CON:
Waite

He is frustrating and goes up and down all game every week. He either looks and plays clumsy, or he shows some skill and good decision making.

I guess 'he is young' sums it up, but can we afford to wait for him to become consistent and how many years will that take; I dont see him playing great this year.

PRO:
Walker is becoming consistently good!

Pros:

Gibbs ... very good under pressure.
Simmo ... played on at every opportunity and set a tempo for us
Cloke ... gave us variety near goals
Lance ... improved performance
Eddie ... goes to show when you mix your forward delivery with a few long kicks to a pack how it brings in the crumbers.

Overall the pro for me was the "mix" of goals although JK got ignored in particular one where he left his man 10 metres behind.

Cons:

Fev ... childish behaviour
Waite ... I am 45 years of age and last night I witnessed the sloppiest display of football from any VFL./AFL footballer in terrific conditions ... no excuses

Lack of players with standing start speed ... we can't get away from tight areas.

Pros
-----------
* First half was absolutely sensational
* Cloke
* Gibbs when he had the footy
* Simpson
* Big Lance across half forward
* Waites attack on the footy

Cons
------------

* Run in last quarter was non existant
* Chipping backwards as soon as we are in trouble
* Coaching that allowed Bryce to be put 1-1 against Johnson in defensive 50 in the final stanza.
* Waites composure and skills are horrid at times
* Jackson's injury

Should of won, but thats footy

_________________
SMFC 1959 : ONE LIFE, ONE LOVE, ONE CLUB

Pros:
Promising signs from our young guys.
Really good spread of goalkickers
Whitnall and Simmo ran into some form.
Cloke pushing forward and kicking goals
Giving JK a run on the ball
GIBBS!

Cons:
Jacko's injury
Fev playing for free kicks

I loved Walker's "Don't argue" at the centre bounce.

_________________
"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

Pro's:

It's been said...Simmo, Whitnall, Cloke, first half desperation...great stuff.
Hoops was great last night - best game from him since 2004.

Con's:

It hasn't been said...

Pagan was outcoached by Matthews in the last qtr. Matthews isolated Chris Johnson in the goalsquare to lead into space...Pagan (and Matthews) knew we'd run out of legs after Perth trip, so why not shut down the game - skills were pretty good last night and boys should know how to play tempo footy.

Heath Scotland is a waste as loose man across half back. He was pushed into the midfield briefly to give JR a rest from Power. He couldn't do it and Power lifted; got momentum and made it hard for JR when he went back on to him. There was no contact made from Scotland on Power...he is so used to be unaccountable that when given an opponent - he simply can't do it. He needs to either play across half back on someone or be freed up on the wing - because even last night he was exposed as a poor defender - skills are pretty good - but he can't defend.

PROS:- Entertaining, classy game of football
Simmo's return to form, and Lance too (before he blew a gasket)
Eddie's magic
Good skills by most of the team, few clangers

CON:- Our inaccuracy in front of goal (should've blown them away)
Their accuracy in front of goal (13.1 at one stage is ridiculous)
Fev - pull your head in and get on with it
Three carlton players looking like gooses in the goal square allowing
Lions goal at critical time - TALK to each other!
Definitely one we should've won.

_________________
No Guts, No Glory

once 3 gooses at all.

Scotland was to take the grab,
Simmo was backing him up

but Carlos crashed it and fumbled the mark - a mistake as much due to Santy's exhaustion and anything else.

to blame all 3 shits me. Scotland called, Simmo heard and waited, Carlos just had eyes for the ball.

_________________
This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

More like 18.1

Open the roof for flower sake !!!

_________________
"IF YOU FAIL TO PREPARE, YOU'RE PREPARED TO FAIL" - Mark Spitz

PRO's:

Match committee's game setup initially - Walker playing on-ball, Houlihan playing on-ball, Waite down back. Houlihan has been playing down-back for far too long, he carved it up against Essendon* & Richmond when he moved into the midfield. Leave him there permanently Denis. Ditto for Walker, although understand that he's learnt an awful lot over the last few years playing a defensive game.

