Good win but we need to learn to close out games better. 

14 minutes ago, dee-tox said:

Couldn't watch the game but I am particularly interested in how Salem, Stretch and Melksham went. They are crucial for our carrying of the ball on the outside. Tony Shaw said on radio that Melsham struggled...?

Melksham was fine for a guy having his first serious hit out for a while, didn't do too much wrong

Stretch continues to develop nicely, did some good and bad like most of the others

Salem's first hit out in midfield, more please

Hate to say it but the one player who has begun to believe the publicity was Hunt, tried too much a few time, the Doggies had watched the tapes

Jeff Garlett will be ther Rd 1

Edited February 18, 20178 yr by Satyriconhome

A lot of things to like today. Salem's first half when I thought he was BOG. He did not have the same amount of game time in the second half. Joel Smith great first half and spent not as much time in the second half.

Oliver is a smart footballer with his quick hands and decision making and when Libba was on the ground, Oliver tagged and ran with him very well. Lewis's steadying influence and composure and I liked that he challenged Viney on an error Viney made in the third quarter. That said, Viney's acceleration away from the contest is terrific and he is a wonderful player for us.

We seemed to make mistakes in going out from defence in the last quarter. I think it is going to take a bit of time to slot Vince into the defensive structure. Bernie likes to do things his way which is more acceptable up the ground but not in defence where defenders are accountable to one another.

Gawn seems to have more tricks up his sleeve in his tap work. The opposition don't know where he is going to hit it which was not the case for most of last year and there was good understanding from the mids where Max was going to tap it.

Brayshaw is essential to our team because of his fierceness, tackling and attack on the ball. I would like Weidemann to keep playing as he is a big man who flies at the ball and draws an opponent. Garlett thrives in those situations and Jeffy's unselfishness was a feature today.

Both Weidemann and O Mac have bulked up and I wasn't sure last year but now feel that Oscar is going to very good and McCartney's recent praise of him Is a valuable insight. I thought a number of players had bulked up around the hips and thighs and it did not seem to diminish their speed.

We contested well and were the better team for most of the day although I thought that the Doggies better players spent less time on the ground than our better players.

Finally, Jesse looks in great nick and hopefully is going to have a super year. He took a couple of great grabs.

2 minutes ago, Satyriconhome said:

Melksham was fine for a guy having his first serious hit out for a while, didn't do too much wrong

Stretch continues to develop nicely, did some good and bad like most of the others

Salem's first hit out in midfield, more please

Hate to say it but the one player who has begun to believe the publicity was Hunt, tried too much a few time, the Doggies had watched the tapes

Jeff Garlett will be ther Rd 

Good observation but I suspect that like most teams in this series the Dogs did not play their full defensive press. The breaking of that press is where Hunt comes into his own.

this was my highlight !!! 

my son getting asked to be Mascot for the day 

and my girls did the guard of honour too 

many thanks to MFC for this , on such a hard day for us 

Is it worth noting that Goodwin's unofficial coaching record with us is now 4-0. Probably not, but it's a handy start.

Just now, A F said:

Yep. Terrible.

Same hairdresser as Jack Watts maybe?

10 minutes ago, _H_ said:

Same hairdresser as Jack Watts maybe?

Nah. More likely a meth addict. Unless it's the same meth addict that cuts Jack's.

1 hour ago, Satyriconhome said:

...

Joel Smith   have seen him do this at training now in a game

...

Saty's comment about Joel Smith applies to the whole team.

We've got the potential. We've done it in training.

Today shows that they are capable of putting it together on the ground - against the reigning premiers no less.

If there's any significance in today's game, that's it.

43 minutes ago, Satyriconhome said:

Hate to say it but the one player who has begun to believe the publicity was Hunt, tried too much a few time, the Doggies had watched the tapes

Agreed. He's one of my favorite players but he wasn't poor today. I find it odd that people are laying into Melksham, who was playing his first game in 500 days or so and said nothing about Hunt. Melksham wasn't great, but he showed enough in his first hit out to show why we chased him and that with more game time getting back up to speed he is a lock for the 22 and an important cog to our drive.

Hunt needs to learn not to try to do too much and remember that's he's a defender also. He cost us a few goals today running too far forward and completely misreading the play. Hopefully he learns from it and doesn't become too much of a front runner. His defensive efforts were outstanding last year and he needs to keep that up.

50 minutes ago, Satyriconhome said:

 

Hate to say it but the one player who has begun to believe the publicity was Hunt, tried too much a few time, the Doggies had watched the tapes

 

that's why it's caledl practice, saty. no doubt he was under instructions to take the game on. that's what we want from him

he'll be cherry ripe come round 1

Our better players seemed to play for longer and we wanted it more. Dogs had the skills (except for infront of goal). We had the endeavour. 

Negative first:

We are still the same team with similar issues
- backline ball use, the McDonald's were pretty ordinary (what's new) and Melksham started well then went to water, hopefully just fatigue. Lewis helped. Vince was good then went crazy Bernie
- inconsistent forward pressure. A lot of the forwards don't do enough and some just make bad choices all going to the same target
- overall kicking just misses too many simple targets which means forwards fly for the same ball
- handballs stay in close far too much
- Defenders make some pretty silly choices to rush out of the zone when a team mate has the player under pressure

Positives:

Salem. In the midfield or wherever I don't mind!
Joel Smith - does a lot of good football things not just athletic ability
Spencer - becomes an option for the team but just as importantly he's actually up to depth standard if this is any guide
Midfield is up and running and versatile
Aerial contests at both ends - forwards and rucks jumping in to each other. Multiple defenders (Multiple McDonald's) going up and not getting a comprehensive spoil.
 

