Review The Good, The bad and the Ugle - NAB Semi

[pauly_moss]

The Good

Pendlebury - Stand out player on the ground. He is my tip for the Brownlow this year as with many other pie supporters. Out and out star, most impressive was his pack marks tonight, his arms looked absolutly huge seems to have bulked up some more.

Keefe - Backed up last weeks effort against Kennedy tonight who is no mug. With injuries to Brown and now possibly Maxwell there is a strong case for this guy to get a run early in the season. He is doing everything right to be considered.

Dawes - Not a massive bag of goals but did provide some assists, we looked dangerous every time the ball was near him.

Krakouer - I was surprised to see he had only 15 touches because he looked very important out there. Seems to be moulding in very nicely to the team structure. If anyone had doubts on him starting round 1 I can't see him not being in our side.

Buckley - I thought his run and carry out of the backline was good made a few mistakes which is what he is known for however his reading of the ball and roving contests was very good and sent us forward many times. I think he showed something tonight.

O'Brien - Did a good job on LeCras. Played on a superstar and kept him fairly quiet, not just this but did propel many forward attacks tonight. I thought our back half was pretty good and was the reason we won this game honorable mentions to Davis, Toovey and Johnson.

The Bad

Jolly/Wood - I ripped into Wood pretty hard last week and his 1st quarter I thought was actually very good tonight. I talked about impact on the game and its the little things like shephards, making marking contests and making the other Ruck man accountable. He did this in the first quarter but faded badly, however did come good again for a while in the last. We gave away many free kicks in the Ruck some warranted some not but our Ruck division was beaten tonight by a class ruck in Cox.

Swan - Had 21 touches and kicked a goal. I love the fact I can call this a poor game from Dane Swan shows how good he really is.

McNamara - Bit harsh because he didnt have a lot of game time and must be hard to come into a game half way through. But did look a bit out of position. These NAB cup games can do nothing but help the guy but. Still developing a football brain

The Ugle

Kicking for goals - Its not the number of points that was disappointing as our style of playing the boundry will always produce less accuarcy. It was the simple misses that was Ugly. Cloke and i think it was McCarthy and Blair that missed absoulte sitters, Clokes by far the worst.

Free Kicks from Rucks - Jolly gave so many of these away early last year, hope we dont see a repeat of that.

Injuries - Not just to Collingwood players either no one likes injuries especially this time of year. I hope Maxwell pulls up ok and also Mitch Brown from the eagles what a horror story for this family this pre season has been.

All in all a good win against a pretty much full strength Eagles in Perth and we got more game time into kids. Now we get a chance at another premiership albiet a pre season one but should be great against one of our big rivals. Bring on next week

 

[PieBeast]

Fairly sure Krak sat on the pine for most of third quarter.
Blair's improvement is phenomenal, great signs from J Mac too.

 

[Wooljay]

Buckley was good? I'd say he was average at best. I'll agree he found a lot of the ball and had more than one good run out of the backline, but his decision making is odds on the worst I've seen in the side. Some of his disposal under pressure was hopeless, and the long bombs to no one got old quick.

Shaw Mac had a forgettable game, but a good experience nonetheless.

 

[Good_Old]

EDIT* Agree with Woojay on Buckley.

Keefe going to find a few games the seniors this year one would think.

How good is Krak's crumming, you know he's just going to get better each game he plays.

 

[Zahki]

Buckley good? Come on, he was horrendous. As he was in the first game. The second game he was merely average and people on here were pumping him up. Won't make it, has terrible decision making and is not good under pressure.

 

[Dundalis]

Buckley good? Come on, he was horrendous. As he was in the first game. The second game he was merely average and people on here were pumping him up. Won't make it, has terrible decision making and is not good under pressure.

Horrendous? Absolute rubbish. The bagging Buckley gets is bordering on plain ignorance. And here I thought Pies supporters were one eyed in favour of their players.

No Buckley is not the greatest decision maker in the world, he does put teammates under undue pressure sometimes and can tend to bomb long. However on the positive side, he's a big strong player whom is difficult to tackle, is as quick as any in the team, has good awareness, continually makes himself available as an outlet for teammates and generates a hell of a lot of run breaking the lines out of our defence. Is he a superstar in the making? Hell no. But to call him horrendous and say he isn't going to make it (I'd almost guarantee he will get games for us in the AFL this season), is way over the top. And the way you call out his decision making, someone else said it's the worst he has ever seen, makes it sound like he made as many clangers as he had possessions out there. I guarantee this is not the case, and that plenty of his disposals actually led to solid attacks from us.

