Brisbane were woeful last nite and yet the Blues made them look awesome for the first half or so.

Horrible performance from the back 6 in general, abd when you consider that to still come away with a 55 point win, shows even moreso how shocking Brisbane were.

Positives

All those that said Yarran over RIch was a istake, should eat some humble pie. Absolute gun is Yarran and we have only just seen a little of this kids potential.

I had a really close look at Hendo and he does a mountain of work, alot of 1%, creates space for the helpers and even roved a few packs as well. 1 Horrible shank kick at goal, but still got 2 and created a number of others. Looks very good leading up the ground, although I would like to see him move more around the CHF arc than wing/ middle of the ground.

Hampson, although not great last nite will be something special - first game this season, so he deserves some slack. His height was not utilised at all well for the most part as the Blues attacked via flanks more than the corridor most of the time. Bust down the centre and kick it long to him one out and he will be nigh unstoppable with his height and strength. Hopefully this will be something that is done when we play the Bullies.

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Cripps is the man

Yarran is an absolute Rolls Royce. Just poetry in motion when he goes for a run. Just wait until he truly comes into his own.

I think Setanta's job is to make sure every ball that comes into our 50 is a contest and create an opportunity for the Amigos to swoop. Sure, it would be better if he could get a few more grabs but make no mistake having Setanta down there creates far more scoring opportunities from contests than we ever got from kicking to Fev leads where the opposition ruckman or floater would simply sit in front and intercept our inside 50s.

C'mon, Preach. You told me a couple of years ago you don't like Houla and I see you are still in the same mindset!
I, on the other hand, like his footy when he plays forward, like he did last night and I thought he had a good game. Took several contested marks, got several contested possessions, kicked two goals and showed his passing skills again. Apart from one goal he missed (after I had it down in the record, I might add) I thought it was his best game for a while. Keep him forward and we are a better team.

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

Rusty as christ but I thought Grigg showed more in and around the pack and with a bit of toe than McLean does - Give him a couple of weeks to iron out the creases and see if he can become that harder body around the packs - certainly starting in the centre a few times indicated this is what they are looking for.

I'd like to see a new forward coach next year to see whether they can come up with more than one option (the bring it in long - often around the flanks bomb to contest for the urchins to run onto).

There was so much space out the front centre of the square sometimes when the ball was on the boundary at HFF that I felt like jumping the fence and waving for the kick.

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This might sound extreme in the context of alleged sexual assault, drunken violence and a drug trafficking charge...

I'd also just like to acknowledge that in a really shiteful game how good Simon Black and Chris Judd are. Black is carrying that mob like Judd has carried us to many times. Superstars both of them.

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This might sound extreme in the context of alleged sexual assault, drunken violence and a drug trafficking charge...

We still look so lost when the opposition win the ball at half back/wing. We push numbers back as though we're flooding but still don't actually flood properly. How often did we actually get numbers back but they were still able to find the space to get a one on one contest. Shows some players are soft in that they don't want to drop into the space in front of a key forward or they are just poorly instructed and are unsure as to where to position themselves.

We were lucky on numerous occasions Scotland had the brains and courage to see where the space inside 50 was and pick the long ball off. You can't just drop back into defensive 50 and pretend to be defending.

Isn't it nice now when we have the ball at half back/wing to see L Henderson often in space and leading up the ground to mark; providing the link we've lacked for so long. Then the smarts to quickly turn around and more often than not pick the right option.

Carrots played a more disciplined and team based game this week - didn't chase the cheap possessions and kept his man quiet. Only weakness was his goalkicking.

Good to see Yarran pushing up to half back and providing the creativity and silk to bring the ball forward....just give him the ball at half back and something good will happen.

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

Brown, Fevola, Maguire and Drummond missing. Anyone else tell me how this is an injury crisis?

The Metrosexual and Adcock! takes it to six. Not sure who the other two from their best 8 are.

Onya BS

Houla oozed class out there...just as Yarran, Simmo, Judd, Scotto...did as well.
We haven't got that much class, so we better start to understand the importance of it, before we start discarding it.

I didn't see where Cazz mentioned Houla and Thornton. Probably didn't. It's a sub conscious thing.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Who is the metro?

Adcock isn't much of a loss.

Char Man. He owns a "man spa".

