Game day thread

[agent 99 57]

SEN have talked the praises for the Dee's as well. Saying we are starting to show skill, just need to get some smarts wich will come with experience. I don't think we will finish last this year. We are slowly starting to earn a bit of respect it seems, from players and commentators.

[DemonDan... 77]

SEN have talked the praises for the Dee's as well. Saying we are starting to show skill, just need to get some smarts wich will come with experience. I don't think we will finish last this year. We are slowly starting to earn a bit of respect it seems, from players and commentators.

Slyvia great, just what we've been waiting for. Johnno too, has kept progressing over the weeks and now back up to speed at afl level, no excuses now big johnno!

9.8 to 6.5 after half time in our favour was also good. Shows we didn't give up.

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

That scoreboard flattered us. We were thumped today, but we fought back manfully in the last. More than manfully actually.

Make no mistake, the Hawks were well and truly on today. They were playing open, free, they were tackling hard, shepherding, smashing us up both ends o the ground, and centre breaks were embarrassing. And yet somehow we didn't go away.

There was PLENTY to be positive about today. Sylvia had 30 touches, 4 sensational goals. Was everywhere and did everything. Tackling, marking, running, kicking. I've never seen him take on tacklers like that as often within 4 quarters as he did. That's the only positive thing I'll say though, as Col has done this to us a number of times. What I'd like to see is how people read his game... against last year's premiers playing superb footy he was more than doing his fair share. Does the quality of the opposition make you think he was even better for having gotten on top? Or was he able to be creative because he was given space.

Maric didn't get a lot of it, but my goodness he oozes class. The shot on goal from 55 made the distance comfortably, and his action is, for lack of a better word, perfect.

Green is so important for us. Especially in defence.

The defenders had probably their worst game of the season scoreboard-wise. But as far as I'm concerned if that's the WORST they get beaten in a season, I'd be thrilled with that. Buddy and Roughy threatened to break the game wide open, and neither ended up following through. Frawley and Warnock can hold their heads high. Whelan looks to have a busted nose, but he did what he always does.

Big Stef had only minutes in the forward-line, and somehow popped up with a classy goal, followed by a juggling mark, play on and snap that had his supporters cheering on the inside. I have a big problem with Stef as a full-time forward, but today he put himself in a position to play there quite a bit in the coming weeks.

Others did their jobs, Grimes was being shown a thing or two by Rioli but worked tirelessly anyway, for a 4th gamer. PJ was smashed in the ruck, but was, at times, axcellent around the ground. Particularly by hand. Beamer was also awesome by foot.

For every winner though, there were frustrations.

Except for his UNBELIEVABLE brain fade, Robbo wasn't as bad as some make out. He presented well and should have had more goals to his name given how he got to the ball over and over. That said, all in all he was a passenger.

Davey had less than 20 touches, on McGlinn. I'd still take 17 Davey touches over 25 from any other player, but given how he's gone this year, he was pretty well held. One great positive was that he didn't lose his cool... I think this might actually be the most pleasing thing to see from him.

Something must be done about Jones' delivery. He is such a good player, but over and over he delivered it into the Hawks' laps. We were quite good by foot today, but Jones is still playing like it's round 1. I'm not sure what to do about this, as I love him as a player, but in a free-flowing skill-oriented game like this, he stands out like a sore thumb.

Petterd was very quiet. Popped up here and there but didn't hurt them.

Miller and Bate presented, but were largely ineffective. They both looked like they were going to cause headaches, but just couldn't quite push their opponents. They were far from the worst on ground, but do need to get better if they're to be taken seriously.

I took quite a lot from this game. The REALLY big news was that the bloke operating camera five FINALLY educated BT on how to say Robbo's name. BT subsequently ignored him... Fat lot of good it would have done anyway, as Robbo only has a season or two left.

There were lots of little general positives, such as the fact we ran the game out FAR better than the Hawks, and it didn't even look like anyone lost a yard, besides maybe Davey who looked completely spent. Even the oldies like JMac were still putting everything in. Our skills, particularly handballing, were INFINITELY better than at any time last year. That said, there is still a whole lot of room for improvement, and the way the Hawks kicked today should be seen as the benchmark.

