Really rapt to watch the kids play against men.
I am well aware this was played like a practise game with a dozen best 22 players missing.

Our leaders Simmo and Rowe didnt really give their usual 100% imo.
I dont think we were organised with our structures and positioning.
WCE had numbers behind the ball and a solid structure and great spread and moved the ball well.

Wood didnt nullify the dominance of their rucks who gave their mids first use of the ball.
Kruezer wouldve made a huge diffrenece, and badly needed. Warnock I guess is getting over a hammy, but useless.
Come on Kreuzer!!!!

They were bigger, stronger and well drilled. These guys already had one solid practise game under their belt.
Our Kids ran out of puff towards the end of quarters.
I wouldnt read too much into that. Kids weren't given a chance to shine. Too much inexperience around them.

Clem's attack on the man and ball brilliant and given the opportunity he'll win games for us. Worth playing in 2015.
KJ looks so steady, confident and cool....I'd pick him ahead of White, who was OK, and tough as always but not as cool as KJ imo.
BB showed glimpses of Camporeale like running in his first year: 1995. Showed some class. Will add run. Didnt look out of place.
I really like the look of Fields in the firts half. Moves well, defends well, kicks well.
There's 4 new kids who WILL add to the mix.

I can't expect much from our KPFs when the ball didnt get to their area much...and when it did...
The bombing and the ad hoc methods to get it forward were no good for Watson Casboult or Jones.
They weren't disorganised, they were starved as the service was crap.

I expected more from Graham, Tutt, and Johnson and looked to me they're not up to it...like many of our kids.
Buckley wasnt that good either, but I know what he brings to the table.
Have to have another look because I thought Dick was quiet and another who just bombed the ball.

My best in order were Yarran, Cripps, Curnow, Bell, Tuohy, Armfield, White, Jaksch, Casboult, Docherty

Backline will be better with Jamison Walker
Midfield will be better with Kreuzer Gibbs Murphy Thomas Judd Carrazzo Everitt
Forwardline will be better with Henderson Menzel

That half a team, and Im sure they wont all be out simultaneously during the year.
We do have a bit of depth. I'm just hoping our structures and movement of the ball improve.

I'm expecting a huge increase in energy and enthusiasm come round 1.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

WCE had their prime midfield in and our would have struggled to be a competitive seconds unit: no Judd, Murphy, Gibbs, Carrots, Thomas, Walker, Menzel, Kreuzer, Everitt etc. That is a massive hole. No wonder we were killed in close.

Control the midfield, control the game. They did. Bear in mind they had already played and there was no real tagging. The wind was tricky and the play scrappy.

Pros: KJ was good, White and Bell got the ball (refer cons), Yarran was very good, Casboult moved ok, Cripps worked hard, got a look at a lot of our list, the decision to change the gameplan on the fly in the first quarter was a sign of maturity, Clem Smith was quiet but has a certain something

Cons: Decision making of White and Bell (both horrendous), Rowe and Watson had shockers, Forwards got no room (bad conditions didn't help), lack of setup/structure, the poor start into the wind (before the change), the apparent absence of any game plan besides kick it long and hope (maybe not worried about it on the night).

Would have liked to see more from Graham, Dick, Buckley, Jones (couple of moments), Watson (had a 'mare), Boekhurst, Sheehan and Byrne. Most of them had moments but it wasn't enough.

The sky is not falling. There is nothing that can be discerned from the game. They had a run and it looked like neither team cared that much.

We have these slow inside midfielder types.
Maybe we should have taken Sumner over whiley.. I'm really concerned about our annulet to run.
Decision to get rid of Brock obviously meant headhuntng whiley.. Who I think might be on.. But we have far too many of those types.
We certainly don't have enough speed and kicking skills.
Boekhoerst needs to impose himself in games. We took him early because we need him up and about immediately.. We can't afford to have him taking his time to find his feet.
I can't see Bell playing a major role this year either..
Carrazzo shouldn't even be considered as a walk up start...
Kj was probably the player that have us the most heart from that game.. Good get and still needs a couple of pre seasons.
Has the right cocktail of ability and athleticism to be very good player for us..

