VFL Rd #2: Northern Blues vs. Port Melbourne at North Port

[crashlander]

Apart from the WC game when NicNat jumped all over him, Wood has been a more than useful contributor to our clearance dominance - long way from being a star but a useful player who plays up to be ability but I also think Warnock is judged too harshly. I am happy with either of them.

I agree.
[1] Wood struggles against Giants and Supermen. Thankfully there are not many around. He does not have the ability to deal with NicNat at this stage, and he struggles with Sandilands (but who doesn't?). He is a good option who has worked a lot on his tap work and has done particularly well against the Drug Cheats.
At the moment he is probably our best option, as he is mobile enough to take grabs around the ground. Alas, this he has been doing little lately. He took maybe 4 more marks per game last year.
[2] Warnock is not as bad as he is sometimes made out to be. In the middle of last season he really hit a low patch and he did not recover that season. So far he has not shown that poor form and lack of confidence this year. At his best, he is a very good tap ruckman who usually gets a lot more clearances than would be expected. He does not take many marks: this is his biggest weakness. When he is playing well he does not allow his opponent to take many marks. At the beginning of last year he kept his opponents markless for 5 weeks (except for the Essendon game).
When he is on, he is a pretty decent kick, but when his confidence is low, he leans back and misses.

There will be times when they are both required.

IF (and it is a HUGE 'IF') Kreuzer gets back, he has the mobility to be a much better option than either of them. Unfortunately he has had so many injuries and whatnots that his kicking, once deadly, is now ordinary at best. I doubt we will ever see his best. But if we did, we would be happy.