IMO our whole team butchered the ball tonight, our delivery inside 50 was pathetic (finishing inside 50 also).

 

[Zahki]

Sorry but I can only go off what I saw and I only counted a handful of times that he had the ball that didn't lead to a turnover, he has one trick, to kick the ball as hard and as far as he can, and it doesn't work. Line breaking run is only useful if you can hit targets, and Buckley has far from shown that.

I'd say he's a guaranteed delisting at the end of the year personally unless a miracle happens and he becomes a decent player in the next 6 months.

 

[Dundalis]

Sorry but I can only go off what I saw and I only counted a handful of times that he had the ball that didn't lead to a turnover, he has one trick, to kick the ball as hard and as far as he can, and it doesn't work. Line breaking run is only useful if you can hit targets, and Buckley has far from shown that.

I'd say he's a guaranteed delisting at the end of the year personally unless a miracle happens and he becomes a decent player in the next 6 months.

Would you say the same of McCarthy? Based on what I've seen so far I would keep Buckley in favour of McCarthy every day of the week.

Also there is the fact that he can actually kick it 55 plus metres. i.e. with the run and carry he is potentially a 70-80 metre per possession player. I have much more time for players that bomb long when they can generate that kind of meterage, because even if the kick isn't to our advantage, if we get to the resulting contest and lock it in, we have made a shite load of ground, or conversely if it's turned over the opposition have the ball a long way back from their end. Plus the fact that he is actually a technically sound kick of the footy, meaning when he does make good decisions with it, he is potentially a fairly damaging player.

I don't expect Buckley to be first choice in our backline, but I am more than happy with him as our running HBF backup for this season. AFAIC the ripping of his decision making while having some merit is over the top. He's nowhere near as bad a decision maker for example as someone like Chris Bryan was, albeit a completely different player. He is probably the worst decision maker I've ever seen play for us.

 

[PieBeast]

Buckley was named in the bests by HS and had a 83% efficiency, he was all right, especially in the second half.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/match?matchid=1111112046177

 

[Swooop]

Sorry but I can only go off what I saw and I only counted a handful of times that he had the ball that didn't lead to a turnover, he has one trick, to kick the ball as hard and as far as he can, and it doesn't work. Line breaking run is only useful if you can hit targets, and Buckley has far from shown that.

I'd say he's a guaranteed delisting at the end of the year personally unless a miracle happens and he becomes a decent player in the next 6 months.

Yeah, I watched him a bit at the ground tonight...he gets the ball a fair bit, contests pretty well, disposes of the ball quite well, but the ball just goes to the wrong places more often than it should...so all in all, it would appear to be the decision process that lets him down a bit.

IMO would never crack a best 22. And would need maybe two or three backs out with injuries to get a game ( Nate already counts as one)

Perhaps more than most, he possibly needs a more settled side to play in, then he may prosper, and become a very serviceable player.

 

[Dundalis]

Buckley was named in the bests by HS and had a 83% efficiency, he was all right, especially in the second half.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/match?matchid=1111112046177

While the disposal efficiency stat can be misleading, it still helps confirm IMO that these calls of Buckley's terrible decision making are over the top. No clangers either which some may find surprising.

Yeah, I watched him a bit at the ground tonight...he gets the ball a fair bit, contests pretty well, disposes of the ball quite well, but the ball just goes to the wrong places more often than it should...so all in all, it would appear to be the decision process that lets him down a bit.

IMO would never crack a best 22. And would need maybe two or three backs out with injuries to get a game ( Nate already counts as one)

Perhaps more than most, he possibly needs a more settled side to play in, then he may prosper, and become a very serviceable player.

I agree with this. As a non KP defender, only Goldsack, should he be outside the 22, would be in front of him. I see Buckley as being slightly overpanicked when under pressure, yet showing no lack of confidence in presenting to receive, that I think he'd likely show some improvement simply by getting gametime and being comfortable in a settled defence. If Toovey can show the drastic improvement in his decision making that he has, there's no reason Buckley couldn't.

You don't just throw away 190cm players that are well built and can run like the wind, because those kinds of physically gifted players don't grow on trees. For me he is worth persisting with despite his flaws because of those traits.

 

[dunno4]

given that j-mac has been in and out of the team for a couple of years and still looks pedestrian, I think with another 10 games of playing with the senior side Buckley has far more upside.

