Bankers And Anchors - Round 14, 2017 vs North Melbourne

[Eastdog]

This is the round 14, 2017 edition of the Weekly Bankers and Anchors Thread. Once the game against North Melbourne 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

Good players finding some form: Bonts, Picko
Fringe players having telling moments: Campbell (owned Goldy), Dale
Increasing the gap between the two clubs for Hrovat compo

The Matt Suckling Banchor Nomination: Matt Suckling. Some really, really good with some poor. But that's the deal it seems

A

Tory Dickson - Only 2 kicks tonight. 32 team shots and none from him. Shocker.
The Glove - By his standards, well, that's as bad as I can remember as he's been outstanding for so long
JJ - If you want to have Odell Beckham hair, you need to perform like him. I think you need a VFL spell.
Goal Kicking - We literally won in behinds, after scoring less goals than North

[westbulldog]

Bankers
Bont back in form
Campbell really good game, cleaned up Goldstein.
Umpires, were good to us

Banchor
Honeychurch good efforts around the ground but pathetic shots at goal

Anchors
Our goalkicking coach, if we have one, needs to be replaced.
Dickson, nil involvement
Morris, wonderful player but looks slow at the moment.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Bankers
1. Mclean. He may be slight of build, but he stuck tackles that others are missing. Deserves his midfield place by virtue of effort and commitment.
2. Bont. Bont. Bont.. Bont.. not a superlative, adjective or verb in the English language to describe what he does, means or encapsulates his importance. So I'll create one..Thankchristingsontabulous.
3. Hunter..welcome back to game defining relevance.

Anchors
1. Almost all of the last quarter. Boo.you sucked.
2. Umpires first half..I've been critical of the umps towelling us up in recent weeks in critical moments. You really sent the needle flying in the other direction tonight and i blushed from embarrassment. North were very hard done by.
3. Libba...gosh he's got a lot of work to do to get back to where we need him to be....and boy do we need him to get back to where he once belonged... yeah i stole that. So what...

[bornadog]

Bankers

1. Super effort from Campbell in the ruck and work around the ground. Two goals as well.

2. Centre Clearances and cont. poss. - back to our best

3. Pressure and tackling -The bont, Macrae, Mclean, etc etc

Anchors

1. 9.10 from set shots - really woeful and should have won this game by miles.

2. Dickson - was no where near the ball, really struggling.

3. Turnovers through bad kicks around the ground

[Eastdog]

Bankers

1.) Bont - He is back did a lot good tonight

2.) Picken - Was really good until he got injured

3.) Honeychurch - I really liked his first half did well


Anchors

1.) Our inaccurately kicking

2.) Dickson quiet

3.) Turnovers we made

[Remi Moses]

Don't agree about the umpire bashing . Our blokes in the first half dominated contested footy and clearances , and Norf didn't touch the ball . Hence not many frees.Supporters should watch the game and not worry themselves over free kick counts

[macca]

B
Higgins: holding the a couple of times and the last kick he had for 3rd quarter going over the time , thank you !

Bonts: he is so agile for a big guy and just glides through traffic and meters gained today was 594 m, just incredible

Campbell : welcome back with 2 goals and good with hit outs and the contests.

Our Maniac run and pressure was there for 3 quarters

Picken : he has invented the new contested mark falling down and taking it with the second grab . 2 good marks which really helped us stay ahead

MAclean : very telling kicks into the 50


A.
Umpires: what's so special about cunnington that he does not get called holding the ball? The amount of times the umpires missed these one was infuriating.

Rougheads and HC free were polar opposites this sliding into the man rule and head high rule kinda contradict each other. HC Attack the ball and gets pinged for sliding into the mans legs and Roughehad had no room to move yet Norh player bangs his head into Rough knee

Suckinling : 2 turnovers that cost 2 goals just has to do better when gets tackled and the kickin was a shocker. Last kickout to redpath was a beauty , have to give him credit for that . That's suckling I Guess , brilliant with the bad

JJ : had a better game than last week but just had to back himself to burn oppositions off and back his gut running. The clanger in the third was just aweful to watch

Dropping off in the last quarter , who was tagging cunnington ?

