Before I start I must say that Laidey was very gracious in victory, said few nice things about the team.

Now to what Dennis said

We didn't play well, a bit flat, our better palyers were off.

Denied that it was a let down from the Wizard Cup.

We were "hunted' and wasted oppotunities.

'Football is a funny game' and footy is 90% above the shoulders.

Reckons it is a ankle for Livo, both Livo and Walker to have scans tomorrow.

Betts is a positive

He is dissappionted and hopes the team will learn a lesson from the game. Particularly about taking oppotunties and playing to your best.

Karl Norman and Setanta are being looked at for next week

To be honest Dennis didn't seem to perturbed by the loss

_________________
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" -Winston Churchill

L.M 35-06

A little flat is an understatement.

I had the same feeling coming into the game, flat and couldn't get into the game at any point...seems to be mirrored in the players.

Can they CLOSE THE ROOF? It's ridiculous...the way the stadium is built it's disgusting to try and watch football when the roof's open and the sun's shining.

I tell you what, I was angry, f***ing angry after the game and let the f**k words out a few times on the train home. Bagged every player and was basically disgusted with the performance today. Then I hear Denis talk, put everything into perspective, has calmed me down, and made me realise why he is coaching our football club. No excuses, no put-downs, no slagging off umpires/his players etc. What a class act !!!! (As I hang my head in shame !!!)

P.S. BTW I am still f***ing angry. How could we lose to those bunch of scrubbers

_________________
No1 draft picks mean @#$%&! ALL. Look at Bryce Gibbs !!!!

I went to training on thursday and there was no real grunt, the players looked relaxed had fun kicking at the goals. Pagan must punish them on the track

We've had a tough few weeks going all out for the Wizzer cup, while other teams have ahad a few weeks off playing tiddly winks.

Sometimes coaches, ease up on the players to allow them to freshen up, sometimes they go hard.

I guess, no matter which you choose, you are always going to be questioned if they loose, or look a genious if they win.

They look flat from the start - it seemed as though they thought it would all fall into place

Roos seem to match up well against us, they have 2 taggers Firrito and Rawlings who cut Campo and Stevens out of the game.

We missed quite a few shots at goal

Lacked a player up forward who could take a contested mark - the loose players from the kangas in our 50 meant our 2 leading forwards were ineffective.

We didnt pay any respect to Picioane in terms of accountability.

Kouta was terrific in the middle for someone who has lacked match conditioning. Those turnovers were costly but they are to be expected when you havent played much over the pre season.

Do we know how long Livo and Walker are out for?

Onward and upward.

All the club's effort should now be into planning to beat those Bombers!

We were flat, we had no run, but lets not lose hope. There's another 4 points up for grabs next week and if we can regather the form which we displayed in the Wizzer then we are a real chance.

Tis' round 1 people, lets not start panicing. A long season lies ahead of us. The boys are up for it too.

As my Dad said, once we lost Livo the game was over.

Oh well, better luck next week.

_________________
Karma

Loyal & Proud

Has your dad purchased a lottery ticket for tonight Blue Chick?

yeah hafl way through the firts I thought 'oh oh, boys are flat as...' and it never got any better. then in the last they had two talls who could mark becuase we were buggered and couldn;t get numbers back - but hey, like Waitey's first half and bett's second. And Kouta - boy he is a marvel, can't run for nuts, his kicking is shite (both i think will improve) but he gets the ball out of the clearances like no one.

_________________
This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

BM,

nice report.

I agree, Laidley was very positive about us - said that we had copme on in leaps and bounds, and would continue - he even spoke of a "hangover".

Pagan, on the other hand emphasised our youth. Determined to be positive, looking all ready to how we will respond next week. I'm not sure that he wasn't perturbed though. He spoke of his disappointment, and how no-one's biceps had got samaller in the two weeks, so it is in the head (90% above the shoulders).

Most interestingly he spoke of being hunted from the stands! It's a challenge he's laying down to the team. I read frtom that that he felt Laidley had done his job well.

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

Robert Frost

Forgot to say that Laidley said that we were doing pretty well given we'd missed Welss and Goddard.

I though that was an unusual statement - shows he's watching our resurgence closely!

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

Robert Frost

Agree with this totally, Effes. However, Kouta's 4 turnovers cost us a goal on each occassion. North got a goal on each turnover.

He'll be better for the run, having this game under his belt.

I suspect Karl may get a call up for next weeks game, given we've lost Livo for x weeks.

Fully agree Wangers. I don't want to fault Kouta, given how hard he worked, and how well he did at extracting the ball, but his turnovers were very costly in a game which was lowscoring until the final quarter.

Didn't go to any of the Wizard Cup games, so it's hard to compare with absolute confidence. But today their run and carry and skills, all seemed to be down. (No doubt the loss of Chambers and Walker contributed somewhat!) And still, a few less of our many errors, and we could easily have won that game!

Pagan summed it up well. Missed shots in the 2nd quarter cost us dearly.
We had just kicked 2 in a row to get 7 points up, and Carazzo missed a pretty easy shot.

Instead of a point lead and momentum, North get the next 2 and hot the front.

Hopefully, this will sting them into action for next week.

Agree with the sentiments we looked flat early. Not sure why but despite winning more of the ball we just weren't switched on.

_________________
Click here to follow TalkingCarlton on twitter
TalkingCarlton Posting Rules

Did he mention the fact that nearly every time North got the ball they ran it up the far (left side) wing almost unopposed for and easy mark in their forward line? It was bloody frustrating watching it on TV - I couldn't tell what was a replay and what was a new play....

I didn't hear Pagan's press conference but I know what he means about being hunted.

I think the Roos came out today with the sole objective of shutting down our style of play. Not only did they crowd our key forwards, but when we tried to do the same, instead of bombing it in, they held on to the ball and chipped it around until they found a target.

So in a sense, this week we went from being the hunters to being the hunted. In the long run, I think today's game will be a great learning experience. If Lance and Fev are getting chopped out of the game we need to find other avenues to goal.

Eddie Betts is a little beauty, should have spent much more time on the ground. I also think we may have missed Walker's and Chamber's pace through the middle.

Does anyone else think Scotland lacked intensity today? He did some good work in close, but to me, it seemed he wasn't prepared to chase or man up on his opponent.