AFLW 2022 Rd 7: Carlton vs St, Kilda

[kruddler]

[member=58]crashlander[/member]
Bit hard on Gab Pound there crash.
She's been given votes the last 2 weeks. Missed the 2 games before that with Covid and was in the votes before that. Her only bad game was her first game, and that was just back after an injury.

O'Dea has been struggling. Her effort is consistent though. If anything, she gives away too many frees for being too eager.
Dal Pos is a huge disappointment. Offered us nothing apart from leadership and performance on field does not warrant a spot on the list, let alone in the team.

[Professer E]

I fail to see how this can be considered a healthy league when a 'professional' team scores two points for the day.

[kruddler]

I fail to see how this can be considered a healthy league when a 'professional' team scores two points for the day.

It was the (equal) lowest score ever, so its not like its common.

Some background though...
- Saints are a crap team who were always expected to be a bottom team anyway.
- Their best player chose to sit out the season ala Liam Jones.
- They only had 22 players to choose from, and 1 was a late omission, so the only fit players on the list played.
- They have to play again on wednesday. So once we got a few goals in front, they went into preservation mode.
- As you are probably aware, they are not really 'professional'.

[blueboys_1]

It was so much more enjoyable at the football this weekend! Alas, it was also a harbinger of things to come: I'm finding much harder working out who is who these days, and my glasses are not making enough of a difference. I won't be able to watch the football live for much longer.

But this wasn't about me. This was the girls coming home to play. You could see just how much it meant to the girls, before, during and afterwards.

[1] Moody is a long way from her best. To be honest, I don't think she'll get a lot better this year. Being sick and the restrictions on training mean that it will be next year before Moody is back to her athletic best.
That said, Moody had a good game. She kicked two good goals and took a couple of strong marks near to goal. Her ground work was good.
However, she did not dominate the ruck like she usually does, and had only one huge pound forward. The St Kilda ruck, Rhi Watt, had the better of her at the tapouts. That is never likely to occur again.
On the other hand, it did give Jess Good more time in the ruck and she did well. She competed well and also provided a marking target forward. She has a long way to go, but there is quite a bit to work with. her kicking is not a strength, but she did manage an excellent goal.

[2] We still miss a real key forward to kick the ball to. We moved the ball well today and ran a lot harder and, generally, more effectively, but there was never a straight line to goal. That said, we really did crate some opportunities. Darcy Vescio had her best game for the year.

[3] Mimi Hill is a real winner. She's been playing in the midfield and has provided something we've lacked there this year: real pace. Mimi was excellent again, and her kicking isn't that bad.

[4] We did have a real pace advantage over St Kilda today. Not just Hill, but Georgie Gee and Keely Sherar really stood out. Sherar's kicking is pretty dodgy, but she has a lot going for her otherwise. To see her just burn her opponents off and create forward chances was lovely. Maddy Guerin, Daisy Walker and Courtney Jones also showed excellent run.

[5] A worrying sign is that the Saints got the ball out of the middle better than we did. However, they rarely got the ball past Mua or Kezz. Our taller defenders really stood up today. Mua was brilliant, totally thrashing Greiser. Tilly Lucas-Rodd is playing a hell of a lot better for St Kilda than she ever played for us.
Maddy P was good, but not as outstanding as she can be. She looks to be carrying and injury. However, she still reads the play just so well and still got 20 possessions.

[6] Elise O'Dea and Jess dal Pos are really struggling. O'Dea has a big body and goes a lot of grunt work, but she is struggling to get the ball. Dal Pos appears to be past it. She really struggled to make an impact again and was probably our least effective player on the day. We cannot afford to play both of them, to be honest. O'Dea is useful because of her leadership, her versatility and her strength on the inside. You can justify a spot on that. I can't justify Dal Pos when we have other options fit and available. This is probably Dal Pos's best game statistically, and she did have a good tackle count, but her kicks missed targets and she was usually behind her opponent. if this is as good as she gets, then she is not a long term prospect.

[7] Nat Plane has not had a great year, but she did have a really solid game today. The same could be said for Gab Pound. Both did good things when it really counted and hit targets more often, something that we've been struggling with from defence.

[8] It was also good today to see the way we out-tackled the Saints. We got goals because of the pace and tenacity of our players. But a special mention to Abbie McKay, who may be only getting 14 - 16 possessions, but who really put her body on the line when it counted. When someone had to step up, she really put her foot forward.

[9] Lucy McEvoy and Grace Egan also look a long way from their best, but we are better with them playing.

Thanks Crash for the post, as always very informative and good reading.

As for the eye sight, you could try in buying a pair of binoculars. I have used them for years, not because of bad eyesight it just gives me a close up view of the action which sometimes you cannot be pick up from far away. Gives me a much different perspective of the game and how a play may of unfolded.

Only issue is that moving from the binoculars to normal eyesight your field of view is a lot narrower and it can take a second or two for my eyesight to adjust which can lead to missing some action at times.

[crashlander]

I may have to try something like that. Thank you for the tip.

I really miss the eagle eyes I once had. I ALWAYS knew who had the ball and who kicked the goal, even when I was 9. It frustrates the hell out of me to be ... old. I guess I'm I'm only 60 (61 next Sunday), so what should I be worrying about?

[DJC]

I have been taking a small pair of binoculars to the footy for years.  I gave them a try after seeing coaches use them in the coach’s box.

I generally only use them when the pill is in the centre and away from my end of the ground.

You want binoculars that are lightweight, have a wide depth of field and moderate magnification.

[capcom]

I may have to try something like that. Thank you for the tip.

I really miss the eagle eyes I once had. I ALWAYS knew who had the ball and who kicked the goal, even when I was 9. It frustrates the hell out of me to be ... old. I guess I'm I'm only 60 (61 next Sunday), so what should I be worrying about?

Heaps of cheap options out there crash.  Got a $14 dollar pair from a disposal store and really lightweight. 

[LP]

You want binoculars that are lightweight, have a wide depth of field and moderate magnification.

Have to agree 100%, lightweight compact type binoculars are the best option. I already had some larger classic marine zoom types 8-15x50 that I tried to use but they are just too heavy to use at the footy for an extended period, you go home with neck and shoulder pain. So I bought a pair of compact binoculars 8x24 Pentax around $100 and they worked a treat, you can use them single handed and they fit in a coat pocket.

As [member=324]DJC[/member] mentioned you don't need a big magnification, I was lucky because the zoom ones I already had worked from 8x to 15x so I knew I'd never use a pair at more than 8x, so I think 8x is great, 10x would be absolute maximum usable to comfortably follow the play without getting too jittery. Really, you get the benefit from more light in making things easier to see and you then do not need high magnification.

PS: There use to be a trader who travelled around all the local suburban markets selling binoculars pretty cheap, no brand types made in China and they were OK for fair weather, but they would fog up and lenses discolour when they got used in a bit of drizzle, and that is exactly when you need them to work!