 

[gifted1]

i think dundalis is on the money.
im no huge buckley fan but i watch each game with an open mind, i dont reckon many on here do.
the knock on buckley has always been his decison making, so it's become a pet thing for everyone to criticise, therefore everytime he has the ball and his disposal doesn't lead to an uncontested mark from a collingwood player people tear their hair out.
Personally i'd say his decison making is no worse than harry O (yes harry has other great qualities). We have plenty of players who are prone to bombing long, it seems to be part of our game plan, which is obviously working ok, not pretty but it's the way we play.
FWIW i thought keeffe was fantastic tonight and i thought both buckley and mccarthy showed something, mccarthy especially coming off limited preparation

 

[ThePheonix]

Good - I think Dale Thomas has stepped up a gear, NO, he has turned on the nitro switch. He looked amazing to me, if he keeps this up maybe a brownlow in it for him.

 

[Ickirus]

Good: Was really impressed by Blair, Krakouer and Keefe. As others have said Blair has really stepped up another level and his hardness, ability to get through traffic and kicking all look the goods. Toovey also took some great marks and played very well from my view.

Bad: Decision making and some terrible turnovers.
On Buckley, while I hate players that just bomb the ball aimlessly often to no one or a 2 v 1, its Buckley's handballing in the backline that worried me. He often sold his team mates into trouble with hospital handballs and terrible decisions under pressure.

Ugly: The umpiring. Why do our rucks get absolutely crucified by the umps? Wood seems to get pinged in the ruck for doing nothing different from the oppositions ruck. We get pinged for holding in the ruck contest all the time, yet when Cox or Lynch were holding onto our rucks or grabbing their jumpers we got jack shit

Clokes goal kicking. As bad as ever, went 2.3 (including the complete miss across the face) and a dead sitter. Needs to work to attain at least 50% accuracy, including complete misses/OOB.

 

[Aucklander]

Don't know if it was just me, but I thought Leon Davis was and has been pretty good down back. Dale Thomas' tackling continues to impress.

Touch of over confidence maybe?

Some exciting young players. Good win in trying conditions.

 

[Bay Pie]

Good

Krak - his one touch play and footy nous is going to be a massive boost for us this year. Daisy and Leon both showed the same traits in a fumbly game where the one touch players stood out.

Keefe - He'll be an AFL player. Just more time developing. He is showing great signs.

Pendlebury - Disposal was a little scrappy but so was the game. Poised in traffic

Blair - Hard at it. You know what you're going to get with him.

Bad

Giving away frees in the ruck contests

Ugly

Pendles hair, mo and goatie. His girlfriend must like him growing a beard

Kicking for goal

Injuries to Maxwell, Hunter, Mitch Brown and NicNat

The fat sheila behind the posts to the right of screen

 

[Chartreuse]

Why are so many people bagging Buckley so much...he would get a spot in any other AFL team's best 22.

Unfortunately not ours because its so strong but doesn't mean he is a bad player and he provides good depth should injuries hit us hard.

Yeah he makes a few mistakes but noone ever said he was an elite player!

 

[HFF]

THE GOOD

Pendles moved well (surprised by the amount of ball he had because I definitely thought he was "cruising". Swan was also definitely on auto-pilot).

John McCarthy- very impressive. In fact, he was one of our best for mine. His attack on the footy was first rate (particularly for someone who is battling and coming off injuries) and whilst he did have the odd wayward kick in pretty tough conditions, he will certainly see game time in 2011. Great size too.

Andrew Krakouer- all class. One touch, silky, evasive, what a player to add into our line-up. His roving off the packs is just sublime.

Leon Davis- defended very well. Still don't think he will play in defence much come the season proper but he won plenty of of one-on-one contests against his direct opponent and his closing speed was very good.
Harry O- pretty much dominated Lecras in just about every one-on-one duel. Creative too. All round performance very good.

Lachlan Keeffe- again impressive. He still needs to learn a few things, i.e. he was defending the wrong side of an opponent (not his direct opponent in Kennedy though) that resulted in two goals to Shuey and Lecras but he was not beaten by Kennedy. Kicking is very good for a big man. He has got something this kid.

Dawes and Cloke- put them down as a combo and thought they did well without having the lace-out delivery. Had about 10 shots between them and some very strong contested marks. It's great to have two power forwards.

Sharrod Wellingham- stepping up again this year. Marking ability for a midfielder is awesome. Hard, quick, evasive and a little cheeky too. Love this boy.

THE BAD

Ben Johnson- broke the lines well and rebound was good but his kicking was way off tonight. Conditions may have been tough but despite his awkwardness, Johnno is normally a pretty reliable kick of the footy. Decision making was also dubious at best.

