Hope the Rosman injury is minor. We have been tackling better in recent weeks than we did over the second and third quarters, so hopefully we will do better in finals. We certainly do have players who are strong tacklers, with Hird 4th in the league for total tackles, Hobbs equal 14th, and Tovey equal 22nd. (The VFL app won't sort all players by averages, just totals, but among VFL players in the top 40 for total tackles, Hird is 7th for tackles per game.) Hobbs is also 10th in the league for total disposals (and among players in the top 40 for disposals, he's 8th for disposals per game.)
Yes, Penry's development has been great. Grant also showed a great deal of improvement since last year and was putting together an impressive season when he was injured. When I tried assessing most of the list last year I really didn't account sufficiently for players improving. Pleased with Stubbings' improvement as well. And although Hawkins and Rider haven't played every game this season, they've generally been solid role players when they have played, which is also a step up from last season, so good to see. I think one factor in our win over Collingwood was having a broader range of solid contributors - obviously we also had individual star performances, with Alessio likely to get 10 votes for his 6-goal performance and, as you noted, Downie and Gahan excelling also. But it also looked like for us, everyone was ultimately contributing something, which was not as much the case for Collingwood. It looks like we do have a pretty good system now, with the ability to adjust how we're playing (moving relatively slowly and taking marks vs fast handball chains) according to what's happening in the game. Certainly it still breaks down sometimes and we could stand to be more polished in our ball use going inside forward 50, but the team is gelling much better than last season.
So we play Sydney again. Certainly a lot has changed since we lost to them in Round 3 with a terrible second half. Hobbs didn't play that game because he was still suspended, and Van Es and Highmore were still being moved back and forth between the forward and backlines, which was just not working. By now McCartney seems to have decided that Van Es and Highmore are defenders (though Highmore's been injured; don't know if he'd be any chance to return), and the in-game positional moves that he makes now seem to be operating smoothly. Hird and Tovey did both have strong games in round 3 and can likely expect more attention from the opposition this coming weekend, but having Hobbs this time is important. We have Rankin as a midfield option now as well (he played round 3 but I'm fairly sure he was at halfback). Despite the injuries to Grant, Clarke, and Highmore (all of whom played in the round 3 game), we do look a stronger team now than we did then.
I reread our discussion of the round 3 game - we flagged poor forward 50 entries and turnovers as key problems. I only watched part of the wildcard game, but it did look like Sydney were really punishing turnovers and hurting Frankston on transition. Jevan Phillipou looked very strong in 1-on-1 contests; not sure who his opponent was or who played on him when we met in round 3. Our forward 50 entries and overall team cohesion have improved since round 3, but turnovers and poor defence on transition can still be weaknesses of our side. Turning up for all 4 quarters will be crucial. If we can do that we're a real chance.
Our record after byes is 1-3. Our record at home is 8-2, and 8-0 after round 4. Hopefully the latter stat is the one with predictive value here!
Looks like we're not losing James Hird to the Essendon senior job. For whatever it may be worth, when Jimmy Bartel asked him Sunday evening on Footy Furnace if he still has a passion to coach, Hird said, "Yeah, I think so; obviously I'm down at Port Melbourne at the moment and we've got a finals series to play, and we'll see what plays out at the end of the year with some other clubs that have been contacting me and see what happens." Bartel then specifically asked him if he wants to coach again at AFL level, and Hird said he'd been knocked back twice and said, "Let's see what happens; like I said, we've got a finals series to play at Port Melbourne; hopefully we can go all the way in the VFL, and then we'll see what happens after that." So I guess that counts as him stating his commitment to us for the duration of finals. I'd hoped to hear he was committed for the duration of his contract, which I've been assuming is for three years since McCartney's is - if so they'd both be contracted for next year, but I don't recall seeing a contract length for James Hird explicitly stated anywhere, and regardless contracts mean so little anymore. Hopefully we keep both him and McCartney.
Great news coming from Hird. It's reassuring to hear that he isn't just going to pack his bags when we still have a finals campaign.
I think we are a vastly improved side since our round 3 incarnation. I think our belief and confidence from recent weeks will hold us in good stead.
I was disappointed to hear that our game in Saturday will be 12.05pm start. At best I'll only make the second half of the game with kids sports on. For the life of me, I can't work out why an elite comp is playing games so early.. Especially during finals football when you really want to enhance crowd numbers and atmosphere.
The women's side are finishing the home and away season in good fashion, running our solid winners on a ground or at Box Hill that is the same dimensions as the MCG. Next week's game down at Waurn Ponds should be a good last hit-out prior to VFLW finals.
