if this is whats going to be served up this year we are in big strife, they have no heart and have been a rabble. l know we have about 7-8 teenagers but jeebus christ, ITS FRICKIN" CRAP, very disheartening. l know its only the first game in the CRAP CUP but geez, show a bit of heart :angry:

LOL

it has started already

God help us all

Sack Bailey?

*ducks*

if this is whats going to be served up this year we are in big strife, they have no heart and have been a rabble. l know we have about 7-8 teenagers but jeebus christ, ITS FRICKIN" CRAP, very disheartening. l know its only the first game in the CRAP CUP but geez, show a bit of heart :angry:

Are you serious? Geelong fielding a near full strength side at home VERSUS Melbourne, with McLean, Neitz, Bruce, Davey, Miller, Rivers, Frawley, Moloney ALL out? Give them a break, half of these guys are on debut!!

Geelong has fielded a full strength midfield, no surprise here.

No Melbourne players standing up except Valenti, Buckley, Jones, i.e. the young guys, nothing new.

But it all means very little.

Are you serious? Geelong fielding a near full strength side at home VERSUS Melbourne, with McLean, Neitz, Bruce, Davey, Miller, Rivers, Frawley, Moloney ALL out? Give them a break, half of these guys are on debut!!

Yeeeeeah... I think what he was trying to say was that even if your grandma was on debut, she'd do better than this...

We've got oodles of improvement left. All these new tactics and the new coach and everything... it's not going to get settled for months yet... the point is, we have to improve all that way just to be competitive...

if this is whats going to be served up this year we are in big strife, they have no heart and have been a rabble. l know we have about 7-8 teenagers but jeebus christ, ITS FRICKIN" CRAP, very disheartening. l know its only the first game in the CRAP CUP but geez, show a bit of heart :angry:

I was with you until about 5-10 minutes out from half time when we showed a bit more heart. Heed your own words though, mate. This is a well under-strength team, playing NAB cup, against a team that took on all and sundry, and won convincingly, last season.

The one thing that is killing me is the [censored] poor handball. Slick handball makes run and carry work. Our handball is atrocious, and concordantly our run and carry is as well.

I also agree a little bit more heart wouldn't go astray. In the guts we could at least make a contest of it. Sylvia is rotting in the forward line, when you'd thing his ripped body would be ideal in the middle.

Some positives;

-Buckley. Couple of turnovers (bad decisions rather than poor kicks), but showing a willingness to run and take blokes on.

-Martin. Looks very mobile and seems to read the play pretty well. Good mould for a defender.

-Jonesy has picked up where he left off. In saying that, its telling that he looks like an old hand compared with most of our midfielders.

-Valenti, whilst he hasn't had a good run at the pill yet, certainly looks like he can find it.

Im listening to it on 3AW- maybe I'd be a bit more worried if I could see what was happening, but considering the fact that we're playing a side who just won the premiership by a record margin, at near full strength, at Silled Stadium with a huge part of our team made up of teenagers I'm not surprised or even particularly bothered by the scoreboard. Sounds like Buckley Aussie, Weetra and Valenti have all been good- I'll be much more excited if we find a few players in the preseason than I would be if we won the NAB cup.

I understand how some people are worried that an inept, insipid performance in the first round of the preseason could be indicative of how we perform in the season proper, but really, I dont think we can use this match to gauge where we are as a side, since the side being fielded this arvo scarcely resembles the side we'll be fielding in the H&A season.

the side being fielded this arvo scarcely resembles the side we'll be fielding in the H&A season.

I'm not so certain about that. Perhaps if all the players we've left out were to come back at once, we could leave in guys like Buckley, Valenti (assuming someone's on the long-term list), Meesen and Yze (assuming he wasn't in your 22).

But even then it's still a huge list of very young guys. We'll improve, no doubt, but not enough.

Last season we were never beaten by 100 points were we?

Fire Bailey!

Trade Neitz!

Merge with WB!

It's all falling a part!

Fire Bailey!

Trade Neitz!

Merge with WB!

It's all falling a part!

cammon mate...its the first round of the "Crap Cup"....

is there any way we can get valenti onto the senior list now?

cammon mate...its the first round of the "Crap Cup"....

is there any way we can get valenti onto the senior list now?

I think he's being sarcastic, Nugget...

As for Valenti, way too soon to think about that.

I rekon we did all alright considering.

I was happy none of our starting 22 got much of the pill.

