2008 NAB Round 1

[*PAF]

What are some "facts" people on here got out of it?

My thoughts:
1. Tredrea will improve on 2007. :thumbsu:
2. Cockshell > White. Not Cockshell >> White but Cockshell > White. :thumbsu:
3. De Luca could end up being good. :thumbsu:
4. Williams is promising. :thumbsu:
5. Motlot Jnr is promising. :thumbsu:

That's about it IMO but it's enough. :thumbsu: :thumbsu:

[finbarr]

Salopek is taking the next step.

[*PAF]

Salopek is taking the next step.
That's another :thumbsu:

[Jakko]

Boak and Krak were good. Not dominant, but enought to be very excited. Trav might have been close to top posession getter for us.

[*PAF]

Boak and Krak were good. Not dominant, but enought to be very excited. Trav might have been close to top posession getter for us.

Good good good.
So far it's all good. :thumbsu:

[dyertribe]

Has Sala stolen Ben Cousins' identity or what?

Looks like him. Plays like him. Wears 'sunscreen' like him.

Oh, and it's a shame Tredders is finished...

[dyertribe]

Boak and Krak were good. Not dominant, but enought to be very excited. Trav might have been close to top posession getter for us.

To be honest, I gave Krak's performance a Larry David meh.

Burnt it almost as much as Pearce, which is of concern, because usually players of that type don't get much of it, but when they do, use it immaculately.

[Ford Fairlane]

Confucius say when Adam Kingsley is your defensive coach, you must expect bombscare moments in your backline.

I'd agree with most of those assessments. Altho Motlop jnr is > promising.

On the flip side, Pearce burns the ball too much, and Surjan overdoes it.

Agree with dt re Krak. He looked good when he ran around loose in defence, but has an air of casualness that I'm not keen on.

Oh and umpiring still = fly blown carcass. ;)

[*PAF]

...

Oh, and it's a shame Tredders is finished...

http://www.qag.qld.gov.au/?a=47489:v2

[PJ Power]

1. Channel the ball to Damon White and be prepared to concede a goal on the rebound! White's career is surely beyond being in the balance (despite what appears under my BigFooty location).
2. Cockshell showed some real grunt and strength in the last half. Disappointed Westhoff let a couple of umpiring errors in the second quarter get the better of him - was far too inconspicuous when Tredrea was off the ground.
3. Thomas and Logan were exactly as we'd hope them to be in the middle - tough at it.
4. DeLuca did well against young opposition - still he stood up and gave us an armchair ride in the clearances.
5. Motlop looked very clean with the ball and has a more developed body than I had expected.
6. Pearce and Lonie burn the ball far too often. Neither should ever be credited with having good skills, when they can't hit targets. Bentley has to make it a priority to get better with his disposal.
7. On tonight, Lower has a bad case of Symes bad luck - i.e. over-enthusiastic fighting for the ball in our defence giving rise to free kick shots on goal for the opposition. Williams last quarter and Stewart's first quarter were encouraging. Lower did not show any stand-out signs.
8. Carlile, Pettigrew, Surjan and Chaplin did not instill much confidence irrespective of their injury status during the game.
9. Salopek and Boak = class.
10. Tredrea, Brogan and Cassisi did particularly well in the first half.
11. Rodan needs to work hard this year to make sure he keeps up with the improvement in the rest of the side.
12. Umps love Carlton - got them well and truly back in the game in the first half, time and time again.

Overall I'm happy we kept it competitive and interesting against Carlton in the last quarter.
Brogan and Tredrea's resting enabled us to see some good signs from DeLuca and Cockshell. Thomas's game in the midfield was very encouraging.

[Alberton_Magpie]

Nathan Lonie, Nathan Krakouer and Damon White wont be on OUR list in 2009

[PJ Power]

I didn't mind Krak's game after halftime. I agree that his disposal cost us a couple of times, but he ran the ball pretty well out of defence.

You have no argument from me though about Lonie or White.
In all seriousness, if either of them get a game this year, it will have to mean that we are down to just 22 fit players on our senior and rookie list.

Stewart and Williams look like they might have AFL careers in front of them. It wouldn't surprise if one of them squeezes into the main side in front of Nick Lower at some stage this year.

[Ebert80]

Nathan Lonie, Nathan Krakouer and Damon White wont be on OUR list in 2009

The only way Krakouer wont be on our list next year is if he gets traded to a WA club, and if he does we will have the upper hand because West Coast and Freo are unlikely to finish near the bottom (and have bargaining power due to the threat of picking him up in the PSD).

So if he gets traded we should get some fairly reasonable compensation :)

[Drummond]

Thought you guys had a lot to take from today’s game.

Salopek was brilliant. He’s like our Brent Reilly, so smooth and his checkside goal that wasn’t allowed was quality. Now whether or not to pick him in my DT, it’s just a case of weather he can stay on the park often enough!

Nick Lower’s performance pretty much summed him up as a player. He took a nice mark in the first quarter, rightfully decided to play on but kicked it straight to a Blues player. The end result was a supergoal, and it was a typical play from Nick. He’ll often to such great things only to stuff it up with a poor decision or action. He also had a few nice bumps which is the usual, he likes to throw his body around. I personally think his upside is greater to that of Matt Thomas but there’s little doubt he’s behind him at this stage. Lower has great upside and even though he’s only played in defence with the Power, he has the ability to play in the midfield and on the wing. Speaking of Thomas, I liked his game. His toughness and courage will allow him to be a pretty handy midfielder; I would just like to see him use the ball a little more cleanly, especially by foot. But with time and experience that should improve.

Looks like you’ve got yet another steal with Marlon Motlop. How do you do it; did every other club agree to pass on him to allow you guys to nab him? ;) How good are his foot skills? Bottom aged and yet to me he looks just about ready to play at the highest level. He’ll be another one of your first year players who'll sneak in 10-12 games of footy.

