It was a Perth massacre in the NAB Cup opener, with plenty of Pies looking great and few Eagles flying.
Matches like this sometimes happen in the preseason: one team is fair dinkum and the other is clearly not. Collingwood is notorious for starting strongly so it was no surprise that they saluted by ten goals in a pressure-less game. Enough about the big picture though, let’s drill down to fantasy-relevant players.
The star of the show was Tarkyn Lockyer, who played wide of Matt Priddis moving forward from the midfield, managing three goals from 31 touches and nine marks with five tackles, resulting in DT/SC scores of 149/162. There were also regulation DT tons for Dane Swan and Shane O’Bree running through a mostly vacant corridor with Leon Davis and Scott Pendlebury fading late for 95 and 93, while Alan Didak crept up with a 53-point last quarter to 104. Another player who reveled in junk time was Travis Cloke, who came into the sheds at half time with just the one goal but finished with 4.2 on Beau Wilkes – the sort of relatively skinny kid who is the only kind of opponent that C3 traditionally scores well against in fantasy.
Not that it was all good news for Pie players being watched by siginificant amounts of fantasy coaches. Josh Fraser (76) and Cameron Wood (66) shared the ruck work in equal measure, hinting strongly at another example of the dreaded ruck committee that has started to dominate the AFL, making both players unusable for fantasy sides if it continues into the regular season. Dale Thomas was flashy in his brilliance, yet again showed that he hasn’t got the sort of game that lends itself to the accumulation of ordinary statistics. The fact that his by-quarter scores of 24/21/11/8 went down each quarter perhaps speaks to a deficiency in his tank that should scare off fantasy coaches. Then again, the excuse can be made that coach Mick Malthouse held back his two substitutes until after half time, so rotations in the second half might have robbed Thomas and fellow late struggler Marty Clarke (18/25/7/7) with pointscoring opportunities.
The biggest disappointment for the night, for me, was Anthony Corrie. This is just the sort of game that a small forward should revel in: midfield dominance, plenty of talls providing good contests in the forward line, and plenty of crumbs from broken play to swoop on. A return of 61/55 is not good enough for a bloke playing for a spot in the Collingwood best 22. He’ll have at least one more chance to impress in the quarter final against either Fremantle or Richmond.
The same can’t be said for West Coast, who now have to travel to a NAB Challenge game on the hard turf of Albany, site of last year’s horrific season-ending injury to Mitchell Brown. Simply put, they were shocking, and very few players could hold their heads up. Chris Masten was the shining light with 22 touches and 83 DT points, though it was an indictment on the performance of the team that his was the highest team score. Mark Nicoski was next with 83 in DT and 105 in SC, but don’t be fooled: this was not a good performance. That 105 in SC masks a lot of long, ill-aimed kicks, and his turnover count was a point of discussion on radio commentary. Eric Mackenzie sustained a four-week shoulder dislocation, which Patrick McGinnity broke his jaw, putting a red line through a couple of fantasy smokies given their preparations will now be severely interrupted.
The worst set of numbers came from the Eagles forward line, with Simon Prestigiacomo restricting Quinten Lynch, playing higher than he did last year, to two behinds and 30/7, with Josh J. Kennedy largely unsighted with 26/15, and Ben McKinley held scoreless and soundly beaten by Harry O’Brien with fantasy scores of 26/23. It’s not much fun getting cold inside your forward 50 when your midfield is being smashed to smithereens. The Q-stick in particular is a worry: if he’s going to stay at home more like he did in this game, he won’t deserve premium status in the forwards. One wonders how much a fit Mitchell Brown could do to change this, given that the problem is further up the ground.
Eagles fans are making noises about how understrength their squad was, and it’s true they gave their draftees and rookies more gametime, but I don’t see a whole lot of strengthening to be done. Daniel Kerr and Dean Cox started as the nominated substitutes but Kerr only missed the first quarter, while Cox came on just before half time. Of best 22 players that were missing, you could only see Andrew Embley, Tyson Stenglein, Adam Hunter and David Wirrpanda that could seriously influence the result. One should be cautious about drawing conclusions too early, of course. Nevertheless, the game style was strongly reminiscent of the worst excesses of last year and there was little on which to hang hopes of improvement in any area. Long gone are the 400-possession Eagle games during their grand final seasons.
How much did you take out of that game? Do you trust the numbers of Lockyer and Masten? Can you overlook the poor performances by Corrie and Lynch? Give me your view in the comments.
XztatiK
February 8, 2009 at 3:02 am
m0nty, you do realise that DreamTeam has opened don’t you?
Nice report though. Nice pun too haha. Definitely looking at Tarkyn.
Swan’s new tattoo looks shocking. I’d rather get a good look at Dayne Beams’. Bloody Malthouse better play the young’ns next round. Corrie not a worry.
News from Darwin: Danger knocked out by Stiffy. Tex Walker didn’t play. Greg Gallman possible broken collarbone (Kite not bad). Aboriginals dominated in the rain.
J-Ro
February 8, 2009 at 3:37 am
Great write up Monty, a good read.
where can I go to see the ‘live scores’ player stats ladder for these games?
m0nty
February 8, 2009 at 3:49 am
The links are on the front page, J-Ro.
J-Ro
February 8, 2009 at 5:38 am
oh my bad, i didnt see the little scores link next to the collingwood game. cheers
Heater
February 8, 2009 at 7:04 am
Good stuff, Monty. Lockyer looked very good did’nt he? He is on my watchlist that is for sure.
Disappointed we did not see Beams & Sidebottom. A taste of things to come? Perhaps what we saw last night was close to the Rd1 team? Guess we’ll wait and see.
Masten looked OK and is also on my watchlist. You know I reckon Kerr will struggle again this year. He does not seem to have the support to take the pressure off him….
Scumbag
February 8, 2009 at 7:06 am
I think the biggest thing to add is that Beams and Sidebottom didn’t play. If they aren’t in the selectors eyes for a R1 NAB cup game can we seriously expect them to be considered for R1. They have already started to look like downgrade targets. On the other hand Swift could be good bench fodder.
Brad
February 8, 2009 at 8:32 am
I removed Lynch and added Cloke at 3qtr time!
Saved myself about 60K in the process.
Malthouse is holding Sidebottom and Beams back, cloke and dagger stuff probably.
One of those 2 boys will play round 1 in place of Corrie who in my opinion did nowhere near enough to suggest he is in their best 22.
Lockyer and Masten definitely go onto the “watch list”.
Probably bring in Masten for Kerr, who was blowing like a steam train after every passage of play he was involved in, and save myself another 180K to use suring up other positions where i am deficient.
wal
February 8, 2009 at 9:29 am
Good work monty.
McKinley kicked a nine-pointer.
On Kerr, I’m not taking him off the radar yet. Training reports suggest he’s combining well with Cox & the fact we didn’t see the two of them within 50m of each other suggests to me that Woosha is playing his cards close. I could be off the mark here & the lack of targets presenting makes his disposal efficiency a worry but I still think he’s got a point to prove & is in for a big year.
NT.Thunder
February 8, 2009 at 9:51 am
Look pretty reactive your trading already Brad LMAO. 1st game and no trust in yr initial selections. I think Cloke was not as good as his numbers showed. Purple patch in 3rd qtr with easy goals and was well held early. Wouldnt take much out of that. He wont get it that easy again.
Lockyer was the same. Was allowed to roam around as he pleases and pick up easy disposal, this wont happen every week.
Masten needs to work on his disposal, i know DT doesnt care but theres enough quality young mids in this team to keep him on his toes.
Nicoski, well was Nicoski again is all i can say.
D Cox showed why he just will never cut it in the Fantasy footy game. Keep clear of him
DC
February 8, 2009 at 9:58 am
I would probably add Adam Selwood, Le Cras, Ebert and (maybe) Waters to the list of best 22 West Coast players that didn’t play, but we were comprehensively thumped. Swift was a positive, as was young Cockie. For the Pies, hopefully we can get a look at Sidebottom and Beams next game, and I’m certainly not buying the Lockyer hype just yet – although he’s no Ricky Dyson!!
freosteve
February 8, 2009 at 10:09 am
“Quietly Confident” Cockie was really the only one who caught my eye, Masten is learning from Fletcher how to rack up meaningless possessions – even Bucks had a crack.
Swift looked poised but skinny, he may be a goer yet. Monty I will watch the Allstars game today rant about that too.