[Remi Moses]

B- Form return of some 2016 stars
- Campbell , best game I've seen him play . Owned Goldy
- better team for 3 terms , thought we got our contested footy back
A- Turnovers killed us again. As well as set shot kicking
- Dickson is really battling
- I'll premit something here . The impending officiating whinge

[merantau]

Bankers.
1. The 4 blokes involved in the winning point.
2. Tom Campbell and BJR
3. Return to form of Bont, Liam, McLean, Wood, Hunter
Anchors
1. Dickson unsighted
2. Set shots
3. Libba - not the same bloke as before and we need him at the coalface.

[Mantis]

Bankers:

McLean - used his pace to advantage and was good around the ball.
Bont - clean, direct, influential.. seemed to move with more freedom.. or is it just he likes beating up on Norf?
Picken - back to what he does best, courageous in the air and worked hard around the ground.

Anchors:

Macrae - so much to like about your game, but your kicking was (is) sub-standard.. high floating kicks to the wrong areas.. if only you kicked like Suckling.. on 2nd thoughts be nothing like him.
Suckling - it was so much easier when I liked all of our players.
Redpath - not your fault you turn like an ocean liner, but the free you gave away late was inexcusable.

[SonofScray]

B:

Cordy tackle on the wi g near the dug outs. Didn't quite stick it at first, leapt up for another go and absolutely drilled that Norf malaka.
Campbell and Bont early long goals.
Pickens finding a bit of form after being down since the Freo game.

A:
2nd half grinding to a halt. All square on a lot of front but got outscored. Only just hung on when it should've been an easy win.
Honeychurch undid his impressive work with misses in front of goal.
Norf. If Pauline Hanson liked footy she would demand they be removed from the league for holding the normal clubs back.

[Happy Days]

B:

Bontempelli back - his kick to Redpath in the 3rd(?) quarter was the best kick of all time. His ability to weight the footy to put it to only where we can get it from almost any angle is without peer.

Campbell and Honeychurch - their best games ever. Honey's goal kicking notwithstanding.

Picken - if he "got in the way" last week then he "got in the way" of North winning this time. Continues to be a marvel with his versatility, making it that much more infuriating how he was pigeon-holed under the former administration.

A:

North - there are two types of North players; faux-tough guy "veteran leaders" who can't play to their ability because they are too focused on channelling club legend Spud Firitto by doing the "hard stuff" like deck guys after they kick it or smack them in the mouth when they're on the ground (Ziebell, Higgins, Cunnington, Thompson, etc), or absolute spuds whose families I feel sorry for, having to suffer through the embarrassment of watching them play week in week out, and to continually satiate their fragile egos by pretending they're actually AFL players and not just hobbyists who happened to get lucky and somehow drafted (Clarke, Mountford, Swallow, Mullet, Atley, Gibson, Mountford again). There is no in between. There is no reason to like, or even want to see this team. They are awful and I'd wish they just relocate into the NBL or something.

Libba - So maybe he's just not that good anymore?

Redpath - for being the DUMBEST ASS and turning the game by getting sucked in by Scott Thompson's charisma vacuum.

[Ozza]

What is the Redpath/Thompson comment about? Unless you are referring to Redpath giving a free kick away to Marley Williams?

Redpath, as always, seems to be an easy target. But he again got his two goals, we looked better going forward with him playing deep, and him marking the suckling kick out and finding Hunter on the wing, was crucial to us winning the game.

[bornadog]

Banker - Cordy, one tough young man

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDIe4MWVoAAbKKq.jpg

[Flamethrower]

Banker - Cordy, one tough young man

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDIe4MWVoAAbKKq.jpg

Roy Hobbs!!!!

[Bulldog Revolution]

Suckling - it was so much easier when I liked all of our players.


Don't go back to the dark places of the Eagleton fixation Mantis - i feared you'd never return from that ;)

Suckling is human in his imperfection, but not all he does is bad - stay in the glass is half full camp otherwise your life will only suffer

[boydogs]

Bankers

Players returning to form - Hunter, Bonts, Picken
VFL regulars performing - Campbell, Honeychurch
Hanging on when we were overrun

Anchors

Stopping to a halt in the last. Wallis & Honeychurch barely touched it after 3/4 time
Failing to make a spoil when North just bombed the ball forward
Star players a shadow of their former selves - Libba, Dickson

[Happy Days]

What is the Redpath/Thompson comment about? Unless you are referring to Redpath giving a free kick away to Marley Williams?

Redpath, as always, seems to be an easy target. But he again got his two goals, we looked better going forward with him playing deep, and him marking the suckling kick out and finding Hunter on the wing, was crucial to us winning the game.

