Post match. Pies beat Freo - All comments please.

[1eyedpie]

yep i noticed that Loki....im hoping he just didnt see him, because that was very poor on Tarrants behalf...Pendles held the hand out for quite a while and got no response.

Also totally agree on Goldsack, he is starting to grow on me

Oh he saw him alright! The dirty sniper gave him a side ways glance when Pendles was chasing him with outstreched hand. Taz thinks his shite don't stink!

[~Madness~]

I don't think there was one person who couldn't hold their heads up there last night. Great effort by them. Mick seems to be pretty impressed by the win, so that's good enough for me too.

Pendles is going up and up in my expectations every week. I just don't know how good this kid is going to be. But not forgetting the others. Toovey and Goldsack are going to be the goods. John Anthony certainly is a very unlucky duck to be injured at this time. I had labelled him another Jimmy last year at Willi. With the 1 year experience of some of these youngsters, he is going to have to work twice as hard. But I am sure he is up for it. We have an exciting crop.

[Johnson#26]

[Cam]

The best thing about Goldsack is that he has skills. Yes he is tough enough, yes he is committed enough, but we have had plenty of those in the last 5 years. What he adds is all that plus the ability to hit targets.

[PeterWH]

first quarter was slow,too much confusion by umpires and freo players.
There are certain Freo players that are protected by the umps.....but after 1/2 time when the guys got their free flowing game going it was 'good night' Freo.....great win,Tarrant was again pretty straight with his kicking,Neon Leon was great,in avtual fact there were 22 great players last night and they proved to be worthy finalists.
The only sour point was some teenage girls holding up the 'we miss you TAZZ' banner...........

[Joel]

Leon put in yet another good game against Freo. He loves playing against them.

[Snoop Dog]

The best thing about Goldsack is that he has skills. Yes he is tough enough, yes he is committed enough, but we have had plenty of those in the last 5 years. What he adds is all that plus the ability to hit targets.

well said Cam

[Neil Appleby]

Interesting to see all the Tarrant hatred spewing forth.

Very interesting.

Maybe many are seeing the 'real' Tarrant for the first 'unblinkered' time?

He could never kick reliably and even when he did get 20 possies he didn't 'hurt' the opposition with them. Last night was a case in point; he travelled far and wide for 25+ possessions, missed two sitters, but for all the work, just didn't hurt us.

Give me Travis Cloke any day; he may get half the possessions, but they usually end in goals......or points!

[AnthonyC]

Very, very happy to come away from that game with a win.

I must be seeing things differently in my old age. For the 1st half all that was on my mind was that we are going to lose this game. I saw very little desperation, and we couldn't hit a target to save ourselves, let alone kick straight. We just didn't seem switched 'on'. As soon as Burnsy came into the middle I knew we'd do better, in fact before he actually went there.

Seemed to gather some intencity as the game went on, and it was fantastic to see the guys put there bodies in and do the team thing.

7 down, 6 to go for the 8, 9 for a top 4.

[RudeBoy]

Richards is going to get some criticism, but i thought his game tonight was unreal. I thought he did soooo many good things. There is not a ruckman in the AFL who has beat Sandilands this year in hitouts. Guy was never going to beat him. However he gave his all, and we won the clearences. He ran in every time with a full head of steam

I take my hate off to Guy

I wasn't as up beat about Richards as you, but I thought he tried really hard in the second half, and actually managed to win a couple of crucial hitouts against Sandilands in the last quarter. I'd still prefer to have Bryan there, due to his greater mongrel presence, but if Richards puts in each week he'll probably keep his spot for the time-being.

Overall it was a great team effort, helped along by some accurate goal kicking (at last) by Pebbles. One day we'll have Rocca, Travis, Medhurst and Thomas all kicking accurately in the one game and we'll kick 30 goals.

[Neil Appleby]

Yes.......let's hope it's in a final.

I like the way this team is grinding out wins without huge scores or individual efforts; a team thing.

[Big T]

Very, very happy to come away from that game with a win.

I must be seeing things differently in my old age. For the 1st half all that was on my mind was that we are going to lose this game. I saw very little desperation, and we couldn't hit a target to save ourselves, let alone kick straight. We just didn't seem switched 'on'. As soon as Burnsy came into the middle I knew we'd do better, in fact before he actually went there.

Seemed to gather some intencity as the game went on, and it was fantastic to see the guys put there bodies in and do the team thing.

7 down, 6 to go for the 8, 9 for a top 4.

I reckon the Pies learnt a lot from the loss to the Doggies, in the past 2 weeks we seem to be pacing ourselves well to esnure victory, the team is maturing week by week.

[Usurper]

Rewatched the game today on Foxtel, after initially suffering through channel 7, and Richards didn't do too badly. He'll be in this week against Melbourne. Obviously he's not in the top 20 ruckmen in the competition, but he's picked up his socks, knows Bryan is waiting, and he's giving it his all. If he was a 2nd year ruck I'd be impressed, but alas, he's way overdue.

Also saw the end-game Penders handshake - Tarrant really is a disgrace, he looked at Penders and just turned away. He is a poor sportsman, and a big sook. I really really really hope the media don't let that slip, and bring it up, I want the whole AFL world to know what a sore loser he is.

Good work Penders, you did the right thing.

[Tannin]

I just watched the replay, and I thought I'd go through my comments again in the light of a second view. (All else aside, you watch in a more analytic frame of mind with a replay, as opposed to live.)

Rocca: Big, strong, amazing hands, kicked 5.0. Had more impact on the result than any other player on the ground. My 3 votes.

Leon: living proof that quality beats quantity every time. 16 Dockers had more ball than Leon, 20 Dockers had as many touches or more, but none had as much effect on the final result. 2 votes.