Adam Cockshell played his best game in 12 months. Took some very strong overhead marks and his tackling was a real highlight. His kicking still gives me nightmares and you won’t ever be able to rely on him to kick the crucial goal with a kicking technique like his.

That was the best I’ve seen Deluca ruck. I admit; before today I was convinced he’s a dead set dud and bound for delisting, but on the back of that performance maybe there’s hope in him yet. His ruckwork was very impressive and he got a hand on pretty much every ruck contest he was involved in. He’ll never be strong around the ground but with continued efforts like that in the ruck, he won’t need to.

Alipate Carlile is quality, I’ve said it many times before. Looked good in 1-on-1 contests with Fevola and certainly wasn’t outmuscled by him. Ryan Williams looked strong and had more pace than I imagined, he’ll definitely be a permanent fixture of Centrals team this year. Gavin Grose will be a similar player to Carlile IMO, but maybe less of a key defender, more of a 3rd or 4th option in defence. He too is very strong and has a booming kick.

Paul Stewart is an interesting one. Looked out of his depth at senior level in the SANFL last year, but had some huge possession counts in the reserves. I thought he looked good out there; he had a ton of handballs as a result of trying to link up players to break the lines. He also had a heap of shepherds that you don’t get credited for. Seriously, he had about 3 or 4 in the first quarter alone. Looks like a very, very good athlete for someone about 190cm. Has a slightly unusual running style; looked as though he leans forward when he runs. Still doesn’t stop him from getting good pace though!

Overall some good signs for your lot.

[Rory]

Quality post Drummond, always calls it as he sees it and is one crows supporter that tells it how it is without throwing in sly backhanded compliments. Great stuff :thumbsu:

[Macca19]

Will give a bigger review once I get to watch an uninterrupted replay of the game. Was at a mates house for the last 3 quarters so only saw about 50% of the last 3 quarters.

White looks much fitter. Looks like he has found more pace and agility but he still cant find it enough. Cockshell is more determined but his kicking is terrible. Thought most of the younger guys showed enough.

Tredrea looks super fit and ready to go.

Our gameplan is shit. I dont know why we persist in playing touch footy like shit out of defence only to royally **** it up inside the defensive 50 and cost a score/goal. Its ridiculous.

[Natman]

Will give a bigger review once I get to watch an uninterrupted replay of the game. Was at a mates house for the last 3 quarters so only saw about 50% of the last 3 quarters.

White looks much fitter. Looks like he has found more pace and agility but he still cant find it enough. Cockshell is more determined but his kicking is terrible. Thought most of the younger guys showed enough.

Tredrea looks super fit and ready to go.

Our gameplan is shit. I dont know why we persist in playing touch footy like shit out of defence only to royally **** it up inside the defensive 50 and cost a score/goal. Its ridiculous.

Game one, less that half a team and you worry that the game plan (and execution) is shit - I can remember nearly every year that I have watched footy that there is no relevance or correlation of a game plan in game one to that played during the season proper.The only value out of these types of games is to look for glimpses of talent and form in young, emerging or older players in new positions - that is all.

[Asgardian]

Firstly my buddy players

David Rodan had an okay game, but needed to involve himself more often. However there were some good signs, and he looks likely to be on the same course as 2007, which means another good year in the Power lineup

Nathan Lonie, well Nathan, for a bloke who's supposed to have super disposal, your's needs to become a whole lot better. I saw one good effort in trying to get the ball, but AFL players need to perform that kind of effort for 120 minutes of every game, not 120 seconds on a rare occasion.
Lift your workrate, improve your skills, get some desire to fight for the hard ball, or your services will not be required.

Of the other blokes

Tredrea looks fit & motivated
Thomas looks hungry
Deluca looks promising
Cockshell looks strong
Krakouer looks speedy & elusive, but work harder on the skills son
Motlop looks like he belongs
Carlile looks determined
Stewart looks classy in patches
Williams looks better than I expected
Boak looks all class
Salopek looks like he should have been picked higher than No, 6

Brogan, Cassisi & Logan all look to be at the start of very good seasons

[MickyCrow]

Im not pissing in your pockets, but I reckon Salopek will be pushing for AA this year. Was really impressed with him and he looks like hes ready to explode....bastard....:p

[captain ebert]

Game one, less that half a team and you worry that the game plan (and execution) is shit - I can remember nearly every year that I have watched footy that there is no relevance or correlation of a game plan in game one to that played during the season proper.

agree with that.

[Black 18]

Agree with Macca on the gameplan front, its not good at all if that type of game is what we are trying to perfect. Too risky, too many players waiting to find an option instead of moving the thing on, too wide & that type of game will only bring chaos against quality sides. Very poor IMO, and a style that even with ALL our best players back in will leave us going nowhere fast. :(

Though as other's as said, maybe, just maybe that type of game was due to the lack of experience and other factors. I really, really hope so. Awful style of football that wont hold up under pressure at all. Not sure what Choco is thinking there. :confused:

The umpires adore Carlton and did everything possible to help them out, especially during the first half, incredible performance by the men in white once again. :thumbsd:

I thought most guys did really well given their relative inexperinece. I was very impressed with many of our younger guys. I would think the Club would be very happy with our depth and options we have. Good stuff!

DeLuca impressed me alot. He wasn't up against much but got his hand to the ball nearly everytime and directed it well. Hunted the ball ok too.

Matt Thomas - loved his game, committed, hard at it, and works for the team (doesnt seem to worry about stats which is a godsend in our midfield).

Marlon Motlop - smooth, silky. Much to work on but a big future in front on this young man.

