VFL report

[BigMart]

Watched a half of the Reserves

Won by a goal with a good side.

Lever.....played deep fwd some ok signs, contested mark and goal. Moves OK. Tall and really thin, two years away from VFL Seniors, 4 Years from AFL if he gets there

Mark worth...."real nice size, nice mover....too good for the Ressies. Won a bit of the footy, kicked a nice goal, took some nice marks...seems a good athlete and a good kid. My guess, he will be a successful project..Has Talent

Webster.....another with nice size, good kick, moves well too...also a bit away, but looks OK.

Staley....about 6'4" played CHF...competed OK, kicked a goal....and took a few grabs, but was just OK

Seniors

Dominant team performance, highlighted by tackling and winning contested ball....and KPP controlling the air......ball t was fast and exciting.....some turnovers we only negative

Rotating Midfield
Armitage, Cockie, Cooke, Ross, curren, ray, hallahan, Crocker

Rotating Small Fwds
Saad, milera, munching ton

Rotating Tall Fwds
Wiles, Coleman, shenton, dunnell, Shepard

Rotating Ruckman
Sikora, Shephard, Coleman

Defenders
Blake, Polo, newnes, ferguson, simpkin, Dowler

Ratings
Milera..9/10 finished early due to a shin corke, dominant man on the ground for 2 and a half quarters.....he's a ripper
Saad....5 tackled ok, kicked a couple, ok pressure, very quick...AFL chance, yes...but not sure with Milne and schnieder
Mincing ton....6 surprised by this lad, small, quick, and skillfull...he looks a player
Shenton....3 didn't win a lot of footy, but did some good things, medium fwd, tackles well and works hard off the ball, took a great contested grab and presented across hf, will he be afl quality...hard to tell, is 6'2" but plays like a KPP....like Aaron Edwards
Ray...6 solid game, still got plenty to offer
Ross....7 super impressive no fuss player...wins contested footy, competes and oknskills....could play this year, will be a player
Jack Ferguson.....4 played HB on a small and got beaten. Took one nice contested grab, and took the game on a few times..poor decision maker ATM
Jack Newnes....5 very impressive kid, too small ATM but looks to have a rounded game
Sam Crocker...6 was pretty good off a wing, looks like mark walburg, and is still slight, and a little of IMO but showed he can play
Tom Curran....Tough kid, short with strong body, inside mid/small fwd. could be more composed with the ball, but has reasonable hands. Won a bit of it, but seemed to get injured
Sam Dunnell...7 he was a surprise packet, tall and rangy with awesome hands, he was dominant in the second qtr taking three contested marks inside 50....very sticky fingers. He missed a gettable shot, and drifted out of the game, otherwise he would have got a 9. Like Shenton hard to know at his size, whether he transfer that to AFL, but a very difficult match up, being 6'3" strong overhead but moves like a winger
Armitage ....8 at least 10 clearances, probably 10 tackles, about 25 touches...hit in hard and hurt opponents. Run and spread well, showed great leadership. Kicking was reasonable. He gave away 4 free kicks as a negative, but he made them all count given the hurt factor...hard as a cats head Armo is
Wilkes......9 workhorse, presented, contested, took about 5 contested marks, set up about 5 goals, kicked 3..I would have given him 3 votes as milera went off early...he was a great target at FF...out pointed Roughead
Polo ....6 really solid off HB, he was calm and composed...except by foot, which was poor. But he mopped up well, and gave off by hands well.
Blake....8 reliable, 5 defensive marks at least, he was too experienced for his greenhorn opponents, resting in the last.
Simpkin.....9 he is like the Matthew Scarlett of the VFL impassable at CHB, about 10 spoils, attack the footy, takes them on in possession...kicking can be wonky. A great defensive game, I wish he was an inch taller, he Would be a beauty.....has a massive head

Coach....listened to him closely....articulate, finds the simple faults of team performance and explains how to fix it...today was ball use going fwd....uses positives with individual, and comes from and instructional point of view sort of like teaching. A real pro it seems....not a young bloke just out of the game, but someone who just knows the game.

Zebra man , get excited....I predict good times, albeit against a weakfish side.....the depth along with stars Cooke, Cockie, marigliani (injured) and Dowler.... The side should finish top 4

[joffaboy]

Nice report.

Glad to hear of the new chums impressing, but very good to hear Armo's form.

