Sydney v Carlton

[Dpw]

Poor effort by Sydney B's, were never in it and although we played a full strength Carlton looking to get off on a winning note I thought the guy's who looking to secure regular senior births this year really let us down. in fact apart from a few glimpses from players like Mcviegh not one player played a four qauter game, Oh well traveling circuit here we come.

I don't think this will impact us to much come the regular season just was really dissapointed with the guys who played today.

[Foreign Legion]

Hopefully we might play on a surface conducive to football!

[SXP]

Sydney B's didn't show anything to look forward to. What this trashing proved to Roosy was that he can't rely on them this year. Well, it's always next year.

[Foreign Legion]

Geez BBBH copped a bad one. What are (if any) the positives from this game?

[Charlie]

Agreed. About the only youngster (except for Schneider, who doesn't count) who I was really impressed by was Rogers. He looks likely to play senior footy at some point.

The rest of the side:

Hall: Looked menacing when he was there, but rarely got any help from anybody up the ground.

McVeigh: Glimpses was a good word. I may have confused him with Fosdike a couple of times, but I don't think he did that much.

Bolton: Looked fitter. If Rogers comes onto the senior list, would expect C-Bolt to play further up the ground this year.

Willoughby: Tiny. See you next year.

Fixter: Shocking luck!

Maxfield: I don't think we was on the field that much. Didn't see him that often.

Fosdike: Looked good. I might have credited him with some of McVeigh's touches though. Not sure.

Schneider: Has the poise of a 25 year old. No sign of second-year blues, although he faded towards the end (was he off?)

James: SHOCKING LUCK!

Ablett: Rarely saw him. Could have done a lot more, I think. Certainly expected more from the man who'll probably be first into the 22 after an injury this year.

Saddington: Did little. Had some poor disposals.

Schauble: What's with that hair cut? Had the severe misfortune of playing on Fevola, with a reserves midfield.

Dempster: Only touched it a couple of times. Looked slight for someone who's supposed to be an up and coming KPP.

Roberts-Thomson: Fought hard. One of the better ones I thought.

Kirk: Camporeale got the better of him.

Buchanan: Did alright, looked more like a midfielder than the last time we saw him in 2002. Still has some work to do though, and is some way off the senior side.

Hunt: Wasn't impressed at all. Seemed unfit and uncoordinated. Worst of the four rookies playing today.

Sundqvist: Did a bit early, either went off or faded badly in the second half.

Schmidt: Only touched it once or twice. Looks ok though. Like Willoughby, see you next year.

Goodes: Didn't have a great match, although I'm not particularly concerned, to say the least.

Bevan: Looked lively. Small, but he was much more involved than a lot of the senior list players.

Meiklejohn: Did alright. Really, he's probably not going to have a big impact this year, but he was a decent player in a disappointing bunch today. Disposal needs work.

Rogers: Said what I thought above. He's big, strong, disposal is sometimes wonky but mostly ok. Expect to see more of him in the future.

Potter: Touched it a few times. Seemed to get thrown off the ball easily.

[SWANSBEST]

I only saw the second half and it was disappointing . Of the fringe players I thought Buchanan was ok. Did anyone of the younger players look reasonable in the 1st half?

[Dpw]

Originally posted by SWANSBEST
I only saw the second half and it was disappointing . Of the fringe players I thought Buchanan was ok. Did anyone of the younger players look reasonable in the 1st half?

Unfortunatly, the second half was our best half.

[Foreign Legion]

Charlie, just to comment on your assessments:

McVeigh - will probably be a good player - has some skill and obvious pace.

Willoughby - can see why he was drafter but yep, see you next year

Fixter - hopefully he will be ok

Schneider - learnt a bit at Port Melbourne - at least 100 game player (doesn't mind giving a bit to the umps either - good stuff!)

Ablett - will get there I think - will be one of those "good players in a good side" - doesn't create much though.

Saddo - pretty bad but got better as the game went on.

Schaubs - give him time - only early days.

Dempster - hasn't improved much

LRT - didn't think he was as good as your assessment - needs to impose himself physically and to make more contest - still can make it big

Sundqvist - hasn't played any good game since round 22 2003.

