Round 1 vs West Coast - Bankers and Anchors

[westdog54]

This is the round 1 edition of the Weekly Bankers and Anchors Thread. Once the game against West Coast is concluded post your nominations for:

The Bankers = 3 guys that you we banked on to do the right thing during the game
The Anchors = 3 guys that weighed us down by their errors or poor play

Please limit it to no more than three of each, but feel free to make honourable/dishonourable mentions. As usual try to make it constructive criticism.

Try and restrict it to individual players rather than aspects of the overall match.

The thread is named in honour of a popular WOOF Contributor, The Banker, who passed away (http://www.woof.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=10557)on 22/04/2012 after a six month battle with cancer.

[F'scary]

Anchors:

1. The Coach for naming Cordy in the squad. I can't think of a better way of advertising that you haven't picked a very good side.

2. Campbell. Where is the form he showed late last year?

3. Goodes. Are you allowed to demote someone to the rookie list?

Bankers: Macrae, Boyd, Murphy.

[GVGjr]

Bankers
- Jackson Macrae showed the poise of a much more experienced player. Thought he was a real positive of the otherwise deplorable night
- Luke Dahlhaus was always going to be a thorn in their side and he didn't let us down. 7 tackles and a great work ethic
- Dale Morris a couple of mistakes late in the game still didn't spoil my appreciation of his efforts.

Anchors
- Tom Campbell had a poor game and really wasn't the forward target we needed him to be in fact he was a long way off helping Minson out as well. He can play better than that.
- Brett Goodes was another poor performer and his fumbling early on didn't help. He has the skills but can't put them together in a tight hard fought contest.
- Stewart Crameri had a couple of bad patches and we need him to be better than that. He will get better.

[bornadog]

Bankers

1. Macrae - This kid is going to be good, he is cool under pressure and gets lots of the ball - still only 19 and yet to turn 20.

2. Morris - Undersized, yet did a superb job on Kennedy despite being under extreme pressure.

3. Minson - Battled it out against three ruckman, and never stopped trying

Anchors

1. Tom Campbell - should not have played, pre-season was woeful, needs to learn his trade at VFL level.

2. Libba - not a good game today and needs to learn to shake off tags.

3. Overall skills - went missing

[The bulldog tragician]

Bankers:
McRae was smooth, composed, hard working.
Hunter showed class, and was still gut running at the end.
Morris did well on traditional bogeyman Kennedy.

Anchors: where to start?
Goodes was error prone. (I'm trying to be diplomatic).
Stevens was .. Um, error prone.
Selectors: ?? I was puzzled by the selected squad. Did we write this one off before we even arrived?

It was a dismal night. And it feels very hard to be back in this territory - of having to see the brutal reality of how far we have to go - when we finished so well last year.

[always right]

Bankers
1. McCrae....thought he really arrived tonight when others were failing
2. Hunter....made something out of nothing on many occasions...our best forward
1. Morris....how he prevented Kennedy joining the party I'll never know

Anchors
1. Cooney....displayed no leadership tonight. So disappointing.
2. Stevens....after such an encouraging pre-season, he fell back into old habits today
1. Libba....I expect this will be the only time his name will appear here this year.....but he was really poor today

[LostDoggy]

Bankers McCrae - uses the ball well, Hunter- looks dangerous, Morris - stopped Kennedy
Anchors - no names but over handballing, defensive pressure on the eagles was non existent, most of all decision making was terrible

not much went right

[Greystache]

Bankers

McCrae- Clean, neat disposal, composed in traffic, and hit the scoreboard.

Hunter- Same as McCrae

Higgins- Finished nicely and was one of our few decent ball users on the day

Anchors

Wallis- Got murdered in his shutdown role and his ball use and decision making was worse than Stevens or Goodes.

Goodes- Looks like an average VFL player. For a player with supposedly good skills his kicking is atrocious.

Cooney- Gave us nothing

Could have 15 Anchors this week.

[boydogs]

Bankers
Morris can still be counted on to lock someone down, regardless of their height or ability
Macrae won't waste the footy no matter how much his team mates are doing it
Murphy will do a job either forward or back, pity we don't have two of him

Anchors
Wallis can't keep up with outside players
Minson was always going to battle against the triple team but wasn't as effective in the hitouts as last season
Johannisen showed poor awareness and skill execution coming out of defense

[LostDoggy]

Ouch, Minson with an anchor, we're a tough lot.