Cockshell - impressive unit. Loves a contest and doesnt mind letting others know hes about the place. Remind's me of a young Cam Mooney. Cool stuff.

Salopek - looking real good

Many others had their moments in the sun but those were the ones that grabbed my attention during the game.

Damon White - surely Choco has to give up on trying to create a footballer on this front. He may be fit, he may pass all the written tests with flying colours but he cant play..........period! Soft IMO. Falls over as soon as anyone goes near him, drops marks as soon as anyone goes near him. No strenght in mind or body when a contest is about.

Carlile - not sure if this guy is AFL ready yet.

I see a big weakness for us being we lack any tall defenders that can take contested marks. They dont even look close to taking any. Huge concern IMO. Can't rely soley on sides making errors to win the ball back from them. At times we looked like we had no idea how to get the ball back once they were attacking. I really think there is a strong case for Chad Cornes to play down back once more, even off a HBF with a license to roam a little. We need someone who can take a mark down there, once Brogan left the ground we had nobody capable of marking the ball in defense. Worrying.

Foot disposal of Pearce was shocking, hope he was trying our new boots or something, was very very poor.

I am sure I have missed a few points but apart from the bizarre gameplan I thought the young guys generally did very well. Much to look forward to IMO.

[Ford Fairlane]

I reckon the gameplan is old as - well I was going to say time, but I'll say me :o. It's get numbers around the ball, or as we used to say in the 70s, hunt in packs. The problem with actual execution was too much clustering around the ball, creating congestion, rather than running into space, or getting some more shepherds in. Remember Choco talking about getting more uncontested possession? This is the theory put into practice. There was certainly bugger all chip chip footy.

It was mostly overdone in the backline where we had a continually rotating group of inexperienced players who don't know each others' games instinctively under pressure (and with a couple of wildcards like Surjan and Pettigrew, you're never going to be sure what they'll do) and many of whom got caught too often playing at SANFL pace (no surprise given that is the bulk of their experience). We coughed up so many goals from turnovers I was dizzy.

Like Natman said, it's tough to judge a gameplan based on a trial game given all those variables. You can see the kernel of what they're trying to do. I'd be majorly concerned if the clustering around the ball and over-possessing went on once the genuine experience comes into the side and adds more definitive movement.

[Black 18]

Yeah, hear what your saying Ford.

I hope you're right. Still, until the side has setteld down a touch and played another game or two and has shown more composure and more footy smarts I do have concerns.

What was on show yesterday will get smashed by good sides. They will eat it up everytime. That type of gamestyle wont stand up under pressure at all. Just too much over possession, too many players hesitating for a second to hopefully find an option and BANG they get caught. That type fo gamestyle also encourages the oppostion to chase hard all day as they know we will mess around and give them chances to win the thing back and if they do win the thing back we are sitting ducks as everyone has ran off trying to get involved.

Turnovers win and lose footy games these days. The style we played yesterday will make us the kings of turnovers no matter who is playing or who isn't. That style has never, and will never, stand up under pressure.
Doesnt matter how good you are, just wont cut it.

[Ford Fairlane]

I don't disagree for a moment that if we throw the ball around like that in the real stuff we'll be in for a long season. The key is to get the numbers around and use them purposefully. Geelong do it really well with blocks and shepherds, and the crows *gasp* use the running overlap from defence as well as anyone with the numbers they get back, then move forward. Under WIlliams, we tend to overdo any new variation in the pre-season games to get the feel for what we're doing. In the 04 pre-season comp we went down to Geelong in Cairns (IIRC) when we just kicked long relentlessly, is response to the criticism of the over-possessive gameplan. We refined that by the real stuff tho.

Back in the day, the Cahill-coached Port sides looked very much like that, with the rugby line streaming out of defence. Of course we had the definitive defensive general in Greg Phillips marshalling that backline, which this side just doesn't have yet. The great Port sides under Cahill always had great CHBs (Woite, Phillips, Leys).

[MrMeaner]

I take your point Ford. However, the real problem that I saw with the gameplan was that few of the players showed enough awareness of when it was time to stop throwing it around and get a kick in to position. Sal and Cassisi are the only two who I can think of off the top of my head whose first instinct was not to just hot-potato it to someone else.

On the players themselves, I pretty much agree with all written above. I really feel sorry for Damon. He seems like he tried his heart out and his best is good enough. However, his average is woeful and not worth persisting with. I'm also not sure that Cockshell has enough upside.

[FishingRick04]

Nathan Lonie, Nathan Krakouer and Damon White wont be on OUR list in 2009

I don't like saying negatives, but take out Krakouer and I will agree. I would throw Bentley unfortunately into that list also.

Pearce is good, I would assume his rustiness is due to early pre seasn but when you run so fast timing can be difficult kicking the ball.

I loved Ryan Williams, he was fantastic, showed enough to really deserve more game time, even season proper time.

Carlile needs to hold his ground more, slids in for the ball to often, the big fella needs to stay on his feet. I think Toby, Chappy and Pett's will be our 3 tall options with help from Brog's. I still would like Chad back there myself, but Markk knows more than I.

Chaplin appeared to take the game a bit too relexed, seemed complacent at times.

I thought Salopek was B.O.G for me, he was fantastic. Tredrea was good and I hope people stop bagging him soon. Stupid stuff to say.

Put the Burgers, Cornes, Lade, Ebert, Motlop, Thurstans and Co back into the side and it looks good.

[FishingRick04]

I reckon the gameplan is old as - well I was going to say time, but I'll say me :o. It's get numbers around the ball, or as we used to say in the 70s, hunt in packs. The problem with actual execution was too much clustering around the ball, creating congestion, rather than running into space, or getting some more shepherds in. Remember Choco talking about getting more uncontested possession? This is the theory put into practice. There was certainly bugger all chip chip footy.

