Toast Robbo, Yarran, Bower

[DamianBis]

Bower was pretty damn good. backing himself when he got the footy.. making fantastic spoils... pretty much BOG for carlton.

Yarran looked pretty good. he got a lot of the ball.. didn't have a very good day with kicking though. but a lot of that is match practice, and maturity. I see him having the potential to be like Aker around the goals.

Robbo always applying 110%. running as hard as he can. no fear. His disposal looked a bit better today than it was last year.

We missed Simpson today A LOT.. he's an invaluable player to us.

 

[Sin City]

Robinson was great, he'll be a very solid contributor for us this season.

 

[Big Red is back]

agree all 3 excellent.

 

[JCore]

Bower was very, very good today. Stronger, more confident and will have a great year.

 

[HBF]

A big tick to Jamo as well. Got through the game unsctahed which is great, and also gave us some real run off the backline. Looked pretty good I thought.

Agreed on the other 3 also. What a shame Yaz couldn't slot that goal late in the game.

 

[Knackers26]

Agree and nice thread.
Good to talk about the positives and its a shame that this is one of the only positive threads abotu tonite.
The ball seemed very slippery to me and explained why the skills were down a fair bit. Great to see yarran has got some confidence.
Scotland played his usual solid self also. The introduction of Simmo, Waite and Murph will make a massive difference
The delivery into the forward line wasnt good, but that will get better when we have all on ballers back in action.
Robbo will be a star, though I just dont know how his body will cope with the pain he puts it through.
All in all a blessing in disguise losing tonite.
Next match against Brisbane at Visy and hopefully they dont have to travel interstate for any of the other practice matches

 

[Sin City]

I thought Grigg was solid tonight as well

 

[Faz 2000]

I think we all knew a bunch of our players would/should improve over a few preseasons, and I thought both Bower and Robinson were right amongst our best tonight. Bower looked bigger, quicker, and still (of course) slightly like a drunk emu. Gotta love this guy. He gets it done, or dies trying.

Robinson ploughed into a few packs and was involved throughout. Really good showing.

 

[mediumsizered]

Good signs from Yaz. 5 shots on goal in a game that was a nightmare for forwards.

Robbo showed that he will be a regular in our 22 playing across HF, with regulars runs in the midfield. He stayed focussed on the task at hand & you could notice the difference in our performance when he wasn't on the field.

Bower looks to have improved further. He had the better of Goodes & provided some great run from the backline. His disposal has also continued to improve.

A good game by both Lucas & Davies who both showed they weren't overawed by the step up to AFL level. While they won't necessarily be in the seniors from Round 1, both of them will see some regular senior action this season.

I couldn't help but notice that Hendo was copping the same mauling from his opponent that we had become used to with Fev. When are umpires going to start protecting forwards who play in front & only have eyes for the ball?

 

[blue gunslinger]

A big tick to Jamo as well. Got through the game unsctahed which is great, and also gave us some real run off the backline. Looked pretty good I thought.

Agreed on the other 3 also. What a shame Yaz couldn't slot that goal late in the game.

Yep Jamo is or leader out back and Bower his wingman.TBird must stay in the back 50. As soon as he gets in the midfield he gets found out. Army would have been handy back there with his speed and tackling.
Robbo looked great and was one of the few who got out of 1st gear.
Yarran showed he is better than he was but he will have to hit goals more difficult than the one he blew today!
Lucas showed a lot but must deliver the ball better!
WHERE WAS ELLARD FFS!

 

[BlueTouchPaper]

'Twas pretty evident the boys were playing a 'play on at all costs' sorta game.

Bower compliments this style perfectly - And there's something to be said about players who have balls in taking the game on. It's probably as courageous a thing to do as running back with the flight, in the grand scheme of things. Very few defenders do this, let alone tall defenders, and the ones that do become as renowned for their creativity as they do for their defending - Scarlett springs straight to mind.

He still has a long way to go to prove himself, but has kept some big names quiet in the past and has plenty more room left for improvement. An injury free season will hopefully see him get some rhythm.

Yarran was very impressive. I'm of the opinion we should ignore his finishing tonight, as they were the type of shots and passes that VAFA players make with ease. Yarran has that amount of talent in him and trailer loads more.

Robbo, was well, Robbo - Tough as ever, always looking to take the game on, and showed versatility up front.

 

[blue gunslinger]

'Twas pretty evident the boys were playing a 'play on at all costs' sorta game.

Bower compliments this style perfectly - And there's something to be said about players who have balls in taking the game on. It's probably as courageous a thing to do as running back with the flight, in the grand scheme of things. Very few defenders do this, let alone tall defenders, and the ones that do become as renowned for their creativity as they do for their defending - Scarlett springs straight to mind.

He still has a long way to go to prove himself, but has kept some big names quiet in the past and has plenty more room left for improvement. An injury free season will hopefully see him get some rhythm.

Yarran was very impressive. I'm of the opinion we should ignore his finishing tonight, as they were the type of shots and passes that VAFA players make with ease. Yarran has that amount of talent in him and trailer loads more.

Robbo, was well, Robbo - Tough as ever, always looking to take the game on, and showed versatility up front.

The bloke has done everything asked of him when most of the time mismatched. If he or Jamo go out we are dead in the water. These 2 are almost our most important 2 players. He has proved his worth already.

 

[BlueTouchPaper]

I meant with the Scarlett comparison

How would you suggest he is mismatched? Do you not think he is a KPD?

