As usual, great assessment. I never got the chance to re watch the game. Van Es and Highmore I think give us the flexibility to change things around and not be too one dimensional going forward.
Hobbs got three weeks, down to two for the plea. I never saw the incident live, so can't comment.
I think it felt like a round 1 game.. Players still a touch rusty, so you do see some very good passages of play and then some turnovers on the flip side.
Tasmania will be a very tough ask to knock off down there.
I wonder if Ghan will come back into the side so that we have another back half player that we can switch around if needed. His firm was pretty solid in the pre season games and I thing he may have been a round 1 selection.
Thanks, NorthPort. Yes, definitely some rust to be expected in Round 1, particularly as not everyone in the selected side was able to play the last praccy. Tasmania will indeed be a tough opponent. Glad to see Johnston is fit to play this week, but Highmore unavailable is unfortunate. I had considered Dreher coming in, then checked last week's emergencies and changed my prediction!
Considering how incidents are often assessed, at this point I am inclined to suspect that suspensions are overly harsh in the absence of evidence to the contrary, but given that I didn't see the Hobbs incident either I suppose I should suspend judgment.
Regarding Hobbs incident I believe it was due to a 3rd quarter tackle that left a player flattened on the ground.
Happy with the game last Saturday, boys played well but I think fair to say the better team on the day won. We missed some gettable shots but so did they and felt with Highmore and Manton things may have been different.
Feeling more optimistic about the season and relatively confident v Sydney - ild expect further improvements to come.
17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up
THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!
I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!
Hmm. Generally not a fan of the suspensions that result from tackles, particularly in the absence of injury - not sure what they expect players to do in most cases, unless they're going to start paying holding the ball much more quickly to decrease the need to bring an opposition player to ground. Regardless, nothing to be done about it now, and thanks for answering.
Yeah, fair to say Tassie were better on the day. But all things considered it wasn't a bad game to watch and improvement does look very possible. Some things still need to click into place a bit better, particularly with forward setups and defending transition, but one thing I didn't mention in my comment in the round 2 thread is that it does look to me like we're a bit better at making in-game adjustments - it's early to say for sure, but I think we're looking more flexible within games than we often did last season.
Watching a bit of the Collingwood v GWS game, gee we miss Hoops. His ability to impose hinder in the contest and move the ball well was very prominent early (in tough conditions) was something I think we will miss this season.
It will be interesting to see if the defence and forward lines do line up as named. Returning Van Es to the backline makes sense, and I've been in favour of trying Baldwin forward since last year's preseason. Clarke has been great in the midfield but since he is also good on going on leads having him play up forward is reasonable. The most important thing is perhaps players sticking to the same position throughout the game, as the midgame moves have seemed to affect team cohesion. Box Hill are going to be a tough opponent no matter what.
Hope Josh Green's finger injury is nothing that requires surgery - shame to have him out, especially after his good performance last week.
NorthPort, you asked a while back where Ava Seton is playing this season - she's registered to play for Caulfield Grammarians. They were her local side last year, so she must have just decided to move from VFLW to local footy.
Well, if we'd played the whole game like we did the first 15 minutes of the third quarter, that game would have been very different. Going into the season, I had been optimistic about the defence; I'm certainly not now. The midfield was beaten and we definitely miss Hooper (and Lazzaro), but I'm less concerned about the midfield than the other areas of the ground. Tovey and Hobbs were genuinely good all game, as was Downie on the wing, and although Hird had a shocker in the first half, his second half was respectable (both in the midfield and at halfback) and he's unlikely to play as badly as he did in the first half two weeks in a row. I'm happy to keep trying Baldwin up forward, but Highmore is out of form and should go back to defence and hopefully get back into form in the position he was so good at two years ago. (I'd meant to wait till midseason to assess the move, but as we discussed last week, it doesn't seem to be working.)
That said, I don't hold out a great deal of hope for the defence to improve any time soon. Harder to say about this sort of thing watching video rather than live, but it looks like they're trying a forward press that the opposition is getting past far too easily, with the result that multiple opposition forwards are left unattended in our defensive 50. Either that or our defenders are just inexplicably out of position. Although individual defenders do seem to be out of form, it does look like something's going wrong structurally.
