WELLINGTON SENIORS START OFF.

NZ Truth, Issue 910, 5 May 1923, Page 8

WELLINGTON SENIORS START OFF.

Pars About Players. Wellington senior Soccer opened up Saturday with the thermometer away down belowjfcjll reasonable requirements and t»e fields generally heavy and greasy. The Y.M. -Thistle match was an inlorestiiu: po. :t:nl '-v«tv tirn<« these two teams mod in the draw the play will ho worth while Thistle men know « 1 1 1 i t o a few of tho new Y.M. chaps iiulte w.-11. <»f course they do, ihov played with them l.'ist sfa.-ion, nil in the" s.un<- jersoys. The Y.M. hacks are really half. hacks, or they gave that impression mi Ssiturduy. Hut It was early In the .sen yon. McCJlrr was more impressive than MoArthur in the halves, but what wan the matter with his foot when penalty kick time came? Campbell was keen enough to got moving', but Bill Brownlee simply wouldn't lot him. Trott. inside right. Tfrn.B in «rorv Ino form and showed better play on Sat-

urday, in fact, than he did at his best last season. Apparently the j'ear's spell taken by Les Smith on account of an injured ankleiudid him good. Edgar Phillips never once got tired. He is a great toiler. Ballard was. consistent, but never reached really brilliant form. Evidently he has not found the right brand of shooting boots this season. The Ewing, McKenzie and Taylor defence is as good as there is in town, and the fine understanding between 'Mac and Ted. T. saves then* — and Ewing— -a tremendous lot of unnecessary work. Mac, of course, had given it out definitely that he had kicked his last kick last year, but everyone except Mac doubted it. He's come back to his steady form all right. If Young Men could have signed up the Thistle defence as well they would have had some team. Brownless, centre naif " for Thistle, was the best man on the field, all the bankers agreed, but one has to be playing with him to know Just how good he really is. Henderson is good,, but has only one foot so far. Generally speaking, the Blue front line is youngish. Houston, outside right, knows what to do with the ball when he gets it, and will do things this season. Lennox Is another lad who will improve. Cordiner*s goal was a beauty. He gives me the impression that he will be fairly good when the teams get settled down to serious competition business. Smith, outside left, did some pretty work at times, but unfortunately spoiled it now and then by being selfish. He should sling the ball across the field imore. 4 What was the reason for Thistle turning out a man short? The habit of. players turnihg'out when they feel inclined; is no good whatever, but, of course, that may not have been the explanation in this case. That old warhorse, Bob Duncan, carried on for them. It's for committees to inquire in a judicious manner into cases of team members who forget about fixture^. ■ As the result of the Waterside-Wei-gasco game showed the Gas Co. team was not nearly strong enough for last year's champions, but they were not downhearted about it. All the same, the 13— -2 average was a bit on the hot side, rather apt to be discouraging. Apparently the Wharfies are running no risks in the matter of goal averages for the final count-up of the season. Porteous gave over his old goalkeeping job ojiv Saturday morning, so I am told, variA" a new man, McLean, carried on. He was hardly impressive in his work, but his style was very stylish, very stylish indeed. . Ingham and "Stonewall" Jackstone showed that they have a very workable understanding, but they will miss Porteous. The halves- did well, but next time Bell must, get rid of that ball better. There is no real need to beat half a dozen men before sending it out. One of the half dozen might beat him for it — quite often. ■ ■- Palmer was a shining light in the forward line, and his seven goals rattled in from all sorts of angles His second wqul.d have beaten a Doig, a Sutcliffe or a Hardy. That is what is wanted, good shooting in from anywheTe, but it is a lot harder to get than to want. Cusack was not there, having moved from town, and- his place was taken by CocHburn, who, in my opinion, made a better partner for Palmer than did Chris, last season. • Anton, at centre forward, appeared to be somewhat lazy — sorry to have to say sq — but he has improved, especially when it comes to shooting. Nearly broke the bar with one oflC the left boot. With more games he will surely come on. ■ Gilbertson and Paterson made up a dangerous wing; the understanding <a there again. Both of them are brainy players and both shoqt well either out or inside the penalty area. In spite of the score recorded against them last week Welgasco will do well later on. The biggest fault Jles in tho half line. Turner, Thompson and Logie are a useful trio, but the \^ay they banged the ball upfield- on every occasion was really surprising. They must remember that a half-back's duty is to make openings for and to feed his forwards. Smith was weak at centre forward. Egerton played- well, uphill all the way. Gibson and Hargreave3 played too square. Always remember to play in advance of one another. The forwards should combine a bit more. ' Keep going Gassies, you will blow some of them up yet. Shooting is quite a strong point with the Watersiders, and shooting means winning. It would be quite wrong to say that the shooting in ' the Dlamond-Marist game at Kelburn was strong. McKee'd goal, for Diamonds was just about ideal, for Fitzgerald apparently had no idea it was coming and when it did could not see it, and Nickson got a good one past Waller: but apart from those and one or two held by Fitzgerald the shots were mostly dead duds. Had they been up to goal-mouth form Diamonds would have won that match with a nice little margin, but the forwards fell down badly every time shooting distance was reached. Crundwell was not as good as he was in some of his off names last season. He covered a. lot of ground — htf always does — but he did not seem to be able to work in with McLeod on the outside for the Blacks. McLeod did a fearsome Amount of work, but could not finish orf. He was up against Rudolph, quite a good back, who is sure to improve as the season advances. A. MoKee played centre forward, but that does not seem to be his position. He's surely the centre half. Alex. Auld played in that position, but was not nearly up to his form. He will have to wear non-skids next time ho plays on Kelburn' Park after a rain. Kinnear and Bolt did not work in together too well. Bolt was a third grade youngster last season, and as far as individual play went did very well. Still, a wing is not a one-man combination. * Newport was supposed to play half; but he would wander. G. McKee, a brother of the front line McKee, is just out from Ireland, where he played- senior league. His work is neat and effective, but he was surely not up to senior league form at Kelburn. Hearne played a bonny back game, placing well every time. HawkUw boots away with more pep, but his direction simply is not in It \vii.h Hoarne's. A fifty-yard boost is not necessarily nearly as useful as a tenyard slip-through pass if the latter gives one. of 'your own men an opening. Just a little too much talking among: the Blacks but hardly a word from the Greens during the whole game. It's generally said, too, that Irishmen talk too much. Far too much talk In the HospitalKarorl game. Hospital men being the offenders. It is rather a set complaint of theirs, and it is really not a bit of good for the game." Hospital owed their rather ea«y 6 — 2 win over Karorl to their better team play. In fact, Karorl really; showed no team play, though individuals did well enough. It's up to you, Frank O'C, to stir them up for practice Ramos. Two trials, four men for one and five for the second, really don't count us practice games. j Huxhes. ronJro forward. nerurovl I four of Hoiv.iital's live poals. and wax ahuiu tin* host man on the Held. l U* ;>l;iye<l with his hoad. The now KtiKlish half is just i» I »•>:■* whnt liospit:il claimed for him, uiul they claimed a n»>od deal. Thompson, in the hack lino for Hospital, was too heavy in many of h'.i' kicks. The goalie. IlartWe. turned ntray or j hold nonin stiff whom from Karorl. hut all tho Damn his work was r:ith«r fumbly at tlmoa. He did the Job, but was not always nent about It.