Yes, we've definitely improved a lot since round 3. Looking forward to this game. It is too bad about the timing; I read it's so the Sydney players can fly back home on the same day.
Yes, great to see the VFLW side finishing the season strong. Somehow I thought next week was a home game against Darebin, but I see it's an away game against Geelong. Regardless the team's clearly in good form and will hopefully be able to make a good showing in finals, though North, Collingwood, and Williamstown seem to be a fair way ahead of the rest of the comp.
Wouldn't surprise me if James Hird is at Essendon in some capacity next season (this is speculation on my part based on McVeigh wanting to bring him in), but it's definitely good that he's focused on our season now. I'd figured he'd stay for our finals campaign unless he got the Essendon job and either we or they required him to leave at once.
How good is it to see a game where Port Melbourne led for nearly the entire time and really put the opposition away! You're right, NorthPort, we are a vastly improved side since round 3! Not that I was questioning that when you said it, but this performance sure proves it! The things we've still struggled to do are play a solid four quarters and build up such a dominant lead that the result is clear well before the last few minutes, and the team did those things today. On paper Sydney's pressure looks pretty good, with Sydney laying 104 tackles, but for the most part it didn't seem like we really were under as much pressure as that stat would suggest - their high tackle count seems to be more a function of how much we dominated possession. Our own pressure was extremely good - while Sydney did manage their fast transition sometimes, we were usually able to cut it off, with our defenders taking a lot of intercept marks. Our players also did a great job locking the ball inside forward 50. A key stat is that we took 85 marks and held them to only 26 marks for the game. I'd say we really started running away with it as early as the second quarter, which we dominated to a greater extent than the halftime score suggests. Goalkicking accuracy a weakness early but much improved in the second half, letting us capitalise properly on our good work around the ground.
Gahan probably best on ground. He, Rudd, Hawkins, and Graham were great in defence. Gahan and Rudd between them had only 5 fewer marks than the entire Sydney team. A few weeks ago I said Hawkins had become a solid role player - he was better than that today. I gather he was on Phillipou for much of the game and held him well. Hobbs brilliant as always - led us for tackles, equal most clearances among Port players along with Green, and 3rd for disposals. Strong performances from Tovey and Green in the midfield and from Alessio, Bedendo, and Rider for both scoring and forward half pressure. Hird, Downie, and Rankin with particularly good first halves to set us up well for the win. Hird also with strong defensive positioning at stoppages as usual. Penry and Hughes dominant in the ruck. Can't say I envy the coaches the job of naming best players because there were so many of them to choose from!
On to the semifinal! Our 3rd game this season against Werribee. The commentators thought Rosman was likely to be available next week - if so that will be a tough selection call. Can't imagine dropping any of this week's defenders but can't imagine leaving out a fit Rosman either. We could bring him in without dropping any defenders if Rankin went into the midfield, but I'm not sure what the next change would be as Tovey going forward would give us a fairly tall forward line, though we've played a tall forward line before. Well, we'll see and I guess for now we can enjoy the best performance of our season so far!
One of the best wins in recent times. at 3/4 Macca said that our work rate and fitness was going to be a huge factor. A four quarter effort with everyone contributing once again.
The atmosphere in the rooms after the game says a lot about how much the club has come together and the playing unit really gelling well, across all three areas.
I've just watched the highlights package (and will endeavour to watch it again in its entirety). Gahan notably in defence such an important rebounding role, up forward all our forward options look potent and the delivery into the forward line has improved so much, with confidence probably also playing a factor in backing the forwards to win in a 50/50 contest. But we are kicking the ball into dangerous spots and next looms now as another potential classic.
Unfortunately the women's side got overrun at the death, but finals football awaits nonetheless.
I thought Macca spoke really well post-match, also talking about the passing this week of Margaret Addicoat who I'm sure everyone would have recognised and was a life member of the club. Her son Simon also in the rooms as a loyal Port (and South/Sydney) supporter.
Another brilliant game with solid contributions all round. From a statistical point of view it was a bit of an odd game, as we lost all the key stats except disposals and rebound 50's - and, of course, the score! If I've added the numbers correctly and they don't get adjusted when stats are rechecked, we were also +1 in contested possessions - 120 to 119. Can't put too much weight on a difference of 1, but I would say the game was won in the contest and with great defence in particular. We were also +9 in intercept possessions - 60 to 51 (again assuming correct addition and the numbers not changing). The entire defence was great. Gahan once again brilliant with his run and carry from defence a key part of our recent wins as you mention, NorthPort. His spoil on the wing on the boundary about halfway through the third showed great desperation too. He may be a chance for the VFL Team of the Year - although finals don't count toward that he's been in strong form for some time now. Rudd great as well and all of Graham, Hawkins, and Van Es stood up in key moments.
