A trainer/hanger on said that Langford was being rested.
Best players IMO were Hocking, NOB, Bird, TBC and Mutch.
Nothing very exciting in that. Buddha worked his Rs off, like he always does. Played exclusively back today. NOB is a good VFL player and tries hard to lead and direct the team around him. Bird was very workmanlike, for lack of a better word, and that probably does him an injustice in that it belittles his contribution a bit. He doesn’t do anything very eye catching, but he contributes non stop at the stoppages, both offensively and defensively. Mutch played pretty much as he has been - he won a lot of the ball, mostly by reading the game and making good position. He is pretty good in close as well, in terms of his strength. All his skills look good. He possible is not that quick, but it was hard to gauge today. Did his chances of a debut no harm today.
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What Jodi said.
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He doesn’t have ‘pace’ but he reads the play fast enough to get into the position so his lack of pace is negligible.
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My opinion on a few individuals (aside from those I have mentioned above) -
Morgan - didn’t touch the ball early, but later won a bit more of it. He made one very bad turnover with a 20m kick into the corridor early, otherwise kicked ok. I watched him chase back with his man into a vacant Port forward 50 in the last, after we turned it over on the wing, and was disappointed that in a 40m run, he didn’t look that quick, and his man beat him by 5m to take a mark. He doesn’t show any special abilities to me to make me think he will suddenly (or even gradually) step up. Still gpt time to get there, but nothing he showed today was terribly encouraging.
Redman - he shows a bit a times, but again, nothing special. He competes pretty hard and is stronger than he looks… But his kicking at this point is just so so. He missed an easy set shot downwind, and attempted an around the corner snap on his right that wasn’t that hard, and he didn’t hit it right. He just doesn’t win the ball enough to be in the VFL bests, let alone stip up to AFL level. A long way to go.
Begley - not bad today for mine. He probably only got around a dozen possessions (haven’t seen the stats), and he is strong. Nowhere near ready for an AFL game yet, but shows some ability.
Clarke - he was good today early. I thought he went out of the game a bit, but overall, he contributed and won quite a bit of contested ball at stoppages. He doesn’t get much of it in other way. His kicking was ok today, depite looking awkward. His 40m set shot into the wind was ok as well, given the wind.
Draper - not getting much of a look in with TBC doing most of the ruckwork. His tap work is good when he gets his hand to it. His game awareness is probably a bit lacking, as you would expect. He only took one mark I recall, but then he didn’t actually get to go for more than a handful.
Stewart - he was very good again IMO. Not in the best because he didn’t kick goals when he had the opportunity, but the wind was pretty hard to judge at times, dragging the ball sometimes and not others. He looks a very good player at VFL level and pretty soon he deserves an opportunity to perform at AFL level.
Long was very poor today. He took a couple of contested marks, but his disposal and decision making was terrible. I counted 4 times in the first qtr he either missed a target, turned it over, or just miskicked. And he only gets it about 15 times a game - he needs to be effective when he gets it, and at this point, he isn’t.
Bellcho - I thought he was pretty dominant today in the ruck, but then I thought he had the better of Longer at Sandringham when everyone said he was ordinary. He only took a couple of marks today, and had no shots on goal, but I don’t think you can expect much more of him. He isn’t a big possession winner when the ball is on the ground obviously, and sides just don’t kick it long to their ruckmen much any more. Like Luey and about 10 other ruckmen going around in the AFL, they are there for the hit outs and not much more.
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Maybe in the future we will play an exciting brand of football because we won’t ever know where the fark the ball is going to go?
That summary is pretty much the same as i would expect from all those guys, very standard. The top 2 i just don’t see it with either of them. Even said that early last year when watching them a few times. Need to get a hurry on as both were 2nd round picks that have already been past by this years draftees.
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Shadow on the car shows you are the only one in it. Illegally using a mobile while driving. Tut tut, PRE 
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I reckon we have a tendency to be pleased with just little glimpses from a first year player, and then you want them to be nearly ready in their second. Redman is probably playing at about the same level as last year, which is not really good enough. Begley is not doing much either at this point, but as a first year, you only want a few good signs to be encouraged. IF he were to be still playing to the same standard this time next year, you would be a bit disappointed.
