Its amazing what a difference winning makes to the psyche of the Blues.
We had a long discussion last season about "mindset" and how confidence can affect the game style of the team.
The one thing that cannot be disputed is the willingness of the players to take risks and work for each other.
There is a far greater confidence to change direction and bring the ball into the corridor backward of centre.

Another big difference is the contribution on the scoreboard of our midfielders. Denis addressed this as a deficiency in the off season and put the pressure on our midfielders to contribute more goals.
The result? Campo, McGrath and Scotland are averaging a goal per game in the wizard cup with Chambers averaging 1.5 goals per game.
In fact our midfield rotation during the wizard cup contributed 21 goals.
That doesnt include Lappin and Davies who were primarily peripheral players.

The biggest difference in our gamestyle is largely due to the resurgence of Lance Whitnall. Lance's fitness and return to form has given Pagan the confidence to empty the forward line and push our players up the ground.
With Lance and Fev rotating up forward, we have become less predictable and better structured.
Lance doesnt possess the speed to enter a foot race with his opponent but he is rarely beaten when he enters a contest.
Wizard Cup rules distort the facts slightly but Carlton scored from 75% of their forward 50 entries on Saturday night.
I havent seen a figure over 70% in recent memory.
On the other hand, West Coast scored from less than 36% of their forward 50 entries.
The gamestyle we are playing is only effective if you have dominant, mobile forwards.

Kodos to Justin Davies who I'm not completely sold on but he does the bullocking work Pagan would crave from a tall marking target.
He creates space, places blocks and punches the ball back in our 50 from opposition kick outs.

Congratulations again to Trent Sporn. He took Rowan Jones and Josh Wooden out of the game and after they were benched, he went onto a rampant Ben Cousins and kept him to 3 possessions in the 3rd quarter.
Like Carrazzo, he is unfashionable but they take on the opposition and never lower their colours.

The game style we are playing is exciting, free flowing and super quick.
Its also the hardest on the players. We flood back quickly when the opposition take possession and run hard forward when they turn it over.
Our ability to come back late in the game Saturday was based on heart and adrenalin.
Whether we can sustain it over a long season remains to be seen.

Well done to Denis. He told us we would have an exciting team to watch and he's not wrong.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Lance has had a HUGE impact
kicked 2 goals 3 - some of the misses were quite gettable and on another day could easily have kicked 4 goals 1. In addition, he had several direct assists (at least 2 goals from memory) and should have had more were it not for mistakes by teammates - how good was the handpass to a running stevens in the 3rd? he didnt even have to break stride - was just a shame stevens didnt go for the long bonb for a 9 pointer

'Sporn has always been a great player - If he can remain injury free for most of the year, he is going to be a HUGE bonus to the side

Wiggins, Davies and Carrazo all continue to impress - Love seeing the bone cruncing tackles being laid by wiggins/davies and the slick handballs - carazzo also provides great run from the back half

i think its also a natural progression of a new team playing together and starting to understand each others games.

IMO - it happened at the second half of the year.

We slowly progressed leading up to us winning the last few games of the season in a row.

We are just progressing nicely.

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Got to love the stare Down by Setanta on Llyod

agreed.

I posted elsewhere some questions about our ability to carry it on throught the year.

I think that Pagan has made the boys bodies hard, and I reckon we will last the year out, unlike 2003, when we fell in a heap second half.

I also like the versitility of the forward set up - deluca, Lappin and Morrell as pinch hitters if need be, but can perform elsewhere. It makes us so less predicitable, and therfore more potent., and becuase FBS and Fev take defenders one and two, the rest can play well on the third string defenders.

Thornton hurts, but maybe it will be Karl's saving - missing the final must have hurt. And Livo, well what more to say, other than well done son. He can last the year, IMO.

Finally, the midfield is purring and loving doing the hard work, running the field, saving goals at one end and creating them at the other.

All in all, we are miles ahead from 2004 all ready, and the boys have played under pressure, mostl self imposed by the coach, and they have succeeded.

It's the best preparation for this young side possible, and what a fillup for the club.

We are back!

And this year, anythings possible.

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"Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

[quote="Blue Vain"]
The game style we are playing is exciting, free flowing and super quick.
Its also the hardest on the players. We flood back quickly when the opposition take possession and run hard forward when they turn it over.
Our ability to come back late in the game Saturday was based on heart and adrenalin.
Whether we can sustain it over a long season remains to be seen.

Excellent point - the one area where we could fall foul this year is a drop off late in the year for the reasons mentioned above, the relative youth of our side and the fact we are up so early. It will be a major challenge for us.

I just hope people can be patient and not treat it like the end of the world if we do drop off later in the year.

On the other hand, if we can sustain our level of performance all year, we definitely have a lot to be excited about beyond this year.

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Get comfortable being uncomfortable