Opinion positives (yep, with a small p this week)

[BeinPurplenGreen]

1. No injuries
2. Hill - my magnificent, silky skilled boyo, you are truly a step above in class when you get the ball on the run - and you are finally learning to back yourself in traffic and in close. Now to do it again over the next six or seven weeks...
3. Son-son - my goodness, what a difference it makes to have another skilled kick in the crumbing forwards to help out Ballas. Needs to keep up the hard chasing, hard tackling and good off the ball positioning for the rest of the season - but thank goodness we persevered with him.
4. Elvis - another solid game down back - in my opinion our most important (and hard to replace) player after Pav. Really didn't have much to line up against in terms of power forwards, but still took it on himself to work hard and run to help give us drive out of the backline, even when we were up by heaps.
5. Pav - another decent game in the forward 50, albeit not against the greatest defenders in the AFL - but he still gave us structure, focus and (importantly) kicked fairly straight.
6. Griffo - congrats on signing up for another couple of years, you are really becoming a promising young ruckman, both in the centre and around the ground. Plus the marks are sticking, and you seem more agile and effective in kicking of both sides than I can remember from last year.
7. Rosscoe Pekoe at 3 quarter time - we were shizenhousen in the third, and you didn't hold back or go easy on the boys at the break. Giving them a clear message (that they clearly understand, unlike Harves' monologues) and revving them up was great to see.
8. Pearce - another great game - effective and hard run all game.
9. Suttcliffe and Spurr - decent games you young fellas, good to see, gives us depth and hopefully some fallback options if Lower/Mundy/Barlow/Broughton/Mayne get hurt again...
AND
10. We sucked in the second half, as opposed to coming home strong like we did against the Dogs or the Tanking Scum.

Wait, bear with me.

#10 is a positive.

Yes, yes it is a plus - you see, the fact we didn't coast home with an easy 200 point win, but rather stank it up bigtime in the second half, and indeed for long periods of the last part of the game sucked sweaty dogs balls, means that Ross can give our guys a solid rev up, and hopefully means we don't sit back on our laurels but rather come out firing and keen to get percentage in every single game from here on in.

Our destiny is in our own hands. Keep winning, and we might just scrape into the 8.

 

[BananaOnTheRun]

agree with your number 10. we lack the clinical ruthlessness that the top teams have. ross will be wanting to work on that and turn the team into cold blooded assassins.

 

[Seppo]

A Positive for me was Roberton's rebound and attack from the backline.

For the last few weeks he has shown some real drive using the corridor and great attack at the ball and gained 60-70m every time. So much better than Ibbo, Duffield and Suban...

 

[BeinPurplenGreen]

A Positive for me was Roberton's rebound and attack from the backline.

For the last few weeks he has shown some real drive using the corridor and great attack at the ball and gained 60-70m every time. So much better than Ibbo, Duffield and Suban...

Yep, agree completely with this - I should have mentioned Robbo somewhere in my top 10. If only because (apart from that stoopid bloody headband) he shows guys like Duffield how to go hard at the ball, how to kick it long, and how to play tall(ish)...

 

[tacopavlich]

With Roberton you actually notice improvement in his game every time he plays, almost unrecognisable to the slow spud he was last year, where as Suban and Ibbotson havn't changed much at all.

 

[malpaso]

With Roberton you actually notice improvement in his game every time he plays, almost unrecognisable to the slow spud he was last year, where as Suban and Ibbotson havn't changed much at all.

Yeah, Suban just sucks couldn't get possessions against kids!

 

[E Shed]

Pearce. His lack of pace is a bit of a myth too. During one passage a GWS kid was streaming down the southern wing toward the Subi end with no one in front of him. Mundy and Griffin were like treacle after him and Pearce came from nowhere on the intercept angle and cut him off. Was a great effort.

 

[Arcassius]

Yeah, Suban just sucks couldn't get possessions against kids!

Hmm positives thread.. Spin it this way - Sutcliffe matched Suban's disposals and added a behind to that coming on as sub <3 Sutty

 

[Admiral Byng]

In spite of not actually overtaking North's percentage, we did make big progress in closing the gap.

We are 1 game and percentage ahead of Carlton
We are 2 games ahead of Richmond.

Two weeks ago we were 12th with a percentage of 93, now we're 9th and have a percentage of 105. Better going up the ladder than down.

 

[heypenny]

Pearce, Pavlich and Roberton kept up their good form.

Another positive is that we wont have to put up with a poor performance by Suban next week (has to be dropped).