Bankers:
1. Macrae and Hunter — made it watchable.
2. Higgins — played a solid game, didn't get hurt. Scared me when Naitanui jumped on his head though.
3. The Glove, I love.

Anchors:
1. Goodes, as has been said already, woeful disposal skills.
2. Cooney — when you see him outrun again and again in defence, then see him tear away in attack, you have to ask where his defensive game takes its holidays. If I was BMac, I'd drop him.
3. Dickson, for taking the red vest off Goodesy.

[always right]

[QUOTE=BornAScragger;367230]2. Cooney — when you see him outrun again and again in defence, then see him tear away in attack, you have to ask where his defensive game takes its holidays. If I was BMac, I'd drop him.
[QUOTE]

Nowadays there seems to be a dramatic difference between Cooney's best and worst. When he's bad he really stinks it up. It's almost as if he accepts that today just isn't his day.

[Ozza]

Bankers:

Jack Macrae - 4 quarter performance. Poised. Got on the scoreboard.
Higgins - Nice game from him, 2 excellent goals, was playing quite well under siege in defence.
Hunter - good work ethic, creative and poised.

Anchors:

Brett Goodes - terrible. Woeful disposal. Not sure why he was in the team if he's not in defence.
Wallis - just wasn't able to keep up.
Cooney - No impact when the game was hot. Needed so much more from him.

[LostDoggy]

Bankers
1 Macrae
2 Minson - battled against overwhelming odds
3 Morris

Anchors

1 Goodes - not an AFL standard player
2 Montgomery - if he is the coach who develops the game style, he should be sacked
3 Selecton Committee- How they could leave Talia and Jones/Williams out of this side is beyond belief.

[soupman]

Bankers:
Macrae: Was very impressive. One of the few to actually execute the skills he set out to and have a positive impact on the game.
Hunter: Felt like he was involved in almost all our scoring chains. Very smart user of the ball and very composed under pressure. Good contrast to some of the more panicky players like Stevens.
Higgins: I'm always sceptical when I hear howgood Higgins is going, but he was impressive. Some classy finishing and good use around the ground, he will be really dangerous at Etihad.

Honourable mentions to Morris, Minson and Boyd.

Anchors:
Selection committee: Very poorly selected side and none of the gambles they took paid off.
Cooney: In Griffens absence we needed our nominated leader to really stand up and Cooney was pathetic. As bad a game as I've seen from him.
Everyone who wasn't any of the players mentioned in my anchors. Not good enough and we lost a lot of respect last night which hopefully we are determined to win back by beating the overrated North.

[LostDoggy]

Bankers as already stated Higgins & Macrae and Minno for battling on as well as he could by himself.

Anchors
The selections. Trying to run WCE off their feet on their home ground in 33 degree heat? Silly idea.
Hope we select the team on what works for matchups this week against Norf.

[craigsahibee]

Bankers
Macrae - found plenty of it and used it
Minson - Smart game from Will. Roved NicNat's tapouts on a few occasions. Just really love Will's work rate.
Picken - I seemed to notice Liam for good reasons yesterday.

Anchors
Goodes - Not up to this level
Dickson- Even further away from this level than Goodes. One of the softest footballers to ever play for our Club. Gets hit and stays down. I am not a fan of this bloke.
Wood - Needs half a dozen BOG's at VFL level before I would even consider him.

[Mofra]

Bankers:
- Recruiting staff responsible for the 2012 draft crop.
- Roughy & Morris for sheer workrate
- Higgins really gave us something and came back on after bleeding from the head

Anchors:
- Selection committee seemed to have got it wrong, very wrong
- Wallis was well down, Priddis killed us
- Dickson, ineffective

[KT31]

Bankers:
1. Macrae, Dahl and Hunter - more poise than most senior players.
2. Higgins - touch wood but the hype may be justified this year.
3. Minnow, Boyd and Murph for being accountable leaders.

Anchors:

1. Selectors, enough said.
2. the ease of which we allow sides to score from our kick outs.
3. Umpires for allowing West Coast players to run over the mark by miles on several occasions.

If I could have a fourth it would be to the AFL for there ridiculous scheduling.

[bornadog]

If I could have a fourth it would be to the AFL for there ridiculous scheduling.

