Bankers and Anchors - Elimination Final, 2020 vs St Kilda

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

This is the round Elimination Final 2020 edition of the weekly Bankers and Anchors thread. Once the game against St Kilda 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

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

[FrediKanoute]

Bankers

1) English - look he got beaten. But he kept trying/putting in and competing. Didn't drop his head and will be bigger and stronger next year;

2) Bailey Smith - his run and carry was great all day. yes he missed a sitter and yes it proved costly, but he is a gun midfielder and looked at home in a final today;

3) Daniel - beaten by Geary earlier, but kept backing himself and backing himself and backing himself. Won his position on the day.

Anchorrs

1) The Coaching Tactics - the Saints game plan is obvious and just played into it for 3 quarters;

2) Lippa - pretty average out there today and he would be disappointed. Sold Bont into trouble and just chose the wrong option;

3) Communication - wasn't on today. Too often the Saints were allowed to go up uncontested or 3 doggies would go for the ball and not shpherd and help out. We weren't on today.

[SonofScray]

B:
Effort.

A:
Coaching/strategy/mentality.

[bornadog]

B:
Effort.

A:
Coaching/strategy/mentality.

Nothing to do with coaching

[Rance Fan]

Bankers
1 Crozier
2 R Smith
3 B Williams


Anchors

1 Ruck - We need one!
2 Mids - need ones that hit targets going forward and can kick goals
3 Need some more talls...too many same types in the team

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Bankers

1. Bont - he gave his all out there
2. Taylor Duryea's courage - one effort in the last where he flew for the ball and got smashed, but prevented a Saints mark, just exemplified how fearless he was. He met the standard.
3. My 7 yr old son Josh.... he was reduced to tears when we looked gone at 26 points down early in the 4th...and in the face of some really unclassy Saints family in front of us...he just kept cheering, and singing Dog's chants, through tears....and just kept it up with each goal we kicked. He earned a lot of praise after the game from quite a few Doggies fans and a very classy who came up to him and magnanimous Saints fans sitting behind us.
One of the positives of 2020 is for him to be able to see 4 Dogs games..and based on what I saw tonight... the Dogs are now in his blood.

Anchors
1. Lipinski. a witches hat defensively, and a rabbit in headlights when he had to make a decision.
2. Macrae- I love him and he's a top flight player who often leads the way, but unfortunately his limitations stood out tonight.
3. The middle aged Saints fan and his teenage sons in front of us.. They were rude, disrespectful, and took every opportunity to try and rub their good fortune in and disparage any cheering from Dogs supporters. They nearly crapped their collective pants in the last 10 minutes and were silent. Then as soon as the siren went, all of them stood up and started laughing at Dogs supporters and unleashing a bunch of verbal taunts.. I was livid.. and wanted to explode... but thought I'd set an example for my kids... I smiled at these cretins and said to them "thank you so much"... and then I turned to my two kids who were puzzled at my thanking these clowns and said 'I'm thankful because you saw that kids... you have in front of you a perfect example of what never to do when your team wins.. That's a lack of class, but the Saints family behind us that's how you do it! You celebrate your team winning and also be gracious and a good sport."

[josie]

Bankers

1. Bont - he gave his all out there
2. Taylor Duryea's courage - one effort in the last where he flew for the ball and got smashed, but prevented a Saints mark, just exemplified how fearless he was. He met the standard.
3. My 7 yr old son Josh.... he was reduced to tears when we looked gone at 26 points down early in the 4th...and in the face of some really unclassy Saints family in front of us...he just kept cheering, and singing Dog's chants, through tears....and just kept it up with each goal we kicked. He earned a lot of praise after the game from quite a few Doggies fans and a very classy who came up to him and magnanimous Saints fans sitting behind us.
One of the positives of 2020 is for him to be able to see 4 Dogs games..and based on what I saw tonight... the Dogs are now in his blood.

