It was an interesting game to watch, and good to have Pert and Josh available for fair chunks of the game. Video/Audio not great at times.

Rusty early, but began to get some structures working after about 15 minutes.  Close work looked good, fast hands and releasing from packs generally good.  More kicking and marking when we had the ball, and some good line breaking at half back and wings.

Forward setup looks dangerous,  and the idea of twin smiths, weid and Preuss looks like it could be hard to match up against.  Add in a TMac instead of a Smith and hooly-Dooley.

Back end looked OK.  WIll be much better with May and Lever.  Hore looked OK, OMac solid, Frost...still Frost.  Nice movement from Hunt was appreciated, and Lewis not done for yet.  Will pressure others to work for their spots.

Vanders laid a ripping tackle, and was a solid player.  Gus dominated about 2 quarters, and Sparrow not out of place (but definitely not fully polished yet).  JKH worked hard and did well, Salem good.  Trac’s hands are quicksilver.

Jeffy got 1, but not much else to show for his day.  Preuss cramped late, but presented strongly and will be a good addition in some games.  Max was simply brilliant in his positioning and marking.  I like the setup of Max and Preuss at their kick ins, seemed to work well for us.  Blocking the 45 degree channels (Pies hate the corridor) with big bodies was great

Lots to work on, but a good first hit out.

Trac looks great as an onballer, I would expect him to get a lot of midfield time this season, he can drift out of the game as a forward I like him around the action,

I hadn't noticed before - and unsure if previously mentioned - but Pruess has only ever won one game of AFL football . . . and may have already cost us one final's appearance: Round 19, 2017 in Bellerive. The reason I perhaps hadn't picked up on that was that the big man only picked up the 4 disposals on the day.

Was checking the stats to see whether the Roos had tried both he and Goldstein in the same team at any given time. They had, on four or five occasions. Nothing else to add really, except it didn't seem to work out very well - Goldstein with below-average returns and Pruess not making up the difference.

  On 22/02/2019 at 02:07, loges said:

Any comments on the effect of the new rules?

The changes to kick ins will be by far the biggest change. The man on the mark being pushed right back combined with the ability to play on and not have to kick the ball to yourself means that the player kicking out makes it halfway up the defensive 50 metre arc before they are even confronted. The first kick is hitting the wing or centre square. Teams will start flooding hard if they score a behind, as they are now little to no chance at regaining possession of the ball in their forward half. It's going to create some very ugly matches with lots of flooding IMO.

The changes to the rules, as they are every year, are poor and reactionary. The AFL just want free-wheeling shoot-outs at the expense of key fundamentals of the game. The addition of the 6-6-6 rule is going to mean teams who don't have the talent on their list e.g. Gold Coast are going to get belted by bigger margins. We're going to see far less competitive and close games. It's going to be boring and ugly. While I love watching us win, beating up on teams like Gold Coast is going to feel pretty hollow when coaches don't have the ability to change tactics to combat what's happening.

  On 22/02/2019 at 02:25, binman said:

Hard to see impact of 6 6 6 rule, though Maxy did get the ball to his mids cleanly a few times. 

But this game really reinforced my belief that the biggest impact will be the changes to the kick out rules.

Having the man of the mark 9 metres from the top of the square and not having to kick the ball in the air almost makes the square redundant.

it really opens up the field and will make clear the back 50 much easier. At one point Jetts took the kick in, played on and ran diagonally towards the boundary. Gus (i think) put small block on the man on the mark , Jetts ran his full measure and by the time he kicked it was probably all of 30 metres from the goal line. His kick to the wing was pretty much halfway up the ground.

I think we will have big advantage with maxy because it means he won't have to push so far up the ground and will be in position to take a lot of marks on centre wing. With players running pat him we will get a lot of quick inside 50s. I can see Weids and TMac and Preuess all pushing up to centre wing at times to provide options.  

The other impact - and one i hadn't considered - is that i reckon there will be way more play ons from kick ins, way more. This will create  a much faster transition game. Teams will also need to set up their presses across the center of the ground the widest point, so hard to trap the ball. I will be fascinated to see if more scoring chains start from kick ins. I am predicting there will. 

Completely agree binman. Playon from kickouts will be huge this year and watching how teams take advantage of this and try to stop the playons will be fascinating.

I think it will definitely help us and any other super quick and fit teams.

 

  On 22/02/2019 at 02:34, Bitter but optimistic said:

I was unable to view the game. Haven't seen any comments re Jeffy.

Did he play?

If so how did he look?

