Bankers and Anchors - Round 2

[westdog54]

This is the round 1 edition of the Weekly Bankers and Anchors Thread. Once the game against North Melbourne 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.

[bulldogtragic]

Bankers:

Wally, virtually kept Wells ineffectual.
Minson, I thought he was playing rugby union the way he just kept jumping into packs
Morris, usually Petrie kills us, but not today.

Anchors:

JJ, one of the worst misses at 'the' critical moment, 25m out dead in front...
Boyd, like many colleagues, kicking was disappointing, and in particular running past Boomer in the back 50 was a mistake he can't make if teaching kids (sorry Matty)
Stringer, looked a step behind to me
*** But generally to our lack of skills demonstrated over the entire game

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Bankers.
Macrae. I'm really warming to this kid. He's still got along way to go. But in a side bereft of skill and poise he looks likely to stand out for his skills. His decision making was good amd his snap on goal when others around him were failing was great.

Picken. Not normally a fan of him in defense, but he drove Thomas to distraction today.
Loved Jong's effort if not always his execution.

Anchors.

Stevens field kicking is just not up to standard. Unfortunately, in our team, he's not alone.

Dahlhaus' set shot goal kicking today was piss poor.

Just remembered something I was thinking during the game.
Skinner is developing some bad traits and seemingly trying to simply rely on natural talent than giving 100%. Often out of position in marking contests, single efforts, and lazy goalkicking. Even the one he got he went the millionaire route with a dribble kick when a regulation drop punt was the better percentage kick.

[always right]

Bankers:
Picken.....plenty on this board don't want Picken in defence. He did a number on Thomas tonight.
Minson.....nice to see a bit of last season's Will. Still not back to his best but a huge step up on previous weeks.
McCrae.....another excellent game from the future gun.

Anchors:
JJ.....absolutely putrid tonight whenever he touched the ball. His missed goal in the last May have been the game turner.
Griff.....should he have played? Apart from a fine goal he just didn't look right.
MC......I don't want to see Morris line up on Petrie again, despite him doing a pretty good job. For Christ sake pick an extra tall so we don't have the ridiculous situation where Cooney has to play on Goldstein when he pushed forward.

One belated nomination for an anchor is the racist homophobic prick siting behind me with his unfortunate sons. The fact that he was a bulldogs supporter made it even worse.

[Stevo]

Bankers
Morris and Picken for their ability to take on opponents and beat them
Macrae for proving to be a great selection. He is getting better
Minson for his lion hearted effort

Anchors
Jones. We needed a better effort from him and it comes down to how much longer we can accept these poor games
Wood just doesn't have the footy smarts
Sunday twilight games take a bit of organising but we need our fans to attend.

[Go_Dogs]

Bankers:
Morris - he's a star.
Cheer Squad - I thought the noise generated was good and it looked packed behind the goals with plenty of Bulldogs colour.

Anchors:
Kicking - poor field kicking and set shot kicking, we didn't give ourselves a chance
Stringer - did some OK things but seems to coast a bit and as with Crameri, looked to take the easy option with his defensive efforts more often than not.
JJ - seems to have gone backwards fast, his dash and finishing ability from last year has vanished. Someone please help him find it, we need it badly.

[Go_Dogs]

Bankers:
Morris - he's a star.
Cheer Squad - I thought the noise generated was good and it looked packed behind the goals with plenty of Bulldogs colour.

Anchors:
Kicking - poor field kicking and set shot kicking, we didn't give ourselves a chance
Stringer - did some OK things but seems to coast a bit and as with Crameri, looked to take the easy option with his defensive efforts more often than not.
JJ - seems to have gone backwards fast, his dash and finishing ability from last year has vanished. Someone please help him find it, we need it badly.

[Scorlibo]

Bankers:

Murphy, Morris and Cooney - the old timers brought some class to an otherwise horrible game to watch.

Anchors:

JJ - Probably the worst game I've seen in a Bulldogs jumper from any player, that's being honest. Not only did he butcher everything he touched but I also spotted him blindly following his man way too often. Instances like Harvey just strolling past him in the goal square because he was chasing his man... what's the point Jason?!! Black marking in the last because JJ failed to just turn around and realise the ball was over his head. Zero awareness. I'm a big fan, but he needs to be dropped.

