Was I the only one impressed?

[jj1978]

I know a lot of us are really frustrated by that first quarter effort against the Hawks...

But reviewing the game again.. We had them at the first ten minutes but for some reason just couldn't kick a goal and then somehow unluckily for us they had a great 15 minute patch... it happens.. but what I saw from our squad for the rest of the game was really impressive.

Jamison - best rookie we've ever had and will be our number one defender, doesn't panic and has the courage and smarts.

Bower - another young defender who is now stepping up, doesn't panic and takes his man on.

Stevens - the lost year has made him hungry and he knows his career could be over any minute.. he will be a possession machine this year.

Simpson - an on field leader still, and has the courage.

Gibbs - starting to get the feel of the game and by the middle of this season I think we'll start to see some really great consistant games from him

Murphy - some mistakes but didn't hang his head or fade away and kept going and worked 110%. A bit of extra practice at goal kicking and touch over the next few weeks will iron him out.

Cloke - if his shoulders hold up we have a reliable tall who can take care of ruck duties or float back and forward to help out.

Fev - aggressive but in a good way.. used his body to perfection and even though had no kicking boot, he did those other things that we need to see more of.

Hadley - looked good in Blue and will be really handy for depth throughout the year.

Kreuzer - took a serious blow and just flicked it off like nothing happened. Shows that he was not intimidated by it and didn't go sooky lala in his shell after it (something that Russel would have done).

Houlihan - knock him if you like, but every possession he got he used it nicely.. just needs a little more of it.

Scotland - still going strong and I think is a little faster this year.

Hampson - is going to be great, is learning and will have learnt a lot from last night.


Seriously we need to all take a chill pill and look at the positives... we learnt.. we didn't lose four points from this game... we now have a chance to get the spot-light off our team for 3 weeks and work on a thing or two before the season proper. I think Ratten and the coaches will spend a good deal of time spruking up some skills and decision making but all in all we were aggressive, not thrown off the ball as easy as seasons past and our fitness was still there by the end of the game.

We will improve this season, I think 8-10 games is very possible.

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Yep, I saw all of that too. Agree completely. I wanted them to gain some respectability after quarter time and they did.

On Houla, his delivery stood out from the crowd. Seldom have to worry about turnovers from Houla when he is running the wings.

 

[Blueinblood]

We conceded only like 25 points in the second half..... and we scored 44........GO JAMISON

 

[HBF]

Yep, I saw all of that too. Agree completely. I wanted them to gain some respectability after quarter time and they did.

On Houla, his delivery stood out from the crowd. Seldom have to worry about turnovers from Houla when he is running the wings.

Houlihan has been very efficient in the 2 NAB Cup games this year. Hopefully his form can continue into the H&A season.

 

[carltonlover3]

murphy is gonna be a gun

 

[EmmzLovesMurpho]

murphy is gonna be a gun

He sure will be

 

[HBF]

murphy is gonna be a gun

Won't get any arguments from me.

 

[dukester95]

I don't know if I would say impressed overall, as much as encouraged.
We certainly appear to have more talent on the list...the game plan doesn't seem to have evolved though. Didn't switch play across the ground enough
for me.....too many handballs and moving the ball forward consistently to a nest of opposition players. The better teams stretch the opposition across the ground..we seem to get stuck in pockets searching for a way out. It's the old problem of players going into their shell and not having the confidence to kick long. Hopefully Ratts can give the players the licence to play more direct football at the expense of less possessions.

 

[disconorman]

Great post jj. Everything you said is spot on.
What's going on here, everyone is agreeing and being positive!!!!

 

[Quid]

...the game plan doesn't seem to have evolved though. Didn't switch play across the ground enough
for me.....too many handballs and moving the ball forward consistently to a nest of opposition players.

Surely Ratts gave specific instructions with regard to possession that required the players to run in packs and use the short handball
rather than kick long. It looked to me like he was trying to iron out a deficiency in our ability to maintain possession without losing the ball.

Perhaps his new gameplan will require a keen ability to confidently maintain possession and so it was exaggerated in play in order to gain
maximum practice against decent opposition.

After all..... that is what the pre-season comp is for right??!!!

 

[Barry Zuckercorn]

Yep, I saw all of that too. Agree completely. I wanted them to gain some respectability after quarter time and they did.

On Houla, his delivery stood out from the crowd. Seldom have to worry about turnovers from Houla when he is running the wings.

I wish Pagan was still at the helm so he could play Houla down back...

 

[Quid]

Surely Ratts gave specific instructions with regard to possession that required the players to run in packs and use the short handball
rather than kick long. It looked to me like he was trying to iron out a deficiency in our ability to maintain possession without losing the ball.

Perhaps his new gameplan will require a keen ability to confidently maintain possession and so it was exaggerated in play in order to gain
maximum practice against decent opposition.

After all..... that is what the pre-season comp is for right??!!!

Just listened to the 3AW post-match interview and Ratts said that his game-plan was to try to handball and try to reward the runner, however many passes hit the ground which causes pressure which in turn forces shorter handballs as other players need to come in and help and it just ends up like a big merry go round and going backwards and in circles etc....
So it came down to a lack of proper execution which is to be expected in a youn team trying a new style of play.

 

[Bluebear]

Agree totally with the OP.

We dominated the first 10 mins and should have put some scoreboard pressure on.

Don't agree with comments re Fev. IMO he was treating the game this week and last like running practice.........I have already made comments about this in the "Fevs Kicking" thread.........not there mentally 100% and at one point went in with the hip to a guy on the ground........gave away a free but lucky he didn't make worse contact.

The signs are there that he will be better, but still some bugs to iron out.

