Chook

8 50 metre penalties, 3? 6-6-6 rule violations, Brayshaw in the backline, 5/6 first-choice backliners out? Yeah, not taking much from this one.

Damn. We'll have to wait a whole year to redeem ourselves and win a preseason game.

lol this would be the ultimate troll if we pinch this

8 50 meter penalties probably the difference. That and 80% of the team playing at 20% of max effort for most of the game.

One of our best tonight, and one of the few whose effort has been somewhere near acceptable levels.

lol Hunt is fast, but he thinks he can't be caught, ever. How many times does he need to be proved wrong before he learns?

Carlton player expressed disgust at the decision for the push in the back against Viney. No 50. Not sure why.

Frisch just kicks goals for fun. 5 now.

Petracca and Cerra clearly laughing it up about the new interpretations by the umpires.

Trac got disappointed and the umpire didn't like that, especially when Trac looked at the umpire.

I don't care about the result. I'm just glad we know how strictly this "umpire criticism" rule is going to be interpreted. It looks to me like it's a "don't show visible disappointment at anything" rule, which is…a bit too far.

Nice to have 1 first stringer in to lead the way.

Tomlinson looks at least 2 steps slower than he should be. I wouldn't be playing him in round 1 unless the only alternative is…shudders…Smith.

It seems the umps will pay holding the ball for a tackle over the line as well, which they've never done previously.

High tackle apparently.

Bowie's clinical disposal has deserted him early this year I think. But the Blues are taking this game so seriously, so no wonder they're winning. They're a bunch of professional footballers - they should win a match they're taking seriously against a team out there because it's in their contracts and not much more.

I feel like the umps are umpiring Melbourne per 2022 rules but not the Blues. Saad should have been holding the ball if Petracca was.

The biggest things we need to take out of this game is that the umpires will not tolerate "who do I give the ball to" BS. We were the masters of that last year, and I'm not sad to see it go.

The Blues are loving themselves right now.

18 steps I caught.

Brayshaw and Langdon are so important to us. We look like Melbourne from 2021 when they're doing defensive things. Fritsch is just a born goalkicker. Horrible game yet has kicked 3 and it's just after half time.

I suppose being demonstrative is out too?

Can't even shake your head, mutter "You're kidding me" and put your hands on your knees anymore.

It's like we came out and gave half a damn for the first 5 minutes to see if Carlton would roll over and let us have our way with them. When it became clear they are treating this match like the final audition for the part of young Anakin (keeping the theme of the thread), the boys just noped out of it and have been jogging ever since.

Say what you want about him (and I do), Fritsch is a man who knows how to kick sausage rolls.