vs Melbourne match thread

[707]

Scrappy game, the Tankers tactics made it that way although disposal skill was missing somewhat.

The positive is that we kept them to a miniscule score, the negative is that we couldn't break out of their clutches to kick a better score ourselves.

On personnel, Hanners is finally back in form, Kennedy just keeps churning it out, Shaw getting plenty of it although he burns a few each game, Jack is playing under duress but the BIG one is ......

tell me what other top side would be playing either Derickx or LRT at present? and we are playing BOTH and getting bugger all impact out of either. We are almost playing two men down.

Both of these players should be under severe selection pressure once Tippett & Reid are back and surely Nankervis would give us more than Derickx?

Unless we find much better disposal and speed, I fear for our season in the upcoming five game streak of Hawthorn, Essendon, Geelong, Port Adelaide and Gold Coast at Metricon.

[Matt80]

Top four is still a possibility, at 3 and 3, the Swans remain in striking distance. Only Geelong and the Hawks will pull away in first and second spot. Spots 3 and 4 are wide open. North and a Jesse White inspired Collingwood are better this year. West Coast , Fremantle, and Essondon are faltering. We should be able to beat the Suns and our key position strength should edge out Port as long as our midfield plays well. Teams like Carlton, Richmond and Adelaide will take games of good teams. GWS are a wet weather team, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs will struggle after a solid start to the season.

The top four is there for the taking! If the remaining games are on dry decks then we will be top four.

[MattW]

Scrappy game, the Tankers tactics made it that way although disposal skill was missing somewhat.

The positive is that we kept them to a miniscule score, the negative is that we couldn't break out of their clutches to kick a better score ourselves.

On personnel, Hanners is finally back in form, Kennedy just keeps churning it out, Shaw getting plenty of it although he burns a few each game, Jack is playing under duress but the BIG one is ......

tell me what other top side would be playing either Derickx or LRT at present? and we are playing BOTH and getting bugger all impact out of either. We are almost playing two men down.

Both of these players should be under severe selection pressure once Tippett & Reid are back and surely Nankervis would give us more than Derickx?

Unless we find much better disposal and speed, I fear for our season in the upcoming five game streak of Hawthorn, Essendon, Geelong, Port Adelaide and Gold Coast at Metricon.

I agree with that. I'm inclined to favour LRT given his historical contribution, but he's not rucking at the moment and he's not playing as a key defender, so I'm not sure what he is doing. No marks (or even marking contests) inside 50. Derickx is winning a couple of contests, and is rucking, so perhaps he deserves to stay in. Smashed in the hit-outs again.

Edit: Nankervis was in the bests for the Reserves again, but I notice from the stats that he was second ruckman to Naismith until Sam was injured. So it seems at the moment that they see him as a forward who can ruck. So Naismith is the main second ruck challenger to Derickx, and he's probably a long way off.

We really need our forwards fit and in form to be challenging. They're a long way off that, but they may all be back next week and maybe we can start building.

[Triple B]

I see all the Derrickx bashers are out with their baseball bats again after he, yet again, did all that was asked of him, made a contest and hurt a few bodies along the way and again gave Myke a chopout and a chance to further ease into the season after a limited pre-season.

Anybody critical of his game last night has an obvious axe to grind and is not watching his game objectively at all...

[royboy42]

Good crowd, just under 25,000 with a lot of red and white.
Frustrating game to be at: messy, flashes of brilliance punctuating the endless clangers, turnovers, dropped balls, losing position... the list goes on.
The midfield was not bad, worked pretty solidly, especially Hannebery, McVeigh, Kennedy and Jack. Parker contributed but his radar was off tonight. Jetta was good in patches, Harry was good and Lloyd should be a fixture with his kicking (despite one turnover) and positioning - exceptional in such a young player. Benny worked hard and will have better days; I think his goal had a settling effect for us.
Ted was outstanding (I thought our best on field with McVeigh) and Mal was solid. Laidler and Shaw were patchy, both making good decisions at times, at other times horrible clangers that led to Melbourne goals. Smithy was generally good but also gave away a goal with a delivery straight to an opponent in the 50. Rampe was very good for most of his time on ground.
Goodes lifted the team when he came on: his calmness, accuracy and sheer presence was enough to justify the cheers whenever he touched the ball. Buddy was Ok, his radar was off too, but he and Kennedy were never paid for the holding they put up with; I really admire their restraint.
This team is unfortunately playing ugly football and I confidently predict they will not win a premiership if they keep it up ...

Dangerous to predict us not winning a flag cos of ugly football...Demetriou is a case in point 2005!

[Legs Akimbo]

tell me what other top side would be playing either Derickx or LRT at present? and we are playing BOTH and getting bugger all impact out of either. We are almost playing two men down.

Both of these players should be under severe selection pressure once Tippett & Reid are back and surely Nankervis would give us more than Derickx?

Derickx is my whipping boy. He spent quite a lot of time in the ruck and managed 7 hit outs and not sure any were to advantage. Pyke had 18 hitouts. I'd note that Derickx had 11 possessions (9 handballs) and kicked a charity goal versus Pyke's 8 possessions. Pyke is definitely not playing well and at present is borderline in the 'crap pack', although I think he is a very good player in general...

I admire Derickx's (do you need an 's after an 'x') attitude and courage, but he is a complete spud. Yes, I'm eating my own etc. etc, but I'm still calling it. I watched Nankervis last week and just can't see how he doesn't provide more upside and I don't understand why he has not been promoted.

I like LRT but last night he was woeful. Surely injured or has he hit the wall a la ROK?

[Matt80]

It was good to see Lloyd play a full game and he was encouraging. That pass to Franklin was wonderful and that handball to Kennedy for that goal, was equally as good.

Looks a likely type and it will be an intriguing midfield battle with Tom Mitchell over the next couple of weeks, to see who stays in. I don't think you can play both with Tippett and Reid to come back in.

[lwjoyner]

First game live this year, an obvious one for a Melb based supporter. Gee the one man forward line looks worse live, what are the coaches thinking, timean time again there were at least 3 demons with only Buddy, he cant do it himself. Wake up Longmire and co, it doesn't work. Bo Derickx useless as a ruckman. A couple of times tonight he was laughable, Ok if that's what they want someone to laugh at but give Nankervis a go. cant do any worse. Beeny was also useless until the last qrt. The field kicking is deplorable and perhaps the worst was Jetta. Rampe to me was easily our best followed by Hanners. Please please don't bring back Kirt just to be a ruckman, he needs to stay fwd to give Buddy a help. I agree with earlier comments why leave Sam in Melb when a run in the 2's would do him the world if good.

[Jewels]

Dangerous to predict us not winning a flag cos of ugly football...Demetriou is a case in point 2005!

I think Don made that comment with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek.

[Ludwig]

All credit to Roos for getting the Dees playing solid enough defence not to get blown off the park. He doesn't have much to work with. But it doesn't change the fact that we had plenty of the ball with men in space and couldn't string 3 disposals together to quickly move the ball into the forward line; at least not often enough. The Lloyd to Franklin to Cunningham to Goal was the sort of play that we should have been witnessing all game.

Unfortunately, some of our better ball winners, Shaw and McGlynn, are not particularly good with their disposal. There was plenty of poor disposal to go around. So just enough off the mark to slow down play enough so we lost the fast break. It doesn't help that one of our best kicks, Jetta, seems to have gone off the rails with his disposal. Now that he's figured out how to get he ball, he's lost the ability to move it on properly.

In the little that Goodes played he set a standard for the kind of the intelligent footy we need to start playing.

Quite seriously, I think we are far better off putting up any strong body as a second ruckman, JPK, Bird, Parker, than having Derickx or LRT. You just need to stop the other ruckman from getting a clear run at the ball. Don't even have to jump.

LRT offers nothing at the moment, except that he can occupy the attention of an opposition defender. Derickx is like a pinball cushion. When the ball comes his way, it's likely to bounce off and go anywhere; would prefer to play with 17 men on the field. It's not clear if injuries will force any players out next week, but these 2 must go; we need to find some solution before the Hawks game.

[Swansongster]

I see all the Derrickx bashers are out with their baseball bats again after he, yet again, did all that was asked of him, made a contest and hurt a few bodies along the way and again gave Myke a chopout and a chance to further ease into the season after a limited pre-season.

Anybody critical of his game last night has an obvious axe to grind and is not watching his game objectively at all...

I am in this camp. From the grandstand last night he looked OK to me. He's no Mummy but he'll be picked again next week and deservedly so.

[Matt80]

I hear you Ludwig. Unless Tippett or Goodes (Brownlow winning ruckman) spend any time in the ruck, then you will have to play either Tom D or LRT!