DudleyDocker
Cancelled
Nailed it mate.Okay - My more detailed thoughts from today's brief visit and 2 quarters of game-watching. I only saw the first and second quarters, so Dudly et. al. should be consulted for comments on the second half. That being said, I do have a bit to add.
PREAMBLE:
It was a spur of the moment decision to go down - as a result I was under-prepared: no binoculars, no team sheet, no notebook. It's also hard to both type on a phone AND watch a game at the same time so I didn't see as much of the play as I'd like to (I've figured out a way around that... but again - that will have to be for next time, when I'll be able to do a far better job)
FACILITIES AT COCKBURN:
This was my first trip to the facilities - there's plenty of parking, and it's easy to get to. The outer grounds-keeping around the car-parks is still a work in progress, but it's a huge facility and gardens that large take time to establish.
On the way inside, I noticed the rehab guys doing fitness drills out the front - normally I would've taken a few minutes to watch, but knowing the intra-club was currently underway, I didn't stop to chat.
I gotta come down to training more often, The playing surfaces and internal facilities are all utterly fantastic! Freo were 100% right to move to Cockburn - there is #NO WAY KNOWN# they would have gotten the same standard of facilities at ANY other site in Freo - it had to be a green-field location. It doesn't have the fig trees and happy memories of Freo oval, but for a club that's looking forward not backwards, this was always the better option, so a very heart-felt "Bravo!" to the FFC Board and Admin. - they utterly nailed it!!
(NB: NOTE TO THE FFC ADMINISTRATION: Please consider putting a shade sail or other such covering over the spectator's elevated viewing platform, plus a few cheap plastic chairs and tables out for training watchers; it will turn a very-welcome five-star facility for fanatical fans, into a sublime six-star stroke of genius... and build a lot of good-will with some of your most die-hard supporters and advocates.)
MATCH OVERVIEW:
Play today was scrappy, new payers were everywhere - many I recognized straight away, others I didn't... in tight congested play it was hard to tell one player form another, and I couldn't recall player numbers off the top of my head so keep track of all the new guys was challenging.
Everyone looked in utterly superb nick - I dip my hat to the fitness guys: from the little I saw, they have done a sterling job at getting everyone ready for round one. Tabs, Sandi, Ethan Hughes and Logue in particular are to be commended - all of them look in career-best fitness to my untrained eye
MIDFIELD PLAY
Both Purple and White gave a good account of themselves - from the little I saw, the teams were pretty evenly balanced.
The scrappiness was most evident in the midfield - it was VERY congested in there - this was also largely due to conditions: the wind was gusty and very fluky, the sun was hot and the players were sweating bullets at half time. The entire team was trying to put their best foot forward WITHOUT injuring either themselves or teammates. This was an intra-club match, not the real thing - bumps, shepherds and blocks were more restrained, fend-offs were respectful... bit that also meant that bumps and fend-offs were easier to recover from or avoid, everyone was marking their man pretty closely and space at stoppages was harder to come by - this made general midfield play a bit more congested.
Tackling however appeared pretty solid by both sides - no easy shrugged tackles that I can recall and it was harder for *both* teams to get their arms free for the late give off by hand. Our tackling appeared poor at times last year, so I'm hopeful this area has improved.
Transition running appeared okay by both teams, in both directions - again, hard to type and watch at the same time.
Focusing on the clearance work, there was instances of effective ball movement by hand out of stoppages by both teams - both Purple and White seemed to find an outlet kick from stoppages reasonably consistently - blind forward snaps were definitely at a minimum, and when they did happen they were the result of pressure, not panic. Most kicks were effectively delvered, but lots of spoiled marks / fumbles from both player pressure & gusty conditions.
The Ruck taps I saw were mostly ineffective, with neither team really gaining much ascendancy (the fluky breeze made it a bit harder to read the toss on occasion) - Sandi clearly had an edge over our other younger rucks for the most part, so the more he can play the better. Didn't notice Darcy in the ruck, but did notice Apeness was paying and contested a few ruck taps – made a genuine contest but didn’t win many taps that I saw. Great to see him out there banging away at it nonetheless - he seemed to be moving okay too.
Very few intercept marks on display, but it wasn't really the day for laser-like kicking frankly.
DEFENSIVE PLAY:
Both team's Back Six appeared very solid, with the purple team having a slight edge - there was good positioning overall, everyone covered their man, nobody got off the chain. Very few loose kicks out of defence, very few easy f50 entries, good spread after the turnover, good hard running from the mids to both provide an option or shut down an option, no holes for forwards to lead into, effective spoiling in one-on-one contests.
I noticed Kersten raking up a few possies between half and full back late in the 2nd quarter. Whether he was stationed there or merely transitioning well I couldn't tell you.
Ball movement out of defense was FAR more effective by everyone - thank God! Neither team made this look effortless (like I said, the sides were evenly matched) but there was no hesitation or uncertainty on display at all, from anyone. Quick decision making and good decision making was the order of the day and best of all... neither team had that much trouble getting an effective outlet kick or possession chain out of their back 50... the possession chains I saw out of defence typically broke down on centre-wing. Given defensive clearances were a big bugbear for us for a while, to see both defensive teams doing well with it was such a welcome sight to see.
FORWARD PLAY:
Very hard call this one - either our forwards were ineffective today or our defenders were very very good... personally I'm arguing the latter.
