Murphy laid some really good & strong tackles aswell.

All in all it was an encouraging performance, however not quite as good as our NAB cup from of two years ago. Which may be a good thing or a bad thing I'm not sure

I felt it was at a more frantic pace than what I recall of those games.

More running the lines than 'ping-pong' footy from 50 arc to 50 arc.

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

Well done blues, a good start to the season.

I was more interested in personal improvements from last year than the scoreboard and I was super impressed with Jarrad Waite in the back half ...looked absolutely fantastic!

I was rapt for Jordon Russell too. Really imposed himself on the game I thought ...looked pretty good.

Ross Young did a few nice things too which was great for an unheralded 1st gamer.

Fev was brilliant ...nuff said.

Apart from his little bitchy hissyfit in the last qtr, Houlihan had a good game.

Thought Cloke put in 100%. Got to work on his kicking of course but full credit for a good blues debut.

Setanta was fantastic down back on Lloyd.

Kouta was used well last night and was vintage Kouta during his limited stints. Good stuff.

Very happy with what I saw last night, Looking forward to next week.

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

This from BummerBlitz:



Can you say grasping at straws?

_________________
And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Just watched the replay.

Saw enough to suggest we can hold our own this year.

For first game of the year we ran and tackled hard, our foot skills were predominantly good, our backline looked strong, cohesive, flexibile and offered rebound.

Our forwardline had options, and no matter how good all our fowards are / can be, Fev is that good that he is always going too kick 3 -4 goals a game.

Our rucks (Ackland / Cloke) just need to hold their own in centre clearances / stoppages, and make their marks as mobile ruckmen around the ground, that will be their big advantage.

From a midfield perspective we have great hope, and more game time will allow us to exploit a few teams this year, Stevens, Murhpy Simpson, Walker, Gibbs ( ok for a 17 year old last night), Scotland etc will do their bit. Some will dominate one game while others will have less possesion.

The idea here is no matter who has more or less possesions that they are constructive with it. When Murph got the ball last night he was poised and hit most targets, great example.

Lats night was a stepping stone in enabling us to develop a team.

Something that has been lacking for a few years.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves, but lets hope that we develop the ability to capitalise on good starts and put teams away during the year.

_________________
Supporting the Blues No Matter What

Just in from Miss Agro.

Waite did well down back, Simmo great running,
Stevens Solid.

Murph ... HOT!!!!!

_________________
"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

I am tipping that the Commission will realise just how much the "hands in the back rule" will be to Carlton's and Fevola's advantage - that the rule will be rescinded by about Round 5.

Otherwise Peter Hudson & Bob Pratt's goal kicking record is in heaps of trouble.

_________________
"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

There were a lot of good signs last night.

The key for us now is to show patience with these kids when they display the inconsistency that youth tends to fall prey to.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned too much is that Essendon* had already had their first proper hit out (against the All-Stars).

Wasn't it just last week that they were patting each other on the back after showing us how they were going to take the AFL by storm?

Maybe Sheeds just likes playing up in the bush?

The Flying Beermat wrote




Very good point....and we were rusty with our skills at training recently, but showed an abundance of genuine enthusiasm and voice at our MC Labour Love Nest.

we did very well last night.

_________________
Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Funny how there is only 4 points between euphoria and wrist slashing.... on this site at least..

Was quite pleased with the perfrmance - but its only the pre-season... long way to go.

i loved his amazing marks too.

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@cecil_anderson

only saw the second half, so missed our charge and saw theirs, but is it a concern that we can't protect such leads? In particular I think of West coast last season (amongst others).

Do we expend too much in getting that far ahead, do we rest on our laurels, do we become predictable, or do we get outcoached?

_________________
"Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

And BlueBull aka "The Wild Man from Borneo"

_________________
I AM DISENFRANCHISED

I tell yas..................

if somebody flattens The Murph of Murphs.........and
bloody hurts him................?

you people are likely to see the first spectator
jump the fence to retaliate..........!

that DIRTY FILTHY BLACK AND RED @#$%..............!


kindest regards tommi



















i'm watching you Fletc-HERRRR...................i'm watching you @#$%.....!

_________________
that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!

I think it was a combination of two things on Saturday night. Firstly, I think we ran out of legs a little bit - which is understandable given it was our first game of the season. Gotta remember that Essendon* had already had one hit-out against the Aboriginal All-Stars. Secondly, I think when a team starts making a run at us, we become slightly more defensive - when it was our attacking game that got us the lead to begin with. We need to keep backing ourself and running the lines even when a team is coming at us.

Yep. Spot on.

Started to tire, and lost confidence and stopped running from defence.

Both signs of a young team.

_________________
I AM DISENFRANCHISED

So we have the skill and the ability to get ahead, and now we have to focus on sustaining the effort.

_________________
"Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

Sheedy is the flowering master.

Young midfielders excite sheedy

Fair dinkum they are the only side in the comp with a worse midfield than us.

And the cherry nosed wino (sorry tommi) again tries to convince bombers fans that they're primed for a tilt at the flag.

It's lucky their fans are all so flowering dumb that they just lap it up.

Yeah look, pre-season, big deal. 2 years back we beat the swans by 100+ points...

but I'm so flowering wound up by journos who get down on all fours, assume the prone position and let Sheedy just give it to them about what an exciting list they've got, and how the competition punishes teams who've had prolonged success.

Prolonged success? What like one flag in 13 years, THE SAME AS US?

Mal Michael will be Sheedy's Mick Martyn. Stifling the development of other key backmen (Fletcher and Michael will stop at the same time and then who? Kepler Bradley? ). So he may get them up to 10th on the ladder. Big deal. They're not going to make the finals for 10 years, we'll be first to 17 because we've finally accepted our lot and started to recruit with our brains.

Thankfully Sheedy still lives in a land where Hirdy is going to win him a flag off his own boot "if only he can get 22 games under his belt".

Joke.

Good post. I just hope they win more then 4 games so they don't get the priority pick.