Pros:

Juddy and Stevo getting through their first full hit-out
Jake's encouraging debut
Jamo's learning experience
Murph's early game

Cons:

Woeful disposal at times esp Carrazzo
Fev's marking - he can not mark a ball unless it is gift-wrapped out in front of him (cf. Richo who can take a good contested grab)
Lack of tackling
Shown up for pace at times

So you are obviously one of those who believes we have made no progress in our list

You're obviously more comfortable in thinking we will lose every week so you can't feel too disappointed when we do



I'd rather be a blind optimist

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^^^

Don't worry Essendon* ....... We still hate your guts

^^^

Pros

Cloke did well - has a good body for the ruck and Setanta faired reasonably so once Hammo / Kruizer are back on board, our ruck depth will look alot better.

Thornton - maybe his kicking wasn't brilliant but geeze he did a lot. I'd like to see his out of 50s and just his general play out of the backline and through the centres. Outshone Scotland over all.

Jammo on Richo - yep, he got creamed but that was an invaluable game for him in terms of experience! He'll have better games this year for sure.

Watching Judd interchange with Stevens - that's awesome, simply because it was possible!!

Betts - back to some of his best form and will improve even more from here - he, like alot of our players looked a little un-match fit.

Having the whole side realise what a lot of us needed to realise about Judd... I suppose cause of my Christian upbringing, I've never been comfortable with all the Judd is the Messiah talk (so like "even God couldn't sink the Titanic" - you're just asking for trouble!) but beyond that, it showed all of us, all of the rest of the footy world but most importantly, his team mates that he really is only one player and for the next few weeks, he's gonna be no where near 100%.

The rest of the team will have to work really hard if they want to win games. Sure Judd will at times have amazing impact, and that will get better as he gets fitter but we cant have him over extending himself by not even one little bit or it'll ruin the long term project that is Chris Judd!

Having said that, Fev and others were eating up his delivery into the forward line, and Judd's own impact up forward on one or two occasions was great!

Houlihan - dunno - looked well positioned as if Ratts was actually remembering games they played together and where he was playing when he did play well.

Judd lifted the whole side. Despite the loss, we looked a lot more hopeful than we have for years - that was inspiring. When Betts goaled after Judd handpassed to him, the smile on Eddie's face was like "Chris Judd just handpassed me the ball! Cool!"


Cons.

The two players - someone help me here as I didnt see them clearly enough crashing into each other up back. They couldn't have put better hits on each other if they were lining up opposition players. It was plain embarrassing and I wouldn't want to be face to face with Ratts going over that one.

Scotland - just didnt have the impact that he's had in alot of games previously. Is he carrying any sort of an injury and did anyone else think he was not quite fully fit?

Tigers were able to run it out of their backline far too easily and teams have been doing this to us since at least 1999 - i'm so sick of it...

We couldnt stop Richo...

Umpiring - it always seems bad when you have a loss like that i suppose.

k - enuf for now.

Rich

Who were our ruckmen tonight

No wonder we got smashed in the midfield

Lack of match fitness + sub standard ruck = Trouble

Hammer won't be a consistent player for a while yet but his ability to compete against good ruckmen will make a big difference in the middle.

I'm amazed at the knee jerk reactions to date

Pros:

- Simmo finds more guts and determination with each match; he's a bloody ripper this bloke, and it's a joy to rock up each week knowing you're going to get 101% from him. An on-field leader who extracts the absolute maximum from his ability, and shows real balls at the same time. Was terrific tonight.

- Jamo's continued efforts and desire, even in the face of getting a towelling. He'll learn from this outing, and if questions persist on his ability, they should surely be put to rest concerning his endeavour. I thought he stuck to the task well, and didn't drop his head. Shows good character.

- Judd. The scintillating burst isn't quite there yet, and there's obvious rust in the chassis, but all but one touch tonight was pure class.

Cons:

- Carrazzo and his footballing equivalent of the yips. A natural ball magnet, fit, strong, works his butt off and has a footy brain, but good lord, work on the ball drop and kick through the bloody thing for crying out loud. Both of these traits have worsened, if anything, during the pre-season. How can a B&F winner hit the following year looking so short on confidence in his disposal? It must frustrate him every bit as much as it does us.

- as has been said ad infinitum, our feeble tackling and general lack of pressure and intensity for lengthy periods of the match; I really see no excuse for this in round 1. If we're going to lose, I want to lose while going down swinging (no, not like that, Adam). Lose while showing some ticker, I'll leave with my head held high. Fail to give a yelp like tonight, and...well, it's hard to make excuses. Richmond wanted it more than us, plainly and simply. That's shameful and embarrassing.

