Werribee vs Frankston

[GVGjr]

Went for a drive out to Frankston oval and got there early enough to see both games.

For the reserves who had a big win

Tim Walsh Played mainly centre half back and was serviceable. He spent a bit of time off the ground but the injury concerns from last week seem to be beyond him. Walsh did his job but really wasn't in the play that much.

Paul O'Shea played as a defender like he has all season and was very competitive. He really does have a great spring. The reserves won easily and the ball did not spend a lot of time back there but O'Shea really does put in a big effort.

Brennan Stack played in the midfield and was nothing short of outstanding. He had the ball on a string and was running around everyone and baulking them. He kicked a nice solo effort goal where he carried the ball through heavy traffic and slotted it through from 40metres plus out. Based on that effort Stack should get a run in the senior team next week although he still needs to work harder when he doesn't have the ball. His really did run himself into the ground today. Kretiuk really talked up "Stacky" at the quarter and three quarter time addresses.

Damien McCormack played in the midfield along with Stack and was very good. He used the ball well in what was difficult conditions. Some of his decisions today weren't the best and he missed other players that were in the clear.

For the seniors who were very unlucky.

Matthew Robbins played as a forward and was very quiet except for the last quarter. Robbo is a fair way off returning to the senior side.

Josh Hill had a better than good game today. He was quick, evasive and used the ball a bit better than last week. He even held a few strong marks. The defensive side of his game is not a natural instinct for him but he worked a bit harder than the previous times I have seen him play. Hill played mainly across half forward.

Andrew McDougall probably had an above average game today but it wasn't as good as the last few weeks. He was match-ed up originally on Chris Oliver and beat him fairly easily. The coach asked McDougall to play an aggressive attacking game which meant that occasionally his opponent kicked a goal but he did rebound very well and generally used the ball effectively. Doogs is worth sticking with based on what I have seen in the last month.

Travis Baird was fairly quiet today and really he should be doing a bit better. He played in a few positions but really wasn't a telling factor.

Cameron Wight played as a forward and relieving ruckman and did better when he was on the ball. The conditions probably didn't suit him but he battled on throughout the match. He was somewhere between OK and good.

Marty Pask once again played as the FB and once again gave away a silly free kick here and there. He did his job but like Baird he should be doing better.

Gavin Hughes played mainly as a wingman and as expected ran and carried the ball well. Like a couple of others the defensive side of his game isn't too flash but he is quick and generally uses the ball well.

Cameron Faulkner was once again very good. He started on a HBF but they quickly moved him into the midfield where he clearly was one of the best players on the ground. He was tough in the contests and used the ball very well. Faulkner has done just about everything right on the ground in the past month and thats all you can ask.

Malcolm Lynch did some nice things but didn't get a lot of it. Lynch was mainly used as a small forward and often rotated on and off the bench with Robbins.

Jarrod Harbrow played a little everywhere and while he wasn't great he did some nice thing. I didn't see enough of the Harbrow trademark defensive side of his game as I would have liked.

Peter Street was once again very good. He generally gave the midfielders first use of the ball and pushed forward when needed to provide an additional marking target. Kicked a nice goal. Not sure if he did enough to force his way back into the line-up.

[bornadog]

Brennan Stack played in the midfield and was nothing short of outstanding. He had the ball on a string and was running around everyone and baulking them. He kicked a nice solo effort goal where he carried the ball through heavy traffic and slotted it through from 40metres plus out. Based on that effort Stack should get a run in the senior team next week although he still needs to work harder when he doesn't have the ball. His really did run himself into the ground today. Kretiuk really talked up "Stacky" at the quarter and three quarter time addresses.



I am really excited about Stack and great to see he played well today.

[Go_Dogs]

Me too, bornadog.

Thanks for your report as always GVGjr.

[Templeton31]

thanks for report GVGjnr.

some random q's for you as a very experienced Bees watcher:
1. Baird - delisted at end of year?
2. Pask - promoted to senior list?
3. If you were the Grand Wizard of the AFL would you command that we have a stand alone 2nds team? (i.e. exclude money factors etc.)

only if you have time to answer...
THanks
t31

[LostDoggy]

heres some interesting stats...

McDougall kicked 0.6 - cant see him getting into our team with that..
Streety kicked 2.5 - must have played up forward or HF a fair bit?

Now a question about James Podsiadly, who is leading our goalkicking with 30 goals.

Is this kid tall? short? fat? skinny? and is he a possible key forward that we can elevate to our list?

[GVGjr]

heres some interesting stats...