Setenta will be a superstar - Brown admitted as much on the footy show this morning. He is developing so quickly at the moment, it is frightening. Despite Brown having a very good game, you knew that Setenta was the only one who had any chance of curtailling him.

CON's:

We lost - my 6yo son cried on my shoulder when McGrath kicked that goal - He whimpered "I don't want to lose Daddy" - poor fella - a mate asked if I apologised to him for buying him a Calrton jumper when he was a baby.

Ackland's physical presence is virtually non-existent - it's laughable that we gave Bryan the arse & then signed Ackland to a 3 year contract.

Our defenders had a bad game overall (apart from points above re: Setenta) - poorly organised down-back last night - far too many easy goals. When will Pagan realise that he needs to start consolidating a solid back 6 - the lineup down there changes every week & it's frustrating the hell out of me.

As said prevoiusly the Pros out weighed the Cons
*Simpson getting more of it and running the lines
*Gibbs' composure
*Walker's run and confidence

Most importantly it looked like it hurt them last night. Simmo in particular looked shattered as he walked off. Just hope it doesn't send them into their shell for next week.

We get to play Brisbane again later in the year and I reckon we can do 'em.

Pros,
We shared the goal scoring around.
Gibbs played the whole game and in the last quarter showed how much value he will be up ground next season. That pass to Lappin was magic.

Cons
I think the loss of Jackson was crucial as he would have enabled the MC to rotate our onballers more. This could have had two affects 1. provided more run in the last quarter 2. he also could have been used to shut down Power or Black in the last quarter.

Gibbs was towelling Johnson up until then, and blanketed McGrath before that.

He lacks that initial burst that Johnson has in spades, so when our boys arrested any control they had through the midfield, only then did Johnson have an impact.

You could put it down as a compromise for a match-up (ala Thornton on Charman), but it was by no means a blunder by Pagan or a smart move by Matthews because it suddenly worked halfway into the last quarter.

Was a very strange game of footy and I wondered when the farce would end. It pretty much didn't. Most stuff has been covered so I'll go with this:

Pros:
Kickout defence was superb virtually all game with Brisbane working overtime for that first option
Kickout movement was solid in the first half

Cons:
Kickout movement was woeful when we really needed it, which was indicative of the lack of players presenting strongly around the entire ground in the last quarter.

_________________
29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

Any chance on elaborating on what he said?

Pro:
- Walker, Murphy, Gibbs, Simmo. Game was decided on experience however - their top players were all their captains.
- Playing on Brown, Setanta will be primed up for Riewoldt
- Carlton has showcased two of the top games this season. Great for members and potential members.

Cons:
- Joe Anderson choosing to go backwards through three players when he could have backed himself and run forward into an open wing.
- Three players by themselves in the goal square all managed not to talk, sheild the marker, mark the ball and prevent an embarassing turnover that ends in a goal. Worst play this year.

"He's six foot five, can run like the wind ...thank God I got one on him now coz he's gunna be a star of the game in the future..."

Basically echoed what most of us see as a very bright star of the future.

_________________
There's so much I could say...

Pros
Eddie - I have always admired his crumbing abilities
Clokie - What the...? There was a comment here during the match "Cloke has the ball .. Oh No!" After which he bagged it. He then went on to bag two more. If this develops into another option up front, with the other developing options, we will be stoppable.

Cons
Fev - what the flower was that? He coughed it up worse than he has in the past and then, instead of copping it on the chin, he wanted to argue the point. And there was the time that he ripped Murph a new one. When did we send Fev to Richo school?
Waitey - a long-time favourite of mine, he seems to be on the slide recently. Which answers the other opinion poll of whether or not DP knows what he's doing. If he was a supercoach, he'd be able to retain the superior playing skills of such a person as 30JW.
Inaccuracy - Our inaccuracy of the last two games has cost us dearly. What the flower is happening here? Maybe we need to look at our forward coaches?
Inability to hold our opposition down (especially with the elder Lions statesmen) - Gibbs and Carlos had iffy games .. but both also had glowing episodes within the match. Both inexperienced players, but both learning as we move through this season.

