Sturt v Eagles round 8 Saturday 28 May

wimpy wrote:

hawke wrote:What a relief to have Redden back and giving us first look out of centre (48 disposals Riley Knight!)
Also, good to see Lachie Hoile show his undoubted talent for 1st time in his 3 ordinary League attempts- good penetrating kick compared to Pudney's high "air-time" kicks; also good decision making in traffic.
Cameron looks to need a couple of Seconds games to pick up match fitness.
Now to sweat over Ballendan's possible drafting (and Riley Knight). How cruel would that be, to lose both !!!!!!

Mid season draft requires a player to nominate so they can indicate length of contract they would like and in some cases the amount of salary they will command, Riley Knight hasn't. Nominations do not automatically carry on from previous draft nominations, but in most cases the player would have had to have nominated for a previous draft to be eligible to nominate.

I think hawke may have heard the callers on the SANFL Now they one was saying Knights will be taken in the mid season draft

Re injuries:
Query whether Kobe Mutch's injured shoulder is the same shoulder as last year's fractured clavicle; if so, could be a longer recovery.
Ballenden came off in the last Q with what appeared a hamstring strain. Had 10 mins hamstring massage, then returned to the field, so hopefully only a cramp. (Ironically, had he badly ripped his hamstring with a projected 5 weeks on the sidelines, the AFL clubs may have lost interest !!!!)

hawke wrote:Re injuries:
Query whether Kobe Mutch's injured shoulder is the same shoulder as last year's fractured clavicle; if so, could be a longer recovery.
Ballenden came off in the last Q with what appeared a hamstring strain. Had 10 mins hamstring massage, then returned to the field, so hopefully only a cramp. (Ironically, had he badly ripped his hamstring with a projected 5 weeks on the sidelines, the AFL clubs may have lost interest !!!!)

Was thinking the same about Ballenden. His game yesterday was very good. So mobile for a big man and getting better every match.

If there is a criticism of Connor Ballenden's game, for a tall player who gets his hands to the ball in most contests, he does "double - grab" most and drops a lot. Still, if he did "clunk" his overheads, he wouldn't be playing with us ! So we're happy to take him as he is !

Ballenden is 100% gone..the afl sux

MichaelScott wrote:Ballenden is 100% gone..the afl sux

If so, let's hope Cameron can rise to the occasion.

"rise to the occasion" , literally.
We haven't yet seen from Clay Cameron what he was noted for i.e. spectacular high flying marking. He won NEAFL Mark Of Year plus other marking nominations up on opponent's shoulders.(see YouTube clip) as NEAFL Team Of Year centre half forward.
Some of that form Now would please the Coach!

Good to see the U18's have an impressive win again. Not sure what happened to the reserves or U16. I didn't think the reserves would score a goal latte into the game.

goddy11 wrote:Good to see the U18's have an impressive win again. Not sure what happened to the reserves or U16. I didn't think the reserves would score a goal latte into the game.

The first half of the reserves, more specifically the second quarter was probably as bad as I have seen, nothing seemed to go right. On the other hand nothing went wrong for Sturt, kicks off the ground got marked but you make your own luck by playing in front in those conditions.
The second half was much more competitive by our boys and were only outscored by 7 points, overall kicking only 1 goal isn't a good look but it's not the end of the world. Clay Cameron had a good run through the middle in the second half and along with Kai Pudney and Luke Beecken took the younger guys into 3 groups at half time to have a chat which was great to see.

We have won 4 and lost 4, the 4 losses to the top 2 sides and 3 of those to West who have a good 2's side, which makes you wonder!
As noted by Wimpy, Ethan Haylock played with PNU yesterday, also, Jack Wheare played for Ardrossan.

Injuries From Previous Match
PLAYER NAME NATURE OF INJURY TIME EXPECTED OFF
Kobe Mutch Shoulder TBC
Long Term Injury Process
PLAYER NAME NATURE OF INJURY TIME EXPECTED OFF
Seb Guilhaus Calf 1-2 weeks
Dane McFarlane Hamstring TBC
Mitch Hardie Illness Available
Jarred Allmond Hamstring 1-2 weeks
Brock Thomson Side Test
Aron Asfaha Knee Indefinite