It was mostly overdone in the backline where we had a continually rotating group of inexperienced players who don't know each others' games instinctively under pressure (and with a couple of wildcards like Surjan and Pettigrew, you're never going to be sure what they'll do) and many of whom got caught too often playing at SANFL pace (no surprise given that is the bulk of their experience). We coughed up so many goals from turnovers I was dizzy.

Like Natman said, it's tough to judge a gameplan based on a trial game given all those variables. You can see the kernel of what they're trying to do. I'd be majorly concerned if the clustering around the ball and over-possessing went on once the genuine experience comes into the side and adds more definitive movement.

Spot on post IMO, I imagine the theory of running and handball is to break and stop the zone, instantly kicking long AKA D Pagan is old school and only helps and encourages the opposition to flood.

Our problem lay with the inexperienced crew eg Carlile who would handball or kick to someone else who was heavily marked, but imporvement will come through experience. It appears a risky game but looks good when it works and break the flood, the Eagles do it, Geelong does it, they just do it alot better.

[i_love_the_hoff]

boak and salopek played A++

[Macca19]

Game one, less that half a team and you worry that the game plan (and execution) is shit - I can remember nearly every year that I have watched footy that there is no relevance or correlation of a game plan in game one to that played during the season proper.The only value out of these types of games is to look for glimpses of talent and form in young, emerging or older players in new positions - that is all.

Whilst I do agree we had half a side out and these games mean nothing, last time we tried that style of play in the NAB Cup we nearly ended with a priority pick.

Thankfully we are out of the cup now so we can play real footy with real rules so we'll see how we play then.

[Macca19]

It was mostly overdone in the backline where we had a continually rotating group of inexperienced players who don't know each others' games instinctively under pressure (and with a couple of wildcards like Surjan and Pettigrew, you're never going to be sure what they'll do) and many of whom got caught too often playing at SANFL pace (no surprise given that is the bulk of their experience). We coughed up so many goals from turnovers I was dizzy.


From what I could tell it was more the guys that are gonna be there all year which seemed to muck things up.

[Ford Fairlane]

I take your point Ford. However, the real problem that I saw with the gameplan was that few of the players showed enough awareness of when it was time to stop throwing it around and get a kick in to position. Sal and Cassisi are the only two who I can think of off the top of my head whose first instinct was not to just hot-potato it to someone else.



Yeah but that's my point. The two players you named were just about veterans of last night's side, a 100 gamer in Cassisi (who was terrific last night, his hard ball winning and workrate were inspirational, his development as a footballer just continues) and a genuine quality footballer in Salopek who's been in our system for 5 years. The handball daisy chains came from players like Stewart, Lower, Williams, Motlop, Carlile, even Chaplin, Logan and everyone's favourite Mr Lonie. Players still coming to grips with AFL football (or not in some cases). They're getting a taste of what's required, and with Cornes x 2, Burgoyne x 2, Lade, Thurstans, Motlop and Ebert to come back in (plus full game time from Brogan and Tredrea), you wouldn't expect to see that sort of indecision.

Choco said post-match we handled the ball too many times, and referred to it as 'bizarre' and maybe the heat getting to the players. So it's obviously not what he's aiming for, but he did say it's something you might expect to see at this time of year. It's February, everyone's keen to impress in a side that was predominantly young players trying to put pre-season training into practice and coming undone a bit.

[Ford Fairlane]

From what I could tell it was more the guys that are gonna be there all year which seemed to muck things up.

I thought Surjan and Pearce turned it over badly on several occasions, and Pettigrew wasn't too good. Chaplin got caught out a few times too, Carlile once or twice, but he did seem to try more to run and break the lines which was good. But I reckon largely it was the newbies that overdid it either through over-enthusiasm or just operating at SANFL pace at key times, and some of the more established (but still a bit green by experience standards) were caught up in the maelstrom.

But I also think there were some good defensive efforts from some of the younger players that have been overlooked in the helter-skelter. Lower was tight, didn't see him get outbodied at all, and you have to like his attack on the ball, even if it was ridiculously penalised at least once. Needs to tighten his disposal by foot under pressure. Williams too, was solid in defence, as was Stewart who, as was pointed out by other posters, put in plenty of hard 1%ers and did some good defensive stuff running back with the flight of the ball.

[Black 18]

yeah Ford, lots off good points to take out of the game, no question.

Many players showed they are around the mark which is good for both the player/s and Choco and his coaching staff. Well done :thumbsu:

Just a bizarre gameplan that concerned me, the rest was all good apart from Chaplin's injury of course). Glad to hear Choco thought it was bizarre too :D.

[Ford Fairlane]

After moping around for 5 months after that game last September (and my goodness how often did we get reminded of it in last night's commentary?) I'm going for the glass half-full approach in the pre-season. :cool:

[hereselmo1]

As someome said earlier, the old port teams used to start every season this way, over doing the handballs. It is a combination of trying to make sure that you are creating lots of run out of defence and also the skills not quite being up to scratch. When one handball doesnt quite hit the mark, then it tends to put the player under pressure leading to more handballs to try and get a clean possession.

As i said the old port teams always started this way but it always settled down once the real stuff started or perhaps by round 3 in the sanfl because they played less trial games.

[Macca19]

Ive had a chance to watch the whole replay and as a whole I didnt mind too much of how we played. We had 10 players out who will be first team regulars and Brogan and Tredders only played a half. It gave great experience to the 2nd half of our list as to the pace they need to play at and the skill level they need to reach to play AFL.