That was certainly not the way to win the respect of the football world in a live FTA 'blockbuster', but how we react will say a lot about our group, and where we're really placed. Here's to getting a more full-strength team on the park and acquitting ourselves better from here on. It's early days...

PROS:

1. Good to see glimpses of what Juddy is going to generate
2. Edwards willingness to work hard up the ground (even though it was too often too wide) and provide an option and/or space behind him
3. Murph was buzzing early on
4. Some very methodical passages of play

CONS:

Having so many players under done and playing in crucial areas ... ruckman x 2 and most of our better midfielders

Too many players do not work hard enough when we lose the ball

Lack of physical strength in tackling and breaking tackles

Lack of players with "standing start" speed ... I don't care what time you run in an indoor stadium where a buzzer tells you when to start running ... if a players speed is not obvious to the eye when they are playing then you can throw away the stopwatch and the buzzer

Disposal is poor ... particularly when playing that last ball to create a scoring option ... we lack penetration with our kicking, accuracy and lack tricks with the ball (weighting the ball etc)

I thought Murphy was the most damaging player on the ground in the first half. Not sure what happend to him after that. Did he tire? Was he tagged out of it? Did the supply dry up?

Am slighly concerned about Gibbs. Didn't seem to have any real impact and I was expecting to see a bit more to be honest.

In the end it was the result we should have expected from an underdone, understrength side against an injury free Tigers side who are now one win closer to missing a priority pick this year.

We are seriously short of forward options, and the problem is bigger than the fact that Fish is missing. Edwards was ok given it was his debut. Will certainly have his chances not that Hartlett is likely to be rubbed out.

PRO: We're currently sitting in 4th spot

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WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY

I agree,i hate seeing him near the halfback line,because i know he will cough the ball and give it to the other team with a mad pass.

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Bang Bang.

PROS:
Houilhan
Judd
Murphy
Thornton he wasn't bad
Priority Pick,we need a CHF,Full Back,CHB and looks like a Full Forward if Fevola going.The Ruckmen should be o.k,would have been good if we had a muture age tall ruckmen.Kreuser may become a CHF i guess.

CONS

Wooden Spoon Favourite after that game with Melbourne,can't see us beating St Kilda and Essendon* who are underrated here, I think they have a better young list then ours especially if Benjamin,Hampson,Austin and Edwards don't make big steps.

There no way Jamison will be a Full Back and play 200 + games,maybe 100/150 if all goes in defence position.

Best to trade Fevola,Carrazzoo to get a real Full Back.

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Bang Bang.

Word is Judd shouldnt be playing for at least another 5 -6 months, I dont know if we should have him in to be honest.

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'Cause I'm J.U.D.D
I'm dynamite
J.U.D.D
And I'll win that fight
J.U.D.D
I'm a power load
J.U.D.D, Watch me explode

pros -- I will spend more weekends with my kids this year

cons - we ran out of legs in round 1

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Ecclesiastes 1:4, "One generation passes away, and another generation comes: but The Blues abide forever."

Spot on. I can't believe the overreactions. I suppose we were premiership material when we beat Richmond in Round 1 last year....

Pros

* Definately Edwards... just needs to tighten up kicking for goal
* Less blazing away... there is a gameplan the players need to execute it for 4 quarters

Cons

* Selfish Fev. He should have stayed down in the last quarter when he and Edwards collided and kept his man out of the contest. That would be the team thing to do
* No ruckman... this is our single biggest problem at the moment

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17 4 10

Why would Fev stay down for Edwards?
Fev was in a better position and im sure that kick was for Fev...

and yes ... we beat Richmond last year in round 1... and they won the wooden spoon...

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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.

Great experience for Jamo. He will be just fine given a bit more time.

No injuries is a huge relief. Others coming back from injury gives us options.

Hads showed enough to suggest he'll be of great assistance to our group of playmakers when his conditioning improves.

Simmo, Scotto, Waitey, Stevo, Cloke were our best players.

Houla did some magic things. For a player to have as much natural ability as he does it's a real shame he's unable to consistantly take games by the scruff of the neck. Has never had the intensity and never will.

As the cats showed last year, physical and mental conditioning is the key.
We've got a long way to go in this area.

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There's so much I could say...

budzy, i don't know how you can say stevo was in the best. he was woeful and clearly unfit.

didn't put body on line when it counted and made critical option errors that cost us. also refused to man up.

one of his worst games for the club in my opinion.

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"You're my boy(s), Bluuuee(s)..."

have another latte...

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There's so much I could say...

i will. stand by my comments, though.

not that i was expecting the world, given his lack of prep. just thought he made critical errors last night. i accept that he'll be better for the run.

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"You're my boy(s), Bluuuee(s)..."

Make it two.

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

you obviously take soy

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"You're my boy(s), Bluuuee(s)..."