I’ll try not to repeat what has already been mentioned, reports from tappysquads, deeznutz (my eyes thank you for the edit binman!), Deespicable, Dee-licious, et al have summed it up really well. A few other observations:

I actually love Christian Salem, for someone who gets as much footy as he does, and under pressure, his disposal is sublime. And he’s an excellent mark for his size.

I’ve read the thread on bigfooty as well, and Grimes was certainly not as bad as what has been suggested. He did exactly what Roos said and moved between wing and half-forward, and on today’s effort he was better than Stretch, ANB, M. Jones and even Kent (who did a couple of good things but was reasonably quiet). He wore no. 27 after halftime and was the one who kicked a goal by getting on the end of some good ball movement (as far as I could tell Hulett didn’t play).

Tyson had a dog of a first half. Sometimes he tries to look for the second or third option when he just doesn’t have the time. To his credit he kept at it and was much better after half-time.

I’m not sure how he is regarded within the inner sanctum of the club, but based on what happens on-field, VDB is my sneaky for the leadership group. He is very vocal around the ground, particularly at stoppages, and you can tell that he has played a lot more ‘senior’ footy than many of his younger teammates. In my opinion, his willingness to work both ways and actually make a physical impact when the ball is in his vicinity is why he will be one of the first picked every week.

Jack Watts was ok as the link man/third tall forward. His disposal moving the ball forward was impressive as usual. He took one mark today (granted it was on the opposite wing to where I was standing so I didn’t have the best view) that was exactly how I’m trying to teach my son not to mark the ball. It was like one of those really casual chest marks where you catch it on your hands away from your body- the sort that you don’t see in a game situation because if you drop it you look like a dill. As I said, I was a long way away from it so maybe I’m overstating how poor it looked.

Garland was good as the most experienced backman on the a-team. He was also very vocal working to position blokes like Hunt and Oliver when setting up the zone and at stoppages. He did get caught out on a couple of ‘fast breaks’, but his disposal was good and he was able to make some effective spoils to stop the other team moving the ball forward.

Although Gawn did win the majority of the hit-outs, not too many were to his teammates’ direct advantage- this may have been because N. Jones and Bernie were missing. Despite what happened last year against St Kilda, he still loves that tap over his head, and at one point it was interesting to hear VDB and Max having a decent ‘discussion’ about positioning. The best bit of ruckwork today was actually a centre tap from Frost to Viney that I think led to a goal. That being said, Pedersen seemed to generally have the better of Frost in the ruck when they were opposed to each other.

There was not much shirking going on- there were quite a few loud thwacks where players met head-on, as Joel Smith can attest.

All in all, it was a good hit-out and it is obvious to see that the skill level and decision making of the players has developed and is still improving. To go with the work that has been done on contested ball and defensive positioning over the last two years, I am tentatively optimistic about the season.

23 minutes ago, Chewie said:

 

Jack Watts was ok as the link man/third tall forward. His disposal moving the ball forward was impressive as usual. He took one mark today (granted it was on the opposite wing to where I was standing so I didn’t have the best view) that was exactly how I’m trying to teach my son not to mark the ball. It was like one of those really casual chest marks where you catch it on your hands away from your body- the sort that you don’t see in a game situation because if you drop it you look like a dill. As I said, I was a long way away from it so maybe I’m overstating how poor it looked.

 

Not sure what you are meaning here but did Watts mark the ball on his hands or chest?

3 minutes ago, rjay said:

Not sure what you are meaning here but did Watts mark the ball on his hands or chest?

It seemed on his hands, but his hands weren't positioned like for an overhead mark, out in front of his face. They were positioned like a chest mark, but instead of bringing the ball into his chest, he marked it away from his body on his hands. As I said, I was a long way away and his technique may have looked fine from up close, but as I watched I thought that it looked quite odd. Hopefully someone who had a better view can tell me I'm dreaming.

And it was just a minor thing. It certainly wasn't wasn't the worst thing I saw today- that would have been Tom Mc calling for and receiving an absolute hospital handball from Tyson after the latter had just won a free-kick in the middle of the ground!

I'm spewing, will be working just 10 minutes away and can't go

7 hours ago, FireInTheBelly said:

Nah she's working

I would have clicked like on this, but my wife might secretly be watching

11 minutes ago, Chewie said:

It seemed on his hands, but his hands weren't positioned like for an overhead mark, out in front of his face. They were positioned like a chest mark, but instead of bringing the ball into his chest, he marked it away from his body on his hands. As I said, I was a long way away and his technique may have looked fine from up close, but as I watched I thought that it looked quite odd. Hopefully someone who had a better view can tell me I'm dreaming.

And it was just a minor thing. It certainly wasn't wasn't the worst thing I saw today- that would have been Tom Mc calling for and receiving an absolute hospital handball from Tyson after the latter had just won a free-kick in the middle of the ground!