The AFl don't care about us, we just make up the numbers. With scheduling of 14 games on Sunday, and all late or twilight games, they just don';t care.

We just have to stick it up them and win some games.

[jeemak]

Bankers:

Hunter and Dahl - Great work rate and willingness to try and be creative

Macrae - Great accumulation and cool headed finishing. He was my most impressive draftee last year and he looks to have gone up a notch

Minson, Murphy and Higgins - Experienced players that looked to understand the effort required


Anchors:

Intensity at the contest, ability to stick tackles and overall effort from a broad range of players (experienced and inexperienced alike)

Poor disposal

Selection - Too short in defence. Minson needed Roughead to take a more active role in the middle, Campbell isn't up to it yet and forcing the Will to carry so much of the load in the heat so early in the season was a little silly for mine


We didn't account for ourselves at all well in the vast majority of areas, and this was reflected on the scoreboard. I would hope some very pointed and honest feedback was given to the group about this performance and the difference between it and what is required for us to be competitive.

WCE are going to be the front runners of the competition this year - we were pathetic and they only managed to do us by 11 goals at a ground where finalist Bulldogs sides have been done over by more. I'm disappointed we won't get to play them in Melbourne. Some of the gushing from the commentary team made me want to vomit, the hyperbole directed towards WCE's prospects this year set an new international standard for jumping the gun.

[Remi Moses]

Bankers - macrae ( one of the few who showed any intensity)
Hunter( really clever player)
Morris ( under siege he was very good)
Higgins( a positive)
Anchors- where do you start?
Cooney( that was deplorable, even worse when you are capt)
Stevens( decision making and awareness, where was it?
Campbell( just gave us nothing)
Second kick out of defense was appalling
The ball movement was non existent, as was the execution.
Hot potato handball fails under intense pressure.
The midfield as a group are an anchor for their non work rate .
Really really disappointing performance

[Remi Moses]

Anchor- to the audio coverage
Talk about WA parochial. Dale Morris was asked that he must be pleased after only playing a few games last season!! Ummm he played every game last season.
Judge ( yuk)
Dorotich ( shocking)
Gossage( what a peanut)

[LostDoggy]

Dale Morris was asked that he must be pleased after only playing a few games last season!! Ummm he played every game last season.

And the way he handled it showed immense class.

[bornadog]

And the way he handled it showed immense class.

and if he was on LeCras and someone tall on Kenndy, maybe Lecras wouldn't have kicked 5.

[RoZDog]

Bankers:
t
Hunter: only forward to consistently find space in the forward half of the ground. Was creative and worked very hard for 4 q.
Macrae: was sublime at times and displayed composure that many of his more seasoned teammates were sorely lacking.
JJ: wasn't great tonight but loved his hardness in the last q getting low and winning a hardball, showed no ill effects from being poleaxed by Cameron last year.
Higgins: great to see him return this season, needs a big season to be selected on merit with plenty of young midfielders emerging from the previous two drafts.

Anchors:
Wood: can't hold down a key defensive post and his inability to read an easy chest mark with the ball bouncing off his stomach was laughable. Please Bring Back Talia.

Team Selection: our decision to field a relatively short side to exploit WC on the rebound was made redundant by our lack of overlap run and spread. Couldn't break through the WC zone.

Minson/Cambell: Minson was outperformed by all three WC rucks which was basically a reflection on the lack of support Minson received from Cambell and the coaching staff. However was still beaten in the ruck for 4 q.

WC looked very strong last night and will be a pretty tough opponent for any team this year.

[bornadog]

Anchors:
Wood: can't hold down a key defensive post and his inability to read an easy chest mark with the ball bouncing off his stomach was laughable. Please Bring Back Talia. .

Not just picking on you but also others, yes he can't hold down a KP defensive role, because he is a winger. The MC really needs to have a good hard look at what they expect a guy who is 186cm, yes 1 cm taller than Cooney, 1cm shorter than Murph and expect him to play tall on Darling. Darling is 191cm and 91kg, totally unfair to the player and recipe for disaster. It was never going to work.

The anchor should go to Macca and his selection committee.

[ratsmac]

BANKERS
MaCrae - cool under immense pressure. He would go in hard for the ball knowing he was going to be crunched in a tackle a number of times. Still so young.

