VFL Games 2026

[Thunder Shaker]

Oh dear - looks like Adams has done his hamstring again. While he wasn't likely to feature much in the firsts, this is really tragic for him.

I'm quite disappointed that Adams has injured his hamstring again. I would not be surprised if Adams announced his retirement without playing another game.

[dejavoodoo44]

I thought Mellis topped off a very good quarter on his part, by setting up the late Phillipou goal. Phillipou has been a touch erratic, but has put through a couple of quality goals. Lots of players doing well.

[bandwagon]

HT 5.3 v 8.9
Southport much more competitive, but we kicked a couple of late goals to stretch our lead to 24. An even contribution without a particular stand out, but the center square combination of Ladhams-Shipley-Cootee-Mellis has really got on top. 3 goals to Dattoli, 2 to Ryan & Philipou who has been both sublime and ridiculous so far.

[dejavoodoo44]

Big effort by Ryan to set up Cootee. And I'm still being impressed by how 'one touch' O'Loughlin is at half back, since he never played there for the academy.

[dejavoodoo44]

Bowman is playing with plenty of flair coming out of defence. Shipley has been his usual wholehearted self. Should come home with the wind in the last.

[bandwagon]

3QT 8.8 v 11.10
Southport taking advantage of the breeze this quarter to kick 2 early goals, but we used our clearance dominance to pull away again

[Sandridge]

GO BLOODS!

[bandwagon]

FT: 12.10 v 17.16

I think that was our most complete performance of the year. Only 7AFL-listed players (one of whom lasted 10 minutes), away from home against last years Grand Finalist, after a run of 3 losses. Lots of contributors made it hard to pick our best, but the win was driven out of the center, so with 24 clearance between them -
3 votes - Ladhams. We all laugh when he does something silly, but this was a game where he had to fight to impose himself, played with aggression, made smart decisions and contested until the final siren.
2 - Shipley. I'm generally not a fan, but he showed some quality disposals a long with his regular 100% effort.
1 - Cootee. Broke free from contests and delivered the ball forward all day.

Bowman probably played the best game I have seen from him, ran to make space and kicked really long.
Snell was opposed to Sam Day and acquited himself well, as usual. Intercept marks, spoils, tackles, pressure. Really needs to debut before North Melbourne realize they need tall defenders who aren't rubbish.
Dattoli played his best game for a while. Finished with only 15 disposals, but kicked 3 lovely goals and distributed inside 50, tackled and applied pressure. Was only rarely seen at center bounces.
Phillipou kicked 3 behinds with other players free, was run-down tackled about 1 metre from goal, but also kicked 3 and delivered beautiful kicks inside 50. He plays with enormous confidence.
VFL listed Tommy Ryan continued his hot form with another 3 goals

Academy players Clifton (playing forward when I've only seen him in the ruck) and Norris both looked composed and contributed well. But most impressively for me was James O'loughlin who like last week was composed, showed vision and kicked wonderfully, but also competed really hard and took a couple of contested marks.

[Dow]

FT: 12.10 v 17.16

I think that was our most complete performance of the year. Only 7AFL-listed players (one of whom lasted 10 minutes), away from home against last years Grand Finalist, after a run of 3 losses. Lots of contributors made it hard to pick our best, but the win was driven out of the center, so with 24 clearance between them -
3 votes - Ladhams. We all laugh when he does something silly, but this was a game where he had to fight to impose himself, played with aggression, made smart decisions and contested until the final siren.
2 - Shipley. I'm generally not a fan, but he showed some quality disposals a long with his regular 100% effort.
1 - Cootee. Broke free from contests and delivered the ball forward all day.

Bowman probably played the best game I have seen from him, ran to make space and kicked really long.
Snell was opposed to Sam Day and acquited himself well, as usual. Intercept marks, spoils, tackles, pressure. Really needs to debut before North Melbourne realize they need tall defenders who aren't rubbish.
Dattoli played his best game for a while. Finished with only 15 disposals, but kicked 3 lovely goals and distributed inside 50, tackled and applied pressure. Was only rarely seen at center bounces.
Phillipou kicked 3 behinds with other players free, was run-down tackled about 1 metre from goal, but also kicked 3 and delivered beautiful kicks inside 50. He plays with enormous confidence.
VFL listed Tommy Ryan continued his hot form with another 3 goals

Academy players Clifton (playing forward when I've only seen him in the ruck) and Norris both looked composed and contributed well. But most impressively for me was James O'loughlin who like last week was composed, showed vision and kicked wonderfully, but also competed really hard and took a couple of contested marks.

Can’t add much to that - Still like to rookie Mellis and hope Bowman. Stays injury free

[crackedactor 01]

That was a high quality VFL game, Pistol Pete was once again BOG. Dattoli showed signs of brillance but a quiet second half, maybe endurance is a issue. Tom Ryan was a real target up forward, hope we can grab him. O'Loughlin was a surprise packet down back. Cootee is a real bulldog.

[dejavoodoo44]

Looks quite a strong team for the match against Sandringham, which takes place at Blacktown at 11.05am tomorrow. Rampe returns and Green comes in for his first game of the year. And after some dodgy performances last night, I'm guessing that a fair few players will like their chances of a promotion.

B: P. Snell (41), D. Rampe (24), L. Melican (43)
HB: N. Bowman (23), H. Kyle (32), J. O'Loughlin (60)
C: J. Harrison (65), B. Cootee (25), J. Sutton (54)
HF: J. Phillipou (18), J. Dattoli (9), C. Warner (37)
F: T. Ryan (64), M. Mellis (50), H. McLean (2)
R: W. Green (45), T. Hanily (40), M. Roberts (34)
INT: K. Gibbs (70), N. Shipley (52), J. Tidemann (57), C. Peters (53), J. Longmire (56)
23rd Player: J. O'Loughlin (60)
EMG: A. Norris (46), K. Harbour (66), H. Cameron (69)

IN: W. Green, T. Hanily, H. Kyle, H. McLean, L. Melican, D. Rampe, M. Roberts, C. Warner
OUT: P. Ladhams (AFL), T. Adams (retired), O. Clifton (injured), B. Laws (groin), H. Cameron, A. Curry, K. Harbour, A. Norris (omitted)

[dejavoodoo44]

26-0 after 14 minutes is suggesting a blow out. Green doing well to get it to the advantage of Cootee, Shipley and Roberts, who's largely playing inside mid, so far.

[bandwagon]

QT 8.4 v 1.1
We are completely dominant, so much so that Phillipou hardly celebrated his own goal - and he is a great celebrator. Hopefully Sandringham lift.

[bandwagon]

HT 11.6 v 1.3
Sandy were bit more competitive, but there is a worry all our fringe players will look great without getting really tested. However best so far are Roberts, McLean, Cootee and Hanily. Melican, Snell and Rampe are looking solid in defence, but the ball isn't down there a lot. Green moving well for his first game of the season.

[dejavoodoo44]

Increased our lead to 72-9, perhaps largely due to the defence being right on top. Melican and Snell have snuffed out pretty well everything that's came their way. While Bowman, Kyle, Rampe and O'Loughlin have been doing some nice rebounding. Although O'Loughlin hasn't had a huge amount of it, the possessions that he has had, have further convinced me that he can assess options very quickly and then hit the best option. Which are traits that I value highly.