So the Freo cutie wasn't at your local today BPG? Was looking forward to an update.

 

[wild side]

So the Freo cutie wasn't at your local today BPG? Was looking forward to an update.

There were a couple at the game !!
Positives : Mayne, Fyfe, Broughton, Dawson all possible inclusions next week !

 

[BeinPurplenGreen]

Pearce, Pavlich and Roberton kept up their good form.

Another positive is that we wont have to put up with a poor performance by Suban next week (has to be dropped).

So the Freo cutie wasn't at your local today BPG? Was looking forward to an update.

She was but is now taken, sadly - she has succumbed to the charms of a rugby boyo as seems to be the trend ova hea - though an ugly old fart like me can still admire the view and drool (discreetly) into his beer...

 

[free at last]

With Roberton you actually notice improvement in his game every time he plays, almost unrecognisable to the slow spud he was last year, where as Suban and Ibbotson havn't changed much at all.

Do you see a little bit of Kenny Hunter in robbo? I do!
I can see him really improving under Ross's defensive structure.

 

[Dockernut]

I know a few have already mentioned Sutty's fine work coming on as a sub and showing something instantly, but I just can't help thinking what a find we have here. He is very clean, uses it well, smart in traffic, fast without being lightening but still manages to get to the next stoppage with apparent minimal effort and then make a contest/compete. Someone mentioned a younger Barlow comparison on another thread, but I reckon he'll be better. So adding the evident class of Crozier, the burgeoning inside/outside accumulation of Lachie Neale and the potential that Sheridan has shown in the WAFL and this is looking like a very solid draft crop coming through, all with the ability to contribute from early on in their careers.

 

[rgauci]

Thought Roberton was excellent, has passed Ibbotson and Duffield in my mind. I thought Spurr was also good. Our HBF is one of our greatest weakness'. People talk about our 2nd tall, yes Bradley isn't a superstar, but neither is Dawes or Lynch. As long as they are big and strong and provide a contest i can't see a problem, Bradley crashes packs and left a few of the GWS players pretty sore. In the long term our key forwards are pretty bare, once Pavlich retires we are rooted. But until then, things aren't so bad. Goddard and O'Brien would go a long way to solving our backline issues.

 

[332docker]

Saints, Magpies and Port haven’t played them yet but of the rest of the teams to play we had the 4th best scoring differential and we are the equal 2nd best team to restrict GWS’s ability to score goals

1st (Rd 15) GWS Vs Hawks 4.7 31 to 28.25 (53 scoring shots) 193 (-162)
2nd (Rd 2) GWS vs NMFC 8.6 54 to 28.15 (43 scoring shots) 183 (-129)
3rd (rd 16) GWS Vs Adel 8.11 59 to 27.16 (43 scoring shots) 178 (-119) (2nd time they played this year – lucky buggers)
4th (rd 17) GWS vs Freo 5.7 37 to 18.24 (42 scoring shots) 132 (-95) (2.13 2nd quarter stopped us topping the hawks differential - hope Kepler has lots of goal kicking practice this week!)
5th (Rd 8) GWS vs Lions 5.10 40 to 19.18 (37 scoring shots) 132 (-92)
6th (Rd 14)GWS Vs Sydney 5.8 38 to 19.18 (37 scoring shots) 122 (-84)
7th (Rd 3) GWS vs WC 10.9 69 to 23.12 (35 scoring shots) 150 (-81)
8th (Rd 13) GWS Vs Melb 9.3 57 to 20.15 (35 scoring shots) 135 (-78)
9th (Rd 6) GWS vs Carl 6.7 43 to 15.20 (35 scoring shots) 110 (-67)
10th (Rd 9) GWS vs Ess 7.11 53 to 18.11 (29 scoring shots) 119 (-66)
11th (Rd 10) GWS vs Geel 9.7 61 to 19.12 (31 scoring shots) 126 (-65)
12th (Rd 1) GWS vs Syd 5.7 37 to 14.16 (26 scoring shots) 100 (-63)
13th (Rd 4) GWS vs Adel 7.8 50 to 13.18 (31 scoring shots) 96 (-46)
14th (Rd 5) GWS vs WB 9.8 62 to 15.14 (29 scoring shots) 104 (-42)
15th (Rd 12) GWS Vs Rich 12.2 74 to 11.20 (31 scoring shots) 86 (-12)
16th (Rd 7) GWS vs Suns 13.16 94 to 9.13 (22 scoring shots) 67 (+27)

 

[PapaJ]

Thought Roberton was excellent, has passed Ibbotson and Duffield in my mind. I thought Spurr was also good. Our HBF is one of our greatest weakness'. People talk about our 2nd tall, yes Bradley isn't a superstar, but neither is Dawes or Lynch. As long as they are big and strong and provide a contest i can't see a problem, Bradley crashes packs and left a few of the GWS players pretty sore. In the long term our key forwards are pretty bare, once Pavlich retires we are rooted. But until then, things aren't so bad. Goddard and O'Brien would go a long way to solving our backline issues.

