Review Positives

[BeinPurplenGreen]

1. Pav played another great game as a forward.
2. Broughton was excellent as a forward - showed he has great overhead marking. Good coaching by Lyon to try him in that role given Balla's absence.
3. Zac Clarke and Griffin both did well - very pleased with how we contested the bounces, Zac's goal was a thing of beauty, and for quite a while we led the clearances - no mean feat given how poorly Mundy was playing, the absence of Hill and the quickness of the Bombers midfield.
4. Lower - took a while to work up to full AFL speed but clearly adds grunt in the in and under stoppage work.
5. Crozier. Very promising stuff - needs more kgs and a few more kms in the legs, but already showing his overhead marking and clean disposal. Will take him in a swap for Palmer any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
6. Neale's handballs under pressure - just amazing the awareness he seems to have with his handballs, scary good periphial vision and gets just the right amount of speed on them - sets up the reciever beautifully.
7. Barlow's first half showed how good he could yet become - if he can keep building the endurance, get rid of the turnovers and get some support from the likes of Hill, Lower, Mundy and Mzungu he could yet get back to being a very good midfielder.
8. Ibbo - was exceptionally good, I've not been a fan but gee he did well tonight under pressure - especially in the absence of Dawson, and with Broughts playing deep forward, someone needed to stand up down back - and Ibbo did really well I thought.
9. McPhee - we are much better with him in the backline at the moment. Just seems to add stability and coolness under pressure.
10. Crowley - great job as a tagger yet again.

Gorgeous shorthair Freo girly showed up at my local again - though this time she brought some rugby dude with her, which was a bit of a let-down. Still, pretty faces in Freo colours always make the losses easier to endure.

Really pleased to see a more open attacking game plan, but we needed to do a bit better locking things down at the end of each quarter - we give up so many goals in the last 3 minutes of quarters it isn't funny.

Really happy with the effort for the first three quarters - and given our outs we might just be better against the Pies.

 

[Mudd]

add Mayne to that list, contested hard all night and walked away with a bag of 4 goals.

 

[BananaOnTheRun]

lower playing out the game was good. i was expecting him to sub out but he got better until the end.

solid first day's trading for the lower&deboer wrecking co.

 

[PapaJ]

I haven't looked at any stats so can't take that into account, but I can't call Crowley's game a positive. Not that he was horrible, but I don't think he took Watson out of the game enough to call it a positive. Perhaps he reduced Watson's effectiveness, but that's not good enough when all you really bring to the team is stopping power. You have to completely dominate, shut out your player or be a ball winnner/user yourself. I don't think Crowley did either enough to say it was positive. I'd call it a 'neutral result' at best.

A general positive though: again without stats, I thought our midfield looked really good for 2/3 of the game given we are without some very good players there. There's some hope there, Mundy is still out of form/fitness, Barlow looked good early even if he steadily got worse as the game wore on. Lower, as you say, added grunt and DeBoer is still proving a positive. This year just has to be considered a 'learning year' under Ross, but there's some good things there for next year.

 

[estibador]

The Bombers are now ahead of the eagles by 0.13%, we nailed it right down to the last point.

 

[chinggis77]

How can you miss De Boers game?

26 possessions, 16 contested, 10 clearances, 5 tackles, 1 great goal, 81% efficiency.

I was watching his work in close - he was an absolute gun. His 16 contested possessions weren´t hack kicks to get the ball out. They were often smart handballs to release teammates or often he would just get himself into space.

Absolute gun.

 

[go_the_dockers]

Hill, Ballantyne and maybe Morabito as the sub will be back next week.

These are our classy outside players who provide speed, run and finish.

Lower was great. Pav was a one touch player all night, you could see it so many times where an other player fumbled and then Pav game through picked it up and either cleanly hand balled or kicked the ball forward.

De Boer again played well and must stay in the midfield.

Broughton was good and could easy play in the forward line.

Duffield\Walters\etc are being made to earn there spot and don't see it getting any easier with Hill and Ballantyne coming back in.

Hopefully they work it out that if they get dropped it now takes 3-4 good performances to get your spot back.

 

[Tommo]

I tell you who is a one touch player. Neale!
I look forward to when this kid can gain a bit more fitness and move into the middle full time.

 

[Quokka]

Keep dropping them Lyon, Ibbotson was great all night... well I don't know about last quarter, qive the bombers some credit for outrunning us but I'm still a bit stunned about that finish. Hopefully Duffield can pick up as much.

Griffin and Clarke both great, I think it's silly to write Sandi off as a huge asset for us but we're certainly not a guarenteed lose without him now.

Lower's another to add to the starting 22. Lower, Deboer and Hill in the mids give us something to start with, particuarly for players who are fit and ready to go now.

Won't claim to know what's changing players or gameplay but compared to the all in scrums we had a few weeks ago tonight was not the negative, all defence footy people like to claim is all Lyon has got. Give me 4 good quarters of that I'll be half way happy.

 

[Bateman]

I really liked Crozier's strong mark on the burst and owith someone right up his clacker. Very good for a first year player

 

[Ted38]

I really liked Crozier's strong mark on the burst and owith someone right up his clacker. Very good for a first year player

Looks a very promising prospect,don't think he knows the meaning of the word Fear. Any chance of swapping Masten for him?

 

[yakka man]

I really liked Crozier's strong mark on the burst and owith someone right up his clacker. Very good for a first year player

Yeah I commented on that at the game. Attacked the ball at high speed and took a strong, difficult mark for any player.

 

[Sman-21]

Deboer - he isnt soft like others, so isnt worried about taking hits and has very clean hands and disposals under pressure.
Others are soft and are wary of contact so fumble far too often.

Showing he could be the Boyd, Watson, Priddis, Mitchell that we need in there.

 

[Lach72]

Thought Pav is really looking good upfront. Contested marks, goals and great passing a feature.

Mayne was fantastic. Have really enjoyed is consistency this year.

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

Mayne
Pav
MDB
Broughts
Crozier
Ibbo

all impressed me

a few brain farts from our defenders cost us goals - but this is a positives thread

loved how we played for 3/4 of the game - looked an exciting team - but gee we need to work out how to stop teams breaking through our defense with speed

 

[Clay Davis]

Thought Pav is really looking good upfront. Contested marks, goals and great passing a feature.

He was great. Having a very good season, better than last year. Reasonable chance of winning the Doig again, this time it would be deserved.