Anchors
1. Lipinski. a witches hat defensively, and a rabbit in headlights when he had to make a decision.
2. Macrae- I love him and he's a top flight player who often leads the way, but unfortunately his limitations stood out tonight.
3. The middle aged Saints fan and his teenage sons in front of us.. They were rude, disrespectful, and took every opportunity to try and rub their good fortune in and disparage any cheering from Dogs supporters. They nearly crapped their collective pants in the last 10 minutes and were silent. Then as soon as the siren went, all of them stood up and started laughing at Dogs supporters and unleashing a bunch of verbal taunts.. I was livid.. and wanted to explode... but thought I'd set an example for my kids... I smiled at these cretins and said to them "thank you so much"... and then I turned to my two kids who were puzzled at my thanking these clowns and said 'I'm thankful because you saw that kids... you have in front of you a perfect example of what never to do when your team wins.. That's a lack of class, but the Saints family behind us that's how you do it! You celebrate your team winning and also be gracious and a good sport."

Classy YHF.... what a great Dad you are. And role model for all RWB supporters.

[SonofScray]

Nothing to do with coaching

St Kilda were in the box seat and looked like they'd get up all night. Bevo had his pants pulled down. Ratten has him covered.

[Eastdog]

Bankers

1. Bont - he gave his all out there
2. Taylor Duryea's courage - one effort in the last where he flew for the ball and got smashed, but prevented a Saints mark, just exemplified how fearless he was. He met the standard.
3. My 7 yr old son Josh.... he was reduced to tears when we looked gone at 26 points down early in the 4th...and in the face of some really unclassy Saints family in front of us...he just kept cheering, and singing Dog's chants, through tears....and just kept it up with each goal we kicked. He earned a lot of praise after the game from quite a few Doggies fans and a very classy who came up to him and magnanimous Saints fans sitting behind us.
One of the positives of 2020 is for him to be able to see 4 Dogs games..and based on what I saw tonight... the Dogs are now in his blood.

Anchors
1. Lipinski. a witches hat defensively, and a rabbit in headlights when he had to make a decision.
2. Macrae- I love him and he's a top flight player who often leads the way, but unfortunately his limitations stood out tonight.
3. The middle aged Saints fan and his teenage sons in front of us.. They were rude, disrespectful, and took every opportunity to try and rub their good fortune in and disparage any cheering from Dogs supporters. They nearly crapped their collective pants in the last 10 minutes and were silent. Then as soon as the siren went, all of them stood up and started laughing at Dogs supporters and unleashing a bunch of verbal taunts.. I was livid.. and wanted to explode... but thought I'd set an example for my kids... I smiled at these cretins and said to them "thank you so much"... and then I turned to my two kids who were puzzled at my thanking these clowns and said 'I'm thankful because you saw that kids... you have in front of you a perfect example of what never to do when your team wins.. That's a lack of class, but the Saints family behind us that's how you do it! You celebrate your team winning and also be gracious and a good sport."

Good stuff YHF.

[merantau]

Bankers.
Bailey Williams
Bailey Smith
Caleb Daniel

Anchors
Not taking our chances numerous times.
Poor tackling
Poor delivery inside 50

[AshMac]

Bankers

Caleb Daniel. Build a statue of him, sell
Key rings, I want to bottle him and pour it over my pancakes. He is just absolutely supreme with ball in hand

The last 9 minutes of the game. Saints terrified, us with all the momentum taking or chances. Was nice of the dogs to give me one last heart attack before the season finished

This forum. God I miss going to footy and the release it provides and it is hard keeping composed with 2 kids under 6 sitting next to you on the couch. Having outlets like this have been particularly important this season (and yesterday)

Anchors

Tackling. For god sake it was pathetic. Saints got hands free most of the time when we stuck them or we just glanced off them

Speed - we looked so slow across the ground and particularly in our forward line

Marking - out marked at both ends of the ground all day long

Our Finals football (one more) - we learnt nothing from last year, clearly all the talk of coming out hard from Bont during the week was hot air. We lacked intensity and accountability across the ground and did nothing. When Ben Long collected Macrae we should have put him down, made a mark and dug in. We played footy appropriate for round 9, not finals and it just isn’t good enough.

