VFL Player Report: Round 2, 2009

ROUND 2: COLLINGWOOD VS. WILLIAMSTOWN

Chris Bryan: Was played as a permanent forward and persevered all day, looking like our only viable target in the third quarter.  Suffered from having poor delivery for a majority of the day and with Williamstown dominating the play, he wasn’t provided with a lot of opportunities.  Could have ended the day with four goals or more had delivery been better and had he kicked a fraction straighter on a few long set shots.

Chris Dawes: There has been a notable improvement in his work ethic, as he seems more determined and most importantly invested in the game.  His hands were a little better this week, as he held onto just about every mark that came his way when he was in the box seat — most of which were chest marks on the lead where he was closely checked.  His highlight came in the third, where he showed some good agility to get around his man after being tucked against the boundary, snapping truly whilst being pressured by a player on either side.  His second efforts were good and he looks to get team mates involved; which was a rare quality yesterday.

Brad Dick: Ending the day with four goals, most would think he had a good day at the office.  He was lively early, but rarely sighted thereafter.  I’m a little concerned about his disposal, as we’ve heard so much about how good his foot skills are but I’m yet to really see them on display.  For some perspective, over the course of the entire game I would say that Dick’s direct involvement probably amounted to less than a quarter’s worth of football.

Danny Stanley: Always applied himself, although yesterday wouldn’t be a day for him to remember.  He wasn’t provided a lot of time on the ball, although probably got a bit more than last week.  Out of our players who got a run through the middle, he was our most convincing when winning the ball, a highlight being a bustling centre clearance and bullet pass to a leading Chris Bryan — unfortunately these moments were few and far between.

Ryan Cook: A day to forget for Cook as he fell back into bad habits.  His kicking was haphazard and hopeful at best and he didn’t really impose himself in any contested situations — which was made even worse considering it was a day where we needed our more developed players to lead by example.  Looked unsure when in possession and having pressure applied, he shouldn’t trouble the selectors this week.

Cameron Wood: I thought Wood improved a lot upon last week and went a long way to silencing those who say he just isn’t interested.  He won some very good taps in the ruck that went to clear advantage, on more than one occasion he got it down to a player on the move for a clean take away.  He pushed back in defence often and held some good marks, although he could still do with having slightly stronger hands.  The positive was he read the flight of the ball well and took just about every mark with his arms fully extended, leaving the opposition no alternative but to chop.

Lachlan Keeffe: He’s obviously still a way off before coming into senior consideration, but I’m liking the early signs.  He won a few good taps and has a dip, although was largely ineffectual around the ground.  The most promising thing about Keeffe is his size and attitude, once he fills out completely he’ll have the body and mindset to impose himself on more contests.

Ben Reid: Was a bit better this week than last, which I suppose is all we can ask for while we try to turn him into a CHB.  He was opposed to Ayce Cordy for a large portion of the game and prevented him from having any real impact; which is a credit to Reid considering Williamstown’s dominance.  Used the ball fairly well and spotted up targets coming out of defence, although his complete lack of a right side – either by foot or hand – is a bit of a concern.  Took some very good marks across the half-back line, a few them being contested.

Scott Reed: His day started brilliantly with a nice running goal from 40+ out, but it turned into a nightmare soon after.  Reed was carved up by his direct opponent; he stood Matthew Little in the second half and Little ended the day with four goals.  Our lack of pressure up field meant that our defenders got exposed quite badly and our lack of options down back meant a lot of responsibility was lumped onto our most inexperienced shoulders.  He was again tentative in a few situations, but that can hopefully be corrected with further physical development.

Anthony Corrie: He was better than last week, which isn’t saying much considering how bad he was in round one.  He did play a slightly more team oriented game and rather than just picking up touches on the empty far wing, he worked down back to try and help mop up.  He is still susceptible to brain fades and acts of selfishness; but these facets weren’t quite as prominent yesterday.  I have doubts over whether we can ever expect reliable disposal from him, although I hope he proves me wrong.

Toby Thoolen: Was a bit more involved than he was last week, but once again he probably only did one or two convincing things.  Had a few opportunities to really influence a contest in the air, where he could have not only spoiled but either marked or smashed the ball out of the hot zone, yet resorted to what I could only describe as a tentative, dinky palm down of sorts.  He also has a long load up on his kick, is aware of it and as such has a tendency to panic when not gifted space.

Tristan Francis: Was given a run through the middle and spent a fair bit of time down back.  Didn’t have any real impact in the middle, but worked hard down back.  He has a nice burst of pace which he uses well to get out of trouble, managing to get free a few times on a day when we were more often than not getting caught.  It was a day where it was hard to judge any of the younger guys too critically, as there was no adequate support from team mates all day long.

Jarryd Blair: Much like Francis, he has a real dip and managed to get his hands on the ball in the middle a fair bit early on, but wasn’t as effective as last week.  His confidence may have suffered a little when the umpires had a whistle happy period in the second and pinged him a few times for apparent high fend-offs.  Couldn’t fault his application and could have ended the day with a goal after missing narrowly on the run.

Sharrod Wellingham: Got a fair bit of the ball but did next to nothing with it.  I’m a little concerned with Wellingham as two weeks in a row he has been a passenger at VFL level; but this week there weren’t any glimpses of his talent.  A player in his position needed to impose himself a lot more on the contest yesterday, but he seemed content to just rack up meaningless stats.

Kevin Dyas: Wasn’t expecting much and that was understandably the result.  Pretty much went unnoticed with a single contested mark down back in junk time being the only instance where he made it apparent he was actually out there.  Not going to be hard on him though after an extended lay-off, so I wouldn’t be expecting anything from him until later in the year when he hopefully finds his feet.

