Seagulls win, Davis reported.

[Dale61]

Williamstown had yet another thumping victory today, this time against bottom side Nth Ballarat.

The disappointing news to come out this win was the report of Leon Davis. This could be any number of charges, ranging from charging, striking or maybe even undue rough play, and it also cost us a goal. The player he cleaned up won't remember much, though. Some of the things he did got a round of applause from the big crowd, but was not consistent as he tended to drift in and out of the game. He started on the wing, was given a run down back and finished the game deep in the attacking 50.

Highlights of the game were Marcus Baldwin's 9 goals (8 in the first half), Richard Cole's attack at the ball (and the subsequent body count), Nick Maxwell's continued improvement and Cameron Cloke's ruck work.

Some good news is that Guy Richards and Luke Shackleton played their first senior games of the season, with Richards amongst the best, whilst Shack only had a handful of touches.

Sam Cranage was again Mr Consistent, and also amongst the best, and Brad Lloyd, playing his 100th senior game, was also good.

Late withdrawals of Bo Nixon, 'Tex' Walker and Adrian Fletcher saw Williamstown go in slightly undermanned, but the likes of Scotland, Anderson, Shaw, Dukes and Runnalls all stepped up.

After last week, Swan was hardly seen. Freeborn was disappointing, West was again a tower at full-back, whilst Ben Kelly tore a hammie late in the game. Of the others, Sheehan played well, Smoker was clever with some of his possessions, Hollow never really got into the match and Mahoney, who was excellent overhead, bobbed up with 3 second half goals.

1/4 time scores:
Will 3.6.24 Goals: Baldwin
NB: 1.3.9

1/2 time score:
Will: 8.8.56 Goals: Baldwin
NB: 4.4.28

3/4 time score:
Will: 14.9.93 Goals: Mahoney 2, Anderson, Baldwin, Lloyd, Swan.
NB: 5.4.34

Full time score:
Will: 18.12.120 Goals: Scotland 2, Mahoney, Davis.
NB: 9.5.59

[JLC]

So will Richard Cole finally get a game in the seniors ??

jlc

[Dale61]

Not unless his disposals improve and he needs to become more consistent.

[JLC]

So who would you bring in next week ??

When you watch Kinnear playing for Willy does he look any good ??

jlc

[Dale61]

Today was my first 'live' game, and Kinnear didn't play, presumably coz he is injured. (Oops, my mistake, Benny played last night.)

On todays form alone, Cole would be there, as would Maxwell, but Nick is still listed as a rookie, so that cancels him out. Scooter could be worth a look, but not sure how his knee will stand up to the extra pressure of AFL footy at this stage.

Cam Cloke could go close (remember, this is only based on today), but may not yet be ready for the extra intensity.

Other than that, I wouldn't bother with any others.

[Molly]

yeah bad news about leon - i was also down there, and thought shaw didn't play too bad actually. might be worth a recall.

[natkingcole]

Was also down there today. The report of Davis was a joke as was the most pathetic display of umpiring I've ever seen. The ball was being shepherded through goals when Leon got reported. I assume it was the accidental hit on the nose to the Ballarat player which came from Anderson which caused the report. Leon just happened to be the player running with Anderson. Half of the Nth Ballarat goals came from Umpiring blunders. Willi players just had to lay tackles and it was deemed over the shoulder, holding the man or push in the back (take your pick). When Willi players got tackled it was either holding the ball or play on (on the Nth Ballarat ledger Saunders got reported for a punch which missed by about 2 feet). And to think these umpires will be one day umpiring AFL level.
I have to disagree on Dale's best players. Scoots and Shaw (mostly Shaw's second half) were standouts. Cloke continues to improve although they tried him at CHF for a period and it didn't work. If it was me McKee would be out of the team now and Cameron can start learning his craft in Collingwood colours. Richards is a dud IMHO (please prove me wrong). I agree with Maxwell - he will only get better. Shacks looked a bit nervous in his first game but he gets to the ball OK, just has to learn to dispose of it and not get caught. Hollow played allright. West and Deeks are stars. Freeborn didn't do anything to earn promotion. Cole just can't hit targets - don't we have enough of these players playing at Collingwood at the moment.