Chris
February 8, 2009 at 10:19 am
Monty, is it possible this year to make the live scoring pages rank the game scores by either SC or DT? Cheers mate
JoeyJoeJoe
February 8, 2009 at 10:45 am
I don’t know what to make of Nicoski out of all of this. I got sucked in last year by him, disappointing, but if he is pulling 80odd and not playing well do you take a punt and put him down back? As for Lockyer – great headline, genius.
dylan
February 8, 2009 at 10:59 am
some big scores from collingwood. i was a bit looking forward to seeing how brown,sidebottom and beams went but none of them played…
i dont think there was any stats for the crows v all stars game so will this be the same for the NAB Challenge games? i hope not because i would like to see how brown does in these
Sam
February 8, 2009 at 11:02 am
NT.THUNDER: “D Cox showed why he just will never cut it in the Fantasy footy game. Keep clear of him” You’re joking, right?
Bryan
February 8, 2009 at 11:04 am
ahhh did i read this correctly:
NT. Thunder: “D Cox showed why he just will never cut it in the Fantasy footy game. Keep clear of him”
abcxyz
February 8, 2009 at 11:05 am
Hi Monty, Is it possible to get the jumper numbers displayed on the Live Stats page (just for NAB Cup games). Last night the commentary was ordinary and I had no idea who half the Eagles players were during most of the passages of play.
Bryan
February 8, 2009 at 11:06 am
The Bryza seconds that notion abcxyz.
he has to be sam. any man worth his salt…
Simon
February 8, 2009 at 11:42 am
Yep, word is Cox is going to play full forward and allow Seaby and NicNat/Sullivan to ruck. They just have no forwards.
tazza
February 8, 2009 at 11:49 am
the trip to perth is hard on senior players, there for its not how u want to introduce ure draftees into afl football it would take them 3 weeks to recover.
Scuzzlebut
February 8, 2009 at 11:50 am
FOOTYS BACK!!
Surely you wouldn’t play probably the best ruckman of all time forward. That’s crazy talk.
Considering how little footy Swift has played over the last 2 years, he looked awesome. The only thing stopping me from locking him in is Worsfold.
And for all of you out there still considering making last minute changes after the round 1 teams are announced, I lost my whole team last night when I logged onto the DT site to make a change. So don’t go making last minute changes – it’s not worth it.
AFL blog - contestedfooty
February 8, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I missed the game i was at a party and this is the best wrap up of it i’ve seen, well done m0nty!
XztatiK
February 8, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Definitely not trusting what Simon says in this instance.
ryz
February 8, 2009 at 2:02 pm
yo monty, from the very limited amount of footage ive seen of your good self (that being that ACA interview or whatever it was) is there a possibility that your code name is liam or something, and you were boundary riding the crows vs all stars game?
the bloke doing all the work on the deck last night looked like a very familiar face haha. check it out if you can
nicoski back for 09, im on
Nick2
February 8, 2009 at 2:26 pm
A couple of things I want to point out here. Most supporters would be far more aware of the DT potential at their particular club than the others. I definitely find a lot of the WC info here to be frustrating and inaccurate. Previous poor judgements shouldn’t cloud what’s really going on. A few thoughts on players and/or comments:
Nicoski – You make constant mention on how much he can’t be trusted as a fantasy player. It’s your own fault for picking him up last year. The well researched know Nicoski takes a long time to pick up his form. 2008 was never going to be a good time to buy him. He’s far more likely to pull good numbers this year, although I think there are definitely better options. He finished 2008 strongly and with Waters out for the moment, could occupy back pocket once more.
Hurn – “February specialist” was the comment I saw. This is only his fourth year of AFL, and last year was ruined with injury. Again, like Nicoski, it was obvious he was never going to step into a high-scoring role last year. I had him in 2007 and made a bit of cash from him. Speculating about him playing midfield and getting it wrong doesn’t mean he should always be avoided. 2009 won’t be his year either. Coaching staff have been quoted as saying he’ll be in the backline again. He’s having a great preseason, but he’s a shutdown defensive player. I still believe he’s worth monitoring though.
Wilkes – one of the heaviest players on our list 😉
Staker – playing in the guts at long last. Although he dropped off, he’s one to watch over the next three games. Played the best game of his career against the Saints last year, then missed the last four games with injury. I believe he could average low 80’s.
Porps_is_HOT_loz
February 8, 2009 at 2:28 pm
If you dont get Lockyer, you must be stupid.
Ily Saint KFC ;D
NT.Thunder
February 8, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Yes Sam, I am joking. Maybe i should have made it a little more obvious[raises eyebrows]
For those of you who may have been a little confused by my earlier remark.
