On a bright note...
WOW....
Toby Couchman was absolutely outstanding today. I've been really impressed with him since he debuted, but he went to another level today. He's a super promising young kid that we should all be extremely excited about. He looks right at home in 1st grade. Great effort in everything he does on the field. An absolute workhorse who has great ability to get in between defenders with late, and subtle, footwork at the line. Seems to consistently pull through tackles and is very hard to bring down. Displays continued effort on effort in defence. He's deceptively big too which allows him to stand in tackles and offload.
It's crazy to think that he, and his brother, have just turned twenty. I thought Ryan, other than a few defensive mistakes early, was really good in reserve grade yesterday as well.
Bar injury, I can't see Toby losing his spot in 1st grade this year, which will do him the world of good going forward. He still has plenty of filling out to do and, with continued natural improvement, the sky is truly the limit.
If he's not playing rep football by his mid twenties I'll turn it up.
Credit where credit is due...
Well done Hook for giving this kid his start in first grade. He'll wear the red V for many years to come.