Rankin and Sparkman did both play well yesterday.
Manton, Farrant, and Alessio did all play local footy this weekend. I continue to agree that one of them should come into the side next week.
I would put all 3 in assuming they played respectable for their local sides. Yesterday wouldn’t have made a difference, that wasn’t a Port Melbourne performance, the amount of handling errors and mis kicks looked like a pre season match , most likely that was brought about by the hawks pressure whcih led to what looked a nervous port. Never really recovered after they got out of the gates flying and not many positives other than saying our goal kicking was accurate, little consolation and sadly has put a ding into our fans optimism.
17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up
THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!
I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!
Manton kicked 6 and was listed in his side's best players. Alessio isn't listed as having kicked any goals but is listed in his side's best. Farrant isn't listed as having kicked any goals this week; last week he kicked 1 and was listed in the best. Who would you drop to make the changes to the side? If all 3 come in I'd guess they'd be taking the forward spots of Highmore, Baldwin, and Rider (I don't see Bedendo getting dropped despite a quieter game; the forward 50 entries didn't favour him). We should have Rosman back next week as well as long as he didn't have any complications from the concussion in the Tassie game. So if Highmore and Baldwin go to the backline and Rosman returns, that would probably mean dropping 3 of Gahan, Johnston, Van Es, and Graham to make space for them down back. Not sure about making that many changes at once, though bringing in 2 of the 3 key forwards we're discussing may work. Also not sure what Baldwin's best position is.
We actually played Box Hill closer in the preseason game.... You're right that having any of those three forwards out there wouldn't have made a difference yesterday. Yeah, looking for positives I couldn't find much beyond accurate goalkicking and Tovey, Hobbs, and Downie being good pickups. Didn't know much about Tovey before he signed with us but he does look like a good get. Hopefully they all stay for longer than one season.... Sestan too.
As usual, great assessment. I never got the chance to re watch the game. Van Es and Highmore I think give us the flexibility to change things around and not be too one dimensional going forward.
Hobbs got three weeks, down to two for the plea. I never saw the incident live, so can't comment.
I think it felt like a round 1 game.. Players still a touch rusty, so you do see some very good passages of play and then some turnovers on the flip side.
Tasmania will be a very tough ask to knock off down there.
I wonder if Ghan will come back into the side so that we have another back half player that we can switch around if needed. His firm was pretty solid in the pre season games and I thing he may have been a round 1 selection.
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
Thanks, NorthPort. Yes, definitely some rust to be expected in Round 1, particularly as not everyone in the selected side was able to play the last praccy. Tasmania will indeed be a tough opponent. Glad to see Johnston is fit to play this week, but Highmore unavailable is unfortunate. I had considered Dreher coming in, then checked last week's emergencies and changed my prediction!
Considering how incidents are often assessed, at this point I am inclined to suspect that suspensions are overly harsh in the absence of evidence to the contrary, but given that I didn't see the Hobbs incident either I suppose I should suspend judgment.
Regarding Hobbs incident I believe it was due to a 3rd quarter tackle that left a player flattened on the ground.
Happy with the game last Saturday, boys played well but I think fair to say the better team on the day won. We missed some gettable shots but so did they and felt with Highmore and Manton things may have been different.
Feeling more optimistic about the season and relatively confident v Sydney - ild expect further improvements to come.
17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up
THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!
I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!
Hmm. Generally not a fan of the suspensions that result from tackles, particularly in the absence of injury - not sure what they expect players to do in most cases, unless they're going to start paying holding the ball much more quickly to decrease the need to bring an opposition player to ground. Regardless, nothing to be done about it now, and thanks for answering.
Yeah, fair to say Tassie were better on the day. But all things considered it wasn't a bad game to watch and improvement does look very possible. Some things still need to click into place a bit better, particularly with forward setups and defending transition, but one thing I didn't mention in my comment in the round 2 thread is that it does look to me like we're a bit better at making in-game adjustments - it's early to say for sure, but I think we're looking more flexible within games than we often did last season.