Stringer and Crameri - the duo we were salivating over in the pre-season but the both of them just had no venom today. They never really looked like kicking goals. Stringer needs to get his mojo back asap.

[LostDoggy]

Bankers

Morris. Ever reliable.
Macrae. Continues to show energy and poise.
Murphy

Anchors

1. Kicking into the forward 50. In today's football we need NO up and under kicks and NO kicks to stationary contests if we haven't got the forwards in the team capable of marking it. Up and unders give too much time for defenders to spoil. Flat, longer kicks to advantage of the forward (where we have created the space) should enable contested and uncontested marks to be taken, and goals to be kicked from 50. We have too many players who are not capable of kicking long and accurately. They should all watch the Port Adelaide game.
2. Stringer. Struggles to keep up
3. Griffen. Lacked the run (touch and fitness) when we needed him.

[The Underdog]

Bankers

Stevens - His work in the last quarter to make an option on the play which led to JJ's miss was fantastic. Kept running and working then injured himself getting the ball out. For all of the criticisms of Koby, he works his arse off and would never miss a set shot from 20 metres out.

Morris - Beat Petrie, saved our arse a number of times with interceptions and spoils.

Murphy - Seriously is he the only guy in our back half who can hit a target.

Anchors

Selection committee - Too short in the backline & picking Griff.
Wood battled hard against Black but he was the one effective tall forward for North. Griff didn't even look like he could walk properly. He had some effective moments but struggled overall.

Libba - I know he got a cork, but hasn't been the player we saw at the end of last year.

Football - just a massive loser today

[G-Mo77]

Bankers.

3 defenders this week.

Morris, Picken and Roughie.

All held up really well under extreme pressure. Wally probably deserves an honorable mention for keeping Wells at bay.

Anchors.

JJ. Poor, really poor.

Macca and the sub. By all means put the vest on Gia but the call was far too late to bring him on.

Lindsay Thomas. What a pathetic, weak little mongrel.

[boydogs]

Bankers
Minson winning the hitouts
Morris beating his man despite being undersized
Dahlhaus' work ethic up forward

Anchors
Johanissen's awareness and disposal
Jones' concrete hands
Stringer playing like a crumber

[LostDoggy]

Bankers - Morris, must be so frustrating for him working so hard only to see his teammates stuff it up
Roughie -solid spoils when needed, marks when its an option
Picken, was good stopped his man and got the ball himself
Luke D, tries so hard
Murphy - uses the ball apart from one shocker
Mcrae and hunter - classy


Anchors - JJ I knew he would miss, has zero confidence atm
Jones - can marks sometimes but no good if he cant kick
Griff - if u r not right don't play

Selection - we were lacking another tall defender and forward, were shorter all over the ground but not faster

[Twodogs]

Bankers

Hunter and Macrae
Morris. I thought the worst remembering torchings Petrie has given us. But I should have known better
Minson. He was a lot better. Gave us first use constantly.
Murph. The world is a better place when he has the ball. Nice things happen

Anchors

The rest of the game.

[jeemak]

Bankers:

Cooney and Murphy - Tried to move the ball forward and create. Cooney went in very very hard on more occasions than I'm used to seeing

Wallis - Kept Wells quiet, and didn't give it up when given the ball under extreme pressure a lot of the time

Morris and Picken - Excellent work to curtail the work of their direct opponents. The fact they got so much of the ball was symptomatic of us not being able to move the ball forward

Anchors:

JJ - No composure, no awareness and poor skills. He didn't seem to realise he was on a football field with people trying to make it hard for him. He was on another planet

Ball use - If we're going to play a contested style it's dreadfully important we make the most of the footy when we win it

Coaching - How we could ever let Harvey play a game without being harassed as a priority is beyond me. Gia not coming on in the third quarter early on with a reshuffle to replace JJ was ridiculous

[ratsmac]

BANKERS

Morris - I thought he was brilliant again. Always plays on players much bigger than himself and beats them.

Picken - best game I seen him play in a while. Totally Dominated Thomas.

Minson - battled hard all day with no one to give him a chop out.

Libba - like Minson he battled hard and used the ball better than most.

ANCHORS

JJ - sorry pal, your not as quick as you think you are. Gets caught too often. Needs to work on his skills. But he's not alone.