Steele Sidebottom: A reasonably good performance given the context of the match.  He worked fairly hard and once again showed his ability to read the play by getting to good positions, but wasn’t afforded as much space as last week and with nobody working too hard for one another, his game suffered.  The biggest positive was that he was one of the rare players out there who tried to make his touches count.  With that said, I think some people may have gotten a little carried away early with describing his kicking as elite.  He does use the ball efficiently, but looks to operate over short distances for the most part.

Brent Macaffer: Continued to play a roaming role, spending a lot of time up the ground.  Similar to Sidebottom, he made a deliberate attempt to use the ball to the team’s advantage.  His application is admirable, as it seems we’re trying to develop Macaffer’s all-round game.  It’ll be a little while yet before we get a clearer indication as to what he’ll offer heading forward, but for two weeks in a row he has worked hard and been clean with the ball.

Luke Rounds: It was always going to be a tough day for anyone playing across the half-back line, where Rounds spent a lot of his time.  I didn’t notice Rounds a whole lot yesterday, but he did have a few good passages where his pace was on display.  One instance he gathered the ball and put space between him and his man very quickly, then delivered the ball perfectly for Dawes on the wing.  There’s a bit to like about him early on, think of Barham minus the maniacal tenacity and ball-winning ability but with added polish.

Related Articles: [VFL Review Round 2]

VFL Review: Collingwood Vs. Williamstown (Round 2, 2009)

The Scores

Collingwood: 4.0 / 6.2 / 10.6 / 11.9 [75]
Williamstown: 1.3 / 7.7 / 15.8 / 20.11 [131]

Goals: Dick 4, Bryan 2, Dawes 2, Corrie, Reed, Hunt.

The 10th Letter’s Best: Wood / Reid / Macaffer / Sidebottom

Things were looking good early but soon deteriorated as any semblance of teamwork went out the window and made way for sloppy individual play.  Whilst Collingwood put on a poor display both with the ball and without it, Williamstown played a committed brand of team football and the scoreboard reflected their dominance after quarter time.

We snagged the first two goals of the match after Brad Dick crumbed one off the pack in the goal square early on, followed shortly by Scott Reed kicking truly on the run from 45 metres out.  Williamstown worked their way back into the contest, with the ball spending a lot of time in their half of the ground for the next 10 minutes.

Ben Reid stood up well in defence, taking some good grabs and using the ball well.  In one passage, he marked strongly in front of his man and then picked out Macaffer with a perfect 50 metre pass down field.  Despite Williamstown owning the play, we withstood and managed to add two more goals for the quarter through Brad Dick and Chris Bryan, who was set-up nicely by Chris Dawes.

The second quarter started positively also, with Collingwood looking the better early on.  Brad Dick kicked his third from 40 out directly in front and when Corrie converted an opportunistic goal we looked in a comfortable position.  From that point on however, it was all Williamstown as they seized control of every position and proceeded to dominate.

Former Magpie Chris Egan was prominent in getting the Seagulls back into the contest, snapping two very good goals from tight angles.  As for Collingwood, we simply looked incapable of doing anything good with the ball and a lot of our players were ambling around at half-pace, placing the Williamstown ball carriers under minimal pressure.

Williamstown dominated the remainder of the second quarter and whilst benefiting from some dubious free kicks, they were simply showing more desperation and applying more pressure and were in turn rewarded more often.  At the half-time break, Williamstown had snatched an 11 point lead.

The second half played out much like the last 15 minutes before half-time.  Williamstown were simply a much better outfit and their forward line carved up our defenders, with perhaps only Reid and Francis looking somewhat serviceable.  Our midfield was well beaten at the clearances and in most stoppage situations and as a result our defenders were exposed.

Williamstown kicked eight goals for the quarter, whilst we managed to add four through Dawes, Bryan and Hunt.  Trailing by 32 points heading into the last, the game became a mere formality with the only question being the eventual deficit.  Brad Dick snapped another crumbing goal to take his total to four for the day and despite how good that might read to a stat observer, he was rarely in the contest over the course of the day.

The difference was simply team ethic, Collingwood played like a collection of individuals with no common goal.  Our players either blazed away with the ball, didn’t work hard enough to provide an option or simply ignored options when available in vain efforts to get noticed.  When not in possession, we placed minimal pressure on Williamstown and they made us pay as a result.

The end result isn’t a clear indication of the talent we have coming through, as no player is bound to stand out when the side functions as it did yesterday.  There were positive glimpses from a few of our players, most notable being Reid, Macaffer, Sidebottom and some improvement from the likes of Wood and Dawes.  Chris Bryan always gives his all and provides a contest, but playing as a permanent forward meant that he fell victim to Williamstown’s dominance further up field.

As for the players I’ve listed in our best, I would not read too much into that either.  I would say after yesterday’s performance, nobody staked a genuine claim for the senior side.  The players I have listed were the ones who I believed showed some team ethic and at least worked to be involved throughout the course of the match, as opposed to when it suited them.  In a game like yesterday where it was hard to find any clear stand-outs, you can only reward players who at least show some application.

In the end, I was disappointed with the way our side operated collectively but in some ways it’s to be expected when you have a side filled with players trying to stake a claim.  On the other hand, I was impressed with the way Williamstown played.  They obviously have some talent from the Western Bulldogs doing the rounds – particularly one Guy O’Keefe who carved us up – but regardless they played like a team with pride for the jumper.

In closing, I’d like to make a special mention to the Williamstown supporters.  It was good to see a gathering of vocal Seagulls supporters wearing the blue and gold — suburban football still has a heartbeat.

Related Articles: [VFL Player Report Round 2]