Votes and notes this week by a bomb-disposal robot
I had a day in Launceston on Saturday and planned to listen to the Tiges v GWS as I hiked around the hills. Due to a comedy of errors too boring to relate, I couldn’t, but before I set off I heard one score update; GWS 51 Richmond 1.
I honestly just put it out of my mind; I wasn’t particularly surprised. When you look at our form right back to the 1st quarter of R1 v Carlton, its pretty consistent. There are some outliers – the Swans win and now two successive terrible quarters (Q4 v Hawthorn – Q1 v GWS). We belong in the bottom 6 now. We can’t raise our game against quality sides and we can’t put away bad ones. Why is not a subject for here and now, and I don’t think there are easy answers anyway.
I finally watched the game last night. Honestly we didn’t look that terrible in the first quarter. There was no panic but the water just kept rising and rising. We had a few F50 entries that on a luckier day could have been goals. I never watch Dimma’s pressers but I gather the thrust of this one is “GWS are very very good” and I’ll give him a gold star for that observation, spot on.
Dimma took a ‘standing desk’ approach in the box for this game, that I think we can agree failed. He tried Houli down front, and once we were 50 points down he tried Vickery as a spare man in defence. To me that role requires not just size but clear thinking and footy nouse. TV is not the first bloke who springs to mind.
So to the votes. I put ticks and crosses beside names; I was pretty liberal with the ticks, you got one for just hitting a target in the first quarter.
5 votes – Alex Rance (6 ticks 1 cross). The ball just never stopped coming into his workplace, fast and accurate. He took cutout marks, used his body well to block runs, helped out teammates, and never stopped trying.
4 votes – Nathan Drummond (4 ticks 1 cross). We’ve got ourselves a tackler. He only had 8 disposals but 6 tackles and put himself in harm’s way.
3 votes – Trent Cotchin (3 ticks). He was in there trying, under deep-ocean-trench pressure, and once in a while got it out.
2 votes – David Astbury (2 ticks). Didn’t make any clangers, hit a target every time, played his role.
1 vote – Oleg Markov (3 ticks 2 crosses). Impressive pirouette in the first quarter, bobbed up and did some good things late.
My shortlist also included Grigg, Houli, Martin, Vlastuin, Miles. Ellis was in the official ‘best’ but I hardly noticed him.
The Benny
41: Martin
29: Riewoldt
28: Rance
27: Cotchin
23: Miles
16: Hampson
13: Griffiths
12: Deledio, Lloyd
11: Houli
7: Edwards, Grimes
9: Castagna
5: Lambert, Grigg, Drummond
4: Hunt
3: Townsend, Short, C. Ellis, Vlaustin
2: Rioli, B. Ellis, Astbury
1: Menadue, Markov
Blair Hartley Appreciation Award
23: Miles
16: Hampson
11: Houli
5: Grigg
3: Townsend
Anthony Banik Best First Year Player
9: Castagna
5: Drummond
3: Short
2: Rioli
1: Menadue, Markov
Joel Bowden's Golden Left Boot
11: Houli
5: Grigg
Greg Tivendale Rookie List Medal
9: Castagna
3: Short
This week the Tiges will be stinking up the G on Friday night against traditional foes the Pies. The Lapsed Tiger will be there for us.
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