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Review R1: The Good, Bad and Ugly vs. St Kilda

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Why are so many of our own so keen to drag this guy down?

There's enough oppo fans and media that will do that.

It's like some feel the need to get on the front foot because they feel like talk will come. They would rather be the one saying it.
What gets me is people say to play the young talent and then don’t actually let them develop and can’t put up with quiet games

This is the exact guy just to keep playing , you can already see the signs and just need to allow them to come to fruition

It’s fine if he is sub next week but keep him in 23 for as long as possible and I’m sure he will get better and better
 

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We don't win in round 1 very often, so it was nice to punish a side we should be. Plenty of promising signs across the board from experience, youth and the new recruits. Need to build on this next week, especially with Essendon missing their best forward and defender.
 
About as perfect of a first round as you can ask for.

Good:

Fogarty and Thilthorpe got to match up against an undersized and undermanned defense and made hay when the sun shined. 7 goals, 3 goal assists and 15 score involvements is a monstrous game from the pair.
Soligo continued on his preseason form. 29 disposals/5 clearances/1 goal/2 goal assists/8 score involvements/8 tackles is just a serious game.
Dawson was electric throughout the game. Also we got ~1100 meters gained from Dawson and Soligo which is some serious territory gain.
I thought Keane and Murray were really solid defensively, and with decent ball movement. Keane in particular had a game with 21 disposals and 9 intercepts.
Speaking of defenders that had a big game, Worrell was big offensively. Not too many days an intercept defender picks up 7 score involvements and 5 score launches.
ABV had a big debut. 20 disposals/26 pressure acts/4 tackles/9 score involvements.
I thought that was ROB best game for a while. His best is not going to be outstanding, but seemed willing to throw his weight around and be aggressive.
Hinge and Michaelanny played well. Pretty typical performances from the two.
Rankine is such a freak that I came away from a 2 goal/28 disposal/7 clearance game and think there is another gear there. Some team is going to get utterly belted by him this year if he stays healthy.
I could get used to that kind of Rory Laird back in defense. Just an all round solid game from the fridge.
Draper looked good in his limited run. Seems ready for AFL football, though I assume we're a bit worried about his body holding up.
Finally, that was a statement game from Rachele. 2 goals, 4 goal assists, 12 score involvements off 21 disposals. I for one hope this is the breakout campaign.

Average/other thoughts/Curtin Watch.

May be worth keeping an eye on Keays as it looks like he's struggling to adjust to ABV taking out his role as the defensive midfielder. Still racks the ball up, and does the Murphy role better than Murphy does, but was pretty nowhere defensively.
Probably good for Peatling, Cummings and Milera they got through this game. All had their moments throughout and our midfield looks a fair bit better with Peatling dynamism.
Curtin had a couple of nice moments, with two contested marks (one stripped due to a downfield free kick) and that nice burst play. This period is just about sticking fat with him as he adjusts to AFL football as there is a player there.
Tex had a good first half, but was the right call to sub.

Coaching and structure looked rather good, but it's hard to gauge with how battered the Saints were due to injuries. Seemed like we didn't get pinned for long stretches in our back 50 which occurred last year, and were able to effectively pin the Saints for extended times. Ball movement was also rather quick, though you could see the lack of chemistry between our midfield in the early parts of the game.
Also, we smothered and generated a lot of dirty ball moving forwards, which is something that will hold up against good teams.

Bad:
Nuthin.

All in all, no complaints here.
 
I really want him to succeed.

But would he really be out there if he wasn’t pick 8 a year ago?

We took Tex off for the sole purpose of giving Curtin more space to get the ball (and he didn’t, not really). Didn’t really impact the game where we won by 10 goals.

If by round 3 we don’t see a ‘break out game’ then you’d have to send him back to SANFL. And if that happens, I expect him to leave at seasons end for a packet of chips to WA.

Happy to be proven wrong. Trust me. But the fact I’m celebrating when he touches the ball (not even does something good) is… concerning.

Really bad call
 
It's funny how your opinion gets skewed when at the game compared to TV.

At the game, I felt Milera had more of it/was more involved than the stats show, but Crouch was the opposite - I hardly noticed him much, yet big stats.
Inside v outside players

Harder to see all the things inside guys do at the game.
 
28 touches, 2 goals and 5 tackles to Izak.

Yet I still feel like he has another gear.

Could have some scary good games this year.
Was just cruising today
 
It's funny how your opinion gets skewed when at the game compared to TV.

At the game, I felt Milera had more of it/was more involved than the stats show, but Crouch was the opposite - I hardly noticed him much, yet big stats.
I was the opposite, at the game, thought milera didn’t do a lot and crouch was prolific.
 

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He’s going to make the odd mistake as that’s just him

Hopefully less as time goes on

Adds ALOT
Be interesting to see if we drop a tall for a short side, I thought Murray was very good as well today.
 
Be interesting to see if we drop a tall for a short side, I thought Murray was very good as well today.
I reckon due to Worrell and Max being so versatile and being able to play on smalls prob not but possible

Maybe against giants Bond would be handy for a tall but doubt they’ll drop Keane , and likely not Murray unless form
 

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Review R1: The Good, Bad and Ugly vs. St Kilda

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

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