So far so good

[Goldenblue]

Been listening to the game on the radio and the Eagles are up by a goal at this stage...the game seems tight and could turn out to be a beauty....

Jack and Roo are playing their hearts out and are outstanding to this point in time of the game......

Not bad for aging champions who are meant to be past it....


Too old, too good!!!!!!

Go you Eagles!!!!!!!!

 

[Geonet]

West Coast 2.4 6.8 8.13 14.14 (98)
Geelong 3.2 6.4 9.6 12.12 (84)

Good Win !

 

[Mr Eagle]

But is it ENOUGH?

 

[thegur]

someone please with a ladder with percentage!!!!!!

 

[Mr Eagle]

Not enough for us to make the finals


As posted by JubJub on the AFL board:

Richmond 230 - 203 - 113.30%
West Coast 267 - 243 - 109.88%

 

[Geonet]

I think the Eagles won the group !

Eagles 2 wins by 35 + 14 points
Richmond 2 wins by 20 odd points each but got an hiding in the first game against Geelong.

So in percentage I think we're ahead of them

 

[eagleskickass]

I don't think it is such a bad thing we missed the semi's
We only just missed out, and finished with a 2-1 ratio, now we have a few weeks to rest, and get all of the niggling injuries better before the season proper. Players like Cous, Gards, Gaspar will hopefully benefit from these few weeks of(i know Gaspar hasn't played, but thought i would add him anyway)

Bring on Round 1!

 

[Geonet]

My mistake then !

 

[you_idiot]

Congratulations to you guys-- your team played well when it mattered, in the final term.

I only witnessed the game via 6PR's webcast-- ya gotta love the internet for that!-- but one could tell who was the better side. The Eagles definitely played the Cats off the park in the last quarter.

Congratulations, and best wishes for the home-and-away campaign. (Except when we meet again, of course!)

Cheers,
William

 

[thegur]

Can i be the first to say, pre-season or no pre-season, I am quite gutted.

Reason - I believe for two and 3/4 games, we have played our hearts out and deserved slightly better, although is it no coincidence that the team we missed out to, is the team that destroyed us for one quarter last week, and it was just one quarter.

Tonight, once again, I was very impressed with the commitment, but the disposal .... so poor .... around the ground, we just had so little clue, just kicking in hope, and don't get me started on the kickouts from full-back, why do we just settle on kicking to a pack??

Thoguht Woosh was VERY SLOW with his Kingsley matchups. Although a fully fit Glass would be first choice, Kingsley was far too quick for Jack, and too tall for Rowan (who was slightly dissapointing again tonight). Jack was left on him for far too long. Why ask Jako to play on a flanker. IMO with Jako, if they have no set CHF, like a Loewe, Whitnall, Carey .... We should be pro-active and move him down the ground and into the game, don't waste him playing on a smaller type who can exploit his obvious weakness, pace.

SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME THE SAW IT THIS WAY AS WELL, PLEASE!!

Forward line set-up is a shambles too, asides T-Train who knows his role, leading to the ball, the rest seem to just meander, basically, what I am trying to say, either the ball heads to Wilson on the lead or it is kicked in on a wing and a prayer.

ANYONE THINK ANY DIFFERENT????

but the big positives. No Cuz, and very little Wirra, Braun and Kerr on the ball, but we still looked good in the middle. Grweat job in the midfield. As I've said all along, Kerr, Cuz, Wirra, Jones and Braun as our main bunch with Fletch, Banfield, Judd etc ... as the backups, very proimising.

Glass needs some more match time, but quite handy.

Chambers always seemed to be in space, thought he had a good one.

Happy with the game, not the ladder.

Rant over

thegur

 

[Voice of Reason]

Pros:
Winning when not playing well.
Heart and attitude.
Geelong went more than a goal clear early in the last quarter - no mental collapse to a 30 point loss, but rather fight back to win.
Woosha clearly gave players an opportunity to try things out and switched people around rather than just trying to eke out a result.
Win without Benny.
Wilson.
McIntosh.
Wirra.
Kerr (bigger, stronger, but just as quick).
Tackling.
Young players like Humm & Hunter in flashes.
Williams getting fitter.
Braun looks fitter (though not much game time).
Woosha's use of Chambers in the only place I think he can make it at AFL level - forward of the football when the initial intensity has gone out of the game to pass the ball into the forward line and kick goals.
Gardiner and Cox.
Peter Matera.
Glass seemed to come through OK.
No Ken Judge.
Decent runners - Heady and Hart.

Cons:
Disposal generally.
Kick outs - need some set plays and players should run back to help the kicker out, not just stand there and pray.
Injury to Cox.
Failure to effectively block opposition runners on our defensive side (again).
Crumbers not supporting Wilson early, until Wirra and Merenda pulled finger out in last quarter.
Small defenders again - we were a bit lucky with Geelong's kicking towards the end.
We were favoured by the umpires.
Not stopping Kingsley (though remember he killed us last year too).
Crowd of 13,049, though that's probably not too bad in that most people would have used up their free pass last week.

 

[Eagle_Fan]

Originally posted by Voice of Reason
though remember he killed us last year too....

Yeah, I was going to ask that..... why on earth has Kent Kingsley decided on us as his one team to play well against? He's been doing it for his whole career too.... even with North.... it's just bizarre really I thought Humm did an servicable job on him though in the 2nd half?

 

[TheRealBuzz]

I've seen the Eagles play three times, and three times I've seen them play hard, tough, tenacious football.
There's the major positive right there.

Daniel Kerr is a little champ.
A little pitbull. Constantly at the bottom of packs, strongest tackler since Kemp/McKenna and can run (fast) all day.
An absolute inspiration, and will join with Cuzz, Judd and Wirra to become one of the most feared midfields in the comp.

