Well, that 18 hours sucked.
The women were decent, at least.
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Bad bad bad weekend.
The disease that has spread through the senior team, has now been caught by the VFL side.
Last 4 goals of the game gave some respectability.
Goals: Ridley 2, Begley 1, Langford 1, Gown 1, Fennell 1, Gown 1, Hocking 1, Younan 1.
Disposals: Clarke 28, Langford 24, Dea 20, McNiece 20, Hocking 18, Younan 17.
Other EFC players: Begley 14, Hartley 14, Long 13, Ridley 12, Zerk 12, Mozzie 11, Houlihan 9.
Good to see Clarke tops disposals even when Draper is out.
Did they tag him again? If so he did well.
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our vfl side had no bench since the start of the 3rd.
ā ā ā ā ā me to tears he hasnt been given solid time in the seniors ahead of our multitude of softer types who dont like physicality.
He is exactly what our side lacks.
We get pushed around like under 14s instead of imposing ourselves on the opposition.
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Who copped injuries now??
mostly vfl listed players.
Ah ok thanks mate
The VFL have been running a few players short in recent weeks and it hit the fan today.
So, apart from all the talls theyāve lost in the past month: in the first quarter Gown kneed or kicked Houlahan in the head while specky-ing, and then fell on his own head from a decent height. Houlahan also copped at least one other hit to the head later in the game. Hartley copped a nasty corky but battled it out back and then in the ruck against monsters. Zerk-Thatcher hasnāt clicked since returning from the ankle injury. Begley was awful for much of the day. Lazarro was concussed early. Sibbald did a minor knee injury early. Read isā¦ not very good.
Combine that with facing up to Preuss and another big boy in Wale-Buxton, it got ugly. We lost the hit-outs 71-23 and they got a couple goals between them. This might give you the first hint as to why we totally fell apart today.
We tried different things, including Hartley in the ruck and Ridley and Langford at full-forward, but we only managed to patch those holes for the first half before it collapsed. Five late goals to us made the scoreboard look a lot nicer than it was.
Dea was our best player, but with little competition for that role. 10 marks and 20 disposals. McNiece in a similar role started hot, then disappeared (also 20 disposals).
Clarke has to replace Myers. Surely. 10 kicks and 18 handballs, 7 marks. The guy is just very very good at getting the ball out to advantage, even when being tackled.
He received some inside support from Heppell, but on the outside we sucked.
Langford was decent (10 kicks, 14 handballs, 4 tackles and a goal). That goal in the last was special.
Most of the other VFL boys, except for Fennell, were nondescript.
The Casey players peaked at 18 disposals! They had a much higher proportion of kicks though.
Thank fark I can now go write about the women instead. Thatās a great story, even if the ump screwed them at the end.
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Awesome summary DJR. You add a lot to our enjoyment of the VFL
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Where was Liam McKenna? We needed tank boy in there today.
No idea where he was, but he was missed. We really needed his extra grunt.
My thoughts on AFL prospects.
Begley: good size and intent but looked pretty lost out there. Probably needs more time in the twos.
Ridley: has balance and skill. Iād play him ahead of Francis in any position. At FF for a large part of the 2nd half so was starved of it.
Langford: Our best for mine. Was willing to hold the ball and try to make things happen. Iād bring him in as a HF.
Clarke: unpopular opinion, still donāt really see the AFL attributes. Wouldnāt be the first person Iād be bringing in.
Dea/mcneice: nothing wrong with their games, but no reason to get the call up.
Mozzie: has balance, speed and timing. Donāt think heād disgrace himself at AFL level, but goal sneaks shouldnāt be our #1 priority.
All up, Iām not sure thereād be much in todayās performance that would inspire mass changes.
I suspect Joe, Baguley will both get the call up with Langford a smokey
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todays result was to be expected really with all the players out injured, losing draper last week and the like.
they still tried which was pleasing, just didnāt have the cattle available.
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No, they tagged Langford.
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I thought langers was our best today
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Thisā¦?
Some positive thoughts from the game today.
Danny played a great game. Although he is spending more time on the defensive wing, when moved forward, he is dangerous and doesnāt give up easily.
Moz played the game out, no cramping. His fitness is improving. His second efforts, grunt and vision are pleasing. I think he is still growing as he looks taller (and I am not yet shrinking).
I liked the game Clarke played. He got in the mix and got the ball out.
Ridley could come in and be sent to the forward line. He was calm and controlled when he was sent down there. He can kick goals.
Langers keeps presenting as needed. He worked hard today.
Hartley has a nice tap ruck technique.
Long is adding a few more tricks to his game including not doing too many tricks.
Fennell, Landt and Tynan are proving to be handy players.
Edit: so nice to see Matty Dea out there today.
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Think Begley will take a bit of time to get confidence back after his layoff.