I expect some flak on this last point, but there were pros in that con point as well. Again, I say, Bring On the Aints!

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[Sam Jacobs] looks like a 7' Lance Whitnall, and [Mitch Robinson] looks like a 4' Lance Whitnall
(The SEN team during the Carlton v Cats 2009 pre-season match)

Pros

Pagan's coaching- Letting the players back themselves to play free flowing football and not flooding to make our defeats more respectable. Most entertaining game I have seen in years. Gave our youngsters real game time rather than token stints on the ground.

Houlihan's best game in years coming back into form after an ordinary start. Likewise with Kade whose run and kicking game opened the Brisbane defence wide open. Showed us what he is capable off after a very oprdinary start tothe year. Lance played well for half a game which is two quarters more than in all his previous games this year put together.

The spectacle of seeings Betts turning it on.

With the exception of the last quarter outrunning Brisbane with genuine pace and self belief and most importantly in packs.


Cons

Lost at home to a team not expected to make the finals which was also missing its good operators stars in Lappin Selwood, Drummond????

Despite improvements to our defence this year is still the worst performed in the competition having by far having conceded the most goals against. We gave away lots of cheap goals which good sides don't. When moving the ball into their forward line they kicked into space short passes that were hard to negate. Whether they ran through the corridor or wings they would always kick it wide to their forwards, which you would think worked in our favour as shots on goals from the boundaries do not generally give you a good return. Jonathan Brown was the main beneficiary getting plenty of chest marks out wide too far away from scoring distance. To counter all we had to do was clock any attempts to short pass in an attempt to improve the angle and distance from goal. We left plenty of gaps for quality kicks like Brown to kick into the gap for their forward to lead into. Time after time they were hurting through this play.

Waite became a big liability down in defence despite providing some great contests. Tends to overthink when he has ball in hand and exercise poor judgement.

Anderson's game. Forget about the mistakes, he showed me he belongs out there in the senior team. Great intensity prepared to put his body on the line like a seasoned veteran and his ability to run and provide an option makes him ideal for the modern game. With time will improve his decision making

Wiggins is still getting a game stifling the development of real prospects like Hartlett, Edwards or Bower

When we were getting beaten in the centre clearances in the last quarter should have moved Gibbs in the middle. The Brisbane midfield were hitting Chris Johnson's chest such was there domiance. Nobody could have stopped Chris Johnsons with the quality of of delivery to him.

Murphy without Stevens in the side will get the number 1 opposition tagger and may find it difficult to repeat his last year efforts. HaMade little impact.

Fevola not so much for remonstrating with the umps but his inability or unwillingness to switch his mind back on the game dropping two easy marks my his standardswhen it counted

Bentick on two occasions early on in the game, when the game was hanging in the balance and there to be won fluffed two opportunities in front of goals. In one play, Whitnall shot out from nowehere a pass to Bentick on his own within reasonable kicking distance and he fluffed it after being caught unprepared. On another occasion, Walker was streaming down the wing bursting with pace drawing the defender to him enabling him to whip off a hand pass to Bentick who fumbled it. Yet again he was caught unprepared.

Our kicking to our forwards.They look very static at times and far too many ball get kicked long into contests. This low percentage style hurts our conversion rate.

Conundrum

I acknowledge you've put some pros in to cover for the rest, but they didn't have iffy games at all. Both beat their opponant many times throughout the game. Gibbs looked calm and composed. Lets not allow a couple of ripping passes to Johnson take away from his game at all.

_________________
"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

The Thornton matchup on Charman wasnt real smart......a ruckman should have played on Charman down back ie Ackland ...and Cloke used as the centre bounce ruckman....even Kennedy could have been considered for Charman.
I thought dumb physical mis matches were a thing of the past but Denis still struggles to get it right.

The delivery to Johnson was spot on...Gibbs could do little to stop what eventuated from poor midfield pressure.
I dont buy the tired theory either...Brown and Charman have had no preseason yet ran out the game very well.......
If we were depending on Ryan Jackson to be the difference then its a sad reflection on the fitness levels of the rest of the list......

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"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen