Positives

[Temploar]

Positive:

I am yet to vent my anger on what happened yesterday.

 

[Vicky Park]

The positives are yet to come - with the guys who have still not made it onto the park through injury, or (as with Broomhead) not being fully ready. These guys will improve us; they will also help address our poor disposal (she says with fingers crossed). Its all about rotten luck and timing for us ATM. This has a flow on effect on confidence and attitude, both of which are pulling us down.

 

[Chief Ten Beers]

Young boys got another game into them, hopefully whole team will see this as a wake up call (although dogs and hawks should have done that).

I don't believe there are such things as wake up calls....otherwise surely Carlton would be top 4 by now!

But seriously, we have a decent AFL ruckman finally in Witt's. Really happy with his efforts, skill and decision making.

Apart from Kennedy, Cloke and Pendles I thought Langdon did some nice work too. Amazing to think how loaded the Suns are on talent and there is Langdon having better season than most.

 

[pies21010]

I don't believe there are such things as wake up calls....otherwise surely Carlton would be top 4 by now!

But seriously, we have a decent AFL ruckman finally in Witt's. Really happy with his efforts, skill and decision making.

Apart from Kennedy, Cloke and Pendles I thought Langdon did some nice work too. Amazing to think how loaded the Suns are on talent and there is Langdon having better season than most.

Agreed, I thought Witts was good and very happy with Kennedy and Langdon. Pendles tried his heart out (as always) and Cloke looked dangerous, missed a couple but we also didn't give him much of a chance in the 2nd half with all those shocking entries.

 

[Manic Magpie]

Well I agree with some.

• Kennedy is really showing what he can become
• Cloke was okay but Goal Kicking was not as good and went missing in 2nd half a bit
• I really liked what I saw from Witts

That is all at the Moment

I eagerly await your next trio of thoughts, Dave.

 

[OniAu]

I really can't see Pendlebury winning the brownlow.
Kennedy, Fyfe and possibly even franklin are all ahead

Fyfe isnt eligible is he ?

Franklin started season terribly. Then Kennedy is taking votes off him

Dont under estimate Pendles start to the season either

 

[danielnajdek]

At least we get to watch Pendles playing in our jumper every week.

Guy is a superstar. Is a privilege to watch him.

 

[ThisIsJake]

I have Pendles on 18 JPK on 17 and Ablett on 23.

 

[dubber]

My couch is built solid as it was tested by numerous punches last night. Money well spent.

 

[BillyElliott#19]

Just my thoughts on the positives and negatives of 2014.

Team Positives
- 11 players with under 40 games experience and we "should have won" against GCFC who beat Geelong by 40 points only two weeks ago at Metricon
- Missing 3 of our 4 most potent forwards in Reid, Elliott and Fasolo and have not had all three play together with Cloke for a single match this year
- 6th Youngest list by age in 2014. GCFC are the only team in the 8 with a younger list.
- Still yet to have either of our 2013 Top 10 picks debut this year
- Still 9 wins and 6 losses, sitting 6th (where 12 other teams would like to be) and 5th best %
- Missing Fasolo, Maxwell, Ball, White, Elliott, Reid, from our best 22 last night + Brown (season)

Player Positives
- Ben Kennedy showing his is an AFL standard player with lots of speed and foot skills
- Jarrod Witts Developing nicely. Real dominate performance over the last 2 weeks
- Taylor Adams starting to get some consistency in his game and I believe will be balls replacement
- Cloke has found touch up forward and will only improve when/if Reid returns
- Langdon is special. Reads the ball, intercepts, tackles, calm under pressure and Good decision making and foot skills. A huge positive this year.
- Jack Frost only played 17 games (15 this year) but looks to be a KPD who will develop and improve over time into one of the best.
- Keefe still developing and has only played 33 games. Together with frost can form a formidable defensive duo for years to come.
- Jamie Elliott has taken his game to the next level. Sorely missed last night
- Macaffer has developed into one of the top 3 taggers in the game
- Marley Williams only 30 games but has been a highlight of the young backline with Langdon.

Team Negatives
- Foot skills are average and sometimes awful. Hoping it is just a lack of experience combined with afl pressure.
- Goal kicking. Our forward line has struggled so we have relied heavily on our midfielders for goals. The return on Reid, Fas, Elliott resolves this.
- Clearances. We have been beaten too many times this year starting our attack from defense. Adams and Thomas have to improve here as Swan and Ball age
- Inexperience. I would like to think/hope the reason we lost to teams like WB and GC and to a degree Geelong was due to this as we were in the games right til the end. Win 2 of these and we are sitting top 4 right now.

