Pates

To be fair is that also due to an increase in testing? (Not a Donald apologist whatsoever) I think the bigger statistic is always going to be the exponential increase in people dying, that's maybe where the idiots at Bondi might actually start taking notice. EDIT I live in the UK and Boris Johnson's plan has been to say to people the moment you notice any symptoms that are consistent with the virus you self isolate rather than get tested. This means getting a gauge on how many cases the UK actually has is a difficult thing to gather.

Positives (here I go!): Viney was BOG for us easily, in everything all day, he did have a few turn overs but he worked hard to retrieve it after any mistakes made. He has responded well to going VC. Bedford and Pickett, both were in the right spots, tackling and working hard. Pickett in particular shamed his senior teammates in two way running and working to make an option. Maybe that last goal was a glimpse of the future. We got enough of the ball, and clearly plenty of opportunities to get looks on goal. There’s something to work with. Negatives (where to begin) Poor kicking on goal, how many times in the last 12 months have we kicked ourselves out of the contest? It’s frustrating and demoralising. Poor disposals in general, I’m not sure if there was a jumper clash at times but there were points we seemed gladly hand the ball over. The few times we started trying to hit up passes in the forward line a lot of them were simply not good enough. There were some serial offenders that made we want to toss my phone at the TV. Effort was not there for certain players. Maybe it’s the effect the @Skuit believes in with no crowd, but to me it’s pure laziness. Oliver was a serial offender in this regard, he genuinely looked like he was jogging on the spot. There was no effort to double back an lead to create space. Given our pre-season doco was all about fitness I hope Burgess is furious. Game plan, Goodwin was all pumped about winning on all levels and how the will recognise the style. At the moment all I see is chaos and poor execution of skills, if our plan is to kick deep than have our forwards stay deep, if we’re hitting up leads then lower the effing eyes. Around the ground I could see a semblance of what I think they want, but all falls apart with certain offenders get on the end of it. Disappointing but not all that surprising start to the year. GWS look good, 0-2 here we come (eventually).

Give it to Spargo, isn’t going to make him any worse! ?

27 points, can already see Goodwin’s presser. “Had some great opportunities early to put scoreboard pressure on, they capitalised on a 5 minute lapse at the end of the first quarter, we weren’t efficient with out ball use. At the end of the day that last patch in the first quarter was the difference.” He won’t be asking for accountability, he won’t be honest that there are players that are just not doing enough. FWIW Viney, Bedford, and Kozzie made that sh—show worth watching.

Bedford and Pickett, great stuff.

Spargo is a ?

Goodwin should be telling the players this is your last hit out for ten weeks, how do you want do go into this period?

Langdon has actually been decent, his basic accumulation disposals (short kicks, handballs) have mostly been good but it’s the penetrating danger kicks that have let him (and us down). Petracca has flashed in and out, similar to previous seasons. I think he needs to be pushing forward more though. Gawn’s been well beaten by NikNat. Brayshaw extremely disappointing. Needed to nail at least one of his kicks on goal.

Viney only player showing something solid today, Kozzie has given some fun and hope.

F— off Spargo.

HIBBERD!!!! Stop kicking in hope!!!

I’ve been a fan of Hibberd for a long time but what is his kicking efficiency today? Awful, and poor decisions as well. He’s not alone though, I’d like one of the tasks (call it homework) of the players to be to do some simple maths. Like, “what are the odds of player A winning the contest against 2/3 opponents?” Frittas going to have to get a lot better delivery if he’s going to take out Maxy’s Coleman prediction.

Better but still wasteful.

Oliver that was a disgusting effort. I hope Goodwin drags him to the side for that. Again we dominate territory for no reward.

I’m glad Jack kicking that goal because he didn’t turn inboard at all with players available to him. Is that a directive to the players?

Training drill for the eagles.

I remembered watching the Adelaide game and thinking what have they changed in terms of forward set up and tactics, the answer watching that quarter is absolutely nothing. Still long bombing it to outnumbered contests instead of lowering the eyes. Are the forwards leading to space, demanding the ball? (Question not criticism) Seriously we are playing against one of the best defences, don’t drop it on their heads!!!

Jesus we were actually in the contest and probably playing the better. But no reward for effort. Now we are completely f—ed.

Kicking ourselves out of this.

Poor kicking hurting us right now.

Hope it gives us wings on Sunday! ?

Hearing that the pies won’t be singing the song is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard. By all means don’t lock arms (even though you’ve been doing it all night anyway with tackling) but for crying out loud every stand around and sing the bloody song. If the Dees win on Sunday and don’t sing the song I’ll be filthy. EDIT they sung it after all ?‍♂️

Missing Salem, Jones, and AvB. Sucks but they are can be covered, we've had a strong pre-season and early goals can build confidence. It looks like we're going for a smaller forward line compared with the past with Bedford, Kozzie, and Spargo in there along with mid-sized forwards Melksham and Fritch. For me those last two could be the key to our forward line, either one of them getting lose could force the Ealges to move their better defenders onto them freeing up TMac and Weid. Getting the ball to ground has never been more important with our smalls around the ball and I really hope the coaching staff show them the clip of Riewoldt tonight spoiling the ball into a dangerous area. To make life hard for their forwards, but as always a lot depends of our midfield putting in strong second efforts to make it hard for them to deliver with time and space.

I wonder whether to make up for it they will do some kind of scratch match every week between the teams. Obviously very difficult to compare but then again if positions are on the line you would hope they would go all guns blazing.

It's hard to control in the moment celebrations and all that but after the game surely they can have a little bit of control.