Pros:

Much needed win.
Harry, Jones, Fogarty, Walsh and Cripps.
Match committee did a far better job this week. We're a much better side when Ed gets to play around the ball. Also really like having Cottrell in the side.
Curly Austin's son. Picked up 3 terrific players in the trade period.
Pittonet was good.
SOJ and Eddie were good with their forward smarts and defensive pressure.
SPS having more impact.
Liked Parks' competitiveness, even if he's not a great kick.
Bit wasted on Freo, but we got a good run with the umps.

Cons:

Still not laying anywhere near enough tackles.
Accuracy, especially early in the game.
Casboult.
Dow still not having anywhere near enough impact.

I agree. I want Setters in the midfield, but he's not really a winger.

Why?

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Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

Just got to watch the replay. It was a much better performance by the players that have been struggling the last few weeks (except levi).
Was good to see crippa take the toss and rev up pre match instead of doch. Cripps demeanour from the start rubbed off onto other players. Everyone was obviously trying their hardest most of the game yesterday.
I was noticing some structure and plans, instead of no idea the past few weeks. A big one i noticed was no quick bomb kicks under percieved pressure from the backs today (can only recal 1 from SPS). It worked much better elimenating the opposition taking an easy mark centre of the ground and launching a deep attack with our backs not in position. It really helped restrict the opposition scoring compared to last 3 weeks.our backline was very good against 2nd class forwards. Hopefully they can consistantly apply the same technique to good opposition.
Delivery to our forwards was better and less crowded. We have to stop missing in front of goal 10-20 metres out though. That is not acceptable, and they need to realize it. Im fairly sure we are the worst team for this (unless maybee north do it too, but not sure as havent seen a game of theirs yet)
I have to say Sam Petrevski Seton played his best game in 2 years. His effort was great and his skills and decision making where also fantastic today (thought i should mention as i call him out on his poor efforts in a lot of my posts). He was jist out of the votes for mine (0.5 votes? Haha).
Jones was awesome and should get vote(s)
Fogarty and parks are keepers. Curnow was nearly back to his old self again too which is great. And plowman was much better this week too. Betsy wasnt huge, but effort was there and he pressured the opposition in quite a few contests. He and all the above players need to regularly produce this level now as we saw they are capable with the right attitude. I also like the team aggression this match. Especially crippa. Thats the type of player i want hime to be and also the type of captain i would prefer.
With everyone making an effort such as yesterday we should win a lot of games. Can even afford a player or 2 to have off days (levi, dow) if the rest of the team can dish that up.
I would like to state that i thought docherty was much better today even though he didnt get mega possesions. He is a player i think is better to produce quality rather than quantity. Having a rest from pre game captains duties might have helped him too?

Good to see a win. I'm just a bit nervous now to see wether they can do it again over gold coast. At least they arent a HEaps better team than freo (e.g. richmond), so it should be very possible to repeat the performance next week also.

I agree 100%. Dow will likely play well enough at the reserves level (he’s that classic ability level in between reserves and firsts) to push for selection again so I’m happy to give him a few more weeks now rather than inevitably later to either make it or not.

I like the fact we have several worthy replacements in Stoker, Setters, Cunners, etc. not to mention Martin down the track in a month or two. Often in past seasons our conversations on here centered around poor performing players but with no better options in the reserves.

Epic trolling by whoever voted for Murphy in the MVP polling. I agree that his two short stepped contests on the wing within five minutes of each other did evoke memories of his past glories but surely time is up.

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The only way for some people to understand is for them to be on the receiving end

Left wing moralists
In self serving denial
They shit me no end

Cottrell was good I thought

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"I had to eat"

Anyone who thinks we should drop Eddie are crazy, the amount of blocking he did for Harry and the pressure he applied (both real and perceive) in the forward 50 was enormous. He’s light years ahead of any of our other forwards in this area, even at his age and reduced ability.

I was going to post that in the match day thread, but I was hoping he would show something.

Conclusion: down hill skiier. Get him to 300, before the run to the finals. That's it. After that, he's depth.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

He got out marked a few times , dropped a couple of marks , just little things that he did well last year

Hopefully this week he just shuts down king of the gc

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#sayerscouldbetheman!!

Weiters fist over the top of packs was welcome and he did well.

I noticed he was fatiguing at times in the 2nd half, and let his man go up alone a couple times, and wasa bit loose a couple times. I thought that was strange given he was stationed at FB whilst Jones was intercepting.

Overall though he is a powerful unit and beat Taberner.

Weiters call to take on Walters after he kicked an easy goal vs Plowman was not a high IQ decision. Plowman vs Taberner was always going to be a mismatch. Never should have happened. Cost us a goal.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Sorry my friend if you think we will make the 8 with Murphy in the side , if would be like us making the top 4 !!

