Bankers & Anchors: Rnd 4, 2020, vs Sydney Swans

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

his is the round 4, 2020 edition of the weekly Bankers and Anchors thread. Once the game against Sydney is concluded post your nominations for:

The Bankers = 3 guys/aspects of the game that we banked on to do the right thing during the game
The Anchors = 3 guys/aspects of the game that weighed us down by their errors or poor play

Please limit it to no more than three of each player or aspect of the game, but feel free to make honourable/dishonourable mentions. As usual try to make it constructive criticism.

Try and restrict it to individual players rather than aspects of the overall match - I will allow more freedom now as the thread seems to be going down more of the aspects of the game path so you can have 3 for each made up of aspects of the game and individual players.

The thread is named in honour of a popular WOOF Contributor, The Banker, who passed away on 22/04/2012 after a six month battle with cancer.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

1 Bont. Captain's game, full of captain's moments.
2. English - he's got soooo much to learn in centre ruck contests.... his hands invariably are down at the moment they should be up... BUT..... the things he does around the ground, if he can replicate with regularity, then all of a sudden teams with good centre square ruckmen who are not English's equal around the ground have some headaches...
2. Bailey Smith... we lucked out big time, should've been a top 2 or 3 pick.... he is just a midfield jet...absolute jet.

[Dry Rot]

Bankers

1. Ooh look, we play a tough team tonight who don't have to rip jumpers and scrag

2. Rhylee West

3. Bailey Dale, some tough stuff, got involved

Anchors

1. The two injuries

2. Bruce. Not impressing me so far.

3. English is great round the ground, but still poor in the ruck

[Vred]

Bankers -
1. Dale actually played well tonight, needs to continue to play like this
2. Our midfield can turn it on when needed, thankfully, with Hunter coming back we should be even stronger.
3. Our young guns show huge promise. West is a keep for me, Bont (still young) smashed it for us tonight

Anchors -
1. Drop Bruce already, his slow, doesn't leap for the ball, out of shape, doesnt deserve his spot over other people on our list
2. We need a proper Ruck and just say *!*!*!*! it and throw English either in D or F depending on what we need from him, his actually better around ground than ruck
3. Injuries ffs

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Bankers -
1. Dale actually played well tonight, needs to continue to play like this
2. Our midfield can turn it on when needed, thankfully, with Hunter coming back we should be even stronger.
3. Our young guns show huge promise. West is a keep for me, Bont (still young) smashed it for us tonight

Anchors -
1. Drop Bruce already, his slow, doesn't leap for the ball, out of shape, doesnt deserve his spot over other people on our list
2. We need a proper Ruck and just say *!*!*!*! it and throw English either in D or F depending on what we need from him, his actually better around ground than ruck
3. Injuries ffs

Bollocks Vred on English. you could make a case that tonight was English's best game. Tell me, how much influence on the game was Naismith (he did his knee way after the result was in the balance)?

[bornadog]

Bankers

1. Tim English, getting better every week.
2. Bont's first half set up the win
3. The teenagers, all of them did so well.

Anchors

1. Injuries of course
2. Bruce - needs to go on a diet, urgently
3. 3 posters - we want more goals

[bulldogsthru&thru]

So if we are to believe Bevo has rewarded players coming back from breaks fit, can someone explain Bruce’s selection?

[comrade]

So if we are to believe Bevo has rewarded players coming back from breaks fit, can someone explain Bruce’s selection?

That’s a good question. Schache must have come back like a beach ball if Bruce is considered in more pickable shape.

[SonofScray]

B:
Bont.
Cordy -> superb defensive efforts and use in the backline, physical, confident game.
Bevo : reacted well to Naughton injury. Sent Bont forward and slammed the door shut on a Swans comeback. It was his best response to a coaching adjustment in years.

A:
Injury to Naughty was deflating.
Lloyd injury after he looked to kickstart his form.
Only two, I was so impressed with the way we handled the bench scenario.

[soupman]

Bankers.
Beveridge - I was as critical as anyone two weeks ago and he has been much improved since. Better (still not perfect but atleast Gardner isn't involved teams selection, and has obviously adjusted our defensive setup to be better able to shut down the opposition (I stand by everything i said though and he there is still much room for improvement)).
English - I was as critical as anyone two weeks ago and he has been much improved since. Still giving us not much in the ruck, but this is two weeks now where I feel he has largely broken even in the ruck (albeit against some very mediocre ruckmen) and had a rel influence around the ground. Still not sold that he can be the ruck we want him to be, but the around the ground player he is atm is decent.
Cordy - This was easily his best performance for years. Finally he managed to have an impact in most contests, was largely excellent defensively and his trusty old left foot got a real workout.

Anchors
Bruce - Apart from being some kind of decoy blimp and occasionally laying a tackle he continues to add nothing. Just so slow, lumbering and undisciplined, it's especially evident when the entire side is able to contribute at such a high intensity and Bruce is lagging at the back. I would've been very open to dropping him, except with no VFL I'm not sure how you get his form up and obviously the Naughton injury makes us cutting another key forward unlikely.
Naughtons injury - His start to the game was incredible and if he played the whole thing could have a new go to game to show off Naughton instead of reruns of that Richmond performance. I know all the arguments for him in defence but not only is Naughton as a key forward potentially our best chance at having a genuine star there but he is so much fun while doing it.
Not being able to go to games - As a new resident of Sydney I am pretty excited by the prospect of going to the SCG to see us play, especially as we seem to be good there.

[FrediKanoute]

Bankers

1. West - great game
2. English - 20 possessions and a goal, can't ask for much more - what he lacks in the ruck he makes up for around the ground
3. Bont - gem. really stood up again tonight

Anchors

1. injuries
2. Dale being reported......
3. Lloyd - I know he went off injured, bu up unil hat point he had no really done much

[Eastdog]

Bankers

1. West - great game
2. English - 20 possessions and a goal, can't ask for much more - what he lacks in the ruck he makes up for around the ground
3. Bont - gem. really stood up again tonight

Anchors

1. injuries
2. Dale being reported......
3. Lloyd - I know he went off injured, bu up unil hat point he had no really done much

Was a bit better tonight compared to previous weeks before he got injuried.

[ratsmac]

Bankers

1. The Bont for playing as a captain should. Forced the game in our favour.

2. West. We need to get games into this son of a gun. He has it.

3. English. As soon as he can break even in his ruck contests, they'll talk about him as a brownlow fancy if the rest of his game looks like that.

Anchors

1. Injuries

2. Posters who anchored English. He was arguably best on ground.

[Mofra]

Bankers

1. Vandermeer verballing Dane Rampe after marking. Love the cockiness, god we need some swagger in our forward half.

2. Rhylee West looks like he already had 50 games under his belt. Little nugget can't be shoved when he plants his feet. Clay Smith must love him too.

3. Ed Richards is pure class, flies under the radar as he is still building the production side of his game but he is really a 70m player

Anchors

1. Injury gods.

2. As well as our defence stood up, we had no answer for Papley. We need a fit Duryea, and a Duryea in training, if we're going to win a final this year and in the future.

3. Fox Footy camera work. It's great that they let the work experience kids loose on a live broadcast, but it's really hard to watch sometimes.

[bornadog]

3. Fox Footy camera work. It's great that they let the work experience kids loose on a live broadcast, but it's really hard to watch sometimes.

Hey Mof, that was a channel 7 broadcast.