Opinion
Hello again, readers. Sports Bloke here, back with another weekly review of the Mighty Woodsmen after a rare 2021 win.
What a feeling, hey, Pies fans? Let’s just savour this feeling for a minute while we can. Now, obviously, life is not perfect for the Woodsmen but as I have tried my darndest to focus on the positives in losses, afford me the same opportunity to do so when we win one.
Jamie. Elliot.
Talk about a breath of fresh air.
I can’t remember ever feeling so emotional watching a player execute basic football skills, lead into space, mark the football and kick the football straight.
Not only did he lead into space but he created it and his teammates did not clog it up. Not only did his teammates not clog up the space but they honoured his leads! Absolutely incredible stuff.
It wasn’t just traditional marks and goals, either – it was crumbing goals off-balance in traffic, it was a heart jumping injection into the midfield, it was goals on the run from 50 to seal the match. The bloke is an absolute star, we just need him on the park.
Caleb Poulter has now proven himself as our wing of the future. I have been big on this kid all year and he has not disappointed. He shows guts running forward and back with an ability to win the ball and when his number is called in big moments, the kid answers.
Jack Crisp continues to produce week in week out as he quickly turns into one of the most underrated in the comp. His move into a predominantly midfield role has been seamless. The bloke does not miss games of footy either.
Scott Pendlebury started at half back and then went into the middle – he needs to stay in the middle. I have said it ad nauseam: he is an absolute pure midfielder, all of his skills and ability lend to that. We need to leave him there.
Scott Pendlebury (Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Isaac Quaynor was jittery at times early but showed maturity and impacted the contest. The kid has some seriously impressive signs about him.
We have seen the speed. We have seen the rise of his defensive work.
But on the weekend I started to see something about him I haven’t quite noticed: his IQ is strong.
Laid a desperate tackle on a bustling Taylor Walker, holding the big Texan up. Not an easy feat for any man, let alone a small defender.
Trent Bianco has been fantastic over two games.
Twice during the game I remember him pinpointing passes going forward one into the corridor and one into forward 50, something our team has desperately lacked. Also, like Poulter, he proved that when his number is called and his team needs him, he does not wilt, he slots a clutch goal. I can’t wait to see more of the boy.
One player I was happy to see the back of was Bayden Sier. Now, I wish for injury against nobody, but the bloke is incapable of impacting the contest.
He is absolutely useless.
Callum Brown came on the ground and instantly showed what that position should be doing: hard at the contest with great ability to extract the ball to the outside, with the basic pace and desire to get from one contest to the next.
Steele Sidebottom was huge when we needed him.
Darcy Moore, Brayden Maynard and Josh Daicos were good without being amazing.
Will Hosking-Elliot is close to earning an apology from me – on a wing, he looks like a new man.
I also want to throw up a player I don’t think we speak about enough: Jordan Roughead. Roughy is reliable week in week out and he is consistently courageous, typified by his mark on the weekend going back with the flight when the game was on the line. He has proved to be an unbelievable pick-up.
Now, I do have to address what may appear as a missed week last week: so, technically, I did not have an article posted for my promised “review every week, heartache or triumph” and I apologise. But I most certainly did write one.
After last week’s absolute dumpster fire of a game between the Pies and the Cats, I produced what one of the The Roar’s editors anointed “an incoherent rant” – a title I’m strangely proud of.
He was not wrong.
Written in anger and after a strong session of responsible drinking, I can honestly say after reading it back that it was not at all suitable for the pages of The Roar, although it would possibly be funny to read a man unhinged after his team served up vomit.
I will try to keep these rants to Twitter. If anybody wants to read last week’s offering, I’m thinking of posting it there: @SportsBlokeSays.
Now for the Dees on Queen’s Birthday.
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