Awesome game LRT!

[Provost]

He was a presence out there, getting some muscle to his game too

Nice bit of shoulder in the D50 goal square at the start of the 2nd

[ScottH]

Bah, It was OK, I guess!!

OK, so it was pretty good. A couple of good grabs, followed up after a bullet handball of his was dropped, and forced a ball up, and hit Baz on the chest with a 50m pass.

BUT, most importantly his team mates are kicking it to him, so they obviously are starting to trust him more. He even made it onto the "running hot" stat on Ch 9, he touched the ball that often on the 3rd term.

Doesn't humble pie taste good!!!

PS: Looking forward to some major improvements by start of next year!!!!

[NMWBloods]

Very good game. Easily his best ever.

It was interesting to compare him to his opponents in the first half. Played against Merrett and Spaanderman. Shows how much he has improved since early in the year and obviously how much he has benefitted from SOS's training.

Those two players are probably at similar levels as LRT earlier in the year. Merrett hasn't played a lot of football, only starting fairly recently (like LRT) and Spaanderman is only a few games into his career.

LRT completely outpointed them and was able to take marks and read the ball. These were things who couldn't do well at the beginning of the year but seems to be able to do so now and that obviously feeds into his confidence, which naturally helps him enormously.

In the second half he had an opponent only half the time (Brennan) given Brisbane's play, so he was able to play as a loose man a lot of the time, made space and ran out of the back line pretty well.

Amazing improvement since early in the year (from a low base) and now looks like he is legitimately holding his position in the side. Will be interesting to see if he progresses further the rest of this year (and obviously next).

[Thunder Shaker]

Originally posted by ScottH
He even made it onto the "running hot" stat on Ch 9, he touched the ball that often on the 3rd term.

It's a first I think for LRT to be rated well enough to get the "Running hot" after 6 possessions in the third quarter. He even got a seventh shortly after. I was watching a tape of the game, and when the LRT "running hot" came up I had to rewind the tape to read it again.

If we win the flag this year, it's likely to be with LRT at CHB. Even if he is still learning the game, it now appears his learning curve has been given a ladder. Thanks, SOS.

[TheHood]

Well his learning curve is so complete, it's now a fully fledged letter "n".

Think that "n" symbolises the opponents he has bent over the bonnet of victory. LRT is riding that proud Red & White XB Falcon all the way into September!

[Glenn]

Great game from LRT, really has developed very well. A couple of times he was holding up play thinking what to do I was fearing the worse, but made the right decisons and executed them well.
SOS is a miracle worker

[Xie Shan]

But..but..he was outmarked once in the second half! Drop him!

Nah, he was good. And when he did take the mark, he took the right option afterwards just about every time. I think now he will end up to be the CHB we've been looking for, and a lot of credit for that must go to Roos for showing faith in him, Jonas (well he is the defensive coach), SOS for his help - but most importantly, LRT himself.

Just bear in mind, that when Goodes was forced to CHB last year post-knee injury, he faced a learning curve too when playing in that position (though of a vastly different nature to LRT's) - and before 2005, LRT had been used mostly as a pinch-hitter in the ruck in the games he'd played.

So not only is he still learning the skills and nuances of the game required to be an AFL footballer, but he's had to learn a new position as well. And after a slow start, he's doing well.

[ROK Lobster]

Credit where credit is due, I thought he played very well today and it was easilly the best I had seen him play live. Was great to see him getting the ball from his team mates and having the confidence to run through the middle with it.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Originally posted by ROK Lobster
Was great to see him getting the ball from his team mates and having the confidence to run through the middle with it.

That was the biggest plus I saw in his game. the fact that his peers now recognise that they can offload to him. A big plus for his status amongst his team-mates.

Originally posted by ROK Lobster
I thought he played very well today and it was easilly the best I had seen him play live.

This is gunna sound weired, in view my previous emails, and I enjoyed his game ~ but I didn't think it was that special. I think his uncontested possesion count may be impressing some people overmuch.

[ScottH]

Originally posted by Ruckman
That was the biggest plus I saw in his game. the fact that his peers now recognise that they can offload to him. A big plus for his status amongst his team-mates.

An earlier post of mine.

Originally posted by ScottH
BUT, most importantly his team mates are kicking it to him, so they obviously are starting to trust him more. He even made it onto the "running hot" stat on Ch 9, he touched the ball that often on the 3rd term.

Originally posted by Ruckman
This is gunna sound weired, in view my previous emails, and I enjoyed his game ~ but I didn't think it was that special. I think his uncontested possesion count may be impressing some people overmuch.

Cmon Ruckman, contested or uncontested, he found the ball which is something his game has been lacking most of the year.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Ruckman
I didn't think it was that special. I think his uncontested possesion count may be impressing some people overmuch.

LRT hater!!

[giant]

An excellent all round effort against the sort of opposition we've been hoping he can towel up. Certainly in our best 6 - well played!

[Go Swannies]

He took a couple of great defensive marks early in the game and definitely robbed Brisbane of their impetus. And it was great that, towards the end of the game, he stayed in the corridor and the other players kept kicking it to him to redirect the ball back into attack.

The defining moment of his career was at an early point in the game when he got the ball in a crowd and looked to pass off asap. Then he realised that there was no team mate not under as much pressure as he was so he sidestepped a Lions player and ran the ball out into open space and kicked it forward. Even a few weeks ago, he would have passed it to someone who would have been tackled immediately.

It was funny to see how chuffed he was by his game. He just didn't want to leave the field at the end and, long after the others were heading for the race, he was tossing things into the crowd and clapping the fans.

Now let's see how he goes in the Shinboner grind we face this coming weekend.

[mocaholic]

Originally posted by ScottH
BUT, most importantly his team mates are kicking it to him, so they obviously are starting to trust him more.

Bingo Scotty. But he's also putting himself in the right spot to be an option.

Good game from him yesterday I thought. Excellent game by his standards, good game overall. Good decisions (when to mark, when to punch), good follow-up, good disposal on most occasions.

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by ScottH
BUT, most importantly his team mates are kicking it to him, so they obviously are starting to trust him more.

It's hard to believe the change since the WCE (in Perth) game where he was in the clear and star jumping only to be ignored.

Gave away a soft free kick early, but that's our defensive game plan.