A lovely crumb and some nice defensive work but otherwise he butchered the ball. Still think he looked scared of contact so wanted the ball out of his hands.

  On 22/02/2019 at 03:08, Lord Travis said:

The changes to kick ins will be by far the biggest change. The man on the mark being pushed right back combined with the ability to play on and not have to kick the ball to yourself means that the player kicking out makes it halfway up the defensive 50 metre arc before they are even confronted. The first kick is hitting the wing or centre square. Teams will start flooding hard if they score a behind, as they are now little to no chance at regaining possession of the ball in their forward half. It's going to create some very ugly matches with lots of flooding IMO.

The changes to the rules, as they are every year, are poor and reactionary. The AFL just want free-wheeling shoot-outs at the expense of key fundamentals of the game. The addition of the 6-6-6 rule is going to mean teams who don't have the talent on their list e.g. Gold Coast are going to get belted by bigger margins. We're going to see far less competitive and close games. It's going to be boring and ugly. While I love watching us win, beating up on teams like Gold Coast is going to feel pretty hollow when coaches don't have the ability to change tactics to combat what's happening.

I thought I saw one play where the player nominally kicking out after a behind ran outside the square (as now allowed) but handpassed instead of kicking the ball. If that's correct (and assuming it was umpired correctly), does that also mean a player can handpass a ball from inside the square to get the game moving after a behind? 

  On 22/02/2019 at 01:36, chook fowler said:

A win with 10 of our top 22 missing. No injuries. Preuss looking the goods. Luvly Jubbly.

 

  On 22/02/2019 at 01:41, Demonland said:

Let's not forgot that they too had players missing. I thought we had a much stronger line up. 

Still nice to take the biccies. 

Yep. Collingwood were without Weideman and Hore, and hopefully will long remain so. 

  On 22/02/2019 at 01:44, Demonland said:

I'd be shocked if he wasn't. 

Sensible filth fan next to me agreed. 

They have to play a tall decent player on him and with TMac and Weid and perhaps one of the Smiths we are looking dangerous up forward and I haven't mentioned the crumbers. 

Sounds an oxymoron to me, though I guess it is better than the average Collingwood far who lacks the oxy part. 

Edited February 22, 20196 yr by monoccular

The Weed has the physical attributes but to be more effective he needs some team mate to scream encouragement (clip him over the ear ha ha ) when he attacks a potential mark. Just after 1/2 time he was too easily pushed out of 50-50 contests a few times. He still looks like a great prospect but needs to win more of these contests. Moore is quite athletic but Weed could be anything. I'm sure it will come with more experience. Our handball out of defence was good but fwd line kicking/passing a bit rusty. Our run looked really good and clearances quite effective. Pace was a pleasant surprise too. I'd give it an 85 % pass mark.

  On 22/02/2019 at 03:15, monoccular said:

Sounds an oxymoron to me, though I guess it is better than the average Collingwood far who lacks the oxy part. 

The were plenty more inbreds there that made up for the one sensible one.

was anyone sitting on the grassy mound today? one guy told everyone to sit down as the people sitting couldn't see which was something I'd never do but was definitely warranted. Sit down people!

  On 22/02/2019 at 03:08, Lord Travis said:

The changes to kick ins will be by far the biggest change. The man on the mark being pushed right back combined with the ability to play on and not have to kick the ball to yourself means that the player kicking out makes it halfway up the defensive 50 metre arc before they are even confronted. The first kick is hitting the wing or centre square. Teams will start flooding hard if they score a behind, as they are now little to no chance at regaining possession of the ball in their forward half. It's going to create some very ugly matches with lots of flooding IMO.

 

Do you mean flooding back into the opposition's 50? They may do but essentially if so they are allowing their opponents to march the ball up the ground with little resistance. Iwhich will gift teams inside 50s, help their opponent trap the ball in their half of the ground and make it very hard for their own team to score. Flood were phased out in favour of the press for these reasons.

 

 

  On 22/02/2019 at 03:08, Lord Travis said:

The changes to kick ins will be by far the biggest change. The man on the mark being pushed right back combined with the ability to play on and not have to kick the ball to yourself means that the player kicking out makes it halfway up the defensive 50 metre arc before they are even confronted. The first kick is hitting the wing or centre square. Teams will start flooding hard if they score a behind, as they are now little to no chance at regaining possession of the ball in their forward half. It's going to create some very ugly matches with lots of flooding IMO.