The ruck contests didn't go quite as I'd expected considering Kuol Mun was out for Werribee; Gardiner was one of Werribee's best despite playing only his second VFL game. But I was very impressed by Fletcher Hughes' work rate in particular. He stood up well in only his third VFL game.
7 of our 13 behinds were rushed, so our goalkicking was more accurate than the scoreboard makes it look. That said, even rushed behinds do suggest some inefficient kicking inside forward 50. But our forward lines and forward 50 entries are still looking much better than they were earlier in the season.
It was very much a contested game with all our players putting their heads over the ball and going in hard. Werribee of course were hard at it as well, but by getting the early lead, we forced them to play catch-up and were able to maintain our pressure for most of the game. Our players have been in good enough form lately that I was actually fairly confident at 3/4 time - perhaps more so than I should have been considering that desperate last quarter from Werribee, but in the end the confidence in our players was in fact justified.
Up forward it was another great game from Kaine Baldwin, and Riley Polkinghorne has been coming into form as well over the past few weeks, with a strong performance today. Connor Downie was great on the wing and brought the same forward half pressure that he did against Collingwood. Stubbings with some good moments on the opposite wing, and Rankin with a strong first half. Rider played well also and led us for tackles with 8.
An interesting game as far as the midfield is concerned; we were leading the clearances at 1/4 time and since that point Werribee increasingly dominated the clearances. Ultimately we finished -20 in clearances, and if you'd told me that beforehand I'd have assumed we lost; that's an even greater clearance differential than in round 17. But a big difference between our performance this week versus round 17 is that this week we kept up the pressure, so even when Werribee were winning the clearances, they usually were still under a fair bit of pressure, with our players working hard to force repeat stoppages, and then when they did get inside 50 our defenders were doing great work to win the ball back. I do think our mids did better overall than the stats suggest. As usual it was a strong all-round performance from Hobbs, who led us for clearances and was second among Borough players for both disposals and tackles. He should be a lock for the VFL Team of the Year - always strong competition for mids but he's clearly one of the best in the league. Green is continuing his good form of the past weeks. Although this was Hird's lowest disposal count for the season, I think that's a bit misleading regarding his impact, since as usual he was strong defensively at stoppages. When Werribee got their run of 3 goals in the 4th, he was the midfielder nearest our forward 50, and I was thinking we needed to move him to the sweeper position, which is where he was for the next 2 ball-ups; after that was still in a more defensive position than he'd been during the run of 3 Werribee goals. And that was a factor that contributed to Werribee not being able to get the ball into space nearly as easily as they had during that run of goals.
I think the stats have been accurate over the past several weeks in showing us with a more even spread of contributors than our opponents. As you've also mentioned, the team is gelling really well and everyone is contributing something to the wins.
Baldwin may be a chance for the VFL Team of the Year as well, though spending some time in defence as well as up forward may make the selectors less likely to name him as a forward. Bedendo perhaps also a chance. Having finished 6th on the ladder we should at least have multiple players in the squad this year.
I don't care for the lasso rule, but if it weren't for the lasso we'd hardly get any free kicks.
Harvey Hooper won the GWS VFL Player of the Year award. The fact that we've made a prelim despite losing him, Kuol Mun, Lazzaro, and Miller in the offseason really says a lot about how well this team has developed since last season.
Haven't had a chance to watch the women's final yet. Will watch it soon.
[Edit: should add that it's always interesting to hear about the 3/4 time and postgame speeches. Our fitness and work rate were definitely on display again this week.] [Edit again: also meant to say it's good the AFL has realized that our jumper doesn't clash with Werribee's!]
Yeah, as usual the umpiring left quite a bit to be desired, but we've got a strong contested game that's standing up in finals despite the umpiring and despite Werribee leading for hitouts, clearances, and inside 50s. Sounds like the prelim will be on Sunday, so hopefully it will be scheduled at a better time for supporters to attend. I've been back in the US for a while now but fortunately am an extreme night owl so both morning and afternoon start times suit me for watching live!
