As Baktiger says the game was very, very scrappy. Not too much free flowing football or many goals scored - as the result shows.
I went along to see how some of the young guys performed. It’s only one game and very early of course but:
Brent Hartigan: as President of Brent I am pleased to report that whilst he had a quiet first quarter, he must have racked up 8 or 9 classy possessions in the second quarter and was on target for the same in the 3rd quarter before he was spelled for the rest of the game. As people know, I’m a big wrap for Hartigan. He has class and he just looks like a footballer. His effort on Saturday was pretty good considering we’ve got him playing a defensive role – and quite often on guys with a lot more weight and height as well.
Nathan Foley: I’ve seen him play a bit for Geelong Falcons and he never really impressed me all that much but he did very well on Saturday. He got a lot of the footy in heavy traffic and shows some signs that he may have been a good rookie pick up. His skill level looked a lot better than what I’ve seen when he played for Geelong. Like Hartigan, he was spelled half way through the 3rd quarter.
Alex Gilmour: didn’t do much. Played on the wing. I think he has a long way to go. He is very lightly framed. One thing is for certain, he is not fit enough. After every contest he was involved in, he spent a lot of time bent over pulling down on his shorts struggling for breath and missing a number of other contests that he could have moved on to. He seems to be reasonably well skilled, nothing scintillating, and he seems to read the play ok. In the last quarter he got up off the ground limping and lifting his hip up and down. I thought it looked like a troublesome thing e.g. Osteitis Pubis. About 5 minutes later he went down in a screaming heap in the back pocket. The way he was holding the same leg up off the ground whilst the trainers attended to him indicated he wasn’t in too good a shape. They carried him off over the boundary line. It could be a twisted ankle – and probably is – but let’s just hope its not some chronic OP or more serious injury that is gonna keep him out for a long, long time.
Daniel Jackson: was given a defensive role for most of the game and applied himself pretty well. He goes hard at it for a young kid. Put up some good tackles and seems pretty good overhead. Not afraid to give a bit of ‘jaw’ either ! He’s got a reasonable build for a kid his age. One thing though, how the hell those idiots Beck and co. reckon he is gonna be a 189 cm key position player is beyond me. That is just bullsh*t. Daniel would be 185 cm tops and I can’t possibly see how he could make that height and fill a CHB or CHF role.
Andrew Raines; for mine, he really struggled. Hardly touched it. Hung around on the fringes and when he did get it, he quite correctly went for some long kicks, but they weren’t to a target and were ‘floatish’ as well. He’s still very light, but looks like he’ll fill out in time. As he’s only 17, he’s gonna take some time to develop.
Archibald did not play. Tuck was probably the best. He got a fair bit of the ball, put himself into the fray but he is scrappy by foot. Dragacevic played ok, but as usual missed easy shots on goal.
David Flood seems a pretty calm, level headed sort of a coach. Could be good for our young kids.
One other interesting thing I noticed was that Coburg have a young kid called Natale Caruso playing with them. Caruso played with Calder Cannons last year and really came on in the second half of the year. He’s only 180-182cm but is a very hard running and well skilled kid who seems to find a lot of space and connection by his reading of the play. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up being one of Coburg’s better players this year.
It would be good if you could post things there as it doesn't see much action but also it will help keep related topics together.