Anyone dissapointing? Seems as though you were pretty happy with all the young guys.

[BigMart]

I think every youngn' showed something......

You could really tell Shenton, milera, saad, dunnell were mature age......they did not play like 18yo kids....and more like footballers who have played stateleague against men.

Ross comes across as a more mature person both physically and personality.....

Cockie and Cook were also dominant...again 21-23 yo players who have been in the system......are they AFL talent....not sure

But Milera stood out, he plays with ridiculous ease....looks like he is having a stroll in the park, whilst evading in heavy traffic, or taking a pack mark

[Gwilt Edged]

Funny what can change in a couple of weeks... I said the opposite about Markworth and Staley in the Hawks prac match

Ferg had good ball use and great positioning, some handy goal assists

Good to hear how players went... not convinced about calling their prospects off a single game though

[Old Mate]

Mate, cheers for the report. I feel extremely optimistic about our future with blokes like Milera and Ross coming through. Looks like a tough decision for the last back post between Simpkin, Blake and Wilkes. Who do you see ahead?

[Old Mate]

Nice report.

Glad to hear of the new chums impressing, but very good to hear Armo's form.

Anyone dissapointing? Seems as though you were pretty happy with all the young guys.

Good to see Armo impressing. IMO Waters playing him in the ressies sent a clear message to him and Armo answered emphatically with a dominant display. I hope he plays round 1.

[BigMart]

Not sure anyone's calling future champions from a VFL outing.....but signs were good

The boys showed some real positive signs...whether that translates into AFL ability....time will tell
But at least they proved they can play the game....

Seb Ross is a definite....I would gladly bet my pay packet that he plays 100+
Markworth has physical attributes
Newnes has football ability but like Crocker, Siposs, cripps needs some time to get an afl body

[jonesy]

Nice report.

Glad to hear of the new chums impressing, but very good to hear Armo's form.

Anyone dissapointing? Seems as though you were pretty happy with all the young guys.

Good to see Armo impressing. IMO Waters playing him in the ressies sent a clear message to him and Armo answered emphatically with a dominant display. I hope he plays round 1.

Armo always impresses in the VFL though. He is always dominant. Unfortunatly he can't seem to translate that into AFL form

[BigMart]

He has 8 brown low votes, so he's had good games.... I don't think he ever had a good run at it...

[saintDal]

Anyone know who was wearing number 32?

Saw it mentioned on the bigfooty Hawthorn board and was just wondering who it was.

[defacto]

been saying it all along. wilkes is not a backman. that killed him at wce and then early on at claremont. fitness is his biggest hurdle between VFL and AFL.

coach is from claremont in WA. great coach. cant speak highly enough of him.

[BigMart]

I wonder who was in #32???

[Sick Nal Danto]

I wonder who was in #32???

Pretty sure it was Terry Milera

[GRAMophone]

I wonder who was in #32???

Very sure it was Terry Milera......Get excited

[busso mick]

been saying it all along. wilkes is not a backman. that killed him at wce and then early on at claremont. fitness is his biggest hurdle between VFL and AFL.

coach is from claremont in WA. great coach. cant speak highly enough of him.

Simon McPhee turned Claremont around in a short time after he took over from Roger Kerr (Daniels' father) and had a great record with blooding the young blokes. He got Claremont to a 1 point loss against Swans in Grand Final (that was dominated by Krakouer with 45 possessions) and a big win last year. I think our young blokes will benefit enormously with his guidance this year. Wilkes looks like a natural forward and played as one as a youngster in Albany before he went to Claremont and WCE. He has good hands and draws a lot of interference free kicks as he is strong at the ball. Tarrant is now a better backman than forward, Wilkes might be the opposite.

[Bernard Shakey]

In response to BigMarts ratings I'd like to also give Terry Milera 9 for his three quarters. I'm a bit worried about his knee injury at the 35 minute mark of the third quarter. Before that he was a shoe in for the Saints next Sunday. Hope he's not too bad.

How you could give Ray 6 is beyond me, he hardly touched it. I'll give him 3.

Armo was about a 5 and I don't know what his problem is. This is his big opportunity and he doesn't seem to want to take it.

Wilkes 9 out of ten you have to be kidding. He dropped half a dozen sitters, spoiled Sam Dunnell on at least three occasions and generally was just interested in himself. As for outpointing Roughead, Roughy played about 40% gametime and is coming back from a serious injury, 5 for mine.

