THE GAME - PS2

[Yencks 8]

Just got back from the game (it is very handy when its a 2 minute walk from where i live.)

Was very impressed with a couple of the players.

-I thought that Strauss looked quite composed and his kicking is very sharp.

-Spencer looks clumsy but liked a bit of what i saw

-Meesen didnt impress me

-Juice went for a specky

-Miller tried hard and worked all day

-PJ showed some good glimpses

-Sylvia was very strong and impressive but still seemed to lack acceleration at some stages. in saying that, he was one of my best players.

-Jetta did some good bits of play...won a good contest on the wing

-Garland and Martin were both impressive. Garland and i think grimes did a few of the kick ins.

-Warnock also fairly good

-Grimes had a great second quarter. seemed to win most contests he was in. I think he is going to be a very good player. (I didnt notice an injury, whoever thought that was the case)...he had good hands all day

-Didn't notice much of Bennell but he didnt look too out of place.

-Davey tried hard all day. Kicked a very nice goal on the Sydney cheer squad end and a very very good smother on the other side (I think that was him).

-Morton contributed

-Didnt see a lot of green, bruce, mac daddy and mclean.

-Likewise with jones but i recon he had a little bit more speed than last year, (he took on a few people at one stage). and he also looks a bit older. his kicking and handballing was fairly good from what i noticed.

-Petterd seemed good. a little indesicive at one stage on the forward flank but didnt have a lot going for him. should have had a shot maybe.

-I think Bail and Valenti came on late. Valenti seemed solid. Bail seemed fast and his kicking was very low and fast. He drills it into players (which is a good thing) a bit like strass seems to do. precision sort of kicking.

-bell did i think his ankle...looked to be in pain

-i didnt see a lot not to like about dunn and i cant remember how he went but i do remember him getting a bit of the ball at stages. was in the forward area at one stage. actually, he did win a good contest on the wing doing well at ground level.

-Gee i love our backline and we're still missing buckley, whelan, wheatley, bartram and rivers.

-as msw said, we also have robbo, wonna and jamar to come back so we were not full strength today.

any questions i will try to answer them

all in all. we are still a fair way off. skills werent at a high and our forward line is poo. We were still getting it to half forward and the poor players were stuck with no options up front and had nothing to do but handball it resulting in a turnover. We stll heard a lot of the old "Kick it!!" from the fans. Both teams werent great but i try to look for the positives and saw some really good potential after today.

I know its a nab challange but i was a tiny bit dissapointed with the crowd. Syndey seemed to have more supporters there which was a bit of a dissapointment.

The membership tent was up and running and there was a small line there which was a good thing. The volunteers there were wearing the membership polos and tbh, i think they actually look ok when you wear them. Our membershp tent did look like an ant compared to the syndey one though.

We also looked like an amateur side without a sponsors logo.

[Stigga 25]

Good afternoon all,

Just returned from a beautiful afternoon day at Princes Park. Always enjoy going to games at the old suburban grounds.

Final score was Sydney 9.9.63 to Melbourne 8.7.55.

To cut to the chase there were a huge amount of positives to come out of today's game. The scoreboard is irrelevant in the greater scheme of things and I think both teams may have had this mindset as well.

As far as I could tell Sydney pretty much had a full strength line-up. I believe they were only missing of note Kirk and Leo Barry.

Melbourne on the other hand was missing Batram, Bate, Blease, Buckley, Jamar, Jurrah, Maric, McNamara, Rivers, Robertson, Watts, Wheatley, Whelan and Wonaemirri.

The match was a great contest and one thing i noticed was that generally our kicking skills are so much better than last year. The days of 100 point losses I think are behind us. However one thing is certainly clear and that is we will really struggle to kick goals this year. This will not be the fault of our defenders or midfielders but rather the fact that we have a shell of a forward line. I thought our endeavour and attack on the footy was great and as long as we can keep this up all year we will manage to give every team a contest.