[bornadog]

Marking - out marked at both ends of the ground all day long

This was one of the reasons we lost, and Bevo mentioned it after the game. Saints took 21 contested marks, the most in any game this year.

[Danjul]

This was one of the reasons we lost, and Bevo mentioned it after the game. Saints took 21 contested marks, the most in any game this year.

Their season average was 9.

Obviously we did something wrong if they had a 150% improvement.

[bornadog]

Their season average was 9.

Obviously we did something wrong if they had a 150% improvement.

yeah we couldn't mark the ball.

[Danjul]

yeah we couldn't mark the ball.

Actually we didn’t have players matched up to contest. I can remember seeing three of our mediums outmarked in a pack by one of their talls. It was noticeable that the Saints were disciplined and didn’t spoil each other. They had more confidence in each other’s aerial ability.

[AshMac]

This was one of the reasons we lost, and Bevo mentioned it after the game. Saints took 21 contested marks, the most in any game this year.

Contested and uncontested marks - we made coffield look like a top 10 pick. I think tackling was a bigger problem that their marking.

[bornadog]

Contested and uncontested marks - we made coffield look like a top 10 pick. I think tackling was a bigger problem that their marking.

Don't agree. We had 41 tackles to their 32. Yes we missed a few tackles, but that didn't influence the game as much as the contested marking.

[Mofra]

Contested and uncontested marks - we made coffield look like a top 10 pick. I think tackling was a bigger problem that their marking.
Coffield has been very good this year. Took him a while to get going, but this year is a huge improvement over what he's produced previously.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Contested and uncontested marks - we made coffield look like a top 10 pick. I think tackling was a bigger problem that their marking.

Yep and we’re talking about contested marks, broken tackles and lack of defensive transition. All signs of a lack of physicality and intensity required in finals football. It’s why we’ve consistently fallen short against the top sides.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Coffield has been very good this year. Took him a while to get going, but this year is a huge improvement over what he's produced previously.

Coffield and Clark from the same draft have been superb this year. However we made it all too easy for Coffield.

[Ozza]

Bankers:

Bailey Williams - had a very good year, and capped it off by performing strongly in the final.
Roarke Smith - did an excellent job on the very dangerous Brad Hill, and didn't waste the footy. A big tick for his finish to the year.
Daniel - although he was left in the match up with Geary too long, thats the coaches fault, but if we were going to win the game, it was going to be him or Bont that did it.

Anchors:

Bailey Smith - "A" for effort and got heaps of footy - but would it kill him to kick it to us? I'm fairly sure he was going 0% by foot up until 3 quarter time, so we may have been better off if the ball was in the hands of our other mids more. I know this is a really harsh wrap, but my expectations of Smith are very high because of how much I rate him, and he has had a hell of a lot of games this season where everyone has lauded him for getting 25 possessions, but in reality only half of them are getting to a team mate.

Wood - lost touch with Membrey early, and found himself caught in between peeling off to spoil as third man, and being ack shoulder on Membrey.

Non-contributors.... Richards had his standard 7 possession game, English didn't compete, Bruce competed but can't get a kick, Wallis limited opportunities but missed one he'd usually kick, Naughton very little impact.

Got out-coached.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Richards is a concern long term.

I mean, how long can you persist with a guy who sometimes *looks* dangerous but ultimately only finds the ball 7 times a game and misses targets?

[soupman]

Non-contributors.... Richards had his standard 7 possession game, Bruce competed but can't get a kick,


I agree they should be anchors but on their exposed form this year both these guys performances were indicative of exactly what they have done all season and never once been dropped/had their role changed/been sat on the bench and talked to like a school child Will Hayes style/been told to put the jacket on at halftime cause we are better without them Josh Schache style, so what did we expect them to do?


