When I told myself before the game, I’d be happy with a 4 to 6 goal loss, I thought I was being realistic. So to go down by less than a goal, to an arch enemy, should just about put a feather in our cap. At stages we closed them down, but for my liking there were too many loose Collingwood men running off half back, through the centre and into their forward line. When we started winning the ball through the centre, we looked the goods, but one thing we have to get right before Richmond in round one, is manning up across the back line and into the centre, to stop the opposition’s free running football. I thought at quarter time the scoreboard flattered us, Collingwood could have easily been four goals up. At this early stage in the game Collingwood’s inaccurate kicking for goal kept us in the game. Just as our set shots in the last quarter cost us victory. So where else do we need to improve? We seem to have three major tall options in the forward line – Charlie Curnow, McGovern and McKay. With a couple of strong marks and a crumbing goal, I thought McKay did the best of these three. Charlie and McGovern came into the match in the last quarter, yet they both had something in common – kicking inaccurately for goal from a set shot. A common theme from our match against Essendon* was how we brought the ball into the forward line. Our forwards need to meet the ball as it is brought through the midfield. With the new 6/6/6 set ups I don’t mind a long ball into attack for a fifty-fifty contest, but we should also look for the loose man on a lead up, either a short or tall option. Something that has been drummed into our back men, Jones, Weitering, Simpson, Newman and Garlett – is assess the options available before releasing the ball – this has to be our golden rule for the backline in 2019. Jones and Garlett especially look better disposing of the ball in this way and avoiding the clangers which they can be guilty of. Steady at the back and building momentum through the midfield. If we work on this plan from the back, we can then build work moving the ball more fluently when we are in possession in our midfield. So to our midfield. Walsh still stands out even when he doesn’t have a high possession count. A Sam Walsh poor game is a good game for the average midfielder. Wil Setterfield looks a natural footballer, his over the shoulder goal in the last quarter showed a young player who is willing to back himself in. Similarly Petrevski-Seton, Fisher and Cunningham look like they will be able to stand up more this season. And Cripps is very dangerous when he goes forward, it’s hard for a small defender to man up on his 6 foot 3 frame. Where we will get shot down this year, is if we can’t match the run of the opposition through the midfield, so it’s steady from the back, where we can start our offensive play and also learn to run on the outside of the contest. We have the calibre of player to try this, but realistically we are still a young midfield, I’d be looking for the likes of Murphy, Thomas, Simpson and Cripps to show our youngsters how to run the ball. With this attitude we can install some flair into our side and make sure we don’t get cut in the midfield and out of defence. Walsh and Setterfield both have this in their style of play. Bring on 2019, we are as ready as you could expect, apart from injury and game time into Kreuzer and Stocker. Eight wins with no blow out score losses is a realistic goal. Go out and get ‘em Carlton!
_________________ Blue is the colour, Blue is our colourful conversation, football is the game, talking carlton is our aim, we're all together, we're all together, winning is our aim, arguing is a pain, let's debate for gain. .. .!
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