Round #14 - Slaps and Sledges

[GVGjr]

For those who aren't familiar with the Slaps and Sledges thread:

A slap on the back for a job well done by 2 players. (not to be confused with the Woof Player Awards (http://www.woof.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=9023))
This can be a passage of player or even a spirited effort.

A sledge to two players that let down the team. Try and make this constructive critique and not just overly critical.

Provide us with your thoughts on this afternoons game against the Gold Coast Suns.

[SlimPickens]

Slap- Barlow thought he toiled well all day. Some nice goals, taking his oppurtunity. Good stuff

Slap- dahlhaus leading in pressure efforts all day good work.


Sledge- Minson for the inability to impose himself on the contest. Was really disappointed in both his and huddos games.

Sledge- Cross butchered the ball by foot on too many occasions.

[Desipura]

Slap Griffen and Cooney
Slegde Minson not good enough to be a regular AFL player . Cross is on borrowed time , playing an outside role is further exposing his poor disposal

[jeemak]

Slaps - Cooney finding some polish when finishing, Griffen's overall performance strong again.

Sledge - Cross's ball use, Jones and Hall dropping easy marks through a concentration lapses.

[Bumper Bulldogs]

Slap to Griff as he just keeps going and christ we needed him to step up this year

Slap to Gia thought he really ran and tried his all today

Sledge - Hudson you should do the team thing and step aside, you have been absolutely fantastic until this year.

Sledge - Cross their is a reason the opposition sit off you and allow you get gain possessions you showed you have poor skills by foot again today, maybe a time for you also to step aside.

[Go_Dogs]

Slaps:
Griff - superstar
Barlow - quietened a little but been impressed with him so far

Sledges:
Hall - I know he was a tad rusty, but dropped a few he should have gobbled.
Jones - thought his body work, attack etc was good, but burnt the ball very badly at time by foot (not that he was alone in that respect).

[Mofra]

Slaps (new):
Tommy kept Dixon very quiet and had a couple of big spoils
Picken had a super game compared to last week - barely gave Ablett an inch all day

Sledges:
Nothing that hasn't already been mentioned

[LostDoggy]

Slap: Ward gutsy mark moving backwards into trouble.

Sledge: Cross poor disposal by foot. Not even looking where he was kicking it on one occasion.

Jones was getting close to a sledge but then did a fair bit without the ball. Chased down Brown.

[Greystache]

Slaps

Barlow- 2 very good games in a row, and some nice finishing too.

Picken- Kept Ablett's contribution to a minimum.

Griff- nuf said.


Sledges

Minson- He doesn't work as a forward, we need to make a call over which of Hudson or Minson is to be our number one ruck and play the other at Williamstown. Time for Roughy to get another go.

Sherman- Just doesn't do enough. If you're not going to get much of it you need to impact on the scoreboard.

[LostDoggy]

Slap Griffen and Cooney
Slegde Minson not good enough to be a regular AFL player . Cross is on borrowed time , playing an outside role is further exposing his poor disposal

Will is more than good enough to be a regular AFL player Desi.

[Ghost Dog]

Slap -- Rischitelli - thought he played well for us today in one passage ^_^

[AndrewP6]

Slaps

Griff - keeps on keeping on.
Roald Dahlhaus - at one point, got about 3 tackles in one passage. Terrific energy.

Honourable mentions to Barlow who improved again, Picken for sticking with Gablett, and Coons.

Sledges
Cross - heart in mouth stuff when he drops the ball towards his boot.
Thank god the opposition aren't flash.

Dishonourable mention to the Whistleblowers for letting Gablett run about 3 metres whilst being tackled, and it's 'play on'

[LostDoggy]

Will is more than good enough to be a regular AFL player Desi.

Agree, he needs to be the #1 ruck. People bag him for his kpp skills but it's his second role. He puts in around the ground, he had the truck on him last week.