I will go through my thoughts on each player individually:

Bail: Didn't play the first half and had a few touches in the second half. First touch was a nervous shot on goal from 40 out that fell short but did some nice things. Runs hard and layed a few great tackles, in particular a corker on Goodes.

Bell: Started ok then fell away as the game went on. Was very hard at the ball early on.

Bennell: Extremely promising. Don't want to build it up to much but gee wiz he reminds of one A. McLeod. Great skills, may not have the pace of Mcleod but has great accelaration. At one stage did an amazing 40m kick of the side of his boot and hit a target. No idea how he could have seen this in his perephiral.

Bruce: Workmanlike as per usual. Ran hard without dominating. No hospital hand passes and hit targets.

Cheney: Also a postive. kicking was a lot better than last week and he reads the play really well in defense. Test will come for him when he routinely needs to man up for an entire game as opposed to playing loose like he occasionaly did today.

Davey: Lively. Created play and brought others into the game. Layed a fantastic smother in our forward line late in the game when the contest was in the balance and unfortunately didn't get a free kick for holding the man 2 seconds later which would have put us in fron with 2 minutes to go.

Dunn: Looked lost for a lot of the game. I don't know what the issue is but he certainly doesn't look injured. Don't really know what position he was playing and neither did he I think. had a few touches but they weren't great.

Frawley: Solid performance. Kicking style is still the same but was routinely hitting targets today which is a great postive. Showed a lot of composure in traffic. Looks like he has really good accelartaion and speed as well

Garland: Doesn't put a foot wrong. Sets up play, fantastic skills, hits targets and spoils fantastically. His accelaration is fantastic, he is so quick of the mark.

Green: Was busy for most of the game but didn't get a great amount of it.

Grimes: Awesome. Love the kid. Will be a ten year player of our half-back line. Got heaps of the footy. Cool calm and collected. Hard at the contest and ALWAYS hits targets.

Jetta: Again, Awesome. Reminds me so much of Leon Davis. Doesn't have Davey's closing speed but is so clever, ran rings around numerous opponents and kicked a great goal on the run. Marked well and a great kick.

P. Johnson: played full forward for most of the game and was lively. I love his seconf efforts. If he knows he might not mark it he always tries to keep the ball in fornt of him for the second contest.

N. Jones: Quiet but more lively towards the end. He does get tagged a lot by the opposition and he seems to be struggling with this at the moment.

Martin: Good performance. Does his job, spoiled well today and reads the play well.

McDonald: Fairly quiet performane. Goodes layed a big hit on him in the second quarter.

McLean: Workmanlike but like Jones gets a lot of attention. Sydney were not giving him an inch for most of the game.

Meesen: Doesn't have the tap ruck skill to compete with Spencer. Ungainly and Underwhelming

Miller: Always presents and marked well today. Very vocal.

Moloney: Played well I thought. Got a lot of the footy and set up play well.

Morton: Did a lot of nice things. Doesn't like the in and under contest though.

Newton: Better than last week. Took a few solid grabs but still doesn't present enough.

Petterd: Very positive. Gee he looks a player. Quick of the mark and great decision making.

Strauss: Good first hit out. BEAUTIFUL kick and always hit targets. Played most of the game in defence. Was a bit starstruck by the speed of the game which is not surprising for a first gamer.

Sylvia: MUCH better than last week. Personally I thought he had a super game. Lots of nice grabs, chased well and hit targets.

Warnock: Solid game. Played well on B. Hall. reads the ball well and takes a lot of marks in defense. Kicking is still not great though and it never will be.

Any questions fire away

Cheers,

Stigga.

[praha 11,240]

Thanks for this guys. Was hoping to go, but had work committments - hope they die down once the season starts.

Thanks again. Too bad about Meeson.

[jumbo returns 6,741]

If McLean and Green weren't on the ground for most of the second half (probably 2 of our best last week, and IMO our most important players bar Rivers), then that makes the last quarter even more impressive - even if we didn't get up.

Am looking forward to some reports coming through.

Thanks heaps for the updates everyone.

most important players bar rivers????? what the hell are you on??? when's the last time rivers played footy? at xmas time in his mum's backyard with an auskick ball?