Swan: the everywhere man. Did stuff in defence, attack, in the middle, on the wings, did it all day in all 4 quarters, and kicked a couple of useful goals as well. An excellent game and one of our best 2 or 3 players on the night. 1 vote. Deserves more.

Pendlebury: a 4 quarter performer. An excellent, steady contribution all over the ground, and a major contributor to the win.

Burns: Turned the match at least twice. Came on in the 1st quarter when we were getting smashed in the middle and stopped the rot. Saved us again late in the game when his defensive work was magnificent. His only real mistake was not being born twins.

Rhyce Shaw: one of our best. With brother Heath out injured, took it upon himself to do the non-glamourous hard stuff in the last line of defence. He should earn a lot of respect for that: the team needed someone to stand up and play Heater's role, and Rhyce did exactly that. (Also proved that Gary Lyon is a complete idiot.)

Fraser: did his best against the league's #1 ruckman at the bounces (to little effect), picked up possessions in the packs like a rover, then ran hard and far to provide a target. Some excellent work up forward made a difference. Well done, Josh.

Johnson: improving week by week, one of our best midfielders now running right back into form. Could start picking up BOGs any week now.

Lockyer: not the dominator of the past few weeks, but a very steady and creative contributor. Continued to run and pesent. Probably suffered more than most from our lack of interchange players.

Goldsack: you couldn't possibly drop him after tonight's game: easily his best so far. Had the poise and the judgement of a 50-gamer, not a kid in his third senior match. Tall, quick, not afraid of anyone, uses the ball well ..... what's not to like?

Prestigiacomo: not well-matched against Pav and Taz, but remained the steady, solid professional that he is. With Racer, held the defence together when things looked grim.

Didak: Not a 4 quarter player at this stage of his recovery, and played without the out-and-out brilliance he can turn on at times (it was Leon's turn to do the magic tricks). But worked very hard, running to all parts of the ground and doing hard stuff. Might have featrured amongs the better players if he hadn't had a brain spasm in the final quarter and cost us a stupid goal.

Cloke: didn't get a lot of ball, and kicking was poor once again, but presented as well as ever and took some great contested marks. Good second efforts too.

O'Bree: struggled hard and, in the end, pretty effectively against quality opposition.

Medhurst: Some big efforts, some poor judgements here and there, some very poor kicking. But worked hard, showed enthausiasm, courage, and clear improvement. His lightning handball for a goal immediately after getting heavily crunched was simply magnificent. Watch this space.

Maxwell: cannot cope with opponents too tall and strong for him, but never dropped his head and worked his arse off all night. Kicked an excellent goal, and, as ever, his long, accurate handballs were damaging.

O'Brien: handed mission impossible, Harry was lucky that Pavlich and Rocca kicked so badly. But he stayed competitive all night and like our other beaten tallish defender (Nick Maxwell) he never stopped putting in.

Toovey: did OK, not great. Has a very cool head and quiet, no-fuss courage in the packs. Could play 150 in black and white but might be due for a rest first.

Thomas: may need a rest. Never looked settled, seemed lost in defence, couldn't quite capture the magic in attack, did his best work on the wing.

Holland: got some close-in ball, and picked up a lot of marks in defence, but stats can be misleading: he had little effect on the game. Several times killed our run by hanging onto the ball after a mark and waiting, waiting, waiting, till the opposition all flooded back before he kicked it. Far too many short, slow, up and under kicks that achieve nothing. For the 4th week running, done nothing to show that he is in our best 25.

Richards: better than not playing anyone as a 2nd ruck because Fraser was able to go forward and do damage to the opposition. Did a bit here and there, not a lot.

Heath Shaw: injured early and went off.

Things I'd change about my post:

+ Swan was even better than I thought the first time. Maybe I should have given him the 3 votes, though Rocca was great and Leon's contribuion cannot be underestimated.

+ Pendles, Burns, Rhyce Shaw: just what I said above, three vital contributors.

- Toovey: possibly did a bit less than I thought - i.e., a pretty ordinary game by the high standard he has set himself. Not looking confident. Time he was rested and given a chance to star in the twos for a while.

+ Goldsack: I'd thought he was good. No, he was better than good. Contributed in all four quarters. Cool, quick, steady, reminds me of Clement the way he sees a job that needs doing and just does it. Could play FB or CHB for us if he bulks up a bit, but probably better as a fast, tall medium defender.

Thomas: I'm just going to put it down as an off night. He nearly did so many fantastic things. Thrashed in defence, however.

Holland: still unimpressed with his contribution to the side. Many of his possessions were ones that anyone else in our best 30 would have got too - a Cox, for example - and most of our youngsters use the ball better. So why keep a youngster out any longer?

+ Richards: my respect for Guy increased on a second look. Considering he was playing the man-mountain (who beats everyone) he did very well in the air, and he also did a bit here and there as a link-man. Still needs to get involved more when the ball is on the ground, but much improved and worth sticking with a while longer. He is trying his heart out and showed courage as well as leap. If he starts holding marks around the ground, could be a handy #2.

[Neil Appleby]

Yep, agree with just about everything there Tannin, but I'm glad you reassessed Toovey's game.
I think the young guns maybe overtaking Holland and Licca too.
As much as I love Licca, he's gonna find it difficult to break back ito the team. Holland continues to be largely ineffective.

Toovey is brave and committed but his decision making on Friday was poor.

Not sure about Rhyce's game though. I initially thought his game was pretty mediocre. I'll have another look.

Didak will have nights like that for a while; flashes of brilliance. He'll take a while to get back to his best; still annoys the crap out of me with his lack of discipline though.