Preview Round 1 - WCE vs Western Bulldogs @ Patterson Stadium

[SwiftforPM]

A few things from last night.
Gaff played a more physical game, I really enjoyed seeing that.
Bennell looked fantastic, and if he can stay fit will be a huge plus for us.
Yeo although a bit quiet has speed to burn and is not afraid to use it.
Overall I think the team played no differently than we did last year, just without the injuries. There were still way too many crap kicks into the forward line and I really hate seeing a weak as piss turnover through bad decision making creating an opposition goal.
But clearly the highlight for me was receiving a text after the game form a mad Dockers supporter I know, who works for the Clontarf footy academy, which said "I ****in hate you campaigners, especially that front runner LeCras".
The Purple are already worried, the odds of a round 7 win are getting shorter and shorter.

 

[Milenko]

Yeo's pacey run & carry down the wing was damn good to watch. Haven't seen that from an Eagle in a long time.

 

[eagles rule]

It baffled me to see some not even have him in their 22, let alone the starting 18. Rosa is a starter on the wing. He's underrated on this board by a fair few.

Rosa's occasional helicopter, lack of flair and general vanilla-ness, etc. doesn't stop him from being effective in his link-up role, providing an option on the spread, ability to find the pill and go hard when it's his turn. All clubs have and need guys who can go about their business effectively without fanfare. Rosa is such a player.

I put it down to Rosa being a senior experienced player now .He knows when too go and get to the dangerous areas to help out or to link up this makes his game more consistent ..

 

[Prem87]

Rosa just needs to be injury free. Several seasons ago he had a purple patch for a few weeks where he was close to our BOG - a ton of damaging possessions all over the ground and kicked a few goals - if he can get back to that form lookout!

 

[TOA.]

Rosa just needs to be injury free. Several seasons ago he had a purple patch for a few weeks where he was close to our BOG - a ton of damaging possessions all over the ground and kicked a few goals - if he can get back to that form lookout!

It will also benefit Gaff significantly. Both those guys very important on Subi in particular. Sides tagged Gaff very hard because they knew if they stopped his run then it make it hard for us to transition the ball.

 

[SpaceClef]

How bad was Stevens tonight!

Swift's game was worse IMO. Was barely sighted all evening.


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[i am a logo]

Swift's game was worse IMO. Was barely sighted all evening.


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MH370 Board

 

[i am a logo]

How bad was Stevens tonight!

Thank god we got rid of that spud.

 

[Probitas_]

Anyone know where I can find footage of Yeo's 4 bounce run? It's not part of any of the AFL highlights

Done and done. If there's a really good quality one out I might try my hand at a highlights video.

 

[pantskyle]

The biggest disappointment out of the game was the stupid trip by Wellingham.

 

[mick06]

The biggest disappointment out of the game was the stupid trip by Wellingham.

That was the only disappointment / negative for me. Oh and the PA system. Loved the game, couldn't say that about any i went to last season, besides the last 30 seconds of the norf game

 

[Smotie]

So there I was talking to the missus whBLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

And so that's why I have hearing damage.

Was at the game in the city end stand. The siren just about blew the ear drums out. Wasn't sure if this was normal or not.

Huge positives for the Eagles. Was a great game to watch and see midfielders kicking goals again.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

That's the first thing I thought of. Getting your arse handed to you by Gaff of all people is pretty funny.

He's filled out quite a bit this season. Obviously he's no monster but it looks as though he has got the muscle base now then next season it will be like Cousins when he just rocked up with these Semi Automatics on his arms in 2000.

 

[Oneiros]

Was at the game in the city end stand. The siren just about blew the ear drums out. Wasn't sure if this was normal or not.

Huge positives for the Eagles. Was a great game to watch and see midfielders kicking goals again.

Same; bay 322 just to the southern side of the 3-tier stand. Worse luck, was directly in front of the speakers. Literally lifted me out of my chair when it first when off and I tell you, I wasn't the only one!

 

[W.C. Fry]

Sound system was its crappy normal self where I sit in 110. Couldn't hear a word Langdon (normally a good thing) was saying when talking to Woosha at half time. Didn't notice the siren being any louder either.

People mentioning Wellinghams trip as only disapointing thing on the day.... thought LeCras turning over Kennedys first chance for set shot at goal after his strong mark was pretty poor. Just really dumb and not needed. Maybe he was just on his angry pills as he gave Goodes a spray when he was on the ground as well.

Final note... didn't even notice Dahlhouse played. I guess you remember some players by their number, or how they move, and in his case his hair.

 

[MIKE85]

Not sure if it's been mentioned already, but am I the only one who is a little worried about that game?? I know we won by 11 goals, and dominated most stats, but to me it felt like the corresponding game from last year....beat up on a lowly side and we all think we are world beaters and then crumble against half decent sides. It just seemed like a better side would have punished us so much more with some of our stuff ups, and it kind of goes un-noticed when we win the footy back because the dogs stuff up. It might just be me being negative and worried about the year ahead, but to me it looked like not much had changed from last year, still kicking bombs into the forward line hoping for a mark, and still letting the opposition get out the back too regularly and score on the rebound. Pressure was much better from last year, so maybe that's all we needed to change??

