You couldn't ask for a better first up hit out against one of the better teams in the AFL. It might be just pre-season, and Laidley can make as many excuses as he wants about where his players are at in their training schedule (countering that we had 4 of our best 22 out!), but we'll happily take out of this game the end result which was we beat the living daylights out of a team that spanked us well and truly late last year.
And what a different team we looked last night.
What really struck me was the depth in midfield, and in particular the speed and zest among our young midfielders. We hunted in packs and were ultra desperate. See Jacobs going in hard at gound level !
Grigg looked terrific, very quick by foot and also by hand, albeit he stil kicks too many floaters on that left foot.
Another one was Armfield. While he didn't have much game time and therefore would have been as fresh as a Mos Def LP when he came on, I thought he looked very sharp and quick when he came on. Had real impact and looked noticably better than in his first year.
And then of course there's Robinson, who not only goes in hard and has a nice turn of pace, but more importantly knows where the football is. The Tasmanian Devil wa ubiquitous. Sign of a good player. Not just a flash here and there.
And Johnson showcased his fine kicking skills (how sweet he kicked it when he bagged that goal on the run!) and did some very neat things in close with his hands too. Looks a player.
And I didn't mind Bentley. Thought he looked a big unit, which is what we need. Might have mucked up a bit (must say I hardly noticed it), but hand look good, and his size looks good too.
And then there's Garlett, who clearly has a lot to like. How quick was he when he ran off after taking that grab. Shame he didn't bang that one through.
There were positives throughout the midfield. Gibbs looks like he is well and truly about to explode. So poised and clean.
Simpson I thought looked better than anytime last year. Ditto Betts who was very sharp.
Jacobs looked pretty good, and Kreuzer looked ominous. How good was the bit where he knocked the ball out of the North player's hands, and then set up Judd streaming through the middle !
Backline was good too, albeit we still appear to struggle against the really big bodies one on one.
Anderson looks ridiculously fit. His kicking is a serious concern, but gees, the kid has amazing pace down back and clearly treats his body like the temple of all temples. I say persist with him, because if he can correct his kicking he will end up a superb, fast mid-sized defender. Attacks it like a leopard.
Of course though the one glaring issue that still remains is we are so one-dimensional up forward. I know Fev is a beast who demands the whole forwardline, but what hapens if he ever goes down with injury? Ratten needs to try some other tricks. Why wasn't Fisher and/or Edwards played last night? Cloke did some good hard work at CHF, but he just doesn't have the pace to be a genuine concern for opp coaches up forward. Maybe it's a matter of getting Warnock in the ruck, with maybe Jacobs or Hammer helping, and then throwing the superstar Kreuzer up forward.
Having the Houlihans and Betts' and Yarrans and Robbos contributing is good, but if Fev ever goes down with injury we will need a genuine big target replacement.
All in all though, we are soo much a different team now to what we were a few years back. And the great thing is we have nobody 30+.
GO BLUES
Login
Register
FAQ