[azabob]

Slap - Griffen
Slap - Cooney
Slap - Barlow and his little intercepts of the opositions handball's when in our forward line. He guards space very well.

Sledge - Sherman - A bigger tease than Hill. His awareness and footy smarts and terrible.

[Curly5]

Slap - Griffen
Slap - Cooney
Slap - Barlow and his little intercepts of the opositions handball's when in our forward line. He guards space very well.

Sledge - Sherman - A bigger tease than Hill. His awareness and footy smarts and terrible.

Slap - the park and ride arrangement and Metricon Stadium, full marks.
Slap - players already mentioned plus Rischitelli, thanks for the goal ;)

Sledge - Sherman, loves the big goal but what is in his head, cotton wool? Decision making needs work!
Sledge - contested marking seems to be a major weakness of the whole team, we are too short and too easily out-muscled.

[bornadog]

Slap Schofields coolness under pressure, takes his time and delivers well.

Slap Griffen a star of the game,

Slap: Pickens 13 tackles, although he gave away 6 frees ( some I didn't agree with)

Sledge: Channel 10 commentary team

Sledge - Cross 30 metres out tries to hook the ball across the body for a goal and it falls short.

[Dazza]

Just on Minson. We didn't seem to use him as an option when we probably should have. Had a fair few instances where he would have monstered his much smaller opponent in a marking contest but we chose to chip the ball around and not bomb it onto his head.

Another sledge. Easton Wood. Needs to get better defensively. Think Markovic should replace him.

[Jasper]

Slap - Cooney breaking away from packs, he looked almost back, hope his knee holds up
Slap - Barlow presented all day and finished pretty well, I doubt he will go well when heat goes up against better teams, but he's been good so far
Slap - Dahlhaus has been what this team has been screaming out for. He is very fast. His pressure causes turnovers. His tackling is strong. He uses the ball reasonably well and seems to go to the right spots. He also throws his body without fear. Did I mention Dahlhaus is fast...

Huddo/Minson - neither good enough. Huddo should not play at all. Minno needs to play ruck mostly, or not at all. Both can't play together.
Picken - great pressure on Ablett
Higgins - got a bit of it but didn't finish overly well, and on a couple of occassions possibly could have gone harder, the backline move has largely worked but he is better than what he regularly dishes up.
Eade - for going too top heavy.
Campbell Brown - for being Campbell Brown

[AndrewP6]

Slap - Dahlhaus has been what this team has been screaming out for. He is very fast. His pressure causes turnovers. His tackling is strong. He uses the ball reasonably well and seems to go to the right spots. He also throws his body without fear. Did I mention Dahlhaus is fast...


Agreed, I love his tenacity too.

[Happy Days]

Sledge: Channel 10 commentary team



This. They were absolutely disgusting, outrightly barracking for Gold Coast most of the game.

Imagine how bad it would've been with Blight in the box?

[Remi Moses]

Slaps- Griffen ( outstanding)
Slap- Cooney ( getting there)
Slap- Dahlhaus ( Just love his intensity)
Slap- Picken ( good job on moneybags )
Slap- Barlow( real surprise packet)
Kicking efficiency getting better
Sledges
Cross( love him, but I think he might be pushed out)
Huddo( see above)
The Commentary or Should I say the Gold Coast Cheer leaders
The Noise ( was it a concert or a sporting event? Plastic manufactured sporting team)

[Go_Dogs]

Just on Minson. We didn't seem to use him as an option when we probably should have. Had a fair few instances where he would have monstered his much smaller opponent in a marking contest but we chose to chip the ball around and not bomb it onto his head.

Agree with that, which I found strange considering last week it worked pretty well going long to Will, and that was against a big opponent and the ball was just being brought to ground.

[LostDoggy]

Rischetelli went long to Minson

[OLD SCRAGGer]

Slap Schofields coolness under pressure, takes his time and delivers well.