[Carn dees 108]

Stigga did nick malcheski play for the swans?

[fiddledeedee 4]

Agree with most sentiments offered about todays game. Thought Sylvia (at last) showed plenty today and was impressed with the first gamers who all gave glimpses of what they are capable of. Grimes was very good early and our backline actually appeared quite composed for much of the game, especially considering that there are key players missing. Midfield still needs a lot of work and the forward setup is pretty much a shambles, which is disappointing since many forward thrusts made it to around the half forward line and then we either went backwards or had kick in hope which was inevitably cleared away by the Swans. Thought Miller was OK but lacked support. Newton was a liability but love the grunt and some aggro shown by Spencer. Overall there were some positive signs with a willingness to play on and the improved hitting of more targets.

[Stigga 25]

Stigga did nick malcheski play for the swans?

Yes he did. Was fairly quiet.

[Late Draft Pick 48]

[i didn't think Bail turned it over much Big Fire Engine. I was watching him alot and really like his neatness,

his toughness. He has great balance and good skills and I am so looking forward to seeing more of him.

I think he is going to turn out to be one of our Mr Reliables with a minimum of fuss - he does have footy smarts

but I'm sure could do with the experience of more games.

I loved Morton in the first half. I think he's grown a bit.

Near the end of the first quarter Sydney's O'Keefe and Morton ran from the centre

to the wing. Morton effortlessly left him for dead. And Morton is so good in close,

though I wouldn't expect him to be doing too much of the under thepack stuff.

In the first quarter too, Bennell dived into a congested situation right near me

and I thought did the impossible to get the ball out. I watched him more than any other player

and he was so competitive and cool down back, and yes, that kick off the side of the boot to a

team mate - pinpoint accuracy within a spit second . Several times during the day he just made something

out of difficult situations. Jetta will be so good. These two are going to bring people to the footy this year.

Jack Grimes already looks like a 100 gamer.

Martin (with incredible athleticism to take an impossible mark)

and the other backs were very good today, and Cheney sure has come in out of nowhere, he was very

composed all day - Hawthorn were interested in him in the 2007 draft (thanks Emma Q).

It was such a pleasure to see them all today. And look sorry about this folks,

but I think we might have to stop thinking about Butcher and that other bloke.

[twist 0]

Some Stats from the game:

Grimes 15k-11h....11 contested possies....81% possies effective

Morton 18k-8h.... 22 uncontested possies....74% possies effective

Warnock 10k-7h....14 marks....94% effective possies

Sylvia 17k 8h.....10 marks.....2 goals...4 inside 50's....7 contested possies.

[twist 0]

[i didn't think Bail turned it over much Big Fire Engine. I was watching him alot and really like his neatness,

his toughness. He has great balance and good skills and I am so looking forward to seeing more of him.

Bail 10 possies......7k 3h......4/7 kicks ineffective.

[Carn dees 108]

wered you get those stats from?

[RickyBobby 0]

A couple of thoughts and observations from today's game...

Grimes will be a 200+ game player barring injuries very composed down back.

Bail will play regular senior footy this year, very tidy with his disposal and know's how to find the footy.

Benell will be in our best 22 by years end without doubt showed good run from the back end.

Sylvia is a tease.

Jetta showed some real glimpses and will get a few senior games this year.

Newton is the worst player I have seen in a dees jumper, well until i saw Meeson today... man what a donkey.

Our more established midfielders need to lift if we are to win more than 4-5 games this year... Mclean, Jones, Moloney this means you.

Our no name defence held together quite well under pressure.

All in all some good signs today in what was a bit of a nothing game but when you look at who were playing a win shouldn't have been out of the question.

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

most important players bar rivers????? what the hell are you on??? when's the last time rivers played footy? at xmas time in his mum's backyard with an auskick ball?

Have you seen Rivers play? Our best defender in my time watching the demons. Just because he's injured, doesn't mean he got worse. I understand peoples' concern, but with all this hatred of players without ability or footy brains, and the one guy who has both in abundance, and people conveniently forget about him. He'll play again, and he won't need a long time to remind you, or perhaps show you for the first time, what he's worth.

