NAB Cup Round 2 - Essendon v Brisbane Lions Official Thread

[Hollow Knight]

not too inaccurate, as it turns out. yes, it's only feb, but all footy fans should be concerned with where the game style has moved to. that was attrocious football last night, and four of the other NAB matches i have seen have been just as bad. it's gonna be an ugly year if sides are regularly winning with scores in the 60's and 70's.

No offence but this is reactive tosh IMO.

I think terrible goal kicking by both sides was the major contributor to the poor scoreline, not gameplans.

We missed at least 8 very gettable shots last night, add Brown into that forward line with Black, Power and Brennan delivering the ball and we are easily a 110+ point kicking side.

Don't forget NAB cup games are shortened as well.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Was I the only one who felt a lot more relaxed last night when we were trailing with 10 mins to go as opposed to us leading with 10 mins to go?

Having to "win" the game made us a much better team than we are when we are trying not to "lose" a game.

Voss should just tell the players to play with that reckless abandon whether we are up or down.

Icing the clock is not for us at this stage.

 

[_hyphy]

Ok, my observations from the ground last night. Firstly - We have alot of HOT female supporters in Melbourne

Secondly, the sentiments surround Hawksley having a good game are echoed from me. He did a lot of great things off the ball, sheperds, tackles etc. I was very very impressed with Rich & Proud. Proud threw himself into every contest hard, when he had the ball, it was used almost always effectively. That bump on Dyson (?) was fantastic to see and it fired the very vocal contingent of supporters I was around, hopefully it had the same effect on the team. Rich...wow, it was very hard to bring him to ground. Got crunched a few times off the ball by Hille and someone else, but got back up and kept going. That 50m pass inside our arc in the final quat was impressive to say the least.

Polkinghorne & Hawksley were very physical in the first half, really liked their game. Drummond was everywhere. Leuey did a few good things I thought, was alot more physical than I had come to expect.

Rhan was a little disapointing for mine. I know he's still a little behind most in terms of fitness, but his contested work one on one I thought was poor and he didn't look as quick as previous seasons. The second half was a lot more enjoyable to watch as the game opened up alot more, our defensive structure looked to have improved and the ball was deliverd quickly out of defence into attack effectively.

All in all I thought it was a great hit out. I too felt that our 2nd tier players stepped up.

 

[saladin]

No offence but this is reactive tosh IMO.

I think terrible goal kicking by both sides was the major contributor to the poor scoreline, not gameplans.

We missed at least 8 very gettable shots last night, add Brown into that forward line with Black, Power and Brennan delivering the ball and we are easily a 110+ point kicking side.

Don't forget NAB cup games are shortened as well.

no offence taken. but i disagree - the rolling zone, defend-an-area, flood the middle style is horrible to watch, and not conducive to high scoring.

 

[Hollow Knight]

no offence taken. but i disagree - the rolling zone, defend-an-area, flood the middle style is horrible to watch, and not conducive to high scoring.

Merely watching the ball go between the big sticks is in itself, not necessarily exciting.

I thought the Richmond Collingwood game where players were just running free on the wings was not a great spectactle.

 

[Quigley]

A Lions side without Brown, Merrett, Charman, Black, Johnstone, Brennan and Rischitelli were certainly competitive against a much nearer full strength Bombers side. Two of the really frustrating things from last year continued:

1. Our goal kicking was woeful for most of the match and this ultimately cost us. In the last we kicked 2 goals and 8 behinds including three behinds in the last few minutes when they were shooting for the game. Overall we kicked 14 behinds and the majority of those were relatively straight forward kicks that should have been gotten. That is not also taking account of the 3 or 4 times we kicked it out of bounds on the full.
2. The ability to win the close games. At least in this game we were coming and coming hard but we gave the game away at the beginning of the last quarter and could not get back. We need to learn to hold our composure in the close games.

A few other negatives:

1. We had players run down entirely too much. This would be a combination of lack of awareness and lack of talk. The Lions must communicate more especially given that it looks like there is going a lot of in tight work this year.
2. The Lions tended to stand around a little too much. There needed to be more shepherding and repositioning once the ball hit the deck.
3. I have been banging on for the last couple of years that we are too big forward centric and often ignore smalls who are standing on their own inside the 50. It was interesting to see Leigh make this observation as well in the telecast and say the Lions needed to be not so focused on the big forwards.
4. Our mids are still not kicking goals. McGrath, Harding and Sherman were the only smalls to kick goals and those all will be tagged as forward options this year. We desperately need the smalls to present as goal kicking threats.
5. It was a pretty scrappy game with a lot of turnovers on both sides. If we are going to contend this year our disposal skills must improve.
6. We turned it over too much by handballing to guys in terrible positions and about to get crunched. There was quite a bit of panic from our young guys when the pressure was on.