Watching a bit of the Collingwood v GWS game, gee we miss Hoops. His ability to impose hinder in the contest and move the ball well was very prominent early (in tough conditions) was something I think we will miss this season.
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
The tackle suspected to be the one leading to suspension did appear to be injury causing aa thier was a stop in play.
17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up
THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!
I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!
It will be interesting to see if the defence and forward lines do line up as named. Returning Van Es to the backline makes sense, and I've been in favour of trying Baldwin forward since last year's preseason. Clarke has been great in the midfield but since he is also good on going on leads having him play up forward is reasonable. The most important thing is perhaps players sticking to the same position throughout the game, as the midgame moves have seemed to affect team cohesion. Box Hill are going to be a tough opponent no matter what.
Hope Josh Green's finger injury is nothing that requires surgery - shame to have him out, especially after his good performance last week.
NorthPort, you asked a while back where Ava Seton is playing this season - she's registered to play for Caulfield Grammarians. They were her local side last year, so she must have just decided to move from VFLW to local footy.
Well, if we'd played the whole game like we did the first 15 minutes of the third quarter, that game would have been very different. Going into the season, I had been optimistic about the defence; I'm certainly not now. The midfield was beaten and we definitely miss Hooper (and Lazzaro), but I'm less concerned about the midfield than the other areas of the ground. Tovey and Hobbs were genuinely good all game, as was Downie on the wing, and although Hird had a shocker in the first half, his second half was respectable (both in the midfield and at halfback) and he's unlikely to play as badly as he did in the first half two weeks in a row. I'm happy to keep trying Baldwin up forward, but Highmore is out of form and should go back to defence and hopefully get back into form in the position he was so good at two years ago. (I'd meant to wait till midseason to assess the move, but as we discussed last week, it doesn't seem to be working.)
That said, I don't hold out a great deal of hope for the defence to improve any time soon. Harder to say about this sort of thing watching video rather than live, but it looks like they're trying a forward press that the opposition is getting past far too easily, with the result that multiple opposition forwards are left unattended in our defensive 50. Either that or our defenders are just inexplicably out of position. Although individual defenders do seem to be out of form, it does look like something's going wrong structurally.
Rankin and Sparkman did both play well yesterday.
Manton, Farrant, and Alessio did all play local footy this weekend. I continue to agree that one of them should come into the side next week.
I would put all 3 in assuming they played respectable for their local sides. Yesterday wouldn’t have made a difference, that wasn’t a Port Melbourne performance, the amount of handling errors and mis kicks looked like a pre season match , most likely that was brought about by the hawks pressure whcih led to what looked a nervous port. Never really recovered after they got out of the gates flying and not many positives other than saying our goal kicking was accurate, little consolation and sadly has put a ding into our fans optimism.
17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up
THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!
I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!
Manton kicked 6 and was listed in his side's best players. Alessio isn't listed as having kicked any goals but is listed in his side's best. Farrant isn't listed as having kicked any goals this week; last week he kicked 1 and was listed in the best. Who would you drop to make the changes to the side? If all 3 come in I'd guess they'd be taking the forward spots of Highmore, Baldwin, and Rider (I don't see Bedendo getting dropped despite a quieter game; the forward 50 entries didn't favour him). We should have Rosman back next week as well as long as he didn't have any complications from the concussion in the Tassie game. So if Highmore and Baldwin go to the backline and Rosman returns, that would probably mean dropping 3 of Gahan, Johnston, Van Es, and Graham to make space for them down back. Not sure about making that many changes at once, though bringing in 2 of the 3 key forwards we're discussing may work. Also not sure what Baldwin's best position is.
We actually played Box Hill closer in the preseason game.... You're right that having any of those three forwards out there wouldn't have made a difference yesterday. Yeah, looking for positives I couldn't find much beyond accurate goalkicking and Tovey, Hobbs, and Downie being good pickups. Didn't know much about Tovey before he signed with us but he does look like a good get. Hopefully they all stay for longer than one season.... Sestan too.
Pages