verbs wrote:
That's a fairly inaccurate team sheet in terms of names (and there was plenty of jumper swapping as per usual).
verbs wrote:
Light Blue should get flogged.
They did in the first half, then the musical chairs began.
isdonis.george wrote:
Possibles vs Probables?
They usually stack one team as much as possible, then scatter a few probables into the possibles team to give them a go in a role they may not get otherwise, or to offer a good match-up, and vice versa for a few possibles. Same thing happened today. It all gets thrown around after a half anyway.
harker wrote:
When Walker, Tuohy, Yarran and Henderson didn't front up on top of the boys we knew to be out already, you had a pretty good idea of what sort of day this was going to be.
Very little to take out of this practice match that hasn't already been covered many times over.
Highlight of the day: No injuries although Garlett did walk off early.
Just glad to see Lucas and Curnow telling us that they're best 22 along with McLean doing what he does so well.
The Hampson/Kreuzer duel didn't follow on after the first quarter which was a real shame.
Hampson jumped all over Kreuzer but Kreuzer again showed how good he'll be on the ground.
Some of the training sessions were considerably more intense than this match today and I'd love to be able to gloss it up, but this was really a pretty soft affair.
There's nothing wrong with that though consdering how tough the pre-season has been in general and for how many fill-ins we had there today.
I'd agree with this. The only thing more disappointing about today was the 20 minute wait for coffee, which combined with my late arrival had me watching about 20 minutes of football out of the 60 on offer (4x15 quarters, no time on). Disposal was of a high enough level to impress when the fatigue and conditions were factored in (a very light drizzle in the first half after a dampish morning would have made the ball slippery without the turf being so).
As I didn't get to see much I'll cover what I saw that stood out from the status quo:
- Robinson & Gibbs looked to be lumbering in the last, not sure how much game time they had prior.
- Carrazzo looks about 3-5 kgs lighter, and it showed in his lateral movement, but I wonder which role spurred on the change: the one for the CFC, or SWMBO?

- Brock looked in much better knick than I've seen him for a while; hamstrings & quads looked stronger and leaner, while the calves had a little more size about them too. He always holds back on pushing hard off either leg, which really makes me worry about how much pain and/or restriction his ankles, hamstrings & hips are under. He's doing all the right things and definitely looked the quickest he has in his whole time at the club, but I'm about 50/50 that extra conditioning work is going to help him regain stability & confidence in his legs enough to impact the senior team.
- Lucas & Joseph both looked in good shape, with both putting in some decent skills and occasionally spraying the odd disposal (particularly Lucas by hand). Joseph was in a defensive role in what I saw of the game, and looked well composed, while Lucas was bolting up, down and across the flanks to offer an option.
- Levi looked pretty average once he had the ball in hand in what little I saw of him, though there seems to be some complimentary comments on Twitter
- Kreuzer & Hampson were both very impressive, but the only competition they had was each other, and that dried up after the half as they became team mates.
- I only got to see Hammer attack a marking contest once, and he nearly plucked it after literally crashing his way through an opponent in mid air (you could hear the collision from the stands). Would have been an impressive mark, but it's the only time I saw him in the mix for a grab (not his fault). Read the flight well enough, just lost his run at the ball at the last second.
- Laidler was intercepting any F50 entries that came his way, including a great slips catch
- Bower was matched up on Thornton (switched to the sky blue team), which I thought was disappointing given Levi, Kreuzer & Hampson were about (albeit Levi was on the same team), but I again say that without having seen the first half. Acquitted himself well enough, though Thornton lost him a little when he pushed up the wing to receive.
- Could have sworn Yarran was out there, although his doppelganger lacked pace.
- Dale worked himself into the game well from what I saw, but needs a lot of work physically to perform at AFL level
- Armfield was everywhere, but put in a couple of scrubby kicks under next to no pressure
Final details on jumper swaps: Collins, Kreuzer, Murphy, Thornton, Simpson & Robinson all switched from navy to sky blue at the half.