Stringer - needs to impact the game more. Just goes missing.

Jones - he can jump but someone has to tell him that he has to catch the ball. If he marked half of what he dropped he would of been having 5 shots for goal.

Brendan McCartney - why did you wait so so long to activate the sub.

[bornadog]

One belated nomination for an anchor is the racist homophobic prick siting behind me with his unfortunate sons. The fact that he was a bulldogs supporter made it even worse.

You should have called security, that is not on.

[Remi Moses]

Bankers- Pickens game on Thomas ( got under his skin)
Morris - you're a champ
Macrae - poise skill and decision making ( we need more)
Wallis - shut wells out
Murphy- see macrae( all but that awful kickout)
Minson - battled manfully
Hunter - football smarts
Anchors - ball use was woeful( same players each week)
J.J's awareness and missing that goal. Poor game
Wood'sdecision making and execution were again found wanting
Jones, Stringer, and Crameri's lack of work rate, smarts ( come on lads that was awful)
The coach - activated the sub way to late( spark was needed)
The non tagging of Harvey late was critical.
The non playing of Talia ( I just don't get it) although he had a crack at a few backs in the VFL
We're carrying to many of the same types( poor decision makers and disposal

[jeemak]

You should have called security, that is not on.

Get used to it, he probably thought it was part of artistic and or public political debate!

*Mods, feel free to delete that if you think it's too political.....:)

[LostDoggy]

That whole game gets an anchor. Done.

[Ozza]

Bankers:

Morris - was tremendous - saved our skin over and over again.
Picken - gave Thomas a bath. Whatever role he is given- just absolutely applies himself 100% to it.
Macrae - showing others how its done. Really dug in when he was spent late in the game.

Anchors:

Crameri - apart from being innefectual for most of the game. 2 absolutely pitiful efforts right in front of me - where his chase of Greenwood was poor, then after Greenwood disposed of the ball Crameri gave up - and Greenwood marked inside 50 and kicked a goal. For a bloke who is supposedly an elite runner - he has some pretty poor habits in his game.

Johannisen - It wasn't just the miss that changed the momentum of the game. He had no impact prior to that. Got caught a couple of times holding the ball due to lack of awareness. Kicked poorly - and at this point in the year is way, way off being in our best 22.

Dahlhaus - as much as its a big plus for him that he stayed involved all day. His misses really hurt us. And he needed to do much better the time he ran inside 50 and got smothered.

[Mofra]

Bankers:
- On my lonesome, but I was pleased with Jones' efforts. Laying bumps and providing and option that we sorely lacked last week. He is miles ahead of Campbell as a forward.
- Draft class of 2012. We are wooden spooners without them. Macrae is already one of our best midfielders.
- Dahlhaus. He coudl barely stand at teh end of the game, pushed himself beyond exhaustion.

Anchors:
- We play the dumbest style of football in the AFL. Releasing backwards by hand constantly when it's not necessary, often to stationary players. Dumb dumb dumb.
- JJ has gone backwards. Needs a spell. Play Picken BP and bring in Young or Talia so Wood isn't giving up 5 inches & 10kgs every week (another puzzling choice)
- If Koby Stevens had half of Hunter's vision and football brain, he could be an A grader. Frustrating to see a player with so much potential fall so far short of it

[Ozza]

Bankers:
- On my lonesome, but I was pleased with Jones' efforts. Laying bumps and providing and option that we sorely lacked last week. He is miles ahead of Campbell as a forward.
- Draft class of 2012. We are wooden spooners without them. Macrae is already one of our best midfielders.
- Dahlhaus. He coudl barely stand at teh end of the game, pushed himself beyond exhaustion.

Anchors:
- We play the dumbest style of football in the AFL. Releasing backwards by hand constantly when it's not necessary, often to stationary players. Dumb dumb dumb.
- JJ has gone backwards. Needs a spell. Play Picken BP and bring in Young or Talia so Wood isn't giving up 5 inches & 10kgs every week (another puzzling choice)
- If Koby Stevens had half of Hunter's vision and football brain, he could be an A grader. Frustrating to see a player with so much potential fall so far short of it

Not on your lonesome Mofra. I agree. His defensive pressure was good, work rate was the best I've seen from him since his Geelong game last year. He just needs to learn to be able to get 3 or 4 easy marks per game.