In the main we continued to play how we did last year. Fast movement up the ground usually through kicking from defence. But too regular enough we seemed to get caught in the downward spiral of handballing for no reason. It seemed that once the over-handballing started, the only way we stopped is becuase we didnt have the ball anymore. It seemed that the players forgot they were on a football field and was like playing keepings off on a tennis court. Whilst I dont really mind this if its through the midfield, when we do this in the defensive 50 and cough up about 5-7 scoring shots then it is a worry.

I just personally dont think its necessary. I dont mind it when they keep handballing forward. Its when the inevitable handball backwards over the head comes when it gets unstuck. I also personally dont think our defensive players have the skillset to pull that off successfully enough for it to be a necessary part of our gameplan.

On the main part though we looked alright considering who we had missing. A few players again really stood out as putting their hands up for imporvement and regular football this year.

I thought Carlile did a great job on Fevola. Kept him to 2 goals (one being a down the ground shot) and provided decent enough rebound. Looks bigger and fitter and ready to play.

Motlop did enough to suggest he could play early in the season. He isnt overly quick but hes got good skills and just keeps working and working. I thought Stewart had quite a good first half. Decent enough skills and willing to put his body on the line to shepherd or block. Williams as well looked good at times coming out of defence and had better skills than I expected.

COckshell took some good strong marks inside 50 and 2 goals was a good output from him. White looks a bit faster but didnt really do a whole lot.

Boak and Logan whilst making a few errors played pretty well. Cassisi and Salopek were excellent, Sal in particular looks again to raise his game another level this year. THomas showed he is ready to play and hopefully ready to succeed. I hope he can perform like that during the regular season.

I thought the umpiring was a complete pile of shit which cost us at least 4 goals which wouldnt have occured otherwise.

All in all im happy that we are out of the crap rules cup and can start playing proper football with proper rules again. I want to see the guys who missed today starting to play some games during the country rounds now. It looks like there should be enough improvement in the younger guys to keep up at top 8 standard again this year.

Player Reviews:

Tredrea - Not a lot of the ball but presented well, led well, kicked well. Probably in our top 5 in the first half. 2 goals and a couple of strong marks.

Salopek - Our BOG fairly comfortably. I already think hes a star but if he can continue to play like that and get touches all over the park then he will really be hard to beat this year.

Surjan - Plenty of GF running out of defence and handballing over his head. Seems to run too far and then doesnt know what to do.

Boak - 90% of his touches were classy and he just racks up the ball.

Motlop - Will play this year. Top skills and great tenacity.

Lonie - Next

Stewart - THought he was most impressive out of our young defence last night. His skills were better than expected and he loves doing the 1%ers. Could be a big improver this year?

Rodan - Didnt get a lot of it but used it well as always.

Pearce - Someone badly needs to teach him how to kick. He will not improve until he learns how to hit targets.

Williams - Liked his dash and ability to win the ball. Look for him to play plenty of senior SANFL footy this year.

Brogan - One of our best in his half. Played well.

Bentley - Liked his game today. Kicking needs work but looked ok across half forward.

White - Just didnt impact enough

Cassisi - 2nd best on ground. Great player

Lower - Didnt mind his game. A few errors but overall he kept at his task and played reasonably well

Carlile - Thought he played really well on Fevola

Krakouer - Unsighted up forward but once moved to defence he got into the game. Skills let him down

Chaplin - Looked lost out there today

Thomas - Great in and under game. Loves getting the hard ball and used the ball better than weve seen in the past.

Cockshell - Kicking is a mixed bag as we know but really put his hand up again today for a R1 spot ahead of White.

Pettigrew - Barely even knew he was out there for most of the day

Deluca - One of the big improvers. Has taken time, as we know, but he now looks close to ready to play. Good tap work

Giles - Still needs work

Westhoff - Couple of shit decisions went against him but he had a good first half. Dont think he touched it after half time

Grose - Looked ok at times and looked lost at times. Needs more work but should improve

Logan - Some slack disposal is all that holds him back at the moment. Played pretty well and another that should play R1.

[Toots Hibbert]

What are some "facts" people on here got out of it? ....
Facts, hmmm...

1) Tredrea's back, he's going to have a pretty good year.

2) Tom Logan right now should be in our first choice 22.

3) Matt Thomas is going to be a good player for us. Hard at it and disposal is improving.

4) Marlon Motlop is going to be very very good. Smooth mover and good decision maker.

5) Damon White will never do more than show glimpses of good play.

6) Nathan Lonie's disposal is grossly overrated by the football commentariat.

7) Danyle Pearce miskicks too often.

8) Deluca's display was food for thought. I've never been a fan but maybe, just maybe, he'll fill the gap when Lade hangs up the boots. If he starts taking marks around the ground I'll think about buying a ticket.

9) Didn't mind what I saw of Giles. Pity he didn't nail that shot in the last quarter.

There's a replay on Fox on Tuesday at 1130 for anyone interested. I plan to record it and have a look.

[marcus]

In addition to most of the comments above (though I disagree with Krakeour not being on our list in 2009, his running through the lines was a sign he is getting better and he will be a star) for some reason it impressed me that Stewart got involved in that Logan scuffle.

Stewarts gone from a rating of "who?" to "looks the goods".

Agree with the handball comments, we overdid it but there was something very maggies about it which looks promising.

I'm still quietly confident of a top 4 finish after seeing our depth.

[i_love_the_hoff]

Facts, hmmm...

1) Tredrea's back, he's going to have a pretty good year.

2) Tom Logan right now should be in our first choice 22.

3) Matt Thomas is going to be a good player for us. Hard at it and disposal is improving.

4) Marlon Motlop is going to be very very good. Smooth mover and good decision maker.

5) Damon White will never do more than show glimpses of good play.

6) Nathan Lonie's disposal is grossly overrated by the football commentariat.

7) Danyle Pearce miskicks too often.

