R1: Positives

TruBlueBrad · **Posted:** Sun Mar 27, 2005 8:00 pm

Mav wrote:

And Houla put the "blouse" tag away, hopefully for good. Late in the game, in junk time, the ball came bouncing over the centre circle towards Houla, His opponent was shoulder-to-shoulder with him and 2 other Roos were converging on him. He threw himself at the ball, knocked it to our advantage, but took a hammering to his left side which left him winded. The fact that it was in junk time made his effort all the better. When it was "go time" he went. That's all you can ask.

This was great to see, Houla certainly doesn't shirk the issue anymore. He stood in front of Rocca in the game last year at OO and got crunched. Great to see. His game isn't based on being a Teague or Hickmott, but he'll put his body on the line now.

Other positive's

Kouta
Betts
The fact we can play much better than that
Davies having 4 shots on goal
Getting a little reality check
Only losing by 20 points when we played pretty poor, last year it would have ben 40.

ScottSaunders · **Posted:** Sun Mar 27, 2005 8:27 pm

Cazzesman wrote:

Losing by 20 points when so many good players were down atleast shows that the lesser lights are working hard. We had the same number of scoring shots.

Stevo, Campo, Houls, Fev and Whits all struggled. Rocca and Thompson didn't get any shorter as the game went on and the likes of Wells, Grant, Simpson and Harvey ran harder than our boys after half time and that was were we struggled the most. The CFC midfielders were harrassed and the delivery to Fev and Co was very poor.

An early hiccup but lets see how things unfold. We all mentioned the improved depth we have and now those in the VFL will get their chance. Simpson, Karl and Wiggo will all get their chances and need to grab them with both hands.

Disappointing it was but not the end of the world.

Regards Cazzesman

agee 100% - actually basically said the same in another post.

We lost by 20 points when we had so many of our top players not playing well. A positive aspect IMO

mjonc · **Posted:** Sun Mar 27, 2005 8:32 pm

Agree with Cazz,

Can we play any worse than that?
Can we have so many players out of form on the same day?
Will we be playing with Deluca at Fullback every week?

I do not think so. 20 point margin, the Roos should be ashamed, would of been 100 points given last year.

PS: I loved watching Brent Harvey get tackled every time he was near the ball, sookie sookie lala.

BlueWorld · **Joined:** Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:28 pm **Posts:** 3768

TruBlueBrad wrote:

Mav wrote:

And Houla put the "blouse" tag away, hopefully for good. Late in the game, in junk time, the ball came bouncing over the centre circle towards Houla, His opponent was shoulder-to-shoulder with him and 2 other Roos were converging on him. He threw himself at the ball, knocked it to our advantage, but took a hammering to his left side which left him winded. The fact that it was in junk time made his effort all the better. When it was "go time" he went. That's all you can ask.

This was great to see, Houla certainly doesn't shirk the issue anymore. He stood in front of Rocca in the game last year at OO and got crunched. Great to see. His game isn't based on being a Teague or Hickmott, but he'll put his body on the line now.

What did you think of that crazycahn?

verbs · **Posted:** Mon Mar 28, 2005 9:45 am

The lowest possible position on the ladder we can start the season is 10th, which is one position higher than where we finished last season.

tommi · **Posted:** Mon Mar 28, 2005 10:15 am

Yes Wohee........

the level of disappointment...........!

you forget don't you.......i haven't slammed....
smashed.....swore......paced.....for years..........!

mind you i didn't smash or slam.......but
i %$#@'ing bloody well swore......and did a
little paceing.......!

good exercise actually........!

kindest regards tommi

Bluebernz · **Posted:** Mon Mar 28, 2005 10:32 am

We suffered a mental letdown after our Wiz Cup win and the players probably got a bit ahead of themselves. The number one positive IMO is the valuable lesson our team will learn from this experience. You can be sure Denis won't miss the opportunity to drum it into them this week.

Another positive from today's Age: Livo's injury not as bad as first thought and he might line up this week.