I rekon we did all alright considering.

I was happy none of our starting 22 got much of the pill.

on reflection l think we were always going to cop it, heaps of players out, they were ripe.......still disappointing

Are you serious? Geelong fielding a near full strength side at home VERSUS Melbourne, with McLean, Neitz, Bruce, Davey, Miller, Rivers, Frawley, Moloney ALL out? Give them a break, half of these guys are on debut!!

Add Davey,Whelan, Bartram,Wheatley,Petterd,Dunn,Carroll and maybe even C.Johnson. As well, our top two draft picks in Morton and Grimes were injured. That is 18 out on my count, many of whom would be in our best 22.

This is hilarious...my god...talk about getting carried away. It was their first hit out . It was against a pretty potent Geelong on their kitty litter. Our team hardly resembled full strength...So what !! Its not important in the great schme of things. It gives Bailey a mark on the wall now.

Some of you are going to need lots of valium to get through the season at this rate. Interesting we won the premiership quarter. Not much to hang a haton I know..but they didnt capitulate..they just got beaten.

Ive got some terrible news for some folk..... we will probably lose some more games this year..its terrible isnt it.

Better go burn the memberships now huh!!

geez grow some backbone.. learn some perspective.

The only real losers today are the namby pamby ones prepared to chuck it in now..and call for blood!! FFS !!

Go Dees

Geelong won the Grand Final last year by the record winning margn, we finished down the bottom and then pruned our list of Johno and more than a few experienced players in Bizzell, Brown, Ferg, Ward, to make way for an influx of young inexperienced talent. When you factor in that Geelong was far closer to their best 22 than us we were going to struggle.

Positives

Valenti - showed great potential as another ball magnet inside midfeilder

McNamara - 190 and 84, the youngest player taken in the 2007 draft, athletic, looks to have a good footy brain, composure and good dispposal

Martin (198 and 97) and Zomer (196 and 94) - both showed glimpses that they have a future which will help with our key position depth

Garland - showed he had progressed since lat year, athletic and a good kick

Negatives

Some horrid disposal clangers

Fxtel Camerawork!

This is hilarious...my god...talk about getting carried away. It was their first hit out . It was against a pretty potent Geelong on their kitty litter. Our team hardly resembled full strength...So what !! Its not important in the great schme of things. It gives Bailey a mark on the wall now.

Some of you are going to need lots of valium to get through the season at this rate. Interesting we won the premiership quarter. Not much to hang a haton I know..but they didnt capitulate..they just got beaten.

Ive got some terrible news for some folk..... we will probably lose some more games this year..its terrible isnt it.

Better go burn the memberships now huh!!

geez grow some backbone.. learn some perspective.

The only real losers today are the namby pamby ones prepared to chuck it in now..and call for blood!! FFS !!

Go Dees

Oh Bub well said......

I have missed your work, but it is always a pleasure to come back to some sense !!!

I'm not so certain about that... We'll improve, no doubt, but not enough.

It's probably worth pointing out that I never saw us as being a top 4 prospect this year; if I did, and if we'd fielded a side that was meant to be competitive, I might be more concerned by the result.

Fact is, half of our side hadnt even played half a season of AFL footy yet, and they were playing against the best team in the league, who were near full strength. For kids like Buckley, Weetra and Valenti it's an invaluable experience, and they'll be able to take alot of heart in the fact that they were able to play at the elite level, against a top side, and still stand up and contribute.

I'm assuming that when you say "we'll improve, but not enough", you mean that even with a full strength side we still arent a premiership threat this year. I agree with that, but I'm not really worried about it- as far as this year goes, once we have Rivers, Neitz, McLean, Bruce etc back in the team we'll be a completely different side to the one who played Geelong yesterday, and stand a decent chance of playing finals footy. Beyond that, I think we have the nucleus of a very good side- we already had a promising list of young players to get excited about, and it sounds like after today, we might have a few more. The reality is -and Dean Bailey can say what he likes to the press- but our success this year should be measured on how well we develop our younger players, so I take more heart in the fact that a handful of young guys stood up today than I would have if we'd played a full-strength side and won.

That's a pretty sound post TSJ...

Yes, that's certainly what I meant when I said we won't improve enough... that we won't be any kind of threat this year...