[Late Draft Pick 48]

Bail 10 possies......7k 3h......4/7 kicks ineffective.

Thanks Twist

Appreciate those stats. Game time wouldn't have been 50% and

I'd have to question how many of those ineffectives were his fault.

I still feel very confident when he has the ball.

And he has elite endurance to boot means he is one i will continue to watch.

[Slartibartfast 17,518]

He'll play again, and he won't need a long time to remind you, or perhaps show you for the first time, what he's worth.

He may well play again but to what end?

Rivers had a couple of good seasons but he hasn't played for two years when he was almost our most important player. He's not now because Garland, Frawley, Warnock and Martin are all playing pretty well. And I fear the game is moving away from him. Pace and kicking accuracy are paramount and he is not great at either of these things.

I reckon he's not a certain first 22 starter and he needs to earn his spot. And I don't think he's going to make as much difference as people think.

I remember waiting for Stephen Tingay and Glenn Lovett to recover from injury. Both had the attributes to be elite midfielders. Neither played consistent AFL footy and hindered the development of our list for years.

Rivers is quickly falling into that catagory although to our credit we haven't waited around for him to "come good".

I reckon this is a "put up or shut up" year for Rivers.

[Late Draft Pick 48]

I liked your comments Fuzz.

Newton looked like one of the team today; may have done a bit better

had the ball been delivered better.

[Late Draft Pick 48]

But Lovett and Tingay were further into their careers than Rivers and Rivers

has had groin issues for the last two years that may now be ove with.

I remember Hodge running arund for Boxhill for quite a while recovering from groin issues.

And I remember Silvagni, the slowest looking footballer ever; I think Rivers has more than enough

speed inspite of appearances.

[Hellaintabadplacetobe 4,294]

A couple of thoughts and observations from today's game...

Grimes will be a 200+ game player barring injuries very composed down back.

Bail will play regular senior footy this year, very tidy with his disposal and know's how to find the footy.

Benell will be in our best 22 by years end without doubt showed good run from the back end.

Sylvia is a tease.

Jetta showed some real glimpses and will get a few senior games this year.

Newton is the worst player I have seen in a dees jumper, well until i saw Meeson today... man what a donkey.

Our more established midfielders need to lift if we are to win more than 4-5 games this year... Mclean, Jones, Moloney this means you.

Our no name defence held together quite well under pressure.

All in all some good signs today in what was a bit of a nothing game but when you look at who were playing a win shouldn't have been out of the question.

Agree with just about all your sentiments here Fuzz.

Must admit as a few others have said, I really enjoy the suburban footy feel at Princes Park(I cant keep up with all its name changes) Reminded me of Jacko`s handstand and Lethal`s swinging coathanger on Bruns!)

The result was irrelevant but there were some very promising signs today. I have mentioned this several times even late last year. We are building the best backline in the comp within 2 or 3 years. Garland looks like the general that we wanted Rivers to be. He will rarely be beaten this year. Warnock gave Bazza a bath in the 1st half and I think DB wanted to give Frawley a feel of what it is like on a gorilla. He did a resonable job. Barry was off for most if not all of the last 1/4 possibly dragged because he was doing all the usual nigglling things he does when he is getting a towelling (no king hits though!) Stef Martin is going to be a super player!

Grimes, clearly uninjured thanks very much! He is ready for a big year. Get on him for Rising Star!

Newton, whilst he had another average day at the office there were some positives. He actually chased and harrassed when the ball was being run out of our forwardline and made 1 very good, hard tackle in the 1st quarter. He just needs to learn where to lead to. Still, having been one of his biggest critics, I enjoyed seeing him have a dip albeit just sticking his toes in!

Jetta, Move over Flash, we will have a new cult figure very soon. He did some very impressive things today and looks capable of playing a lot of footy this year. Bennell looked very good in the 1st quarter and seemed to get in the right places to get the pill.