I'll be inclined to give him an extra week to get over it though.. just to make sure.

camel · **Posted:** Mon Mar 28, 2005 11:07 am

3 and a bit pages of positive posts, without an input from frank "mr positive" dardew. C'mon frank, we want your thoughts too.

Dodo27 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 28, 2005 5:09 pm

Few Positives........

1- We played a bad game Yet in reality we were never out of it....comparing our last Round 1 performances of previous years, we used to get thumped quite often.... -20 point loss isnt a bad start....

2- The return of Kouta.... i hope he can continue with is for few rounds before eventually his knee blowing up or needing some rest

However The major worry for Carlton is Yet to be resolved, and that is for the Second Stream players to stand up and do something.....The Senior players had a day off for whatever reason, yet its the same old Story, NO one wanted to put their hand up and say i will do it this week...

i am talking about Davis, Deluca, Sporn, Bannister, MGrath, Prendagast and co.....

the Senior players will bounce back next week

Maxwell Smart · **Posted:** Mon Mar 28, 2005 5:14 pm

positive no. 86....we played crap and we're still 10th

Mickstar · **Joined:** Mon Feb 28, 2005 7:40 pm **Posts:** 7173

Thats the worry Dodo.Mentioned this myself on a number of occasions.Really need one of these young guys to take the bull by the horns.These little cameos are encouraging,but would love to see a fullblooded four quarter onslaught.Prior to injury,Walker had zilch possesions.Plenty of young guys from other teams are making a big impact,and i feel its high time one of our young fellas was thrown in the guts and told to go for it.Reckon the talent is there,but is almost there holding back for fear of macking a clanger and copping a blast.Reckon the lads have got to be a little less inhibited.

Effes · **Posted:** Mon Mar 28, 2005 7:53 pm

A lot of people want Sporn to step up - many probably dont know that he's only played 31 games and hasn't reached that magical 50 game mark yet. Davies has also only played 32 games. Carrazzo only 3 games. Still very inexperienced. Sometimes you wonder whether they'll make it at all - I'm sure many Geelong supporters thought this with their young players, but look at them now.

James Bartel averaged 13 possessions in 2002 and 2003, then in 2004 he averaged 22 possessions.

camel · **Posted:** Tue Mar 29, 2005 8:35 am

Effes wrote:

A lot of people want Sporn to step up - many probably dont know that he's only played 31 games and hasn't reached that magical 50 game mark yet. Davies has also only played 32 games. Carrazzo only 3 games. Still very inexperienced. Sometimes you wonder whether they'll make it at all - I'm sure many Geelong supporters thought this with their young players, but look at them now.

James Bartel averaged 13 possessions in 2002 and 2003, then in 2004 he averaged 22 possessions.

Yep, good post Effes. The instant impact we expect our kids to make is unrealistic IMO. These guys need time to develop. They have a master coach who is providing our kids with a positive infratsructure and is teaching them a tried and proven gameplan. They're being given every chance to make it, we just need to remain patient and let the younger players find their feet.

We might still be a bit inconsistent this year, but if we can find our discipline and teamwork that was so evident in the pre-season we'll go alright.

sticksaftersiren87 · **Joined:** Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:50 am **Posts:** 1221

we were thorughly outcoached by the Kangas on Saturday. And our players did not adjust to Kangas tactic of playing one or two sapre men in defence, continually kicking long to packs in our fwd line where we were outnumbered.

Positives

Kouta & Digby Morrell were great and Waite was terrific in the first half. I agree with Warby in that we missed chambers run and clean disposal. To only lose by 20 points with key players such as stevens, lappin, campo and houla all having average to poor games.

Eddie Betts is terrific.

Negatives

Houlihan and sporn (especially) were terrible. Sporn 3 possessions and well beaten. Davies needs to make his possessions coungt in the fwd 50. 1 goald 3 (all kickable) and plenty of clangers.

We just needed to show a bit more poise and patience against kangas defensive game plan.

Pickle · **Posted:** Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:51 am

A big positive was Carrazzo. Iâ€™m very impressed with this kid. He backs himself and likes to kick long. Really believe he will be great for us this year.