There are two fields of thought. One is that we still suck, the other is that this wasn't a true indication of where we are. The only thing agreed on by EVERYONE is that this is probably the best match we've had in a LONG time for encouraging debuts... People have spoken highly about at least 6 players that aren't in the 22, and a few of them haven't even played a senior game until yesterday. When was the last time that happened? I can't even think of a time in the last few years where we had that many young players play that well...

I think people are getting a bit emotional about it actually. Yes we were up against it, and yes we really had very little chance of winning the game given the odds against us, but I think it shows us where we really are looking to the next 3 years. We were beaten by the best team in the land on a good day for them... and we were beaten by 12 goals. This is not a good thing...

But it is fair that the MAIN THING we all should have been looking for... before winning, before highlights and before injury worries... was that the young guys get some games and we see the embryonic stages of something good from them. That was first and foremost in everyone's minds... and in DB's it seems. It's good to see he can stay the course despite 4 quarters of morale killing rubbish. We certainly didn't see anything MORE than those few exciting glimpses, but at least we got to see them.

The glass-half-full types are excited by Buckley, Valenti, McNamara and Martin, and the glass-half-empty guys are preaching doom and gloom at the older guys being so crap... I think the truth of it is somewhere in the middle.

Watching yesterdays game at the ground might give a different view of the game. Watching on TV you see more of the inside work and close ups you miss when you watch it live especially if the play is on the other side of the ground.

So I will give you my impressions of yestreday up close. Are you lot ready with your knives to take a slice of me as if I dont agree with you.

First the negitives, so start sharpening. We started the first bounce with Meeson lining up on the wing? On and off all day at center bounces we had ruckmen lining up there, it didnt work!

Green For a senior player he was a waste of space. His handball skills were pathetic, couldnt hit a stationary target a five meters. Ran parallel to the play hoping for less senior team mates to get it for him.

Yze, well you must have seen something on TV that you couldnt see live, in defence kicked anywhere, not his position?

White, couldnt get into the play in a positive way. Beaten in the ruck, easily.

Sylvia, wouldnt chase at times, but got better as the game went on and stood up a couple of times latter in the game.

Robbo, tried hard for a first up had to go down back a couple of times earily.Hurt his right elbow late in the first quarter and had it taped for the rest of the game.

Now for the good news..... Valenti a gun, will do well in a more experienced midfield.

Zomer showed he has real promice, a mark and kick man. Newton threw himself round and not afraid of chasing and crashing packs.Aussi flashed in and out looks a player of the future.

Jones is still Jones ouses skill and toughness, and unfortunately Warnock is still Warnock, loose.

At one stage in the last quarter when we were making a mini comeback even the geelong supporters around me were getting a little worried. And still some of our supporters NO make that followers left earily.

Add Davey,Whelan, Bartram,Wheatley,Petterd,Dunn,Carroll and maybe even C.Johnson. As well, our top two draft picks in Morton and Grimes were injured. That is 18 out on my count, many of whom would be in our best 22.

its still the same team that finished 14th last year <_<

The only thing that's pathetic is that most supporters wanted Daniher gone, and wanted to clear the list, and now they are crying and whinging because oh my god we like totally lost to last year's premiers with half of our side not playing.

I guess I should be used to the extreme mood swings we experience on these boards after every game.

Ahh interesting thread! Has anyone payed attention to how little some players spent on the field players like Robbo, Bate etc. spent alot of time on the bench and this allowed youngsters to gain valuable experiance. I think Bailey wasnt to fussed about winning the game but rather just bleeding some youngsters into the game and letting them gain valuable experiance hopefully over the next few weeks we start to play a similar team to our best 22 so some players aren't still cold.

Has anyone watched some other NAB cup games? Compare those teams too how we played and then you'll have a better analysis of how we'll go this year. I watched the Roo's V Bulldogs and i have 2 say we would have destroy either side with the team we played against geelong maybe thats blind optimism but i think we would have done much better.

if this is whats going to be served up this year we are in big strife, they have no heart and have been a rabble. l know we have about 7-8 teenagers but jeebus christ, ITS FRICKIN" CRAP, very disheartening. l know its only the first game in the CRAP CUP but geez, show a bit of heart :angry:

for christ sake its 1 game. I am one of very few members that is utterly hated on demonland and yet i read today this backstabbing laungage that has been commonly used by me at times. Its one game, its a new coach, its a new game plan, its a team were playing who won the premiership and its the nab cup. If ur expencting brilliance and a top 8 finish this year ur kidding urselves. All i expect to see is improvements. If the nab cup games are going to depress you, then id hate to see what people are like after this year