Hot Currie? - RWO reserves match report vs Belconnen

[liz]

Apologies to Old Royboy, who submitted this yesterday afternoon, for the delay in publication. But I am sure you'll all agree it was worth waiting for.

And we have some great photos this week from Ugg - I was literally spoilt for choice (especially for photos of Reg - is there something you want to tell us Ugg?)

Some of you will recognise the subjects of the photos with ease. And those next to the text are mostly self-explanatory even if you don't recognise the players. The number 52 in the final "text" photo is Beckmans.

Of those at the bottom, the first two are DOK and White rucking (with Smokey in the foreground). The only other one that (I think) may not be self-evident is the final one - that is Brennan taking a fine mark.

http://redandwhiteonline.com/content.php?id=1049_0_2_0_C

Now I just have to track down the slacker who is meant to be writing a report on the senior game...

[sharp9]

Great stuff there.

Well since it has been proven that I know nothing about football (what with us thumping Freo despite ignoring my team selections!) I have to say I really like the sound of Grundy and Vogels bookending in the seniors in the future. Nice picture of DOK. he doesn't look as small as I had imagined...thought he might be a Willoughby type.

BTW I hope he is better than Mitchell Brown (Gulp!!!) Jetta, Hislop, Proud, Pettard, MacKenzie, Alwyn Davey (Gulp, gulp!!!!), Houli, Dick, Garland, Goldsack, Westoff (number 71!!!!!) and Edwards.....otherwise our recruiters will look a little silly.

'Twas a pretty good draft it seems.

[Damien]

Good report, thank you.

Great news about Currie playing, he is playing for three weeks I am told before returning to home and school.

[ugg]

(especially for photos of Reg - is there something you want to tell us Ugg?)

Hah, I noticed that too when I was uploading the photos. Although Reg is one of my favourites, it was not a conscious decision to take so many of him.

A quick Google search of Matthew Beckmans doesn't reveal much - he plays for the Murray Bushrangers in this year's TAC Cup. I'm sure he also played for the reserves last year.

[hammo]

Great report as always ORB. I am puzzled how Amon's game has had such varying reviews. Where does the truth lie??

[Jewels]

Excellent report ORB, but I gotta say, I totally disagree about Buchanan, I thought he was decididly ORDINARY. To me, he seemed to rack up the possessions without really doing anything with it (except getting caught HTB a few times).

[Industrial Fan]

Maybe he got told to go back to reserves and run and carry the ball...?

I remember reading somewhere that Roos told Schneiderman to bounce the ball four times a quarter in reserves last year.

[i'm-uninformed2]

A quick Google search of Matthew Beckmans doesn't reveal much - he plays for the Murray Bushrangers in this year's TAC Cup. I'm sure he also played for the reserves last year.

How old is this kid? I didn't know who no52 was until after the game but he moved well, read play well, ran hard, had nice skills and good height.

I know its only Canberra reserves, but he was better than most of our rookies already.

One worth tracking.

[Old Royboy]

I submitted that report on Sunday evening (actually wrote it on the train on the way home) and I was very surprised to see that most did not rate Monty's game. He got most of his good marks from me due to his heavy traffic work - the hard ball gets and quick handball releases which while not as obvious as the speccie or flashy running goal are in my mind more important to team success. But I will admit that Monty is my favourite Swan, so perhaps the rose coloured glasses kicked in a little. They certainly gave the little guy a workout, played vitually the entire 100 minutes and he was totally stuffed at the end.

[liz]

I reckon that most watching the reserves would have been applying different standards to their assessment of Buchanan compared to pretty much everyone else out there (LRT the possible exception) - whether consciously or not. It would be impossible not to, for this was a guy who was arguably BOG during the final quarter of the 2005 GF.

On the other hand, had someone turned up knowing a fair bit about the game but absolutely nothing about the identity of any of the players, I suspect they'd have been reaching for their Record to look up the name of number 32.

In an absolute sense, I have no problem agreeing with ORB's assessment that he had a good game, and I think his centre-bounce work was impressive. But whether he was betterer enough than the rest is another question. I remain convinced that his problem this season has been one of not being quite fit enough - quite probably the result of his injuries earlier in the season. I doubt he has the natural endurance of some other players, yet he relies a lot on gut-busting running to have the impact he does in his best games. And if he senses he's not quite getting to contests as quickly as he is used to, it could well explain why his skill level has been noticeably down on recent seasons.

Another week - or even two - running himself into the ground with the twos might be just what he needs to regain some real fitness and hopefully the form will follow. It would certainly be a bonus to regain Monty circa 2005 as we approach the finals, assuming we're still in contention.

[Triple B]

so perhaps the rose coloured glasses kicked in a little.

Possibly my problem as well, but whilst not seeing him as 'BOG by the length of the Randwick straight' I thought he was real good apart from biting off a bit more then he could chew on more then one occasion and getting pinged for holding the ball. That said, I thought the scumps were very quick to blow the whistle against him a few times, almost as if to say 'now, now Mr Regular Seniors Team Smartypants, don't be too clever'.

ORB, I reckon it was more Moonee Valley than Randwick, but good all the same

[Triple B]

LOL, 10 hours without a post and the two of us decide to type essentially the same thing at the same time.

[stellation]

I quite like Amon and wanted him to do well, but watching the game I was dissapointed because I just didn't think that he shone at the level he should have. LRT, and I am much more likely to wear rose coloured glasses for Amon than for Lewis, actually looked like a seniors player out there; he found the ball well, broke/stood up in tackles and was able to feed out handballs under pressure with ease.

[Jewels]

I quite like Amon and wanted him to do well, but watching the game I was dissapointed because I just didn't think that he shone at the level he should have. LRT, and I am much more likely to wear rose coloured glasses for Amon than for Lewis, actually looked like a seniors player out there; he found the ball well, broke/stood up in tackles and was able to feed out handballs under pressure with ease.

That is my exact assessment of the two of them on Sunday.

[dimelb]

Thanks ORB, and the others who watched and commented. I really value these reports. Particularly encouraging to hear about Monty and LRT.
By the way, what happens with blokes like Ilett from Belconnen? If he's BOG for them, and a bit of a handful for our blokes by the sound of it, in a game that shows up fitness differences so markedly in the final quarter, what would he be like with a proper pre-season under his belt?