Other side of the coin, on your 'anchoring' of Stevens. I can't agree on that one today. Thought Koby was pretty good. He's a real power runner, and we didn't have many in the last half who continued to provide options and take the game on. Agree that if he had Hunter's smarts he'd be a gun.

[Ghost Dog]

On Jones, every time he goes for a mark, I expect it to go through his hands. He has to develop some hand strength.

[always right]

Not on your lonesome Mofra. I agree. His defensive pressure was good, work rate was the best I've seen from him since his Geelong game last year. He just needs to learn to be able to get 3 or 4 easy marks per game.

Other side of the coin, on your 'anchoring' of Stevens. I can't agree on that one today. Thought Koby was pretty good. He's a real power runner, and we didn't have many in the last half who continued to provide options and take the game on. Agree that if he had Hunter's smarts he'd be a gun.

Agree with all of that but waht I don't understand is why Stevens continually handballs at the feet of teammates. Is it simply a technique thing or in his head? Shame because he has some great attributes.

[comrade]

Agree with all of that but waht I don't understand is why Stevens continually handballs at the feet of teammates. Is it simply a technique thing or in his head? Shame because he has some great attributes.

It's maddening. He would have been a star at tunnel ball.

[LostDoggy]

Anchors

Game set-up. It looked like Little league. All players in the vicinity charging in for the ball. No outriders to give the ball to.

No pace in the forward line. In fact no pace elsewhere.

Crameri is a replica of Stringer - neither big nor small and no pace

Bankers

Talia, Williams and Tutt are hopefully available

[Mofra]

Other side of the coin, on your 'anchoring' of Stevens. I can't agree on that one today. Thought Koby was pretty good. He's a real power runner, and we didn't have many in the last half who continued to provide options and take the game on. Agree that if he had Hunter's smarts he'd be a gun.
I thought Koby was maybe a 6 out of 10 - a pass mark, but he is capable of so much more.

Does anyone know if he is particularly coachable? He does handball low and try to do too much at times, but I can live with that. I even think his decision making isn't particularly bad, it's a by product of the fact that he has very little vision on the field. Contrast that with Lachie Hunter who arguably has the best on field vision on our entire list already - just a naturally smart football with fantastic situational awareness.

Koby really could be a special player, he has that much potential.

[always right]

Anchors

Game set-up. It looked like Little league. All players in the vicinity charging in for the ball. No outriders to give the ball to.

No pace in the forward line. In fact no pace elsewhere.

Crameri is a replica of Stringer - neither big nor small and no pace
Bankers

Talia, Williams and Tutt are hopefully available

Pace is not an issue...work rate is. He seems to choose when he wants to go. I watched him almost run down a North player yesterday when he started 15 meters behind him. On other occasions he made little effort. Both he and Jones have great pace which makes it even more surprising why Jones in particular struggles to get separation from his opponent.

[Happy Days]

- We play the dumbest style of football in the AFL. Releasing backwards by hand constantly when it's not necessary, often to stationary players. Dumb dumb dumb.

Yep. It's an attempt at switching to open up the game by carrying down the open side right? Coz that doesn't work when it takes you a literal minute to kick it twice. And it's uncontested so they're not even cracking in!

It's what I used to love so much about Hargrave's game, he was excellent at executing the switch kick.

[Ghost Dog]

I saw videos of Crameri doing sprints and his rate of acceleration was unbelievable.
I'd like to see his beep test but would wager it's not that far off Griffen's.

[Mofra]

Yep. It's an attempt at switching to open up the game by carrying down the open side right? Coz that doesn't work when it takes you a literal minute to kick it twice. And it's uncontested so they're not even cracking in!
It might just be - but teams are smart enough to corale the kicking player instead of tackle them to ensure our clearances are poor quality. We get 50/50 on the clearance stats yet ours are shitful kick & hopes to an undersized forwardline, any opposition that runs into space and plays to move the ball forward as a priority will have a huge advantage over us.

Pace in the middle is almost irrelevant in many of our contests: we could have 3 Usain Bolts in the middle, if you handball backwards to a stationary player who has opponents nearby they have two options: release by hand or rush a kick over a pack, because they cannot hold and assess options.
Teams will keep making us choose one of those two options and cut us up on the rebound.

