borough finished the game with only 10 hitouts versus 55 to Crossley alone (as well as 9 to Taine Dawson). Still, we lost the clearances by 8, so it could have been worse. Of our main clearance winners in Hobbs, Hird, and Tovey (10, 7, and 5 respectively), all were under 70% disposal efficiency, and Hird and Tovey were under 60%. Hird's disposal efficiency can be suprisingly variable for such a generally consistent player. We have lost the clearances three weeks in a row now, so I'm not entirely sure what to expect from the midfield in the coming games. It may be a good idea to move Tovey back to the midfield for a bit and bring in a small forward. Of course he did play midfield for much of this game, so that much has been done, and I'm genuinely not sure how to rate his performance or Hird's this week, but overall they've both been good in the midfield this season. Then again Tovey's also been one of our best forwards. Southport do have a very strong midfield and we might have broken even with them if the ruck contests had been more even. We did not have a good matchup for Jacob Dawson. We do miss Hooper and must keep Hobbs, though it wouldn't surprise me if he gets another shot at AFL level.
Baldwin up forward is continuing to work well.
After I commented on greater stability in the wing positions this season, there were a number of different rotations through the wing this week. Not sure what Hird was doing there in part of the first quarter - wing is just not his position. Not entirely sure why that's the case, but he doesn't impact the game as a winger. If he doesn't fit into a particular inside midfield rotation while he's on the field, it would make more sense to put him at halfback and move Rankin to the wing. Rankin did also spend some time on the wing, which makes much more sense. Rankin may be our most versatile player, and I'm surprised he never seems to come up in midseason/preseason draft discussions - perhaps because of the injuries he's had in the last two seasons.
We did miss George today. Unfortunately he'll be out for at least two more weeks under the concussion protocol.
Van Es continuing to play well in defence.
Our next two games will be tough as well but are at least home games. If Grant's injured that's a big loss indeed - hope we have him against Willy especially.
Good to see the girls get the win. Rather a game of two halves, but they did enough to hang on. That said the two halves were perhaps not quite as lopsided in either direction as the scoreline suggests; in the second half we weren't getting enough penetration to score, but in other respects our second half (and Darebin's first half) was better than the scoreline suggests. Caruso quieter in the second half than the first, but got an important clearance late. Jones and Caffry good again.
A wonderful assessment as usual Spiny. I haven't seen the game(apart from snippets) but hope to watch it on the train to/from work over the next couple of days. The parts I did see Van Es did some solid work with intercept marks and Hobbs looks in great form asking with Tovey that you have already mentioned.
Thanks, NorthPort. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts as well when you've had time to watch the full game. It will be interesting to see how our forward lines set up this coming week and what midfield combination we start with. Looking at stats, the ruck position seems to be a bit of a weakness for Tasmania, so hopefully we'll be able to take advantage of that. Flynn Penry certainly had his work cut out for him being our main ruckman for the first time against Crossley; no surprise that Crossley dominated the hitouts, but Penry's work rate was good.
Impossible to get a line on Southport, Haven't successfully tipped them for the year.!
Port not far behind them.
We might be from the bush. but we ain't green
Impossible to get a line on Southport, Haven't successfully tipped them for the year.!
Port not far behind them.
We might be from the bush. but we ain't green
Does anyone know if Sam Grant was injured? I'm not sure at what point in the game I recall last seeing him, but it was Penry taking the vast majority of the ruck contests after some point that I think was fairly early. The commentators didn't say anything about an injury, but they didn't seem to know our players well, and the recording cut out part of the first quarter as well.
As for the game itself, that is perhaps a bit of a reality check about how far we can get without playing a solid four quarters. The first quarter and the later parts of the third and fourth quarters were not good. Turnovers were a real problem - after better structure in recent weeks we had some very poor forward 50 entries again. Gave away too many free kicks as well - I'm not saying that all the free kicks against Port players were there (the umpires didn't seem to distinguish between dragging the ball in and having it held in), but enough of them were that it seems fair enough to cite lack of discipline or at least poor decision-making as a problem. Not enough tackling, either. This week I also did think that we looked too tall up forward, or at any rate that we were at a disadvantage when the ball hit the ground in our forward 50. It could have been worse, certainly; it's not surprising that it was a tough game, and the team did continue to show the ability to make in-game adjustments.
Thoughts on the midfield? I'm not entirely sure what to make of the midfield's performance this week - aside from Hobbs who was great - though having watched Willy's midfield beat Box Hill's, I definitely think our mids will be up against it when we play Willy in two weeks. Our mids did do better in the clearances than might be expected given Crossley's ruck dominance. Penry certainly fought hard and led us for tackles, but the Borough finished the game with only 10 hitouts versus 55 to Crossley alone (as well as 9 to Taine Dawson). Still, we lost the clearances by 8, so it could have been worse. Of our main clearance winners in Hobbs, Hird, and Tovey (10, 7, and 5 respectively), all were under 70% disposal efficiency, and Hird and Tovey were under 60%. Hird's disposal efficiency can be suprisingly variable for such a generally consistent player. We have lost the clearances three weeks in a row now, so I'm not entirely sure what to expect from the midfield in the coming games. It may be a good idea to move Tovey back to the midfield for a bit and bring in a small forward. Of course he did play midfield for much of this game, so that much has been done, and I'm genuinely not sure how to rate his performance or Hird's this week, but overall they've both been good in the midfield this season. Then again Tovey's also been one of our best forwards. Southport do have a very strong midfield and we might have broken even with them if the ruck contests had been more even. We did not have a good matchup for Jacob Dawson. We do miss Hooper and must keep Hobbs, though it wouldn't surprise me if he gets another shot at AFL level.
Baldwin up forward is continuing to work well.
After I commented on greater stability in the wing positions this season, there were a number of different rotations through the wing this week. Not sure what Hird was doing there in part of the first quarter - wing is just not his position. Not entirely sure why that's the case, but he doesn't impact the game as a winger. If he doesn't fit into a particular inside midfield rotation while he's on the field, it would make more sense to put him at halfback and move Rankin to the wing. Rankin did also spend some time on the wing, which makes much more sense. Rankin may be our most versatile player, and I'm surprised he never seems to come up in midseason/preseason draft discussions - perhaps because of the injuries he's had in the last two seasons.
We did miss George today. Unfortunately he'll be out for at least two more weeks under the concussion protocol.
Van Es continuing to play well in defence.
Our next two games will be tough as well but are at least home games. If Grant's injured that's a big loss indeed - hope we have him against Willy especially.
Good to see the girls get the win. Rather a game of two halves, but they did enough to hang on. That said the two halves were perhaps not quite as lopsided in either direction as the scoreline suggests; in the second half we weren't getting enough penetration to score, but in other respects our second half (and Darebin's first half) was better than the scoreline suggests. Caruso quieter in the second half than the first, but got an important clearance late. Jones and Caffry good again.
A wonderful assessment as usual Spiny. I haven't seen the game(apart from snippets) but hope to watch it on the train to/from work over the next couple of days. The parts I did see Van Es did some solid work with intercept marks and Hobbs looks in great form asking with Tovey that you have already mentioned.
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
Thanks, NorthPort. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts as well when you've had time to watch the full game. It will be interesting to see how our forward lines set up this coming week and what midfield combination we start with. Looking at stats, the ruck position seems to be a bit of a weakness for Tasmania, so hopefully we'll be able to take advantage of that. Flynn Penry certainly had his work cut out for him being our main ruckman for the first time against Crossley; no surprise that Crossley dominated the hitouts, but Penry's work rate was good.
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