D2 D2 Ammos 2008

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Drifter, now that you will not be in D2 next year, will we see a detailed Wamba like analysis from you, would be interesting reading to see what you really thought of the other sides?

Great work Wamba:thumbsu:
 
live it up said:
Drifter, now that you will not be in D2 next year, will we see a detailed Wamba like analysis from you, would be interesting reading to see what you really thought of the other sides?

Great work Wamba:thumbsu:
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Wamba knows far more than me mate!!

Time permitting I'll have a crack though - might be after footy trip this weekend though as shortened work week has meant alot to get through before hitting the trip Thurs night
 

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Drifter said:
Wamba knows far more than me mate!!

Time permitting I'll have a crack though - might be after footy trip this weekend though as shortened work week has meant alot to get through before hitting the trip Thurs night
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Where are you lads going this year Drifter? Hopefully we won't be staying in the same hotel like last year!!
 
no room for any of us (bentleigh) in your side wamba... even the ones you mentioned?? anyway, an excellent year in review!! :thumbsu:
 
no room for any of us (bentleigh) in your side wamba... even the ones you mentioned?? anyway, an excellent year in review!!
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Thanks Stewie. Could have put Lawry on the bench but then again I probably could have fitted in lots of others, especially from Werribee; Sharp and Robbo didn't have full seasons so I left them out
 
TheWamba said:
Wamba’s End of Season Review (for what it’s worth)

10th Salesians/St.Marys- Often got good first use by the aggressive Armstrong and Oldfield with good support from Stevens. If the ball went wide they liked to overlap going forward with handball using such players as Murphy to make the transition. When they went forward they liked to hit up Dwyer who made excellent central leads with short passes. Tom Nelson liked to go for his marks down back and often came down with the ball. Were a six goal better side at Ferndale Park where every ball is a contest. Pushed Werribee, St.Leos and Ivanhoe and Glen Eira to the line there.

However, although they were on the wrong end of some injuries, their midfield never looked fit and could not apply sustained pressure, especially away from home. Disastrous results at Westbourne and Werribee hurt them as did a lacklustre performance at Therry which was surprising given what was at stake.

Despite the injuries, the players around the fringes lacked class and the end result painted an accurate picture.

Expect them to trouble a lot of sides in D3.

(Key Players: Armstrong, Oldfield, Dwyer)

9th Bentleigh-Plenty of talent down at Bentleigh, but like a lot of clubs, they had injuries and rarely seemed settled.

Had scoring power on the one hand but was scored against far too heavily on the other.

Frost was able to give Swinden, Lawry and Robertson a decent chance at getting first use.

Swinden and Lawry in particular impressed with their work ethic.

They also liked to get Tangas or Robertson loose at half back when they could and use them to set up their attacks from defence.

When Sharp was up forward he proved again what a class player he has been over a long time making smart leads to his left so he could shoot at goals on the side favouring his left foot.

Robertson was dangerous when he went forward but also got injured and tended to drift in and out of games. In fairness, it is also difficult when you’re expected to plug holes in the midfield, go down back and set up attacks and then go forward and kick goals all within a game.

Coles and Magnifico were good on their day but inconsistent while Fergus played tall and could look menacing at half forward.

Got smashed by St.Leos twice, Banyule twice and Werribee twice. The loss to St.Leos at home in particular seemed to dent their confidence.
Beat Therry away and at home and had a great finish to the year by demolishing St.Marys/Salesian.

With juniors coming through, expect a short stay in D3.

(Key Players: Sharp, Robertson, Lawry, Swinden, Frost).

8th-Therry-Underachieved considering some of the talent they had.

When Corey Bannister didn’t play, they relied on Crotty for clearances Jarrod Hanlon to do the hard running and Baker to be the man available in transition through the middle of the ground.

Egglestone and Daniel Hanlon were the lynchpins of defence along with troubleshooter Matt Costello who switched between defence and attack.

The idea was to get it in to McWhinney provided a strong leading target and Elmi played tall and always looked likely to snag a couple and the energetic Ricky Skiathiatis who they missed when injured.

When Corey Bannister was in the plan was to kick it to him and rely on him to beat the three blokes he played on which he usually did.

