Geelong vs Collingwood
General - Good game of footy, real game of 2 halves, looked like a boxer who'd been knocked down 6 times through the first out and then KOed the opponent in round 12 after dominating the last few rounds! Big injury to Howe wrecked the TOG stats for a few players as those caught on the bench for that period came out way lower.
Also have to add that I found them not showing the highlight of Howe and Stengle's exceptional courage to be a disgusting act by channel 7, you didn't need to show the injury that happened after on landing but to hide their courageous efforts and exemplary play is pathetic, they deserve to be heralded for how they play, not denied their moment. It's weak and cowardly decisions like this by channel 7 that help ruin the sport. Especially when you then go to showing another player getting injury over and over after pretending to care.
Cats - Looked great for 3 quarters, fell to pieces in the last which was a surprise. Imagine they'll be pretty annoyed by that as they'd saved a few of their guns up for the last quarter as well and then just didn't get anything from it.
Smith - Was huge, covered a lot of ground and used it well. Standard from him.
Cameron - Honestly felt like the Pies tactic was to leave him unmanned, all things considered it worked pretty well, his kicking was unusually bad tonight.
Henry - Was genuinely good for the Cats, really strong up the ground target who worked really hard. His only highlight will be that goal he cost them though...
Holmes - Played well and kicked a really nice goal, did nothing in Q4 which really hurt his ratio that was strong until that.
Danger - His role didn't seem too bad but a lot of time on the pine, not as bad as the number looks as he was one of the guys off when Howe went down (I'm pretty sure) but also a lot of time forward.
Atkins - Ripping ratio for him, he went on ball late in the game and was really good, seemed like the only Cat with any petrol tickets in the last quarter.
Bruhn - Started like a house on fire and faded entirely. Seemed to get pushed out to the wing when Atkins went on ball for the 2nd half, also low TOG, not sure if he was off for Howe or not, would assume based on just how low he was but could just be a lack of fitness. I thought he used it better than the stats say but really his ratio is great for that stat line. Helped greatly by his first touch clanger not counting!
Hawkins - Looked underdone, Cameron in particular did a great job of not engaging him in F50 ruck contests and it really nullified his influence there. Upgrade target if/when he finds fitness.
Guthrie - Had a mare, his low TOG also suggests he was off for Howe but also can't confirm. So odd that they saved him and Danger and then just got nothing from them.
Ratugolea - The highs and the lows, had a couple of stinkers, clearly got a spray about punching at QT and basically stopped going for his marks. Was really unlucky, had one clear genuine tackle not given, had a big contested mark that he didn't take given as a clanger that cost him 8 points, had a couple of great spoils also not receive points but 56 is a pretty good score overall, would be nice if he'd look to get more engaged outside of pure intercept but that comes with a bit of confidence in the role. Did a great job and the Stewart injury will help his JS, SDK also looked really proppy after coming back on and wouldn't be shocked if he misses a week or two either.
Stewart - The biggest news here, knee injury, didn't look good as an awkward landing pop type injury, the fact they taped him and put him out for run throughs is probably a good sign it's not the worst case but given the brace, the way he was moving and the sub and the mechanism of the injury would have to think it's a medial or mcl, both 4-8 windows normally. Hurts even more that Daicos went so hard as I dare say for a lot of people that was an IF decision. This is SC...
Pies - What a win, devastating injury to Howe and they looked so flat after it, to bounce back off the canvas and run away with it like they did is just exceptional character as a team. Cardiac Collingwood continues!
Pendles - Ageless, what a star.
Naicos - He's so good, I love what a little ball sloot he is, he always demands the ball even when it's absolutely not on and I love all of that as someone who cares more about fantasy football than the real stuff at this point! Assuming half the people with Stewart didn't have Naicos I dare say he'll be approaching 50% ownership by next week. Such a brilliant player, actually thought his ratio was rough as he was pure class and helped keep them in the game the first 3 quarters.
De Goey - Monster game, enormous in the midfield Q1, went forward for most of the rest of the game to my eye, be interesting to know his split, he's one of the MID only guys that could get FWD and be very relevant.
Titch - What a Q4 with the big 57 point quarter to save his game. Role was alright (another I'm almost certain was on the bench for Howe distorting his TOG) but probably about what was expected. Not sure if you've got Titch that you want to be relying on ratio porn to get the job done though, played forward a fair bit and cashed it in but also not a reliable source. Overall he played well and looked good but I don't think the role was right, whether the way he played commands a better role is the question going forward.
Hill - He was really good, played the higher HF role he had in preseason and used his tank and speed to be a marking option consistently. Strong game.
Crisp - Pretty pure midfield role, still can't kick well enough in that role to score how you'd want. Not relevant unless he gets DEF.
Cameron - After the preseason it was a surprise to see him not just as #1 but a dominant #1, Cox didn't even come on the field for the first 19 minutes. Ratio great, game in general not so great in that you wouldn't rely on him to have a ratio like that against good rucks. Still, solid start for the, much larger than I expected, group who went for him.
Adams - Lot of time forward for him, should definitely get FWD based on that, could be a sneaky good target in draft leagues. Only relevant in the real stuff if there's a lot of injuries to open the midfield up, after getting FWD.
Moore - Not fantasy relevant but great game from him, the weird no man zone they played was so high risk but he and Murphy repeatedly made it work by courageously leaving their man to impact contests.