Hope the Rosman injury is minor. We have been tackling better in recent weeks than we did over the second and third quarters, so hopefully we will do better in finals. We certainly do have players who are strong tacklers, with Hird 4th in the league for total tackles, Hobbs equal 14th, and Tovey equal 22nd. (The VFL app won't sort all players by averages, just totals, but among VFL players in the top 40 for total tackles, Hird is 7th for tackles per game.) Hobbs is also 10th in the league for total disposals (and among players in the top 40 for disposals, he's 8th for disposals per game.)
Yes, Penry's development has been great. Grant also showed a great deal of improvement since last year and was putting together an impressive season when he was injured. When I tried assessing most of the list last year I really didn't account sufficiently for players improving. Pleased with Stubbings' improvement as well. And although Hawkins and Rider haven't played every game this season, they've generally been solid role players when they have played, which is also a step up from last season, so good to see. I think one factor in our win over Collingwood was having a broader range of solid contributors - obviously we also had individual star performances, with Alessio likely to get 10 votes for his 6-goal performance and, as you noted, Downie and Gahan excelling also. But it also looked like for us, everyone was ultimately contributing something, which was not as much the case for Collingwood. It looks like we do have a pretty good system now, with the ability to adjust how we're playing (moving relatively slowly and taking marks vs fast handball chains) according to what's happening in the game. Certainly it still breaks down sometimes and we could stand to be more polished in our ball use going inside forward 50, but the team is gelling much better than last season.
So we play Sydney again. Certainly a lot has changed since we lost to them in Round 3 with a terrible second half. Hobbs didn't play that game because he was still suspended, and Van Es and Highmore were still being moved back and forth between the forward and backlines, which was just not working. By now McCartney seems to have decided that Van Es and Highmore are defenders (though Highmore's been injured; don't know if he'd be any chance to return), and the in-game positional moves that he makes now seem to be operating smoothly. Hird and Tovey did both have strong games in round 3 and can likely expect more attention from the opposition this coming weekend, but having Hobbs this time is important. We have Rankin as a midfield option now as well (he played round 3 but I'm fairly sure he was at halfback). Despite the injuries to Grant, Clarke, and Highmore (all of whom played in the round 3 game), we do look a stronger team now than we did then.
I reread our discussion of the round 3 game - we flagged poor forward 50 entries and turnovers as key problems. I only watched part of the wildcard game, but it did look like Sydney were really punishing turnovers and hurting Frankston on transition. Jevan Phillipou looked very strong in 1-on-1 contests; not sure who his opponent was or who played on him when we met in round 3. Our forward 50 entries and overall team cohesion have improved since round 3, but turnovers and poor defence on transition can still be weaknesses of our side. Turning up for all 4 quarters will be crucial. If we can do that we're a real chance.
Our record after byes is 1-3. Our record at home is 8-2, and 8-0 after round 4. Hopefully the latter stat is the one with predictive value here!
Looks like we're not losing James Hird to the Essendon senior job. For whatever it may be worth, when Jimmy Bartel asked him Sunday evening on Footy Furnace if he still has a passion to coach, Hird said, "Yeah, I think so; obviously I'm down at Port Melbourne at the moment and we've got a finals series to play, and we'll see what plays out at the end of the year with some other clubs that have been contacting me and see what happens." Bartel then specifically asked him if he wants to coach again at AFL level, and Hird said he'd been knocked back twice and said, "Let's see what happens; like I said, we've got a finals series to play at Port Melbourne; hopefully we can go all the way in the VFL, and then we'll see what happens after that." So I guess that counts as him stating his commitment to us for the duration of finals. I'd hoped to hear he was committed for the duration of his contract, which I've been assuming is for three years since McCartney's is - if so they'd both be contracted for next year, but I don't recall seeing a contract length for James Hird explicitly stated anywhere, and regardless contracts mean so little anymore. Hopefully we keep both him and McCartney.
Great news coming from Hird. It's reassuring to hear that he isn't just going to pack his bags when we still have a finals campaign.
I think we are a vastly improved side since our round 3 incarnation. I think our belief and confidence from recent weeks will hold us in good stead.
I was disappointed to hear that our game in Saturday will be 12.05pm start. At best I'll only make the second half of the game with kids sports on. For the life of me, I can't work out why an elite comp is playing games so early.. Especially during finals football when you really want to enhance crowd numbers and atmosphere.
The women's side are finishing the home and away season in good fashion, running our solid winners on a ground or at Box Hill that is the same dimensions as the MCG. Next week's game down at Waurn Ponds should be a good last hit-out prior to VFLW finals.