Were a six goal better side at home than away although they won well at St.Marys and gave the Hoes an absolute touch up at Ivanhoe Park (although Farrelly from Coburg Tigers made a huge difference that day. If he plays next year for Therry, they will shorten dramatically).

As mentioned, they had plenty to offer and insiders will only know the reason they didn’t win more. At the crossroads.

(Key players: C.Bannister, Matt Costello, McWhinney, Baker, Elmi).

7th Old Paradians-Young side that liked to chip the ball short around the wings and flanks until half forward where Sage provided the tall high marking option and Brabender was the leading target.

Sinclair and Cosgriff (don’t trust the Parade list in the record) provided the midfiled grunt while Pratt was the hardest runner in their midfield.

Could look dangerous up forward when Sage and Brabender were on their game. Young was a good foil and Valente was a dangerous front and square.

However, their defence was undersized and generally the younger players didn’t have the strength to match it in the clinches.

Glen Eira was the only team above them on the ladder that they beat and that was just.

However, with a young side, a school behind them and maybe Boundy sometime in the future, it’s hard to see them stay down for long.
(Key Players:Sage, Brabender, Pratt, Young).

6th-Glen Eira-In the first half of the year were considered a monty to fill fourth position (5-2 after round 7) but they faded badly as the year progressed.

With the old reliables in Diamond, Massis and Pryde delivering in the midfield, Spink and Patterson marking everything down back and Clark providing a good leading target with Caruana as his foil, the Saints looked in good shape.

Somewhere along the line the wheels fell off. Had some injuries, Alex Tsiorgiannis hurt his shoulder, along with Patterson who was a major loss.

With Spink going into the ruck as the year went on, all of a sudden they were vulnerable down back.

Added to this Bongo Vamvakis rarely made an appearance.

Hard to judge where the Saints are at. One thing for certain is that you always get an honest effort from them and you’d expect they’d have easily enough to survive in D2 next year if not better.

(Clark, Massis, Diamond, Pryde, Spink, Patterson).

5th Old Westbourne-Touted pre season as a major contender with Werribee.

Had blown the competition out of the water in D3 and had assembled a side in the previous year that would have been competitive in much higher grades.

However, they lost Smith from the midfield and Fairfield and Balloch from defence and the players that came in weren’t of the same quality although Templeton did a good job.

Added to this Cade Lever missed a huge chunk through injury as did Dullard.

However, they still had enough big names to trouble any side.

Pavez again was consistent on ball while Morrissey had a good year.

Horsburgh was in and out and Jeka played twos for reasons known only to insiders.

Were often under the pump and were often kept in the game through great individual efforts. In particular, Hutton swam against the tide and was often the one to pull down the big marks and kick goals when they were in trouble.

Collins was a good second marking option, Hunter worked hard and showed plenty of spirit and the Connors, class acts as they are, never looked fully fit.

Showed they still have scoring power in blowing away some of the lower sides but would have been particularly disappointed in being touched up by local rivals Werribee twice.

Expect them to bounce back and threaten for the flag in 09.

(Key Players: Hutton, Pavez, B.Connors, G.Connors, Collins).


4th Banyule-One of the pacesetters of the competition and the only team to beat St.Leos until Werribee in the last round.

With scoring power to blow any side out of the water, they set up many attacks from half-back through shared the ball through the middle to hit up their multi-pronged forward line.

Christian, Shepherd and Braddy were standouts down back and Walsh gave the midfield run and Taylor grunt.

Gayfer and Playfair rotated as two top class targets, Ioacconis was a physical presence and a good foil as was Ash Brown and the brilliant Drapac gave them that X factor.

Were undone by Werribee twice and were unlucky against st.Leos and Ivanhoe.

Have strong under 19’s and it’s hard to see them not being a major threat fot the flag in ’09.

(Key players: Gayfer, Playfair, Drapac, Braddy, Brown, Walsh).

3rd Ivanhoe- Did well to finish third after being 1-4 after 5 rounds.

Had chances in the Preliminary but in the end were a class below the grand finalists.

Jimmy Collins was outstanding in the midfield and the attack led by Ang Pace was capable of scoring heavily.

Although they had good run from defence, as a side they let through far too many goals.