Play was congested from end to end, our key forwards were tightly marked by both sides at all times, all of them were being held accountable. Clean F50 entries were difficult to find, if not impossible. the fluky wind meant there were no long aggressive kicking to open the field up, and the congested midfield and hard-running by both sides meant there were very few avenues for fast-break running, line-breaking penetrative thread-the-needle kicks or aggressive switching of play.
If you want a clean forward entry nowadays, you really need a fast transition, and transitioning the ball by both sides was tough today. Defensive kick-ins were effective, and both sides comfortably cleared the back 50 ...but hard running by opposing midfielders would close down space, and easy possession chains consistently broke down between half-back and the midfield. It was grinding play in the center mostly with neither midfield really managing to get on top ...as a result NEITHER forward line got clean entries, multiple entries, unobstructed leads or good scoring opportunities.
There can be a tendency on these boards for people to sink the boot into our forwards generally for failing to kick good scores – whether deserved or not, in my opinion today was not a day for forwards, or for kicking a bag. Based purely on the half I saw, any criticism of our forwards performance today is not really fair.
That being said, I acknowledge I wasn't there for the second half, ...so the wheels may well have fallen off after half-time for all I knew... I wasn't around to see it.
****************************
Eye Catching Moments & Eye Catching Players…
****************************
GRIFFIN LOGUE:
Fcuk me folks... Griff was HUUUGE today, in every sense of the word.
He's put on a load of muscle and is reading the play like it’s a porno mag. Followed his man (Cam) everywhere and didn't give him an inch – very effective shut down job today.
At one point during a defensive transition in the second quarter, Griff ran off his man with perfect timing, took an unobstructed hand-ball receive, pinned his ears back and bolted like a high-speed, two-tonne, ginger-haired brick shithouse. Cam is no slouch by foot himself and was able to run Griff down due to him having to dodge around an opposing player which slowed him up… Griff still got an effective disposal away however, which lead to a very nice possession chain, a pretty average F50 entry, and a scrappy-looking goal for the White team.
Griff may not have the leg speed of our other midfield options, but good luck trying to stop him once he’s got a head of steam up… imagine Jona Lomu in a ginger-hued Shirley Temple wig – that was Griff today!
One of these days Ross is going to try him in the midfield… it won’t happen soon granted, but it’s far from a dumb idea.
GREY:
If there’s an award for most improved, Brady is definitely a finalist. Made the best of bad conditions and won his fair share of ball despite being outsized by Ethan Hughes (Ethan was far from disgraced… but Brady just shaded him) Lovely evasiveness in traffic shown at times and he never stopped running or fighting. Played across HF and in the midfield. An Energiser Bunny in the making, if he keeps this up he’ll surprise many.
MEEK
Lloyd is very solid and surprisingly nimble for such a big guy - the previous comparisons to Zac Clark are accurate, there were definite moments of deja-vu watching him on the ground (I think it's the haircut and his utterly massive shoulders… plus like Zac, he’s got a pretty good jump on him).
MATERIA
Surprisingly large through the shoulders and arms! … even if he’s not kicking goals this year, his forward tackles are going to stick.
D PEARCE:
Not a misprint… he got a fair bit of it today I thought. Worked hard at stoppages and was very vocal. Hope he keeps it up.
SUTCLIFFE
At his best, Cam is a long and accurate kick and a very silky mover. He’s been a little short of his best in recent seasons IMO, but he did have a **lovely** passage of play on the wing which ended in a long, lazer-guided kick into the forward line which was easily gobbled up by his teammate… the praise from the coaches on the sidelines was well deserved, as its hard to kick long in those conditions, and it was a great piece of on-field vision… a lovely reminder of both why we drafted him, and what he should aspire to this year.
THE A GRADERS:
Fyfe was Fyfe, Sonny was Sonny, Sandi was Sandi, Mundy was Mundy… all excellent as usual.
Fyfe is back in beast mode – place your Charlie bets now whilst the odds are still good.
THE YOUNG ONES:
Bradshaw and Cerra are both beautiful kicks as advertised, and both of them showed up with ball in hand with delightful regularity.
Cerra is FAR bigger than he looks on screen and could be a real midfield beast in a year or two.
Brayshaw was worth Pick 2… he looked like a toothpick at stoppages today, but he’s a bloody rolled-gold 24 karat toothpick. Very composed, very clean, finds the ball, keeps his feet and likes to move them both surprisingly quickly on occasion. Assuming he stays injury-free, expect an early season debut.
Crowden is promising: beautiful hands in congestion and helped create a fair few stoppage clearances. At one point made a low, raking forward-50 entry to nobody at all unfortunately… nobody was home for the white team, they didn’t have any forwards in position and Purple ran the ball out of defense easily. Maybe he was kicking for distance and trying to run onto it, or maybe it was an error in judgement… either way it didn’t work out as planned. Was playing in the midfield though and didn’t look out of place – can’t wait to see more of him.
Giro is intriguing – very slight, very light, but very quick and good by hand… I can see why we drafted him.
Keep an eye on him… he’ll definitely start his year at Peel, but I somehow doubt he’ll finish it there.
THE WASH-UP
Solid defensive efforts, some good transitions and individual efforts, a lot of promising signs but that’s about it – it wasn’t a day for champagne football…this was "homemade lemonade" football at best – ie: tasty and tempting, but I wish it had some booze in it, and it left me wanting more.
Wish I’d seen the whole game, will be sure to do so next time.