Could be an area we can really exploit, having both Gawn and Preuss in the team means we've got 2 big contested options to go to (with TMac and Weed also able to help out as well), but our advantage will be that whoever is on the side the ball is not kicked too, they can either head back or forward (depending on the flow of the game) and be more than handy. Max is a great intercept defender and handy forward while Preuss is a able to break open packs at either end. 

If we can kick the ball so it's 80-100 meters out from our defensive goal then we can use our 2 bigs to either help set up the offence or defend any quick movement back in. There's not many other ruck duo's that have a similar combined skill set, most rucks are just ok as forwards.

  On 22/02/2019 at 03:01, Clint Bizkit said:

We can't afford to run Gawn into the ground again.

Gawn does not run into the ground, the ground runs into Gawn

Very happy with the Gawn Pruess combo !!

If we do that pretty much all year, we’ll rule

  On 22/02/2019 at 02:07, loges said:

Any comments on the effect of the new rules?

I thought there was way less centre scrums. Game looked better to me as a result.

  On 22/02/2019 at 04:01, old dee said:

 Game looked better to me as a result.

Sitting along the fence I realised that I hate sitting on the ground level. Perhaps I've been spoiled by always sitting 1 level up. Also most of the play today was on the other side of the ground to where I was standing.

  On 22/02/2019 at 03:08, Skuit said:

I hadn't noticed before - and unsure if previously mentioned - but Pruess has only ever won one game of AFL football . . . and may have already cost us one final's appearance: Round 19, 2017 in Bellerive. The reason I perhaps hadn't picked up on that was that the big man only picked up the 4 disposals on the day.

Was checking the stats to see whether the Roos had tried both he and Goldstein in the same team at any given time. They had, on four or five occasions. Nothing else to add really, except it didn't seem to work out very well - Goldstein with below-average returns and Pruess not making up the difference.

I think it will be a much discussed situation during the year, and i guess the jury is officially out still. But i liked what i saw, plus he kicked a couple. I think it will depend a) how we are traveling and b) who we play. But i really like the fact it frees up TMac and Weid and even Oscar as relieving ruckman. Gawn is the key.

  On 22/02/2019 at 02:25, binman said:

Hard to see impact of 6 6 6 rule, though Maxy did get the ball to his mids cleanly a few times. 

But this game really reinforced my belief that the biggest impact will be the changes to the kick out rules.

Having the man of the mark 9 metres from the top of the square and not having to kick the ball in the air almost makes the square redundant.

it really opens up the field and will make clear the back 50 much easier. At one point Jetts took the kick in, played on and ran diagonally towards the boundary. Gus (i think) put small block on the man on the mark , Jetts ran his full measure and by the time he kicked it was probably all of 30 metres from the goal line. His kick to the wing was pretty much halfway up the ground.

I think we will have big advantage with maxy because it means he won't have to push so far up the ground and will be in position to take a lot of marks on centre wing. With players running pat him we will get a lot of quick inside 50s. I can see Weids and TMac and Preuess all pushing up to centre wing at times to provide options.  

The other impact - and one i hadn't considered - is that i reckon there will be way more play ons from kick ins, way more. This will create  a much faster transition game. Teams will also need to set up their presses across the center of the ground the widest point, so hard to trap the ball. I will be fascinated to see if more scoring chains start from kick ins. I am predicting there will. 

We were net +62 for behinds kicked last year (second to Richmond at +75) and first in inside 50s with +309 for the season in 2018. If anything I see the change in the kick-in rule as a negative for us.

  On 22/02/2019 at 04:20, Fat Tony said:

We were net +62 for behinds kicked last year (second to Richmond at +75) and first in inside 50s with +309 for the season in 2018. If anything I see the change in the kick-in rule as a negative for us.

Sorry, i don't quite get your logic from that stats why the kick-in rule might be a negative for us

  On 22/02/2019 at 04:07, Demonland said:

most of the play today was on the other side of the ground to where I was standing.

Don't you hate that??!!  Seems like on the odd occasions I get to a live game, ALL the play is always on the other side of the ground!!  With my poor, old eyes, means I end up watching the big screen most of the time, leaving me wondering why I didn't just stay home and watch the game from the comfort of my recliner!  (Beers are a lot cheaper that way, too!  LOL)

Yeah, I know!  I'm just old & grumpy!

Would take a practice match win over AFLX anyday!

How good is footy?

  On 22/02/2019 at 02:01, Demons11 said:

At least you seem like half glass full type of person.  

Its his first game in 8 or 9 months, give him some breathing room for God’s sake. 

Fair enough. I just hate watching repeat offenders...