Hold up boys! a few things to note and discuss

[WeninRome]

i think that the thing that we are all forgeting is that our best players are well under done.

Judd and stevens both look like average players at the moment, but give them a month and they will be on fire. The difference this will make to the team will be huge. Thats about an extra 60 possesions per game, plus an extra 20 inside 50's.

The development of players such as hampson kruezer and the like will have a massive impact on the team also.

I have a strong feeling that the difference between this year and the last 5 will be that we will improve significatly towards the end of the season. Gone are the days of Pagan like pre seasons where the players are busted by half way through. Everything this season points towards a stronger finish to the year. We are not peaking at the moment (obviously) but i think we will peak around the middle of the year.

0 - 2 is not the end of the world, all it does is shows us that there is lots more work to be done, and i think it clearly shows that our top tier of players such as judd and stevens are well under done. I will wait until at least round 12 to start judging the this playing group.

One thing that has to be noted though is that players such as bannister, carrazo, russle, and the like are never going to make it at afl level. I dont think it will be too long before guys such as anderson benjamin armfield and browne really start to get significant game time.

I think another positive we can take from tonights game was our defence. The major worry that was considered by posters on this site was our defence and our major strength was going to be our midfield. I think that our defence especially tonight played fantastic, guys like waite, sentana, bower and especially thornton all played very significant roles tonight. It was guys such as stevens, banister, russle, judd, murphy carrazo and co that allowed way too much delivery into the forward line from the midfield. We were smashed around clearances and throughout the middle of the ground.

If you take note from the game, although St Kilda did not play that well, their game plan though the midfield was alot better than ours. We continually went backwards and sideways, St Kilda went straight and long and although sometimes ineffective, they won by 40 points, go figure.
So I think before we jump to too many negatives and club bashings, lets acknoledge that

a. our best players are only 60 - 70% fit.
b. we are the yougest side in the afl and will take time to develop.
c. we are only two games in... geelong were 0 - 3 last year at this stage.
keeps the faith, we have all suffered for 5 years lets not lose it now.

Hang in there blue baggers, we will get there, eventually. And when we do, how sweet will it be?

go the blues!

 

[Kooley]

nice post

 

[a1118374]

hooray. i read that and didnt get my hopes up. I think they have broken me. I honestly am starting to feel bad for judd.

 

[WeninRome]

yeah one must wonder how he would be feeling. Being the best in the competion to just an average player atm, must be very tough on him, hope he can get back to his best eventually. But I guess it's like everything with supporting this football club, patience.

 

[dukester95]

Sorry, but I think our forward line is very ineffective. Too many times we just bang it to Fevola straight on and it gets knocked away. Carlton players should be moving in to space across the 50m arc to receive once a Carlton player is pushing forward. It's a simple thing to say I know..but years down the track we have the same problem and have not improved, our leads are terrible. We seem to forget we have lost Whitnall and Lappin who were two of our best goal kickers...who will replace them? Even when they were there we seemed to rely on their own brilliance rather than any set plays. Forward tactics are needed desperately. I think we are improving the quality of possessions across the board..but it matters for naught if you can't kick a good score.

 

[The Real Deal]

I agree that the second half of the season we should do better. But we need another tall in the forward line that is going to give the team some structure. The backline is looking ok except we need a smaller defender to hold blokes like Milne and give us some run. The midfield are either out of form or unfit- they're getting smashed. But we really need a CHF. All good sides have at least 2 good talls. We're just not capitalising on our moves forward- we had the same number of inside 50's as St.Kilda!!! go figure.

 

[The Grover]

Sorry, but I think our forward line is very ineffective. Too many times we just bang it to Fevola straight on and it gets knocked away. Carlton players should be moving in to space across the 50m arc to receive once a Carlton player is pushing forward. It's a simple thing to say I know..but years down the track we have the same problem and have not improved, our leads are terrible. We seem to forget we have lost Whitnall and Lappin who were two of our best goal kickers...who will replace them? Even when they were there we seemed to rely on their own brilliance rather than any set plays. Forward tactics are needed desperately. I think we are improving the quality of possessions across the board..but it matters for naught if you can't kick a good score.

Small fowards are lacking.

Put Leon Davis, Dale Thomas & Didak as the smalls into our forward line & we might start going places.

 

[one eyed bluey]

Sorry, but I think our forward line is very ineffective. Too many times we just bang it to Fevola straight on and it gets knocked away. Carlton players should be moving in to space across the 50m arc to receive once a Carlton player is pushing forward. It's a simple thing to say I know..but years down the track we have the same problem and have not improved, our leads are terrible. We seem to forget we have lost Whitnall and Lappin who were two of our best goal kickers...who will replace them? Even when they were there we seemed to rely on their own brilliance rather than any set plays. Forward tactics are needed desperately. I think we are improving the quality of possessions across the board..but it matters for naught if you can't kick a good score.

Yeah totally agree mate, i made a post a while back stating that we really are underestimating the loss of lappin, whitnal and kennedy for that matter. We're so one dimensial up forward it's ridiculous, but it doesn't help when the delivery is shithouse, we need to find the right mix up there.
Fev, edwards, fisher, betts doesn't scare me if i'm a opposition defender.
More recruiting needed in that area for sure.

Funny also that a couple of days ago we had ppl on here saying thornton is crap we should've traded him when we had the chance, now his a god, go figure fools

 

[audas]

i think that the thing that we are all forgeting is that our best players are well under done.

Judd and stevens both look like average players at the moment, but give them a month and they will be on fire. The difference this will make to the team will be huge. Thats about an extra 60 possesions per game, plus an extra 20 inside 50's.

The development of players such as hampson kruezer and the like will have a massive impact on the team also.