Thanks 'Chewie', the players are trained not to take the ball on the chest as it gives the defenders to much opportunity to spoil.

Seems like he was caught halfway's though with his hands in a very awkward position.

Edited February 19, 20169 yr by rjay
misunderstood post

1 hour ago, ILLDieADemon said:

So are we going to play finals this year of not? 

Pfft. 

 

 

 

Flag.

Is it me or is the same repeated post's are appearing everytime i open up a page for an update?

Its actually quite annoying and frustrating reading the same shi t over again

4 hours ago, McQueen said:

Why is the post sequence this thread all up the [censored]?

Is it just me?

I can't vouch for this but it could be a secret ploy by the tech heads at Demonland to put opposition club scouts off the scent.

Gym or Practice Match? Match wins!

I think the IT department got crack in their coffee this morning.

the Colombian beans were "special"

11 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

I can't vouch for this but it could be a secret ploy by the tech heads at Demonland to put opposition club scouts off the scent.

It is working perfectly WJ it is putting most Demonlanders off as well.

8 minutes ago, Gorgoroth said:

I think the IT department got crack in their coffee this morning.

the Colombian beans were "special"

Would they be "Bruce" beans Gorgoroth?

PS I see the Rams are back in LA!

2 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Thanks for all the reports guys

that type of effort today says we have some real competive young beasts on the list. 

My only real worry is that if Gawn gets injured who plays ruck??

Me too......

3 minutes ago, old dee said:

Would they be "Bruce" beans Gorgoroth?

PS I see the Rams are back in LA!

Yeah Bruce imports them ?

I went down this morning. There's nothing nicer than a quiet friday morning, watching your team run around. 

To be honest though, the showing was pretty unimpressive. 
The focus was probably heavily on getting structure right and training in younger players.

Having said that the disposal efficiency was pretty rotten. Hogan's never had it easier in his life. 

Great sausages though. 

Without Gawn we are gawn. I dont think we will play finals, but I hope for 9-12th area. Injuries will play a big part in where we finish. If we can have a clean bill of health for our top 20 odd players, I think we will go quite well. 

I've been thinking about it, and from today if I had to put together the best 22 who played (in position): 

Jetta Dunn Garland
Hunt  McDonald Brayshaw
Grimes Viney Salem
Watts Frost VDB
Garlett Hogan Kennedy
Gawn Viney Tyson
Oliver Kent Wagner ANB

5 hours ago, tappysquads said:

I went down, just my quick opinions-

Harmes in everything, tough clean and creative in the midfield
Watts linking up high, a lot of long leads and delivering to the deep Fwds. This role suits his game
Salem superstar, deadset gun across half back, use was top quality
Kennedy looks sharp, fast, and cracks in.didn't get heaps of it, but would be a contributor
OMac is a player, he will get games this year.
Kent Gun, involved in everything. Damaging left, tough and racked up possessions through middle and fwd
Tmac holding the ball 3 times, but was good
Grimes was good, he is best 22
I saw hogan kick 4
Tyson gets a lot of contested ball, didn't use it real well though
If Gawn goes down were buggered, he got a lot of ball and dominated taps but had no competition

 

Please elaborate on Grimes, best 22 in what position?

 

cheers

5 hours ago, wmth said:

I went along.

Some really good patches where we linked up well, and also some broken plays due to a fumble or poor skill error. Overall there were some good signs.

Viney, Watts (swapped teams with Harmes at half time), Hogan, Salem were the best for me. Dunn was very vocal and screaming at players all day. Got pretty frustrated as the white team started to fade. 

Hogan could've kicked 6 or 7. Gave a couple away and was the best option a few more times. 

Not sure the Frost up forward experiment is working. 

 

What issues did you notice with Frost?

 

cheers

That is Wagner up in the air. 

2 minutes ago, Dee-licious said:

That is Wagner up in the air. 

Looks great but it appears Wagner still able to dispose of the ball so an ineffective tackle. 

5 minutes ago, Dee-licious said:

That is Wagner up in the air. 

Wagner is giving Dunn a preview of the first part of his Ring cycle?

He was able to dispose of the ball. Mainly as Viney held him up there (for what seemed like an eternity, as Wagner looked around, made a decision, then handballed) instead of brining him to ground. A lot of tackles all day were holds as opposed to throws. Wagner would have been out for a week if Viney brought him down. 

Thanks to all who made the effort to do reports. DL at its best. 

Reports all quite consistent. Some really interesting insights.

Some good signs but our disposal remains an issue and if we do attack more will be exposed. Which is one reason we have a fair way to go

 

 

4 hours ago, S_T said:

Very mixed reports on Grimes.  A Bigfooty report made out he was terrible but he got a lot of praise here.  Case of same old, same old, with people viewing things with their minds already made up?

We will have the answer come round 1.