The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

[tiga]

The Good
---------------------
Will Thursfield - Defended well all day and was only really beaten late in the game by Milne
Shane Tuck - Tried hard all day. Not his best game but certainly was far from disgraced.
Brett Deledio - Was looking for the ball all day and showed plenty of pace. If only a few others did the same.
Darren Gaspar - Kept Gehrig pretty quiet
Mark Graham - Solid effort. Showed his experience and saved a few goals.
Mark Chaffey - Kept Ball pretty quiet until the game was well and truly lost.
Rory Hilton - Made the most of very limited opportunities
Trent Knobel - Rucked really well and didn't take a backward step.

The Bad
-------------
Mark Coughlan - got plenty of the ball but hesitated far too often and was always looking for a closer option rather than getting it into the 50.
Andy Krakouer - Always seemed to be about 5 paces behind his opponent

The Ugly
-------------------
Kane Johnson - Absolute shocker! He looked slow and innefective.  His lack of pace was shown on many occasions and On at least 4 occasions I saw him get in the way of players trying to dispose the ball from the pack to a running player. continually kicked bombs to outnumbered contests. Maybe he's not fully fit. If so, he shouldn't have started.

Troy Simmonds - Was terrible in wet conditions. Couldn't mark, couldn't pick the ball up off the ground and had a turning circle akin to the Spirit of Tasmania. Also that missed set shot in front ended up being an 11 point turnaround.

The decision to put Bowden in defence -  Once that was done we had no drive into the forward line. He was totally wasted down there on Kos-alphabet. He did play pretty well but I thought it was the worst tactical decision of the day

The Umpiring - Absolutely disgraceful!! Enough said.

[mightytiges]

I thought I've seen some dumb stupid and just plain lazy efforts from us before but today took the cake given we lead by 10 points at quarter time . I thought at quarter time that final we had come to play against this mob. Then we just switched off the good intensity we had in that first quarter  ???. Just 2 goals in 3 quarters of footy is Spud-like  .

We made every mistake in the book. We fumbled, dropped marks and missed tackle after tackle. We overpossessed in the wet and lazily kicked around the body without looking or bombed long straight to the opposition    . Our disposal and intensity after quarter time was pathetic!

Was there some magnet dragging us to the Northern wing all day?!  Sheesh we'd ignore someone free in the middle of the ground to instead hold to ball for ages and then kick to a contest along the boundary line and to the same boundary line every time .

I agree tiga Chaffey did well to contain Ball but he fumbled nearly everytime he went near the ball. Also a bit harsh on Cogs. At least he tried to win the ball all day. Deledio made a few mistakes as well but at least he was in the game and did far more good things. We had 14 blokes end up with 10 possessions or less. Too many passengers not willing to play  in front and put their body on the line for the team.

To top off a pathetic day Gas does a hammy late in the game so we're another defender down for the next 3-4 weeks .

The decision to put Bowden in defence -  Once that was done we had no drive into the forward line. He was totally wasted down there on Kos-alphabet. He did play pretty well but I thought it was the worst tactical decision of the day

I saw that too in the last quarter. Basically we put the white flag up with that move. Gas was injured by then IIRC.

Tactically we got beaten when the Saints put a player or two behind play and we didn't make then accountable. We just kept lazily bombing the ball forward to an outnumbered and congested forward line and the Saints rebounded with ease into their open forward line.

[the_boy_jake]

My two cents - some of these observations might seem critical.

Ray Hall - what is he good for? Exposed today when one-on-one. Looks OK playing the free role across half back, and I really think that we should play him there for the rest of the season and test the market at seasons end. He's young enough to be traded, the only question being our dearth of young talls.

Will Thursfield - just OK for mine. Long term, I can see that he might replace an Andy Kellaway type, but he's got a long way to go in terms of the modern defender. Kicking, smarts not anywhere near there yet, but given time who knows. For a kid who was supposedly an athletics champ, he has pretty ordinary balance when running - the ball in his hands is going all over the place from side to side and affects his kicking on the run.

Gas - did well enough I suppose. At least you know what you are and are not going to get from him.

Tuck - Without Browny, our most complete footballer. If we had another couple of him we would be top 4 easily.

