Post Match Thoughts

[SA Blue]

I am feeling pretty frustrated. You would think I would get used to losing, but every time it hurts.
I haven't watched the game yet, but it was good to see the kids get touched early online. Fev was kicking goals. Does anyone know if the injury wil keep him out? I know he played the 2nd half so hopefully not.
There does seem to be positive signs with the kids MM and LB playing well. JW, JK and BF would have helped enormously.

Just sick of losing though. Interested to read other's thoughts.

 

[irish_setanta]

Murphy played great, alot of positive signs with the young guys, big mistake leaving kennedy out( if it was for team balance) Russell showed signs tonight that he might be ok(needs to be taught how to tackle) Blackwell looked good, all in all we look like a better team than we did 12 months ago, add a few more good draft picks and we will start to win games that we should win.

 

[Lance]

It's worrying that we have been over-run in the last quarter the last 2 games. Hope it's not a fitness thing. North have a big function/reunion Sat night for '96 premiership, maybe they just lifted in the last quarter more than our guys? Scotland, Murphy, Fevola, Simpson, Deluca (Never thought I'd say it) can hold their heads up.

Dissappointed in: Walker, Russell, McLaren, Lappin, McGrath, Bannister, Houlihan, Wiggins, Betts

 

[stokesy]

We just don't know how to win...

Sadly, another smacking is around the corner

Murphy was outstanding again, has there been a player to play the game of AFL with a better first year?

 

[ShlomoGlickstein]

Lappin's finished.

Fev was amazing, good to see he inspired 'the gloved one', but Wiggins is neither here nor there.

The Murphy-Blackwell combo might be exciting, especially when we get that South Australian d00d in the draft!

 

[big_sav]

We just don't know how to win...

Sadly, another smacking is around the corner

Murphy was outstanding again, has there been a player to play the game of AFL with a better first year?

statistically he has had the best first year ever. even better than the west coast number 3.

 

[C4[2]Yo`DooR]

heres a thought: were shyt

horrible decision making, smashed out of the middle.

 

[stokesy]

Dissappointed in: Walker, Russell, McLaren, Lappin, McGrath, Bannister, Houlihan, Wiggins, Betts

The ones I have made bold with, I thought they were okay.

Thought Bannister looked good in the backhalf - where he plays in the VFL.

Thought Betts did his thing, can only get better.

Thought Lappin was steady.

Deluca, must of been told this was his absolute last chance at half time and he took a fine grab, then lifted the roof off the place in the 3rd quarter. Just a shame he, and Fevola, got no ball feed in the last term.

 

[ShlomoGlickstein]

heres a thought: were shyt

horrible decision making, smashed out of the middle.

Oh, don't be tho NEGATIVE Thee-four. How dare you! You naughty boy!

 

[btdg]

Thoughts from the game:

- Wasn't a bad loss. Our young guys just don't have the tank at the moment to run out games - but it was positive to see 15 goals kicked for the night, one dominant quarter, etc.
- Murphy is an awesome player for his age and experience. Plus, something about him just screams "Umpires golden boy" a la Hird, Cousins etc. Must be worth 2-3 cheap free kicks a game to us
- DeLuca is dangerous close to goal, where his height stretches the defence and forces a contest, at the very least. Was great in that role tonight in the second half. He's also absolutely useless once the ball hits the deck and has the worst disposal of any player in the league (seriously, I can't think of anyone worse right now). Not only that, but he gets in the way of other players. If he has to play, he should stay in the goalsquare, contest for the mark, then immediately drop to the ground in the foetal position so as to not stuff it up for the rest of the players.
- We cannot continue to play DeLuca and French on the ground at the same time. You can carry one guy who can't kick, but not 2 at once. I'm surprised other teams don't run set plays that involve letting these guys get the ball, then waiting for the turnover
- Right now, Whitnall, Scotland and Stevens are good players; but our only genuine star is Fevola. He just about turned the game in the 3rd quarter, sparked our run despite being on one leg. Only player in the team capable of doing that for us. Isn't it time he came up the ground when the game is in the balance? I thought tonight in the last quarter, we looked spent - everyone was tired, we'd made our run and were getting beaten - why not try coming off the back of the square at a center-bounce, breaking through a pack and giving us some energy? When you only have 1 star, you can't afford them camping in the goalsquare all game - thats why Tony Lockett had such a poor record at St Kilda. Fevola played midfield in juniors if I remember - why not give it a go?
- It was great to see a good game of football - much more than I expected given the ladder positions. Both teams attacked, gave it their all, and will be better for it.

