Bankers And Anchors - Round 9, 2017 vs Geelong

[Eastdog]

This is the round 9, 2017 edition of the Weekly Bankers and Anchors Thread. Once the game against Geelong is concluded post your nominations for:

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

Optional: New addition to the Bankers and Anchors Banchors 3 players we thought who were in the middle in how they went in the game neither a Banker or Anchor.

Please limit it to no more than three of each player or aspect of the game, 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 - I will allow more freedom now as the thread seems to be going down more of the aspects of the game path so you can have 3 for each made up of aspects of the game and individual players.

The thread is named in honour of a popular WOOF Contributor, The Banker, who passed away on 22/04/2012 after a six month battle with cancer.

[GVGjr]

Bump

[bulldogtragic]

B

Third quarter.
Making more set shots.
Macrae & Jong. Beasts.


A

Umpires. Several key moments in the last quarter.
Stupid decisions, a toro from Cloke in the last in the heat of it.
Coaching. No one to Danger for a half... Really?

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

B
Tom Boyd - big confidence booster tonight. Clutch in the air and by boot after an early easy miss. Hopefully sets his season off now.
Wally - not a lot that needs to be said we all saw his courage and grit and polish too.
Easton Wood his best game this year. Our best defender tonight and just took the game on at all costs.

Anchors
Maybe Bevo needs to reassess the level of respect he pays to the opposition match winner mids
Brain fades from Adams, Cloke and Bailey Williams in key moments
And i know we're only allowed 3 but a new category is needed tonight for Wankers...and that goes to the Umpires - that was just as close to out an out favouritism as you could get.

[westbulldog]

Bankers
Mitch Wallis -congratulations, a great return game
Luke Dalhaus - his 1 desperate possession in the last 1/4 would by itself get him in the bankers.
Tory Dickson - good to have the sharpshooter back

Anchors
Umpiring - example the Murphy decision - this sport is now fully professional and some umpires are on 150k plus extras, if a business executive made similar mistakes they would be promptly Aholed. One wonders what the umpiring panel do over their scones and jam.
Lachie Hunter - lacking the intensity and game influence he had in 2016.
Not having a fit Roughie.

[Remi Moses]

Bankers - Wallis , what a great comeback
- Jong , really establishing himself
- Boyd , really good 2nd half
Anchors - Suckling , I've refrained from bagging him, but when we're just going he looks like a park footballer .
- hunter, just not impacting like last year
- Bevo, got it wrong with the team selections

[always right]

B
Lin Jong.....must be top 5 in our B&F so far.
Bailey Dale.....looked entirely comfortable tonight in a pressure match. Good ball use.
Mitch Wallis.....great return. Had forgotten how good he is.

Banchors
Adams did do much right tonight but he makes critical errors every week.
Clay Smith....love his tenacity but is he last bloke you want the ball going to one out at full forward.

A
Centre clearance work. Abysmal.
Cloke's decision making.
Critical umpiring decisions/non decisions. That Murphy one was a turning point.

[bornadog]

Bankers

1. Tom Boyd, excellent game

2. Lin Jong - getting better every week, needs to finish off games

3. Return of Mitch Wallis - not only gets the ball but kicks goals.

Anchors

1.2nd quarter, cost us the game in the end - playing catch up instead of extending our lead

2. Hunter, shocking game

3. Channel 7 Commentary bias - Ling the Wanker, during the first half couldn't shut his mouth up about Geelong, third quarter didn't hear one word from his mouth.

[The bulldog tragician]

B
Wally really was superb. Welcome back.
Tom Boyd, stood tall.
I really like what Bailey Dale brought tonight. He is a clean, poised player.

A
You knew the home town umpiring factor would kick in. The Murphy HTB when he got his kick away resembled the atrocious one against Hargrave, PF 2009 (yes I have a long memory)
the Selwood/ Dangerfield love in reached scary heights
Geelong Football Club. I'm sick of this whole story between us and them. It's downright embarrassing

[Eastdog]

Bankers

Wallis - Great return tonight

Jong - Been doing very well

Dickson - Took some marks inside 50 and kicked some goals


Anchors

That awful 2nd quarter - No Bulldog spirit in that quarter at all

Umpiring decision that went against Bob

Losing against this mob again

[Greystache]

Bankers

Wallis - Excellent return game. Welcome back
T Boyd - Showed more hints at what he'll become
Jong- Keeps growing

Anchors

Being Geelong's utter bitches

Murphy- It's terrifying when he has the ball at moment. It's as likely to end up with an opposition goal as with us. The end is coming fast.