On the positive side though:

1. Last year we gave up the most contested possessions of any team. That is certainly not going to be the case this year. The zone being implemented combined with the Lions tackling means that the Lions are going to stay in a lot of games that might have got away from them last year. The Lions look like they are going to be seriously hard to score on once the full team is back.
2. Some of the best players were the young guys last night. Dalzeill and Proud would have been amongst the best and Henderson and Collier did good jobs for the side.
3. The extremely young side looked ready to go physically and matched it easily with Essendon in this regard.
4. The Lions looked fit and ran the game out well. Although I would have liked to see them running a little harder on occasions the level of fitness in the squad looks first class and this is very encouraging considering there have not been that there have not been too many injury issues just yet.
5. There is going to be a huge amount of competition for spots this year and the guys in line for spots all looked like legitimate AFL players.

I would like to see the Lions try and break the lines a bit more. By taking the zone on they might get caught occasionally but it would make the opposition commit and would perhaps break it up. The Lions have also not quite found the creases in the zones just yet. Another thing which we have gone away from is kicking long. Carrying and kicking long would allow the Lions to get in behind the zones and once that happens the zone is dead.

The Lions are setting up from very deep with the likes of Adcock, Dalzeill, Stiller and Notting all getting most of their ball around the defensive 50. It allows them to get a lot of the ball but it does take them away from receiving further up field and as a goal scoring option.

Anyway onto the players:

Proud – after a very quiet first quarter Proud really came on and performed really well I thought. He ended up with 18 possessions, 3 marks and 2 tackles. He covered a lot more ground than he did last year and won quite a few more uncontested possessions. Importantly he also was very dangerous when he got the ball. He took good options and was a focus point of our attack. He played onball all night and won a few clearances and positioned him at least to the side of his man throughout. Proud would have to definitely be in contention for a round 1 spot (Rich and the likes of Notting would have to be worried). I still reckon he is a sneaky bet for the Rising Star.

McGrath – played at HB and HF. He and Collier were really the only two Lions who really took the zone on with their run and carry and he looked pretty good doing it. In the second half he charged through the middle on a few occasions and either delivered into the 50 or took a ping himself. He ended up kicking 1 goal and 2 behinds from his 16 possessions and he also managed 3 marks and 3 tackles. Definitely in our 22 but I think he will split time up forward or down back depending on the opposition. McGrath I think is our best option on the top small forwards but we might get better value out of Adcock at the back against other teams.

Dalzeill – is our safety valve coming out from defence making space 70 metres or so from goal. He seems to have a great eye for where to run to and invariably loses his man. He very much plays the position Lappin did and like Nigel is subject to occasional nights or poor kicking. One of those was last night where he missed a lot of targets and put the receiver under a fair bit of pressure. He did run a bit with the ball which was good to see. He showed good pace on occasions last night I thought and looks extremely comfortable out there. He is just going about his job out there now and looks confident in himself. It is a shame he is too old for the Rising Star this year as he would have romped it in. For the night he got a very casual 29 disposals and 7 marks.

Stiller – started like a house on fire in the first quarter before quietly going about his business for the rest of the game. This was a bit unusual for Stiller who has a tendency to start slow and work into the game as his superior running ability begins to show. He played mostly off half back and acted as a link between the backs and the midfield much in the same way as Dalzeill. He finished the night with 19 disposals, 6 marks and 3 tackles which was a pretty good return in shortened quarters. I thought he did a pretty good job defensively as well. His disposals generally did not have a whole lot of hurt factor but he was doing okay. I get the impression that Voss likes Stiller given how he is being played and think he might be seen as being in the 22 at the moment.

Dzufer – played the first half before making way for Notting. He did not get much TOG and was not very effective when he was on there finishing with only 5 possessions. I don’t think we will see him again for a while.

