I must have been watching a different Masten to some of you guys.
For a kid playing on the ball for most of the game, he did really well. I've watched the first half twice and he does a lot of feeding the ball out by hand, so a lot of his work goes un-noticed. He isn't the player that is going to break away from packs and kick running goals. He'll learn to find more space around the ground, but how anyone could put him down as a CON is absolutley terrible and beyond belief! He needs to improve his disposal, but most of his touches were under pressure. It is early February - the real stuff is ages away. The kid played a few games last year without much of a pre-season and spent most of the time on a half forward flank. Last night he was up against hardened midfielders like Dane Swan - a huge step up - and more than held his own.
Swift was great - especially considering the amount of footy he has missed. Crazy really. Can't wait to see more of him.
Was real happy with Staker's first half when on the ball. Seems really willing to tackle and bump and use his bigger frame, which is great as some of our young mids are tiny. Hopefully he can start doing it over 4 qtrs on the ball.
Nico was good back there, a few rusty kicks, but overall good considering the Pies were always pushing forward in numbers. Cockie has a future for sure. Spangher was good back too, as was Wilkes. There was an endless supply of football coming in, so it was a hard night for the backs.
The only CONS I see:
- kicking long into the forward line doesn't work if:
a) No one takes a contested mark (especially when EVERY team will flood back against us to counter).
b) There are no crumbers playing. It will be better once Le Cras and Wirra are back in there.
c) There is little defensive pressure when the opposition gets the ball and rebounds. Has a bit to do with (b).
- Collingwood rebounded way too easily from end to end.
- We really struggled to break through Colligwood's defensive zone, turned it over a lot between half back and centre kicking to two-on-ones. I would be working on this more than anything.
Overall, I don't see how any level-headed supporter could be too disappointed with last night, especially not to the point of listing young kid's performances as cons. In the season proper they'll be surrounded by veterans (Embley, Wirra, Hunter, Stenglein, Hansen, Waters, Selwood) and have a bit more guidance. The Pies didn't bring any kids over and look to be a really good team in 2009. We got to see our kids, and while a lot of them are raw, hopefully not many should be required to play at all this year. If Swift breaks through and Masten continues his improvement, while the best 22 stays fit - we should improve a lot.
The only real cons are the injuries!
For a kid playing on the ball for most of the game, he did really well. I've watched the first half twice and he does a lot of feeding the ball out by hand, so a lot of his work goes un-noticed. He isn't the player that is going to break away from packs and kick running goals. He'll learn to find more space around the ground, but how anyone could put him down as a CON is absolutley terrible and beyond belief! He needs to improve his disposal, but most of his touches were under pressure. It is early February - the real stuff is ages away. The kid played a few games last year without much of a pre-season and spent most of the time on a half forward flank. Last night he was up against hardened midfielders like Dane Swan - a huge step up - and more than held his own.
Swift was great - especially considering the amount of footy he has missed. Crazy really. Can't wait to see more of him.
Was real happy with Staker's first half when on the ball. Seems really willing to tackle and bump and use his bigger frame, which is great as some of our young mids are tiny. Hopefully he can start doing it over 4 qtrs on the ball.
Nico was good back there, a few rusty kicks, but overall good considering the Pies were always pushing forward in numbers. Cockie has a future for sure. Spangher was good back too, as was Wilkes. There was an endless supply of football coming in, so it was a hard night for the backs.
The only CONS I see:
- kicking long into the forward line doesn't work if:
a) No one takes a contested mark (especially when EVERY team will flood back against us to counter).
b) There are no crumbers playing. It will be better once Le Cras and Wirra are back in there.
c) There is little defensive pressure when the opposition gets the ball and rebounds. Has a bit to do with (b).
- Collingwood rebounded way too easily from end to end.
- We really struggled to break through Colligwood's defensive zone, turned it over a lot between half back and centre kicking to two-on-ones. I would be working on this more than anything.
Overall, I don't see how any level-headed supporter could be too disappointed with last night, especially not to the point of listing young kid's performances as cons. In the season proper they'll be surrounded by veterans (Embley, Wirra, Hunter, Stenglein, Hansen, Waters, Selwood) and have a bit more guidance. The Pies didn't bring any kids over and look to be a really good team in 2009. We got to see our kids, and while a lot of them are raw, hopefully not many should be required to play at all this year. If Swift breaks through and Masten continues his improvement, while the best 22 stays fit - we should improve a lot.
The only real cons are the injuries!