 

[Bender_]

Not sure if it's been mentioned already, but am I the only one who is a little worried about that game?? I know we won by 11 goals, and dominated most stats, but to me it felt like the corresponding game from last year....beat up on a lowly side and we all think we are world beaters and then crumble against half decent sides. It just seemed like a better side would have punished us so much more with some of our stuff ups, and it kind of goes un-noticed when we win the footy back because the dogs stuff up. It might just be me being negative and worried about the year ahead, but to me it looked like not much had changed from last year, still kicking bombs into the forward line hoping for a mark, and still letting the opposition get out the back too regularly and score on the rebound. Pressure was much better from last year, so maybe that's all we needed to change??

It's only game 1 of a new coach, the changes that are being implemented will take time. I did find myself thinking about halfway through the third that not much had changed (massively noticeably anyway), then I remembered that it's gonna be a while for the changes to take effect.

The hunger appeared to be back and there's some new blood (including Wellingham), the differences will come all in due time.

 

[Lyyynnnchy]

Not sure if it's been mentioned already, but am I the only one who is a little worried about that game?? I know we won by 11 goals, and dominated most stats, but to me it felt like the corresponding game from last year....beat up on a lowly side and we all think we are world beaters and then crumble against half decent sides. It just seemed like a better side would have punished us so much more with some of our stuff ups, and it kind of goes un-noticed when we win the footy back because the dogs stuff up. It might just be me being negative and worried about the year ahead, but to me it looked like not much had changed from last year, still kicking bombs into the forward line hoping for a mark, and still letting the opposition get out the back too regularly and score on the rebound. Pressure was much better from last year, so maybe that's all we needed to change??

I agree on some of your points. I would like us to have say NicNat in the square, Kennedy around 30m out and Darling 50m out rather than all pf them together. Whoever is then kicking into the forward 50 can lower there eyes and spot up a lead rather than kicking high in the air and having 2 or 3 of our forwards crashing in to each other. I was hoping that coming from the Hawks, Simpson would have thrown out the bomb into the forward 50. Apart from our kicking into the forward 50 I was impressed with most aspects of the game

 

[ziad]

It's only game 1 of a new coach, the changes that are being implemented will take time. I did find myself thinking about halfway through the third that not much had changed (massively noticeably anyway), then I remembered that it's gonna be a while for the changes to take effect.

The hunger appeared to be back and there's some new blood (including Wellingham), the differences will come all in due time.

It will take time, but the intensity was there in spades.

 

[Smotie]

Not sure if it's been mentioned already, but am I the only one who is a little worried about that game?? I know we won by 11 goals, and dominated most stats, but to me it felt like the corresponding game from last year....beat up on a lowly side and we all think we are world beaters and then crumble against half decent sides. It just seemed like a better side would have punished us so much more with some of our stuff ups, and it kind of goes un-noticed when we win the footy back because the dogs stuff up. It might just be me being negative and worried about the year ahead, but to me it looked like not much had changed from last year, still kicking bombs into the forward line hoping for a mark, and still letting the opposition get out the back too regularly and score on the rebound. Pressure was much better from last year, so maybe that's all we needed to change??

Good points I think but I remember the Dockers (and I hate to use them as an example) when Ross Lyon took over, it took a good 10 games for them to fully adjust to his game plan. I was worried about a few things like that but I think Simpson is aware of the things he needs to change.

And if you have Kennedy, Lecras, Darling, NN etc in your forward line on a fine day why not try to expose their lack of height with bombs in the forward 50?

 

[Bender_]

It will take time, but the intensity was there in spades.

Yeah that was good to see.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

The biggest disappointment out of the game was the stupid trip by Wellingham.

Not for me - the sloppiness in the last quarter for mine.

The boys switched off and allowed them 6 goals in a quarter - when we'd only allowed 5 for the first 3.

 

[mick06]

Not sure if it's been mentioned already, but am I the only one who is a little worried about that game?? I know we won by 11 goals, and dominated most stats, but to me it felt like the corresponding game from last year....beat up on a lowly side and we all think we are world beaters and then crumble against half decent sides. It just seemed like a better side would have punished us so much more with some of our stuff ups, and it kind of goes un-noticed when we win the footy back because the dogs stuff up. It might just be me being negative and worried about the year ahead, but to me it looked like not much had changed from last year, still kicking bombs into the forward line hoping for a mark, and still letting the opposition get out the back too regularly and score on the rebound. Pressure was much better from last year, so maybe that's all we needed to change??

The difference i noticed was more handing off to runners. In the past it has been take a mark turn around and look for hurn until he cant get free, then we are frozen. A lot of times we took marks and had guys running past at angles at the correct time so there was a bit more flow.

 

[Toshowyouwhy]

People seen desperate to find some negatives.

 

[Eaglemaniac]

People seen desperate to find some negatives.

I dont think so, i think some are just trying to be realistic. Sure, we won, and we won by ten goals, but we have bottom 3 sides in the first three rounds so i think if we are going to be a realistic finals and top 4 chance, we'd need to really be putting those sides away by big margins. Obviously, as others have also pointed out, we are still learning a new game plan supposedly, and we have some new players, so hopefully things will tighten up and get better as the season goes on.
That game didnt really dispell any doubts for me about whether we can match it with the big teams, but its always nice to get a win to start the season. Hopefully the good start will give the team some confidence and some time to get the new game plan happening under a bit of pressure. Personally i'd like to see us use the ball a bit better as at times we didnt use the short kicks as well as we did in pre season to hit up targets going forward, and letting them get 6 goals in a quarter at the end was disappointing. LeCras kicking straight was great to see again though, and Bennell played well on Dalhaus which was also pleasing.
Only time will tell, but i'm looking forward to seeing what we can really do.