Slap Griffen a star of the game,

Slap: Pickens 13 tackles, although he gave away 6 frees ( some I didn't agree with)

Sledge: Channel 10 commentary teamSledge - Cross 30 metres out tries to hook the ball across the body for a goal and it falls short.

I can tell you the SEN commentry team were just as bad if not worse. :mad: :mad:

[ratsmac]

Slap -
Griffen - Dare I say it, Mr consistent
Cooney - Played well, getting better
Doll House - Taking his opportunity by the scruff
Barlow - Doesn't look like a footballer but is also taking his opportunity with both hands
Picken - Just for making Abblett earn every possession

Sledge -
Boyd - Played well but really needs to work on his foot skills. He might have well have done a Rischetelli because the ball ends up going the oppositions way after he kicks it. 54% Efficiency. Again in the 50's. Does this mean that nearly half his possessions go to the opposition?
Wood - Was quite poor defensively, defend first attack second when you play in defence, sometimes I think he does it arse about.

[LostDoggy]

Sledge -
Boyd - Played well but really needs to work on his foot skills. He might have well have done a Rischetelli because the ball ends up going the oppositions way after he kicks it. 54% Efficiency. Again in the 50's. Does this mean that nearly half his possessions go to the opposition?
No. We have go over this again?
54% went to our players. The rest could have been contested situations or turnovers.

Saying that I have no idea the statistical definition of a clanger compared to a critical error. Possibly something to do with the opposition scoring.

[LostDoggy]

Rischetelli went long to Minson

A moment of pure gold reminiscent of Rodan kicking a goal for us in Darwin.

[Happy Days]

A moment of pure gold reminiscent of Rodan kicking a goal for us in Darwin.

Apparently, its the only reason they lost, despite playing better than us all day.

Also, Tom Lynch was the only player on the ground.

Good thing Channel 10 are losing the rights, couldn't take another game like that.

[Greystache]

Apparently, its the only reason they lost, despite playing better than us all day.

Also, Tom Lynch was the only player on the ground.

Good thing Channel 10 are losing the rights, couldn't take another game like that.

Just like when we played Geelong, Nathan Vardy had 10 possessions and kicked 1 goal in a 10 massacre, yet they carried on like he played the greatest individual game in AFL history.

[LostDoggy]

Slap : Griffen , BOG easily , another great game

Slap : Schofield might not have got a lot of the ball but he was very clean with it , 85% efficiency

can't be bothered with sledges

.

[jazzadogs]

This. They were absolutely disgusting, outrightly barracking for Gold Coast most of the game.

Imagine how bad it would've been with Blight in the box?

Barracking for GC, and trying to get Barry Hall suspended.

There was one point where at the bottom of the screen you could see Campbell Brown give Jones a cheeky little punch. Not mentioned at any stage by the commentators.

[1eyedog]

SLAPS:

Wards snap goal was outstanding. He broke tackles, won contested footy and beat three opposition players to kick that one. For a bloke who has played 50 games he is a fantastic player. His work rate and hardness is second to none.

Our kicking efficiency in general, especially for goal.

[Happy Days]

Just like when we played Geelong, Nathan Vardy had 10 possessions and kicked 1 goal in a 10 massacre, yet they carried on like he played the greatest individual game in AFL history.

I'm pretty sure its a rule of commentary that if a 195cm+ player takes a pack mark, you have to talk about them for the duration of the broadcast.

[Desipura]

Just like when we played Geelong, Nathan Vardy had 10 possessions and kicked 1 goal in a 10 massacre, yet they carried on like he played the greatest individual game in AFL history.

Hopefully they are talking about Cordy soon.....

[Remi Moses]

They carried on like Barry had sniped Bock! Much to their disappointment there was nothing in it! What about Michael Christian's " There'd be 6 minutes left"( after that silly 5 min warning came up.) "Still time"! Thankfully there was the Chris Grant option on the ABC

[LostDoggy]

Hopefully they are talking about Cordy soon.....
Who?

