I'm flying back home and there's a few great Melbourne players on our flight.

Harry Kewell and Archie Thompson for starters!!!

just curious - did they fly coach or business? Flights what? 2.5 hrs?

Your 3rd point in particular is spot on and exactly how I felt after last nights games. The mrs is a magpie supporter and I am very much looking forward to seeing her face as we start crashing into some of there players for a change and winning the contested ball. I know it's back to two teams and 4 quarters but are the quarters still shortened for the remaining NAB rounds?

I'm pretty sure they're shortened NION, yes.

I'm glad we've got two of the stringer teams to play against in Collingwood and Hawthorn. Our youngsters vs theirs.

Love Bail's hardness and gut running. If he can improve his kicking slightly he could be very handy.

I haven't seen the video of the game yet. Got to hear the first one on radio.

So i ask one question. Were we a HARD TEAM last night, or at least heading in that direction??

We seemed to be more desperate in both games which is the most important thing in wet weather footy. Hard to draw much else out of the game.

If we are that desperate in dry weather and can also execute our skills more often than not, we are in with a shot against most teams this season.

Magner, Couch, Beamer, Bate and Jones are all strong players and they set the tone. But it will be interesting to see who stays and who goes by round 1

because they are all big bodied straight line runners and none of them have elite footskills.

I thought our physicality was our highlight overall last night.

P.S.

Was great to see Brad Green go for that courageous mark in the middle of the ground.

Shows he still wants to lead. Good on him. We will need his footskills in the middle of the ground if that's where

he ends up playing this season.

Back to 03, 04, 05 !

just curious - did they fly coach or business? Flights what? 2.5 hrs?

Just landed at Tullamarine and am standing two feet away from the great man waiting for baggage. On past experience that means I'll be here another hour.

Wife and I were in row 4 - the soccer players nowhere to be seen.

Postscript: yep - just announced that Qantas apologise for some stuff up with baggage handling equipment.

We seemed to be more desperate in both games which is the most important thing in wet weather footy. Hard to draw much else out of the game.

If we are that desperate in dry weather and can also execute our skills more often than not, we are in with a shot against most teams this season.

Magner, Couch, Beamer, Bate and Jones are all strong players and they set the tone. But it will be interesting to see who stays and who goes by round 1

because they are all big bodied straight line runners and none of them have elite footskills.

I thought our physicality was our highlight overall last night.

Thanks Steve (mighty drummer he is)

So last night was a success. Good.

I thought Davey was a big positive, he had that goal sneak look to him that I hadn't seen for five or so years.

Correct. I am amazed more people have not noted this. I saw more true crumbing acts from Davey last night than from our forwardline last year. Crumbing is a skill that cannot be taught and Davey is a natural. I can see this being a good move once his fitness and confidence grows.

Personally from what I saw if these games were full length we would of ran it out and won by 40 points.

Nothing to stress about here in the last week of February!

Plenty of senior players missing in the first game.. Green, Trengove, Grimes, Sylvia, Jurrah, Morton, Rivers, Tapscott, Blease & Jamar, Moloney were subs. I guess what really killed us was the absence of a former number 1 draft pick... Oh whoops, did I just say that.

Honestly guys lots of good signs and hardness and attack on the pig skin was pleasant to watch. We will be very competitive.

Edited February 26, 201213 yr by Hells Gates

surely you jest? did not do a single positive thing all night, succeeded mostly in gifting the opposition the football

Thank you for this insight into your football sense. I fell I can adjust all your future contributions accordingly.

Enjoyed Magners game in particular. He had about 4 clearances in the space of 2 minutes and a couple of inside 50's in the same period. We must elevate this guy for round one. I would take him over all other rookies at this stage.

May have been the conditions but he and Couch just seem like less skilled (if thats even possible) carbon copies of Moloney and Jones. Hard bodied clearance players who will win more 1 and 1's than they lose however it's simply not going to win us games. Sure we may be competitive but the skills, composure and awareness just aren't there. We might not lose as badly as we did last year, but we're going to lose a LOT.

Here's what I saw:

- Clark, Watts, Martin and any other tall forward will struggle with the delivery they're going to be getting from the midfielders

- our crumbers better be damn good this year because there's going to be a lot of long bombs and balls to ground

- Magner, Couch et al are reasonable inclusions to put pressure on the kids and set the example in application and commitment to the contest however they are so far from A or even B grade AFL midfielders its not even funny. Remember Mcgough (or whatever his name was) from Collingwood who won best on in a wet anzac game a few years ago and then was never seen again? Thats why its not enough to simply be a hard nosed midfielder any more. We need elite-skilled mids not more battlers.

Until we find one or two more Trengove's we'll be a good honest team at best. It won't be pretty football, but it will be better than losing games 100+ a la last year.

Having said all that... it was just the NAB cup. Can't take too much away from it, but you can take some things.

Edited February 26, 201213 yr by BennytheJet

First post

I may not have the same insight as others on this forum but having watched the training drills at Casey Fields, the first three halves looked suprisingly similar to the defensive match drills being carried out .

What was missing were the offensive lead and mark drills being carried out at the other end of the ground. Coincidence or instruction ???

T'was hard to take too much from last night, and most of it has been covered well in the above.

