A nice day at the Preston City Oval with my wife watching the VFL boys playing the Bullants.
Many people have posted thoughts on the game, so I will post some thoughts, mainly on the AFL listed Tigers.
Jake Aarts: as expected from Jake at VFL level, cracks in hard and played well.
Ivan Soldo: was good in the ruck, but the oppo were quite poor. Not sure we can play Nank and Ivy together at the moment.
Riley Collier-Dawkins: he must be borderline to get another year, but if he could improve his tank and get to more contests, there is something to work with. He was the best mid on the field.
Thomson Dow: he does some good work around the clearances, good hands, not a penetrating kick. Hope he is ok after smashing into the goalpost when kicking a late goal.
Tom Brown: hardly got near it, was my biggest disappointment for the day, as I was keen to see some run and carry and good foot skills.
Rhyan Mansell: was solid, did what was needed. I reckon he could do a specific job in the seniors if required.
Samson Ryan: took some strong marks and kicked accurately overall. He seems more at home as a forward than the ruck, but that might just be the stage of development he is at body-wise. A bit tricky trying to juggle Soldo, Colina and Ryan in the one team. A funny moment was when he kicked his first goal and let fly with a “let’s go baby!” as the ball left his boot.
Will Martyn: did some nice things. Not sure if he has done enough throughout the year to gain another contract.
Mate Colina: had some almost moments, almost took some good marks, missed a couple of very gettable goals. Very much a project player, although actually moved ok. Biggest man I have seen in a Tigers jumper since the legendary Richard Lounder!
Sam Banks: didn’t do a heap, but I thought he showed some AFL traits with his kicking and run. Given how much of the pre-season he missed, a big pre-season over summer will give us a better idea of what he can do at AFL level.
Judson Clarke: similar to Tom Brown, I was hoping to see more from him, but he wasn’t involved much at all.
Jacob Bauer: good hands and a good kick for goal. He was filthy with himself in the third quarter when he dropped a fairly simple mark within range right in front of us. I told him not to worry and that he would get the next one, which he set one up and then kicked another. He has AFL traits and I reckon he will play in the seniors next year. When the Bullant defender played on from the kick out after a point and kicked it out of bounds without being touched, the Tiger players were all appealing for a free kick. Jake yells to an umpire “there are three of you out there and you all missed it!” I commented to my wife “glad the players are like us fans at times!”.
Sydney Stack: was creative, added good pressure and kicked some goals. I would love to see Stacky get super fit over summer and give himself every chance to use his talent. I would be happy to see him included in the last couple of games, as I reckon he would rise to the level.
At quarter-time, Steve Morris got him to recount the dance from the team meeting the day before, which was around using voice to encourage the team-mates about second and third efforts, had shades of his Dreamtime dance a few years ago. A funny moment was when the players were going to their huddles at 3 / 4 time, some of the Bullant players were sledging Stacky, and he replied with “who are you?”
Hugo Ralphsmith: did some nice things, but didn’t really stand out. Still had a kick smothered at VFL level, which happens a bit at AFL level. My wife commented that Hugo seemed to spend a lot of time outside of the congestion, which is his role, but he does need to get more involved.
Bigoa Nyuon: played really well back deep in defence. Strong in the marking contest and generally made good decisions. I think between a defender and backup ruck, he has some tools that could be handy in the AFL as his confidence grows. Lots of his family at the game.
Lachie Street is a good, solid player who knows our system and makes people around him better. Angus Hicks is lively up forward and I like the look of Tylar Young as a third defender, he might get a rookie spot somewhere.
My wife and I swapped ends each quarter to be at the end the Tiges were kicking and in the second quarter, KMac, Meatball, Shorty, Rossy, Sonz and George were standing near the scoreboard behind us. KMac had his dog with him, which the boys enjoyed patting and Shorty was telling the boys that this pocket was renamed the Short pocket (as Shorty would have played Under 18s there)!
A young lad got a photo with Meatball and the lad was telling Dion that he was going to have a shot at goal from behind the fence. He didn’t kick a goal and Meatball said to him “you will have to play for Carlton!”. George was on the phone for most of the second quarter, I thought it might have been Zips congratulating him on his form as the sub against Port!
During the 3rd quarter at the other end of the ground, a couple of young lads aged around 6 were playing with sticks, and one started hitting the other one. That lad went to the other lad’s dad to dob and came back to say that the dad had said to put the sticks down. The dad then came over and the son proceeded to tell his dad to F off several times and walked off. The dad said to a couple of guys near me “when he is up before the magistrate in court, he might realise I was right!”.
All in all, a top day being able to get up so close to the action and hearing and seeing everything that happens in a game of footy. My wife said if you wanted to take an international visitor to a game of footy and get the full impact of how hard they hit, that type of ground would be good to give them a look at the pace and intensity of the game up close. Go Tiges!
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