May have escaped the media attention… but today was impressive when you consider that we ‘only’ played 4 top ups… so whilst it is easy to say Carlscum were understrength (and they were)… we were realistically missing 10 of our best players… and still beat them by 60.
Not sure if that is a reflection of just how strong our core youth is, the strength of our recruiting of the past few years or just how far back Carlscum are coming from.
I prefer to see the positive and today showed that we have a bright future with this list…
Geez that first quarter was ugly, but was to be expected. Impressed with a team who has been pasted together in the last month showing some coherence thereafter - which is inseparable, I think, from the young guys who are and have been coming through. If anything it’s going to be exciting to see these young guys build. Beat these ■■■■■■ in the season proper and it will be worth the pain.
Watching on tv. I haven’t noticed zaka go for the hard ball or put his head over the ball as much as he did today. Always thought he was a bit soft in the regard. Looked good and hope he keeps that form for the year.
I saw people grizzling about 50s when someone went too close to the mark.
They should be concentrating on making sure the man on the mark cannot be shepherded. A very common Hawthorn ploy, although I think Collingwood started it.
I saw people grizzling about 50s when someone went too close to the mark.
They should be concentrating on making sure the man on the mark cannot be shepherded. A very common Hawthorn ploy, although I think Collingwood started it.
Agree, i hate the way hawthorn and magpies consistently get away with it
Only thing I missed was seeing francis or yestin eades play. But was happy with long, tippa and parish cameos.
Hopefully the other guys get a go next week. Will be interesting if zaka gets the tag in the proper season or goddard or zerrett.
Watching on tv. I haven't noticed zaka go for the hard ball or put his head over the ball as much as he did today. Always thought he was a bit soft in the regard. Looked good and hope he keeps that form for the year.
He had a very good game.
But he has to replicate that against better opposition.
Carlton had Ed Curnow as their most experienced midfielder. The rest were Whiley, Graham, Boekhurst and a bunch of players who have barely played a season of footy.
It’s a step in the right direction, but he needs to do that against teams like Adelaide, Geelong and Collingwood (all who have average midfields but good enough to be mid table).
It was a good win for a pre-season comp. I didn’t expect us to play that well considering the issues we’ve had since mid January, but I don’t know how to gauge whether it was us playing well as a team or whether it was Carlton being absolutely crap.
Lots of positives which have already been commented on.
This is the first time I’ve seen Hams play and I still just don’t see it in him. He’s far too slight to be an inside midfielder.
Jake Long is an instant favourite of mine. He’s got the Longy footwork and some smarts about him. If Ian Robertson was around commentating, I can imagine him re-enactling the ‘take me on, take me on he says and he still gets away with it’ commentary.
I barely noticed Simpkin or Bird. Didn’t think they touched the ball at all.
I thought Orazio worked himself back into the game, but he seemed to struggle finding the pace of the game or even finding space to run into.
I’m not overly confident with McKernan as a ruckman. His ruck work is still a major problem and for five to ten minutes, there were flashbacks to the game where he gave away all those free kicks to Goldstein (all due to poor ruck work). But aside from the hit outs, he does well around the ground.
There were nice moments by Langford, but he doesn’t get involved enough. Still young and finding his feet.
Did Grimley actually kick a goal? It felt like he kicked 4 straight behinds.
Lastly…
Our tall forwards need to stick those marks. Otherwise, we’re going to struggle to kick anywhere near a winning score once the season starts.
Highlight of the day for me was the Michael Long interview (3rd qtr?) where Silvagni Jnr was running towards goal and kicks a behind. Quick as a flash Longy says “I think that might have been touched anyway…”!!! Legend!
So Essendon is either **** and has a **** list and are rebuilding and are missing etc. coz they’re evil - if they lose; but if they win, the opposition has a lot to look forward to, you know with it’s kids and rebuilding and ****.
The Evil Empire. Embrace the Hate. The underlying theme is these ■■■■■ hate to see Essendon win, no matter what - and will do anything to explain the matrix error of Essendon winning. Man, I’m going to celebrate every win this year like its a flag, and then when the actual flag comes I have no idea how I’ll hold things together.
Hypothetical... IF Essendon keep this up AND we make the 8... Who stays? The top ups or the banned 12? #AFLAwkward..
1) That’s not a valid comparison, we lose the top-ups not matter what we want.
2) However, the “everyone gets another year” proposal, if legit, may be a problem — especially if we’ve got a few rookies to upgrade.
Don’t forget that only 4 top up players played today and whilst they made useful contributions they were not the standouts - the afl website report clearly thinks they were the difference if you want to read their rubbish !