Bankers & Anchors: Rnd 23, 2025 vs West Coast

[Bornadog]

Bankers:

1. McNeill standing firm and taking the hit from an outrageously aggressive kick by Lobb. Took a bullet for the cause.

2. JOD much improved in his positioning and one-on-one aerial defending this week. Much needed return to form.

3. English workrate. He works incredibly hard to support the defence and also take his opponent to deep water in F50.

Anchors:

1. Libba blind handballs in traffic. A better team would have converted these turnovers into goals.

2. Midfield stoppage work. West Coast matched us at clearance. We were a bit sloppy in tight on occasions.

3. Dale has millionaire foot skills but he took a few billionaire kicks, some of which were way too aggressive (similar to the Lobb kick to McNeill)

Dale did have a couple of erronious kicks, but also ran at 82% disposal efficiency

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Finally got to piece together the full game across 2 days!
Bankers.

1. Really enjoyed the input and output of Bramble and Baker - they're not perfect footballers, but they have traits that add net value to the team when they limit the mistakes.
2. Croft - the perfect way to start in AFL footy; really look towards his development arc next season.
3. Bont - I really hope he gets to play finals this year, he deserves it for the way he has led from the front, the minute he hit the ground this season, despite his interrupted start. He was immense on Sunday.

Anchors.
Yeah, I'll leave it to others, I accept we'll make mistakes, I just don't much get so much negativity here. We won by 94 points. In a real life event where two real teams are competing - we're not entitled to anything- no one is.
The Saints nearly lost to Essendon, Tigers the week before that, Norf the week before that and only just avoided losing to Melbourne prior to that off the back of NWM heroics..

I'll take a 94 point win against the Weevils a 6 point win against the Dee's, a 88 point win against GSW before that ad 94 point win against Essendon before that off the back of 2 close defeats to top 4 sides.
I know where I'd rather be.
But hey whatever gets you through the night; maybe it's better to blow a foofer valve here and get it out; I guess it might be kinda cathartic in a way?

[Rusty12]

Bankers:

- Great debut from Croft, 9 post-clearance CPs, 3 goals, some players are just better suited to AFL
- I like that Cleary and Garica or anyone are getting done for holding the ball, trying to find a clean or dangerous exit. If there is an easy first option you miss, then it is an error, but I prefer them doing that, than blazing away
-Baker, Bramble etc, are doing their jobs, this will take us far
- Davidson's return, are we cured of Mcneil and VDM, finally

Anchors:

- Still lost too many 50/50 marking contests Vs the young Eagles forwards
- Sanders is not a good sub, and his form warrants him to be sub

[Sedat]

Bankers:

- Great debut from Croft, 9 post-clearance CPs, 3 goals, some players are just better suited to AFL
- I like that Cleary and Garica or anyone are getting done for holding the ball, trying to find a clean or dangerous exit. If there is an easy first option you miss, then it is an error, but I prefer them doing that, than blazing away
-Baker, Bramble etc, are doing their jobs, this will take us far
- Davidson's return, are we cured of Mcneil and VDM, finally

Anchors:

- Still lost too many 50/50 marking contests Vs the young Eagles forwards
- Sanders is not a good sub, and his form warrants him to be sub

Yep, there was some footage on one of the footy shows last night showing Jack Viney just blasting the ball out of congestion with dump kicks, instead of taking some punishment and finding a target by hand. It was damning footage.

I'm not a fan of players being caught with the ball but I'm much less of a fan of dump kicks or blind Hail Mary handballs (in the case of Libba) to try and clear congestion. I will say the rest of Libba's game was awesome, but those 4-5 blind low percentage handballs in traffic didn't go unnoticed.

[Rusty12]

Yep, there was some footage on one of the footy shows last night showing Jack Viney just blasting the ball out of congestion with dump kicks, instead of taking some punishment and finding a target by hand. It was damning footage.

I'm not a fan of players being caught with the ball but I'm much less of a fan of dump kicks or blind Hail Mary handballs (in the case of Libba) to try and clear congestion. I will say the rest of Libba's game was awesome, but those 4-5 blind low percentage handballs in traffic didn't go unnoticed.

Yep. I think holding the ball is an emotional rule/action in footy, and fans overreact to it.
It is also a slow turnover; you can roll around a bit, delay each other getting up, and your teammates know not to chase the junk kick you just let rip, only for it to come back with interest. They can push straight back. The PRO of a quality exit Vs the turnover is well worth it.

Also, on TV it looks so much worse, when there live, you can see there was nothing to kick to, or option to give.