Watson was terrible. We made a mistake. Looks like Tarzan plays like Jane. Has this guy done a pre-season? No intensity and looks lost.
McLean too slow for the modern game. Gonski.
Hammer very ordinary. Can't mark and when he does misses.
Robbo great first half-vital player-attack on the ball second to none.
Kruezer great and got better as the game went on.
Waite impressive, considering the amount of football missed.

I'm worried about round 1. I hope we can flick the switch.

In all games where we have played anywhere near a decent team, we've been withina goal or three at the end of each game.

None of this matters, round 1 matters.

Do find myself looking longingly at jack darling when I watch the eagles. He is a beauty and I know he was in our mix at they Watson pick.

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Go Blues

What you saw in the 4th quarter was the Blues playing to an intensity worthy of a match for 4pts. If I didn't see that in the 4th I would've been worried around Round 1.

In saying that, we will get spanked if we take our foot off like the 3rd quarter, the intensity was noticeably non-existent in that quarter and we were thankfully made to pay.

Just home from the game.
Positives to take from it were:
-No injuries that i saw
-Robbo was good
-Waite looked good and ran out the game well
-We at least ran out the game and probably had the best of the play except couldnt convert on the scoreboard
-Kreuzer got better
-A beautiful day and a good crowd.

Negatives:
-our delivery into the forward line was very ordinary
-some players simply not up to it (Davies, Watson) come to mind
-Yarran, Garlett and Betts have to stop trying to pass to each other at all times. Yarran was 30 metres out in front of goal and instead of having a shot he try to pass to Garlett who had 2 players on him and it went out of bounds.
-Our defence is weak at present and the first few rounds are going to be tough.
-No structure going forward
-Judd seems to be struggling, as was Murphy for the first 3 quarters.
-Umpiring is as bad as ever


A pretty ordinary pre season now over. Lets hope things get better!

did rowe play?

My thoughts on the game

kreuzer - probably our best. Good second efforts and won a lot of individual contests. Created opportunities. Kicking for goal disappointing though and was beaten at the centre bounces
hampson - very poor first 1/2 (worse I've seen for a couple of years). Much better in the second half at least
waite - looking very good. mobile, dangerous. Shame he didn't kick straight
mclean - only played the first half. Didn't dominate by any stretch but a few good signs and kicked a goal.
robinson - played just under 3/4s. Very good given that its his first real hit out of the year. Took a great mark in the forward line.
Judd/murphy - quiet first half, a lot better in the second
simpson/scotland/curnow/carazzo/thornton - relatively consistent
henderson - ok game though would like to see him go for more contested marks rather than just look to punch
watson - poor when played down back and up forward. Not ready yet. Very slow and at times appears to not be pushing himself too hard to impact a contest. Perhaps he just isn't fit enough yet and is unable to gut run. Wouldn't object to seeing him slim down to try to get some more agility/speed into him. Looks oversized atm to me.
davies - played 1st 1/2 only. cops a lot of flack from some people on here but he does a lot right for me. Given whats available I'd have him in our 22 at this stage. I like him as a player though.
betts/yarran/garlett - relatively quiet games though with some really good individual efforts (particularly garletts effort to win the ball against several north players at the legends stand end)
lucas/joseph - didn't do enough for me when they came on in the second half
bower/russell - not at their best but think they deserves his spot in rd 1.


General game thoughts
- got blown away in the first bit of the 3rd quarter. We were asleep at the wheel and went from 2 points up to 40 points down in about 10-15 minutes.
- missing walker's lead up forward role. I think we need either an extra marking player (with waite leading up) or mobile forward in rd 1 - be it casboult, rowe, thornton or collins.
- when we are switched on, we look reasonably good. For most of the day though, we didn't seem to be playing with as much intensity as might otherwise in a normal game (robinson, kreuzer as notable exceptions). Hopefully we are able to just flick the switch in rd 1

From the afl.com.au match report:



How rude!

So we're the blue balls now?

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Jesus what game did you watch today 4thchicken???
Hendo had a bag kicked on him.
Davies was dubbed after a horrendous piece of play where he coughed it up under no pressure. Total spud who has no class at all. Papers would be signed for R1 Northern Blues

Selfish player I reckon. I'd like to see Petrie dish it out a bit more.