[LostDoggy]

They carried on like Barry had sniped Bock! Much to their disappointment there was nothing in it! What about Michael Christian's " There'd be 6 minutes left"( after that silly 5 min warning came up.) "Still time"! Thankfully there was the Chris Grant option on the ABC

LOL .....Yeah I heard that too. What a dill.

[LostDoggy]

Slaps

Cooney (getting better every week)
Gia - having a blinder and really stepped up as a leader this year
Picken - best tagging job I've seen in ages
G Ablett - he's worth every single cent even on a bad day
Dahlhaus & Barlow - 2 more like these rippers from next years rookie list please!

Sledges
Tommy Williams - someone had him in their best earlier; I thought he got monstered and I'm trying to find the improvement?
Sherman - he does everything the brisbane supporters warned us about. Handballing to your team-mates feet makes you a liability Sherman. Trade him on again and free up our $400K please.....

[AndrewP6]

They carried on like Barry had sniped Bock! Much to their disappointment there was nothing in it! What about Michael Christian's " There'd be 6 minutes left"( after that silly 5 min warning came up.) "Still time"! Thankfully there was the Chris Grant option on the ABC

And ignored the fact that Baz got a clip over the ear first.

[Bulldog Joe]

Slaps

Cooney (getting better every week)
Gia - having a blinder and really stepped up as a leader this year
Picken - best tagging job I've seen in ages
G Ablett - he's worth every single cent even on a bad day
Dahlhaus & Barlow - 2 more like these rippers from next years rookie list please!

Sledges
Tommy Williams - someone had him in their best earlier; I thought he got monstered and I'm trying to find the improvement?
Sherman - he does everything the brisbane supporters warned us about. Handballing to your team-mates feet makes you a liability Sherman. Trade him on again and free up our $400K please.....

Tommy played on Dixon who had about 5 possessions. Tommy outbodied him and effected a couple of very good pack spoils. The improvement is there.

Sherman is a conundrum mixing some very good things with complete stuff ups. He does bring run and gets to the right spots for easy goals. Worth his place despite the frustrations.

[Scorlibo]

Slap - Cooney, a really solid game, if he plays like that for the remainder of the year it will be a win for the team.

Slap - Griffen, he's elite.

Sledge - Picken, he was annihilated by Ablett, only won one contest by my count and gave away countless frees. I couldn't care less how tight he was wearing him, if he can't either neutralise the ball or outright win it then he has failed. It's about time he was dropped.

Sledge - Jones, only had about 2 beneficial plays and was generally ineffective/not even close to the ball. I don't really want to see him up on centre wing where it's easy to take a few marks, make a contest in forward fifty.

[AndrewP6]

Sledge - Picken, he was annihilated by Ablett, only won one contest by my count and gave away countless frees. I couldn't care less how tight he was wearing him, if he can't either neutralise the ball or outright win it then he has failed. It's about time he was dropped.


If I didn't think you were serious, I'd be laughing out loud. Picken negated one of the greatest players in today's game. For that alone, he deserves praise.

[BulldogBelle]

If I didn't think you were serious, I'd be laughing out loud. Picken negated one of the greatest players in today's game. For that alone, he deserves praise.

Ablett is basically untagable. But Picken always finds a way!

[LostDoggy]

Ablett is basically untagable. But Picken always finds a way!

Not that it's super relevant but judd was certainly tagable today.

[Greystache]

Sledge - Picken, he was annihilated by Ablett, only won one contest by my count and gave away countless frees. I couldn't care less how tight he was wearing him, if he can't either neutralise the ball or outright win it then he has failed. It's about time he was dropped.

Didn't happen to notice the guy he was playing on? :rolleyes:

Ablett in his last 5 games is averaging 35 possessions a game, and nearly 2 goals. Which incidently he managed to better last time we played Geelong when Boyd played on him, that day he just managed to eke out 39 possessions and 3 goals.

Or the game before when he knocked out 40 possessions... or the game before that when he gathered a disapointing 38 touches...