Jolly and Wood ruck combo- Understandable that this was Jols' first hitout of 2011 but as a tandmen they were beaten by Cox. Wood needs more impact. Could have talen some brilliant contested marks running back with the flight of the ball but dropped them. For such a big man he needs to grab these and make his presence felt. The block for Pendles in the 3rd was also not what you expect either, particularly for a 100kg man. However, some of the ruck infringements were absolute rubbish against our duo.

Performance as a team- thought we were really flat throughout. In fact, we were close to shithouse. WCE worked alot harder than us on the spread than we normally do but at least our press/zone can still hold up under such dominance. WCE really controlled the game for at least 80-90% of it.

Dayne Beams- little to no impact. Very good in NAB 2 but was really nowhere to be seen yesterday. Perhaps he was being rested moreso than others as he has played in every game thus far but not a good night for Beamsy.


THE UGLE

Simon Buckley- his kicking was terrible. Decision making left alot to be desired and put teammates under too much pressure when there was no need for it. Turned the ball over under no pressure far too easily. Really needs to improve on decision making otherwise he cannot have a role in our squad.

 

[Primetime Pricey]

the people knocking Buckley need to get their eyes checked, im not a fan of his but he was pretty decent last night. His carry and ability to get the ball was good and his kicking efficiency was over 80% last night so you cant knock that.
Pendlebury was brilliant and Krakouer's ability to know where the ball is going is briliant.
I liked Leon's game in defence, didnt look out of place.
Jye Bolton looks like he has some ability as well!

I thought Harry O'Briens game wasnt that great. You got the occasional burst from defence and that 1 great grab but he continues to fumble marks above his head and a couple times he switched the ball and kicked it to a player who had a Eagles opponent within range and cost us at least 1 goal. Needs to be better then that. LeCras knocked him off the ball too easily as well, yes LeCras is a gun but look at the body size, it shouldnt happen that easy. Hopefully he will get back to last years Harry soon enough.

 

[CamTinley]

Horrendous? Absolute rubbish. The bagging Buckley gets is bordering on plain ignorance. And here I thought Pies supporters were one eyed in favour of their players.

No Buckley is not the greatest decision maker in the world, he does put teammates under undue pressure sometimes and can tend to bomb long. However on the positive side, he's a big strong player whom is difficult to tackle, is as quick as any in the team, has good awareness, continually makes himself available as an outlet for teammates and generates a hell of a lot of run breaking the lines out of our defence. Is he a superstar in the making? Hell no. But to call him horrendous and say he isn't going to make it (I'd almost guarantee he will get games for us in the AFL this season), is way over the top. And the way you call out his decision making, someone else said it's the worst he has ever seen, makes it sound like he made as many clangers as he had possessions out there. I guarantee this is not the case, and that plenty of his disposals actually led to solid attacks from us.

IMO our whole team butchered the ball tonight, our delivery inside 50 was pathetic (finishing inside 50 also).

Not the whole team. Krakouer is the new Ablett Jnr. He seems to have 5 minutes of think time in half a metre of space. I honestly cannot believe the things he does out there.

 

[TradeDraft]

Really Liked Fasolo Game Tonight. Like his working through Contested Situations

 

[mightypies9]

Honestly, didnt see much of Fasolo last night, but I think its more because of his work in close the camera doesnt catch it, ala Pendlebury in his first year, blink and you'll miss it

I agree with Buckley comments, he was horrible, he just puts pressure on his team mates with his shocking decisions, every time he got the ball and kicked I cringed, he tries his heart out but if you always hand it right back to the opposition, you might as well not bother

Mcarthy impressed me, his disposal by foot is pretty good and works around the ground, just hope he can finally stay healthy and crack into the top 22, dunno who you would drop for him though

Wellingham looks just to continue on from last year, I remember watching him live in round 1 last year against the bulldogs and being suprised he was leading the possessions, really stepped up his game

Keefe should be promoted, he can take a great mark, and doesnt seem lost out there for someone who used to play soccer instead. very impressed

All in all, I was hoping we lose so we could just play kids in final round and rest all our players especially after maxy and tom hunter got injured, NAB cup is nothing to me, we've seen what happens to teams who win it anyway, ala bulldogs last year, just hope we dont drop off in the real thing

 

[TradeDraft]

Keefe should be promoted, he can take a great mark, and doesnt seem lost out there for someone who used to play soccer instead. very impressed

He is on the Senior List Already for this season mate

 

[mightypies9]

ah okay, my bad, didnt even hear about that, who for? brown?