Footy Tragic

North Melbourne vs Carlton:

Looking Good:

• Lindsay Thomas: Played easily his personal best game of his career, and possibly even the best individual game of the season. He was brilliant throughout the full game, scoring himself stats across all lines; not only did he kick 7.5, he also got himself 20 touches, 8 marks and 8 tackles.
• Bryce Gibbs: Started the game again in the backline, however sense prevailed in the second term when Ratten moved him into the midfield. The move paid off with Gibbs being the best of Carlton’s mids. Hopefully this may pave the way for more midfield time in coming weeks.
• Jarrad Waite: In his second game back from suspension, Waite kicked three goals and looked reasonably dangerous as the key tall for Carlton. Looks capable of some consistent and high scoring.

Disappointing:

• Andrew Carrazzo: Once again, Carrots was given the key tagging job on Harvey, shutting down his own personal game in the process. This is now three weeks in a row where his game-style has been very negative, hurting his scoring in the process. If you have him, keep him and hope he comes good. If you are tempted by his low price, I wouldn’t risk it, as his role seems to change week to week.
• Lachlan Hansen: Up forward again and had very little effect on the game. He seems too set on annoying and sledging his opponents than actually playing the game - unfortunately this acts more negatively on him than anyone else…
• Jordan Russell: Moved onto the raging Thomas early (to little effect), but it prevented his run from defence. Should bounce back.

Blip on the Radar:

• Scott Thompson: Was a huge playmaker in defence, but his direct opponent was Waite, a player who plays much higher than Thompson’s regular opponents. This allowed him access to more ball as he played more around the half-forward line than in the square. Normally, Thompson will play on a full-forward, causing him to spend a lot of time away from ball-winning areas.

Hawthorn vs Adelaide:

Looking Delicious:

• Cyril Rioli: This was his first full game in the midfield this year and he simply dominated. Amongst his 27 touches he had 3 goals, 9 tackles and 7 marks. The fact he has finally built his tank to now play midfield is ominous to opposition teams, but simply ‘delicious’ to those looking at him for their dream team!
• Luke Hodge: It is going to be hard for the umpires to split the Brownlow votes as Hodgey was just as good as Cyril. He played the full game in the guts, racking up 32 disposals, three goals and 5 tackles. He is in incredible form at the moment and is looking like another player in the ‘untaggable’ category.
• Brad Symes: This was Symes’ first game for the season after an injury interrupted campaign to this point. He is a very capable ball-winner off the half-back line and can only get better as he builds his fitness. Keep an eye on him as a late-season smokey.

Disappointing:

• Brad Sewell: The attacking role played by Sewell last year seems to have now fallen by the wayside as he is now Hawthorn’s key tagger. He is continuing to leak points and is showing no signs of adding an attacking aspect to his game - avoid him, despite the tempting price.
• Jason Porplyzia: The Porpoise is clearly still lacking match fitness, although it does seem to be taking a long time to come to him. He managed no goals amongst his measly 8 disposals and 4 marks.
• Ivan Maric: The theme of 2010 has been that you can always trust a ruckman to chop against either of Hawthorn or Adelaide due to their lack of a key experienced ruck duo. Maric’s poor effort of just 4 disposals easily concluded that Adelaide has the unenviable title of ‘worst ruck duo’ in the AFL.

Blip on the Radar:

• Brent Reilly: We have seen Reilly play a tagging role this year, and typically he isn’t too bad at it. Unfortunately, in this game his direct opponent was Hodge, who completely dominated him. Lucky for Reilly though, Hodge paid him no attention the other way, allowing him to rack up 21 disposals for himself - don’t be expecting anything this exciting again this season.

Essendon vs Geelong:

Looking Good:

• Jimmy Bartel: Played an awesome game on the half-forward line in the absence of Mooney. His great marking ability and talent in-close helped him to 28 disposals, 8 marks and 3 goals. Should be back in the middle against the Saints next week, and just a little word of advice if you have him - make sure to make him captain; the game will be tough, in close and contested - he will eat it up!
• James Kelly: Played solely as a midfielder and was probably Geelong’s best mid for the game. He was solid across the four quarters and holds a very good work-rate. It’s a bonus that you can pick him up in the backline!
• James Podsiadly: He needs a special mention after clearly carrying a niggling groin injury into the game. In a week where several popular DT forwards couldn’t play (Brown, Sylvia, Higgins), it was great to see Pods tough it out. What’s more, he didn’t just play ok, but his fifth bag of five goals helped him again reach the ton!

