On 28/02/2014 at 09:21, ding said:

I agree DA. He is a great kick, but the same can be said for Strauss. Too many brain fades. I doubt he will ever be a top-liner. That particular kick was inexcusable.

Cross, Vince and Tyson were inspired pickups.

Give him time mate.

Let's not forget this is only a practice game, one of 18 in a row.

Toump has not been bad if you take out 2 bad pieces of play. Lay off the 19 year old.

Bernie Vince 21 touches to half time. I remember days where we'd have nobody have 21 touches for the whole game. What an absolute bargain we got there.

17 touches to Dom Tyson as well.

I am not as effusive as I was about Jimmy Toumpas. He looked absolutely knackered before 1/4 time. Needs to see how disposal mistakes kill games, also needs to work really hard on his engine. Still a good chance to be a handy type though.

Our recruiting last year is looking bloody good atm, Vince, Michie, Tyson and Cross have transformed our midfield. Geelong have 5.5 from turnovers, if we can get them down to an acceptable level we'll be able to compete with anyone.

  On 28/02/2014 at 09:23, damon the demon said:

Toump has not been bad if you take out 2 bad pieces of play. Lay off the 19 year old.

What sort of idiotic statement is that? You DONT get to take out bad play in real life... Thats as dumb as saying if you ignore our last 7 years we have been going great guns.

Think before you post.

We've at times made them chase tail and they've been guilty of not manning up on a number of occasions . The reality is that they're not that good and it's really only a matter of self belief on our part.

The teamwork has been excellent and even though we've made a few errors, that has to be somewhat expected when you consider we're trying to master a whole new game plan.

Toumpas will be fine ... he's still just a kid. Judge him in a few years. He's learning on the job.

What is more important is the overall team performance ... great signs, good run, reasonable pressure, switching of play is refreshing.

We're playing as a team.

Give them all a break, they are playing better football than they did all of last year. Most of them are making mistakes from time to time, but these are far less than the sheer number of turnovers we did last year. Toumpas will still be a great player for us. give him time and a bit more experience. He will probably learn more from that mistake than all of the good kicks he did tonight.

Regardless of a few errant kicks, our tackling and chasing has been A+.

I'm more worried about Toumpas' pace than his kicking, but I think it has a lot to do with him being dog-tired most of the time. He'll be a handy accumulator in time, he always seems to come into the games as it goes on.

Interesting 'retain possession at all costs' game plan, but jesus, there has to be a limit to how far back we go to set up again! I know skills improve with confidence, but surely most half decent pressure sides will be licking their lips if we continually push back this deep to switch. Worrying when Tom Mac and Jack 'world's slowest ball drop' Grimes are being tasked with this over and over throughout a game. Does hurt having Garland and Chip out of course.

pretty damn good first half for the dees considering the cats have a stronger team on field we may actually pinch this game

yeah, you can't ignore that he's been pretty awful, again.

he lacks football nous. i'm sure he's a terrific trainer with a great attitude, but he brings little beyond the white line. see also: james strauss.

Watts need to attack the contest with some ferocity.

Toumpas - kick to Bail for a goal, kick to Fitz for a shot on goal. Out in space tried to go inboard instead of wide, fair enough. Toumpas gets out in 20m of space and Byrnes kicks in to man on mark. Overall he's doing ok. I saw him run up and back the field 3 teams, no wonder he was stuffed.

  On 28/02/2014 at 09:28, Buzzy said:

Regardless of a few errant kicks, our tackling and chasing has been A+.

I'm more worried about Toumpas' pace than his kicking, but I think it has a lot to do with him being dog-tired most of the time. He'll be a handy accumulator in time, he always seems to come into the games as it goes on.

Interesting 'retain possession at all costs' game plan, but jesus, there has to be a limit to how far back we go to set up again! I know skills improve with confidence, but surely most half decent pressure sides will be licking their lips if we continually push back this deep to switch. Worrying when Tom Mac and Jack 'world's slowest ball drop' Grimes are being tasked with this over and over throughout a game. Does hurt having Garland and Chip out of course.

Good post.

Yes, we are playing as a team. Loving Tyson, Hogan and Vince.

  On 28/02/2014 at 09:29, Al said:

Watts need to attack the contest with some ferocity.

Amen. He's not shirking it but he's still not going full bore. He's still not fully using his speed. But he's shown enough for his first hit out and it's natural he's a little behind some of the other guys.

  On 28/02/2014 at 09:28, DemonAndrew said:

yeah, you can't ignore that he's been pretty awful, again.

he lacks football nous. i'm sure he's a terrific trainer with a great attitude, but he brings little beyond the white line. see also: james strauss.

You should be a coach as, you know, you seem to know it all.

Toumpas is 19 and it's NAB Cup, but don't let that stop you from totally writing a young kid off. You go right ahead there.

Go and hit the showers Byrnes and enjoy the season at Casey

  On 28/02/2014 at 09:26, ding said:

What sort of idiotic statement is that? You DONT get to take out bad play in real life... Thats as dumb as saying if you ignore our last 7 years we have been going great guns.

Think before you post.

Haaa. Chill out mate. Its the nab cup and im saying one of our 19 year olds is playing well if you discount a couple of miss-kicks. I think you might need a lie down.

Very smart kick toump

Positives:
Hogan, Vince, Tyson

Watts doing ok

Blease not horrible

Fitzy getting some game time (still needs more)

Spencer looking solid in the ruck if a little disappointing that he can't get in to it around the ground

Clisby looking decent. Dunn good. Georgiou beating a couple of times but is a pro when he gets a chance

Concerns

Trengove - back to slowgrove tonight

Not enough movement ahead of the ball and the resultant too much backwards and sideways

Grimes - lacking his usual strength at the contest (Minor concern he'll be right)

Tommy McDonald hasn't shown me anything amazing yet

Shannon Byrnes use of the ball - he's leading to all the right spots and fighting the ball which is his strength but has no composure for an experience player

Supergoals and straight kicking flatters us

  On 28/02/2014 at 09:31, the master said:

Amen. He's not shirking it but he's still not going full bore. He's still not fully using his speed. But he's shown enough for his first hit out and it's natural he's a little behind some of the other guys.

He seems to always jogging, look of slight disinterest. Potential to be a game breaker but....

I'm more concerned with the form of Trengove than I am toumpas

  On 28/02/2014 at 09:23, Whispering_Jack said:

Let's not forget this is only a practice game, one of 18 in a row.

where in the world did you hear that there were 18 games? How many days was that?

  On 28/02/2014 at 09:31, Wiseblood said:

You should be a coach as, you know, you seem to know it all.

Toumpas is 19 and it's NAB Cup, but don't let that stop you from totally writing a young kid off. You go right ahead there.

thanks wiseblood, i'll get my accreditation sorted tomorrow

the way that they're prepared to share the ball around is really encouraging.