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Morgan at 21 yo certainly needs to make some grounds this year but today was only his third game for the year after missing about 10 games through injury last year.
Redman though has only turned 19 yo not long ago so he is still very young. Today was his third game for the year so i’m like others in the team he will improve as the year goes on. I actually though Mason played some pretty good footy last year in the VFL and I think he’s got some talent.
So Langers didn’t play wheres he at after 2 games of vfl -
Smack did he play vfl as well today
Buddha as a HBF is interesting.
He is a good mark. Super aggressive and courageous. And actually a pretty solid kick.
Could be re-invented here like Matty Boyd was.
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Seriously, he’s being rested? Why.
Being rested appears to be the trend at Bomberland. I think we have gone a bit too far with our individual programs. Getting injured used to be the reason to rest. Now we are resting them so we don’t get injured.
Geez I have emailed and instructed all my Freo mates to give Mutch a great cheer when he comes on, and he isn’t.
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Today and this year, Morgan > Redman.
Decent: Mutch, Hocking, Nobby Clarke (just wanted to put those two together), Stewart, Bird, Morgan
EDIT: “Decent” does not necessarily mean BRING THEM IN.
Middling: McKernan, Merrett, Bellchambers, Draper (only for his parts of his stint in defence in the last)
Bad: Redman, Long (OK I may be fixating on a few stuff-ups for Long, but he does them every game)
Ferry, Boyse, and Peters were decent, with a few nice moments from Darby too.
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Disposals: O’Brien 39, Clarke 28, Bird 27, Ferry 25
Goals: Stewart 3, Boyse 2, Mutch, O’Brien, Peters
Clarke seems to rack up possies ok
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Which is from:
Essendon VFL has slipped to one and three from its first four games after going down to Port Melbourne by 26-points on Saturday at Frankston Oval.
The Dons started strongly, heading into the first break with a 20-point lead but it wasn’t enough to hold off the fast finishing Boroughs.
James Ferry was impressive in defence, getting the Bombers out of trouble on multiple occasions. He finished with 25 disposals.
“I thought Jimmy Ferry down back was outstanding all day,” Performance Coach Mark Corrigan said.
James Stewart finished with three goals, including one incredible snap out of the pack that bounced straight through the middle.
“James Stewart up forward I thought was our best forward all day,” Corrigan said.
Dylan Clarke was a standout across the field, he finished with 28 disposals.
“Clarke on the ball was clean and showed that even in these conditions he can still be clean and play like it is dry,” Corrigan said.
The Bombers major downfall was in the second quarter when Port Melbourne kicked four consecutive goals in the first eight minutes of play.
The Boroughs led at half time by seven-points.
The lead changed twice in the third quarter, Port Melbourne finishing two-points ahead at the third break.
Essendon kicked one goal to Port Melbourne’s three in the final term which gave them a 26-point lead at the final siren.
Inaccurate kicking was again a contributor to the final score. The Dons were impressive across the field but failed to reward their hard work on the scoreboard.
Corrigan said there are still positives that came out of it.
“The positives of the game were similar to what we’ve seen in previous weeks which is our effort and intensity,” Corrigan said.
“We are not naïve to the fact that we don’t want to be one and three.
“Looking at it from a positive point of view is that we have been in a winnable position in all our games.
“We put ourselves in this position and we have to work hard to get out of it.
“Now it’s just about refining some of the little things like being able to listen to instructions, being able to convert, improving our execution.
“That’s where we need to improve in order to turn these losses into wins.
“We are doing plenty right but it’s just being able to finish our work off.
“That will be the focus again, getting that consistency in those areas.”
Disposals: O’Brien 39, Clarke 28, Bird 27, Ferry 25
Goals: Stewart 3, Boyse 2, Mutch, O’Brien, Peters
Are you a cop?
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