Is Adcock! a dud?

Onya Bondi.

All I was saying is that all you have to do is look at what Sauce's opponent did to him and you'll get the picture.
Leuenberger was his name. Have a look at his stats. The time spent on the ground. The time spent against Sauce. Not good reading.
I liked it better when Hammer was on Leyey; albeit not long. There seemed to be a mutual respect of the athletic capabilities between those two that went missing when Sauce opposed Leuey fwhich was for the majority of the time.

I think Sauce is overrated. He has strong hands. Might take a contested mark or two in a game, and sure Port or Hawks, or Swans, or even Dogs when Hudson retires, or GC could do with him...but as for modern day mobility he is no Cox or Hammer or Kreuzer or Clark or...just have a look what he will be opposed to every week for the next 5 years...that's all I'm saying....and at the moment he's the best we have. Hence why we need to get games into Hammer...get him back to his 2009 form whilst Kreuzer is out.

Sauce lacks mobility, and he doesn't really take the contested grabs some suggest he does week in week out.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Not that they have a lot of respect, but the blokes on the TV scored Leuenberger v Jacobs a draw. Leuenberger overshadowed him only marginally, but Jacobs has only played a handful of games compared to Leuenberger. Similar number of hit outs. When Leuenberger was having a shot at goal, wasn't it Jacobs who took the pack mark in the goal square?

I'm a big fan of Sammy the sauce but I thought Leuenburger gave him a touch up. Sammy was OK at the stoppages around the ground but Leuy took him apart in the centre bounces. I actually thought Hammer was a better performer in the middle.
Leuenbergers just starting to hit his straps now. One of his pick ups off the deck in the 3rd quarter was unbelievable for a 2 metre tall bloke.
If he can stay injury free, he'll be a beast.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Charman isn't any better than Leuy or Clark.

Adcock isn't a dud, just a good ordinary type who will perform a role, but not really influence a result.

I totally agree. Having Setanta there allows the 3 Amigos to do their job more easily as he draws a defender or 2 away. Even though he's in terrible form at the moment, opposition teams still know that he could be dangerous if left alone. That is the beauty of having a multi-pronged forward line, particularly when it's Setanta and his little helpers, with guys like Lachie, Houla, Simmo, Murphy, Gibbs and Scotto also bobbing up.

Also, those criticising Sauce, he's played 13 games!!! Predominantly as our second tier ruckman! Give him a break!!!
We all know Kreuz is a huge loss, but he's played 56 games - significantly more than Sauce. He may not be be our second best ruckman in the long term, but it's a bit harsh to judge him on 13 games.

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The turning of the tide, falling in behind
Pretending not to find, the questions in my mind
The shining of the day, the old familiar way
Follow the road where it leads
And all the way we will sing...

Hold your horses there honey-buns! Let me clarify...He has been superb in the last two seasons which is credit to Ratts. He is exceptional in the forward-line where his class is on display and took a couple of brilliant contested marks. I have been very impressed with his turnaround. However, there are still times when he simply does not go in hard enough for 50-50 ground balls and Thornton's the same. Aside from his contested marking I haven't a nice thing to say about the latter.

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--------------------------------------------------------"The only one that could ever love me..."

No-one has mentioned this, but we started off with the tallest fwd line in the history of the world.

Hammer....200cm
Carlos....199cm
Hendo....196cm

yet we continually chipped the ball around, went sideways, backwards, friggin upside down.

WHY NOT KICK IT LONG TO THE BIG BLOKES AND LET THE 3 AMIGO'S DO THEIR STUFF!!!!

No wonder Carlos and Hammer had little impact. Wtf was the gameplan?

BTW...Hendo is going to be great, and Simmo is our 2nd most important player...he sets the tone

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I see you watching me watching you.

The reason that Carlos had little impact was because he was unable to when given the opportunities...

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

The point about mismatches and the 3 talls all ready for the long high ball was mentioned in the coverage of the game.
Yet they chipped it around. I couldn't woork that out unless the 3 of them were there as a decoy.
What about the Hammer vs McGrath match up? Seems a no brainer to kick it to Hammer in that case.

If we have a mismatch in our favour and some tall timber in the fwd line with the Helpers at their feet, then I say lob it up there too.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue