Good win, will be interesting IF Hamling will crack as a forward
Good win, will be interesting IF Hamling will crack as a forward
Yep! A great win against a strong side.Originally Posted by Kafka's Ghost
GO BLOODS!
We got a win, defeated the team at the top of the ladder.
Qu1 our team played great football it was fun to watch. They were of course challenged and the game, skills, ebbed and flowed but they managed to hang on in the last quarter when it looked like they might be run over. They played like we might have hoped, having 15 listed players. There always seemed to be someone who swooped in at crunch times to save the situation!
I'm not good at picking out best players etc, I might have to name half the team so I won't try.
An odd game. After quarter time it felt like there was a sizeable gap in skill level, pressure and ground-ball-winning ability between the two sides. With us second best. But the defensive talls were very good, Francis in particular, and we managed to concoct just enough "moments" in the second half to keep the score ticking along.
Mitchell was a mixed bag - a few good things and a fair number of errors. Corey had a couple of great moments but maybe wasn't as involved as we'd have liked him to be. Hopefully that was just him shaking off the cobwebs.
Apart from his role setting up Hamling's fourth goal, everything Konstanty touched turned to dust. (His goal is hard to give him much credit for since it was gifted by two blues from the opposition.) Ladhams played one of his better games, imposing himself at stoppages and presenting as a threat in the forward line. His attempts at conversion weren't particularly convincing, though I guess it's hard to gauge the effect of the wind watching the stream.
A decent win against the top of the table side. Although their injury list is a bit longer than ours, so it's hard to really evaluate. But Footscray did seem to have plenty of speedy types, who applied a lot of tackling pressure, so to overcome that showed a certain amount of toughness.
I thought Francis was our best. Took plenty of intercept marks and apart from one costly clanger, used the ball really well. Much the same with Edwards, who blotted his own strong game, with a clanger where he tried to launch a kick-in a long way downfield, but instead, barely hit his boot and consequently gifted Owen a goal. Snell, Magor and Vickery were also useful in defence.
In the midfield, both Mitchell and Corey Warner spent plenty of time inside, rather than their more natural wing roles, and at times, both did passable Chad impersonations. Mitchell with an excellent goal breaking from the centre, while Corey showed plenty of dash away from congestion. Cleary and Edwards also went pretty well, in their usual combative fashion.
I thought McAndrew did a lot right in the ruck. He got quite a few taps to advantage, laid some crunching tackles and took the occasional strong mark. His kicking is still a work in progress, though. Kicking also let Ladhams down. If he managed more than 0.4 from his set shots, he probably would have had a very good game.
Hamling still has no trouble kicking goals and with 4.1 today, he must be wondering why he didn't switch to the forward line a long time ago. He leads well, takes a strong mark, continues to be a reliable set shot, and today he set up a couple of scoring shots, with nice passes into the fifty.
Yes, Konstanty is becoming a bit of a worry. He still does some things that make me think that he might make it, but when the game was to be won in the fourth, he butchered a couple of goals. Firstly, when he seemed clear running towards goal, then suddenly veered towards the sideline and subsequently missed a shot that most small forwards should make. Then there was the classic case of where a player has the option of going for goal or kicking to a team mate, and he ended up lobbing it between Hamling and the goal.
We keep putting him up forward, so wondering if we are preparing him as a stop gap insurance in case Logan decides to go home to WA.
Makes so much sense.
I think it is becoming clear Francis will get a role if injuries strike as a spoiling tall back defender.
Reid injury prone still in 2024.
Ladhams not our first pick up front.
Therefore Hamling was the next most obvious if injuries strike up front. Plus if injuries strike down back he can still make that happen if required.
Hamling has been a pro in his endeavour and execution switching up front after probably 12 seasons down back. Good man !
Or just preparing him in case we suffer some injuries as this season progresses.
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