I heard that he was out running well before the rest of the group at around 8.30am, I’m not sure but it may be a virus and just keeping him away from the rest of the playing group. Most of the other players were there today but I didn’t see him.
Which man group?
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Best mids on the ground, as evidenced by the result. But others played strongly in their roles contributing to the result.
For instance when Parish was on the ground he absolutely dominated possession at stoppages, racking up 3-4 clearances a quarter when others like Langford and Clarke were in there with him not getting a kick. When Parish went to the bench suddenly Clarke was racking up possessions and clearances, (albeit without the slick disposal by hand that Parish has). This leads me to believe that players are given roles at stoppages, and although I don’t know this for sure, some players roles may be sacrificial in a given setup. If not, and its every man for himself, then that just makes Parish’s stoppage craft simply outstanding, otherwise, Clark and Langford played their roles to perfection and made Parish into a star.
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Ahh illness would make sense for him being away. Thanks
Hibberd was there. Not playing, obviously.
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I was there today as well. I won’t go over the same ground that others have already covered.
The biggest surprise for me was McBride. He was amazing for a guy playing his first competitive game of AFL. He was very impressive in all aspects. He is certainly big, quick and a good athlete.
It’s only one outing, but he is possibly already up there with BZT as a developing KP defender.
The other notable thing for me was that, despite dominating possession for much of the game, we still kicked long to a contest going inside 50. Very disappointing, given what I have been reading about the preseason drills, and also what Rutten was saying to the group at the breaks. Definitely a big part of the problem is the reluctance of those ahead of the ball to lead up to the kicker, for some unknown reason.
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Could the wind have been a factor there? Not so much the wind playing havoc with the ball in the air, but rather our players who were kicking i50 deciding it might be worth thumping it long and hoping?
Yes I forgot to mention McBride, I agree with everything you said. I thought it was a fantastic effort for his first game, he certainly didn’t look out of place, even went for a run and took a bounce in the last quarter.
He’s come on a long way since he first arrived at the club.
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Defenders are trained to guard space to prevent players from leading into it. To master the balance between marking players and guarding space is the difference between a really good team and an average one .
But against that opposition, we should have been able to hit our forwards lace out. I agree many kicks inside 50 went straight to an opponent on his own. It was like the West Coast game over again, even without McGovern.
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Booo urns
Young Bryan did well in the ruck too. I know he didn’t beat too much but it was more about his palming and general technique.
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Well, there was a good example of it when we moved the ball quickly out of defence into the wind in the 2nd qtr hitting Lav (I think) about 65m out. He turned quickly, seeming to want to move it on, but ended up hesitating, waiting, nothing presented, and he kicked it long to the square. There was space, but no leads. I would need to see it again to look at who was up ahead, and what they were doing.
I do think it is lack of options presented to the kicker, rather than wanting to kick long.
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I thought he should have been broke last season
Caveat/context to all of this: I couldn’t tell you who the hell we played against. But while we had a team overwhelmingly AFL-listed, I wouldn’t say the squad was balanced or anywhere near Best 22, and we didn’t play many of our key players for more than a half.
(e.g. our key forwards were LAV and Jones, and our key defenders the inexperienced Guccione and McBride, and we basically swapped out the best half of our midfield at half time. That shouldn’t be enough to terrorise an opposition VFL team.)
Having said that: the score was a reasonable expression of the game. Casey/Melbourne showed excellent kicking skills for much of the game but their gameplan was very much impotent and they rarely used the wind well when they had it. Not sure how much they ran out of legs versus concentration in the last quarter, when we torched them going into the wind.
1 McGrath – played the first half in the centre square, and was very busy and effective.
3 Parish – my BOG. Deadset leather poisoning when he came on after halftime!
4 Langford – midfield all day (one of the few centre square players to play four quarters). Best early and late; definitely looking for effective disposals rather than hacking it away.