Had he and Murph had their kicking boots on we would have won......simple.

Impressed with Hampson in the ruck........for a guy that's played 2 senior games he is competing and winning more than he should. Will become our number 1 ruck by the end of the year.
Cloke backed up an average game last week vs Port with a much better one, more like the form he showed last NAB cup.


My main concern ATM is how well we adapt to our game plan of handball in the midfield and HB line at all costs.
Adding a couple of line breakers in Judd and Walker will help this beyond recognition IMO, and many of our short kicks that put players under pressure will be marks in 3 weeks time.

Overall not bad.

We are already 66 points better vs Hawks than we were last year.........wihtout Judd.

 

[MadDawg]

Hate to rain on your guys parade however I should point out that we were missing or resting:

Sewell
Crawford
Croad
Ladson
Guerra
Roughead
McGlynn
*Dew

*I think he will be in our top 22 but hasnt proved it yet

then after halftime those to see little or no action included:

Franklin
Birchall
Bateman
Mitchell

 

[borissey]

Nah I was impressed, impressed by some kids coming through, continuation of efforts (not dropping heads), some of our clearance work in the second half and Murphy + Fevola kicking straight would have had us much closer.

TO me the Hawks are a very good team with a very good list, a very even list, so I took Saturday night as carlton taking on a Top 4 team. Yes the Hawks had some players out which I'd hoped would even it up.

In the end the Hawks have been working on that game plan for years and Carlton is just getting used to it.

Hawthorn - clearly better, clearly more even, clearly better skills.
Carlton - learning, uneven, some players still cant handball under pressure.

My biggest worry from the weekend is that Essendon's no-name list seems to have improved its pace and skill faster than us and they could be an ok team. Now THAT would SUCK

 

[Bluebear]

Hate to rain on your guys parade however I should point out that we were missing or resting:

Sewell
Crawford
Croad
Ladson
Guerra
Roughead
McGlynn
*Dew

*I think he will be in our top 22 but hasnt proved it yet

then after halftime those to see little or no action included:

Franklin
Birchall
Bateman
Mitchell

Gee whiz.....there's three names to send a shiver down anyones spine.......even when you beat us by 100 points McGlynn was FLOGGED by Gibbs....

Wow, no Buddy after half time........he was just SOOOOO dominant before then..........5 kicks.......3 turnovers.........

We might have done better if you had of left him on. BTW, we started the comeback halfway through the second quarter.......but you tell yourself whatever you like.

Just to even up the ledger:
Judd
Walker
Fisher
Hartlett
Setanta

Thats just about our spine...........and besides.......you should be used to playing without quality players........due to their suspensions this is just mimicking reality.

Out for round 1 - Hodge, Crawford, Lewis........Brown.

 

[Mr.Kennedy]

I was very pleased that we didnt drop the bundle like we would have in the past.Agree with the OP.Plus we have some decent players still to come back in to the team.

 

[Peerless Pete]

Had he and Murph had their kicking boots on we would have won......simple.

Big call since you lost by six goals. Had you kicked a couple of those misses, we may have brought some players back on to stem the tide. fact is when the game was on early, we belted you.

We are already 66 points better vs Hawks than we were last year.........without Judd.

We were without six of our starting 18. Croad, Crawford, Ladson, Sewell (B&F winner), Guerra and Roughhead. I'll leave Dew out because he's coming back after a year out. Also Franklin and Williams had limited game time.

You were without Judd and Fisher, Walker and I'm not sure if you had anybody else missing.

I wouldn't get too excited just yet. Pre-season games can be very misleading.

 

[MadDawg]

Gee whiz.....there's three names to send a shiver down anyones spine.......even when you beat us by 100 points McGlynn was FLOGGED by Gibbs....

Wow, no Buddy after half time........he was just SOOOOO dominant before then..........5 kicks.......3 turnovers.........

We might have done better if you had of left him on. BTW, we started the comeback halfway through the second quarter.......but you tell yourself whatever you like.

Just to even up the ledger:
Judd
Walker
Fisher
Hartlett
Setanta

Thats just about our spine...........and besides.......you should be used to playing without quality players........due to their suspensions this is just mimicking reality.

Out for round 1 - Hodge, Crawford, Lewis........Brown.

You are so freakin deluded.

Your right you'll probably kick our ass when Setanta gets back in

 

[Bluebear]

My my......aren't we getting touchy.

 

[Blue Dimension]

Gee whiz.....there's three names to send a shiver down anyones spine.......even when you beat us by 100 points McGlynn was FLOGGED by Gibbs....

Wow, no Buddy after half time........he was just SOOOOO dominant before then..........5 kicks.......3 turnovers.........

We might have done better if you had of left him on. BTW, we started the comeback halfway through the second quarter.......but you tell yourself whatever you like.

Just to even up the ledger:
Judd
Walker
Fisher
Hartlett
Setanta

Thats just about our spine...........and besides.......you should be used to playing without quality players........due to their suspensions this is just mimicking reality.

Out for round 1 - Hodge, Crawford, Lewis........Brown.

Why does everyone always forget Bentick?!?!?!?!

And what's with people saying Mitchell was off after half time? He was on the ground.

 

[libsug]

And what's with people saying Mitchell was off after half time? He was on the ground.

Its because Gibbs made him invisible after half time. Just Clarkson load to pump his side up as much as possible, like he needs to, they were impressive enough.

 

[Bluebear]

Why does everyone always forget Bentick?!?!?!?!

And what's with people saying Mitchell was off after half time? He was on the ground.

What? Hawks fans lying to make themselves feel better?

So it isn't so.........