Agree with the Bradley bit especially. He also works really hard up and down the ground and, along with Mayne, I think he's easily our best fwd combo for the moment. He's had the yips lately which is a pity, because he's normally a good shot at goal. Still, a pretty good game overall from him I'd call a positive.

Not mentioned yet is Mundy's game. I know he came off fairly early, but carying on from last week he just looked determined to get himself into the game doing what he does. Ross mentioned that he came in at less than 100% and picked up a knock so got the red vest, but for a shortened game I liked the signs he's showing. We'll need his clearance work next week that's for sure, because it's the only area that I'm concerned with against Port.

 

[Lord Rod]

15% made up in 3 weeks, no injuries, and Nat back next week..

 

[theGav56]

I know a few have already mentioned Sutty's fine work coming on as a sub and showing something instantly, but I just can't help thinking what a find we have here. He is very clean, uses it well, smart in traffic, fast without being lightening but still manages to get to the next stoppage with apparent minimal effort and then make a contest/compete. Someone mentioned a younger Barlow comparison on another thread, but I reckon he'll be better. So adding the evident class of Crozier, the burgeoning inside/outside accumulation of Lachie Neale and the potential that Sheridan has shown in the WAFL and this is looking like a very solid draft crop coming through, all with the ability to contribute from early on in their careers.

Agree with this and would like to add that our use of the Sub has been pretty ordinary. Sutcliffe showed exactly how much of an impact a player can have from there. His running ability, "great effort" and clean skills late in the game with a tiring opposition allowed him to have a significant impact.

 

[332docker]

Saints, Magpies and Port haven’t played them yet but of the rest of the teams to play we had the 4th best scoring differential and we are the equal 2nd best team to restrict GWS’s ability to score goals

1st (Rd 15) GWS Vs Hawks 4.7 31 to 28.25 (53 scoring shots) 193 (-162)
2nd (Rd 2) GWS vs NMFC 8.6 54 to 28.15 (43 scoring shots) 183 (-129)
3rd (rd 16) GWS Vs Adel 8.11 59 to 27.16 (43 scoring shots) 178 (-119) (2nd time they played this year – lucky buggers)
4th (rd 17) GWS vs Freo 5.7 37 to 18.24 (42 scoring shots) 132 (-95) (2.13 2nd quarter stopped us topping the hawks differential - hope Kepler has lots of goal kicking practice this week!)
5th (Rd 8) GWS vs Lions 5.10 40 to 19.18 (37 scoring shots) 132 (-92)
6th (Rd 14)GWS Vs Sydney 5.8 38 to 19.18 (37 scoring shots) 122 (-84)
7th (Rd 3) GWS vs WC 10.9 69 to 23.12 (35 scoring shots) 150 (-81)
8th (Rd 13) GWS Vs Melb 9.3 57 to 20.15 (35 scoring shots) 135 (-78)
9th (Rd 6) GWS vs Carl 6.7 43 to 15.20 (35 scoring shots) 110 (-67)
10th (Rd 9) GWS vs Ess 7.11 53 to 18.11 (29 scoring shots) 119 (-66)
11th (Rd 10) GWS vs Geel 9.7 61 to 19.12 (31 scoring shots) 126 (-65)
12th (Rd 1) GWS vs Syd 5.7 37 to 14.16 (26 scoring shots) 100 (-63)
13th (Rd 4) GWS vs Adel 7.8 50 to 13.18 (31 scoring shots) 96 (-46)
14th (Rd 5) GWS vs WB 9.8 62 to 15.14 (29 scoring shots) 104 (-42)
15th (Rd 12) GWS Vs Rich 12.2 74 to 11.20 (31 scoring shots) 86 (-12)
16th (Rd 7) GWS vs Suns 13.16 94 to 9.13 (22 scoring shots) 67 (+27)

So far (Rd17) GWS vs Magpies 3.3 21 to 6.5 41 (11 scoring shots) (-14) @ 28min 1st quarter...wonder what the media will be saying, thought this was going to be a massive % booster for them (not that they need it)