VFL Rd 9: Northern Blues vs Werribee on TV

[crashlander]

The statistics make interesting reading:
[1] Swallow got 7 possessions after half time, and most of his possessions were handballs. Kudos to Cameron Polson after half time, even though he managed only 11 for the game.
[2] Phillips had 12 possessions, of which 9 were in the 1st quarter (when he first went to the bench). By half time he had had it. No drive from the middle thereafter.
[3] Preuss ended up with 18 possessions and 48 hit outs. He had 3 possessions in the 1st quarter, when Phillips and Gorringe were fit.
[4] Graham, Palmer, Kerridge and White all managed their usual possession number (25 - 30). That is a pretty good effort in the circumstances. But after that our mids were noticeably down. Wilson had only 15 when he normally gets close to 30.
[5] Buckley had more than half of his 15 possessions in the 1st quarter. He did an OK job, but he really stopped running out of defence from about half way through the 2nd quarter.
[6] Casey Byrne managed 20 possessions, but he looked quite rusty. But Gussy Sheahan had less than 10: very much down.
[7] Glass-McCasker spent all day I defence and did not have a good day. he had 5 possessions. I really think he should be tried more up forward, as he has the weapons. He just can't seem to use them effectively down back. Working to his strengths appears (to me) to be a better use of his talent at this point.
[8] We REALLY missed having a dominant defender, as Jones and Silvagni have been until now. Their ability to hold good forwards at bay while getting considerable ball themselves has been badly missed. Glass-McCasker and Macreadie just haven't been able to provide the same drive.