Richards is a concern long term.

I mean, how long can you persist with a guy who sometimes *looks* dangerous but ultimately only finds the ball 7 times a game and misses targets?
A whole season evidently.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

I agree they should be anchors but on their exposed form this year both these guys performances were indicative of exactly what they have done all season and never once been dropped/had their role changed/been sat on the bench and talked to like a school child Will Hayes style for/been told to put the jacket on at halftime cause we are better without them Josh Schache style, so what did we expect them to do?


A whole season evidently.

This is exactly why I can't warm to Bevo as much as I'd like to since 2016.

He has different rules for different players - Richards and Bruce at the top of this list.

[azabob]

This is exactly why I can't warm to Bevo as much as I'd like to since 2016.

He has different rules for different players - Richards and Bruce at the top of this list.

And of the flip side Trengove and Lewis Young are equally at the top of the list

[bornadog]

Bankers

1. Wallis goal from the boundary line.

2. Caleb Daniel in last quarter, 10 disposals and a goal almost got us over the line.

3. Keath - Kept King to ONE disposal after halftime

Anchors

1. AFL stupid rules that allowed an easy goal to Saints when confusion with ruck nomination - unnecessary rule that also creates congestion waiting for rucks to arrive.

2. Richards and Lippinski for non contribution

3. Bruce for a piss poor season.

[AshMac]

Don't agree. We had 41 tackles to their 32. Yes we missed a few tackles, but that didn't influence the game as much as the contested marking.

Honestly - I don’t think that stat means much. Lots of tackles at the coal face essentially killing an already dead ball.

Very very few tackles stopping a fast turnover or transition. The higher tackle count can also mean they just had the ball more rather than a sign of intensity. We looked so slow and ineffective when at kilda got their run.

[The bulldog tragician]

The use of Richards was puzzling this season. He seemed confined to a forward pocket where he was presumably meant to be a pressure player. He didn't kick many goals and it's a role where it is hard to stay involved. In the meantime we lost the advantage of his pace.

[Rance Fan]

Bankers:

Bailey Williams - had a very good year, and capped it off by performing strongly in the final.
Roarke Smith - did an excellent job on the very dangerous Brad Hill, and didn't waste the footy. A big tick for his finish to the year.
Daniel - although he was left in the match up with Geary too long, thats the coaches fault, but if we were going to win the game, it was going to be him or Bont that did it.

Anchors:

Bailey Smith - "A" for effort and got heaps of footy - but would it kill him to kick it to us? I'm fairly sure he was going 0% by foot up until 3 quarter time, so we may have been better off if the ball was in the hands of our other mids more. I know this is a really harsh wrap, but my expectations of Smith are very high because of how much I rate him, and he has had a hell of a lot of games this season where everyone has lauded him for getting 25 possessions, but in reality only half of them are getting to a team mate.

Wood - lost touch with Membrey early, and found himself caught in between peeling off to spoil as third man, and being ack shoulder on Membrey.

Non-contributors.... Richards had his standard 7 possession game, English didn't compete, Bruce competed but can't get a kick, Wallis limited opportunities but missed one he'd usually kick, Naughton very little impact.

Got out-coached.

Spot On!

[Scorlibo]

Bankers:

1. Caleb
Deserves to win our best and fairest tonight. He's been unbelievably good all year and rose to the occasion in the last quarter with trademark clean skills and footy IQ.

2. Roarke Smith
He's copped a fair bit from supporters and even more from the injury gods. I thought it was the best game of his short career - certainly his first half was influential when many others were struggling. I'm excited to see if he can maintain that form into next year, because we could really use a player of his athletic capability running the wings.

