Preview JLT Round 1 - Gold Coast vs Western Bulldogs - Sunday March 3, 7:40pm in Mackay

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Nov 17, 2009
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Great win

Loved Ballard’s game, Bowes looked good as well

Only pre season but so much for won’t win a game and the worse list in the comp

Ohh and Dwayne and Browny know nothing about our list, it’s cringeworthy to hear them talk about us

Brown lives in Victoria and hates the Suns
Johnno's just a grinning idiot who's schtick is stupid Footscray player makes good by being nice to everyone.God help me
And Dwayne?Yeah.No
 

Cold Sober

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Good signs, seemed to go at it with more freedom, prepared to take it on.
 

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Stroppy

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It was good to see Powell and Ballard and Bowes looking bigger and better than last year. Development from multiple players at the same time? Huh?
Plus we ran out the game. We did have 26 players but also a lot of 21 and unders and they kept having a crack.

King looked lost but so do a lot of 1st gamers. Going to be intriguing to see how he bounces back and how he develops over the year.

If we want to play Lukosious to help him develop we can, but we don't need to play him. Rankine already best 15 let alone best 22.
 

gcsunsfc

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Oct 24, 2012
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Ainsworth 21 disposals 42% game time
Miles 21 disposals 32% game time
Think the 26 players screwed up some of the TOG stats, they've been amended on various sites but remain pretty inconsistent.

AFL.com
- Ainsworth - 57%
- Miles 55%

fanfooty
- Ainsworth - 65%
- Miles 56%

Nevertheless, very solid from both of them.
Benny in the midfield looked dynamic.
 

gcsunsfc

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Oct 24, 2012
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Very impressed with Wil Powell.
Had shown glimpses last year but just not physically up to it. Looks to now be 75kg instead of 65kg when he first arrived at the club.

I think he really showed the type of player he will be last night.
I believe one of our good runners watching the pre-season highlights - was often coming in 4th / 5th in the time trials behind Schoenfeld / Miller and co.
Seems reasonably quick
Skilled
Calm with ball in hand and seems to take the first and simple option which is important.
After Jack Martin, he would be very high on the list for best at hitting up a leading forward.

Can really see him thriving in the new AFL era with a more open forward line.
A smooth moving half forward who often finds space, uses the ball well.
He is also well and truly in the mix for games.

Really happy for the kid.
 

gcsunsfc

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Whilst Peter was a bit fumbly and missed a few opportunities last night I was quite encouraged.
Seemed to get to a lot of contests early on and looked like he could be a dominant forward - Riewoldt style.
Was hitting up along the wing a fair bit.

On a night with better conditions he would have held 1-2 more marks and had close to a 10 mark, 2 goal game. Pretty happy with that.
 

gcsunsfc

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After this week I'd have it as

Ballard Thompson Harbrow
Hanley Collins/Hombsch Weller
Fiorini Miller Ainsworth
Sexton Day Martin
Rankine Wright Burgess

Witts Swallow Miles
Bowes Murdoch Macpherson Powell


From the bench Bowes can swap in to the midfield
Murdoch can play back and release Weller further up the ground
Macpherson and Powell to the forward line to give Martin a run on the ball.

Emer: Collins/Hombsch, Ah Chee, Brodie
 
Mar 18, 2011
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As much as I love Day it's really hard to see how he plays a game if Burgess continues to play like he did. Especially with Corbett to come back in. Someone else to take contested marks and kick goals gives someone like 2MP immense relief and freedom to move up the ground. Unfortunately Day has just been unable to do that throughout his career.
 

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Aug 17, 2010
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Burgess in over Day for me. Both Hombsch and Collins to partner Rory. Very impressed with Collins’ game. Solid as a rock. Depends who lines up for the Saints. Ballard has to be a lock if he keeps up that form. He can always move forward if we need more zip down back. Some may disagree but I think AhChee stays. Has some class about him and is versatile.
 

Jirik13

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As much as I love Day it's really hard to see how he plays a game if Burgess continues to play like he did. Especially with Corbett to come back in. Someone else to take contested marks and kick goals gives someone like 2MP immense relief and freedom to move up the ground. Unfortunately Day has just been unable to do that throughout his career.
So who will help Witts in the ruck? 2MP does a good job there but he is way more valuable as a forward.
 

gcsunsfc

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So who will help Witts in the ruck? 2MP does a good job there but he is way more valuable as a forward.