 

[stokesy]

why not try coming off the back of the square at a center-bounce, breaking through a pack and giving us some energy? When you only have 1 star, you can't afford them camping in the goalsquare all game - thats why Tony Lockett had such a poor record at St Kilda. Fevola played midfield in juniors if I remember - why not give it a go?

If Fevola was fully fit, I wouldn't have mind seeing him up the ground, but he wasn't fully fit.

Everytime he contested with the knee strapped, my heart was in my mouth.

He wasn't running at full capabilties, or jumping.

 

[C4[2]Yo`DooR]

Oh, don't be tho NEGATIVE Thee-four. How dare you! You naughty boy!

Oh im sorry, i didnt know I was living in Cambodia ??

face facts people, we try hard and u cant fault that, but were no good ... just cant finish it off.

 

[blues4flag]

Fevola was sluggish in the second half, couldn't run at full pace, but was a great effort to come and kick those two goals in the 2nd half. He wasn't able to attack the ball in the second half, which he done so well in the 1st half because of the knee. I was sitting far from him in the final term, and don 't think I saw him make one serious lead, but instead of trying to find a target in the 50, they should have just kicked it long to Fev befre the Roos had time to get numbers back, he can take a contested mark.

Also, what about Deluca? Great 3rd term.

 

[mediumsizered]

It looked to me when the time to go went under 10 minutes that they tried to shut up shop. The fear kicked in again. A couple of times they just tried to slow the game down and hold the ball up. It was too early for that, but it is a sign that they really have forgotten how to win. I also think they needed to get more players inside our forward 50 because in that second half of the last quarter we were trying to deliver to Fev, who was obviously struggling and the Roos were just getting 2 or 3 players back on him.

Overall a very disappointing result given how well they played for a significant period of the game.

 

[TheBlueblood]

We lost in the end cause we ran outta legs.. simple as that... to one of the worst teams going around

 

[Thrawn]

Wasn't a bad loss

I don't care what the margin was, but losing when you have a handy lead is NOT what you'd call a "good loss".

There were a lot of positives, but either there is a fitness issue or the players simply forgot how to win by falling over like that. Now vs the Eagles, I'd understand - but we were playing a side who were as bad as us this year, had control and then lost it.

Oh, and Corey Jones ****es me off. I hate those flukey-like players who play only a few good games in a season.

 

[as0l0]

we played a good game tonight and i saw some passages of brilliance. things are starting to click, more and more as the season pushes on.

just bad luck in the last quarter and then the confidence went down. bounce of the ball went against us and for North in the last quarter.

good job by everyone who played tonight, full marks to Deluca. keep it up boys, don't worry about this negative crap.

 

[flidge]

we played a good game tonight and i saw some passages of brilliance. things are starting to click, more and more as the season pushes on.

just bad luck in the last quarter and then the confidence went down. bounce of the ball went against us and for North in the last quarter.

good job by everyone who played tonight, full marks to Deluca. keep it up boys, don't worry about this negative crap.

Agree with most of the above. We did try. There's defintely heart in the team. Unfortunately, our back line is still shocking (with the exception of Whitnall), our midfield is still developing at the moment and Kennedy was injured. I think my key observation is that our midfield core of Murphy, Blackwell, Walker, Bentick, Carazzo and even Wiggins will be simply awesome next season. Further, the team will have the addition of either Hansen or Sellar next season, giving us either greater midfield presence or a strengthened backline. Kennedy will be back soon with Waite, giving Fev massive support.