[Dale61]

Yes, you are both correct about Shaw. Because of last season, I have developed a habit of not paying him much attention, but have to admit that he has played well so far this season.

To revise my prediction of those deserving promotion, I would have to go with Scotland and Shaw, with Cole and Cloke as distinct possibles.

With two long term injuries (Davidson and Lockyer), my choice of rookie to be promoted would be Maxwell.

[TRELOS]

give Cole a go i think, if his playing well then giv him a run in the seniors, maybe it wouldnt hurt Cam Cloke to also have 1 or 2 games

[foxy]

my match report, posted also on Hotrod's board...

it was bloody freezing at willi. i can barely type my hands are so friggin cold. there was a moderate breeze, but i can only imagine how bad the wind must get in june/july.

a pretty poor game overall. the wind affected everyone's kicking. willi ended up winning by 10 goals after north ballarat got to within 20 or so in the 2nd quarter (i think it was the second quarter). marcus baldwin kicked a bag (maybe 8 or 9?)

our guys:

leon - hmm. i knew he wasn't gonna do much at this level. started out alright, getting a couple of quick touches, but then drifted out of the game, switching from the forward line to the wing to defence at one stage. was on the bench at the start of the second half and didn't look too happy. came back on and was put in the square. started looking a bit more lively. put a HUGE shepherd on some poor north ballrat guy and got reported. shitttt. will probably go for a week or 2. his last quarter was decent. kicked a goal and looked fired up.

freeza - didn't do much. read the play well at times and went on a couple of trademark dashes, but his kicking wasn't overly flash. not looking too good.

cole - the standout for me, along with shaw. constantly backed himself running out of defence and his kicking wasn't too bad. made a couple of bad turnovers though. took some good marks and must've ended up with quite a few touches. i liked his game. had a lot of presence.

bo - didn't see him.

richards - he's got the peroxided hair going. i was fairly unimpressed with him. got beaten at most centre bounces and was largely ineffective around the ground. also looked a bit dodgy by foot.

rhyce - another great game, especially in the second half. very impressed. constantly barks orders to his team-mates and made some great runs down the ground. his kicking was GREAT. probably BOG. should come in for johnno.

scotland - not overly impressive, though most of his touches were classy. probably ended up with 20 possies. not a standout IMO. may have sat out a part of the game.

cloke - again, he impressed me, though he probably wasn't as good as the last few times i've seen him. shorter than richards but he's got SOOO much more presence. when he went into the middle willi looked waaaay more dangerous. also took some decent marks around the ground.

swan - very quiet. kicked a decent goal from the boundary but was largely unsighted. disappointing.

shackleton - geeeezus he's a nuggety little fella. didn't get much of the ball but when he did he tended to use it well. not too bad.

overall the standard was poor. lots of bad kicking - i can only imagine how bad the standard is when it's blowing a gale.

[Dale61]

Had the first opportunity to test out my new camera today, but by the time the seniors got under way I had killed my batteries, so here are four of the shots that I managed to get that's worth posting.

[bokka]

A veritable feast of magoo reports! It's greatly appreciated, I don't know of anywhere else online you can get decent magoo reports - heraldsun.com.au footy occasionally has desultory ones but that is about it. Definitely adds another dimension to be able to follow the form of woods players in the willi games.

[Dale61]

Whilst on the subject, Williamstown reserves also had a big win on the weekend.

Will: 7.4.46 ~ 7.6.48 ~ 14.11.95 ~ 20.15.135
NB: 1.1.7 ~ 6.4.40 ~ 7.5.47 ~ 7.7.49

Goals: Taylor 4, Hill 2, LaVerde 2, Lawry 2, Pearce 2, Ralph 2, Gowers, Hooker, Mullins, Ramsay, Rippon, Roe.

Best: Jarrad, Pearce, Rippon, McArdle, Roe.

[GreatGonzo]

Dale,

Cam Cloke looks big in that shot, he looks like he's has a bit more bulk than Josh.
Can you confirm this?

[Dale61]

Not sure at what weight Josh is at the moment, but Cam is listed at 95kgs, and all of it put together in his 195cm frame. He really is as big as he looks, and for someone of that size, moves extremely well, covers a lot of ground and does so quite quickly.