Cogs - See Gas - you know that Cogs is going to try hard all day. Unfortunately some days when he gets a lot of it his kicking lets him down.

Johnson - probably played with injury, but even so is a good ordinary footballer in my books. Apparantly he got 25+ touches. I don't recall one of them hurting the opposition.

Graham - as for almost all of the season, did what was asked of him.

Knobel - terrific. Honest footballer, was obviously up for the game.

Deledio - star.

Chaffey - can't be too critical of him. He did his job.

Tambling - needs to go back to Coburg.... seemed rushed in what he was doing.

Simmonds - pathetic performance. Looks a bit like a young Mick Jagger, and played like he'd spent the previous night with a young Keith Richards.

Krak - best pound-for-pound tackler in the league. Was a day for little blokes and didn't give us a lot.

Hilton - tried hard. If he can maintain his form then he is worth shopping around at the end of the season.

Richo - is becoming obsessed with making body contact and taking wrestling marks. Could well be a result of poor delivery - we seem to have a lot of 'high' kickers in our team. But it is worrying that he has pace to burn and rarely uses it.

Pettifer - ordinary day at the office, but I suppose he tried and is one of the better kicks we have - has made some progress and is worth persevering with.

Bowden - pretty good I thought. You normally accept a clanger or two from Joel, but can't remember any today.

Newman - didn't make too many mistakes.

Campbell - his mere presence took Baker off Tuck. That did more for the team cause than the efforts of half our team.

Hyde - the rest of the season will define whether he is going to become a good footballer or a very good one. Think he has gone into his shell a bit lately. Judging from media reports is very much a confidence person. Needs to be reminded how well he is capable of playing.

Morrison - thought he played well in the limited time he got. Was never going to be a day for the big men, and if we are going to dispatch one of them to Coburg, it should be Simmonds.

Tivendale - I spent five minutes trying to recall who was the last player to list, and ended up having to check the AFL site stats to see who it was. I guess that says it all about Greg.

[tiga]

Pretty much on the money there Jake especially with Richo. I think it may be a delivery issue. If you look at how Dal Santo was kicking to his forwards it was short and sharp. Good for leading forwards. We seem to be bombing it into Richo and hoping that he will out muscle his opponent. This doesn't come off too often in the wet and also when you are double teamed.
Classic comment on Simmo! ROFLMAOOO

I'm starting to think we actually play better when Kane Johnson isn't on the field. As MT said he doesn't seem to hurt the opposition with his disposal and he is slow in most aspects. He always seems to rack up the posessions but it's his disposal that I'm critical of.

[WilliamPowell]

The Good
---------------------
Brett Deledio - Was looking for the ball all day and showed plenty of pace. If only a few others did the same.

I still think he needs to work on the defensive side of his game - it's improved out of sight in the last few weeks but....

It seemed to me in the final quarter there was a couple of occassions where he should have gone back and made a contest, didn't and resulted in easy delivery into the Saints F50. Perhaps because we were getting beaten so badly around the ground the head dropped a bit.

Rory Hilton - Made the most of very limited opportunities

I am going to be ultra critical here but in the 3rd quarter just outside 50 Rory needed to run back with the flight of the ball and be prepared to take a hit. There were 2 saints players and a Tiger running forward; by not contesting that mark the Saints got a easy possession and disposal and it set them up for goal. When you have some many kids running around the senior players have to take the hits IMO (ala Graham and Bowden) to show the youngsters leadership.

I was very very disappointed in that one

Trent Knobel - Rucked really well and didn't take a backward step.

I thought he was possessed

The Bad
-------------
Mark Coughlan - got plenty of the ball but hesitated far too often and was always looking for a closer option rather than getting it into the 50.

Couldn't have said it better myself Tiga - spot on assessment

Andy Krakouer - Always seemed to be about 5 paces behind his opponent

Disappointing

The Ugly
-------------------

Troy Simmonds - Was terrible in wet conditions. Couldn't mark, couldn't pick the ball up off the ground and had a turning circle akin to the Spirit of Tasmania. Also that missed set shot in front ended up being an 11 point turnaround.

Not happy

The Umpiring - Absolutely disgraceful!! Enough said.

