Sydney game

[Frodo]

Not a bad effort. No last quarter fadeout. Haynes impressed.
I also thought Chambers and Hunter did well. Glass improves with every game.Merenda has class. Gardy must learn to use his body in the ruck.
Judge tended to rotate the youngsters too much. No time to settle, especially Green and Munro.
Free kick count was lopsided. 23-14

I still can't work out our game plan. Gardy wins a ruck tap and it goes to an opponent, surely they practice that! Kick-ins after a point going to Gardy who is always double tagged. It's either that or a sideways short kick. No other options!

Then I remember the days of Roo, Kempy and Mainy accross the centre line. If we were under attack these guys were always there in defence. It meant the option of guys like Lamb and Waterman could rebound knowing theie defensive positions were covered. Yet our centerline rarely seems to be back helping out.

 

[Voice of Reason]

I felt it was a pretty disappointing effort today overall, although a decent last quarter, which hopefully we can take into next week and get a win against the Saints.

Once again we played like a team that thought it had no chance of winning and was simply trying to avoid a heavy defeat. There was no doubt about the result from about three quarters of the way through the first quarter. Our game plan is to bring the other side down to our level by scrappy play - like kicking for touch in rugby union.

Do youngsters learn the right things in that type of game? Will they be better positioned to play a role for the Eagles in future years because of this experience? I'm not sure. I certainly didn't think that certain players [Wilson (again), Green, Munro] were given a fair go. Haynes did all right.

I can only remember one piece of decent attacking play from the Eagles - Collica (I think) in defence kicked long to a mark to someone (Cousins?) then a kick to the leading Merenda who marked. Can't remember if he scored!

 

[Visro]

Originally posted by Voice of Reason
Can't remember if he scored!

I can't remember exactly but I think he either just kicked a point or it didn't make the distance. There was some of those situations today I've lost track. Good to see Haynes kick a goal, similar to those he kicks in the WAFL. He's a good player and under the right conditions will develop into a very handy player for us.

Vis

 

[jod23]

We kicked the first goal and then Sydney kicked something like 9 in a row which was over almost 3 quarters!! We didnt kick another goal until late in the 3rd after a 7 minute goal in the first, that is way too long between drinks.

We certainly have a problem up forward and with Wilson not really getting involved and Phillip Matera missing it really exposed our problem to kick a winning score. But Haynes did show some glimpses of talent and could become a decent CHF or flanker. Glass continues to impress eventually forcing Sydney to bench Goodes.

The Good.

• Cousins continued form.
• No let down in the last quarter.
• Glass' continued improvement.
• Haynes' glimpses of talent.

The Bad.

• Second Tier players still not standing up week in week out. (Williams,Embly,Fletcher,ect)
• The Inability to kick a winning score.
• No options out of defence???
• Continued evidence that we suck in the wet.

The Ugly

• 1 goal in almost 3 quarters.