Bail had a very good last quarter IMO and I heard a few people around me asking who he was!

Bell was having a pretty good game. he is possibly the best tackler in the team after Wheels. Shame he got injured, he limped off badly but did shake off the trainer as he approached the boundary although this may have been in sheer frustration as opposed to giving a sign that he was OK.

Sylvia can hold his head up after today. He has excellent hands in front of his face at times! I saw him go down when standing next to Mattner but missed the impact by a split second. I am guessing it was a sly corky to the thigh as he hobbled around for 5 mins but seemed to shake it off!

As others have mentioned, our forwardline will be our thorn in our side all year. There seems no set plays and no idea at times. I actually think some of our mids fear kicking it in there sometimes cos we would chip it across wing and HFF far too often today.

None of our senior players stood out today which I am still unsure if this is a good or bad thing! Good because a lot of the kids are standing up . bad, because who is going to lead them in tight and tense matches.

We tackled pretty well today and I would say we were harder at the footy than the Swans today.

2 last things that may interest you. I saw Rivers walking around today and I thought he looked very sore! I hope that is just his walking style but it didnt look right to me! I also had a quick chat to Bucks and asked him whats up? He said he had just been a little sore recently(I didnt ask him to elaborate as he probably is not allowed anyway!). He also said that he will be on the plane to Cairns and will play next weekend for sure!

[Jack Ship 0]

Hi all ... long time reader, first time poster.

How come nobody has commented on Pettard's hip and shoulder on Barry Hall in the second quarter? Barry went down like a sack. The boy has put on some serious weight over the summer and was throwing it around in a fair fashion. Fantastic to see. That and Davey's smother in the last quarter were highlights of the day.

For the record, I put down Sylvia and Grimes as our BOG today.

Really missed Bate / Robbo / Wonna / anybody on the forward line though. No disrespect to Miller as I'm a big fan but we just didn't have any player that looked capable of kicking a bag of goals.

[71 Molloy 266]

Bell is just a corky

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-sp...90228-8kwo.html

[olgreydingo 51]

My look on the game similar to some. Overall our back line was the best I’ve seen in a long time with Warnock, Garland, Martin and Cheney leading the way. If we maintain that sort of defence we have a lot to look forward to. Hall hardly got a look in. The negatives are that we missed too many opportunities when we moved into our forward line, and we couldn’t use the breeze. As like last year we had a fade out and had a goalless (2nd) quarter and allowed SFC to kick 6 unanswered goals. It was almost 7 but it was just touched on the line in the 3rd qtr.

Spencer will be a player of the future. At the moment he needs a better footy brain. He had 2 kicks smothered from marks and some disposals went way ward or put players under pressure, but IF Jamar can improve we could get back to the days of the Twin Towers, Stynes and O’dwyer. This is a big if, but the way Paul Johnson is going there is a back up. Unfortunately Meesen, whilst in the first half didn’t get much time, he just didn’t look interested. For a guy that is being overrun by younger guys I would have thought he would have wanted to really impress. But I was close enough to see him close up a number of times and there didn’t seem to have any determination, and his few disposals, we awful or he lost confidence and hand passed off. Davey, in the last quarter, showed, that whilst this was only a practice match, the chase down and smother was one of his best. If all the players had the same intestinal fortitude we would be unbeatable. All of the new guys showed good glimpses, but a lot of the rotations never gave the kids a long time on the ground. They should only get better. Unfortunately most of the senior players didn’t have match winning form, but rotations could affect this as well. Don’t just look at possessions but it is what it is done with it. Like Cheney caused a turnover in the 3rd qtr which was run down the ground and we broke the 6 streak by SFC and we kicked another 2 soon after.

I hope this gives you some more insight to the game and our future.

[Guest DemonSG]

Been out all day ......who won?

[SJX 6]

Sydney by 8 points, but you can check the game thread for further analysis.

[45HG 1,559]

Cheney looks pretty good IMO

[Longsufferingnomore 1,637]

what did anyone think of dunne today