Ham and Clarke dominated our clearances, with help from Atley.
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looks like Ham hard a day out
36 disposals an 2 goals
Clarke and Johnson brought tackling pressure with 11 & 9 tackles. Plus Clarke found a lot of the ball.
O’Kearney is in pretty good form.
Nice to see Hird up in the top few on the ground as well.
4th best AFL listed in fantasy points
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The Zebras had a much better defensive and midfield system, tall forwards and defenders and were faster on the outside. They relied on the mids flooding back and going forward to provide mobile options. Generally we were outmarked in the forward line by their tall forwards and they always had options to clear the ball. At times they managed to pressure us into devastating turnovers locking the ball in and eventually kicking goals.
Many times they cleared the ball laterally from congestion , until they had space. The small midfield group were very good picking up the loose ball and tackling our bigger mids like Clarke. In particular they blocked rear and forward exits from centre bounces and then were able to run and carry or kick long to dominant tall forwards.
We seriously lack quality generally and need to recruit better players. Too much was left to too few AFL listed players. But our team cracked in and played the game right out against a faster taller and more skilled side. Kudos for that.
PS. Oh, yes, Ham played as an inside mid was elusive and did very well. He was up against small mids like him. I think its a bit of a bridge too far just yet to mix it with the more robust AFL level inside mids, but when/if he puts on some size with a couple more preseasons, he could be OK as an inside mid.
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any reason why Francis didnt play?
Managing his return I’d say.
Just under 12 mins of highlights up on the AFL site:
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I think it’s unrealistic to think Ham will ever be an inside mid at AFL level. He’s 22, so I don’t see the size suddenly getting packed on now.
I know a guy like Parish isn’t much bigger, but Ham hasn’t shown any attributes of an inside mod at AFL level, so I don’t see how that will suddenly change either.
I’m guessing they’re playing him as an inside mid simply to improve his contested work so that if/when he does get another shot at AFL level, that side of his game is better than it has been
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Hams disposal count has grown with every post in this thread 
Must have been 44 d and 4 goals by now
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Ham seems to kick two in the highlights package, so that is one mystery solved.
Good snap by McBride
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He did get amongst it, he did crack in and he did get a bit of the ball. Maybe when he plays the wing role at AFL level, he is instructed to stay clear of the contest.
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Replay of 2 rank turnovers kicking out of the defensive goal square are highlights?
I would suggest Sandi edited those highlights, thats just mean spirited.
Its interesting. At AFL level, oppositions NEVER man up the pocket targets when kicking in but Sandi got 2 goals over those blunders.
Weren’t people reporting in the game thread that he will never make it, stats look ok.
Same, I think they’re just playing him there to work on things.
Same as they did with Langford a few years back.
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1:50 Hird goal
3:30 Durham tackle to Ham goal
6:40 Hird goal
7:45 Ham long goal
10:25 Hird goal
Hirdy has some forward nous. Great quick snap accuracy.
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You’ll have to play Ham after that performance.
In - Ham, Heppell
Out - Langford, ??
Yes, Ham got a lot of possessions, but made a couple of rank turnovers close to goal when the game was a lot closer. After half time the scores really blew out. But yes he and Hird were probably the 2 best for us.
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Where was Zaka?
In the cannon?
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I think someone said he had a wrist injury?