It’s early days but that was shit.
We have too many average players. How long have I been saying that. The results are testimony to my negativity

Im not sure which dumb footballer you are referring to (we have several) but I think killing them is a tad harsh.

If Carlton want to take that next step then it’s players like Fisher, Dow, O’brien, Setterfield and Cunningham who will be our barometers. Invested a lot in them.Cannot afford to rely on players like Murphy and Curnow through the midfield to win games.

If they don’t come on then I am afraid it could be back to square one.

I’ll dismiss last night and hope it was an aberration. It is only pre season.

We lost a game with Cripps, Betts, Murphy, Curnow, McGovern, McKay, SPS, Plowman, O'Brien, Marchbank missing from our best 22.
A starting midfield of Setterfield, Fisher and Walsh. Kreuzer and Martin playing 43 and 45% game time respectively. And you think your constant negativity has suddenly been vindicated?

Let's wait until we're a few games into the season proper before we run around screaming hysterically.

FWIW, I though Martin showed plenty. A threat in the air, hard at the contest and a good finisher. Fish did some nice things and once again our defence was good.
Hopefully Setterfield was unwell because he showed very little. An opportunity to play strong midfield time and his contested stuff was very poor. As was his defensive running which is usually quite good.
Ed spent plenty of time outside the centre squad which was probably a mistake. I'm glad they gave the kids opportunities but they probably needed a mature body in there with them.
Jack Silvagni? He's not secure enough in the best 22 to be serving up that rubbish and keeping a spot. 84% game time, 11 possessions at 36% efficiency and missing a goal from straight in front. Nah, not good enough.

Personally, I suspect I'm going through a "Shallow Hal" phase. I see Gibbons as a short, slowish, hard working flanker. Yet the players seem to view him as a 200cm, high marking, quick key forward. Maybe I need to get my eyes checked.

Bring on next Sunday. With a few players returning and a much stronger midfield, I'm expecting a strong showing and an optimistic lead in to Round 1.

Edit. Congrats to the WA supporters for getting out to watch the boys. It looked like we had plenty of the crowd in navy blue.

Personally, I suspect I'm going through a "Shallow Hal" phase. I see Gibbons as a short, slowish, hard working flanker. Yet the players seem to view him as a 200cm, high marking, quick key forward. Maybe I need to get my eyes checked.

Simmo was fine I thought.

Midfield was deplorably bad, though we were experimenting giving midfield time to younger guys generally.

What we found though is most those young players, are either not up to it yet or won’t be at all. Fisher at least gets involved but worries me with how high his ceiling actually is.

Dow doesn’t get it enough, hasn’t really bulked up, not sure he will ever be more than a fringe player.

Cuningham similar boat, doesn’t do enough. Needs a decent run at it with injury and string together at least 5-6 games in a row before making a final call, but maybe his body won’t allow that.

JSOS, Polson, Lang, and Kennedy hopefully don’t play much senior footy this year, if they are we are struggling.

Add McKay, McGovern, Eddie and a full game from Jack Martin to round 1 and things look a lot better up forward.

SPS, Kreuze, Murph and crippa will obviously help massively too.

I think a fair few guys got exposed today though and played themselves out of a chance for R1.

Polson obviously
He was handed a 2 year contract which ends this year on what basis
Some blokes at this club have been given plenty of chances but are simply not good enough for AFL
And yet other players seem to have to fight tooth and nail to get a practice game
Polson is Gartlett Mark 2. Let’s try him in defence and see if that works.
Yet someone like Cottrell who showed something last year in defence in the twos doesn’t get the opportunity to see how he would go in a trial game.
It’s hard to understand the coaching rationale.
Ditto Lang who should be playing suburban footy but plays as a permanent small forward.
Owies showed more in that position in the twos last year but was on the other side of the Nullarbor yesterday.

Sad but true, very little quality to go through the midfield.

Hence why we threw big $$$ at Coniglio.

And will do again on another this offseason. Brad Crouch & Jack Viney free agents, Wines linked, Whitfield sign yet?

The other thing that really gets under my skin is the quality (on yesterday’s showing) of Freo’s 2-4 year players compared to ours.

Banfield, Shultz, Ryan, Cerra, Brayshaw and so it goes on.

On yesterday’s showing we are not in the same league with our development, Walsh aside. Even Fisher is less damaging than most of theirs

Which of their young mids were more damaging than Fisher?
And for the record, Banfield is 22, as is Schultz and Ryan is 24. Let's not get too despondent after 1 practice game full of kids.

Was Freo missing anyone?