So yeah, we lost tonight. But it won't mean that much when we have a decent team next year.

Oh and Shlomo, let's not throw stones when we live in glass houses.

 

[btdg]

I don't care what the margin was, but losing when you have a handy lead is NOT what you'd call a "good loss".

There were a lot of positives, but either there is a fitness issue or the players simply forgot how to win by falling over like that. Now vs the Eagles, I'd understand - but we were playing a side who were as bad as us this year, had control and then lost it.

Oh, and Corey Jones ****es me off. I hate those flukey-like players who play only a few good games in a season.

Fitness issues are to be expected. Our midfield at one stage was Murphy, Blackwell, Simpson - two 18 year-olds and a late-developing 21 year-old, I think. These guys are little more than boys, they don't have 2-3 pre-seasons and developed muscles under their belts at this stage, so they struggle to run out games at this pace.

Its positive that when our guys have energy, they are more than competitive, at least over the last 2 weeks. At the very least, fitness, confidence and smarts in the last quarter will come to these guys in 2-3 years, allowing them to win these games. Just need some patience in the mean-time

 

[as0l0]

Fitness issues are to be expected. Our midfield at one stage was Murphy, Blackwell, Simpson - two 18 year-olds and a late-developing 21 year-old, I think. These guys are little more than boys, they don't have 2-3 pre-seasons and developed muscles under their belts at this stage, so they struggle to run out games at this pace.

Its positive that when our guys have energy, they are more than competitive, at least over the last 2 weeks. At the very least, fitness, confidence and smarts in the last quarter will come to these guys in 2-3 years, allowing them to win these games. Just need some patience in the mean-time

great point.

 

[The Grover]

It looked to me when the time to go went under 10 minutes that they tried to shut up shop. The fear kicked in again. A couple of times they just tried to slow the game down and hold the ball up. It was too early for that, but it is a sign that they really have forgotten how to win.

Exactly right with 10 mins to go the players who marked the ball were motioning to the other players to slow down.

When are sporting teams in general going to realise the best form of defence is attack. I saw it in the NBA finals Dallas had a big lead over Miami & **** themselves.

Blackwell & Russell continue to look good and disposal seems good.

Teague was a disgrace last night & should be banished forever.

With only 2 wins on the board so far this year, if we don't win another 7 games for the remainder of this year & next year combined we will qualify for a priority pick next year before the 1st round.

Although I'm sick of losing & telling my 6 yr old son the next morning we lost again.

 

[Mr.Kennedy]

I know losing sux hard,but compare this season with the last few were we would lose by 10 goals more often than not.Big improvement.As far as I remeber not many clubs have been able to turn it around all that fast.St.Kilda,for eg: did their time at the bottom and gathered draft picks,but they also traded well,and still its unsure if their close to winning a premiership. This season we have been a little unlucky with injuries to Hartlett,Waite,Fisher and Bower which is slowing down some improvement.Also a lot of guys who are not part of the future are hanging in there (just) and taking up spots that young guys could be developing in.Lateley theres been a lot of these young players getting games and thats fantastic.With what is obviously going to be a great draft we will pick up a few more players which are the type who can start round one next year and we can offload one way or another some of the hangers on.

 

[as0l0]

we will win more than 7 games next year and will probably sneak 3 or 4 this year.

there's no team we can't beat as was proved at Subiaco.

 

[elgranto]

i just think we run out of legs in the end. that happens when you have a midfield with such young players. but that being said, they (murph, simpson, bentick, blackwell etc) will be better for the experiance. the future is very bright for this club. just think we still have some pretty handy forwards to come back in, fisher, waite & kennedy.

 

[ShlomoGlickstein]

Oh, and Corey Jones ****es me off. I hate those flukey-like players who play only a few good games in a season.

What, like 'the gloved one'?