I have a strong feeling that the difference between this year and the last 5 will be that we will improve significatly towards the end of the season. Gone are the days of Pagan like pre seasons where the players are busted by half way through. Everything this season points towards a stronger finish to the year. We are not peaking at the moment (obviously) but i think we will peak around the middle of the year.

0 - 2 is not the end of the world, all it does is shows us that there is lots more work to be done, and i think it clearly shows that our top tier of players such as judd and stevens are well under done. I will wait until at least round 12 to start judging the this playing group.

One thing that has to be noted though is that players such as bannister, carrazo, russle, and the like are never going to make it at afl level. I dont think it will be too long before guys such as anderson benjamin armfield and browne really start to get significant game time.

I think another positive we can take from tonights game was our defence. The major worry that was considered by posters on this site was our defence and our major strength was going to be our midfield. I think that our defence especially tonight played fantastic, guys like waite, sentana, bower and especially thornton all played very significant roles tonight. It was guys such as stevens, banister, russle, judd, murphy carrazo and co that allowed way too much delivery into the forward line from the midfield. We were smashed around clearances and throughout the middle of the ground.

If you take note from the game, although St Kilda did not play that well, their game plan though the midfield was alot better than ours. We continually went backwards and sideways, St Kilda went straight and long and although sometimes ineffective, they won by 40 points, go figure.
So I think before we jump to too many negatives and club bashings, lets acknoledge that

a. our best players are only 60 - 70% fit.
b. we are the yougest side in the afl and will take time to develop.
c. we are only two games in... geelong were 0 - 3 last year at this stage.
keeps the faith, we have all suffered for 5 years lets not lose it now.

Hang in there blue baggers, we will get there, eventually. And when we do, how sweet will it be?

go the blues!

Judd and stevens will not get an extra 30 possessions each...

Who will we beat ? I worry about our chances against melbourne....I cant see any other team we can even compete with.....sorry.....but we should be stepping up not down.

The saints are looking worse than they have for a while, yet, simply came out of second and into third gear and walked over us.....It is not simply a poor plan - it is structure, desire, passion, creativity, application, planning , strategy, etc.....

we are stuck in the nineties.

 

[one eyed bluey]

Judd and stevens will not get an extra 30 possessions each...

Who will we beat ? I worry about our chances against melbourne....I cant see any other team we can even compete with.....sorry.....but we should be stepping up not down.

The saints are looking worse than they have for a while, yet, simply came out of second and into third gear and walked over us.....It is not simply a poor plan - it is structure, desire, passion, creativity, application, planning , strategy, etc.....

we are stuck in the nineties.[/quo


No1, do you actually barrack for carlton?
No2, we'll ****en pump melbourne
No3, saints are a good team because they can play shit for a half then come out and go up another gear(s), deadshit.
No4, its not all doom and gloom judd,stevo,hadley not 100% still got other young players to come into the side.
No5, i didn't expect finals this year anyway, this year is all about development which we're already seeing with the likes of hampson, edwards,murphy bower just to name a few

 

[bennyf81]

No1, do you actually barrack for carlton?
No2, we'll ****en pump melbourne
No3, saints are a good team because they can play shit for a half then come out and go up another gear(s), deadshit.
No4, its not all doom and gloom judd,stevo,hadley not 100% still got other young players to come into the side.
No5, i didn't expect finals this year anyway, this year is all about development which we're already seeing with the likes of hampson, edwards,murphy bower just to name a few[/quote]

well said. edwards will be good for us, and with the young blokes getting more game time, i can only see positives, even if it may take time

 

[blueblooded]

Good post by the OP I think we can only improve there are still alot of things to work on and I thought we looked OK in patches last night and competed well, we are well below our best because our best players in Judd, Stevens, Fisher, Hadley (imo will be one our best in and under player once fit)
are clearly underdone and should get better. I also think that Hampson is gonna be a very good player for us in the ruck and that was his first game coming back from injury so only can get better.

A few points:

-Houlihan should never play behind the center line ever again, he showed late last night why he should be in the forward line cos he creates something, him and Eddie(who is treading a fine line imo) should be the small forwards. Hoops is as soft as butter and is scared of his own shadow but he has got silky skills which should be utilised forward as they were early in his career to great effect.


- When we move the ball forward we are just terrible. Last night the saints just chocked us up and we continue to chip it around and then bomb it to fev 18 on 1. We must move the ball quicker and look for secondary options in the forward line, we played right into the saints hands last night with that stop start footy that we implemented, take the game on and create space in the forward fifty for fev, fish, edwards and others to work into.

- Players like carrazzo, bannister, will never help us win anything, they are liabilities because they are poor decision makers with poor skills,

- Lack of heart is the biggest concern, imho players like Houla, Scotland, Fevola, Russell are happy to float around and collect their paychecks. There has to be some serious soul searching from a few of our players particularly the middle of the road players as to why they simply do not have the hunger and the ability to put in 100% effort 100% of the time. This fact is the thing that burns me the most, I think alot of them dont realise that it is actually us supporters that pay their wages and therefore we expect if nothing else 100 per cent commitment always, for the past five years alot of our middle of the road players simply have lacked passion and desire and in footy it does not matter how much skill you have if the other side is hungrier and wants to win more, it seems that is always the case.

 

[mightymightyblues]

a. our best players are only 60 - 70% fit.
b. we are the yougest side in the afl and will take time to develop.
c. we are only two games in... geelong were 0 - 3 last year at this stage.
keeps the faith, we have all suffered for 5 years lets not lose it now.

Hang in there blue baggers, we will get there, eventually. And when we do, how sweet will it be?

go the blues!

Actually while we were sitting 1-0 and the cats were 0-1, they tore us a new one in round 2 by about 13 goals. Then they demolished the dees the next week.