Player Negatives
- Swan has lost a step and seems to be fumbling more now.
- Grundy hasn't taken that next step we all hoped and seems to be falling behind Witts
- Blair is still tracking at his 2010 level in a lesser team now not providing enough up forward. 15dis, 3marks, 5ta and 0.5goals per game.
- Josh Thomas not taking his game to the next level like we all hoped. Only young and played 28 games so time to improve yet
- Goldsack. Harsh as he provides defensive efforts and flexibility to the team structure but almost identical stats as Blair. 1 goal per game between them.
- Dwyer doesn't have his usually clean hands and delivery this year which are the reasons he is in the team. Without them too slow and a liability
- White hasn't had the impact we all hoped for. I believe he is a 3rd tall/2nd ruck so once Reid returns hopefully his form improves.
- Seedsman again a bit harsh as he has only played 34 career games and 6 this year coming off an injury but his fitness and decision making is questionable
- Ball has definitely lost a step and fighting more injuries but you cant question his clearances and toughness.
- Karnezis and Martin are yet to debut this season but have shown great form in the VFL.

Overall
2014 will only be a loss if we don't make the finals.
We still have 7 games to go. Win 3-4 of these and we end up with 12-13 wins and finals.
Return of Reid, Elliott, Fasolo, Ball and Maxwell over the next 2 weeks should see us improve significantly. Add possibly White (over Grundy) and Karnezis or Martin and we could win 13-14 games this year and hit the finals in good form with our best 25 players available.
A finals win is possible and a second win isn't out of the question then. Giving finals experience to the youngsters.
Another preseason and resolution of key injuries (Sharenberg Reid, Fasolo, Freeman, Brown)
2015 should see us take the next step into the top 4 and challenge for the flag.

Fingers crossed for 2014 and 2015.

 

[Piestration]

1) Witts showing some potential
2) Kennedy showing some potential
3) Umps were OK
4) Pendles is a tackle machine
5) Game time into Adams, Williams, Frost, Langdon
6) A game closer to Martin, Reid, Kanezis, Freeman, Broomhead & The SBurger playing.
7) A game closer to our next Premiership
8) I avoided the temptation to kick my Flat Screen off the wall.
9) My Anger Management Classes are working
10) Bruce didn't commentate the game

 

[Pendles!]

Kennedy, Witts, Langdon, Seedsman and Adams. Too bad they were let down by senior players.

Thought Marley was pretty good too.

 

[domus]

Well I agree with some.

• Kennedy is really showing what he can become
• Cloke was okay but Goal Kicking was not as good and went missing in 2nd half a bit
• I really liked what I saw from Witts

That is all at the Moment

Cloke was a key reason for our loss. His job is to kick bloody goals when the moment arrives. He should have had at least five to half time and he managed two. This placed us only a kick and a half up at halftime instead of 4 or 5 goals. I don't care how hard he runs or how many marks he takes-if he can't be trusted to kick goals from 15metres out then I don't rate him as a forward. That miss after the fantastic build up from Seedsman had to rip the guts out of the team, especially when GC went bang up the other end only moments later. I'm so tired of being on tenterhooks when our "gun" marks the pill 15to 20 metres out from goal. It is absolutely ridiculous.

Positives-Witts gets better each week. He has a great footy brain and excellent skills for a big man.
Seedsman's run off half back.
Kennedy played like a true rover. reading the pill off the pack and swooping on the crumbs. His kicking has improved out of sight.

 

[DaVe86]

Ultimately we are dying up forward.

We did enough to win, but had no one to finish.

Goldsack and Blair aren't getting the ball.

We are missing our 2 most dangerous smalls in Elliott and Fasolo.

We are missing our 2nd tall in Reid...whilst Karnezis is still working into fitness.

Our 3rd tall is either White or Grundy but they are terribly out of form and being asked to play as the 2nd tall.

Basically, we have no forward line.

As bad as we played, and despite all of GC injuries...we had the game on ice in the 2nd while they were at full strength. We just had no one to kick goals.

GC are the sort of team you need to deprive their hope. If they feel they are in the game then their confidence goes up and you can't stop them.

We need to fill our forward line quickly. Makes the lack if Martin really strange...but sounds like he is injured too now.