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
Yes, we've definitely improved a lot since round 3. Looking forward to this game. It is too bad about the timing; I read it's so the Sydney players can fly back home on the same day.
Yes, great to see the VFLW side finishing the season strong. Somehow I thought next week was a home game against Darebin, but I see it's an away game against Geelong. Regardless the team's clearly in good form and will hopefully be able to make a good showing in finals, though North, Collingwood, and Williamstown seem to be a fair way ahead of the rest of the comp.
Wouldn't surprise me if James Hird is at Essendon in some capacity next season (this is speculation on my part based on McVeigh wanting to bring him in), but it's definitely good that he's focused on our season now. I'd figured he'd stay for our finals campaign unless he got the Essendon job and either we or they required him to leave at once.
How good is it to see a game where Port Melbourne led for nearly the entire time and really put the opposition away! You're right, NorthPort, we are a vastly improved side since round 3! Not that I was questioning that when you said it, but this performance sure proves it! The things we've still struggled to do are play a solid four quarters and build up such a dominant lead that the result is clear well before the last few minutes, and the team did those things today. On paper Sydney's pressure looks pretty good, with Sydney laying 104 tackles, but for the most part it didn't seem like we really were under as much pressure as that stat would suggest - their high tackle count seems to be more a function of how much we dominated possession. Our own pressure was extremely good - while Sydney did manage their fast transition sometimes, we were usually able to cut it off, with our defenders taking a lot of intercept marks. Our players also did a great job locking the ball inside forward 50. A key stat is that we took 85 marks and held them to only 26 marks for the game. I'd say we really started running away with it as early as the second quarter, which we dominated to a greater extent than the halftime score suggests. Goalkicking accuracy a weakness early but much improved in the second half, letting us capitalise properly on our good work around the ground.
Gahan probably best on ground. He, Rudd, Hawkins, and Graham were great in defence. Gahan and Rudd between them had only 5 fewer marks than the entire Sydney team. A few weeks ago I said Hawkins had become a solid role player - he was better than that today. I gather he was on Phillipou for much of the game and held him well. Hobbs brilliant as always - led us for tackles, equal most clearances among Port players along with Green, and 3rd for disposals. Strong performances from Tovey and Green in the midfield and from Alessio, Bedendo, and Rider for both scoring and forward half pressure. Hird, Downie, and Rankin with particularly good first halves to set us up well for the win. Hird also with strong defensive positioning at stoppages as usual. Penry and Hughes dominant in the ruck. Can't say I envy the coaches the job of naming best players because there were so many of them to choose from!
On to the semifinal! Our 3rd game this season against Werribee. The commentators thought Rosman was likely to be available next week - if so that will be a tough selection call. Can't imagine dropping any of this week's defenders but can't imagine leaving out a fit Rosman either. We could bring him in without dropping any defenders if Rankin went into the midfield, but I'm not sure what the next change would be as Tovey going forward would give us a fairly tall forward line, though we've played a tall forward line before. Well, we'll see and I guess for now we can enjoy the best performance of our season so far!
One of the best wins in recent times. at 3/4 Macca said that our work rate and fitness was going to be a huge factor. A four quarter effort with everyone contributing once again.
The atmosphere in the rooms after the game says a lot about how much the club has come together and the playing unit really gelling well, across all three areas.
I've just watched the highlights package (and will endeavour to watch it again in its entirety). Gahan notably in defence such an important rebounding role, up forward all our forward options look potent and the delivery into the forward line has improved so much, with confidence probably also playing a factor in backing the forwards to win in a 50/50 contest. But we are kicking the ball into dangerous spots and next looms now as another potential classic.
Unfortunately the women's side got overrun at the death, but finals football awaits nonetheless.
I thought Macca spoke really well post-match, also talking about the passing this week of Margaret Addicoat who I'm sure everyone would have recognised and was a life member of the club. Her son Simon also in the rooms as a loyal Port (and South/Sydney) supporter.
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
Another brilliant game with solid contributions all round. From a statistical point of view it was a bit of an odd game, as we lost all the key stats except disposals and rebound 50's - and, of course, the score! If I've added the numbers correctly and they don't get adjusted when stats are rechecked, we were also +1 in contested possessions - 120 to 119. Can't put too much weight on a difference of 1, but I would say the game was won in the contest and with great defence in particular. We were also +9 in intercept possessions - 60 to 51 (again assuming correct addition and the numbers not changing). The entire defence was great. Gahan once again brilliant with his run and carry from defence a key part of our recent wins as you mention, NorthPort. His spoil on the wing on the boundary about halfway through the third showed great desperation too. He may be a chance for the VFL Team of the Year - although finals don't count toward that he's been in strong form for some time now. Rudd great as well and all of Graham, Hawkins, and Van Es stood up in key moments.