I'd take Picken's "annihilation" every day of the week compared to what Ablett's done to us in the past.

[Sedat]

Sledge - Picken, he was annihilated by Ablett, only won one contest by my count and gave away countless frees. I couldn't care less how tight he was wearing him, if he can't either neutralise the ball or outright win it then he has failed. It's about time he was dropped.
I've been vocal in my criticism of Picken's form this season but I thought he did a terrific neutralising job on the form midfielder in the competition. As noted by others, Ablett has toyed with us for fun in the last few seasons, and he was constantly harrassed and rushed in his disposal when the heat was on yesterday. Big slap to Picken for mine.

[LostDoggy]

I've been vocal in my criticism of Picken's form this season but I thought he did a terrific neutralising job on the form midfielder in the competition. As noted by others, Ablett has toyed with us for fun in the last few seasons, and he was constantly harrassed and rushed in his disposal when the heat was on yesterday. Big slap to Picken for mine.

Loved Picken's game. Ablett still did some outstanding things but only 2/3rds of the outstanding stuff he normally does. There is a reason Geelong got 2 1st round picks for Gary and they still got sold the toilet water.....

[Scorlibo]

Picken negated one of the greatest players in today's game. For that alone, he deserves praise.

Having watched the game, I barely saw one contest where Picken beat or negated Ablett. Most Ablett won outright with Picken giving away silly free kicks.

Ablett's slight (I say slight because really he amassed 121 ranking points in a year where he's averaged 125) decline in influence was not much to do with Picken.


Ablett is basically untagable. But Picken always finds a way!

He didn't find a way.


Didn't happen to notice the guy he was playing on? :rolleyes:

Ablett in his last 5 games is averaging 35 possessions a game, and nearly 2 goals. Which incidently he managed to better last time we played Geelong when Boyd played on him, that day he just managed to eke out 39 possessions and 3 goals.

Or the game before when he knocked out 40 possessions... or the game before that when he gathered a disapointing 38 touches...

I'd take Picken's "annihilation" every day of the week compared to what Ablett's done to us in the past.

If you want to look at it statistically, 121 ranking points vs average of 125.

But I'd suggest you watch the game instead, where it seemed like whenever Ablett had a chance to get the ball, he did. Picken was downright lousy in the contests.


I've been vocal in my criticism of Picken's form this season but I thought he did a terrific neutralising job on the form midfielder in the competition. As noted by others, Ablett has toyed with us for fun in the last few seasons, and he was constantly harrassed and rushed in his disposal when the heat was on yesterday. Big slap to Picken for mine.

Ablett's 15 contested possessions (including 6 frees for, 0 against and 8 clearances) was the highest on the ground and shows that Picken did anything but neutralise his influence.


Loved Picken's game. Ablett still did some outstanding things but only 2/3rds of the outstanding stuff he normally does. There is a reason Geelong got 2 1st round picks for Gary and they still got sold the toilet water.....

I prefer not to analyse a tagger's game based purely on what their opponent did. To me that's as foolish as judging a forward by the number of goals they get or a ruckman by the number of hitouts.

[Sedat]

Ablett's 15 contested possessions (including 6 frees for, 0 against and 8 clearances) was the highest on the ground and shows that Picken did anything but neutralise his influence.
Ablett padded his numbers in junk time after we had put the cue in the rack - Picken constantly harrassed and rushed him when the game was still up for grabs. To be honest, Ablett was as close to a non-factor (when it mattered in the first 2 and a half qtrs) as I've seen from him against the Dogs in many a year, probably since Griffen had his breakout game on Ablett all those years ago.

[Scorlibo]

Ablett padded his numbers in junk time after we had put the cue in the rack - Picken constantly harrassed and rushed him when the game was still up for grabs. To be honest, Ablett was as close to a non-factor (when it mattered in the first 2 and a half qtrs) as I've seen from him against the Dogs in many a year, probably since Griffen had his breakout game on Ablett all those years ago.