Eaton, inside right for Karori, was very nicely on his game. So was Mason, particularly when anything came within reach of his head. Folk who haven't played Soccer wonder why he doesn't break his neck. He may " some day, but he will have headed in* a lot before then. No, he's not really thickheaded. Far»€rom it; he couldn't play the useful game he does if he was. \ Norman Bing, of "Y.M. last year, apparently set out to do two men's work, and just about got through it. George Ward is another old- Y.M. player who has moved over to Karori. Apparently when Young Men signed up so many outsiders they could not find room in top teams to move up players who had played in junior grades for quite a few years. Prince was a pretty safe full-back.' Karori supporters last year said that he could work up to rep. form if he got right down to it." There are still lots of chances this year. Mclntyre has speed and knows what to do with the ball when he gets it, It is up to his inside man to see that he does get it. Ferguson's further appeal against his suspension over that Basin Reserve affair was talked over by the W.F.A. during the week. Some there were dead against any action being taken, others thought that the acid had been jJut on to an unnecessary extent. Someone once again suggested that the sentence would have been a good deal lighter had" the association known that McArthur was going to get off. In the end it was decided that a recommendation shoud be sent on to the New Zealand Council that the suspension should be lifted from the end of June. Of course, no one can even guess at what the council will do about it. - A If. William's js in touch with the Canterbury Association with a match between their reps and "Wellington on Monday, June 4, in mind. Basin Reserve, if not booked up, presumably. To-day week. Saturday, 12th. Sole Selector Salmond hopes ta see a tryout match, Aussie tour probables v. Wellington reps, on -the Basin, but that arrangement all depends on whether sufficient outside men can be got together in Wellington on that date. The W.F.A. has not been asked to nominate players for the Aussie tour, though some other associations apparently have been asked to do so. Three weeks or so ago the Wellington Association was advised by the selector that certain players, Anton, Ballard, Brownlee, Campbell, Jones and N. McArthur, had been placed on the list, and was asked to ascertain whether those men would* be free to make the trip, buT^nhe association was not then, nor has it, up to the time of writing, been asked to nominate players which had caught its eye as likely men. It 'was made, pretty clear by one 'member of the council at the annual meeting that it was his opinion that if the selector had forgotten to _get into communication with one or more associations on the question of nominations further irritation might be avoided by his doing so without delay. As a matter of fact the Wellington Association would like to put forward the names of one or two men, so I am told by one of the committeei It appears probable that Brownlee. Campbell and McArthur will be free to make the trip, providing they are included in the final selection — two of them are certainties, surely, Anton may not be able to get away, and Jones has his doubts. ' He might, of coursa, have fewer doubts if Palmer was one of the team to go away. I am told that Charlie Ballard is not sure uf getting time off. • Should Snowy McGirr have bteen passed over? He is a young player with, all his real football in front of him. He could do the New Zealand team a lot of good and New Zealand football a lot more good when he came back/ Compare him with Bill Brownlee. Bill is a better footballer, he is now at his very best. Snowy is just starting, and he is going to be some really slap-up player when he gets further along the track., No one will argue for one minute against the inclusion of Brownlee. McArthur has received a very nico little compliment. 1 * Pafmer has not been seriously considered, apparently. Pie wanders a little, but he sure is a footballer. Gilbertson, wjiat of him? At eentr.forward — Irecollect the Aussie-,Well-ington match last season? — inside right or inside left he is equally at home and equally as valuable and dashing. The any-placo man is mighty useful on tour. Ted Taylor? Our reps must be picked, largely on last year's form. Ted was not too bad. In fact, I consider at the present time he is playing better football than when he appearod as an Otago rep some years ago.