I think Wright can give 2MP a chop out.

If we go in with a Wright / Day / Burgess forward line up then Wright can easily go into the ruck with Day and Burgess up forward, maybe we rest Martin as a deep forward during that time as well.
 

Old Sol

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As much as I love Day it's really hard to see how he plays a game if Burgess continues to play like he did. Especially with Corbett to come back in. Someone else to take contested marks and kick goals gives someone like 2MP immense relief and freedom to move up the ground. Unfortunately Day has just been unable to do that throughout his career.
Liked the look of Burgess last night, and it's hard to argue that he doesn't look more of a threat than Day. However Day still has a few things to offer the team. Burgess nowhere near as capable at ground level and his turning circle looked ruckmanesque last night. With quicker ball movement and more 1 on 1s in the forward 50 expected this year, Day might still be the better option when it comes to stopping more agile defenders from rebounding unchecked.
At any rate its great to have these different options!
 

SunnerSS

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Jirik13

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Ony JLT but it was great to see Suns play again and win. I was quite nervous the last 5 min :)

Number one plus for me must be physical shape of the team. We never looked like to be run over. Yes, WB used 2 less players but even in 1st and 2nd quarter we looked better in red time. It gives me confidence that with a normal schedule we will compete in most games.

I liked how our midfield stood up to WB elite one. Great to see Fiorini, Bowes, Ainsworth in there and doing a good job. Martin got better as the game went on. I can’t wait to see them in 2 years. Hopefully including Brodie too.

Miller again looks like he improved on previous year.

Witts, Swallow looked rusty. I was a bit worried about Witts losing ruck battle but he improved as the game went on. Not looking forward if Witts goes down. Suns please get a backup!

Collins, Thompson were great. Again only preseason but Collins and Hombsh impressed me so far. I would say already looking better than May last year.

Burgess was again very good. Great story. If Corbett is as good or even better we did great with extra mature selections.

Ballard got to be my highlight. Improved from Lions practice games. Again watch out in 2 years. He seems like he can play anywhere. He was actually brought up as a midfielder . We were very lucky with Weller’s trade outcome.

Powell good on him. Still skinny but I think he will make round 1. Similar to Lukosius, Ballard, when he has the ball I expect smart decision, good pass/kick.

Some very easy kicks at goal were missed from 30-35 m (Swallow, Wright, Miles, Macpherson). We could put WB away late in 3rd quarter.

After great start WB got on top of us and I thought we can’t score. Yes, it to do a bit with who played 2nd quarter but it was good to see players adjust, 2nd half was equal.

I also liked how we chased hard. WB players did not have enough time, were under pressure. Only a couple of time they broke our structures.

Wish Lemmens got more credit here. He is an ultimate teammate, gives everything for the club. Yes, he was disappointing last year after JLT but he got bad hamstring and broke his hand, consequently missed 1st half of the season and never got going. Yesterday he was very good, good body, no crazy passes, he pressured, tackled like possessed, broke tackles, set up several plays/goals.
 
Aug 17, 2010
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Loved Touk's game last night too
He has become a tackle monster
Touk is great at just getting in there and running interference by getting a hand or body to the ball or his opponent. I hope Brodie comes on though to provide a big body to give him a chop out from all the bash and crash, especially against the bigger midfielders like Cripps etc.
 

Old Sol

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Interested to hear others thoughts on our offense. Looked very slow compared to the other teams I saw play this weekend. Players coming out of defensive 50 seemed to be deliberately trying to hold the ball up and retain possession while EVERYONE from both teams set up ahead of the ball. Lots of kicks and handballs from contests to nobody in particular trying to create stoppages further up the ground.

Obviously greasy conditions and lack of conditioning a factor - a few too many behinds from the doggies probably contributed to slowing things down and keeping us trapped in defence as well.
 
Nov 17, 2009
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One of the reasons I wasn't sold on the Kings was because I think they are standard good development players and I thought we needed guys ready to roll
That's obviously just from very limited footage I've seen
We need some KPDs and I think he has every chance of becoming that, but will spend a lot of time in the NEAFL learning what it takes
Rankine and Lukosius are rare talents though who will play 12-16 games this year I reckon
 

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