Looked like a team of professional footballers vs a team of footballers who have have been cobbled together to provide an opposition. Some good signs from some of our younger players, but not much more than that.
As Woosha said, in terms of development and team cohesiveness we are still in December. Long season, unfortunately, but let’s hope/pray/sacrifice something to any gods that will help, that we start to gel a bit better as we go on.
My gunfire thoughts on individual players having just watched the game…
Zaha - hopefully back to his best and over his injuries. Provided good drive from the contest and was winning his own ball as well. Keep it up all year Zaha and another B&F is yours.
Zachy - Got better as the game went on. Still a gun.
The Langford - looked a bit nervous adn fumbly with a few contests and possesions, but got better.
Parish - great first out by the young fella. Gets to the contest, gets the ball, gets rid of it to advantage. Pity his kick at goal didn’t have the legs to go all the way. Will only get better, IMHO.
JD - Got better as game went on. Kicking was OK. Again too many balls kicked on his head and the GCS flooded their defence well.
Looney - Competed well for a guy needing more run. Not sure that Smack and he are the best duo, but what else do we have.
Smack - needs to play on the ball to get involved.
Ambrose - Tried hard, but not really a KPP back. Will be the whipping boy all year.
Brown - Didn’t play as well as I had hoped. Tried hard, but without reward.
Jerrett - not enough when he did have the ball. As with most of the team he went missing when required.
Stokes - as someone else said, is the small forward we have wanted for a long time. Now we just need to develop one that is not so old from our own playing list.
Kelly - Solid and reliable.
Simpkin - Can’t say I saw much that he did well.
Bird - Did some good things, did some bad things.
Walla - Adds a spark when he is near the ball. Will get better with that first game out of the way. Wish he had kicked that goal.
Gleeson - tried hard, but like all the defenders was under the pump all day.
Baggers - played tough and solid around the contest
BJ - Was he playing?
Cooney - Why is he playing?
You don’t want to jump to conclusions based on the first game of the season. We’ll get better as the team gels more, and as some of the latecomers get fitter. The backline will team better, and as a whole the team will run to position more often. And we’ll surely tackle better too.
Having said that I came away from watching the game today thinking we have to take the opportunity to play the young players and develop them. If this season is to have any value then it must be in getting game time into the next gen. We got some quality top-ups, and we got some plodders. I don’t mind plodders if they’re committed and hard at it, at least they show a good example. I watched Simpkin today and not only was he ordinary, he was disinterested. Cooney’s on the list proper, but he’s lost whatever ‘it’ was. Bird looks very average at best, and not particularly fascinated either, while Gwilt has a crack at least, but gee he’s scary to watch.
Too many skill errors today, to many simple marks dropped, too few tackles, too many bad options. We’ll get better, but have to get the team right - playing Ambrose as a key defender is a joke. Need to play McKernan closer to the ball. Daniher has to play with more composure. Goddard will get better, but Zaka and Zerrett and Parish excellent. Stokes was good in the second half.
I’d like to see more pace next week. I’d drop Simpkin and anyone else who’s not committed. McKenna and Kommer would add a bit of bite, and a proper tall defender like Hartley in for Ambrose. Jerrett would be out of my team.
They had a go, And we’ll win a game this year. But the priority must be building a team for next year and beyond.
Agree that Ambrose's game was far from flawless but I think we need to take into account he was used in the wrong position/role. I like him in defence and think it is his best chance of staying on the list next year, but he is not a key defender who should be taking 199cm key forwards. More reason to have played Hartley.
Yep. 3rd tall role. Pick one of Ambrose and Gwilt, not both. And when Francis is right to go then they can both kick rocks.
Verdict: indecisive, flat footed and not having sufficient stamina to RUN both ways!
Good News Players: Zacha, Parish, Langford and Leuenberger.
Bad News: poor efforts from BJ, nothing of use from Simpkin, Bird, Jerrett
Geez there are a lot of Blah Blah Blah
To me it looked like a team that SHOULDN’T BE FLAMED first up, AND INTERSTATE. They fumbled and turned it over when the blowtorch came on early on, which was hardly a surprise. Got better in the second half and they certainly sharpened up a bit. Check back around week 8 to see if we’ve improved, I’m betting we will. They NEED time together. Positives
-For me, the invisible ruckman, Leuy. Not only did he win the ruck count but he put a number on the chests of our mids, even though they still fumbled a few. If he stays fit we won’t be hammered in the ruck, which has to be a positive. The downside is that he is a pure all game ruckman and Smack’s going to have to realise he’s up front mostly and live with it. -Wouldn’t mind seeing Smack throw his weight around a bit more- a few weeks off for “over enthusiasm” will keep him fit and this season is a bit different.
-The mids didn’t always hit the target but they got the ball a bit as the game went on. I’m ready to give them time to gel, you lot can please yourselves.
-I honestly thought we’d be absolutely steamrolled in the last quarter and lose by a hundred plus. But they held out and they can only get stronger.
-Paddy Ambrose got sent to the wolves and had his colours lowered, like most of the team, but he kept at it and I hope he gets a chance next week as a third defender who provides the support to the KPDs.
-Zaha, Zerrett, Kelly, Stokes, Parish, Goddard, Jerrett all got over 20 possessions which is hopefully the nucleus of a competitive midfield, especially if Leuy stays fit. Negatives
Life’s too short
I hope the selectors give them a fair run before panicking, like half of Blitz it seems - I mean, really, what cloud are you occupying? Or do you just get a perverse kick out of saying, I told you so. I’d definitely give Cooney another go and send selections from the Blitz match thread just to fire him up.
I actually enjoyed the game and reckon we’ll get better. Why did I enjoy it? Just watch Parish in the second half, if you can’t enjoy that, take up Bridge.