Rich – his biggest weapon is his long kicking but we are not really seeing it yet which is a shame given he could potentially really hurt zones with it as we saw late in the last quarter when he drilled that 60 metre pass to Clark I think it was deep in the forward line. I think he is very much still finding his feet and I am hoping that once he gets more comfortable we will see more booming kicks and less of the chips that we got mostly last night. At the moment he is a bit like Proud was last year in that most of his possessions are in the contest or with a player sweating on him. He needs to work to space a bit more when the team is going forward and give himself a bit more room and the team another option. He often used the time when we had the ball as the time to rest. Defensively he did chase well last night and at one stage there ran down Lovett so he definitely has pace. He probably got around 50% TOG again last night and finished with 13 possessions to go along with 2 marks and 2 tackles. Not great numbers but he does look like a natural though and I think the Lions will try and get as many games as they can into him to speed his progression. Round 1? I am probably a little less certain than I was given the way Proud stood up.

Bradshaw – was a little rusty with his kicking missing a few easy shots to finish with 3 goals 3 behinds from his 12 disposals. I don’t think there is any doubt that he is one of the best FF in the competition and his strength and marking ability were there for all to see last night. It is a shame he didn’t get much in the way of service last night as he could have had a night out.

Redden – was a little bit of a deer in the headlights but he continued to punch on and got more of it as the night progressed finishing with 13 possessions. He had the opportunity to make a hero of himself with a couple of late shots including one with 40 seconds to go to win the game but unfortunately he didn’t convert. Taking out his two shots on goal he had only 1 kick and 10 handballs and a lot of those handballs sold his teammates up the river. He did however look like he likes to mix it up and has a nice frame. There is quite a lot to build on although I doubt we will see much of him at least early in the year.

Hawksley – found a bit of the ball ending up with 15 possessions but it might have been the worst game I have seen him play. He turned the ball over pretty much constantly, took poor options and put pressure on his receivers. After last week I had thought that he was close to selection but maybe not so close after last night’s performance.

Polkinghorne – had a very productive first quarter but then disappeared pretty much before getting a couple of touches in the last. In the first he looked like he was getting the ball with ease and looked very composed when he did. For the next three quarters it was an entirely different story for some reason. He still showed the ability to lay a tackle though finishing up with the leaders in this stat for the second week running with 5 to go with his 13 possessions and 4 marks. He did have a ping but could only manage a behind. I would have liked to have seen him get more of the ball but he did look like he belonged at this level and although he would be outside the 22 at the moment he would get serious consideration if anyone went down.

Roe – was hardly sighted all game and I think he would be behind the likes of Henderson and Collier for a position come round 1. He only managed 6 possessions for the game and 3 or 4 of those would have come in the last. He was part of the defensive unit that shut down the talked up Essendon 4 talls but he offered virtually nothing going the other way. We have too many of those at the moment and probably cannot afford another.

Adcock – I thought this was a much improved performance from Adcock this week. He was played predominantly at HB and after a very quiet first quarter he picked his game up a few notches becoming one of the main men coming out of defence. He played onball in the third and again struggled a little to find the ball and space but overall I thought he looked much better this week and my concerns about him were somewhat eased. He finished with 19 possessions, 4 marks and 4 tackles which are all pretty solid numbers. His disposal is still probably a step below what is was in 07 but was not too bad last night.

Macdonald – quietly went about business at the back finishing with an undemonstrative 20 possessions and 7 marks. He worked very well with Drummond and they are rocks at the back. He has picked up where he left off last year.

Patfull – was given the big defensive jobs as per usual on Lucas and Lloyd and as per usual he pretty much shut his man out of the game. As was the case a lot last year he was not a factor going forward with only 9 possessions. The ball does go to the smalls as a first, second and third option but I would like to see him more involved.

Drummond – was the quarterback at the back and everything seemed to start with Drummond picking up the ball deep in defence. The Lions love to have the ball in his hands and with the style of play they look like we will be playing he should get a mass of possessions this year. Last night he finished with 30 possessions, 6 marks and 4 tackles. Defensively he was also very solid which was encouraging. Lets hope he can keep on the park. On the commentary it mentioned that he was a bit proppy late in the last but it was reported that there were no injuries so hopefully it was just a bit of cramp.

Sherman – played at HF most of the night and found it hard to get much of the ball finishing with only 12 disposals. Service to him was not great but he is someone I think needs to be involved in the game more and I am not sure the HF experiment is working. It could well be different if he had the full midfield getting him the ball but at the moment I am not sure there is a spot in the 22 for him. His disposal has not been great and he just has not looked dangerous.

