The Rocco Jones Report: The season so far

I haven’t written a report for awhile, so it’s with great irony that it comes back the week we actually didn’t play a game. This report will try and make up for all the weeks I have missed with a look at the season so far.

The good bits

- Brian Harris has been in remarkable form. He is both nullifying and offensively exposing his opponents. He looks a totally different player when he is confident and attacking the ball rather than simply trying to stop his opponent from getting it.

- Daniel Cross was further cementing his place at the elite level. He is just about the safest bet in the league to appear in his club’s bests each week.

- We are 3-1 against the top 4 and really look like we match up relatively well against them all. We are also just a game off second despite not being at our best.

- Hahn and Darcy should improve as the season goes on and hopefully Bobby will be able to get enough games under his belt.
- Tom Williams is playing

- Harbrow and Lynch look like great finds

The bad bits

- We seem to be missing that default base performance that gets you enough wins to finish in the top 4. Our game relies on hard running and we have been unwilling and/or unable to run hard enough a few times this year. We beat the Swans and Carlton in the clearances but we didn’t cover enough yards, especially against the Swans.

- Will Minson is struggling and Luke Darcy is a 31 year old ruckman coming off missing two years of footy. Street deserves his spot in the side but we are giving most sides a decent head start in the ruck.

- Forward line still seems too reliant on Johnno. Bobby’s injuries are hurting us in half forward transition and we are lacking a power forward.

- Akermanis has been serviceable at best. He looks to be lacking that explosive pace. The most worrying aspect for me is that he hasn’t been up and down but consistently just satisfactory most weeks. The trade has always been about what he can do for us in the big games, especially in the finals, so I will reserve any real judgement until the end of the year.