McDougall kicked 0.6 - cant see him getting into our team with that..
Streety kicked 2.5 - must have played up forward or HF a fair bit?

Now a question about James Podsiadly, who is leading our goalkicking with 30 goals.

Is this kid tall? short? fat? skinny? and is he a possible key forward that we can elevate to our list?

alexxx, I'm not sure whats stats you are looking at but if it's points kicked? The Bees only kicked 3 points for the game. As I indicated Street rucked and played a little up forward. McDougall played in defence.

Pods is a 192cm key forward but it's doubtful that we would look to draft him.

[GVGjr]

thanks for report GVGjnr.

some random q's for you as a very experienced Bees watcher:
1. Baird - delisted at end of year?
2. Pask - promoted to senior list?
3. If you were the Grand Wizard of the AFL would you command that we have a stand alone 2nds team? (i.e. exclude money factors etc.)

only if you have time to answer...
THanks
t31

T31, I will write up something up this evening in response.

[LostDoggy]

heres some interesting stats...

McDougall kicked 0.6 - cant see him getting into our team with that..
Streety kicked 2.5 - must have played up forward or HF a fair bit?


I suspect thats the old Werribee or VFL site trick of numbering the best players in order. McDougall 6th best and Street 5th best Werribee player.

[Templeton31]

I suspect thats the old Werribee or VFL site trick of numbering the best players in order. McDougall 6th best and Street 5th best Werribee player.

yeh i've fallen for that before myself....

[LostDoggy]

oh ahaha im guessin thats what it means?
cause it seemed thats what they kicked haha

[GVGjr]

thanks for report GVGjnr.

some random q's for you as a very experienced Bees watcher:
1. Baird - delisted at end of year?
2. Pask - promoted to senior list?
3. If you were the Grand Wizard of the AFL would you command that we have a stand alone 2nds team? (i.e. exclude money factors etc.)

only if you have time to answer...
THanks
t31

I really don't see too much a future with both Baird and Pask.
Baird doesn't really filly any sort of role for the club. He is not KP height or build and lacks the skills and pace of a genuine flanker. He's a good all-round footballer but just hasn't got that one strength that most players need.
Pask is a good footballer but lacks that step of pace required particularly in an Eade team. He is competitive, has a bit of toughness and even has a good footy brain but unless he does some outstanding things in the next couple of weeks then I can't find a spot for him.

Both of these guys are good depth players but would be unlikely to play more than 10 games each even if there were a number of injuries.

I think Frankston deserves to be in the competition. It's a decent facility that they play at and they have been a competitive club for a number of years. Ideally they could have been linked to an AFL side but it's hard to justify locking them out of the comp.

I really don't know what the answer is but perhaps a 10 team VFL comp plus a 10 team VFA comp would work.
Perhap

[mjp]

Pask is a good footballer but lacks that step of pace required particularly in an Eade team. He is competitive, has a bit of toughness and even has a good footy brain but unless he does some outstanding things in the next couple of weeks then I can't find a spot for him.


Be careful GVGjr. There are people out there who wont tolerate any criticism of Pask - I am not sure why. I totally agree with everything you have said here - he is a good player, but is (more than a) bit slow and not particularly big for a KPP. He is the sort of footballer a club would always be trying to replace.

If he is still eligible for the Rookie List in 2008 then I think we should keep him though - he is a good depth player and could plug a gap for a few weeks if we experience a few injuries.

[Templeton31]

I really don't see too much a future with both Baird and Pask.
Baird doesn't really filly any sort of role for the club. He is not KP height or build and lacks the skills and pace of a genuine flanker. He's a good all-round footballer but just hasn't got that one strength that most players need.
Pask is a good footballer but lacks that step of pace required particularly in an Eade team. He is competitive, has a bit of toughness and even has a good footy brain but unless he does some outstanding things in the next couple of weeks then I can't find a spot for him.

Both of these guys are good depth players but would be unlikely to play more than 10 games each even if there were a number of injuries.

I think Frankston deserves to be in the competition. It's a decent facility that they play at and they have been a competitive club for a number of years. Ideally they could have been linked to an AFL side but it's hard to justify locking them out of the comp.

I really don't know what the answer is but perhaps a 10 team VFL comp plus a 10 team VFA comp would work.
Perhap

thanks a lot GVG. reports like yours are terrific. I guess the role I could see for Pask is as a "lock down" full back, the role that Harris plays most weeks (eg against Gehrig last week). If Pask played that then Harris could do the job he has done in some games this year (eg Carlton I think) where he is on a lesser-light opposition forward and runs off him to be 3rd man up etc. Perhaps the lack of pace of Pask wopuld go against him. He certainly sounds like he has grabbed every opportunity he can in his year at Werribee with supporters very positive about his performance and regularly in the bests.