3. Williams
Capped off a breakout year with a big performance on Saturday. The highlight was in the last two minutes winning that ball at half back, then coolly selling candy and pumping it back the other way to give us one last chance. Unfortunately Bruce completed misjudged it in the air and Membrey took it uncontested.

Anchors - Bambi hunting edition:

1. The midfield: Bontempelli, Macrae, B.Smith, Hunter
It's hard for me to pot these guys, it really is, but I just can't accept their output.
Bontempelli outside of a penetrating kick inside fifty to setup our first goal, what did he bring? Overran the ball constantly to finish with just 4 contested touches, missed 2x opportunities to kick goals on the run, led our clanger count with 5. Arguably his worst game for the year. Macrae received a horrible hit to the head early and never got back into the game, struggled at the coalface. Smith's disposal efficiency has plummeted in the back half of this year, after being one of our most reliable distributors. Hunter was conservative with his involvement when we needed to be brave. Collectively they were our 1-iron and they failed, even accounting for the hitouts (they knew that was coming).

2. The talls: Keath, Bruce, English, Gardner, Wood
Galling performance in the air. Membrey had a field day against Wood, who was a non-factor in the air. Keath fought back against King but the damage was done. We knew English would struggle in the ruck but we didn't account for him getting outmarked so often, and at crucial moments. Some of Gardner's efforts must be questioned. Missed tackle on Membrey, allowing Butler to run past him, kick out of defence through the corridor straight to St Kilda, that's three goals right there. Bruce... enough has been said already really. He's got to go hard this pre-season to get his fitness up to scratch.

3. The MIAs: Richards, Lipinski, Naughton
I've been a fan of Richards but his inability to find the ball is a huge worry. Lipinski 10 touches and one of the great hospital handpasses. Naughton unsighted in the first three quarters hurts the most, we needed his physicality at ground level in the forwardline yet he finished the game with 0 tackles.

[bornadog]

Honestly - I don’t think that stat means much. Lots of tackles at the coal face essentially killing an already dead ball.

Very very few tackles stopping a fast turnover or transition. The higher tackle count can also mean they just had the ball more rather than a sign of intensity. We looked so slow and ineffective when at kilda got their run.

I was trying to make the point, the contested marking is where we lost the game not the tackling. Yeah we missed a couple of tackles, big deal, but they beat us in the air. As far as ground ball play we outpointed them with stoppages and clearances, but in the air, they were dominant.

[The bulldog tragician]

Bankers:

1. Caleb
Deserves to win our best and fairest tonight. He's been unbelievably good all year and rose to the occasion in the last quarter with trademark clean skills and footy IQ.

2. Roarke Smith
He's copped a fair bit from supporters and even more from the injury gods. I thought it was the best game of his short career - certainly his first half was influential when many others were struggling. I'm excited to see if he can maintain that form into next year, because we could really use a player of his athletic capability running the wings.

3. Williams
Capped off a breakout year with a big performance on Saturday. The highlight was in the last two minutes winning that ball at half back, then coolly selling candy and pumping it back the other way to give us one last chance. Unfortunately Bruce completed misjudged it in the air and Membrey took it uncontested.

Anchors - Bambi hunting edition:

1. The midfield: Bontempelli, Macrae, B.Smith, Hunter
It's hard for me to pot these guys, it really is, but I just can't accept their output.
Bontempelli outside of a penetrating kick inside fifty to setup our first goal, what did he bring? Overran the ball constantly to finish with just 4 contested touches, missed 2x opportunities to kick goals on the run, led our clanger count with 5. Arguably his worst game for the year. Macrae received a horrible hit to the head early and never got back into the game, struggled at the coalface. Smith's disposal efficiency has plummeted in the back half of this year, after being one of our most reliable distributors. Hunter was conservative with his involvement when we needed to be brave. Collectively they were our 1-iron and they failed, even accounting for the hitouts (they knew that was coming).