8) Deluca's display was food for thought. I've never been a fan but maybe, just maybe, he'll fill the gap when Lade hangs up the boots. If he starts taking marks around the ground I'll think about buying a ticket.

9) Didn't mind what I saw of Giles. Pity he didn't nail that shot in the last quarter.

There's a replay on Fox on Tuesday at 1130 for anyone interested. I plan to record it and have a look.

i agree with all of that except for number 1 and number 9

[Ford Fairlane]

In addition to most of the comments above (though I disagree with Krakeour not being on our list in 2009, his running through the lines was a sign he is getting better and he will be a star) for some reason it impressed me that Stewart got involved in that Logan scuffle.

Stewarts gone from a rating of "who?" to "looks the goods".



Yeah well spotted. We've had a few pointed comments about players not flying the flag at times, and it was good to see Stewie go in there and show some attitude. I reckon he was in a couple of nose to nose confrontations.

[Toots Hibbert]

Yep, I liked that about Stewie's display also.

Here's a few pics of one of Salopeks goals. Cassisi involved.

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/2637/salojetgoalgifbt0.gif

[Toots Hibbert]

Here's Giles marking on the lead in the last quarter. He should have nailed this shot.

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/3856/nab1ws4.jpg

[Toots Hibbert]

http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/8899/nab7kg9.jpg

Giles in ruck. I think he looks a good size out there now. Moves around pretty well and can take a mark in the forward line. I thought his ruckwork was reasonable. He needs to develop further but I think he will.

[Dogga79]

I liked what I saw in Cocksells game but I dont see how he is going to fit in your forward line for round 1. You have the Hoff and Tredders and maybe Chad Cornes at CHF so barring injury I think White and Cockshell have another year of SANFL to look forward to. Just on Chad Cornes where is his most likely position this year?

[Toots Hibbert]

Based on the evidence of training he'll be spending at least some time up forward. There are plenty here who will argue with me but I think his goal kicking has improved in the last twelve months and he would cause opposition defences a lot of headaches IMO.

[Toots Hibbert]

I saw this guy charging out of our back lines and head purposefully toward goal. He nearly scored but took a couple of steps too many and his shot was blocked. That was Ryan Williams. I started taking some pics and thought he showed promise but is still very raw. What I liked was his willingness to have a crack and to throw himself into contests.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/6190/nab8yv8.jpg

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/399/nab9ed7.jpg

Here's an example of some of the overuse of handball in the backlines that we noticed....

Looking good...

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/2483/nab10nr6.jpg

Oops!!

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/5806/nab11ul7.jpg

[Porthos]

Ryan Williams looks and plays like Matt Lokan

Paul Stewart played some very un-Woodville football with lots of good 1%ers, and is my pick of the newbies.

Damon White has had yet another tall forward (Cockshell) shove their way past him for a first 22 spot. He's just not going to get better than he is right now.

Chaplin was utter rubbish, and I reckon he must've already been playing injured before he broke his hand. He is not the guy that usually gets caught taking on a bloke.

Grose looked all right, could be an option for the gangly talls (the quasi-ruckmen and guys lke Nathan Ablett) in the future.

Lonie just destroys our side with his play.

Matt Thomas did better in midfield than I could've possibly expected, and definitely signals/justifies a move for Cassisi into a 2004 J. Carr role.

Krakouer clearly doesn't like being away from the play as much as he's required to be as a forward.

Handpassing backwards more than 2 meters should result in a player fine.

[Powerstufff]

To be honest, I gave Krak's performance a Larry David meh.

Burnt it almost as much as Pearce.....On first analysis yes. But Krak was getting a big run late and trying to deliver to a manned up White, which would be difficult to accomplish if you took it to Damon in a taxi.

[Toots Hibbert]

Two centre bounces with Deluca rucking.

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/9439/nab12ek0.jpg

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/8413/nab13cg2.jpg

[Powerstufff]

I saw this guy charging out of our back lines and head purposefully toward goal. He nearly scored but took a couple of steps too many and his shot was blocked. That was Ryan Williams. I started taking some pics and thought he showed promise but is still very raw. What I liked was his willingness to have a crack and to throw himself into contests......That was a magnificent run and Thornton's smother was top class too otherwise Williams would have scored. Saw Williams do a few other brave, strong things too. He has staked a claim for sure.

[Toots Hibbert]

...Chaplin was utter rubbish, and I reckon he must've already been playing injured before he broke his hand. He is not the guy that usually gets caught taking on a bloke....
Harsh but with a fair amount of truth in it. He was one of the main offenders with holding the ball for too long and trying to play pretty football when the ball should be moved away from the danger area with as little time wasted and as possible. He looked lost with all the new faces around him.

[Powerstufff]

....Cockshell - Kicking is a mixed bag as we know but really put his hand up again today for a R1 spot ahead of White......Yeah I've gone 180 degrees in my opinion of him since the Family Day trial. He took some really difficult contested marks and played well in general play. He took his longer shots and didn't try to shirk responsibility. Better than White in every facet. Give Cockshell 30+ games like White has had and we may have something.

[Ford Fairlane]

I reckon it was Waite (30) who smothered the Williams kick. It gave Walls an opportunity to go on just a bit more (too much is never enough for Wallsy) about his amazing vertical leap. Clearly Williams wasn't at fault, as he didn't realise he was taking on Spiderman. ;)

Williams gives me a bit of a chuckle, he has the upper body of Conan the Barbarian and the legs of a budgie. But he looks like a goer ... or is that keeper?

[hereselmo1]

i was thinking the same thing mentioned earlier re cassissi becoming the new josh carr (pre going to freo). I think cassisi will be released this year to become a much more creative playmaker with some grunt. Thomas looks like he is more than capable of taking on cassisi's role now so that he too can go through mark's midfield development program and eventually go from tagger to playmaker too.

