Good day out. Plenty to like in Dale, Buckley, Casboult, Carter.

Armfield better watch his back, as a fringe player he was quite poor today.

I'm ok with what I saw. Scoreboard irrelevant. No interest in being February champions. The coaches would have got plenty from the snippet of a scratch match that it was. A good base to work from over the next 4 weeks for the senior squad. Practice match for the umpires and coaches too.

Positives

Hendo - looks confident
Lucas - finding the ball, looks fit
Curnow - strong inside the clinches
Kreuzer - moving beautifully
Hammer - strong, fit and imposing
Laidler - always professional and reliable
the amigo's - all fit and switched on
Collo - confident and willing
Kerr - looks lean and fit
Dale - has poise
Bootsma - closing speed and attacks the contest

He crashed a few packs in the first game, just didn't take the grabs. Wasn't a star, but showed a lot of promise.

Casboult struggled. Not sure he's up to it to be honest.
Buckley did a couple of nice things.
Hendo looked ready to roll
Kreuzer looks in top nick
Army turned it over quite a bit
Bowser is simply backup for Hendo and jamo these days
No injuries is the key. Some preseason game time into Judd, Jamo, Waite, Walker etc and rd1 will be a mauling of the tigers!

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i AM CARLTON

Not worried about scores at all. Missing Judd, Waite, Jamo and we didn't put on a lot of pressure.

Lot to like in McLean (looked as good as I have seen) Lucas (class) Thornton as a fwd, Henderson looks confident, Hammer. Some glimpses by Buckley, Casboult, Bootsma, Dale.

Usual suspects showed their class.

Thought Bower & Armfield showed why they aren't in our best 22. Disposal and decision making is vital.

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

NAB Cup is fool's gold. nothing more. let Port and the Crowbots get excited over their wins. we've got bigger fish to fry.

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i don't wanna spend my life explaining myself. Either you get it, or you don't- Frank Zappa

We're on track to smash Richmond in Round 1 from what I saw.

No interest and losing by 6 and 9 points, no injuries... no premiership points lost.

Roll on next week and a better hit out in better conditions.

I got a text from a mate at the ground who said it was hot, humid and all in all horrible to play much football..

My player of the day is Carter in match 1, and Dale in match 2. Honorable mention to Bootsma.

Actually, I thought he was one of our better players.
Hampson showed he can play forward.
Thornton'[s mark was good but we still can't convert the easy shots.
Kreuzer showed something.
Yarran looks a class act even at this stage.
Bower didn't impress. His left footer went straight to Adelaide and that player passed to Bower's man who was well clear and a goal resulted. It followed a dropped mark that admittedly bounced cruelly and his man cleared it by hand for a goal.
Hendo looked good.
Levi took a couple of marks.
Watson is a long way off just yet based on tonight. He does kick well, though.
Lucas got a bit of it but is a bit rusty.
Kerr also got it a bit but I can't see him displacing anybody just yet because he is against a big pool of players.
Scotland was probably our best player on the night.
Gibbs did a couple of prettythings but he just doesn't seem to go at 100%. He didn't have muchhelp in the midfield in that first game. Maybe he was taking it a bit easy to test his shoulder...


Overall, I thought our defensive levels were low except for about half the last half of the Adelaide game.
Eddie showed the way.

I know we had many players out but I was a bit disappointed overall. Next week against the Bullies will be a better indication under match conditions and with most of our better players back.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

Agree with that bar the last comment, as I think it's a fairly minor tweak in the way that at times they run then dispose that would help out both of them. You can see that they're both thinking about it and working on it.

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

Sakc Ratten
Sakc Riley
Sakc Barker
Sakc Browne
Sakc the other collingwood one too

I think the kick into the man on the mark was Mcarthy not Bower in the first game.

A lot of players were having the same problem because due to the issue of heavy legs at this stage in the pre-season, players were not getting separation for an easier disposal. All three teams had issues, and you'll see more of it in the next game.

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

Re: Bower, you're talking about a bloke who is from the same class as Murphy and has shown little to no progression or development in those facets of his game. I agree it's only the first game, hence the comment that "I know it means nothing but ...". I wanted to see something from him and didn't see much. I hope I am wrong but his style of play is unpredictable and it makes it hard to mesh a defence around that kind of play when the skills are not mercurial as Yarran, who can try to take on the game the same way, but who more than makes up for it by breaking the lines.

_________________
I send an SOS to the world

Alan Richardson

Yep him too

I think he was pushing himself too hard physically, and the skill errors reflected that. He needs the coaches to sit him down and work on relaxing his stride before kicking so he can control the direction and weight of the pass better.

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

NO surprise with Bower, looked at sea, No Idea, Can Bower actually get into a position to mark the footy?. Duigan has got nothing to worry about..

I wouldn't have Bower in the backline if I could all avoid it. I think he's average as a marksman and disposal is sub par. You don't need two Jordan Russells in the backline.

Can't see much difference from a R1 team, barring injury (and expecting Warnock to miss), of:

B-Laids, Jamo, Duigs, Yarran, Hendo, Scotland
C-Kruezer, Judd, Murphy, Gibbs, Simpson, Ellard
F-Waite, Walker, Garlett, Betts, Robbo, Lucas
Int from- Carrazzo, Thornton, Lucas, Hammer
Fringe- Zac, Armfield, McLean, Russell

Would like to see how Rowe goes and thought Kerr is ready to show something. He's a big unit this year!

NO surprise with Bower, looked at sea, No Idea, Can Bower actually get into a position to mark the footy?. Duigan has got nothing to worry about..