Flyingleslieskite
Club Legend
- Aug 24, 2023
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- Tasmania
Good result for Werribee against a team whos AFL season has started.
VFL 2025
- Thread starter bedford
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Spiny Norman
Draftee
- Oct 16, 2024
- 8
- 6
- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
- Other Teams
- Port Melbourne
Turns out I was able to get to Port Melbourne's game, so I'll note a few impressions.
Score progression:
Ge: 5.3 (33) 9.3 (57) 10.5 (65) 15.8 (96)
PM: 4.1 (25) 8.4 (52) 8.9 (57) 11.11 (77)
Goalkickers for Port Melbourne (minus whoever kicked Port's first of the fourth - I didn't see clearly who got that one, and while I think I identified Signorello correctly, I could be wrong about who kicked the goal I attribute to him): Manton 3, Davey 1, Baldwin 1, Wanganeen 1, Philp 1, Lloyd 1, Signorello 1, Hird 1
Well, I was expecting a loss, and that turned out to be correct. There are some positive signs. Certainly the problems of recent seasons are yet to be solved, but they're working on it. There were still too many turnovers and poor defense of turnovers, particularly in the first half; the Geelong players got too many easy chains of possession and too much space in front of goal. And of course kicking 0.5 for the third quarter was not exactly ideal. Port Melbourne did have an early lead, but Geelong didn't take long to get the lead themselves, and Port never led again - they could have in the third with better goalkicking, although Geelong were good at responding when Port did kick goals. But pressure and positioning did improve in the second half despite the desired scoreboard result not coming and Geelong continuing to create opportunities and make the most of them. The next step is to put that together for an entire game, and of course also stop turning the ball over and start kicking straight for goal.
I'd have Lazzaro as best on if I had to pick one, closely followed by Kuol Mun and Hooper. Lazzaro really adds some speed to the midfield and is very difficult for opponents to catch. Rosman was very good as well but only played the second half. (I'd wondered how he, Highmore, Baldwin, and Van Es would fit into the side - they didn't play them all at the same time.) Green was good as usual. This was Tom Hird's best game of the preseason; his first half was decent despite some mistakes in positioning, and in the second half he was definitely good (he played mostly midfield but was on a wing for part of the fourth quarter). I am again impressed by Lachie Bond and expect he'll play Round 1. Again, some very good tackles by Lloyd, whom I also expect to see in the round 1 side. Riley Polkinghorne has looked consistently promising in all three preseason games - not dominating, but showing enough that I expect to see him in the round 1 side as well.
No Heppell report, as he didn't play - he was set to play the fourth quarter only but then didn't play at all. I don't know why. Davey seemed a bit more involved in the play than he had in previous games, although he still has a tendency to fumble ground balls. There were some good moments from Wanganeen. I don't recall Baldwin being a main culprit for turnovers this week, and I do like how he contests the ball. There were some good signs from Connor Riley in the first half; I don't particularly remember him in the second.
I don't expect a win over Brisbane's VFL side - probably the best we can hope for is to be competitive all game. Of course we especially need a stronger forward line, as we've discussed here. But there are still signs of improvement. Effort is there, and hopefully over the course of the season the team will gel better. (I'm certainly more optimistic about Port Melbourne's season than Port Adelaide's....)
Score progression:
Ge: 5.3 (33) 9.3 (57) 10.5 (65) 15.8 (96)
PM: 4.1 (25) 8.4 (52) 8.9 (57) 11.11 (77)
Goalkickers for Port Melbourne (minus whoever kicked Port's first of the fourth - I didn't see clearly who got that one, and while I think I identified Signorello correctly, I could be wrong about who kicked the goal I attribute to him): Manton 3, Davey 1, Baldwin 1, Wanganeen 1, Philp 1, Lloyd 1, Signorello 1, Hird 1
Well, I was expecting a loss, and that turned out to be correct. There are some positive signs. Certainly the problems of recent seasons are yet to be solved, but they're working on it. There were still too many turnovers and poor defense of turnovers, particularly in the first half; the Geelong players got too many easy chains of possession and too much space in front of goal. And of course kicking 0.5 for the third quarter was not exactly ideal. Port Melbourne did have an early lead, but Geelong didn't take long to get the lead themselves, and Port never led again - they could have in the third with better goalkicking, although Geelong were good at responding when Port did kick goals. But pressure and positioning did improve in the second half despite the desired scoreboard result not coming and Geelong continuing to create opportunities and make the most of them. The next step is to put that together for an entire game, and of course also stop turning the ball over and start kicking straight for goal.
I'd have Lazzaro as best on if I had to pick one, closely followed by Kuol Mun and Hooper. Lazzaro really adds some speed to the midfield and is very difficult for opponents to catch. Rosman was very good as well but only played the second half. (I'd wondered how he, Highmore, Baldwin, and Van Es would fit into the side - they didn't play them all at the same time.) Green was good as usual. This was Tom Hird's best game of the preseason; his first half was decent despite some mistakes in positioning, and in the second half he was definitely good (he played mostly midfield but was on a wing for part of the fourth quarter). I am again impressed by Lachie Bond and expect he'll play Round 1. Again, some very good tackles by Lloyd, whom I also expect to see in the round 1 side. Riley Polkinghorne has looked consistently promising in all three preseason games - not dominating, but showing enough that I expect to see him in the round 1 side as well.
No Heppell report, as he didn't play - he was set to play the fourth quarter only but then didn't play at all. I don't know why. Davey seemed a bit more involved in the play than he had in previous games, although he still has a tendency to fumble ground balls. There were some good moments from Wanganeen. I don't recall Baldwin being a main culprit for turnovers this week, and I do like how he contests the ball. There were some good signs from Connor Riley in the first half; I don't particularly remember him in the second.
I don't expect a win over Brisbane's VFL side - probably the best we can hope for is to be competitive all game. Of course we especially need a stronger forward line, as we've discussed here. But there are still signs of improvement. Effort is there, and hopefully over the course of the season the team will gel better. (I'm certainly more optimistic about Port Melbourne's season than Port Adelaide's....)
Flyingleslieskite
Club Legend
- Aug 24, 2023
- 1,145
- 1,298
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- Tasmania
Nor should you be
AussieNick1999
Team Captain
- Oct 17, 2022
- 438
- 428
- AFL Club
- Carlton
Love to see it
- Dec 30, 2003
- 2,407
- 2,348
- AFL Club
- Western Bulldogs
- Other Teams
- Bulldogs / Willy / Palace
Think you will find Foorscray will struggle early in the season with so many injuries at AFL level with another 2 major injuries in the AFL match last night.
Interesting that Footscray had 5 more scoring shots v Werribee and lost by 5 goals.
NBullantsCTAF
Draftee
- Sep 12, 2023
- 5
- 2
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
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- Northern Bullants
Don't give me hope for round 1...