Schmidt - could be alright - reads the play well.

Goodes - Yep

Bevan - hard trier - would have to pick it up a level to make it

MJ - jeez I am always having a go at this bloke - but he does try very hard - I don't expect him to play many games if Ball/Doyle etc are fit.

Rogers - agree with your assessment - looks polished and balanced but got towelled up by Fevola. Might have a future

Potter - a bit too light - tries hard

[robbieando]

Carlton, just killed us in the midfield and its not surprising when Bolton and Willo weren't in the side, plus Kirk really wasn't given anyone to tag. It seemed to me that the senior players that did play didn't play in their normal positions. We got hammered, but frankly you really can't read anything into this match, because we were missing the core of our team today.

I felt Schneider and Craig Bolton were our best two players, with Rogers doing well after being taken off Fevola. Schmmit seems the have what it takes, as does Willoughby. McVeigh would of been better suited if we had a set game plan, but I still liked what I saw. Also Beven popped up a few times, but his skill level let him down at times. Goodes and Hall didn't get much chance to do much, but they did a few things that I liked. Other than that no one else stood out for us. LRT was a huge dissappointment today, hardly seen and when he did, he let the side down.

Still for those young kids they'll take something away from this match.

[Charlie]

I'm not saying that LRT had a good game - he could have done more. But for a player who is still realistically our 4th ruckman, I'll take what I saw today as a reasonable performance for February.

One thing I did notice about LRT is that he didn't get the ball in the clear very often - he was usually outnumbered when he was near the ball, so that needs to be taken into account.

[Sid]

I dont think its right to criticise the team after such a game. Obviously it wasnt a serious game and when two teams of such mismatch play each other, what else did u expect?

You cant expect a rookie to match well against a senior player. And its not easy to play when there aren't any senior players to support u.

I think a major point of this game is to let the rookies experience what its like and i think they have an idea of how much is really required from them in order to have a future in this game.

I dont think the game was disappointing at all.

[Foreign Legion]

Sid,

I think it showed us how far away some of our rookies are - some, clearly, aren't going to make it but I support playing them for as long as possible today.

We won't have these opportunities once the real stuff starts.

[Mike_B]

For me, a loss was not a problem, seeing as we were playing mainly a team of kids against a team of seasoned players (just remember Carlton have no kids coz they're salary cap cheats!). On top of that, the 2 guys who really killed us today were Fevola and Camporeale who both played pretty much the entire game. To me, that says one team was using it as a trial looking to Round 1, the other was playing to win above anything else. Having said that though, losing by 100 points isn't exactly something to just accept. The kids who played, while not really showing all that much will still be better or the experience.

On a separate note, Saddo showed again that there needs to be a fine system in place where if he attempts to mark in defence and the opposition break even/benefit from that decision. By the end of the year, he'll be broke!

[SWANSBEST]

I think Charlie and Foreign have done a good summary of the situation.

After a full game last week but only the 2nd half today my ideas of the new players have taken shape.


Tim Schmidt.. A lot to like about him and at the moment the best of the new recruits . As I said last week a backside as big as mine and will take the hard knocks. He will be a star in the Canberra comp and will play Seniors next year. Reads the play well.

Rogers .. Will play Seniors if we have long term injuries He looked better than last week and is growing in confidence.

Josh Willoughby.. Has ability but will spend the year in the Canberra comp. Very small

Nick Potter.. ditto

Hunt.. recycled. I have seen him play quite a few times but unfortunately he has not impressed me at any time.

[desredandwhite]

Well, as MB said, losing by 100 points is never good, but I wasn't overly concerned with the result. I'm more worried about the injuries coming out of the game - I don't think we'll see Hall again this preseason, they'll store him away safely in cotton wool until round 1.

One side was taking the game seriously, and it wasn't us. We didn't have a bench, we had a day-care centre!

Having said that though, I'll be very interested in the progress of some of the kids in the next few weeks. Barring a tragedy, you'd expect McVeigh to make his debut this year - Malceski a possibility? The backup from the likes of LRT, Ablett and Meiklejohn may be cruicial.