The Feathers Fly In The West And The Pies Flex Their Muscles
We had the Showdown in Adelaide and the Derby in Western Australia. Although it didn’t reach the heights of the Adelaide Showdown the Fremantle Dockers would be very pleased they have got their first win on the board. Fremantle Coach Mark Harvey is on fire in these Derby matches. He was won both games he has coached! He was aided by the exceptional performance of skipper Matthew Pavlich with 5 goals and showed all his class. As a coach you would be thanking the gods that you have a player like him in your team, he is simply a STAR.
The Dockers also unearthed first year player Rhys Palmer, who had big wraps on him when he got drafted and on the weekend showed that he deserves that praise. In a tough and torrid game for a first year player to gather 17 touches in the first half and be the reason, along with Pavlich that the Docker were in front was a brilliant effort. He is a player the the Dockers need to hang on to that is for sure.
There a a few worrying signs for The Eagles I reckon. While Dean Cox, Daniel Kerr, and Matt Priddis continue to gather their touches and use the ball well but the other Eagles need to lift their game in the skill department and they just turn the ball over to much. The next tier of players need to step up and take some of the workload because the top eagles are doing their bit and just can’t carry the side any more than they are now.
The Magpies To Good For The Tigers
The Pies were simply to good for the battling Tigers, and I think that this game would have deflated any confidence the Tigers may have had. The relentless pressure the Magpies put on the Tigers was clearly the difference in the game and the Tigers just could not handle it. The were forced to use handballs more than kicks as they just could not find any targets to kick to and this will be a big issue for the Tigers for the rest of the year. As Grant Thomas said a few weeks ago on SEN Radio, they are just to predictable and sides know exactly who they are going to kick to and can cover them with ease.
And what about the ease at which the Pies carried the ball out of the Tiger Forward line, my god do any of the Tiger forwards know how to chase and put any type of pressure on? Neon Leon, Alan Didak and Dale Thomas were in fine touch and Davis adds pace to the Collingwood mid field and looks like he is enjoying his time in the middle. Surprisingly the Tiger probably beat the Magpies at the stoppages but just didn’t have the skill to user it to their advantage. Nathan Foley was very good in that area and is the best the Tigers have got in that department. What would be worrying for Terry Wallace is the form of Nathan Brown, he is struggling at the moment and his opponent Heath Shaw was outstanding for the Pies, a big question mark has to placed over his head at the moment and maybe some hard decisions need to be made.