I expect nothing this season while he in the side , he will be exposed by the very good sides when we play them

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#sayerscouldbetheman!!

Teague appears to love Levi.

Good but not totally convincing.
Nice to win well and at Docklands, a good step forward.
I think Freo thought they’d intimidate us through cheap shots.
The umpiring was atrocious, firstly against us then for us.
Agree with others on JSOS, a vital part of the side.
Really like Fogerty. Rich’ are full of players like him and Newnes who play their roles, apply pressure and limit their mistakes.
Would love our coaches to instil confidence in our players re set shots for goal.

Watched the replay, funny how things stand out the second time that you didn't quite get live

- Gibbons was better than I thought, got involved as a linkman on a few occasions & had an impact. He had a run of quiet games early in his career that had a few of us wondering where to, but the club has just kept getting games into him & now he's good for at least a goal a game & smart ball use. Gibbons is a win for our development

- Parks really nice debut, didn't notice his work so much at first

- Freo were pretty poor let's face it, especially Mackay's opponents. We totally owned the ball in the 2nd qtr. Their injury list is about the same as ours & we win easily, so we are looking well ahead of them

- Fogarty even better game than I thought at the ground. Clean, dangerous, good user, awesome tackler. Geelong are going to seriously regret letting him go when they botch up their dad's army premiership tilt

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#DonTheStash

Watched Longmuir’s presser to get a feel from his POV and his thoughts on us.

To hear an opposition coach talk about us extremely positively re systems, structures, physicality and ball movement was very pleasingly (and unusual). Normally it’s the other way around.

Rapt to get a comfortable win and kickstart the season. Plenty of positives and still plenty of room to improve. This must be our baseline and we need to back it up.

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We are on our way back...

When you've got the ball there is no need to tackle and we had the ball ball 80% of the time!

Correct. Several of Harry's marks can be directly attributed to Eddies work off the ball.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

You're a good judge CK. I'm a huge fan of Dow but he fumbled badly and did do enough to hold his place IMHO. It's either Stocker or Kennedy who should replace him with my vote going to Kennedy. He plays the high half forward role well. Fogarty seemed to take Dow's role in the midfield rotation and he was massive.

I thought when JSOS tried the fake and the "no look" handball in the middle of the ground, that was the Hollywood stuff we need to leave behind. Our lead was built on hard work and grunt, not show bagging. Apart from that, Jack had a great game.

As for those wanting Ed dropped, this game was a lesson on why he's easily in our best 22. He played the midfield sweeper role beautifully and I dont recall them getting a clearance out the front of the stoppage once when he was in there. Add that to him quelling Brayshaw and he played his role beautifully.

Oh and Newnes? A lot tougher than I thought. Full credit to him.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Interesting comments from everyone. I got home late last night after thye game so thought I would post my thoughts this morning. Firstly it was evident early on there was a desire to compete and work for each other. I was pleased to see Walsh play on the wing. That is where he should stay, it is his best position and works best for team balance. Cottrell on the other wing is a better selection than Setters. He is hard at the ball and runs his guts out. He worked hard back to help out the defence and it was this defensive running and pressure by the midfield group that enabled the backs to team defence and not be one out all the time. Jones and Plowman benefitted majorly from this. Setters if he plays needs to be in the midfield. Also Saad and Doc did not run off their man so far which meant they were able to get back more easily if we turned the ball over. Against Collingwood both were caught out of position a lot when the ball was turned over. Now the impact of the narrower ground at Marvel versus the MCG also helped here.
I think people are hard on Levi as he still competes in the air bringing the ball to ground plus he takes a quality defender due to his marking. I agree he has dropped off but I suspect he is not able to train during the week due to the knee but I feel he still has a role to play that OM can't do.
I watched Dow quite closely at times and while I feel his aerobic capacity and grit to close space down when required still needs improvement his work inside was good. He provided regular blocks for Crippa at stoppages and was able to create space around stoppages for other players to run into with the ball. He is clearly an inside player as when outside he gets caught being dragged into the ball creating a hole for the opposition. It was not obvious in this game as Freo rarely got the ball to take advantage. I believe Setters or Dow are fighting for this inside spot and at the moment I would give Dow half a season to improve. I think he may be the type of player that gradually gets better without ever having a breakout game. In 2 years he may be a good consistent and reliable midfielder. I would persist as he is contributing and playing his role.
We have two players who are footballers first. Gibbons and JSOS should always be in our best 22; they just know where to be at the right time.
Fogarty has been a great pickup and Parks should be picked ahead of Williamson until Williamson at least learns to kick on his right foot, but I think Parks looks the better player.
Good win and lets hope for a second next week.
Go Blues!