Also Waite in the first half. He was clearly underdone but really went in hard a few times and was mixing it with the Roos defenders at times â€“ will only get better with more games under his belt.

French was good again.

Kouta was fantastic in close and Lappin was good for most of the game.

Apart from that â€“ not much to add really.

BluesRockMyWorld · **Joined:** Mon Feb 28, 2005 2:43 pm **Posts:** 1330

Positives

I thought Carazzo played very well. Kouta, Waite and Betts the other standouts. I also thought Barney played another good game - he seems to be getting consistency which is definitely a good thing.

Our 'senior players in campo and stevens had very off days - the positive here is that they are unlikely to have two bad ones in a row.

On the other hand our disposal was ordinary - especially into the forward line. Fev kicked 3 goals in one of his worst games for the club. Whitnall was required to play back more often due to Livos injury.

We need to find more options for goal. We got spoilt by Whitnall and Fevs domination in the wizard cup. I thought we showed an over reliance on them today which is a problem. I don't won't there to be an ugly scenario of no whitnall, no fev = no carlton. We have enough options up forward to be more than a two person forward line - its just a matter of those players standing up....

The Tyrant · **Posted:** Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:55 am

Carrazzo is great... if he could kick :evil:

ScottSaunders · **Posted:** Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:02 am

Dodo27 wrote:

However The major worry for Carlton is Yet to be resolved, and that is for the Second Stream players to stand up and do something.....The Senior players had a day off for whatever reason, yet its the same old Story, NO one wanted to put their hand up and say i will do it this week...

i am talking about Davis, Deluca, Sporn, Bannister, MGrath, Prendagast and co.....

not sure about that, davies, kicked what, 1 goal 4 points? Could have very easily won the game for us if he had his kicking boots on. and after reading the training report sounds like he is working on his kicking for goals.

Carazzo as well - was close to our best player and he has certainly stamped himself as part of the starting 22 now

frank dardew · **Joined:** Mon Feb 28, 2005 12:38 pm **Posts:** 7640

Agree with all the positives Betts morrell Kouta carrazzo waite scotland but must admit didnt post over the weekend because really was very disappointed with game and didnt want to be unduly negative given it was only the first game.
Disappointed that both dogs and west coast who we beat in the wizzer cup both got up to beat opponents and we couldnt .Our concerns about a let down after wizzer gf win well founded.Will rue this game later in the year

Agree with Sticks thought Pagan was out coached on saturday generally and made a mistake at selection not picking Norman and once livo went off and with thorton not playing we were in serious trouble.Having said that didnt think our backline played badly and may be norman didnt deserve a game

What was equally disappointing was that apart from Kouta who was sensational our senior leaders whitnall campo lappin stevens were all fairly average.These guys should have led from the front to ensure there was no let down after the wizzer cup
Houlihan and sporn two of my favourites were also pretty ordinary.
We definitely missed the pace of walker and chambers

Room for improvement

Must find other avenues to goal if fev is effectively double or triple teamed
Must have greater midfield rotation kangas rotate more players through midfield than we do
Must kick efficiently have as many shots as North but dont capitalise and should have been at least 2 goals in front at quarter time

Need to improve immeasurably to beat the dons on friday night

camel · **Posted:** Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:46 pm

frank dardew wrote:

1. Must find other avenues to goal if fev is effectively double or triple teamed
2. Must have greater midfield rotation kangas rotate more players through midfield than we do
3. Must kick efficiently have as many shots as North but dont capitalise and should have been at least 2 goals in front at quarter time

4. Need to improve immeasurably to beat the dons on friday night

1. While obviously not an immediate fix, the return of Fisher will prove to a be a great foil IMO.

2. Again, only a help, the return of Chambers should assist here, and hopefully our senior midfielders won't play so collectively poorly on a regular basis.

3. Kicking efficiently! My pet hate! No excuses for poor kicking, as we all know, poor kicking is poor football.

4. I'm sure our boys will lift. With a few senior Dons missing, expect Sheedy's men to start sniping early too. We'd better be preapred for that, none more so than Campo.

R1: Positives

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