[marcus]

I'd like to see Cornes have the freedom to run off a HB flank.

My best 22 would be something like this...

Ebert Cockshell JWesthoff
Cassisi Tredrea Gray
Salopek Rodan Pearce
PBurgoyne Chaplin CCornes
White Carlile Thomas

Ruck:Lade, KCornes, SBurgoyne

Res:Brogan, Krakouer, Boak, Logan

Emerg DMotlop, Pettigrew, Surjan, Thurstans, Stewart, Williams

Left out until mid season: Wilson

[dyertribe]

i agree with all of that except for number 1 and number 9

Far be it from me to argue with the opinion of a teenage girl, but how can you possibly disagree with the statement "Tredrea is back and is going to have a good year"?

At his best he was the best player in the league. Even at 29 and after his injury troubles, he finally has a full preseason under his belt and is moving 1000% better than at any stage in 2006/7, therefore logic holds that combining this new-found fitness with his pedigree he will have a good year.

Simple.

[dyertribe]

On first analysis yes. But Krak was getting a big run late and trying to deliver to a manned up White, which would be difficult to accomplish if you took it to Damon in a taxi.

What about when he was running out of the backline largely unopposed only to kick it to noone in particular?

Big difference between trying to honour leads to dud targets to consistently making poor decisions under little pressure in the process of building scorelaunches.

Whether you write yesterday off as an aberration or not, he still has plenty to work on.

[Natman]

I haven't watched the game, but from all posters observations the game plan particularly in defence - a lot of handball movement sideways, forwards, backwards to free up players to run the ball out and then kick long - yes in an old Maggies style (Chaplin = Greg Phillips) - appears to be an extention of what was being done in pre-season game simulation - we obviously made a conscious decision to use the NAB cup to practice this at the expense of any result.

I apologise for repetition of previous posts - but will this be at optimum efficiency, error free and not frustrating to watch in preseason game 1,2,3 etc and without a proper team structure of experienced players? - no.

[Sandola]

I haven't watched the game, but from all posters observations the game plan particularly in defence - a lot of handball movement sideways, forwards, backwards to free up players to run the ball out and then kick long - yes in an old Maggies style (Chaplin = Greg Phillips) - appears to be an extention of what was being done in pre-season game simulation - we obviously made a conscious decision to use the NAB cup to practice this at the expense of any result.

I apologise for repetition of previous posts - but will this be at optimum efficiency, error free and not frustrating to watch in preseason game 1,2,3 etc and without a proper team structure of experienced players? - no.

Yes. I wasn't fussed by the style of play. It looked as if we were quite deliberately running practice drills with live witch's hats. I like how our coaches are using these preseason games over the last few years. Why would you want to take them seriously in terms of winning -- with rules like the 16 interchanges and no exception for the blood rule?

[Macca19]

I have to say I cant remember the Magpies ever trying to have as much handball as we have tried to do at times over the past three seasons.

[HBF]

I reckon it was Waite (30) who smothered the Williams kick. It gave Walls an opportunity to go on just a bit more (too much is never enough for Wallsy) about his amazing vertical leap. Clearly Williams wasn't at fault, as he didn't realise he was taking on Spiderman. ;)

Williams gives me a bit of a chuckle, he has the upper body of Conan the Barbarian and the legs of a budgie. But he looks like a goer ... or is that keeper?

And you'd be right mate. Not only did he smother the ball, but he was also able to gather the loose ball as well. Very impressed with Waites game at CHB.

[*PAF]

I'd like to see Cornes have the freedom to run off a HB flank.

My best 22 would be something like this...

Ebert Cockshell JWesthoff
Cassisi Tredrea Gray
Salopek Rodan Pearce
PBurgoyne Chaplin CCornes
White Carlile Thomas

Ruck:Lade, KCornes, SBurgoyne

Res:Brogan, Krakouer, Boak, Logan

Emerg DMotlop, Pettigrew, Surjan, Thurstans, Stewart, Williams

Left out until mid season: Wilson
Toby is in our best 22 every day of the week and twice on weekends. Same goes for D Motlop and Pettigrew.

[FishingRick04]

[quote=Porthos;10110680]Ryan Williams looks and plays like Matt Lokan quote]

YES SPOT ON.

I was watching him thinking to myself, geez he reminds me of another player. I couldn't pin point it though.

Well spotted

[portentous]

The youngsters are always over-enthusiastic to impress in the preseason games and make silly mistakes. The senior players then seem to get caught up in the circus and the game becomes a shambles.


There's nothing to be taken from the result or the socalled 'game plan' IMO. Just a bunch of kids having a catch and a kick in the local park, trying to impress the coach enough for a round 1 call-up. Team rules tend to go out the window in those circumstances.

Am pleased for Cockshell, but disappointed for White as Chaplin's injury will surely see Studley in the backlines and one of White or Cockshell getting the call up in the forward line.

Sometimes nice guys don't make fine footballers sadly.

[Mr Magoo]

Plenty of hard work to be done yet.
Our methods of going forward still needs/requires a lot of work (might be decision making or poor skill level) but thats one area we need a lot of work on. It was a pretty good hit out though for the younger guys with the majority of them showing something. Just a few thoughts/observations on some of our players

Grose - looked ok, but took his eye of the ball a few times.
Williams - could fill the role of Lonie (whatever that is) or possibly take Surjan's spot (which is good as it'll keep him honest). Looked great running out of defence & not afraid to back himself in.
Lower - looked good running the ball out of defence & generally good use of the footy by hand but his kicking skills require some work.
Deluca - showed a bit in the ruck but needs to improve quite a bit around the ground, looks promising though. (keep him out on the ground as much as possible chocco he can't learn from the bench ;))
Motlop - will be a quality player in the years to come, but will need to put on a few kgs.
Cockshell - if only he could kick straight... he's got a lot of improvement left in him though.
Westhoff - to me he doesn't look at all comfortable in pack mark situations... i think maybe because he doesn't have the physical size/strength.... but can't be too hard on him as he was very good last year.