Kicking- Goal kicking is D grade suburban level, field kicking is only marginally better. It'll improve, no need to work on it.

[Doc26]

Anchors

Being Geelong's utter bitches

Murphy- It's terrifying when he has the ball at moment. It's as likely to end up with an opposition goal as with us. The end is coming fast.

Kicking- Goal kicking is D grade suburban level, field kicking is only marginally better. It'll improve, no need to work on it.

And being the first Team to vindicate Chris Scott's move of Taylor to the forward line whilst continuing to vindicate Taylor's disrespect of us - a double whammy which hurts

[Greystache]

And being the first Team to vindicate Chris Scott's move of Taylor to the forward line whilst continuing to vindicate Taylor's disrespect of us - a double whammy which hurts

Agree. *!*!*!*! me he's the worst Geelong player to kick a bag against us since D Mensch!

[soupman]

Bankers
Wood: He should be our captain. Is equal parts breathtaking and tough, assured with the ball in hand and does stuff no one else in the comp does. Barely loses a contest he is involved in. An elite player and his form tonight was sensational.
Youngens: Williams was good wit the ball in hand and for a man of such little size has an amazing ability to break tackles. Also love the way he waddles his way through traffic. Despite a few errors had an impressive game. Dale was also good with the ball, and while not getting the ball a heap was damaging when he did. And Webb had his moments as well, including that lovely goal.
Boyd: Multiple marks, including a ripper contested one. Kicked an important goal, and his link up work in close through the middle was good. Seems to play well at Kardinia. Also as an extension of this how shit was Hawkins, the player Boyd is most compared to. I really hope Boyd turns out better than that, because he was pathetic tonight.

Anchors (I've taken the liberty of filling this section ou a bit more fully than usual, and none of it is directed at a Bulldog because even though some were quiet they all clearly put in)
Taylor: This guy prior to this week was the worst set shot seen this century. Goes on to kick 5 straight against us, despite lining his shots up as if he's got the runs. And from memory they were all essentially gimmes from his teammates, none were from contested marks or anything other than being on the end of the chain.
Umpiring: Seriously atrocious. And we "won" the count! Absolutely blatant holding the balls not paid, including the Selwood one which lost all our momentum. Murphy getting pinged for his kick, Menzel playing on but not, multiple Cats blatantly throwing the ball, that play late in the 4th where they were tackled, clearly threw/dropped the ball right in front of the umpire who went to blow his whistle and then just decided to call play on. They did miss a couple against us as well, but far and away we copped it from them.
Commentary: Never have I heard such vomit worthy biased repetitive crap. Cameron Ling is the worst thing in AFL football, which is an amazing achievement considering the completely ineptitude displayed by so much of the AFL media (and staff). He would not shut up for 3 quarters tonight, no prizes for guessing which one he shut up in. Bruce had some shocking lines, including one involving something like the following ""You have to wonder about Geelong, there's a lot of them". And then you have Richo who I usually quite like, but is getting his injury news from the Geelong twitter account when he is sitting next to their bench. Also, we get it, Geelong have a new stadium and they are tackling a lot.
Kardinia Park away games: I like the idea of suburban grounds, but hate that Geelong is the only club to benefit from it. Would have loved to have gone but no tickets available, and hate that we always get scheduled to play there. The fact that that was Clokes first trip down there shows how bullshit it is that we always have to cop it while other clubs avoid it. Hopefully that changes with our increased attendances. Also how many away Friday night games can we cop.
Tackle Happy Cats: Essendon get the win against an uninterested Geelong that laid something like 40 tackles for the match. We however get to play a possessed Geelong in a match that recorded 238 tackles. Get stuffed. Of course they have to be pumped up when they play us.
Smug: Dangerfield is a gun player, and is awesome to watch, and seems like a bit of a dag and friendly guy of it. But all that is negated by how smug and hateable he is. Why do all Geelong stars have to be so hateable.

I have not been that pissed off during and after a match in a long time, and for once it was purely external factors and our side had nearly nothing to do with it.