Henderson – for the second week in a row he played out of position at fullback and for the second week in a row he acquitted himself well. Matched up on Lucas mostly he kept him out of the game and the only trouble he did have was when Hille drifted forward a couple of times in the 3rd. He was another who was not really an option going forward ending up with only 10 possessions again a lot of those in the last. If he plays as the third tall I would like to see him more involved in an attacking sense. At the moment I think he could be competing with Collier for a spot come round 1 and it would be 50/50 which way it goes.

Tyler – for the second week was really given no chance to shine playing as the back up ruck. He did not get all that much TOG and was smashed in the ruck finishing with only 4 hit outs to go with his 7 possessions. He was not a factor around the ground. Hopefully another ruck will get up for one of the Challenge matches and Tyler can get an opportunity at a KP to show us what he can do.

Leuenberger – I listened to radio before watching the replay last night and from the radio broadcast I thought Berger had been smashed. Watching the actual game it was far from that. I still think Leuenberger gets dudded in the hit outs as I thought he got first hands to more than the 9 hit outs he was credited with. He competed well and split the points in the ruck with Hille and Bellchambers. In his first game back he split time with Tyler in the ruck before coming off in the third. What I would like to see more is his around the ground work we saw in the second quarter where he got most of his 7 possessions and 3 marks. He is not used much by the mids and this has to change if he is going to realise his potential.

Clark – once he gained some confidence in the last he was very hard to stop. For the first three quarters there was very little come his way and when he did his kicking for goal was ordinary to stay the least with 2 behinds and a couple of out of bounds on the full. In the last he got his 2 goals and his marking looked great. He played pretty close to goal last night and I can’t see how he is going to do this in the season proper. I would have liked to see him out around the 50 where that huge marking target would be handy to combat the zone defences. Maybe this is something which the Lions are saving for the season proper. Barring injury is a definite for round 1.

Hooper – continues his frustrating ways. Shows glimpses of genuine talent but simply does not get enough of it. He only managed 8 possessions last night. He is looking trim but his fitness I think is still a bit below what is required to play the type of game he does. Long term I still think he would be most effective in the midfield but he has a long way to go with his endurance to get there.

Clousten – came on for Leuenberger in the third and had to ruck. As you might expect he barely competed. He gave away a couple of frees as well which was unfortunate. I think what he was told to do was to make sure that Hille was not a factor around the ground in the last and he did this very well. Clousten is a very good runner and Hille was not sighted. He only managed 4 possessions and 2 marks in the little over a quarter he got time wise.

Harding – was not able to back up his very nice game last week. Playing more through the middle this week he had his usual problem of not being able to get it enough ending with only 12 possessions. I think last night established that if he is going to get a game he is going to be a FP who occasionally does some time in the middle.

Notting – missed the first half whilst wearing the sub jersey. Came on in the second half and seemed like a man determined to make up for lost time. He got 17 possessions in a half of football. Hardly any of them were effective though. His disposal skills were terrible, turning the ball over constantly and selling his team mates up the river. The only reason he is in contention for a round 1 spot is because he is a veteran.

Collier – an interesting game from Collier last night. Not as flashy as the week before but another solid outing from the young guy. He made one memorable bursting run and kick to set up Bradshaw for a goal but did manage to get only 12 possessions. He was around the ball a bit but it just wasn’t coming to him last night. The difference this week though was that he was given a job defensively when the Bombers played their four talls. When he had the job on a tall he did it very well and I think he answered a few questions about whether he could play as the third tall in defence. As mentioned above I think he is competing with Henderson for a spot come round 1.

Selwood – another solid but unspectacular game from Selwood. Again I didn’t notice him picking up any tagging role and just sat in the zone with everyone else. He picked up 20 possessions of which only 3 were kicks. As you might expect from 17 handballs his hurt factor was not high. He missed a few targets along with everyone else but was not too bad. I think he will be in the round 1 team but will be under pressure to hold his spot.

 

[Quigley]

The alcohol has clearly clouded your vision. I could not disagree more on your assessment of Hawksley. First half he was clearly best on ground. He showed poise, speed, positioning, awareness, courage, good hand and foot skills off the ball hard work, plus lots more. Not sure what you are looking for in a player but I could not be happier with his progress. At the rate of development he is showing I could only see him becoming an integral part of the best 22.

irel I think you might have been affected. Hawksley got a bit of the ball and turned up in some good spots but his kicking was woeful last night. He was about 3 levels below the previous week skills wise.

 

[Hollow Knight]

irel I think you might have been affected. Hawksley got a bit of the ball and turned up in some good spots but his kicking was woeful last night. He was about 3 levels below the previous week skills wise.

