My thoughts from last night

[CureTheSane]

The team got tired near the start of the 4th quarter - something we haven't done for quite a while.
Either the fitness is below par compared to previous years or maybe there is a flu going through the team or something.
Spida could hardly walk during the quarter.

Barry Hall is apparently the only player in our team who is capable of kicking goals. He wasn't leading well enough (injury?0 and wasn't running near as much as he was last year which is also weird given his obvious Maxfield-esque muscular weight loss.

Roos hasn't changed.
He goes into a game with a game plan and there will be no compromise during the game.
I still don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
Probably a good thing given our last two years, but it sure a s hell is frustrating to watch.

You don't have to be 25m or less out from goal to have a set shot, and sometimes it's better to throw the ball on your boot when you are in the goal square, rather than pass the ball (and the responsibility) off to another player.

Not a great game to endure.....

[swansrule100]

i think we need to have more shots for goal id rather them have a ping and it land short for spida jolly hall etc to make a contest then them chip across the bare 15m to an equally hard shot for goal. If you cant kick 50 metres in the afl then what are you doing in the league??

[swansrock4eva]

I noticed that a couple of times. Then at one point Kirk took a kick to the Lockett end, just threw it rather haphazardly onto the boot in the vain attempt to conjure something, and got nowhere. As much as I'd rather see the players back themselves than chip and chip around in the 50 to try to get a better position, sometimes there needs to be a happy medium and as much as it would have been pretty big if Kirky had nailed it, the way he rushed it was just so frustrating. If they are collectively that worried about going for goal, clearly they need to be working on it more at training! The lack of willingness reminds me of a couple of years back (can't remember which now!) where at one point there was a complete lack of confidence within the 50 and it cost us dearly, as it seems to be doing now!

[swantastic]

Yep SR4E i agree,the Roos were just having a shot and it paid off so why cant we?

[Nico]

In the 3rd Q we were looking OK when Ablett was running in at about 40 metres, was clear and he kicked sideways badly to BBH. Just awful, awful football. We are too BBH centric.

IQ and biorythmns were poor last night.

[ScottH]

In the 3rd Q we were looking OK when Ablett was running in at about 40 metres, was clear and he kicked sideways badly to BBH. Just awful, awful football. We are too BBH centric.

IQ and biorythmns were poor last night.

That was terrible.

The other big "miss" was from Goodes in the last qtr. Too casually failed to pick up the ball, while running towards goal, when we were only 4(?) points down. The Roos rebounded and goaled. I thought that was a very disappointing effort from Goodes, given the hard work and determination shown by his teammates to get it back into the F50 in the first place.

[tasswan]

My 2 bobs worth,

Only watched the last half so not much to go on.
Thought Mal, Mickey O, Jack (great game for a first gamer), Leo, Everitt were really good.
Jolly was ok
BBB needs to stop whinging like a baby and get on with it.
The 'Roos played really well and deseved to win.
as others have said, wish we didnt just turn up for a quarter or two a game.
Think we should blood more players and give some of our non performing seniors a run in the seconds ( even if it means loosing more games)

Tasswan

[Red]

We just need to at least break-even in the first quarter. Teams know they can get the jump on us now and they'll try to 'cause we generally finish so strongly.

Norff were good last night, but don't forget their preperation is much further along than ours. Didn't they start their pre-season a month after the GF? I suspect they'll struggle to maintain that intensity all season, while as usual we'll pick up momentum as we go along.

[NMWBloods]

Norff were good last night, but don't forget their preperation is much further along than ours. Didn't they start their pre-season a month after the GF? I suspect they'll struggle to maintain that intensity all season, while as usual we'll pick up momentum as we go along.

How much further along was West Coast's preparation...?

[giant]

Beaten by the better side on the night - we might not have a better quarter played against us all year than North's Q1 last night. And every time we came at them thereafter they responded. A much better side than people are giving them credit for. And just maybe (for the moment at least, let's hope) we're not as good as people think. Our youngsters all looked a little star struck at various times - hardly surprsing.

[Red]

How much further along was West Coast's preparation...?

Than ours? None at all.

If you're referring to how WC jumped us in the 1st qtr in Rd. 1, I think that was more a question of their superior accuracy. Then, as now our shoddy goal-kicking early-on put us under pressure for the whole game.

[swansrock4eva]

Agree with much of what was said above! One thing that also struck me - last week watching on TV, they made mention of Goodes not laying a few tackles after crunching his shoulder - last night it appeared to be the same. Particularly in the 4th when it was on the line, a couple of times he either just stuck his arm out in a token effort or just didn't bother at all. Maybe it was perception etc and he might not have been a chance of making those tackles in reality, but the pressure just didn't seem to be there from him when we really needed it to be.

[giant]

Didn't pick up the Goodes non-tackling (not to say it wasn't there tho I thought the second half was comfortably his best footy on the year) but Hall is obviously still carrying an ankle given the ease with which players are currently running off him.

[NMWBloods]

Than ours? None at all.

If you're referring to how WC jumped us in the 1st qtr in Rd. 1, I think that was more a question of their superior accuracy. Then, as now our shoddy goal-kicking early-on put us under pressure for the whole game.

But you were using our lack of preparation as an excuse - WC doesn't seem to need that excuse.

[satchmopugdog]

I didn't see the game but from the sound of it selection on Thursday night must go something like this:

Hall: "I'm right as long as I don't have to run too much"

Goodes: "I'm right as long as I don't have to Tackle"

B1: " I'm right as long as I don't have to kick at goal, I'll hand ball it through for a goal"

O'Keefe: "I'm right if you let me run a half marathon...any thing less and I'll switch to midddle distance running."

Davis: "I'm right"..........Others: "Did someone say something?