[ratsmac]

Bankers

Tom Boyd - he played a pretty good game as first ruck. Won plenty of taps and then was getting in close. The ball even started sticking in his hands. It showed how much we miss Roughead when Cloke went in the ruck and Boyd was able to play minutes up forward. He was the only big man in the forward line that looked likely to score.

Wallis - welcome back Mitch. He played a terrific game right at the coal face. He even snuck forward for a couple goals and should've had another but Cloke thought a 3 on 1 was a better option than Mitch on his own. So happy to have him back. He shows so much heart. Worthy banker.

Bailey Dale - I thought it was a mistake to play him but he showed that he can definitely provide us something in the team. His cleaness with the ball in hand is a pleasent change. He doesn't blaze away anf bomb it long instead he lowers the eyes and finds a target. I can see why Bevo wants to get games into him snd also Webb and Williams. We need good bsll users and those 3 mentioned are.

Banchor

Friday night exposure. It would be nice to win one though.

Anchors

Hunter - terrible game with zero impact. I'm not sure why his numbers are down this year but he needs to recapture some form fast. I had him heading into elite status last year but at the moment I think he's heading towards being a B grader. Had a real stinker.

Suckling - I actually don't see what he brings to the team at the moment. His biggest asset is his kicking but isn't executing it enough to warrent a spot in the best 22. I'd rather Biggs TBH.

Umpiring - we had more frees whilst getting shafted by the umps. To not ping selwood fot HTB after so many 360's and the illegal an disposal and then penalise Bob after he gets a kick away is just unfair biased umpiring. The Cloke in the back after Selwood drops the ball was a joke and I don't blame Cloke for telling the umpire to *!*!*!*! off. The Picken tackle in the last where it right in front of the ump was appalling. Agian i don't blame the players for mouthing out to the ump.

[comrade]

Bankers:

1. Tom Boyd took another step forward as a dangerous ruck/forward hybrid. 33 HO, 20 touches and hit the scoreboard. That's the standard we need each week now.

2. Jong was our most dynamic mid and held onto the ball more, rather than instinctively giving it off under pressure.

3. I thought Dale looked the most comfortable he has at AFL level. Williams made a few howlers but I think it's starting to click for him. Webb just doesn't get enough of it but that goal was very nice.

Anchors:

Pretty much the rest. Not defending Danger in the last quarter (or all night), Harry Taylor, Redpath having 7 touches and butchering a chance to keep us firmly in the game, Harry Taylor, Hunter with 13 touches, Adams breaking his kick it long rule in the worst spot on the ground, Selwood must be sponsored by the WWF because he is a protected species, the Murph 'free' and Ling trying to act like he wasn't cockahoop over it.

**** result, top 4 is slipping away and top 8 will take some work.

[AndrewP6]

Commentary: Never have I heard such vomit worthy biased repetitive crap. Cameron Ling is the worst thing in AFL football, which is an amazing achievement considering the completely ineptitude displayed by so much of the AFL media (and staff). He would not shut up for 3 quarters tonight, no prizes for guessing which one he shut up in. Bruce had some shocking lines, including one involving something like the following ""You have to wonder about Geelong, there's a lot of them". And then you have Richo who I usually quite like, but is getting his injury news from the Geelong twitter account when he is sitting next to their bench. Also, we get it, Geelong have a new stadium and they are tackling a lot.
[B]

At one point a free was paid, Mcavaney said "It's s a free. Is it the Bulldogs? No, it's OK, it's the Cats". Blatant barracking. And did you know, Geelong were tackling a lot, and they have a redeveloped ground?

[G-Mo77]

At one point a free was paid, Mcavaney said "It's s a free. Is it the Bulldogs? No, it's OK, it's the Cats". Blatant barracking. And did you know, Geelong were tackling a lot, and they have a redeveloped ground?

I also heard Joel Selwood took this game personally. any truth to that?

I tried to prepare myself for the pro Geelong dribble but you just can't prepare for it. I should have turned the sound down.

[always right]

Did you know most of the goals were kicked at the one end? It was amazing....so much so that the commentators needed to remind us constantly. They were besotted by it as if there has never been anything like it in the history of the game.

