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

[cimm1979]

Did Whiley play yesterday?

No.

Listed as hammy tightness I believe.

[blue4life]

Casboult + Wood >>> Casboult + Warnock >> Wood + Warnock.

We're comparing crap to crappier, it's a sad state of affairs.
None of the three of them are any good, they wouldn't even be on the list at a top 8 club let alone playing seniors.

[Wet Willie]

No.

Listed as hammy tightness I believe.

Thanks for that...I was hoping he would continue his form at senior level soon

[ElwoodBlues1]

IMO, Wood is miles in front of Warnock in clearances and general around the ground play (marking). He is ok in front of goals also. Warnock is a 206cm witches hat who must be traded or delisted at years end.

x2

[RiverRat]

Most of Wood's clearances were blind kicks out of packs, I'm no Warnock fan but I don't think we'd lose anything by swapping them.
Wood also missed a soda for the second time in a fortnight, he's a very ordinary footballer, until we get Kreuzer back we'll struggle.

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.

[JonDorotich]

x2

Disagree. Warnock is a superb tap ruckman and we are at our best when he's rucking. He moves surprisingly well for his height and is a far better player than Cameron Wood.

Casboult is a favourite of mine, but his kicking for goal has now deteriorated to such a point that he needs to go back to the reserves and work on his kicking action for goal. We should play him FF in the Reserves and give him every chance to rectify the issue, without the pressure and scrutiny of AFL footy. In the interim, we can play Wood resting forward with Warnock rucking for most of the day.

[LP]

Disagree. Warnock is a superb tap ruckman and we are at our best when he's rucking. He moves surprisingly well for his height and is a far better player than Cameron Wood.

Casboult is a favourite of mine, but his kicking for goal has now deteriorated to such a point that he needs to go back to the reserves and work on his kicking action for goal. We should play him FF in the Reserves and give him every chance to rectify the issue, without the pressure and scrutiny of AFL footy. In the interim, we can play Wood resting forward with Warnock rucking for most of the day.

Disagree, Warnock's taps are not worth the price the team must pay for a total lack of impact at ground level, in marking contests and general play. Wood might lose out on the tap but he follows up, shepherds, tackles, makes contests and provides a serious marking option all over the ground.

Further look at the Western Bulldogs experience today, they played the young mobile ruckmen who Jacobs easily flogged in tap outs winning clearance after clearance, but the Dogs smashed Adelaide all over the ground with rebound run, turnovers and high efficiency.

[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.

[madbluboy]

Warnock isn't AFL standard.

[blue4life]

Warnock isn't AFL standard.

Neither is Wood.
I watched Geelong/North today, Goldstein had a huge game and was the difference between the two sides.