5 Hugh Haysman from West Adelaide (thanks @Paul_Cousins, next time I’ll read before I post!) – half forward, McNeice sized, pretty tidy skills and a late goal
7 Merrett – didn’t get a full pre-season; but going pretty damn close to 100% for the first half of this game.
8 Gleeson – half-back the second half of the game. Tidy without being dominant.
10 Francis – just ticking along, with the usual occasional flashes of brilliance and brutality. Admittedly our defenders weren’t getting too stressed today.
11 Zaharakis – he’s still Best 22, ya nuffies. First half only. kicked the first two goals of the game.
12 Cutler (still wearing his Bears jumper in the team list on “our” website) – will have to Watch him more closely, I didn’t feel the love he’s getting today. Did appreciate him dropping into the hole on the wing in the last quarter, setting up a goal for us by sacrificing himself.
13 Fantasia – he’s good enough that “just getting going” is enough to burn lots of opponents. Had a couple moments with the afterburners on, and streaming through the middle.
14 Ridley – there were a few moments when he busted through tackles that caught my eye. Would make him a more complete player.
15 LAV – please don’t get injured. Can be a big plus for the senior team. Was a beast.
16 Begley – sigh. Did some awesome stuff, AND was our leading clanger-maker. Better than last year; it’s a start.
19 Mutch – gets beat up, keeps running.
22 Mo22ie – quiet offensively. Some nice tackles etc though.
23 Jones – pretty happy with his work. Deep forward along with LAV. He’s pretty good at being where the kick comes in, and not getting blocked out of it.
23 Bryan – as I noted earlier, I don’t think there was a clear ruck winner today. But I do think they (both teams’ rucks) showed initiative, good agility and a willingness to do more than just ruck.
26 Guccione – fullback. Only switched from tennis a few years ago, but always looks way more composed than you would therefore think he might be.
29 Ambrose – is dead.
33 Ham – does the same running thing as Mutch, but so much tidier. The play-on long goal was lovely.
35 Guelfi – came into the game later when given a chance in the midfield
36 George Michael – just saying.
37 Clarke – came on in the second half, and bossed his way around with his clear strength advantage. The bit where a huge tackle was laid on him at a centre bounce, and he just kept his hands free and swung to the right direction before feeding it to Langford, was fantastic.
38 Teakle – maybe the lesser of our two when rucking, but certainly not when tackling and pressuring
40 Snelling – second half only. Not much to report. Was surprised he appeared to run out of legs on a burst forward in the third quarter, unable to use a strong wind behind to kick a goal from fifty out.
41 McBride – what @HarryJay said above. Absolutely composed, no sign of being flustered or confused as a deep defender, just got to the right spots and did well. Skills pretty good. Moves VERY well for 197cm.
42 Saad – first half only. Ready to go despite being a fatty boombah. Made one of his trademark ridiculous intercepts where you’re sure there is no way he can get there.
46 Nigel Lockyer – a bit of the Begley here. Has great talent (set off at one stage holding the ball in one palm) and gets to the ball often enough, but needs to know when to kerb his ambition and just get rid of it. In defence.
47 Jacob Brown — second half only, little impact.
49 Dylan Landt – is possibly responsible for the whole “shave those sideburns” sickness within our club. Kicked two goals too.
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He was the best ruckman in the nab league for mine, has a really natural feel for the craft.
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Lockyer is a solid unit (46) and possesses a great leap and explosive pace. He’s obviously in a different class now than the NT comp but definitely shows glimpses of what he could become. Dropped a couple of sitters today but then did some eye catching things too. Teakle in the ruck was impressive too.
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Bryan managed to get his skinny body in good positions regularly. He and Teakle were both good when the ball hit the deck too, following up.
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Especially when only having LAV and Jones as targets.
For two of the four quarters I didn’t have a huge issue with it: don’t be Casey, take advantage of that wind. Add Joe or Stringer or Smack and it would be fully justified.
LAV did manage to get a few of them to lower the eyes and kick to his leads.
Yay 
highlights
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