I know there used to be a poster on this board that would do the half yearly report but I believe that was how players were tracking etc from memory.
So with that in mind, and now that we have reached the bye, I thought a quick review of the first half as a whole is in order.
The good:
The bad:
The ugly:
Looking forward:
So with that in mind, and now that we have reached the bye, I thought a quick review of the first half as a whole is in order.
The good:
- the attack (or forward line), last night aside has been working well, as it should with the amount of talent up forward.
- Neale’s form. Back to Brownlow contention (would move to seriously ugly if he requests a trade at the end of the year).
- Daniher’a form. Before injury he was a legitimate chance of the Coleman and last night proved how much we need him in the team.
- Rayner’s form. Started slow and I was worried about his future, but over the last 4-6 weeks he’s shown what he’s capable of. If his fitness continues to build he has the ability to be in our top 3 players.
- Adams’ form was really good prior to him getting crook. Was in AA form for a while there.
- Kiddy and Starce look locks for the defensive end for the next 10 years hopefully.
The bad:
- lots of experienced players down on form compared to previous years - Lyons, Harris, Zorko, Rich, Gardiner, Robbo etc.
- Hipwood has come back slowly, but willing to cut him a bit of slack after a long lay off.
- Lack of midfield depth. It appears what we are seeing at the moment is really what we are going to get. It appears the only other options in the twos now are Terry and Matho?
The ugly:
- Again back to the midfield and the way teams have been able to get run ons against us in there. It looked like last night we made a conscious effort to avoid that which may have led to the issues between the connection with the forwards;
- Defensive transition. Even with the changes again last night there were still a couple of times where it was just to easy for the Saints (and teams all year) to transfer the ball from D50 to attack.
Looking forward:
- The last few weeks it definitely looked like we were a team in need of a bye. It looked like a few were carrying niggles;
- The older blokes like Zorko and Rich looked sore for a number of weeks now so maybe give them another test later in the year before finals;
- As I said last night we need to get Cam maxed out in the middle as much as we can, even if it’s just the centre bounces. For a so so midfield he offers it something we don’t otherwise have, someone who can break tackles and move the ball forward.
- At 10-3 and largely playing pretty average all year, besides a great game in Sydney, it is certainly a start you’d take if offered. I believe the competition as a whole is pretty average right now, but with that comes an opportunity to strike. We just need to find a way to sneak that second spot as I’d go into any game at the Gabba right now (bar against Melbourne), confident we’d have a reasonable chance of a result in a final against the other teams.
Miss anything? Change anything? To harsh on some?
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