Disappointing:

• Ricky Dyson: Just couldn’t provide any run from defence with Geelong’s fierce pressure. He is too outside a player to have much effect under the packs.
• Leroy Jetta: He loves it when Essendon are winning, but when they are down he seems to go missing. He is still young, so some inconsistency is acceptable.
• Paul Chapman: He didn’t do it by much - only by one point in fact! Do what? This is the first time Chappy didn’t make it to 100 DT points this season! Poor form by Chappy - I think everyone should trade him out this week! (NB: Probably worth stressing my sarcasm in the above comment before it comes back to bite me!).

Blip on the Radar:

• Alwyn Davey: He is not and never will be a dream team player. Fortunately for him in this game though, Geelong only have one true small defender and he was busy elsewhere, allowing Davey to be mismatched and kick a few goals.

Port Adelaide vs Sydney:

Looking Good:

• Nick Malceski: Was prolific off the Swans backline and set up almost all of their attacks. Kennelly’s return probably helps him as they do work well alongside each other. This score is probably a bit out of the box for him thanks to some late junk-stats, but he did earn a good percentage of his kicks by working hard, often getting two or three disposals per passage out of defence.
• Kane Cornes: Played his usual tagging job, as usual without much grandeur or excitement, but also as usual he racked up plenty of the ball. He wouldn’t have been in Port’s best three players (Hartlett, Thomas and Surjan), but just knows where to put himself to get a kick - a perfect attribute for your dream team!
• Ryan O’Keefe: O’Keefe was Sydney’s best midfielder in the first half, racking up 58 points to half time. Unfortunately, in the third and fourth quarter, Logan was moved onto him, virtually shutting him out of the game. With five minutes left on the clock, O’Keefe was on an average 72 points, before playing one of the most prolific games of kick-to-kick I have ever seen - a game which netted him (and his relieved owners) a whopping 38 points - gotta love that!

Disappointing:

• Jesse White: Was really well played by Carlile and simply couldn’t stick any marks. Got very frustrated with himself towards the end, but not nearly as frustrated as those that have him in their dream teams.
• Jackson Trengove: He needed to step up this week for all coaches playing him in the spot vacated by the injured Hille. Unfortunately he didn’t see very much of the ball - a lot of it was due to his teammates just not kicking it to him, despite the fact he was the main tall target up forward.
• Steven Salopek: Was off the field in the third quarter with a shoulder injury - unfortunately he now requires a shoulder reconstruction and will likely miss the rest of the season.

Blip on the Radar:

• Chad Cornes: His score of 77 suggests he wasn’t too bad, but those who saw the game will confirm he is still a long way off his best. He did get an OK amount of the ball, mainly playing in defence, but he generally used it poorly and gave away a couple of key free-kicks. He will continue to have his spot in the team questioned by the coaching staff, so stay away from him, regardless of how cheap he gets!

Richmond vs West Coast:

Looking Good:

• Jack Riewoldt: Jack was brilliant and the first player of the year to kick a ten goal haul, including five in the first term alone. He was brilliant all day and is really proving a consistent forward target who even the best defenders will have a hard day on. With the lack of other options, a different ‘Riewoldt’ to usual may find himself named in the All-Australian team if he keeps this form up.
• Beau Waters: Played again on the half-forward line, continuing his brilliant recent form. He plays a forward tagging role, but unlike other defensive forwards, Waters hurts his opponents through disposal - not by sitting on them. WCE will continue to play through Waters to get into the forward line in an attempt to force his opponent to man up.
• Brett Deledio: Waters’ direct opponent, and the man he was trying to shut down was Deledio. Deledio clearly ignored Waters and continued to go about his business as a rebounding defender as normal. He’s is in some good form and this role really suits him. I still worry a bit about picking premium players from teams on the bottom of the ladder, but Lids could be a good pick regardless.

Disappointing:

• Nic Naitanui: Nic-Nat is starting to slow down as the season progresses, forcing him to have more time in the forward line than on the ball (the improved fitness of Cox doesn’t help his case). Is probably in line for a rest in the coming weeks.
• Ben Griffiths: I’ll start by saying that I’m not slagging off the kid at all - but I just wanted to say that he probably isn’t a viable option for your bench at this stage of his career. His 15 points won’t be too out of place with other scores he should get this year - as he is a key forward he will take a while to adjust to the pace and ferocity of the game.
• Shannon Hurn: Was sat on by Jake King and wasn’t allowed too much influence out of the backline. These sort of scores shouldn’t be too uncommon for Hurn though as he doesn’t need too many disposals to influence a game.

Blip on the Radar:

• Bradd Dalziell: Unfortunately, Triple-D isn’t back to his ball-winning ways from Brisbane, but just played a big part in the late junk-time stats. After a great first year he has really dropped away in the DT stakes and shouldn’t be considered for your team.