Going forward they will need to add depth to their midfield, find a genuine ruckman and a crumbing forward.

If they can keep the squad together and add a few more, then they should be competitive next year.

(Key Players: Pace, Brown, Collins).

2nd St.Leos-For much of the year they were the most complete and well rounded team in the competition.

With Paul Baranello dominating the middle and the athletic Beluszar up forward, they had two of the stars of the competition.

They also had the top ruckman of the competition in Ballard whose thumps forward from centre bounces and huge work rate gave them a big advantage.

Add the run of Hickey on the wing , Carey’s dash from half back, Nate Baranello’s hardness, disciplined defenders in Volpi and McKenzie and Ellis, D’Amico and Robin as foils up forward for Beluszar, and you had a side that was rightly 16-1 after 17 rounds.

Injuries to Nate Baranello and Beluszar hurt them but they ran into the running machine of Werribee and in the end weren’t quite up to it.

Were the only team to beat Werribee, knocked off Banyule and disposed of Ivanhoe comfortably.

Thoroughly deserved promotion and will be more than competitive in D1.

(Key Players: Beluszar, N.Baranello, P.Baranello, Carey, Hickey, McKenzie).

Ist Werribee-Any side that loses one game out of 20 has to have a lot going for it and Werribee certainly did.

A relatively small side, they liked to use their run and space and superior foot skills to hit up leading targets.

Taylor and Dean ran hard from defence and set up attacks, Tedesco provided the grunt in midfield, Alfriaco played a s a defensive winger and was often the switch target and Renault was a dynamic attacking winger.

Then there were the forwards.

Late on Fastuca provided a great target and earlier in the year the brilliant Nathan Black did that earlier on.

Cunningham, the clever D. Lee and Murphy were great foils.

However, the real stars of the show were the 5 foot nothing Lee brothers.

Cam was a brilliant forward with 50 odd goals but even he was eclipsed by Trent Lee, the star of the competition.

Without him, Werribee still would have been a contender for the title and probably still would have won.

On the other hand they may not have and certainly would have lost more games.

Whenever they were in trouble he would lift and just blow the opposition away with his pace and goal sense.

He also made life tough for opposition defenders with great chase downs and pressure.

During the year no matter what position they were in you always felt they were still going to win because they score so quickly and heavily as evidenced against Ivanhoe and Therry away and St.Leos in the GF.

Going forward, they will need to bolster their key defensive positions. As good as A.Taylor and Antonello are, they looked vulnerable down back.

Also sides that can apply defensive tackling pressure will trouble them but no-one was fit or fast enough to do that for a full game in D2.

Congratulations to the best side and premiers.


Team of the Year:

B .M.Taylor (Wer), Christian (Ban), N.Baranello (ESL)
HB: Hunter (OW), Volpi (ESL), Braddy (Ban)
C: Hickey (ESL), Collins (Iv), Renault (Wer)
HF: Pavez (OW), Beluszar (ESL), T.Lee (Wer)
F: Drapac (Ban), C.Bannister (The), Pace (Iva)
R. Ballard (ESL), Massis (GE)
R P.Baranello (ESL)
Int. Hutton (OW), C.Lee (Wer), Sage (OP), Brown (Iva).

This is all in my humble opinion.
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Gee Wamba, that's almost word for word with my review, saves me posting it though ;)!! Only difference in our team of the years are; I had Mazzoc roaming across half back and the Chump doing the kicking in :p
Well done to Werribee, well deserved boys.
 
TheWamba said:
Thanks Stewie. Could have put Lawry on the bench but then again I probably could have fitted in lots of others, especially from Werribee; Sharp and Robbo didn't have full seasons so I left them out
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no worries wamba. i have to admit the talent in d2 this year was second to none so i can see your point of view - too many guns to choose from!!
 
Best tag ever. Matty Antonello tagging Beluszar at nightclub on weekend then driving him home. NOW that's taking tagging to a new level.
 

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Congatulations to Paul Baranello on winning b&f.
Congratulations to Trent Lee on coming second.
and WINNING the whole comp's rising star. Fantastic effort for someone so young.
 
Good luck to all d2 sides next year with Penninsular being relegated back to D2 because of player payments. Odds for POB's $1.00 evens for flag
 
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