Cox is the only Ruckman to have in DT. IMO the top teams will have him from rnd 1. If you dont have him captain round 1 you wont be in it.
Nick
February 8, 2009 at 2:40 pm
I wouldn’t worry about Cox playing up forward, they were never going out there to win, it was all about giving their young guys a go in the real thing.
There’s no sense risking your ruckman potentially getting injured over a NAB cup you were never going to bring home.
Simon
February 8, 2009 at 5:37 pm
C’mon guys, you’re absolutely no fun!
Worsfold is not gonna risk him all pre-season, so I’ll imagine he’ll pull some pretty poor numbers until Rd1.
Ash
February 8, 2009 at 6:22 pm
watched the game on TV from the Eagels point of vies thought Cockie looked like a good pick up. Not worried at all by Kerr, he looked good i thought, Nickoski is a hack. WCE have NO fwd line. Didak, swan, lockyer, obrien, pendles, johnson looked good. Cloke did nothing i thought, all super easy goals. Spewing no youth was played, but i think they will play both of them next week, they just wanted to win this game and avoid alice springs i think, very happy with the result, pencil the eagles in for a bottom 4. There midfiled was very poor. There disposal was very average.
Ryan
February 8, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Ha, i thought the same thing ryz. He was very monty-esque
XztatiK
February 8, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Lol good call ryz, also noticed it.
Wasn’t that coverage shocking though! Jarrod Atkinson got called Petrenko and Campbell, but never Atkinson. Lol.
m0nty was the only competant one actually. Nice work m0nty!
DC
February 8, 2009 at 9:42 pm
They don’t only need Monty for television coverage, they need him at the AFL website as well. A decent article here on Tom Swift’s debut in Eagles colours:
http://afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=71862
However, the picture supposedly of Swift, is clearly Adam Cockie. Oh dear….
ryz
February 8, 2009 at 9:47 pm
haha, so true. they messed up burgoynes name a few times too. was a pretty average game but, adelaide didnt really look like they got out of 1st gear all night.
was pretty funny when that monty bloke wsa like giving his quarter or half time report or something and the game was about to start in the background, and hes legging it off the feild whilst giving the huddle rundown hahahaha. quality viewing
Brad
February 8, 2009 at 10:00 pm
I dont understand the Cloke bashing.
He is 22 years of age and played around 80 games, winning a Copeland Trophy at 20 years of age is no fluke.
He has held that pies forward line together for the better part of 2 years, and really stood up after losing his mate Rocca.
He is absolutely primed to become an elite key forward this year given the fact that his numbers in all areas are progressing like those of a young tall KPP always do, slowly but upward.
Masten will prove this year that he is at least the equal of Palmer in terms of the amount of the times that he can get the pill but he will have nowhere near the number of clangers by foot that Palmer did in 08.
Simon
February 9, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Huge call Brad on Masten.
Brad
February 9, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Hello all,
Did anyone else notice that the afl.com website, Game Day Live, has removed the super coach points column, which used to be listed as PTS, from the game stats and is only showing the dream team scores?
Will this change during the H&A games?
If not how do we find S/C points in real time during the game?
Would appreciate anyone’s input.
m0nty
February 9, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Brad, my guess is that’s just for the preseason to fit in the column for supergoals. You can check out SC scores on FanFooty between quarters. 🙂
Brad
February 9, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Hello Monty,
You are a star mate.
But i am asking myself why i didnt think of that sooner?
Cheers Brad
Brad
February 9, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Thanks for the advice regarding the qtr time score updates on Fan Footy also.
This year is my first year using this outstanding resource.
wixy
February 9, 2009 at 5:45 pm
hey Monty
any chance u got the scores of every player
from the WCE vs Collingwood ?
if so can i have a link
ETOH
February 9, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Read te top of the comments, Wixy
wixy
February 9, 2009 at 8:03 pm
i read the report just wondering if ya got the lists ?
XztatiK
February 9, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Read the top of the comments, wixy.
dubs$men
February 22, 2009 at 10:12 pm
agree with Ash and Freosteve.. I was very impressed with Cockie’s game and think he looked better than Swift who needs to put on some kgs. Cloke shows moments of brilliance but isn’t consistant enough IMO. He gets good delivery and really should be doing better. Nicoski is inconsistant too and when I watch him on TV i think ‘average’ everytime he does something..