2. The talls: Keath, Bruce, English, Gardner, Wood
Galling performance in the air. Membrey had a field day against Wood, who was a non-factor in the air. Keath fought back against King but the damage was done. We knew English would struggle in the ruck but we didn't account for him getting outmarked so often, and at crucial moments. Some of Gardner's efforts must be questioned. Missed tackle on Membrey, allowing Butler to run past him, kick out of defence through the corridor straight to St Kilda, that's three goals right there. Bruce... enough has been said already really. He's got to go hard this pre-season to get his fitness up to scratch.

3. The MIAs: Richards, Lipinski, Naughton
I've been a fan of Richards but his inability to find the ball is a huge worry. Lipinski 10 touches and one of the great hospital handpasses. Naughton unsighted in the first three quarters hurts the most, we needed his physicality at ground level in the forwardline yet he finished the game with 0 tackles.

Perfect summary.

[bornadog]

Keath fought back against King but the damage was done. .

King had one touch in the second half.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Bankers:

1. Caleb
Deserves to win our best and fairest tonight. He's been unbelievably good all year and rose to the occasion in the last quarter with trademark clean skills and footy IQ.

2. Roarke Smith
He's copped a fair bit from supporters and even more from the injury gods. I thought it was the best game of his short career - certainly his first half was influential when many others were struggling. I'm excited to see if he can maintain that form into next year, because we could really use a player of his athletic capability running the wings.

3. Williams
Capped off a breakout year with a big performance on Saturday. The highlight was in the last two minutes winning that ball at half back, then coolly selling candy and pumping it back the other way to give us one last chance. Unfortunately Bruce completed misjudged it in the air and Membrey took it uncontested.

Anchors - Bambi hunting edition:

1. The midfield: Bontempelli, Macrae, B.Smith, Hunter
It's hard for me to pot these guys, it really is, but I just can't accept their output.
Bontempelli outside of a penetrating kick inside fifty to setup our first goal, what did he bring? Overran the ball constantly to finish with just 4 contested touches, missed 2x opportunities to kick goals on the run, led our clanger count with 5. Arguably his worst game for the year. Macrae received a horrible hit to the head early and never got back into the game, struggled at the coalface. Smith's disposal efficiency has plummeted in the back half of this year, after being one of our most reliable distributors. Hunter was conservative with his involvement when we needed to be brave. Collectively they were our 1-iron and they failed, even accounting for the hitouts (they knew that was coming).

2. The talls: Keath, Bruce, English, Gardner, Wood
Galling performance in the air. Membrey had a field day against Wood, who was a non-factor in the air. Keath fought back against King but the damage was done. We knew English would struggle in the ruck but we didn't account for him getting outmarked so often, and at crucial moments. Some of Gardner's efforts must be questioned. Missed tackle on Membrey, allowing Butler to run past him, kick out of defence through the corridor straight to St Kilda, that's three goals right there. Bruce... enough has been said already really. He's got to go hard this pre-season to get his fitness up to scratch.

3. The MIAs: Richards, Lipinski, Naughton
I've been a fan of Richards but his inability to find the ball is a huge worry. Lipinski 10 touches and one of the great hospital handpasses. Naughton unsighted in the first three quarters hurts the most, we needed his physicality at ground level in the forwardline yet he finished the game with 0 tackles.

Good post Scorlibo.

Naughton is a massive disappointment for mine - he was woeful v Giants in the EF 2019 and he was woeful v St Kilda, save for a couple of strong marks late.

I get he's young but when you see King clunking marks and having an impact, I expect a LOT more from Aaron. It was enough for me to believe he should go back.

[bornadog]

Good post Scorlibo.

Naughton is a massive disappointment for mine - he was woeful v Giants in the EF 2019 and he was woeful v St Kilda, save for a couple of strong marks late.

I get he's young but when you see King clunking marks and having an impact, I expect a LOT more from Aaron. It was enough for me to believe he should go back.

I think Naughton's confidence was down after his operation, he didn't look right to me.