No wonder the players go off their heads and swear - fair dinkum they are a joke

Ray Hall - what is he good for? Exposed today when one-on-one. Looks OK playing the free role across half back, and I really think that we should play him there for the rest of the season and test the market at seasons end. He's young enough to be traded, the only question being our dearth of young talls.

A shocker - really struggled with the body on body stuff against the Kosi-alphabet. And the one area he really has improved this year has been his reading of the play - yesterday it was like 2 years ago.

having said all that - I don't know why they didn't try him up forward in place of Simmonds - I mean he couldn't have been any worse

Tuck - Without Browny, our most complete footballer. If we had another couple of him we would be top 4 easily.

Smart very smart - understood the concept of wet weather footy - kicking the bloody thing

Chaffey - can't be too critical of him. He did his job.

I have been one of his biggest critics but I reckon the last month he's been excellent

Morrison - thought he played well in the limited time he got. Was never going to be a day for the big men, and if we are going to dispatch one of them to Coburg, it should be Simmonds.

I thought he was very good for the time he was on the ground. Created a goal for us in the 2nd when he attacked the ball running straight through from centre half forward. Also, like his work in the final quarter on Gehrig after Gaspar went off - seemed comfortably down back and I reckon he is going to be there for at least next week

[letsgetiton!]

I'm starting to think we actually play better when Kane Johnson isn't on the field. As MT said he doesn't seem to hurt the opposition with his disposal and he is slow in most aspects. He always seems to rack up the posessions but it's his disposal that I'm critical of.

i have been saying this since the day we made the mistake and got him and now he is captain. he came over with such a reputation and i dont give a rats tosser how many medals adelaide hand picked 4 him!  i just dont understand why he has this respect, he has never won a game 4 us and has bluffed everyone bec he gets the pill alot , so people get blinded and think , o gee he is a work horse, plays consistant week in wek out! WRONG! week in week out he gets plenty of the ball and does not hurt the opposition with his disposal thats why he never gets tagged, opp coaches know when sugar gets all is sweeet as he will kick to the wrong option and turn it over!

we dont need him in the side let alone captain.

the 2 reasons why we lost and its plain and simple.

in the first quarter we played damn good footy. we looked fantastic , bloody great!

then in the second quarter 2 players alone changed the flow of the game and crushed our own spririt by playing  danny fricken frawley style footy! and making all the wrong choices on field!!

1 GREG THE **** TIVENDALE, it is a damn joke he is still in the team and he is just cancer in our team! this infectious killing lump mst be cut from the team full stop as of immediately. all u tivendale supprters i have had enough and a gutful of ur excuses 4 him

2/ KANE THE MOST OVERRATED AND UNDESERVED CAPTAIN IN AFL JOHNSON! if he was a true captain he would not have put his hand up to play but he was too scared that he would have been shown up by a young kids foley and is a selfish prick cos he thought he deserved the spot and felt he couln not side on the sidelines and watch us win without him.  for someone who allegedly knows what it takes to get to the top(bs he was lucky) he continually makes the wrong choices, misses targets , has crap disposal, does not go in hard enough and is not inspirational! i have seen scared little mice make more noise than him. lets face it wayne sould have stayed on as captain and if he really didnt want it , JOEL BOWDEN SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE HONOR!!!!

it would be gr8 to make the finals but iu dont care if we dont. we have succeeded thus far. we have over doubled last yrs wins, coburg kids are pressing 4 a spot, its time to drop players like tivendale to make way for the kids and give them more chances. its gr8 gas is injured as now archibald may get a run, he has been in the bests for quite a while now, as jacksan raines patterson foley etc

play the kids see what they are made of . and nb, we dont need a sweet sugar captain , we need a hard as nails captain!

 

[julzqld]

I didn't get to see the game, as I was at a ladies seminar where I did a massage clinic.  How did Richo go and how bad are the injuries?

[Razorblade]

I didn't get to see the game, as I was at a ladies seminar where I did a massage clinic.  How did Richo go and how bad are the injuries?

It seems Gasper has done his hammy, he would benefit from some of your "unorthodox" massage techniques! 

[mightytiges]

I didn't get to see the game, as I was at a ladies seminar where I did a massage clinic.  How did Richo go and how bad are the injuries?