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience!!!

After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says W T F .........
Visit http://fromthemoshpit.com/

They know we're not coming?

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1. Not all of petries goals were kicked on henderson + some of the delivery was unstoppable. I'm not overly fussed with his form going into rd 1. The mids are partially to blame for that with several north entries coming from a wave of unpressured north onblallers streaming towards the 50 on transition. Henderson was not rag dolled in marking contests. I'm saying he should look to impose himself in the contests a bit more as he is capable of doing so.
2. one horrible mistake doesnt mean he played crap. We had several players with glaring mistakes/skill errors throughout the match. On balance, he has done enough this preseason to push for a spot in the 22. Particularly with jamison, duigan, ladler + white unavailable for rd1.

Welcome to TalkingRichmond!
Eat your own!

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dane's trolling again

Culture

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"In better news for Blues fans, Jarrad Waite was not named on the club's injury list."

Isn't AFL fit.

Don't want to write someone off too early. Kennedy did nothing but tread water at AFL level in his first few seasons at Carlton and WC.

At 191 cms, Darling is another tall flanker. Eagles struggled without Kennedy and Lynch there as targets who get the best defenders.

Everyone looked heavy in the legs. I thought we'd ease off our workload for this game, but we've gone pretty full-on with our training and rotation at the expense of decent match preparation. I hope we know what we're doing.

Good to see Waite out there busting his gut.

Terrible to see how we couldn't set a defensive line or apply midfield pressure. I think we conceded about 10 or 12 goals from poor positioning.

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

Some going at half pace but others who were fighting for the 16-22 spots didn't do a whole lot to make you think they are worth picking.

Davies - Very poor kick and lacks discipline. Can't continue to draft players like him who either give the ball away through poor disposal or giving away free kicks.
Hampson - I thought dominated the ruck in the last quarter; we won quite a few centre clearances. Up forward though he was average - I don't know why he thinks he can continue to go into marking contests whilst playing from behind. Get in front!
Waite - Good return but leads to the boundary a lot. Like Hampson he plays from behind quite a lot.

Murphy/Gibbs/Scotland/Judd took it easy at stages however in the last quarter they went bananas in the centre winning loads of clearances along with Curnow/Simpson. Gibbs played on Thomas or Campbell for a bit but gave them too much space.
Robinson - Excellent attack when he was on the ground; ready to go round 1.
Carrazzo - Same old; handball receiving when he shouldn't be the one delivering forward.
Curnow - Wins it in close well but tries to do too much with it at times.

Lucas - Disappointing that we have another youngster who is a poor/average kick...his kicks sit up in the air long enough to allow the opposition to spoil. He can win the ball without problem but sloppy disposal lets him down.

In terms of game style it was disappointing that we continue to have opposition teams win the ball in our forward 50 and go forward to score without us touching it. Once the opposition have it we don't seem to have a plan in place to win the ball back. When it's a kickin we're better because we can put a zone in place, but when it's a forward 50 throw in/ball up the opposition take it forward with ease.

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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

Hendo was beaten and TBird put on Petrie. Simple as that. Don't make excuses for Hendo. Midfield was poor but Hendo wasn't good either.
Davies was embarrassing. Outmarked in goal sqr, then that terrible turnover. Subbed out as a result.
Don't camouflage reality mate, both players had games they'd like to forget.

Thats what I was thinking as well - needs another few preseasons to be able to gut run, repeat sprints/2nd efforts. Was telling in the 4th that after a mild effort (compared to what is normally expected) that watson was sucking in the big ones with his hands on knees.

His frame looks VERY wide though (hips, torsion, shoulders) compared to other KPP out there today - is he too big? Certainly doesn't have the lean athletic look of hampson & waite. Even kreuzer looked slimmer that watson.

and yes, certainly not writing him off

Club should put the whole Watson-as-a-Defender thing in the cue rack and instead trial him as a fwd. took a nice grab late where he manouvered well around his man to get pole position and we know he's a dynamite kick. Solid boy who could be hard to dislodge as a fwd.
How funny would it be if Hendo ends up dOwn back and Watto up fwd !!
As a defender Watto is slow, fumbles under pressure and basically has no clue