2nds VFL Round 5 - Sandringham v Geelong, Trevor Barker Beach Oval, 2:00PM Sunday 1 May

[GoCattas]

3: Brown is going to be pretty special if he keeps this up. I cant remember seeing a better 1 on 1 key forward for Geelong (other than Ablett). My mine is ready now to play 1s. Will be very suited to the bigger AFL grounds.

Surely no better than Spinks, McCarthy, Playfair, Haynes, Gardiner, Gamble, Jason Mooney...

 

[AM]

Surely no better than Spinks, McCarthy, Playfair, Haynes, Gardiner, Gamble, Jason Mooney...

Yep! When I read that comment about Mitch I thought it was laying on the mayonnaise a tad thick.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Good report P_O - you weren't the one wearing a puffer jacket and glasses by any chance?!! I appeared to be standing in a similar area in the third quarter and was wondering whether there were any "Bigfooty types" around!

I think that most of us that were at the game pretty much came away with similar impressions. Primarily that Brown, if he can build up his upper body, should be our answer to a key forward position. And that Vardy has got the makings of a terrific modern day multi functional ruckman.

I thought that both Guthrie and Christensen were the classiest of our midfielders out there. Infact they really stood out to me as being a cut above the rest in terms of their decision making and footskills. Guthrie looks to have added a bit more size to his legs as well - I reckon another pre-season or two and he will be a lovely utility type.

All in all it was a great day down there despite the result. Nice to watch footy like I did as a kid.

I have no idea what a puffer jacket is exactly but I was wearing a jacket of some description (gosh it was cold). I also have this rather lame habit of wearing my sunnies on a chain around my neck to stop me losing them, if that helps you.

Agree with the rest of your thoughts, Brown is lovely, and will be a good AFL forward in time. It's a question of how long.

I have been well known to be on the Vardy bandwagon from the minute he was drafted so I am biased but he fits the exact hole we need to fit and is tracking really well.

Guthrie is a very very mature footballer for an 18 year old. Having seen him live this year I understand why Wells was so keen on him.

Bundy is very good too.

Thanks for the report PO. It's good for those of us over the horizon to be to be able to read such posts and gain a little insight into the young players we have.

Your comments on Motlop sheds some light on the perception by previous posters that he seemed 'disinterested' - lets hope he gets that confidence and belief back in his ability.

Stringer is an interesting one for me - if I understand it correctly, he's been around a while now, but has been cruelled by injury. Where do you see him being at in the scheme of things?

Motlop, no, he's a flashy player by nature and doesn't have the body size yet to deliver consistenly so will get mistakenly pigeonholed as disinterested when he isn't. Quite the opposite actually. I noticed either late second or third quarter when one of his tackles got shrugged (generally he tried to tackle really well) and then he got interchanged a couple of minutes later he was admonishing himself, my guess is about that, when in reality the effort is good and the bigger bodies will just get him at times like that. Without knowing Steve or having inside knowledge my guess about part of the problem is that he's constantly talked up by the players and coaches (and was played early) so he's probably starting to have the same expectations of himself that others do or he thinks they do, and is getting frustrated when his form falls below that. When in reality the fact is he was drafted as a bottom ager, the size of a twig, with a shoulder reco in toe. He was always going to be a take time project, and so he's gotta try and just play footy without putting too many expectations on himself (apart from effort of course). If he can do that he'll find the confidence and play better I reckon.

Stringer missed all last year and has only played 3 games this year, too early for me to tell much.

Just keep pumping him up and membership automatically follows.

By years end we'll have the Podsyites looking at us with numerical envy.

P.O,

Agree with much of what you wrote. Not sure where the "windy and cold but didn't rain until late" bit came from. Just a zephyr of wind in the first half and I could have sworn there was some wet stuff falling from the sky. Maybe you were in the stand and didn't cop any or see umbrellas up all over the place.

As I said earlier I had to leave at half time cos the little one had had enough but before then Guthrie had done very little.

Someone suggested Motlop looked disinterested. I didn't get that impression. I just thought he didn't handle the bigger bodies of the Sandy team very well.

Vardy was physically stronger than I thought, is strong overhead and has a bit of mongrel in him. He'd been talked up as having plenty of toe. I was disappointed in that aspect of his game. Although he did show he can step it up when he was chasing down a Sandy player near the Social Club.

As I mentioned earlier I think Bathie showed enough to indicate he could turn out to be a steal down the track.

I'll say this for Blakey, he gave 100%. Maybe he was hoping some of the Saints match committee were watching.

I was disappointed Cowan didn't play as I was looking forward to seeing him perform.

The concern is the dearth of key backman. Gillies isn't up to it IMO and there doesn't appear any other stand out key position backmen coming through.

And as for Mitch Brown, well...........

Never, not while I am alive!

Seriously though, get on the Brown bandwagon now, will be worth it.

Yeah I was in the stand, what can I say, it was cold (so cold I couldn't take my jacket off even though I wanted to give the 31 a good showing) and once Joel came to the stand too, well I was never leaving

Agree with all your comments on the kids.

Blake tried hard, surely he'd be looking to impress Sheedy not the Saints though

I wanted to see Cowan too given they keep saying how well he's going. Be interesting to see if he plays in the curtain raisers this week (and who else we get back that we didn't play on Sunday).

Agree Gillies is a worry. I know I drove everyone mad in the draft thread this year about wanting a key defender, but sadly some of my whingeing may have been for good reason. It does concern me that we have an absolute production line of quality mids and versatile flankers of genuine class, and the forwards are sorted if Brown and Vardy keep on this upward curve, yet the backline stocks are very thin and essentially we've put all the eggs in the basket of Gillies. Hopefully he improves as the year goes on.

 

[dazbroncos]

Hey PO..

I know the jury is still out on Drum as he just hasn't been out there but they must have seen something to want to make the trade for him. not saying he can cut or play but he is an option if he can get fit....


And has had some WEIRD injuries so if he can get out on the park he might bring something.....

Go Catters....

 

[year of the cat]

I have no idea what a puffer jacket is exactly but I was wearing a jacket of some description (gosh it was cold). I also have this rather lame habit of wearing my sunnies on a chain around my neck to stop me losing them, if that helps you.

No different guy. Your anonymity is protected for a while longer!!

 

[hbk_aus]

With regards to key position backs, i think the club has realised this as well (clearly after the draft though!) and I think Walker and Bathie are trying to be developed in that area. I guess they are hoping for Bathie to develop the way Egan did, coming from another sport with good size. And Walker played as a CHF in juniors so may take a while to learn the ropes in the back line.

 

[AM]

Yeah I was in the stand, what can I say, it was cold (so cold I couldn't take my jacket off even though I wanted to give the 31 a good showing) and once Joel came to the stand too, well I was never leaving

The Ammos play at Sandy quite a bit. Sunday was a beautiful Autumn day compared to some games I've been to at Barker. Reckon Pods would be quite miffed if he knew his number one fan was so soft.

To be serious, I really enjoyed the day. It's not often we get to be so close to the action. i would have liked to have seen all the game, particularly Guthrie fire-up in the 2nd half as it seems he did.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Hey PO..

I know the jury is still out on Drum as he just hasn't been out there but they must have seen something to want to make the trade for him. not saying he can cut or play but he is an option if he can get fit....


And has had some WEIRD injuries so if he can get out on the park he might bring something.....

Go Catters....

Time will tell, I haven't given up on him yet, and Scott has spoke well of him if that's anything to go by.

Should be back in the next couple of weeks and not a moment too soon because our VFL defence certainly is weak and could use some strengthening.