 

[blue gunslinger]

I meant with the Scarlett comparison

How would you suggest he is mismatched? Do you not think he is a KPD?

usually gives up height, weight and speed to his direct opp.

 

[BlueTouchPaper]

Yes to weight...
I don't know about speed or necessarily height, although he isn't particularly tall.
But I bet he has it over them in reach and anticipation more often than not.

 

[blue gunslinger]

He is deceptive in height. Bower is a diamond in the rough that has been underrated. He has arrived as a key man to our structure. Don't make a mistake and think he is not vital to us already!

 

[dontwant2baboer]

'Twas pretty evident the boys were playing a 'play on at all costs' sorta game.

Completely disagree. Was very stop start from your mob.

 

[BlueTouchPaper]

^ Fair enough, haha, as I (obviously) completely disagree myself. I think you'll find that when we were chipping it around the outskirts very quickly someone would present and receive the handball from the marking player. Bower, Scotland, Russell, Judd and Carrazzo (I thought) definately played in that manner.

Guns, I'm not sure where I've ever alluded to thinking contrary to any of that.

 

[blue gunslinger]

not enough movement so not enough targets so both correct I guess

 

[blue gunslinger]

'Twas pretty evident the boys were playing a 'play on at all costs' sorta game.

Bower compliments this style perfectly - And there's something to be said about players who have balls in taking the game on. It's probably as courageous a thing to do as running back with the flight, in the grand scheme of things. Very few defenders do this, let alone tall defenders, and the ones that do become as renowned for their creativity as they do for their defending - Scarlett springs straight to mind.

He still has a long way to go to prove himself, but has kept some big names quiet in the past and has plenty more room left for improvement. An injury free season will hopefully see him get some rhythm.

Yarran was very impressive. I'm of the opinion we should ignore his finishing tonight, as they were the type of shots and passes that VAFA players make with ease. Yarran has that amount of talent in him and trailer loads more.

Robbo, was well, Robbo - Tough as ever, always looking to take the game on, and showed versatility up front.

^ Fair enough.

Guns, I'm not sure where I've ever alluded to thinking contrary to any of that.

what rattled my cage

 

[dontwant2baboer]

^ Fair enough, haha, as I (obviously) completely disagree myself. I think you'll find that when we were chipping it around the outskirts very quickly someone would present and receive the handball from the marking player.
.

That's stop start footy, you've said it yourself, chipping around the outskirts.

Dont want to say too much but it's times like these that the words of John Sammy Newman need to be accepted.

The worse your forwards are, the faster you get the pill in there

Very apt words for Carltons current situation.

 

[blue gunslinger]

That's stop start footy, you've said it yourself, chipping around the outskirts.

Dont want to say too much but it's times like these that the words of John Sammy Newman need to be accepted.



Very apt words for Carltons current situation.

You have Ballantyne as a fwd FFS!

 

[BlueTouchPaper]

There's plenty of ways to interpret a player 'having proven' himself.
I think Bower has a few of these interpretations to tick off.

First, the one I intended it as, that of being a near peerless defender. I think we'll all agree on that one.

We've seen he can last a complete season, despite early fears, and produce a very consistent one at that. In order to prove himself (perhaps further), and we'd like to see him produce another one to back the last up.

I'm sure you could think of a dozen other scenarios where he has or hasn't proven himself - it is a pretty fair comment, in my mind, to suggest that a 22 year old key defender hasn't proven himself in some form or another - No need to have cages rattled, and definately no intention either, it was more an attempt to maintain some impartiality.

Underlying this in my mind, is the notion that we don't have the greatest defensive statistics, and are often criticised of this from various outlets. We are a team that allows bags to be kicked against us as well - which tends to invite individual scrutiny.

On a tangent, did Bower get 8 kicked on him by Roughead this year? I know he kept Buddy to 2 or 3 the year before.

That's stop start footy, you've said it yourself, chipping around the outskirts.

That's like saying the Swans weren't playing counter-attacking football because they were flooding.

Anyways, it's not necessarily stop start either. They were chipping around the outskirts when we lacked options ahead, doesn't mean we weren't playing on at all costs, or that we were sent out with the intent to play this 'stop start' football

I fail to see your logic, or, for that matter, your eptitude at being able to dissect a game of football.

 

[dontwant2baboer]

You have Ballantyne as a fwd FFS!

Matthew Pavlich would do a better job in the forward line, by himself, than Carltons entire forward rank.

 

[dontwant2baboer]

That's like saying the Swans weren't playing counter-attacking football because they were flooding.

What?

Anyways, it's not necessarily stop start either. They were chipping around the outskirts when we lacked options ahead, doesn't mean we weren't playing on at all costs, or that we were sent out with the intent to play this 'stop start' football

Again what?

I fail to see your logic, or, for that matter, your eptitude at being able to dissect a game of football.

Dumb post.

If you class yourself as a genuine football follower you'd have to accept that the ball movement of Carlton was dreadful. There was no direction and the fact that you initially claimed that your mob was playing "play on at all costs football" is laughable.

The reason for the dreadful ball movement was a lack of any options across Half forward, and when you did get there it was a kick in hope to the top of the goalsquare.

Sydney on the other hand moved the ball by hand very well through the middle and created their own space via the flood.

Finally the Swans have realised the benefit of pacey mids/hff, these players one out with space in front of them will be very dangerous, as we saw from Jetta's burst in the third quarter.