Post Match. NAB Challenge - Blues down Pies

[Dave The Man]

We where Utterly Pathetic.

Ball use was Terrible. Kicked it to Carlton too Much and Too Much Bombing of the Ball

Players not putting 100%. Just went out for a Run

We are too Predictable with Cloke

Scumps where shit

Back 6 where Horendus

Broomhead barley touched it

Karnezis went missing after art Time

Grundy Hurting His Hip:cry:

Good:

Grundy was good in the 1st Half

Cox had a good game for his 1st ever competitive AFL game in his Life

Fasolo is a Forward and nothing Else

De Goey had his Moments

Gault is coming on Nicley

Crisp at least tried

[rad]

I have been banging on this since Krak moved on. We need some Leon/Krak magic. As soon as the ball lands on the deck in our forward line is has been getting swept out too easy for a few seasons now. When Krak/Leon were there this was when they were most dangerous.

Before anyone mentions Leon's donut grand final results Imwould say you need these players during the season to roll over the lesser teams and get you to the big dance. If you don't play them in the granny then that's another view but these guys win you games and make defenders edgy.

We are too predictable and non existent when the ball hits the deck.

[thompsoc]

Dave the Man said it all.

[Dave The Man]

[perthmagpie]

I went along, but at these country games it is hard to see the game clearly as there is not much chance of sitting up high and seeing the overall picture of the game. So I decided to hang out behind the goals and spend my time watching the forwards mainly.

Overall this looked like 2014 footy. I could give you a list of the same negatives as last year along with a few positives. I didn't care about the result but was disappointed to not see much of anything new in the team.

Same dysfunctional forward entries.
Same effort in the contest to cause turnovers but then butcher the easy setup kick into space.
Same inability to convert when the ball went over the top with half the ground open.
Same inability to stop easy oppo kick in possession chains.
Same poor kicking for goal and inability to turn a period of dominance into scoring.
Same Clokey refusing to lead enough. Same bombing.

Williams has been so quiet in the two games. Not sure why.
Gault is growing in confidence every week. We may just have something special here eventually.
Loved seeing the Ox getting game time and showcasing his sublime kicking.
Swan and Pendles jogged around.

We were seriously short today. In the second half we only had Brown, Cloke and Cox as tall players. Carlton should have won this game easily but Toovey, Langdon and Oxley did well. Brown was really good.

I noticed that Cox's reach in the ruck was out of this world. If he can get stronger and hold his ground no other player's hand can get within a foot of the tap. He didn't do much else but as a first game of AFL it was actually quite remarkable. His taps were intelligent too.

I was disappointed in Karnezis and Broomy. Both made very little impression. Broomy looks very underdone and so I'm thinking he will be VFL round 1. Crisp looked ok and even though Varcoe only played a third of a game he again looked like he isn't part of the team yet. He needs to get into the thick of the play more. I thought both Thomas and Kennedy were good. Missing Elliott and Sidey took away some of the polish from our team.

Carlton in my mind were at least five players closer to full strength and with so many talls of ours out we had real structural problems. I wish we could fix our finishing though. You get sick of seeing all the hard work being wasted year after year.

[Dave The Man]

[Boot]

There is never a good time to loose to Carlton, however to watch that standard of game, you can only hope that Carlton play that badly against us in the season proper and Collingwood learn from it and get some structure that is capable of winning a football match between now and the start of the season.

Positives :- Mason Cox = worth persisting with and with a season of VFL could be something special in the ruck.
Adam Oxley = in a team where kicking skills are well below the required level this boy is a gem. I am now really hoping he can nail a spot in the defensive 6 and keep his spot in the 1st's this year.
Tyson Goldsack = His hardness is what he adds to the team, pity his skill level is only average.

Negatives :- Swanny = Similar output as in 2014. Not looking promising to get back to his best.
Tim Broomhead = A kid with potential but doesn't seem to do enough for me just yet.
Pat Karnezis = A tease...has to get some consistency into his game at VFL level. I doubt he'll make it on our list past this year.
Defensive Structure = We regularly get cut to shreds by any opposition that has a fast break from our defense.
Lack of Class Players = Lots of kids with lots of potential but the side looks very young & average when missing any of our top 8 i.e. Sidebottom and Elliot were missed badly today.

Overall, a lot more negatives than positives, but hope springs eternal. Never give up, never surrender and always hate Carlton!!

[regan is true fullback]

It was one of those weekends. Started with Friday the 13th. Parramatta Eels, whom I have a soft spot for, undid all their hard work from last week by playing a shocker against the Bulldogs. Collingwood reserves went down to Geelong. Ireland lost its chance at the triple crown and grand slam in rugby, going down to Wales. The black cherry on top of this misery was the debacle in Bendigo yesterday. And this morning, Newcastle went down 3-0 to Everton.

Anyone got some good news from the weekend?

[Johnno75]

Didn't see much of the so called new kick in strategy although Carlton hardly missed in the first half, seemed to kick long to the flank most of the time and at best force the stoppage.

The Carlton barrels to the middle a couple of times pushed our zone back and that helped them get the ball out easier, maybe we need to get Goldy to do the kick ins and give him the license.

[John Wren]

[Mossi]

[jackcass]

[themonk]

[RudeBoy]

It was a pretty terrible scrappy affair, with not much to get excited about. I'm not worried about the result. It's a practice game after all.

Cox is great at getting his hands on the ball in the ruck, but that's about all. He might get a game in 2016, but if he plays before then, we're in deep shit imo.

Gault continues to put his hand up.

I wasn't worried about Swanny's poor game. He was going through the motions and making sure he wasn't injured.

Sinclair looks the goods running out of defence.

Brown played well.

Our forward line was almost non-existent, but hopefully this will improve with White back in.

Karnezis is talented, but nowhere near fit enough or tough enough imo. A forward going for a pack mark with one hand and ducking his head is not a good sign.

Blair has his critics, but in the heat of battle you can always rely on him to put his body on the line.

I thought Kennedy looked great, until he was almost knocked out in the 2nd quarter.

Not much else came out of it for me.

Put in Frost, Reid, Adams, Elliott, Freeman, Sidebottom, White and Witts and we're a different side.

[roar]