Fair enough. I was sure he was starting a number of times on the defensive side of the goal square. I might have been messing him up with someone else, commentators make it hard to work who is who and the camera angles are shocking. So that could be my mistake.
I just watched the replay, a few tit bits / observations…
There’s something I like about Mc Bride. He has that image Irish aggression and looks like he enjoys the contested aspects. He can take a strong mark and his kicking action has improved. Given covid lack of matches, he looks like he’s still developing nicely and worth persisting with for sure.
Hobbs certainly can find it and as expected still needs more matches to fine tune some of his disposal. That will come with more matches. His kicking doesn’t appear due to any obvious technical flaw. He will adapt to faster pace and hopefully with a little more time and space his disposal will elevate accordingly.
Something there with Brand as a defender. I look forward to seeing him play this year, definitely has potential as a key defender.
Waterman playing is good to see. Still not quite AFL ready in my view. Just needs more matches and fitness. Hopefully develops over next month or so for hopeful return.
I also liked Voss. Looks physical and presents well.
BZT competed well and played a strong game. Still makes a few perhaps sloppy errors which would be costly at senior level. I still think he could do with a few more games at this level to try and iron out a few of his rough edges. I’m not convinced yet that he’s a ready to go replacement full back however. I think the big strong forwards would expose his lack of size and strength. Ideally he would fit into a backline that had the big physical defensive presence as a reliable lock at senior level.
Bryan is developing nicely. His ruck craft is improving and he’s good at ground level. Once he adds another 5-10kgs and plays another 40 games I feel his belief will skyrocket and will become a good ruckman at senior level.
People need to chill a bit on Eyre, he was drafted as a very bottom aged player last year and has had a bad run with injury most of the pre season, give him some chance to get his touch.
I didn’t think Zerk set a foot right until halfway through the second then improved. Wasn’t great IMO but was fine.
Brand is showing signs.
Hird - starting to wonder if he’s found his level and can’t work out where the improvement comes from.
Voss - he’s tantalising because he gets in amongst it and he’s physically ready already so is already dominating some guys physically - he will look better early as compared to Lord but I can see a whole heap of things he has to work on - namely basic ball handling, cleanliness and skills. I like his start but he needs to do some work.
McDonagh had one of those games. He’d want to show something before half way point of the season but it’s Rd 2. I’m not worried.
One more thing - Waterman is one of those guys that is good in practice not so much in theory. I prefer that to some of our guys like Draper and Ham who so far have been great players in theory but not in practice. Maybe we should change our approach?
Of course Richmond wanted him, just not enough. Cochin is just 2cm taller than Hobbs.
Cochin is cooked. They may well rue that night they passed Hobbs over.
Bryan is just 21, Tim English has only just become a good ruckman at the age of 24.
They rarely develop overnight. I see Bryan coming good for us in the 2024 season.
There’s still lots to work on and I am pretty sure he will get the time to work on it.
The disappointing thing for me about our VFL team is that we haven’t had any players other than Tippa in the first three weeks who look ‘above the level’.
Whenever Tippa went near it you could see that he didn’t belong and was doing whatever he wanted. He’s unfit, sure, but nobody could go with him.
BZT had shown glimpses, as has Hobbs, and Baldwin last week, but there’s nobody playing anywhere near the level that guys like Draper and Langford did when they were in the VFL. Guys like David Myers and Dyl Clarke who didn’t quite make it were genuinely dominant.
Happy to be told otherwise by live watchers but that’s my take so far from the footage of the games this year. That next tier of talent feels like it’s a fair way off the pace.
Mind you, momentum and confidence are funny things and we do setup our VFL program for failure.