As BT put it, the Hawks were fantastic today... and we got within 22 points.... in his words, "They ARE competitive." And that's something to celebrate. That and the 4 missed premiership points...

[MadAsHell 4,089]

SEN have talked the praises for the Dee's as well. Saying we are starting to show skill, just need to get some smarts wich will come with experience. I don't think we will finish last this year. We are slowly starting to earn a bit of respect it seems, from players and commentators.

Don't say such things agent 99 we can and will finish last as long as we apply ourselves! We have to believe that Richmond will improve and once we chalk up win number 4 any of our players who are carying slight injuries will just need to be shipped off for season ending surgery so they're right for next year while we blood the Watts's, Strauss's, Bail's, Jurrah's, McNamara's and so on......hehe.

[agent 99 57]

Hahaha would be nice to get picks 1+2 but I think we have a good chance of beating the filth,westcoast,freo and richmond. I don't know exactly whos left to play this year but I'm not hopefull.

[MadAsHell 4,089]

That scoreboard flattered us. We were thumped today, but we fought back manfully in the last. More than manfully actually.

Make no mistake, the Hawks were well and truly on today. They were playing open, free, they were tackling hard, shepherding, smashing us up both ends o the ground, and centre breaks were embarrassing. And yet somehow we didn't go away.

There was PLENTY to be positive about today. Sylvia had 30 touches, 4 sensational goals. Was everywhere and did everything. Tackling, marking, running, kicking. I've never seen him take on tacklers like that as often within 4 quarters as he did. That's the only positive thing I'll say though, as Col has done this to us a number of times. What I'd like to see is how people read his game... against last year's premiers playing superb footy he was more than doing his fair share. Does the quality of the opposition make you think he was even better for having gotten on top? Or was he able to be creative because he was given space.

Maric didn't get a lot of it, but my goodness he oozes class. The shot on goal from 55 made the distance comfortably, and his action is, for lack of a better word, perfect.

Green is so important for us. Especially in defence.

The defenders had probably their worst game of the season scoreboard-wise. But as far as I'm concerned if that's the WORST they get beaten in a season, I'd be thrilled with that. Buddy and Roughy threatened to break the game wide open, and neither ended up following through. Frawley and Warnock can hold their heads high. Whelan looks to have a busted nose, but he did what he always does.

Big Stef had only minutes in the forward-line, and somehow popped up with a classy goal, followed by a juggling mark, play on and snap that had his supporters cheering on the inside. I have a big problem with Stef as a full-time forward, but today he put himself in a position to play there quite a bit in the coming weeks.

Others did their jobs, Grimes was being shown a thing or two by Rioli but worked tirelessly anyway, for a 4th gamer. PJ was smashed in the ruck, but was, at times, axcellent around the ground. Particularly by hand. Beamer was also awesome by foot.

For every winner though, there were frustrations.

Except for his UNBELIEVABLE brain fade, Robbo wasn't as bad as some make out. He presented well and should have had more goals to his name given how he got to the ball over and over. That said, all in all he was a passenger.

Davey had less than 20 touches, on McGlinn. I'd still take 17 Davey touches over 25 from any other player, but given how he's gone this year, he was pretty well held. One great positive was that he didn't lose his cool... I think this might actually be the most pleasing thing to see from him.

Something must be done about Jones' delivery. He is such a good player, but over and over he delivered it into the Hawks' laps. We were quite good by foot today, but Jones is still playing like it's round 1. I'm not sure what to do about this, as I love him as a player, but in a free-flowing skill-oriented game like this, he stands out like a sore thumb.

Petterd was very quiet. Popped up here and there but didn't hurt them.

Miller and Bate presented, but were largely ineffective. They both looked like they were going to cause headaches, but just couldn't quite push their opponents. They were far from the worst on ground, but do need to get better if they're to be taken seriously.

I took quite a lot from this game. The REALLY big news was that the bloke operating camera five FINALLY educated BT on how to say Robbo's name. BT subsequently ignored him... Fat lot of good it would have done anyway, as Robbo only has a season or two left.

