Bankers & Anchors, Rnd 14, 2020 vs Geelong Cats

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

This is the round 14, 2020 edition of the weekly Bankers and Anchors thread. Once the game against Geelong 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.

[comrade]

B:

+ Naughton.
+ Hayes was ok.
+ Garder held his own for 3 quarters before Rohan got on top in the last.

A.

- coaching (picking Bruce & Dickson, doing whatever we're doing in the ruck)
- JJ is just so predictably bad in high pressure games. Pick him against bottom 8 teams, rest him for the proper stuff
- Bruce

[westbulldog]

Bankers
Hunter, especially in the first 1/2.
Hayes, thought he did enough to deserve his spot.
Macrae, what more to say.


Anchors
Dickson, shouldn't have been selected, great career but it seems over.
Bruce, shouldn't have been selected, is overpaid under false pretences.
MC - again, pay zero attention to rucking and we get slaughtered every week, Dunkley is a very good midfielder who is being crucified by the MC.

[bornadog]

Bankers

1. The first quarter - best quarter we have played the whole year

2. Naughton's mark that left Geelong players sprawled everwhere including Taylor with a black eye

3. Richards snap goal in the first, a ripper

Anchors

1. 2 injuries that really hurt us

2. Bruce - enough said

3. The ruck - it didn't work against two athletic Geelong players

[Remi Moses]

Bankers - The first quarter slickness
- Keeping a tight Leash on Hawkins
- Hunter has been sensational since his return
Anchors - JJ’s miss after 1/4 time and his handball receive poor fumble ( costly )
- The Ruck’s a complete shambles . Our mids are excellent, but it’s to easy to set up for the opposition when we get monstered
- Bruce has been horrendous! Bevo has to wear it ,I agree . Big contract and a non performer

[SonofScray]

B:
First quarter was "champagne" football. The high water mark of what our talent can produce I think.
Naughton. I am going to the football to watch him play.
Hunter: his work rate and Naughton's swagger have elevated what we are capable of.

A:
Gardner: torched. They had a run of 3 goals at one stage and 2/3 the footy passed through his hands immediately prior to them taking possession and scoring within a couple of touches. Perhaps he was stiff, but he looked exposed.
Bruce: Barely competent, even in a game where he defied form and actually took a mark or two.
JJ: he has been burned very hard on many errors tonight, just keeps finding himself on the wrong end of pivotal moments. I thought he was starting to find something in the past few weeks, even that game he was in tears afterwards. I'm prepared to put a line through him at this point.

[jeemak]

I reckon Bruce is a Baines call, not a Bevo call, but I could be wrong...…….Nah, I'm never wrong.

[GVGjr]

I reckon Bruce is a Baines call, not a Bevo call, but I could be wrong...…….Nah, I'm never wrong.

There could be a bit to that in terms of the recruitment but playing him each week regardless of his form sits with Bevo

[AshMac]

Bankers

- Naughton contested chest mark in the second qtr. he has as good a movement when the ball is in the air as IÂ’ve ever seen

- the little Gardener, Hayes moment that resulted in Hunters goal. Gardner has shown more composure in contested situations recently (needs to work on decision making when not under pressure) and Hayes showed poise and precision

- dunkleys kick for goal and first for our night

Anchors

- josh BruceÂ’s whole night. He needs to be told he is contracted for another 3 years, is a required player and needs to take the offseason to get back into shape. He needs an offseason like Bailey Williams in terms of building fitness. Confidence is shot and he is so out of shape. DonÂ’t turn on him, bring him in and set some strict goals for him before round 1 2021!

- the umpiring of holding the ball, incorrect disposals and throws. I donÂ’t complain about umpiring usually - one of the toughest gigs going around - but REPEATED inconsistency from the same umpire kills me

- Tackling in the second half; both our tackling with them Still able to release the ball to a team mate AND us getting caught with the ball - English by Rohan and JJ just unaware how hot they were when they took possession. (Mclean bringing down Blicavs was a highlight though...)

[SonofScray]

There could be a bit to that in terms of the recruitment but playing him each week regardless of his form sits with Bevo

I've been pretty vocal, probably stating the obvious re: Bruce. He is only marginally ahead of guys like James, Morgan, Saunders, Jakovich etc. This season is doing serious damage to his reputation as a professional footballer & it should be absolutely burning him up to be mentioned in the list above.

He shouldn't be playing. The fact he is, well that is where the curiousity and confusion around the MC and our coach turns to disdain for me.

[Bulldog4life]

Bankers

- Naughton contested chest mark in the second qtr. he has as good a movement when the ball is in the air as IÂ’ve ever seen

- the little Gardener, Hayes moment that resulted in Hunters goal. Gardner has shown more composure in contested situations recently (needs to work on decision making when not under pressure) and Hayes showed poise and precision

- dunkleys kick for goal and first for our night

Anchors

- josh BruceÂ’s whole night. He needs to be told he is contracted for another 3 years, is a required player and needs to take the offseason to get back into shape. He needs an offseason like Bailey Williams in terms of building fitness. Confidence is shot and he is so out of shape. DonÂ’t turn on him, bring him in and set some strict goals for him before round 1 2021!

