Intra Club Game - brief report

[Charlie]

For those of you hungry for info. I hope this helps a bit.

It was with great anticipation that I left work on Friday afternoon to get an early football fix for 1999, But it was disappointing that just as Gayfer bounced the ball to start the game, the rain decided to come down in bucket loads. What was also disappointing was a lack of a team sheet to at least give us an idea what numbers the new recruits wore. Other than giving the new guys/and hopefulls a chance to strutt their stuff, the purpose of the game was really to have a kick, and get the cobwebbs off.
Some aspects of note were :
1/ Monkey , Smith , and Sav Rocca competed against each other in the ruck at one time or another. Rocca was obviously beaten for height in the centre bounce, but was very good around the ground. He roosted a 60 mtr kick to 35 metres out from goal straight to the leading forward. His short 30 metre passes around the ground were also excellent. We can look forward to more of this through the year.
2/ A. Rocky is very athletic, and has presence around the ground. And unlike last year, he seems to have a good level of aerobic fitness. Mainly played in defence, but I don't see him as a regular defender. (Although Mark Richardson did look very good up forward)
3/ Licuria is an excellent pickup , and is a quality player. He attacks the ball well and delivers even better.
4/ One team wore blue , and the other white. The blue team consisted of all senior players and the white team mainly seconds. Notable players in white :Monkhurst, Godden, and McDonald. Monkey did change to blue in the last quarter and played against Smith. (Smith lifted a gear in the last quarter, and I felt it was his best quarter)
5/ I thought I saw Liddell in the dugout at the start of the game, but then he dissappeared.
6/ Tyson Lane is a good pickup, He is solidly built, and has pace. likes to centre the ball from the flanks. Admittedly the ball was heavy, but I thought he should have carried it a little more a couple of times and have a ping at the goals. But I'm not taking anything away from him, he ran into space and was an option all the way from defence to attack.
7/ Clinton King, Wild - very good on the day and are handy players to have on the list. Wild can get his hands on the ball, and king is very good at the old one/two.
8/ I lost Jacotine on the ground, but the few times I made him out, you could see that he is built for destruction.
9/ Crow, and Watson have put on bulk (it may have been the jumpers).
10/ Sav Rocca is BIG SAV. Move over BIG NICK.
11/ Brown is fit and full of enthusiasm.
12/ Buckley , Burns, Williams are still our top players.

Conclusion
Can't get too excited about a practice game , but the main thing which was evident is that the new recruits have potential, and every opportunity they get game is a step closer to having a better team. This is much better than the recent past where we fostored average players and ended up an average team.

Anybody else attend ? , do you agree, or is there anything you would like to add ?

[Val Venis Body Double]

Hello Ladies!!!
Great Stuff Charlie. This is the type of info we die-hards love getting our teeth stuck in to. Its early days yet, so lets hope the new blokes quickly step up and become regular senior players.
What I'd like to know however is have we made any further delistings to have a pick in the Feb. draft other than Freeborn?

[Charlie]

It was all guess work. if I'm correct , Heath Scotland is a very smooth runner with good balance. As with most of the new guys, you get a look when they get the ball, but if nobody calls out their name, its hard. At one time the guys were calling out 'Nick.. Nick' I suppose it was Nick Davies, he didn't do much at that point. It was a soft game, so you can't read much into any particular effort. Freeborn was wearing number 9, but by the time I'd worked that out , he was off.
As per usual practice games, the umpire (Tony Shaw) pays free's just for effort, or to maintain momentum, many frees are ignored. (or maybe he's just a very very bad umpire :-})
A couple of things I didn't mention :
1/ The group was well knit and pulled together. If someone fell behind in the warm ups, every other player , I mean ,'every player' , let them know.
2/ Backman were reminded to kick the ball , and not handball too much. (not only by Tony Shaw, but by any other player near ear shot)

[paul]

I saw the first half and agree that the weather, combined with rusty skilss, made it a bit difficult to assess any improvement. A few points I noticed were:

Tuckey played at full forward. He look one strong overhead mark and didn't lead much.

Buckley picked up kicks at will.

Despite press reports that said he was sidelined, Paul Williams played (atleast during the first half).

Davis played om the backline and appears a bit light at present.

Smith has bleached his hair and looks like a clone of Monkey.

No. 47 for white delivered a couple of great bumps. He took on brown and one. It could have been Rupert Betheras but I'm only guessing.

Wild fumbled his first three touches but then kicked a good goal from the boundary.

Walker and Gardiner just ran a few laps. Schauble, Patterson and Orchard only hand balled to each other on the boundary. Michael and Olerenshaw didn't take the field. Presti was a boundary umpire.

Tyson Lane impressed as a player who has the nous to get to where the ball is going and use it constructively when he gets it.

I agree that Licuria was impressive. This applied to Jacotine to a lesser extent.

Wasley vs. Raso was an interesting contest from the point of view that Raso matched Wasley for speed in getting to the ball. Wasley's disposal was still below league standard.

------------------