One bloke who really surprised me was Jeremy Humm. Like Kerr he's a little tough nut with courage that would just make Woosha proud as punch. Could be a replacement for Read down back?

Gotta laugh at all the people who wrote off Milli (Freo supporters being the main culprit). He is still one of the smartest full backs in the league, and is all class.

Wirra, Tuckey, Fletcher, Willow, Williams and Gards all good contributors.
All in all a very good TEAM effort. And a great game to watch, with both teams giving 100%.

Kicking skills and players decision-making still a worry, but we've got time to work on that.
I'm too happy to dwell on the negatives.

Bring on Round1.
Pansy A$$ Dorkers won't know what them.

 

[jod23]

Well some of you have said some negative things about the game but IMO i can only look at the positives. The first and main thing is that before the game they said Cousins wont be playing so i instantly thought...OK so we will lose, i just hope they dont belt us...but to my surprise the midfield played very well and we actually won

McIntosh gave Graham a bath.....completely towelled up. Milli looks set for a big year and he he plays like that all year, book him in for the AA FB spot. He was awesome. Jakovich i thought was good aswell proving once more that he will be back to his best this season.

I was unsure on Humm at the start of the season but he was very good, he has guts, he's tenacious, kinda like Kerr. Looks set to play a few games this season. Green has also impressed in the last 2 games after his bad game first up against Carlton. Cox holding down the ruck is looking to be a good move. Williams also with a successful return, kicking a couple of goals.

And how about Wirrpunda!! He pretty much just scooped up the game and won it for us when it was there for the taking. Showed glimpses of getting back to early 2000 form! If he continues to get better then watch out!

Overall the skill level was still a little wayward and other than Gardy or Wilson there was no real plan when going forward but once Joey Matera gets back, why not bomb it to Gardy or Wilson, if they take the grab, good. If they dont we have Merenda, Matera, Sampi and even Wirrpunda sharking the contests...we have some great small forwards. Sampi looks the type too! Great goal sense.

But im happy with that, no Cousins and we still won, that is something i didnt think the Eagles could do but to there credit they put up a great fight and came up with the goods at the right time. Bodes well for a good season, midfield looking good, Jako, Milli, Matera in great form. Glass and Collica down back...Wilson is looking good and Sampi, Merenda and Joey up forward..Gardy roaming half forward thanks to Cox's great rucking. Youngsters all looking good with still Prior, Seira, Banners, Gaspar, Joey Morrison, Embly yet to even get a game. Looking forward to surprising a few people this season!

But lets keep our reality hats on....it was only Geelong.

 

[eagleskickass]

Also, Haynes looks good in patches, but i don't think he has quite worked out his game yet, which he will need to do very soon. Fletcher was his usual self, quietly going about the job and getting it done well, all aprt from that one kick out on the full i was VERY impressed!

Great Win boys, ENJOY IT

I know all us supporters will

 

[Captain Random]

Skills were better than last week, but still a fair bit patchy

Milly's collision with Milburn was awesome. Woosha's got them running through walls at the moment. If this keeps up it'll be great - nobody is expecting a flag, we just want the players to give it all they've got

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

Woopee!!!!! We won!!

I think this would have to be the best result Woosha could have hoped for. We won, we missed out on the finals, and our midfield performed will despite Cousins not being there.

But don't get too happy people, we only beat Geelong (my tip for the wooden spoon).

 

[Thrawn666]

Yeah I cant see Geelong having a great year myself either. In a way it was lucky we played them last night because of our innaccuracy on goal, and once again wasted opportunities. This seems to be the one facet of our game as a team that is letting us down at the moment. It wasnt so bad last night because we were only playing Geelong but against any Top 8 side it will come back to haunt us. The one quarter where we were accurate was the last quarter and it won the game for us, if we had been more accurate early with some of our gimmie shots on goal that were missed we could have had more of a cushion. That said and done though everything else about our performance was pretty good, still room for improvement but vastly improved on last year.

 

[WA]

I agree we have room for improvement, but any improvement on last year is a big plus for us. I wasn't able to go to the game, but watched most of the replay on tv later. From what I saw everyone got in and played hard. Humm also impressed me. A worry though that when Kerr & Wirra were both off Geelong picked up considerably. All in all though - a great game and a win's a win!

 

[GoEagles]

VoR, I'm glad you discretely added the no Ken Judge under the positives mate

McIntosh had an absolute blinder. He took Graham to the Zoo and left him in the Cat cage!

Wilson looked promising also. A much better return from the game against Richmond. One day he'll sink all of his goals and will score half a dozen.

Chambers and Williams looked like they had taken an extra step from last year. Both also looked good set shots for goal - very pleasing sign.

The best thing was, we won without Cousins. This surely would have to give the players a lot of confidence in themselves and their own ability to win games without our leader.

I can only see the team getting better each week.

 

[Geonet]

The VoR comment about "no Ken Judge" is in my opinion the number 2 positive of our two wins so far. The number 1 positive is Woosha.

For years I have noticed that teams with great players and poor coaches don't perform. On the other hand competent coaches with players prepared to give it all, can do wonderful things on the field. That's why I think the coach is by far the most important element of a team.

By the way have you people noticed how Woosha addressed the players? I was mainly interested in his body language. Fiery eyes and consuming passion seems to be his trade mark. And players of such coaches usually respond in kind.

 

[mentalgrind]

Pleased to see Hunter get a run too (although along with Green, played out of position).

But what annoyed me all night was whenever he did a bit of good play the commentaters kept mistakeing him for someother player (don't they know what our younsters look like?)