From a game plan point of view I thought we need to be careful not spreading to both sides of the ground too much. If there's a contest on a wing after we've spread from the backline we then have guys way out of position. The zone worked pretty well. The forward pressure was better even if not perfect. 

3 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

that's why it's caledl practice, saty. no doubt he was under instructions to take the game on. that's what we want from him

he'll be cherry ripe come round 1

That's exactly what i was thinking

best way to find limits is to push to far...

34 minutes ago, _H_ said:

Same hairdresser as Jack Watts maybe?

 

27 minutes ago, A F said:

Nah. More likely a meth addict. Unless it's the same meth addict that cuts Jack's.

I think young JJ is a big fan of Odell Beckham Jnr in the NFL. Similar hairstyles. But agreed, it is a horrendous choice.

I'll defend Hunt and Brayshaw's games today. Both were messy with the ball but fantastic without.

Hunt's defending was good and he ran all day until he was stuffed. His ball use will always be his flaw but today didn't bother me. The difference with Hunt and Melksham was Hunt was taking the game on and then stuffing up. Melksham was making really unusual decisions in the 2nd half. Kicking, hand-balling or paddling the ball with no rhyme or reason.

Brayshaw kept bobbing up in good spots, had uncustomary fumbles I'm sure he'll get rid of and his tackling is a cut above the rest of the team. I think he'll come good quickly.

This club is going places.

Places in September.

i haven't seen the game, just the radio

what did people think of the standard for a first round practice match compared to previous years? this game or others

11 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Our better players seemed to play for longer and we wanted it more. Dogs had the skills (except for infront of goal). We had the endeavour. 

Negative first:

We are still the same team with similar issues
- backline ball use, the McDonald's were pretty ordinary (what's new) and Melksham started well then went to water, hopefully just fatigue. Lewis helped. Vince was good then went crazy Bernie
- inconsistent forward pressure. A lot of the forwards don't do enough and some just make bad choices all going to the same target
- overall kicking just misses too many simple targets which means forwards fly for the same ball
- handballs stay in close far too much
- Defenders make some pretty silly choices to rush out of the zone when a team mate has the player under pressure

Positives:

Salem. In the midfield or wherever I don't mind!
Joel Smith - does a lot of good football things not just athletic ability
Spencer - becomes an option for the team but just as importantly he's actually up to depth standard if this is any guide
Midfield is up and running and versatile
Aerial contests at both ends - forwards and rucks jumping in to each other. Multiple defenders (Multiple McDonald's) going up and not getting a comprehensive spoil.
 

From a game plan point of view I thought we need to be careful not spreading to both sides of the ground too much. If there's a contest on a wing after we've spread from the backline we then have guys way out of position. The zone worked pretty well. The forward pressure was better even if not perfect. 

Bit harsh on O Mac - I thought he played a really good game and I don't remember any poor disposals. T Mac looked a bit rusty but he is coming back from shoulder surgery.

1 minute ago, chook fowler said:

Bit harsh on O Mac - I thought he played a really good game and I don't remember any poor disposals. T Mac looked a bit rusty but he is coming back from shoulder surgery.

omac's stats looked good. top in marks (9) for either side. 19 disposals. tmac's weren't too shabby either and like you say has had an interrupted preseason with his shoulder op

18 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

that's why it's caledl practice, saty. no doubt he was under instructions to take the game on. that's what we want from him

he'll be cherry ripe come round 1

DC. Saty's criticism of Hunt was a profound moment for Demonland. Please don't call him out on it.

 

1 minute ago, chook fowler said:

Bit harsh on O Mac - I thought he played a really good game and I don't remember any poor disposals. T Mac looked a bit rusty but he is coming back from shoulder surgery.

Oscar a shocking turnover kick on the run early, then steadied. He's a better kick from a standing start than on the run. He seemingly can't run, look up and kick at the same time. He reads the play well then attacks the contest with no force or conviction. A lot of the time when the ball gets over the back of a contest it's because he and/or Tom couldn't lay a decent fist in to it despite making good position.

I really hope Tom was rusty. If he doesn't get more aggression as well he'll be a pretty ordinary player soon.

16 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Brayshaw kept bobbing up in good spots, had uncustomary fumbles I'm sure he'll get rid of.

Although he will likely improve, I don't feel that these fumbles were uncustomary. Was evident at the start of last year also.

21 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

i haven't seen the game, just the radio

what did people think of the standard for a first round practice match compared to previous years? this game or others

Skills weren't great, but the effort and intensity was relatively high for this time of year.

23 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

i haven't seen the game, just the radio

what did people think of the standard for a first round practice match compared to previous years? this game or others

This was the best of the (limited) preseason matches so far this year.  Both fielded good teams without any crazy positional experiments, both teams wanted to win.

First practice match for year, we play well and win (good for membership no doubt), and some bag out Hunt and Brayshaw, two who have had ripping preseason and the coaches have earmarked for stepping up further this year.

FMD!