I thought some of his work in close was really impressive. I always had him pegged as an outside runner. Was pleased to see some flexibility.

 

[leeshy16]

Very impressed with the boys last night!!

Haven't been much of a fan of McGrath but was most impressed with him, only had about 16 or so touches, but most of them were very damaging.

Being at the game, didn't really notice till I watched the game at home, that Hawksley was very good and didn't realise the role Henderson played in the game.

I think Henderson has found a role down back. What does everyone else think?

 

[Judge]

I think Henderson has found a role down back. What does everyone else think?

At this stage I would have thought that Merrett, Drummo and Patfull will be our three "talls" down back in R1, with Clark rotating between defensive and wing/forward roles after starting on the bench (assuming we have two fit rucks).

I'm not convinced Lachy is quite ready yet for regular senior footy, and it will hard to pick Roe while his decision-making and execution remains flaky.

 

[dlanod]

At the moment I think he could be competing with Collier for a spot come round 1 and it would be 50/50 which way it goes.

That's an interesting analysis. Collier has been playing more of a flanker/wingman type of role in the couple of games so far - almost a midfielder, whereas Henderson has been playing a strictly defensive role. It seems to be that Henderson would be up against Roe for his spot, while Collier may be being groomed for the third "small" defender after Drummond and MacDonald.

Leuenberger – I listened to radio before watching the replay last night and from the radio broadcast I thought Berger had been smashed. Watching the actual game it was far from that. I still think Leuenberger gets dudded in the hit outs as I thought he got first hands to more than the 9 hit outs he was credited with. He competed well and split the points in the ruck with Hille and Bellchambers.

Watching it, Leuenberger was made to look a lot worse than we was by some of the horrendous centre bouncing. The number of times it bounced to Hille's or Bellchambers' advantage was definitely heading towards needing two hands to count. Around the ground and on a normal bounce, he seemed on a par with Hille and slightly ahead of Bellchambers. Having said that, Bellchambers definitely looked good too.

 

[BigCat2]

Was out for the night, so sat and watched the 1-4am replay. Fell asleep on the couch twice before finally deciding to go to bed at 3 quarter time.

My recount of the game is, naturally, disjointed and incomplete, but one particular passage of play that impressed me hasn't been mentioned yet: just forward of centre, the ball spilled free, and Leuenberger pretty much exploded from a standing start, swooped on the loose ball without breaking stride, and delivered it forward. His pace off the mar and the ability to pick up the ball are more typical of a 183cm guy, not a 203cm ruckman.

 

[the one duke]

i just hope we dont use last nights game plan all year with the constant handball. But on a few positives
Mitchy Clarke is showing some good signs. The last 5 mins he outmarked and dominated fletcher.
Bradshaw looks set for another big year.
Ash McGrath played probably the best game i have seen him play.
Scotty harding played another decent game.
Josh drummond will have a ripper year if his soft tissue injuries dont flare up.
Daniel Rich do i really need to say anything this guy will be a superstar

but now for the negatives
this stupid run and handball game plan will not help us win more games then we lose.
the foot skills were appalling both trying to hit a target and set shots at goal. 2 goals 8 in the last quarter was woeful especially when we were dominating the last quarter
as good as leuenberger is gonna be he really needs to bulk up before we can rely on him to be our ruckman.

but all in all it was only nab cup rd 2. our young kids did well to only just get beat by a nearly full strength bomber outfit.

 

[Quigley]

That's an interesting analysis. Collier has been playing more of a flanker/wingman type of role in the couple of games so far - almost a midfielder, whereas Henderson has been playing a strictly defensive role. It seems to be that Henderson would be up against Roe for his spot, while Collier may be being groomed for the third "small" defender after Drummond and MacDonald.



Watching it, Leuenberger was made to look a lot worse than we was by some of the horrendous centre bouncing. The number of times it bounced to Hille's or Bellchambers' advantage was definitely heading towards needing two hands to count. Around the ground and on a normal bounce, he seemed on a par with Hille and slightly ahead of Bellchambers. Having said that, Bellchambers definitely looked good too.

I think both Collier and Henderson would be competing with Roe for a spot and I would have them ahead based on last night. Which of the two would depend on match ups. Collier has taken third tall match ups the last two weeks and done well and so I think he could do the role if the third tall was not a bug threat. He would also give more run from the back. Henderson is more the natural match up for a big threat and could swap around if Merrett or Patfull was struggling. You would lose a bit going the other way however. Just my two cents atm.