[Sedat]

Anchors

Murphy- It's terrifying when he has the ball at moment. It's as likely to end up with an opposition goal as with us. The end is coming fast.
I thought he was instrumental in the 3rd qtr resurgence. For mine he has not lost any speed or agility, which at his age are key indicators of any potential decline.

[soupman]

Did you know most of the goals were kicked at the one end? It was amazing....so much so that the commentators needed to remind us constantly. They were besotted by it as if there has never been anything like it in the history of the game.

Also don't forget the idiotic comment as Boyd lined up his shot "I think he had a shot from the same position at the other end of the ground against GWS", as if Kardinia park and Canberra are the same ground.

[China Dog]

Bankers
Lin Jong - worked hard all night
Mitch Wallis - all heart, bleeds for the club
Easton Wood - spirtual captains game

Anchors
Lachie Hunter - living off last year, time to go back to VFL
Lack of intensity & will to win, get back to being contested ball beasts!
Can't play Redpath & Cloke together

[Sedat]

Agree. *!*!*!*! me he's the worst Geelong player to kick a bag against us since D Mensch!
Justin Wood kicked a bag against us at Princes Park in the late 90's - not even Geelong fans would remember him!

[Ozza]

Bankers:

Jong - the only player we could confidently say has improved from last year.
Wallis - One swallow doesn't make a summer - but there is a reasonable chance that he has come back a better player. Seemed like he had real intent to be more attacking/aggressive with the ball. Looks in ripping nick (always has, but even more so).
Dale - was very clean and creative. Slowly becoming a player. Might be a genuine best 22 this time next year....hopefully earlier.

Banchor - Tom Boyd. Great to see him getting plenty of footy, take a few marks and convert a couple of opportunities. He sits in the banchor category because his direct opponent was very good.

Anchors:

Cloke - The period of him rucking was the catalyst in us losing. Abusing the umpire and giving away 50/a goal/the momentum was horrific. He doesn't move the ball on quick enough, doesn't fit the side.

Hunter - is really down. Has been getting a lot more attention this year. Teams know that him being the link up player on the wings is important to us and have put some time into him and he hasn't been able to work through it.

Suckling - well down. Think he should do some VFL time and try to get back to using his strengths better.

[bornadog]

Anchors:

Cloke - The period of him rucking was the catalyst in us losing. Abusing the umpire and giving away 50/a goal/the momentum was horrific. He doesn't move the ball on quick enough, doesn't fit the side.

When he went into the ruck in the 3rd quarter is when we started kicking goals and hit the front.

[Mantis]

Anchors:

Cloke - The period of him rucking was the catalyst in us losing. Abusing the umpire and giving away 50/a goal/the momentum was horrific. He doesn't move the ball on quick enough, doesn't fit the side.

Hunter - is really down. Has been getting a lot more attention this year. Teams know that him being the link up player on the wings is important to us and have put some time into him and he hasn't been able to work through it.

Suckling - well down. Think he should do some VFL time and try to get back to using his strengths better.

Which period was this? The first 20min of the 2nd qtr was as bad as it gets as we went from a 10 point lead to a 4 goal deficit pretty quickly.. Can't remember him rucking at all during this period and it was Jong (who was our best mid at the time) doing the bulk of the ruck work during this period... Agree with 'bad' that he was ok in the ruck in the 3rd when we got on top and the space our mids gave Dangerwood in the last qtr was pathetic to say the least.

Agree on your point about the 50m and making 2 errors with ball in hand in the last qtr, but as this was his first game for about 5 or 6 weeks, and it was a 'hot' game, it may take him a while to get up to speed.. The fact too that he's played about 5 games with us needs to be taken into account with ball movement.

I'm by no means Travis's #1 fan, but I think he's got a bit to offer as a tall & mobile forward and would like to see a bit more of him in our side before determining if he belongs there.

[Ozza]

I may have gotten the periods of the game wrong as to when Cloke was actually rucking, where he might possibly have been up high as a forward. But I was referring to periods in the last quarter where the game got away from us and he made blues up around the middle of the ground.

[bornadog]

The period not long after start of the last quarter was where we went from 9 points in front, to losing the game.

But did he ruck much during this period? I thought Tom was in the ruck.

We lost it due to Selwood not being stopped. Danger didn't have many disposals in the last compared to Selwood who had 9, his best quarter.