True thought it was Thompson. Didn't mind his game overall but the free kick was stupid.

[westdog54]

Banker - Cordy, one tough young man

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDIe4MWVoAAbKKq.jpg

That is an outstanding photo.

Surely this photo belongs in the 'In-Zaine' thread.

[LostDoggy]

BANKERS

Bont and Macrae, both 190 cm+ 21 year old elite midfielders doing it all, laying 10 tackles each. Probably both top 3 in our b&f. How lucky we are to have them both.
McLean, despite getting dropped for a couple of games, really liking his progression this year. His effort in the contest is becoming very bankable.
Depth, great to see fringe players Campbell, Honeychurch and Redath make meaningful contributions.

ANCHORS

Confidence, sheesh that last 5 minutes was painful and undid a lot of good work,
Finishing - when permanent forwards Stringer and HC kick a combined 1.7 it makes life hard
Libba - I love Libba but really not sure where he's at. Still not getting to enough contests or spreading like he should. He's so important for us, really need to see more from him.

[Mantis]

Don't go back to the dark places of the Eagleton fixation Mantis - i feared you'd never return from that ;)

Suckling is human in his imperfection, but not all he does is bad - stay in the glass is half full camp otherwise your life will only suffer

I feel like Anakin being pulled to the dark-side.

I just can't have him at present.. maybe he just represents what is wrong with the team... I'll stay the course for the next few weeks, but if he continues to cost us goals with his lackadaisical style I'll flip my lid.

[Ozza]

Bankers:

The Bont - great to see him kept in the midfield for the vast majority of the night. He was brilliant.

McLean - 13 score involvements! 13! Did some great clearance work also. Very clever player, has a really good knack of things like knowing when to take possession of the ball, and when to paddle first and then grab it to help him get clear of congestion. Or just a great awareness of when he is about to get tackled. His quick hands in the play where our pressure lead to the easy Picken goal, were brilliant.

Ball movement and structure - We seemed to move players around less on Saturday night - and also kept our forward structure with Red and Picko always deep, and Stringer forward for the vast majority of the night. Thought it served us well.
21 marks inside 50 - compared to North's 12 is quite telling. It may have seemed like their tall forward set up worked - but it was only really the last quarter and part of the third when their ball movement was good enough for them to get their marks.

Banchor - Morris. Not quite as sharp as he usually is. However, still had some desperate acts which absolutely saved our skins. Has only played a handful of games this year, not quite 100% back to his best yet but he'll get there.

Anchors:

Suckling - he's a worry when it comes to short kicks, when he is running with the ball with seemingly no awareness of potential tacklers and also the panic handballs.

Dickson - mystery night for him. Can't recall him making an error. But didn't really get involved at any stage other than a couple of passages in the third quarter. I like him in the side - but he's going to need to start getting a kick.

The bleating about the umpiring. All I'm hearing is about the free kick count - but was at the game, and then have watched it again in full - and yes, we get more frees - but which ones weren't there? Ben Brown was unlucky - but sorry Ben - your team mate turned his back on the ball and pushed TC in the chest - that is a free kick every time. Higgins did his usual and took an age to kick the ball, and Stringer was onto it and played it perfectly.

[Topdog]

North were holding and pushing our players for about 95% of the match. Honestly watching at home it was blatantly obvious that Norths game plan was to try and niggle all day. Every free kick we got was obvious.

The commentators tried to make something of it at one point but Roos kind of shot it down quickly.

Ben Brown as an individual was unlucky but it's a team game and his teammate made a big error.

[bornadog]

North were holding and pushing our players for about 95% of the match. Honestly watching at home it was blatantly obvious that Norths game plan was to try and niggle all day. Every free kick we got was obvious.

The commentators tried to make something of it at one point but Roos kind of shot it down quickly.

Ben Brown as an individual was unlucky but it's a team game and his teammate made a big error.

We are one of the most disciplined teams in the AFL. Most of the time we just don't give away blatant free kicks. There were multiple free kicks North gave away from shoving players in the back after we kicked the ball, or in a pack. The pushing and shoving and Faux tough stuff is embedded in the North Culture.

There were plenty of free kicks missed in the last due to some great tackling from us and the ball being disposed incorrectly, but the umpire just said play on.