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

So bad...I made up a mock membership, because the membership department hasnt delivered it yet, and boiled it in acid

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Agree with you on Carrots but he will play senior footy this year and at least you know he will put in. He would now be in the 'bottom six' range of our best 22. Maybe even the 20-25 range.

A lot of people have raved about Bell for years. I'm not one of them but it doesn't mean I don't want him to succeed. He gets to good positions and can find the ball but his decision making drives me nuts. Tries to burst through three opponents at once, kicks blindly to the forward line, bumps when he should tackle... this stuff hasn't improved since he was drafted. It should have by now. Maybe it will click and he will become a footballer but I doubt it. It's not like he is a kid anymore.

One of the commentators (it may have been that flog King) on Thursday said about Hawthorn that they don't just look to draft good disposers of the ball. First and foremost they look at DECISION MAKING. This is something that kills us (though that might also be a game plan thing).

RE BELL:

He has ability.
He has strength.
He can snag a goal.
He hurts when he hits.

His desision making is the issue and it has been for a while.
Whenever I see players like Bell get caught I ask myself if he's playing amongst a bunch of introverts or if he's deaf?
By that I consider that the players around him are not talking to hime. I suspect that is a problem with the team.
VOICE and DIRECTION from his team mates around him.
This is an area we need to improve as a team.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Bell has only played just under 30 games if I am not wrong, so we haven't seen the best of him yet. Pretty sure Parko used to say you don't know what you have until the 80 game mark..

I want Bell to play every game this year, he's not the youngest player going around at 30 odd games, but that doesn't mean he can't improve enough with more senior game experiance under his belt.. His decision making matches that of a player with the composer of a 25-30 game player.

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Circumstance has no value. It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you.

Was good to see the kids play..
Tuohy Looks like he is back and thank god.
Kj will be a gun.
Cripps looked very good and will be even more valuable when Murph, Judd and Gibbs return.
Boakhorst is a a worry coz he looked out of place for mine. Fumbled alot and really cant win his own ball.
The only time he did anything of note was that run but even then he was ahead of the play cheating.
Jones and Casbolt coudn't do much with the shit supply we had coming in.
Jones will be a great pick up.
Smith looked lively and will play.
Sheehan looked lost but after last year i'm sticking with him.
Bell Bell bell the same old crap with this guy. He just isn't AFL standard and continues to make the wrong decisions.
I like the look of Fields and he has a wonderful kick on him.
??? over Tutt.

Overall not concerned with the result and the MAIN thing to come away is that there was NO injuries...

Good summary Deano.

Just with Boekhorst, at the game it was evident the Eagles paid him a lot of attention, particularly early. He got smashed every time he got near it. He's a runner and very outside, I'm more concerned with that bouncing technique, it's shit.

The Eagles played with a lot of intensity, especially in close and then spread exceptionaly well. Played the ground and the conditions much better and had a much better system.

We will miss Waite.

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I hope Essendon* folds.

With carrots
Having a crack is a mandatory.
Everybody should be having a crack.
We need to look beyond carrots and hopefully we've done away with the peas too

_________________
Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

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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/

Bell would be knocking on the door of being an A grade mid if he could actually do something constructive when he got the ball.

Oh and I loved this post game quote from Rob Wiley:
" Ciaran Byrne played his first game. He's only into his second year as an Irish person."

i love dane's simple minded comments. Thanks for answering my questions and adding value once again. l was judging by the review of tc members einstein.

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dane's trolling again

Yes, he used to be African.....?

WCE slow...when we ran, they were witches hats
Us..no talk, support, blocking or directions..same as last year and the year before
Game plan? Couldn't see it...
But in terms if giving young kids a run...it was fine. Not too disappointed

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“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

I didn't know Beethoven wrote a piece of music called 'A 25-30 Game Player'.

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Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

Haha, I'll pay that and blame it on auto correct..

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Circumstance has no value. It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you.

I'm at 1/4 time.
Bell needs something you can't teach.
Yaz is a star.
White just bombs it.
KJ looks good.
Casboult took a couple of nice marks.
Wood getting dominated in the ruck.
JK is a star.

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dane's trolling again

Lucas is shit.

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dane's trolling again

Given we play the Eagles in rd 2, maybe we played such an inexperienced team so we didn't show our hand? I mean, you'd struggle to name 10 players that will most likely play in rd 2 that played last night.