Bankers & Anchors: Rnd 1, 2022 vs Melbourne Demons

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

This is the Round 1, 2022 edition of the weekly Bankers and Anchors thread. Once the game against Melbourne 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]

Bankers

1. Tim English - this is the baseline for what we need him to do this year. He looks stronger and more willing to use his frame to good effect.
2. Bailey Smith - considering the spotlight he's been under since his sterling finals series in 2021 I was unsure how he'd handle things this year. He looked very committed and physical in close.
3. Naughts - boy oh boy did we need him to stand up, and he did. Looked much better shooting for goal too. Let's hope it keeps up

Anchors

1. VDM - really disappointed with his decision making and skill execution.
2. Schache - funny how a couple of key moments can shape how performance is viewed. If he had've not played on after marking, or not fluffed a key mark in defence late, he could've been seen as having a good game. Unfortunately he just doesn't look to be getting over his inability to put consistent performances together.
3. Keath. His worst performance in our colours, just invisible the whole night. Doubt he'll put in another like that. We're in trouble if he continues to struggle.

[SonofScray]

B

BAZ - lit the spark and was one of very few who had the missing ingredient on show.
ENGLISH - more prevalent as the game wore on, big effort, good presence in at least two out of three phases of the game.
NAUGHTON - electric, get him the ball more often and make better use of it when we don’t, please.

A

VDM - deer in headlights, headless chook sort of stuff. I love this kid, so the performance annoyed me more than perhaps it deserved to. Just want him to give us a bigger glimpse of his best footy, which is this hard running, physically robust, aggressive forwards game.
WEIGHTMAN - do more
SCHACHE - nearly had a big positive impact, instead a massive negative one. Sadly, was lacking in his intensity. I never bag him about that, but it was really on show. He doesn’t have to be Tarzan but he can’t be Jane either (forgive the gendered analogy, I’ll think up a better one and edit at some stage).

[Mofra]

B

Baz - 11 tackles. Enough said
Macrae - so consistent
Naughts - worth the membership cash just to watch him alone

A

Schache - had an absolute mare
Williams - breaking the AFL record for scores from turnovers. We lose by 4 and a bit goals, he handed them 6
Weightman - please stick to the basics for a bit. You're not actually Flea Weightman. I'd take an assist every week rather than a MOTY contender every second month

[The Doctor]

Bankers

1. Our Best Football - can carve up the very best teams.It is slick, fast, highly skilled and exhilarating to watch.

2. Tim English - Up against the best ruck combination and was outstanding. Has he arrived as number 1 ruck? He certainly presented a strong argument to say so.

3. Astro - So glad to see him scoring goals in general play. Hope he can keep this up & not rely solely on scoring from the big mark.

Anchors

1. Small Forwards - I have been banging on about this for several years that we have not been recruiting enough specialist small/medium forwards. We rely on hybrid midfielders to fulfil this important role. Its a flawed strategy. We are terrible at ground level in the forward line. Rarely do our small forwards crumb off the packs or feed off the high flyers like Naughton. No one front and square. The only times that seems to happen is when one of the A grade midfielders is there like Bont, Smith. There is not enough opportunistic flair and goal nous. The hybrid small are not quick enough getting ball to boot or just don't see the slight chances. I also bring into question the forward coaching. Why doesn't Weightman get front and square more often instead of flying for everything with a strike rate comparable to Zeph Skinner. He is clever enough and skilful enough but he needs to bring more to his game than going for mark of the year. There is a goal or two a game for him if he works off the big guys.

2. Decide what to do with Schache - It's time to be decisive. Is he a forward? Is he a defender? He even had a run on the wing. Without Bruce I think we need him to be forward. He is our no.2 best option right now with English in the ruck & Jamarra & Darcy not ready. We have Gardner & Cordy for the backline. I think settling the team would be a good idea.

3. Settle the back 6 - Following on from the above I think this is very important. With Richards & Crozier back in the loop to add to our fella of small/mediums along with Gardner, Cordy, O'Brien & Schache in our tall mix to support Keath. I thought last year our defence worked well with Keath & Gardner when he was available. We need Duryea back in there (is he injured?) Perhaps we can accommodate this a bit by moving Williams up to a wing. I'm thinking Keath, Gardner, Dale, Daniel, Richards, Crozier/O'Brien, Duryea.

