1 Jones- Looks super fit and is looking much quicker than he has previously. Probably our best player tonight

2 Cheney- Thought he had a real crack tonight and I feel will continue to improve

3 Matty Bate to return. After tonights awful performance by our forwards, he is fast becoming our most important player

thought Joel MacDonald played alright too, and chip did some good stuff.

few things i noticed like, davey not playing half the game, grimes is better in defense in my opinion.

But i gotta say the skills.... arrghh... not great

1 Jones- Looks super fit and is looking much quicker than he has previously. Probably our best player tonight

2 Cheney- Thought he had a real crack tonight and I feel will continue to improve

3 Matty Bate to return. After tonights awful performance by our forwards, he is fast becoming our most important player

Just got to hit targets when we get the Ball, until we do that as a team the improvement is a long way off.

The quick hand ball to no one in the centre has got to be aimed at a player.

Many things to work on, but that's what these games are for.

i thought young jordie showed a bit when he was on.

Jones, Macdonald played well.

McDonald always making a contribution.

Scully.

Grimes was ok.

Frawley played well, in a winning side he would be magnificent.

Close this thread because we are really scraping the very bottom of the barrell here

Thought our disposal skills whilst previously looking to have improved, reverted badly tonight.

No real positives for mine.

It was after all only Freo we played, and there was a game to win albeit pre-season stuff.

Freos team was full of no names as well.

Didn't run the game out well either.Freo seemed to.

Bailey & co still have a lot of work to do to tune the players heads in!

Still think we are better than that, but gee, that was really disappointing.

One possible positive is that it's good to have a reality check prior to the commencement of the season.

Hell, the best thing out of this game is that now we have a much better idea of where we sit in comparison to other teams. I think 8-9 games this year might be waaaaaaay beyond us.

Freos team was full of no names as well.

Didn't run the game out well either.Freo seemed to.

Disagree mate.

Freo played some of their best senior players tonight ie. McPharlin, Mundy, Grover, Headland, Duffield, Hayden, Sandilands and of course big Pav. These players had a serious contribution to their sides win. It also helps when your side has their first choice ruckment up against a second and third year player.

Won the last quarter and our players did actually appear to run the game out, though the scoreline isn't indicitive of it.

Seeing Scully and Trengove debut... That is all.

Can't think of many positives, but I'll give it a try:

• It was a first round pre-season match and we were playing interstate, against probably the only team in the country desperate to do well in it. We weren't ready for a proper contest and it showed, but surely we won't carry that sort of attitude into round 1.
  
• All of our best / senior players were terrible. There is no way that players like Sylvia, Davey, Green, McDonald, Jurrah etc. are going to play half that badly every week, and some of the younger players did okay in their absence. It's one thing to lose to Freo by 8 goals without any contribution from key players, but it'd be much worse to lose to Freo by 8 goals if the better players were actually carrying the team.
  
• Joel MacDonald: BOG for me, and he's going to be a damn useful player for this club if we manage not to coach all the Brisbane out of him.
  
• Scully: 1st year, half a pre-season, and was still one of our best players. Fitness allowing, we're going to see a lot of him this year.
  
• Most of the young players had their moments. Frawley is going to be a damned good player, Maric showed more than most here are willing to give him credit for, Spencer doesn't look like a complete unco (except for when he tries to kick it), Martin is going to be an important swing player and at least knows how to make a contest, Trengove couldn't get near it but showed a lot of poise and maturity under terrible circumstances, Jetta has the ability if he could only stop making simple mistakes, Jordie McK showed something in the half he was given and I saw nothing tonight to suggest that Grimes won't be a gun. Normally young players are the first to fall away when things aren't going well, but I thought most of our young blokes stood up alright under the circumstances.

Well it was a bit of a stretch, but I think that's the best I can do. Might sleep off these beers before I come back with a list of the negatives.

only positive is we have put more games into some young bodies,,,,strauss, scully, fitzpatrick, trengove had good first games,,,melb need to games into these boys but manage workload to avoid burnout

Morabito didn't play well.

positive....

Our jumper was long way better than freo....

We looked good in the warm up....

We know where stand....lol

Morabito didn't play well.

As a rookie he looked better than a few of the Dees players....

As a rookie he looked better than a few of the Dees players....

Rookie ?

He was picked up at Number 4 in the draft, Morabito.

As a rookie he looked better than a few of the Dees players....

Think you were thinking of Michael Barlow. Who did play ok for Freo. (previously from Werribee), 2nd in Liston Trophy last year.

Positives - the only one that matters: No serious injuries!

I think he meant "rookie" in the broader "young-player" sense.

maybe i am just searching for positives but - lets not forget, its what 21st FEB!!!!!!!!!!!????

Season proper doesn't start for another 5 weeks.

I was mainly focusing on,

- how well Scully uses the ball in close. His quick hands off are amazing.

- trengrove attack and disposal i thought was great

- J MACdonald, he is ging to be invaluable down back, and I cant believe we got him for nothing

- Spencer already, was a massive improvement on last year

- I think we ran out 4 qrts which is a big change

and we have allot of key players to return. yeah we got pumped tonight, but heads up, look at were we are going.

As disappointed I am with the loss ( and I really am ) i am very excited about the future.

[*]Joel MacDonald: BOG for me, and he's going to be a damn useful player for this club if we manage not to coach all the Brisbane out of him.

wow that's an inditement on the coaching staff isn't it?

so i thought freo got so many soft free kicks in the first half i was fair dinkum going to spew all over the pub table. we were totally robbed by the 'modern game' in some respects. also i thought we were good apart from centre clearances and our forward line. very happy with sculls and trengove in particular. did think there are still problems with game plan - kicking it backwards etc - we need to attack at all costs not stuff around with it in the wrong half - i am happy to be told i am wrong with this opinion of mine if it means we win more games

POSITIVES

We get to play on a footy ground next week instead of a sand pit.

Jones and MacDonald played well.

Strauss showed a bit and McKenzie has a go.

NEGATIVES

Our run out of the backline was appalling we must have Davey down there, he's the only player that can run, carry and use it. No use playing up forward cause it doesn't get there.

Our midfield is still the poorest in the comp. Our midfielders don't know what a clearance is and they don't help out each other.

Our forward line is a shambles. Morton must play there he is getting wasted in the midfield, the pressure on Jurrah is enormous.

Bennell was awful, until he can put on some weight he should be played further up the ground.

Our skill level was embarrassing, sounds a lot like last year.

It ended.