- the umpiring of holding the ball, incorrect disposals and throws. I donÂ’t complain about umpiring usually - one of the toughest gigs going around - but REPEATED inconsistency from the same umpire kills me

- Tackling in the second half; both our tackling with them Still able to release the ball to a team mate AND us getting caught with the ball - English by Rohan and JJ just unaware how hot they were when they took possession. (Mclean bringing down Blicavs was a highlight though...)

Agree with this. Hope we do it.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Bankers

Naughts some nice moments against experienced defenders.

Our scoreboard pressure in the first.

Gardner, he made another positive step in his development. Should have some confidence growing. He's gonna need it with West Coast next.

Anchors.
JJ's cost us in attack and in defense.

Bruce - His confidence is completely shot. Needs a spell and a big preseason.

Umpiring, the shocking HTB call on Gardner, the non deliberate late in the game. Cost us two goals.

[AshMac]

Bankers

Naughts some nice moments against experienced defenders.

Our scoreboard pressure in the first.

Gardner, he made another positive step in his development. Should have some confidence growing. He's gonna need it with West Coast next.

Anchors.
JJ's cost us in attack and in defense.

Bruce - His confidence is completely shot. Needs a spell and a big preseason.

Umpiring, the shocking HTB call on Gardner, the non deliberate late in the game. Cost us two goals.

Havent seen a player kick it 40 metres down the line to no one and a throw in called for 5 years! Disgraceful.

[Ozza]

Bankers:

Hunter - clearly our best.
Crozier - apart from one spilled mark which probably wasn't his ball, was excellent in the air.
Naughton - if only we'd got it into his area more often.

Anchors:

The core midfield - absolutely demolished after quarter time. Bont not enough footy, macrae uncharacteristically fumbly, Libba unsighted after half time, Baz - rarely kicks the football to players in red/white/blue in recent times.

The use of the Ruck - we've gone from using English in the ruck and then having him primarily an extra defender (which may have helped stop the bleeding) to having him as an inneffective forward, and have turned Dunkley from a 30 possession mid - to a 13 possession draught horse ruckman. It is an appalling misuse of talent.

Bruce - has no confidence whatsoever and it brings the mood of the group down. I actually feel sorry for Dickson and Wallis for Friday night. We had 30 inside 50s and my guess is we targeted Wallis once, Dickson not at all, and kicked the ball to Bruce a dozen times for no result. Although Bruce is hopelessly bereft of confidence, he is still drawing the footy and we are getting nothing out of it. I think we'd function better with him not in the side right now. For Wallis and Dickson, my view it is a 'forget' performance because neither of them really got a crack.

[Mantis]

Bankers:

Hunter - clearly our best.

He was, but his decision to kick backwards twice when we had the run of play were extremely poor decisions. Our game isn't kicking from side to side as we don't kick it well enough and even more so for Lachie who's kicks don't travel quickly through the air and allow the defence to apply even more pressure.

Crozier - apart from one spilled mark which probably wasn't his ball, was excellent in the air.

He dropped 2 marks from which the opposition kicked 2 goals... They were extremely costly errors in the context of the game. For the first one Bailey Williams should've either called him out or split him in 2 to get the ball.

Reckless play, is still reckless play.

Anchors: The core midfield - absolutely demolished after quarter time. Bont not enough footy, macrae uncharacteristically fumbly, Libba unsighted after half time, Baz - rarely kicks the football to players in red/white/blue in recent times.

What I find frustrating is the inability of our mids to work for each other or sacrifice their games for even just a set play. Bont was get man-handled (illegally) at nearly every stoppage, but I couldn't see one player apply a block for him... it just isn't part of our make-up which is disappointing.

The use of the Ruck - we've gone from using English in the ruck and then having him primarily an extra defender (which may have helped stop the bleeding) to having him as an inneffective forward, and have turned Dunkley from a 30 possession mid - to a 13 possession draught horse ruckman. It is an appalling misuse of talent.

It's a *!*!*!*!ing basket case.

The Geelong rucks just threw Dunks out of the way (often illegally) and we just sat back and watched until the last qtr when we played English a bit more in the ruck.

His use of Dunkley is appalling as mentioned.

Bruce - has no confidence whatsoever and it brings the mood of the group down. I actually feel sorry for Dickson and Wallis for Friday night. We had 30 inside 50s and my guess is we targeted Wallis once, Dickson not at all, and kicked the ball to Bruce a dozen times for no result. Although Bruce is hopelessly bereft of confidence, he is still drawing the footy and we are getting nothing out of it. I think we'd function better with him not in the side right now. For Wallis and Dickson, my view it is a 'forget' performance because neither of them really got a crack.

We definitely got at least one goal from Bruce's efforts when Naughts roved a goal in the last qtr, but whilst you can see he's trying he's battling.

Think you're giving Wallis & Dickson an out too.. Dickson looked like a park footballer out there, but given the lack of footy it's a tough ask stepping in against the oppositions best defence. Wallis had a suitable match-up against his strengths and had no effect from the 1/2 chances that came his way... and from the only opportunity he had he kicked it into Bont's ass.