 

[Gibbo_88]

Leuenberger pretty much exploded from a standing start, swooped on the loose ball without breaking stride, and delivered it forward. His pace off the mar and the ability to pick up the ball are more typical of a 183cm guy, not a 203cm ruckman.

He did the same thing in one game last year, think it might have been in 2008 highlights. Its amazing how quickly he can get to speed. It would be great to see him get used more as a midfield option for how quick he is or even if at one point playing two ruckmen on the ground and using him as a foward option (I think this happened at some point last night) However unless Charman is 100% it won't happen because Tyler has not been too good for us in the ruck

 

[POBT]

I think both Collier and Henderson would be competing with Roe for a spot and I would have them ahead based on last night. Which of the two would depend on match ups. Collier has taken third tall match ups the last two weeks and done well and so I think he could do the role if the third tall was not a bug threat. He would also give more run from the back. Henderson is more the natural match up for a big threat and could swap around if Merrett or Patfull was struggling. You would lose a bit going the other way however. Just my two cents atm.

I am actually having a little difficulty with that back 6 mix. Right now, I have 7 or 8 into 6 positions. It would be nice to see the various combinations with Merrett in the line up. Basically, the others can play multiple roles but he is the one constant at fullback.

 

[the one duke]

I am actually having a little difficulty with that back 6 mix. Right now, I have 7 or 8 into 6 positions. It would be nice to see the various combinations with Merrett in the line up. Basically, the others can play multiple roles but he is the one constant at fullback.

who do we play at chb?
what would be your back 6 line up?

 

[jerry springer]

Hey Guys any chance that Jono Brown will play this friday night in Cairns?

 

[Lace Out]

hey guys any chance that jono brown will play this friday night in cairns?

90 %.

 

[jerry springer]

90 %.

sweet

 

[Happy_Neale]

Too true.

I can't understand why people are so impatient with KPP (not you blokes but just BF in general), Matthews was pointing this out quite frequently how it takes 3-4-5 years for KPP to fill out and match their frames.

Did anyone hear the comment Leigh made last night regarding this? It was something like, it takes a little longer for their bodies to grow to the same place as their brains. Really true if you watch Mitch Clark this year (so far) compared to the last 2 years, he seems to now have the body to match his football brain which is his best attribute IMO

 

[chopperduck]

it definitely is getting harder to get a back six slotted in. ash has been playing well from the backhalf, altho i still think he could form a small forward duo with hooper pretty well.

Roe was pretty disappointing last night, which is unfortunate, because he is a decent player, but there are other guys overtaking him i think. He plays off his man really well, and does a great job at backing the other defenders up, but he isn't fantastic one on one, and altho he tries hard, he isn't great on the rebound.

I have been very pleased with how hendo has been playing down back, but he really is a FB type defender. His body is his only limitation right now, otherwise he does everything right in defence (close too anyway). It is possible that maybe starting next year, hendo could take and hold down the CHB role, leaving Patfull as our true 3rd defender, which would be great.

 

[acuguy]

Quigs i will gurantee Roe will play rd 1 and Selwood will definitely not be in the team. There is just no room for him!

 

[weevil]

Quigs i will gurantee Roe will play rd 1 and Selwood will definitely not be in the team. There is just no room for him!

You’ll have to do a nudie run if you are wrong.

 

[chopperduck]

i just hope we dont use last nights game plan all year with the constant handball. But on a few positives
Mitchy Clarke is showing some good signs. The last 5 mins he outmarked and dominated fletcher.
Bradshaw looks set for another big year.
Ash McGrath played probably the best game i have seen him play.
Scotty harding played another decent game.
Josh drummond will have a ripper year if his soft tissue injuries dont flare up.
Daniel Rich do i really need to say anything this guy will be a superstar

but now for the negatives
this stupid run and handball game plan will not help us win more games then we lose.
the foot skills were appalling both trying to hit a target and set shots at goal. 2 goals 8 in the last quarter was woeful especially when we were dominating the last quarter
as good as leuenberger is gonna be he really needs to bulk up before we can rely on him to be our ruckman.

I sure hope your taking the piss. The 4th qtr, which is when we put them under the pump and went inside 50 more times than i could count, was due to great pressure and actually running and carrying the ball, breaking the lines and drawing the defenders. When we run and carry the ball, it gives us space in our 50. If brown was playing last night, he would have easily kicked 6 goals. Im really hoping we go with a brown, bradshaw and clark forwardline this year, spells all kinds of headaches for opposition defenders