We can't keep both of goldy or Blair up forward. We can only afford one defensive forward. My choice is goldsack because Kennedy can take Blair's role and is more dangerous

 

[domus]

If we can't focus on the positives and only look towards the negatives we will go backwards. Kennedy has to continue to get game time. He has shown great development in his game since last year and this will continue to be on the upwards curve. Witts has gone from strength to strength. It always baffles me how much we expect of both he and Grundy and how young and inexperienced they are. I think we need perspective in our views.

If you don't identify the negatives you can't improve on your weaknesses.

 

[magpiewarrior]

If you don't identify the negatives you can't improve on your weaknesses.

I think that it's fair to say that the negatives will be well covered before our next outing, so we don't need to cover this here. Positives on the other hand are not going to be so forthcoming. That said I will now contradict myself and say that I can't understand the emphasis on anyone else's skill levels if we aren't caning Adams. His disposal consistently killed us as we were running forward, his decision making to stop and prop or handball backwards when everybody was breaking towards goal and his lack of decision making that saw him get caught when he should have got us well away was all heartbreaking. Drop him back to the VFL and promote Martin (if fit) in his place.
Back on the positives Frost, Langdon, Seedsman, Witts, Kennedy & Thomas were all impressive.

 

[jathanas]

Ultimately we are dying up forward.

We did enough to win, but had no one to finish.

Goldsack and Blair aren't getting the ball.

We are missing our 2 most dangerous smalls in Elliott and Fasolo.

We are missing our 2nd tall in Reid...whilst Karnezis is still working into fitness.

Our 3rd tall is either White or Grundy but they are terribly out of form and being asked to play as the 2nd tall.

Basically, we have no forward line.

As bad as we played, and despite all of GC injuries...we had the game on ice in the 2nd while they were at full strength. We just had no one to kick goals.

GC are the sort of team you need to deprive their hope. If they feel they are in the game then their confidence goes up and you can't stop them.

We need to fill our forward line quickly. Makes the lack if Martin really strange...but sounds like he is injured too now.

We can't keep both of goldy or Blair up forward. We can only afford one defensive forward. My choice is goldsack because Kennedy can take Blair's role and is more dangerous

Couldn't agree more Dave. I wonder if having both Blair and Goldsack in the side last week was more by necessity than design. If Fasolo, Karnezis, and Elliot were all available surely Blair's selection would be on shaky ground.

 

[TradeDraft]

- Grundy hasn't taken that next step we all hoped and seems to be falling behind Witts

Grundy is just 20 years old. Still has lot more Developing too do. Yes Witts has gone ahead go him but I would no way give up on Grundy.

I still Think Grundy will be the better out of the 2 when the both Fully Develop

 

[jmac70]

I really like the positive nature of this thread BUT...I can't accept Cloke as a positive. That miss before half time was probably more costly than Young's dropped mark. Such great play from The Seed had to be rewarded and we would have had all the momentum going into the second half. Unfortunately the miss really highlighted why he is not an elite player.

 

[jmac70]

Grundy is just 20 years old. Still has lot more Developing too do. Yes Witts has gone ahead go him but I would no way give up on Grundy.

I still Think Grundy will be the better out of the 2 when the both Fully Develop

The vast majority of supporters agree with you that Grundy is going to be a really good player. Right now though he is not up to the standard required and must make way for White (who is also pretty poor but at least is more mobile).

 

[jimmy35]

In silent protest I've refused to wear my 'Member' socks to work this morning. The positive is that there's less washing for my wife to do this week.

 

[ottoman]

In silent protest I've refused to wear my 'Member' socks to work this morning. The positive is that there's less washing for my wife to do this week.

Don't follow the logic Jimmy. Either way there is still going to be a pair of socks that she will have to clean. Unless of course you have decided to ban socks all together

 

[jimmy35]

Don't follow the logic Jimmy. Either way there is still going to be a pair of socks that she will have to clean. Unless of course you have decided to ban socks all together

I'm wearing thongs to my Centrelink appointment today.


BTW thanks for ****ing up my only positive

 

[Chilli Con Incarnate]

Ben Kennedy. 18 Disposal, 3 tackles and 2 goals. I'd call that a positive.

 

[DaVe86]

Ben Kennedy. 18 Disposal, 3 tackles and 2 goals. I'd call that a positive.

He replaces Blair surely. He crumbs very well and tackles just as hard. Plus he is a genuine midfielder who wins clearances. He is a similar height, so I don't think we want to go out there with Elliott, Blair and Kennedy