..missed watching the praccy, but by the thread it seems crisps and KJ were the good kids.. ..and every other kid is either a spud, or too young/raw to give much this season.. ....grain of salt stuff for this time of year, with 2/3's of the best out.. ..crisps is quality, kj ought to come good..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..

Fascinated doomsayers out already.


It was a virtual reserves team for goodness sake. Rowe as captain gives that away. The weagles had their best available players on the field and they are the ones people should be condemning. Should have beaten us by 20 goals but couldn't.

No one has mentioned Boekhorst's 3rd quarter side stepping run. If he can make that his trade mark watch out. Obviously the reason we drafted him,.


Say one thing though, Cret is right and Wiley is no coach. Game plan, what game plan.

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"Get ready, Teddy - you're on": Ron Barassi half time 1970 Grand Final

I wish I could dispute that, but I can't. We don't seem to have many who can win a contest yet. Scotland, McLean and Robinson all of a sudden gone from the 2nd tier of the midfield.

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Get comfortable being uncomfortable

Let's be honest here.

It was nothing more than a run around.

Eagles could only add Selwood and Nicnat to that side.

Of the players we had out, I'd class most of them as game changing match winners.

Not to mention the fill in coach.

I'm more than happy to let the eagles bask in their false glory.

Season proper they don't stand a chance.

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We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion.

Here's all of our non-veteran runners, and bear in mind I'm accounting for their age somewhat when profiling them:

In their prime: Yarran, Murphy, Thomas, Gibbs, Tuohy, Everitt, Curnow, Ellard

4th year: Docherty, Whiley, Bell, Buckley, Sheehan, Tutt
3rd year: Menzel, Dick, Graham, Russell
2nd year: Byrne, Cripps, Holman, Johnson
1st year: Boekhorst, Gowers, Walsh, DVR, Smith

Legend: Star qualities, Career player, Unlikely to last

I doubt anyone disagrees with this rough grading, and if you look at the spread, we've made some good strides with last off-season. Whiley, Tutt, Dick and Russell are likely fodder, but they're better fodder than what we had, and they give the young, decent players a chance to develop. Whiley will do a job, Tutt may just do a job, and Dick showed his value tonight.

In terms of senior impact, Docherty, Buckley, Sheehan and Menzel have shown real quality, while Boekhorst and Cripps are set to feature a lot this year.

Combine those names with those in their prime, plus efforts from Judd, Simpson, Carrazzo and Walker, and that's enough for right now, with enough coming through.

At the end of the year we're likely waving goodbye to Holman, Johnson, Ellard and perhaps Russell and Walsh (though I believe he does have a 2-year contract), and we'll reload again. We're in good shape unless we have a horror year for development. Last year's growth suggests otherwise.

Now while it was a bad day at the office, can we come back to this in a fortnight and see if we're still in the shit. Youngsters don't just drop into a game and suddenly remember all the strategies and patterns, and they don't gain an instant read of their team mates in play under match conditions. They train to try and create this as much as possible, but if they didn't need live pre-season games to continue to work out the kinks, we wouldn't have two months of them leading into the season.

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

Same Rubbish, different Year!!

Has any of those players that played today learned anything in the pre-season or done some practice to improve their shocking & pathetic disposal of the ball?

All I saw today was a Clanger after Clanger. Blindly kicking the ball to the opposition without looking, whilst our forwards are no where to be found! I know this is just a practice game but this serious deficiency does not seem to have improved....

Are we going to look at a bottom finish again this year?

Jones- I have serious doubts about this guy and whether he is going to add anything to our forward line. If he couldn't get a game at the bulldogs, what makes us think he is going to have an impact for us?

Watson- I also have my doubts about this guy. I just can't see him being a Forward nor a defender.... I hope he can prove me wrong!!

Kj looked good. Will look better when Jamo comes back and he moves into 3rd defender role.

No injuries.

Although they won, I'd be more upset if I was an Eagle supporter and we'd lost Mckenzie potentially to an ACL.

Don't forget not only did they play a close to full strength side tonight (minus selwood, nicnat and darling) but they played a match last week so had already blown the cobwebs out a bit.

I
Hird disagreed with that dropping the ball decision and blamed McClaren

Pertinent.

Yeah. Our fringe players in robbo, brock, lucas and garlett wont be missed at all If we have injuries.

I didnt watch the game but it sounds like a trainwreck And a waste of a game. You have 4 games before season starts and by the sounds of it we played a reserves team. If there is any new changes to the around the boundary gameplan it would be good to get most of the main group playing together with some kids that will likely get a game. We dont have the luxury of being arrogant and playing a reserves team.

Was there any changes to a game plan at the intraclub? Was there any difference in gameplan tonight?

Jaks n cripps the only highlight by the sounds of it. which is pathetic

It wasn't too impressive but really not that concerning from my point of view. The experience / class gulf was pretty evident but that's largely because most of our class & experience was missing.

Eagles used the ball intelligently and accurately but we pretty much did the opposite.

These new young guys are the key for this pre-season. They need as much exposure and games in them as possible.

Boekhorst has a great kick on him - something we really need. He also did a pretty wicked Yarran-esque run that showed he's got some pace on him. Jaksch looked solid and pretty level-headed.

Smith was the highlight for me though. Looked a little over-excited to be out there but has a great turn of pace, a good kick and got into plenty of push & shove.

Draw a line through this one and move on. Plenty of work to be done, but it's not emo time just yet.

Either way.....

that Guardian newspaper link to the cricket
commentary team.....?

brilliant....!

POW worthy even....(can we do that...?)....!

one of the best sledges I've read in eons...
GOD i hope it's put on the desk of Brayshaw...!


kindest regards tommi



still think it's POW worthy.....!

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that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!

....

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dane's trolling again

I didn't watch the game but it was [REDACTED]

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dane's trolling again

Because if we pass low to leading forwards they take too many chest marks.

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

I wonder if hawthorn supporters are this disappointed after their game?

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The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect
So hard to earn, so easily burned
In the fullness of time
A garden to nurture and protect

#DopeThenStash

Not disappointed with the loss. Players out, first praccy match etc.
Just disappointed with reports of poor handball skills and long bombs against the wind. I hope that once our more experienced players are in we see improvement in those areas.
Glad we had no injuries, glad KJ, BB and clem appeared to have good games. Read conflicting reports about white. Hard to do well well you are getting smashed in the middle.
I gather we had Rowe, KJ, simmo, 2e - most of our back line?
Did they go ok despite the pressure?

Do you think WC will make the 8

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

I thought we would win by 25 goals. Very disappointing,

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dane's trolling again