Morris - Our defence was under pressure with a lot of clean ball coming in to WC forwards. Kennedy is way taller than Morris, yet Morris was all over him. What a champion.

Hunter - smart! Thinks his way through everything he does. He's played like 10 or so games.

ANCHORS

Goodes - he was awful, just plain old awful. He skills were bad. He looked a mile off the pace.

Campbell - he needs to find form in the VFL. He has stopped leading and smashing packs like he was doing last year.

[RoZDog]

It wasn't really his defensive work on Darling that i found disappointing, he battled quite manfully considering that he is a winger. More so his lack of composure, shoddy decision making and failure to create run off the back half where he could have exploited darling, not that darling is much of a slouch. He was part of a pretty awful rebounding setup and certainly wasn't the only player that warranted criticism. I agree that the match committee are at fault for the Talia non selection but Wood was given the chance to play round 1 and i thought that he made a lot of fundamental errors, am i wrong to think that?

[always right]

It wasn't really his defensive work on Darling that i found disappointing, he battled quite manfully considering that he is a winger. More so his lack of composure, shoddy decision making and failure to create run off the back half where he could have exploited darling, not that darling is much of a slouch. He was part of a pretty awful rebounding setup and certainly wasn't the only player that warranted criticism. I agree that the match committee are at fault for the Talia non selection but Wood was given the chance to play round 1 and i thought that he made a lot of fundamental errors, am i wrong to think that?
To be fair, he had his hands full with Darling with plenty of supply coming in. Not surprisingly he was more concerned with Darling than generating run. It could be argued that Murphy actually deserved greater criticism as he wasn't asked to play on a larger opponent and he too failed to generate any run whatsoever in the first half apart from one instance in the first quarter.

[RoZDog]

To be fair, he had his hands full with Darling with plenty of supply coming in. Not surprisingly he was more concerned with Darling than generating run. It could be argued that Murphy actually deserved greater criticism as he wasn't asked to play on a larger opponent and he too failed to generate any run whatsoever in the first half apart from one instance in the first quarter.
Collectively the midfield unit and defensive unit failed to provide run and spread for the majority of the game. Your probably right that Wood was focused primarily on containing Darling and the midfielders failings certainly did him no favors. But if the match committee were worried about the potential impact of Darling you would hope they would have played Talia,so im assuming that wood was played to give us more rebound off the back half and hopefully tire some of the WC forwards who would be forced to chase. It seemed like a very aggressive team selection and a calculated move to increase our speed out of defense. Needless to say the plan failed miserably.

[boydogs]

Just on Minson, people seem to be giving him credit for putting up a fight by himself against the 3 Eagles rucks Cox, Naitanui and Sinclair, but he did have Campbell in the side with him & Roughead in the defensive 50. The Eagles won the hitouts 53-31, Cox alone had 26 hitouts, 23 possessions and 5 marks compared to Minson's 27 hitouts and 8 possessions. It wasn't a bad game, but he was clearly beaten on the day which is not what we've come to expect from the AFL's number 1 ruck. A lot of our contested possession dominance stems from Minson, it's no surprise to see the Eagles dominated that yesterday when the Eagles mids were getting first hands on the ball.

It will be interesting to see how he goes next week. Goldstein was a bit sore against Essendon but if he is fit and plays then it will be another stern test for Minson

[FrediKanoute]

Bankers: Higgins - good to have him back; Hunter - the kid is class and a steal at pick 50; Macrae - going to be a gun

Anchors: Campbell - awful; Goodes - was a late punt and adds experience, but will be lucky to finish the year in the side; Stevens - had a stinker.

[Ghost Dog]

Bankers: Lachie Hunter
Anchors: Our last term. 8 goals in the last. Very disappointing.

[SonofScray]

Bankers:

Jack McCrae - used the football well, held onto it when he had to, got it to where it needed to go mostly.
Lachie Hunter - goal sense. Wants the footy in the forward half.
Bob Murphy - 250 games, horrid team display but kicked a beauty.

Anchors:

Selection panel - thought we didn't give ourselves the best shot at a win. Undersized all over the park.
Macca - a rare anchor from me, not pleased with his reactions to being completely outplayed and the absence of what he has promised us as supporters. Thought they could've made some changes in the midfield to get Libba in the game instead of chasing Priddis around.
JJ - didn't hit a target all game.