Western Bulldogs vs Brisbane:

Looking Good:

• Barry Hall: Six goals on the still unfit Merrett was a good return for the big man. After talks of him being rested in coming weeks it was good to see him hit back, although he is very likely to back this up with a poor game next week as has been his form-line this year.
• Tom Rockliff: This was Rockliff’s third ton in a row and he did it running through the middle with an incredible kick to handball ratio - he kicked it 19 times to only 6 handballs - an incredible effort!
• Adam Cooney: Continuing his good recent form with another strong game - 30 disposals and 7 tackles. He still comes cheap and could be worth considering for your last midfield spot.

Disappointing:

• Brendan Fevola: Didn’t (or perhaps couldn’t) step up in Brown’s absence and was very poor, kicking just the two goals from 6 possessions.
• Travis Johnstone: After being DT’s top scorer last week, he played a much more defensive role this week on Giansiracusa. Did very little rebound work as Gia was one of the Dog’s main forward targets for the game.
• Brodie Moles: Couldn’t get into the game, despite the Dogs dominance. Many will be hoping he can keep his spot in the team, despite the sub-par performance.

Blip on the Radar:

• Mitch Hahn: Hahn is a decent player and can rack up a decent DT score, but is incredibly inconsistent. He has also been in below-average form this year, giving further reasons to why you don’t want him.

Fremantle vs St.Kilda:

Looking Good:

• Brendon Goddard: Another best-on-ground performance from Goddard. He spent the first three quarters as the loose man in defence, mopping up every Fremantle attack. He moved into the midfield in the last quarter and Freo simply couldn’t quell his influence.
• Michael Barlow: This kid won’t stop! He doesn’t just rack up stacks of the ball, but he plays the game incredibly well too - he finds space, works really hard, tackles well and uses the ball smartly.
• Sam Gilbert: His rebound from defence was amazing - he runs with such creativity, but also with incredible boldness, often taking on tackles and packs, and often getting away.

Disappointing:

• Byron Schammer: His first game for the year and chances are it’s his last too. Had very little effect on the game, being left in the forward line for large chunks. All the kids have overtaken him and would likely have much more upside than him too.
• Sam Fisher: Without Dawson (who should be back next week), Fisher was forced to a defensive role of Pavlich (and did very well, keeping him to just one goal). Unfortunately, this quelled his ability to run from defence.
• Leigh Montagna: Was heavily tagged by Crowley and didn’t handle it particularly well, although he did continue to work hard all day. Was knocked unconscious by Mundy’s knee in a marking attempt early in the fourth term and he played no further part in the game.

Blip on the Radar:

• Robert Eddy: Played his best game for the year in the forward line, and finally looked to be marking and disposing of the ball with more confidence. Unfortunately, his spot in the team is the one which is regularly rotated at the Saints between himself, Jack Steven, Nick Heyne and Tom Lynch (yet to debut). Also, with Riewoldt, Gram, Dawson and Armitage all due back within the next four weeks, spots will become very tight at the Saints.

Collingwood vs Melbourne:

Looking Good:

• Brent Moloney: Moloney was best afield in the first draw of the season, and was especially influential in the last quarter when the Dees crawled back in front, albeit momentarily. Is in red hot form at the moment and with Melbourne’s current form, he wouldn’t be such a bad option.
• Dane Swan: The disposal king racked them up again, finishing with 38 touches, plus 7 marks and 7 tackles. Unfortunately, his score could have been even better if his three shots at goal hadn’t all missed.
• Scott Pendlebury: Carried on from his BOG performance last week with another great game. Pendlebury has typically been a Supercoach specialist, however over the past few months is beginning to show more DT ability with an increase in marks and tackles.

Disappointing:

• Heath Shaw: Had only two points to his name at half time which was terrible - his inconsistency seems to be continuing. He played a defensive role on Dunn which prevented him from doing much rebound work.
• Jordan Gysberts: The most traded in player of the week was the second-lowest scorer of the game (in front of only Presti!). His low ten disposals and lack of tackles may worryingly put his place in the team under some pressure - especially with Macdonald due back soon.
• Leon Davis: Played up forward to little effect, only gaining the one goal. He does look good in bursts but it is where he is being played that is effecting him. However, with the returns of Dick and Lockyer (moreso Dick), Davis may find he does get put further up ground in the coming weeks.

Blip on the Radar:

• Tarkyn Lockyer: This was Lockyer’s fifth game of the year after being dropped for round five. Whilst Malthouse claims that Lockyer is still in his plans - and the fact he played well will help - I still would have worries about trading a player like Lockyer, who clearly has poor job security, into my team. Don’t be sucked in by his big score, as it is not necessarily his ball-winning ability that is keeping him out of the team!