[Scorlibo]

Anchors

Game set-up. It looked like Little league. All players in the vicinity charging in for the ball. No outriders to give the ball to.

No pace in the forward line. In fact no pace elsewhere.

Crameri is a replica of Stringer - neither big nor small and no pace

Bankers

Talia, Williams and Tutt are hopefully available


Pace is not an issue...work rate is. He seems to choose when he wants to go. I watched him almost run down a North player yesterday when he started 15 meters behind him. On other occasions he made little effort. Both he and Jones have great pace which makes it even more surprising why Jones in particular struggles to get separation from his opponent.

Can't agree with either of you, I think Crameri has pretty exceptional pace and an exceptional wort rate to boot. Give him some time, and our forward line time, to settle in.

[The bulldog tragician]

It's all been said but
Bankers:
Dale Morris, the most under rated champ in the game ( I also Liked Roughie's game a lot
The work ethic, if not the finishing skills of Dahl, the class of Hunter and MacRae
Lin Jong is a real favorite of mine. Loved his desire and ferocious attack on the footy.

Anchors:
Kicking skills AND decision making combined: not just the bad kick, but the bad option, poorly executed
The first half was just excruciatingly bad as a spectacle
Selection.. Lack of talls? Please explain!

[Dancin' Douggy]

Bankers.
Hunter. This kid is an absolute gun.
Vision skill arrogance, he just sees the game so well. The angles on his kicks and his absolute confidence to take the game on are so bloody refreshing. He is a star. Might even be the best kid out of that draft.

Macrae. This kid is an absolute gun.
Vision skill arrogance, he just sees the game so well. The angles on his kicks and his absolute confidence to take the game on are so bloody refreshing. He is a star. Might even be the best kid out of that draft.

Dalhaus. This kid is an absolute gun.
Vision skill arrogance, he just sees the game so well. The angles on his kicks and his absolute confidence to take the game on are so bloody refreshing. He is a star. Might even be the best kid out of that draft.(poetic licence)

Anchors. None really. It was a tough brutal game, but no one really thought we'd beat Norf.

I must say though, it's so disappointing watching Koby do all the hard work, like grabbing the contested ball breaking a tackle and slicing through some traffic, only to handball the ball straight to a teammates feet when he's finally in the clear and under no pressure. If he could just maintain his concentration and finish off his good work we would have got out of a lot more congestion than we did. But the sloppy handball creates another ugly maul and it just happens too often with Koby. Love his endeavour, but just give us that last 5% and hit someone on the chest with a handball, he could really be a powerful weapon.

And I agree that Jones should be played at CHB. He might turn into a good CHF, but he ain't one now.

Was surprised Stringer was subbed off. He just needs as much game time as he can get. He might just turn out to be the best kid from that draft.

[AndrewP6]

Bankers.
Hunter. This kid is an absolute gun.
Vision skill arrogance, he just sees the game so well. The angles on his kicks and his absolute confidence to take the game on are so bloody refreshing. He is a star. Might even be the best kid out of that draft.

Macrae. This kid is an absolute gun.
Vision skill arrogance, he just sees the game so well. The angles on his kicks and his absolute confidence to take the game on are so bloody refreshing. He is a star. Might even be the best kid out of that draft.

Dalhaus. This kid is an absolute gun.
Vision skill arrogance, he just sees the game so well. The angles on his kicks and his absolute confidence to take the game on are so bloody refreshing. He is a star. Might even be the best kid out of that draft.(poetic licence)

Anchors. None really. It was a tough brutal game, but no one really thought we'd beat Norf.

I must say though, it's so disappointing watching Koby do all the hard work, like grabbing the contested ball breaking a tackle and slicing through some traffic, only to handball the ball straight to a teammates feet when he's finally in the clear and under no pressure. If he could just maintain his concentration and finish off his good work we would have got out of a lot more congestion than we did. But the sloppy handball creates another ugly maul and it just happens too often with Koby. Love his endeavour, but just give us that last 5% and hit someone on the chest with a handball, he could really be a powerful weapon.

And I agree that Jones should be played at CHB. He might turn into a good CHF, but he ain't one now.

Was surprised Stringer was subbed off. He just needs as much game time as he can get. He might just turn out to be the best kid from that draft.

So you're saying we have lots of good kids? :D