[bornadog]

Why doesn't Weightman get front and square more often instead of flying for everything with a strike rate comparable to Zeph Skinner. He is clever enough and skilful enough but he needs to bring more to his game than going for mark of the year. There is a goal or two a game for him if he works off the big guys.

This made me laugh, but you are absolutely right. The way he plays he thinks he is a mini version of Naughton - for god sake, play close to Naughton and if Naughton drops the ball, pounce on it and snap a goal.

[bornadog]

Bankers

1. Macrae - he works tirelessly to get us in the game. Had a couple of clangers with his kicks, but 39 disposals, and under constant pressure you would expect that.

2. Bazza - improving every game, so strong for his age.

3. Tim English - Looks stronger again and is starting to mature, hopefully he can keep his form up for the rest of the year. Sign him up now.

Anchors

1. We don't seem to have any run and carry anymore. The backline needs to be more attacking and not just pop the ball in the air to no one in particular. Stop panicking, find someone down the ground. Ed, use your pace, Williams, stop trying to take on everyone.

2. Small forwards - Weightman, VDM - need more from you.

3. Schache/Cordy - we have issues here, they need to improve quickly.

[Mantis]

Bankers

1. Macrae - he works tirelessly to get us in the game. Had a couple of clangers with his kicks, but 39 disposals, and under constant pressure you would expect that.

2. Bazza - improving every game, so strong for his age.

3. Tim English - Looks stronger again and is starting to mature, hopefully he can keep his form up for the rest of the year. Sign him up now.

Anchors

1. We don't seem to have any run and carry anymore. The backline needs to be more attacking and not just pop the ball in the air to no one in particular. Stop panicking, find someone down the ground. Ed, use your pace, Williams, stop trying to take on everyone.

2. Small forwards - Weightman, VDM - need more from you.

3. Schache/Cordy - we have issues here, they need to improve quickly.

Why do you want something different from Williams compared to our other small/medium sized defenders?

[bornadog]

Why do you want something different from Williams compared to our other small/medium sized defenders?

I don't want him to get caught holding the ball. You watch how many times he does taking that extra step when he can't make a quick decision. It cost us dearly on Wednesday, and does in most games.

[Mantis]

I don't want him to get caught holding the ball. You watch how many times he does taking that extra step when he can't make a quick decision. It cost us dearly on Wednesday, and does in most games.

It's a fine margin because his ability to navigate his way through traffic makes him a valuable asset within our team... he got the balance wrong on Wednesday night, but he still needs to play to his strengths which is to take on the tackler.

[bornadog]

It's a fine margin because his ability to navigate his way through traffic makes him a valuable asset within our team... he got the balance wrong on Wednesday night, but he still needs to play to his strengths which is to take on the tackler.

Well he was an Anchor this week

[SonofScray]

Well he was an Anchor this week

High risk, high reward sort of player.

Usually he is more miserly with his defensive work when he doesn't have the footy though.

[Mofra]

It's a fine margin because his ability to navigate his way through traffic makes him a valuable asset within our team... he got the balance wrong on Wednesday night, but he still needs to play to his strengths which is to take on the tackler.

He broke the AFL record for conceding scores from turnover (6 goals) - that's absolutely anchor-worthy

[Mantis]

He broke the AFL record for conceding scores from turnover (6 goals) - that's absolutely anchor-worthy

I'm not saying he wasn't anchor worthy as he had a poor game by his standards, more disagreeing with bad's comment that we don't have any defenders who take the game on with flair and dash and then criticised Williams who was attempting this and had some poor moments... you have to take the good with the bad when you play a high risk game and over the past couple of seasons Williams has had more good than bad.

[bornadog]

I'm not saying he wasn't anchor worthy as he had a poor game by his standards, more disagreeing with bad's comment that we don't have any defenders who take the game on with flair and dash and then criticised Williams who was attempting this and had some poor moments... you have to take the good with the bad when you play a high risk game and over the past couple of seasons Williams has had more good than bad.

Willams doesn't have flair and dash, well not with pace which is what we need. ED has to use his pace like a Melbourne team do.

He broke the AFL record for conceding scores from turnover (6 goals) - that's absolutely anchor-worthy

Worst than I thought, that is the game there