Bartram - excellent tagging game

Bate - a poor return

Bennell - debut to forget

Bruce - not as prolific

Buckley - not a backman

Cheney - showed great endeavour

Davey - a major disappointment

Frawley - excellent first half

Garland - better against talls

Green - missing second half

Jetta - some creative possessions

Johnson - not a ruckman

Jones - excellent first half

McDonald - never stopped trying

McLean - continued poor preseason

Miller - tried but failed

Moloney - probably our best

Morton - rarely looked interested

Petterd - only dangerous forward

Rivers - got through game

Warnock - was not beaten

Spencer - continued to contest

Bartram - 100% focused

Bate - swamped

Bennell - precision under pressure

Bruce - cruise control on

Buckley - some positive touches

Cheney - very good debut

Davey - middle of road

Frawley - come of age

Garland - As you were

Green - icing on cake

Jetta - will get better

Johnson - gave it best

Jones - a new man

McDonald - junk yard dog

McLean - not a leader

Miller - middle of road

Moloney - the biggest +ve

Morton - will be tagged

Petterd - only dangerous forward

Rivers - got through game

Warnock - was not beaten

Spencer - continued to contest

Davey - a major disappointment

Bit harsh, i think he was in our best

Not too far off with most, though I thought Bennell was pretty good on debut and showed he cauld carry on the tradition of the great # 43 jumper worn so proudly by Riggers over his years of service to the dees. I also thought Jones' 2nd half was very good and he can hold his head high. Cheney was fantastic, and with a bit more experience will start to choose better options as he progresses.

Bate had an absolute 'mare.

Petterd our best I reckon. Brock looked almost injured.

Close with miost. Bennell had a good debut an unlike many, he's got nice skills. McLean tried and was good.

Bate had an absolute 'mare.

This seems to be happening too often

This seems to be happening too often

Needs to be played as a full forward rather than a floating flanker.

Or he could be played at Casey.

I may get shot down here but does Mclean have a problem with chasing? Or Is he just very slow?

We have no forwardline - not to mention poor footskills

Needs to be played as a full forward rather than a floating flanker.

Or he could be played at Casey.

#6 Matthew Bate

At FF: Too slow off the mark, not tall enough, and isn't exactly a prolific contest marker.

As MidFielder: Skills not good enough, footy smarts are not there, and is slower than our (already slow) midfield.

Bate is an ordinary forward flanker who had a particularly ordinary game today. File under 'Sylvia' category of player that will not 'deliver' in the way we would like.

Bit harsh, i think he was in our best

Davey's impact on the game was non existent

There's a lot to like about the 4 debutants we played today.

Bennell had a tidy debut, but for mine, doesn't look physically ready for AFL footy. He was a boy amongst men today and there were a few times he used his pace well to make good position, but was simply moved off the ball too easily once in the contest.

Jake Spencer's game was a little bit dissappointing. Didn't play anywhere near as well as he had in earlier pre-season games, but will be much better off for the experience.

Kyle Cheney looked like a 5-year veteran out there with his poise and courage in the air. Looks like a real gem who could have a big year!

Neville Jetta was lively all day. That crumb shot at goal he had with his first kick that just missed was all class. Made a few mistakes but shows signs he'll be a very good player for many years.

Not too far off with most, though I thought Bennell was pretty good on debut and showed he cauld carry on the tradition of the great # 43 jumper worn so proudly by Riggers over his years of service to the dees. I also thought Jones' 2nd half was very good and he can hold his head high. Cheney was fantastic, and with a bit more experience will start to choose better options as he progresses.

Agree that Bennell was promising on debut. Jetta to me was disappointing, poor disposal, misread the flight of the ball on numerous occasions and could be the slowest indigenous player I have seen

Kyle Cheney = 2002 era Peter Walsh!

When is the last time Davey was really on? He has been really disappointing for a really long time now. Just fails to influence the game, gives away messy free kicks and is shut down too easily. Disappointing.

Bate is Bate, horrible below the knees, slow as anything, can't mark one on one.

McLean doesn't seem fit, he spent a fair bit of time on the bench and looked stuffed when he came off. Simpson did a good job running him around. Hopefully as his fitness improves so will his output. He's not someone that I worry about because you just know he'll come good, but I do worry that when he's not on we really struggle.

PJ was horrendous, and Buckley needs to get the hell out of the backline.

There were still plenty of positives though.

Petterd was excellent up forward. Love love love him in that position.

Bennell's game is underrated. He did some really clever things under pressure and held his own in one-on-one contests.

Jetta can win the ball, now he just needs to take a deep breath before dishing it off. The ideas are good, execution not so much.