The handball happy didn't worry me as much as our poor foot skills. Decision making was good at times by some players & woeful at others but i guess you can expect that at this time of the year.

[Coobk001]

I still dont understand the hype about Cockshell. He was utterly lost in the first 3 quarters and looked horrible, he was behind his man time and time again and was just chasing guernseys, dropping marks and just wasting energy, so without those 2 good marks in the last quarter I dont think anyone would be raving about him.

Dont get me wrong his last quarter was good and those 2 marks were nice, but he has a long, long way to go yet and will play SANFL most of the year if he can make Norwoods senior side, and will struggle to make the Port side whilst we have Tredrea, Westhoff, Motlop, Ebert & Gray in the forward lines with a rotating Chad/Shaun/Rodan/Pearce.

[i_love_the_hoff]

Far be it from me to argue with the opinion of a teenage girl, but how can you possibly disagree with the statement "Tredrea is back and is going to have a good year"?

At his best he was the best player in the league. Even at 29 and after his injury troubles, he finally has a full preseason under his belt and is moving 1000% better than at any stage in 2006/7, therefore logic holds that combining this new-found fitness with his pedigree he will have a good year.

Simple.

i just think that some people are over reacting a little bit.

[*PAF]

I still dont understand the hype about Cockshell. ...
Not sure if you could call people saying that Cockshell has either overtaken or is on the verge of overtaking White hype. :)

[portentous]

Just as an aside, was reliably informed that The Hoff shed 2 kilos Saturday night during the match-not that he had any he could afford to shed.

Just proves how ludicrous the restrictive interchange was (esp annoyed me after one of the guys from our cricket club collapsed and died on Saturday during a match)
I know that footballers are elite athletes but there are times when common sense should prevail-Andrew Demetrious I'm looking at you ****Head.

[Powerstufff]

Just as an aside, was reliably informed that The Hoff shed 2 kilos Saturday night during the match......Balanced by the fact that I put on 2 kilos drinking beer during the breaks. A balanced ecosystem.

[*PAFC*13]

Very impressed with Matty Thomas... Looks like he could become a niggling hard at it midfielder we've been looking for!

[Asgardian]

A balanced ecosystem.

Like me, a beer in each hand keeps me balanced

[Powerstufff]

Very impressed with Matty Thomas... Looks like he could become a niggling hard at it midfielder we've been looking for!
Very good wasn't he? Same issue as last year i.e. Thomas, Thomson, Logan, Lower..... who do you pick when the other 21 are sorted? Wilbur's injury will give one more option I guess.

[hereselmo1]

I think that you need to pick several of these players to create some real grunt in the team and to show other players that this is the level of intensity at the footy that they need if they are going to play for port adelaide (regardless of their skill and speed).

[*PAFC*13]

Very good wasn't he? Same issue as last year i.e. Thomas, Thomson, Logan, Lower..... who do you pick when the other 21 are sorted? Wilbur's injury will give one more option I guess.

Yeah, good call... Hopefully there is a fair bit of competition this year between those 4 tossing up for a spot in the side. I think Lower is defiantly more of a close checking backman whereas Thomas and Thomson play a very simular brand of footy. There both very good with their hands, Logan as well.

I would defiantly be choosing Thomas over the other 3 atm.

Our big bodied, tough nut, midfielder situation isn't going too badly right now...
We've got Thomas, Thomson, Salopek, Bentley and to a lesser extent Lower, Logan and Boak.

[i_love_the_hoff]

Just as an aside, was reliably informed that The Hoff shed 2 kilos Saturday night during the match-not that he had any he could afford to shed


are you joking or are you serious ??????? :confused::thumbsu:

[portentous]

are you joking or are you serious ??????? :confused::thumbsu:

I'm serious. It came from someone who would really know. Shows how tough conditions were. :(

[i_love_the_hoff]

I'm serious. It came from someone who would really know. Shows how tough conditions were. :(


omg..we want him to bulk up not to friken lose weight every time he plays a game :mad:

[dyertribe]

omg..we want him to bulk up not to friken lose weight every time he plays a game :mad:

Werd, I hear that. :thumbsu:

[Toots Hibbert]

It's just fluid loss. Drink five stubbies of beer post match and the problem is solvered.

[Carnport]

My thoughts:

1. Was dissapointed (like others) with the disposal of Krak (surprised) and Danyle (must resolve).
2. Was super-impressed by Marlon and really think Boak could be anything. Logan and Thomas also impressed and I agree with those who hope/think Sal is ready for the next level: he is pure class on and off the field and I just really hope that he goes the whole way with Port - IMO he has Future Captain written all over him.
3. Liked what I saw of Stewart and wish I knew what to think of Cockshell.
4. Have got off the fence and joined the Get Rid Of Lonie Camp.
5. Agree that we can't read too much into the messy handy-handy-oops game plan. Chocco was not spinning when he said: young players, couldn't believe it himself and too many talls so no tackling pressure in the forward line. Not stressed, no need for tissues just yet.
6. Was cathartic to have a few drinks and see the boys play again... I reckon we'll go all right this year.

7. DT is miles ahead in the Carnport Port Poster Of The Year Award - love that Avatar. Leads 6 giggles to nil over the rest of the field.

Bring on the real stuff, I can feel the little pitter-patter starting to build...

[Sandola]

Werd, I hear that. :thumbsu:

Werd.

(oh, it's not BAD hair! ah. right.)