I had Hammer but I'll chip in with my two cents on Russell as everyone else seems to be. I actually liked his game. Those two marking attempts in the F50 were poor but he was never really in position for either of them anyway. Other than that he worked hard the whole time he was out there which is probably more than can be said for some. He has the body of an AFL player and just needs a bit of continuity with his game. Don't think he'll ever be a match winner but he could play a role.

On to Hammer and it was a great start in the 1st quarter with his mark and goal. He split his time between the ruck and resting forward in the first half while in the 2nd it was ruck or bench.

Hammer is very effective at the centre bounce and is able to consistently get first hand on the ball using his leap and reach. The problems for Hammer at this stage arise at around the ground ball ups and boundary throw ins. King and Gardiner really did monster him. This is no surprise given the youth of Hammer and it will probably be a couple of years before this changes.

Around the ground we definitely have an asset in waiting with Hammer. I say asset in waiting because his teammates seem reluctant to kick it to him at the moment. Many times he was able to put 40m on King in the space of about 45m but he was consistently ignored. Part of that is Hammer not quite timing his leads and leading to the wrong spots but part is due to teammates' decision making.

When he played forward he was matched up on Raph Clarke over whom he had a clear advantage in height and speed but nothing came of it as there was no space in the forward line to lead into but Hammer led into the crowd anyway only for Clarke to zone off and cover Fev. This was frustrating to watch and it comes down to lack of forward structure as well as Hammer's inexperience.

Anyway it was good to see the kid run around and I'm looking forward to the time that he has the confidence to demand the ball and his teammates have the confidence to kick it to him.

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Don't blame it on the sunshine, don't blame it on the moonlight, don't blame it on the good times, blame it on the WIGGINS!

ALSO IN T-BIRD PLAYER THREAD:::

Player analysis from the St Kilda game:

T-Bird didn't move forward, instead sticking to Koticchkski (sic!) like a fly on shit. Whilst the rest of the team switched from zonal to man-on-man defence (into defensive 50 AND from the kickouts) T-Bird stuck to Koticchkski.

Played almost a full game, ran off his player quite a few times after the ball was kicked out from the goal square to link up play. Smart.

Haven't seem many good things from Thornton until tonight, last week we was pretty good without doing anything spectacular, but against the Aints he blanketed his man as well as providing a target out of the 50.

Interesting to note was the fact that the football could be in the Blues forward 50 - but T-Bird was still no further than 50 cms away from his opponent.

Good to see. Appears like he may have bounced back somewhat from last's years crappy effort.

Is his contract up this year?!

Thanks for these. Good to read and get some insight into the game and players.