Jones' disposal has improved out of sight. West will be great for his career IMO.

Cheney was fantastic, Rivers did some things that only Rivers can do (and didn't die in the process), and Warnock is just so safe.

Jetta to me was disappointing, poor disposal, misread the flight of the ball on numerous occasions and could be the slowest indigenous player I have seen

I disagree. Yes he did make some poor skill errors and misjudged the flight a couple of times, but his liveliness and willingness to compete for and win the hard ball was very encouraging for a 1st gamer. His errors to me were more due to inexperience and getting used to the pace of AFL rather than lack of skill.

And i didn't think he looked slow at all. Maybe not as quick as a Davey or Wells (who is?), but definitely not slow.

Maybe not as quick as a Davey or Wells (who is?), but definitely not slow.

Davey hasn't used his pace to our advantage in 2 years.

Moving him into the midfield was a mistake in my opinion. He was the most damaging small forward going around, and now he can hardly get a touch.

I don't think Jetta is slow it's more of a fitness issue.

Skills and decision making is still horrid.. we really need to get the ball in the hands of our more skilful players like green

Davey is a major disappointment so far, but at only round 1... Has to improve though because there is pressure for his spot now with maric, jetta, jurrah and so on

my highlights

-moloney

-petterd

-cheney

-Frawley

Lowlights

-Jetta: Shocking kick of the pill

- Morton

-The whole team's foot skills: stop kicking it short when you're not sure what to do. If in doubt, kick it long NOT SHORT. so dumb

-Garland: cost us a couple of goals by kicking it into the man on the mark etc.

-Bate: As above

I sometimes wonder whether some people actually went to the game or had it phoned in by a slightly short sighted friend who was there.

Can agree with the following.

Davey - was very ordinary

Green - went missing too often

Buckley - heart in mouth every time he disposes of the ball and was always a step behind whoever he was on

McLean and Rivers are coming back from really bad injuries and will take a couple games to get back up and running properly, the both did a couple of things

The key in the last quarter was Laidley telling McIntosh to get forward at every opportunity and poor old Spencer ran out of petrol........

And Wells decided to actually not do a Davey and have an impact...........

We had managed to keep Hale, Canpbell and Thomas to single goals

The positives

Cheney was excellent for a debut

Bennell did a couple of nice things and will improve

Jetta also did a couple of nice things and will improve.

Petterd looks like he will settle into the forward line, it depends on who will be there with him.

Moloney is back

Looks like Bate is the target for the loss......he was swamped everytime the ball was kicked anywhere near him.............he actually brought the ball to ground against three and set up a goal, but hey he is a lumbering no hope so he can wear all the blame..........the kicking into the forward 50 in the last quarter was back to last seasons hit and hope

Gee I reckon Sylvia would have been handy today. Bate and Miller were pathetic.

#6 Matthew Bate

At FF: Too slow off the mark, not tall enough, and isn't exactly a prolific contest marker.

As MidFielder: Skills not good enough, footy smarts are not there, and is slower than our (already slow) midfield.

Bate is an ordinary forward flanker who had a particularly ordinary game today. File under 'Sylvia' category of player that will not 'deliver' in the way we would like.

That's a pretty fair appraisal Geddy Lee. He's just so damn slow, it impedes his efforts to chase or push up the ground.

Bartram - stuck to task

Bate - an absolute joke

Bennell - had a taste

Bruce - useless once again

Buckley - needs attacking role

Cheney - gave me erection

Davey - still not delivering

Frawley - great game finally

Garland - awful skill errors

Green - just a game

Jetta - plenty to excite

Johnson - poor all game

Jones - reasonable and gusty

McDonald - skipper led valiantly

McLean - below usual standards

Miller - still no good

Moloney - nice comeback game

Morton - looked rather lost

Petterd - main shining light

Rivers - signs were good

Warnock - absolutely destroyed Hale

Spencer - good in hitouts

POSITIVES:

- Cheney was very impressive on debut, Bennell and Jetta showed good signs. Bennell needs to develop physically, Jetta just needs a few games to get used to the pace of AFL football and to learn to take better options, I'm confident he'll become a handy player as early as this year.

- The long line-up outside the membership tent (did anyone else notice this? Even at 1:10 there was still a pretty big line-up). Will be good to see how many we signed up today.

- The backline is shaping up very nicely.

NEGATIVES:

- We desperately, desperately need a target up forward. We have good crumbers and even a second tall in Miller, but we badly need a go-to man.

- Again we failed to play 4 competitive quarters of footy; our skills and endeavor let us down in the 4th.

- Brock and Davey were very disappointing.

- Bate and PJ were dreadful.