[Dry Rot]

Re Pask, IIRC Dogtown once posted "You can't teach speed".

Presume he's fit so he's about as fast as he'll ever be.

Reading between the lines, is it fair to say Morgan > Pask? If so, we all know what happened to Morgan.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Re Pask, IIRC Dogtown once posted "You can't teach speed".

Presume he's fit so he's about as fast as he'll ever be.

Reading between the lines, is it fair to say Morgan > Pask? If so, we all know what happened to Morgan.

I kind of disagree on the teaching speed one - I dont think you can make a slow player lightning, but most players aren't slow and you can make them pretty quick without being Judd like. For example: I seem to remember many questioned the speed of Matt Boyd, and Brad Sewell from Hawthorn is someone who used to be slowish if my memory serves me correctly.

As to whether Morgan is/ or was better than Pask its just to hard to know given Morgans terrible run with injuries. For my money Pask hasn't kicked on in the second half of this season the way I had hoped he might.

[southerncross]

If he is still eligible for the Rookie List in 2008 then I think we should keep him though - he is a good depth player and could plug a gap for a few weeks if we experience a few injuries.

I suppose the real question is would he be willing to spend another season on the rookie list without some sort of guarantee that he was at least a good chance to be promoted if a spot opened up.

[southerncross]

As to whether Morgan is/ or was better than Pask its just to hard to know given Morgans terrible run with injuries. For my money Pask hasn't kicked on in the second half of this season the way I had hoped he might.

If he could have stayed injury free then Morgan would have been maintained.

[Mofra]

Re Pask, IIRC Dogtown once posted "You can't teach speed".

Don't tell Morris, who was too slow to be drafted as a youngster. He spend 3-4 years working on his pace, and is now one of the quickest in our side.

Boyd is another, although his top pace hasn't lifted a large amount, he has really worked on his acceleration which can be worked on.

[southerncross]

Don't tell Morris, who was too slow to be drafted as a youngster. He spend 3-4 years working on his pace, and is now one of the quickest in our side.

Boyd is another, although his top pace hasn't lifted a large amount, he has really worked on his acceleration which can be worked on.

Getting sprints coaching isn't a bad idea for the guys with average pace. A 10% improvement can make the world of difference. Morris proves that if you have the pace plus the dedication you can work your way onto a senior list.

[GVGjr]

Just on the Bees, are they playing Port this weekend? If so, it should be a cracker of a game and a full house.

[dog town]

Dont recall the "cant teach speed" comment Rot but I stand to be corrected. The transformation of a guy like Boyd pretty much ends that theory anyway. He is a different body type to the guy who originally came onto our rookie list. He is toned up and has an extra yard in his first few steps. Another example of a guy who added speed to his game is Campbell Brown. Alot of people didn't think he would get drafted because of a lack of pace.

In reality I think there is certainly a limit to how much quicker you can make someone. The other intangible is whether players know how to use that pace on a footy field. Some players are quick but you would never know it due to the way they play. Cooney for example probably plays in a way that makes him look quicker than he actually is. I wouldn't think Cooney would test in the top 5 over 100 metres at the club but his first few steps are very quick and his first instinct when he gets the ball is to take them on.

[Dry Rot]

Dont recall the "cant teach speed" comment Rot but I stand to be corrected.

Sorry about that - must have been someone else. I thought it was a good quote, whoever posted it.

[westdog54]

Dont recall the "cant teach speed" comment Rot but I stand to be corrected. The transformation of a guy like Boyd pretty much ends that theory anyway. He is a different body type to the guy who originally came onto our rookie list. He is toned up and has an extra yard in his first few steps. Another example of a guy who added speed to his game is Campbell Brown. Alot of people didn't think he would get drafted because of a lack of pace.

In reality I think there is certainly a limit to how much quicker you can make someone. The other intangible is whether players know how to use that pace on a footy field. Some players are quick but you would never know it due to the way they play. Cooney for example probably plays in a way that makes him look quicker than he actually is. I wouldn't think Cooney would test in the top 5 over 100 metres at the club but his first few steps are very quick and his first instinct when he gets the ball is to take them on.

I remember getting a book called "Blues, Blinders and Ball-Bursters" as a present in the early 90's, and in it several high profile players gave tips to up and coming youngsters as to how they could improve their games.

One that Paul Salmon wrote was that bigger players would get a lot out of sprint training with an athletics coach.

Speed is something that cannot be taught. Sprinting certainly can.