Richo got off to a good start in the first quarter with 2 goals but was rarely sighted afterwards like many of his teammates. As Jake said he became too obsessed with trying to outbody Hudghton close to goal. Everytime the ball hit the ground the Saints were first to the crumbs. When Richo did lead it was towards the boundary line. In fairness our midfielders were bringing the ball in too slowly from out wide on the wing as the Saints controlled the centre corridor. As a result, of the few shots we had after quarter time most were on acute angles (except for Simmonds missed sitter directly in front in the last term ). Our midfielders also were lobbing the ball on top of Richo's head which made it hard for him to mark it. Just say Julz you didn't miss anything by not seeing the game.

Injuries - In the seniors - Gas (hammy) 2 weeks; Cambo (calf tightness) available. At Coburg apparently Pattison and Limbach copped ankle injuries.

[tiga]

i have been saying this since the day we made the mistake and got him and now he is captain. he came over with such a reputation and i dont give a rats tosser how many medals adelaide hand picked 4 him!  i just dont understand why he has this respect, he has never won a game 4 us and has bluffed everyone bec he gets the pill alot , so people get blinded and think , o gee he is a work horse, plays consistant week in wek out! WRONG! week in week out he gets plenty of the ball and does not hurt the opposition with his disposal thats why he never gets tagged, opp coaches know when sugar gets all is sweeet as he will kick to the wrong option and turn it over!

we dont need him in the side let alone captain.

the 2 reasons why we lost and its plain and simple.

in the first quarter we played damn good footy. we looked fantastic , bloody great!

then in the second quarter 2 players alone changed the flow of the game and crushed our own spririt by playing  danny fricken frawley style footy! and making all the wrong choices on field!!

1 GREG THE **** TIVENDALE, it is a damn joke he is still in the team and he is just cancer in our team! this infectious killing lump mst be cut from the team full stop as of immediately. all u tivendale supprters i have had enough and a gutful of ur excuses 4 him

2/ KANE THE MOST OVERRATED AND UNDESERVED CAPTAIN IN AFL JOHNSON! if he was a true captain he would not have put his hand up to play but he was too scared that he would have been shown up by a young kids foley and is a selfish prick cos he thought he deserved the spot and felt he couln not side on the sidelines and watch us win without him.  for someone who allegedly knows what it takes to get to the top(bs he was lucky) he continually makes the wrong choices, misses targets , has crap disposal, does not go in hard enough and is not inspirational! i have seen scared little mice make more noise than him. lets face it wayne sould have stayed on as captain and if he really didnt want it , JOEL BOWDEN SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE HONOR!!!!

it would be gr8 to make the finals but iu dont care if we dont. we have succeeded thus far. we have over doubled last yrs wins, coburg kids are pressing 4 a spot, its time to drop players like tivendale to make way for the kids and give them more chances. its gr8 gas is injured as now archibald may get a run, he has been in the bests for quite a while now, as jacksan raines patterson foley etc

play the kids see what they are made of . and nb, we dont need a sweet sugar captain , we need a hard as nails captain!

 

X, we seem to be on the same wavelength here. I too am critical of Tivendale's game. He is still playing as if taking gameplan tips from Frawley. Maybe he's a Frawley mole?? IMO Kane Johnson is yet to prove himself at our club and it baffles me how they hold him in such high regard. I can't remember which quarter it was but he received the ball well in the clear in the backline and dilly dallied around at walking pace whilst the opposition manned up.

In previous seasons I have been critical of Bowden but this year Bowden has ramped it up considerably. He has more skill, guts and determination in his little finger that Johnson has in his entire body. Bowden is a star and should be club captain. End of story.

[om21]

Ill take the criticism of Johno on the nose. Hell even I have questioned his ability to be a captain but if you sit here and tell me that J.Bowden deserves it ahead of him, well Ill go hee.....

That is the most farcical comment I have ever heard. Have you people just jumped on supporting RFC? Or have you failed to notice that Bowden has been at our club since 96 and done f$%^ all. Hang on he won a J.Dyer Medal......but I know a certain other player who has won 3 but continues to get mauled by his supporters....work that out.

I dont care if you hammer Johno, but dont serve up crap about Bowdo being better.