[jeemak]

I attended with a neutral, and he thought of all free kicks awarded in the first half - or not awarded - we got the raw end! Particularly some front on contact free kicks not awarded, that resulted in Norf goals (Majak Daw was unlucky in one marking contest in the first for the same type of thing) - it's like they don't pay front on contact unless it's within 50m of goal either end.

The umpires clearly checked the stats sheet at half time, they put the whistle away big time in the second half.

[Ozza]

Let's be honest - Saturday night was a perfect result for North. They played well enough to nearly win, but didn't. They keep a stranglehold on one of the high draft picks, another close loss reflects well on Brad Scott because they are playing reasonably well.

[bulldogtragic]

I just loved we won several holding the ball frees. For all the talk of umpiring in our games this year the thing that has annoyed me most is blatant holding the ball frees not being paid. When you've got outstanding tacklers laying 70-100 tackles a game and getting no HTB frees it's frustrating. But I think we got 4 or 5 which was finally some good return on effort. Mind you Higgins gifted Stringer one which was nice of him to do.

[Ozza]

It shouldn't be that hard to START your approach in 30 seconds. Regardless of whether the shot clock is on the screen or not. I get that it was unfortunate that Higgins didn't hear the first 4 calls of play on, but if he and Ben Brown both have a run up longer than Brett Lee - then they should be aware that they haven't got an extra few seconds at the top of their mark to take deep breaths and fix their clothes. They only have to START the approach within 30 seconds. Jon Ralph tweeted that Shaun took 37 seconds before play on was called.

[bulldogtragic]

It shouldn't be that hard to START your approach in 30 seconds. Regardless of whether the shot clock is on the screen or not. I get that it was unfortunate that Higgins didn't hear the first 4 calls of play on, but if he and Ben Brown both have a run up longer than Brett Lee - then they should be aware that they haven't got an extra few seconds at the top of their mark to take deep breaths and fix their clothes. They only have to START the approach within 30 seconds. Jon Ralph tweeted that Shaun took 37 seconds before play on was called.

Agree. Before the clock was on the scoreboard, I dare players wouldn't have taken 30 seconds to prepare. They used to put the ball on the ground, so time on was called, picked it up and took the shot. I don't know why players are trying to take every last one of the 30 seconds, because if you get it wrong, Stringer can smash the shit out of you. I'm not sure why players cut it so fine, for most instances (but not all).

[bornadog]

It shouldn't be that hard to START your approach in 30 seconds. Regardless of whether the shot clock is on the screen or not. I get that it was unfortunate that Higgins didn't hear the first 4 calls of play on, but if he and Ben Brown both have a run up longer than Brett Lee - then they should be aware that they haven't got an extra few seconds at the top of their mark to take deep breaths and fix their clothes. They only have to START the approach within 30 seconds. Jon Ralph tweeted that Shaun took 37 seconds before play on was called.

Who knows if he would have kicked the goal anyway.

[bulldogtragic]

Who knows if he would have kicked the goal anyway.

I knows he didn't! :D

[bornadog]

Agree. Before the clock was on the scoreboard, I dare players wouldn't have taken 30 seconds to prepare. They used to put the ball on the ground, so time on was called, picked it up and took the shot. I don't know why players are trying to take every last one of the 30 seconds, because if you get it wrong, Stringer can smash the shit out of you. I'm not sure why players cut it so fine, for most instances (but not all).

What the hell was wrong with calling time on. Again, AFL changes rule and there are other effects on the game.

[bulldogtragic]

What the hell was wrong with calling time on. Again, AFL changes rule and there are other effects on the game.

That's what the AFEL do. It's what they're best. It's like asking why a dog licks his balls...

[Bulldog Revolution]

I feel like Anakin being pulled to the dark-side.

I just can't have him at present.. maybe he just represents what is wrong with the team... I'll stay the course for the next few weeks, but if he continues to cost us goals with his lackadaisical style I'll flip my lid.

When the team is playing well then his contributions are icing on the cake, rather than the base

And the positive is at least you have a consistent type as a whipping boy - we must sit down and a good long discussion about Jordan McMahon at some stage

[Bulldog Joe]

Who knows if he would have kicked the goal anyway.

Why did he even get a free for headbutting a stationary player in the knee.

[bornadog]

Why did he even get a free for headbutting a stationary player in the knee.

True, and Roughy tried to leap over him to avoid contact.