What hit me was the depth we now have as a team given there were 6 potential 22 our of the squad (i.e. Trengove, Jurrah, Tapscott, Morton, etc...), and in each game we tended to rest the seasoned players in favour of giving the new kids a run (i.e. Grimes, Green, Sylvia, etc.. rested in the first game). So I'm looking forward to us playing the kids and tweaking the regulars until the real stuff starts against Brissie Round... and we can rollout and settle our 22.

All good.

Go Dees

. I guess what really killed us was the absence of a former number 1 draft pick... Oh whoops, did I just say that.

I thought we turned it over enough last night.

I thought we turned it over enough last night.

Ha ha nice one!! Too right!

In breaking news for those who have not yet visited Metricon Stadium, there were adequate supplies of beer and curry on sale. I reckon some blokes over indulged

First game under new coach, hardness and contested footy were the highlights. The two things on top of all supporters wish list coming off last years debacle. BIG tick in those boxes for the new coaching team.

First post

I may not have the same insight as others on this forum but having watched the training drills at Casey Fields, the first three halves looked suprisingly similar to the defensive match drills being carried out .

What was missing were the offensive lead and mark drills being carried out at the other end of the ground. Coincidence or instruction ???

Nice post, post more often please

I was at the games last night and it's all too comical with the team bashing. You can not get a proper indication from this shortened version. It all went too quick for my liking. You will get a better indication next week so settle down people, there were positives last night.

Clarke will make a big difference!

Bail and Bate were very good.

Jones looked really good and was best on ground against the suns and then was subbed off 5 mins into the second half, so that tells me last night was simply experimental.

Davey showed glimpses by his clever crumbing.

Grimes all class, just by the half volley pick up in the wet rebounding out from the back.

Sylvia will have a huge season, believe in him everyone, his chasing and closing speed were highlights for me.

Dan Nicholson can out run superman for all i care, he is not in our best 22, has no awareness what so ever and makes really poor decisions.

Magner and Couch are not speed machines by any means but they certainly know how to get the ball.

Good move by neeld to put Sellar forward second half against lions, caused a bit of havoc and kicked that clutch goal in terrible conditions.

Overall i was pleased.

Hard to take too much from last nights games, I feel we won't be physically smashed as much anymore with the inclusion of Magner, Clark and Sellar- all add some toughness and strength even if they may not all be in the same team.

Highlights for me were Magna, Tynan, Clark, Bate and Davey. Excited about Magna and Tynan because they both have a bit of Xfactor about them. Clark looked at home already playing forward, and may prove to be our most important signing in recent memory. Bate shown he can be serviceable in a midfield role and we may get some really good input out of him this year and Davey almost seemed to turn back the clock and produced some silky plays. Was quite exciting

We will still struggle with the good teams this year, but I feel an improvement on last year is going to happen! Bring on some normal matches none of this bank cup crap!

Must be said that we did appear very rusty last night, many times we went for the same mark and got in each others way. I'd expect this to improve with more game time

Must be said that we did appear very rusty last night, many times we went for the same mark and got in each others way. I'd expect this to improve with more game time

Yes we were a bit scratchy. I guess we have only had the footy's out for just over 6 weeks when you think about it.

Still 5 weeks until the real stuff with a few praccy matches in between to help us along more.

Edited February 26, 201213 yr by Hells Gates

Reasonably happy with last night.

I think we may of been instructed to bomb it long due to the conditions, and that it will not be a regular tactic.

Sellar was just ok. Did some good things, but some ordinary things as well.

Magner was impressive, but I would like to see him repeat his form if he is going to be elevated. Can someone tell me what the current scenario is? How many spots do we have?

Enjoyed watching Flash, and I really hope he can have a big year.

Stef Martin was good. Almost goal of the year, was great to watch.

Clarke is going to be a great addition. Loved his tackle to get a shot at goal.

Howe looked good for the limited time he got.

The OOB rule killed us, due to us not adapting to this rule and playing around the boundary. This is not such a bad thing.

Nothing more heart warming than a blossoming love affair

Forged through adversity unfortunately!

Reasonably happy with last night.

I think we may of been instructed to bomb it long due to the conditions, and that it will not be a regular tactic.

Sellar was just ok. Did some good things, but some ordinary things as well.

Magner was impressive, but I would like to see him repeat his form if he is going to be elevated. Can someone tell me what the current scenario is? How many spots do we have?

Enjoyed watching Flash, and I really hope he can have a big year.

Stef Martin was good. Almost goal of the year, was great to watch.

Clarke is going to be a great addition. Loved his tackle to get a shot at goal.

Howe looked good for the limited time he got.

The OOB rule killed us, due to us not adapting to this rule and playing around the boundary. This is not such a bad thing.

We are able to promote two from the rookie list at the present time.

T'was hard to take too much from last night, and most of it has been covered well in the above.

What hit me was the depth we now have as a team given there were 6 potential 22 our of the squad (i.e. Trengove, Jurrah, Tapscott, Morton, etc...), and in each game we tended to rest the seasoned players in favour of giving the new kids a run (i.e. Grimes, Green, Sylvia, etc.. rested in the first game). So I'm looking forward to us playing the kids and tweaking the regulars until the real stuff starts against Brissie Round... and we can rollout and settle our 22.

All good.

Go Dees

dont see grimes as seasoned. cautious approach maybe