There were lots of little general positives, such as the fact we ran the game out FAR better than the Hawks, and it didn't even look like anyone lost a yard, besides maybe Davey who looked completely spent. Even the oldies like JMac were still putting everything in. Our skills, particularly handballing, were INFINITELY better than at any time last year. That said, there is still a whole lot of room for improvement, and the way the Hawks kicked today should be seen as the benchmark.

As BT put it, the Hawks were fantastic today... and we got within 22 points.... in his words, "They ARE competitive." And that's something to celebrate. That and the 4 missed premiership points...

Great wrap up thanks Dappa Dan, I'd also like to pay special mention to Rivers. Didn't get a lot of it but did a great job on Franklin after he carved up Frawley in the opening term. Very pleasing performance from the team today.

[Whispering_Jack 28,118]

Great wrap up thanks Dappa Dan, I'd also like to pay special mention to Rivers. Didn't get a lot of it but did a great job on Franklin after he carved up Frawley in the opening term. Very pleasing performance from the team today.

I have to confess that I'm disappointed with today's showing and while a 22 point loss to last year's premiers sounds honourable, let's face it, the Hawks took the foot off the pedal in the final quarter. I really expected us to do better and thought we might be an outside chance to win given the players out of Hawthorn's defence, the loss of Dew and their poor form overall this year. I suppose it was a bit of a reality check.

The good things were the play of Colin Sylvia - we've been waiting 6 years for a game like that and what we need to see is consistency of that high level of performance. Although we lost, it would not surprise me if Colin gets the 3 Brownlow votes for today's game. Frawley, Petterd, Morton, Grimes, Maric, Martin and Bennell continue to get games under their belts and Martin showed he might be handy up forward. While Johnson did well around the ground, we are still being badly beaten in the ruck and losing out of the stoppages. It was interesting to see Mark Jamar named as best for Casey. We need someone to contest in this department which is where we're being killed week in, week out. I don't know how Jake Spencer is going fitness wise but I would almost have been tempted to elevate him on the strength of his NAB Cup game again the Hawks earlier in the year.

I still have faith that our second half of the season will see even more improvement and I hope that the club remains firmy focussed on winning 6 games in the run home. I accept that the game against the Saints on Sunday is going to be a tough ask but I'm already up here on the Gold Coast and will keep everyone up to date with the goings on in the lead up to Saturday night's game.

[Jaded No More 59,809]

I have to confess that I'm disappointed with today's showing and while a 22 point loss to last year's premiers sounds honourable, let's face it, the Hawks took the foot off the pedal in the final quarter. I really expected us to do better and thought we might be an outside chance to win given the players out of Hawthorn's defence, the loss of Dew and their poor form overall this year. I suppose it was a bit of a reality check.

I agree in a sense.

The first half was the worst I have seen us play in a long long time, certainly this season. We blew our chances in the first with dumb forward movement and easy shots on goal being missed left right and centre.

The second quarter was pathetic.

However, it has to be said that, in previous years (even back in the days when we were playing finals), a half time margin like the one we saw today, would have meant a complete thrashing. For a young team to come out and actually fight out a game that was essentially lost, and keep on taking chances, was great to see.

That was the most pleasing aspect of today... apart from Stef's forwardline brilliance

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

Great wrap up thanks Dappa Dan, I'd also like to pay special mention to Rivers. Didn't get a lot of it but did a great job on Franklin after he carved up Frawley in the opening term. Very pleasing performance from the team today.

Yup I realised I forgot him when I logged on today. He was... well... Jared. Didn't get a heap of it but gee he was good. I think he may have gone to Buddy too in the second half. If this is true, then as per usual, he plays on an opponent who outweighs, outruns, outskills and generally out-everythings him... and he still beats them. The more things change the more they stay the same.

I agree in a sense.

The first half was the worst I have seen us play in a long long time, certainly this season.

I dunno about that. We were ok, they were just so much better. And I'd put the P.A. first half ahead of that one for ridiculously bad footy.