The ruck contests didn't go quite as I'd expected considering Kuol Mun was out for Werribee; Gardiner was one of Werribee's best despite playing only his second VFL game. But I was very impressed by Fletcher Hughes' work rate in particular. He stood up well in only his third VFL game.
7 of our 13 behinds were rushed, so our goalkicking was more accurate than the scoreboard makes it look. That said, even rushed behinds do suggest some inefficient kicking inside forward 50. But our forward lines and forward 50 entries are still looking much better than they were earlier in the season.
It was very much a contested game with all our players putting their heads over the ball and going in hard. Werribee of course were hard at it as well, but by getting the early lead, we forced them to play catch-up and were able to maintain our pressure for most of the game. Our players have been in good enough form lately that I was actually fairly confident at 3/4 time - perhaps more so than I should have been considering that desperate last quarter from Werribee, but in the end the confidence in our players was in fact justified.
Up forward it was another great game from Kaine Baldwin, and Riley Polkinghorne has been coming into form as well over the past few weeks, with a strong performance today. Connor Downie was great on the wing and brought the same forward half pressure that he did against Collingwood. Stubbings with some good moments on the opposite wing, and Rankin with a strong first half. Rider played well also and led us for tackles with 8.
An interesting game as far as the midfield is concerned; we were leading the clearances at 1/4 time and since that point Werribee increasingly dominated the clearances. Ultimately we finished -20 in clearances, and if you'd told me that beforehand I'd have assumed we lost; that's an even greater clearance differential than in round 17. But a big difference between our performance this week versus round 17 is that this week we kept up the pressure, so even when Werribee were winning the clearances, they usually were still under a fair bit of pressure, with our players working hard to force repeat stoppages, and then when they did get inside 50 our defenders were doing great work to win the ball back. I do think our mids did better overall than the stats suggest. As usual it was a strong all-round performance from Hobbs, who led us for clearances and was second among Borough players for both disposals and tackles. He should be a lock for the VFL Team of the Year - always strong competition for mids but he's clearly one of the best in the league. Green is continuing his good form of the past weeks. Although this was Hird's lowest disposal count for the season, I think that's a bit misleading regarding his impact, since as usual he was strong defensively at stoppages. When Werribee got their run of 3 goals in the 4th, he was the midfielder nearest our forward 50, and I was thinking we needed to move him to the sweeper position, which is where he was for the next 2 ball-ups; after that was still in a more defensive position than he'd been during the run of 3 Werribee goals. And that was a factor that contributed to Werribee not being able to get the ball into space nearly as easily as they had during that run of goals.
I think the stats have been accurate over the past several weeks in showing us with a more even spread of contributors than our opponents. As you've also mentioned, the team is gelling really well and everyone is contributing something to the wins.
Baldwin may be a chance for the VFL Team of the Year as well, though spending some time in defence as well as up forward may make the selectors less likely to name him as a forward. Bedendo perhaps also a chance. Having finished 6th on the ladder we should at least have multiple players in the squad this year.
I don't care for the lasso rule, but if it weren't for the lasso we'd hardly get any free kicks.
Harvey Hooper won the GWS VFL Player of the Year award. The fact that we've made a prelim despite losing him, Kuol Mun, Lazzaro, and Miller in the offseason really says a lot about how well this team has developed since last season.
Haven't had a chance to watch the women's final yet. Will watch it soon.
[Edit: should add that it's always interesting to hear about the 3/4 time and postgame speeches. Our fitness and work rate were definitely on display again this week.] [Edit again: also meant to say it's good the AFL has realized that our jumper doesn't clash with Werribee's!]
I managed to see all of the second half at a kids birthday party.
Absolutely stoked with the way we keep finding a way to win.
I looked closely at those 3/4 time stats and also saw that we were being beaten in every measure in those stats.
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
Twice as many free kicks to the Bees didn't help.
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
Yeah, as usual the umpiring left quite a bit to be desired, but we've got a strong contested game that's standing up in finals despite the umpiring and despite Werribee leading for hitouts, clearances, and inside 50s. Sounds like the prelim will be on Sunday, so hopefully it will be scheduled at a better time for supporters to attend. I've been back in the US for a while now but fortunately am an extreme night owl so both morning and afternoon start times suit me for watching live!
Pages