I really didn't recognise any point in the game as 'junk time'. The Suns were still a chance of winning up until Griffen's sealer as far as I'm concerned, and Ablett was a big part of that. Plus, I'm not sure Ablett's disposal imbalance was quite as severe as you're implying - without having the stats on hand I remember him winning, or rather Picken losing, crucial contests in the first half also.

[azabob]

Will be unteresting to see if Pickens gets votes in the B&F. For what it's worth Chris Grant gave Ablett 2 votes.

[LongWait]

Ablett padded his numbers in junk time after we had put the cue in the rack - Picken constantly harrassed and rushed him when the game was still up for grabs. To be honest, Ablett was as close to a non-factor (when it mattered in the first 2 and a half qtrs) as I've seen from him against the Dogs in many a year, probably since Griffen had his breakout game on Ablett all those years ago.

I can't agree that we put the cue in the rack. Gold Coast implemented a press only in the last quarter and guess what - we wilted yet again under the pressure of the press.

Ablett was good all day and although Picken did a fine job on him Ablett was in the top half dozen on the ground and may well have deservedly polled Brownlow votes.

[Mantis]

Sledge - Jones, only had about 2 beneficial plays and was generally ineffective/not even close to the ball. I don't really want to see him up on centre wing where it's easy to take a few marks, make a contest in forward fifty.

Isn't that what Hall & Minson are in the team to do?

[Sedat]

I can't agree that we put the cue in the rack. Gold Coast implemented a press only in the last quarter and guess what - we wilted yet again under the pressure of the press.

Ablett was good all day and although Picken did a fine job on him Ablett was in the top half dozen on the ground and may well have deservedly polled Brownlow votes.
Perhaps we wilted under the heat and humidity? Not to mention going in with one extra tall and having less running power as a result. I disagree in relation to the press as well, which GC implemented all match but we were able to pick holes through it with relative ease when we were at our strongest physically (thanks in part to GC turning it over in dangerous areas), which is why I'm less concerned by our fade out under such circumstances.

In any event Ablett started to get cleaner and more effective clearances only when the 4 points were as good as secured - his clearance work was rushed and much less effective than normal early in the piece, due in no small part to Picken's diligence to the task of applying relentless pressure and body contact at every contest. I can't remember Ablett being restricted to mid 20's possessions in a match against us for years. Others are free to disagree, but I'll personally sign off on 25 possessions from Ablett any time we play against him.

[Ozza]

Slap - Griffen - for being a gun every week.
Slap - Gia - is in great form.
Slap - Matty Boyd - for doing everything he could to keep getting the footy our way when most of our blokes were out of gas for a fair portion of the second half. I can handle his efficiency (everyone's favourite stat) being down when he is regularly getting the first possession out of the middle.

[Scorlibo]

Isn't that what Hall & Minson are in the team to do?

I'll concede that it's unfair to pin such a criticism on Jones, as he's probably under instruction to lead up the ground, but it only seems logical that a player who appears incapable of creating play with the ball should play as close to goals as possible. If Minson and Hall do a better job of this then there is no place for Jones in the team.

[LostDoggy]

I prefer not to analyse a tagger's game based purely on what their opponent did. To me that's as foolish as judging a forward by the number of goals they get or a ruckman by the number of hitouts.

I'm not sure I stated it was my pure criterior? However, to your point, as tagging is a predominately negating role you would surely have to conceed it's a key factor? I'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

[Scorlibo]

I'm not sure I stated it was my pure criterior?

I just assumed it was your main criteria because you didn't provide any alternative. You said how you thought Picken played well and then justified it by talking about Ablett's game.


However, to your point, as tagging is a predominately negating role you would surely have to conceed it's a key factor?

In saying this you make two assumptions:

1. All 'roles' are positive for the team.

2. The player being tagged plays to the same standard every week and is only affected by the tagger.

I would suggest both of these assumptions to be incorrect.