Polo is a serious wast of space.

Blake was his usual reliable self 7, and Tom Simpkin is a player of the future 7 also.

I'm only commenting on the players I think are in line for the Saints next week. I believe two of today's players will make our round 1 team, a back and a mid.
Blake or Simpkin, I'll go with Blake for his experience, but I'll be happy with Simpkin.
Milera, Armo or Saad? Milera if he's fit will walk in, he's a smart forward who can play on the ball and down back with silky skills.

[Teflon]

Thanks for the reports - much appreciated.

Really hope Milera isnt injured to badly - been a while since we've had a player with genuine pace/skill to be excited bout.

Was also Saad would break into our AFL team - just need that fwd pressure and he has the speedto bring it.

[Enrico_Misso]

Can I ask a couple of dumb questions.

Figured from the raves that 32 must have been Milera - very excited by him.

Who was the blonde guy who took a few marks in the forward line 36 or 37?
And that guy who did heaps of great chasing - great work effort with number 37 or 38? Was that Dunell?

Was very impressed at that tall guy wearing 81.
He looks like the sort of guy that could play 200 senior games.
But didn't see him after 3/4 time - did he get an injury?

[Con Gorozidis]

Great reports. Thanks BS and BM.

Key points are:

Milera is a gun - hope hes not injured because he is set to debut round 1.
Simpkin is on track.
Dunnel could be the bolter of the rookies this year.

Simon McPhee is a great coach.

Also of note (to p66) Wilkes played fwd all day suggesting he was was recruited as a back-up fwd (in the event roo or kosi go down).
Hes not a backmans a-hole.

[MCG-Unit]

Thanks for the report BigMart, some good news there - I didn't read the match thread......esp pleased for Armitage, Wilkes and Ross.
I've got a lot of time for young Curren, did you see much of him?

[Bernard Shakey]

Great reports. Thanks BS and BM.

Key points are:

Milera is a gun - hope hes not injured because he is set to debut round 1.
Simpkin is on track.
Dunnel could be the bolter of the rookies this year.

Simon McPhee is a great coach.

Also of note (to p66) Wilkes played fwd all day suggesting he was was recruited as a back-up fwd (in the event roo or kosi go down).
Hes not a backmans a-hole.

Wilkes did spend a bit of time down back today, but was ineffective there as was the case in the last two weeks of practice games.

[plugger66]

Great reports. Thanks BS and BM.

Key points are:

Milera is a gun - hope hes not injured because he is set to debut round 1.
Simpkin is on track.
Dunnel could be the bolter of the rookies this year.

Simon McPhee is a great coach.

Also of note (to p66) Wilkes played fwd all day suggesting he was was recruited as a back-up fwd (in the event roo or kosi go down).
Hes not a backmans a-hole.

So he played forward so he is a back up forward. Strange last week when he played back he was still a back up forward. As I pointed out last week he was no good down back but certainly started there. The one thing i like about you is you dont over the top in opinions especially for a guy who has never really seen most of these young guys have a kick in anger.

[Wrote for Luck]

thought Wilkes was ok when did play down back. he's just gotta grab those big grabs when forward. looks natural when kicking for goal but missed two easies.

agree with comments re Milera. at one point he took them on with a two bounce dash through traffic, and really flew, and I said to my wife pointing '... look at that, look at him go!' really something.

Saad took brave mark running with flight and got a little smashed, but took it strongly on his chest. He's a clean clean player. Milera tried to claim the mark, and they both had a laugh about it. Saad took fifty minutes lining up for goal.

Curren was noticeably better than last year, showing a bit more speed and got a bit of it, nice on the ball, could turn into one of thiese 'handy players'

Dunnel also caught my eye. real nice hands and presents and wants the ball.

Armo has the intimidation factor and tackles and wins so much hard ball. I've got to give it to him.

Ray - mr quiet. Looked like he didn't want to get out of bed.

[Con Gorozidis]

Armo was about a 5 and I don't know what his problem is. This is his big opportunity and he doesn't seem to want to take it.

.

Seems the coach was a big fan of armos game as well. So Ill go with Big Marts reviews. Unless Simon Mcphee also has "no idea".

[Con Gorozidis]

Did Will Johnson play foer them? Anyone notice?