NAB Cup v Hawthorn @ Launceston

[Old Royboy]

Boy those OOBOTF's were frustrating. York Park is egg shaped, so at one end the boundary line does not follow the fenceline. Caught a few of our blokes out, though there were many more that were just plain shocking disposals. There was a fair wind blowing across the ground too which did not help much.

I reckon we saw the future of our midfield today with Bird and Jack. The impressive thing about both of them is that they can read a ruck contest, win the ball and get into the clear. Something we really need. Probem with big Mocca now is trying to work out where he is best suited; he can play KPP either end or in the ruck. Whatever, the kid has a future. Either he's had another growth spurt or has done a lot of fitness work, because he certainly seems a lot trimmer than last year.

Matty O'Dwey continued the improvement he showed last year, Beckmans did not look out of place (he showed a bit as a ressies top-up last year) Boy, does he know how to celebrate a goal! Young rookie Bruce was out of his depth though, got the impression that the kid heard footsteps on one occasion and it cost a goal. Hope the kid learns.

I said to Satchmo at 1/4 time that Cheese looked like he needs to reduce his hat size. He looked like somebody who thought that all he needed to do was go out there and things would happen. Hope I'm wrong. Cheese spent the entire flight home deep in conversation with Stewie Maxfield: I'm sure Stewie would have had a few things to say about his performance today.

Mattner looked great, sure a couple of clangers but many more positives.

McVeigh won a bit of ball, but nobody has a clue where his disposals will go. Still not good enough. Mathews still a liability.

Really pleased that with nearly all the 1st team players benched in the last quarter that the kids fought on and nearly pinched the game. Reckon if either Mattner or Eski has been there at the end it would have been different.

If the Eski had not been hurt I would have come home as pleased as punch. Gee I hope it's not too bad.

[connolly]

We can't express a view unless it is a glowing one?

I love the smell of burning plastic after a NAB Cup defeat

[smasher]

I really enjoyed this match.It was fast and furious at times and some of our players had some great cameous:
Disappointment:The disposal of a couple of young backmen.I won't mention their names but the out on the fulls killed us.
I was very impressed with LRTs game.He'll be an important player this year.
DOK has such a baby face...looks like he's in the under 15's/
Terlich impressed.
The midfield was excellent.Mitchell was well blanketed until he got a few disposals in the last quarter.
Mooreys mark in the goal square against a reular senior Hawk.Showed great strength.
Thought Grundy was good in defence..perhaps that's his niche
We went well in the clearances.Were ahead of the Hawks for most,if not all,of the game.
GOOD EFFORT FROM THE BOYS!!!!!!!!!

[Wardy]

Our season is looking like poo this year. We still seem to be playing that sideways messy crap, J Bolton is still running around and now we are without Malceski. On the plus side, 2009 and 2010 could be good!

I Only saw 1 quarter - the third, so saw what happened to Eski which I thought "@@@@@@ hell" - and agree they still persist with thie kicking sideways rubbish and hug the boundary - I dont know why they are so scared of the corridor.

Davo looked to have bulked up - but I didnt see him all that often. The foxtel callers were very impressed with Bird and O'Dwyer.

But at least Matthews was consistent - he ran around flapping his arms, doing little, passing to players under pressure and then his all time favourite - kicking the bloody ball across the goalsquare!

As for Buddy Franklin - geez there is a kid with so much talent and could be a real champion, but I fear that his ego will get the better of him. He has the potential of becoming a prize tosser.

[AnnieH]

Eski hurt = Ansett Cup is a farce.

[thesting]

Eski hurt = Ansett Cup is a farce.

Frustrating I agree, but unfortunately it is just the way footy goes. This type of thing could just as easily happen round 1 and leave us up the creek.

[Robbo]

If it was Bevo who did his knee we would all be saying it's a great competition.

[AnnieH]

If it was Bevo who did his knee we would all be saying it's a great competition.

... or McVeigh

[smasher]

We can't get carried away with what we saw yesterday.Yes,we saw some promising new kids,but it wasn't under normal match day conditions so the jury is out.But it was really a disaster as far as our year goes.After watching Mal come up through the seconds after the first reco to go down again is tragic.I'm sure he has the will and courage to come back again.Roosy is on the money with his dislike of this whole NAB Cup thing.We don't need the money so why bust ya boiler.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Frustrating I agree, but unfortunately it is just the way footy goes. This type of thing could just as easily happen round 1 and leave us up the creek.

Those saying we should scrap the NAB Cup because of Eski's injury are completely misguided & are simply hopping on the populist bandwagon . He could very well have done his knee at training, out of public view. Had he not had much game time & went into the first round underdone, people here would have been chastising Roos for not pushing the team hard enough in the off-season.

Is there any difference where he does his knee? The end result is unfortunately the same, both for him & the team.

JF (back from Tassie)

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Came back from Launnie on the same plane as not only the Hawks team but Craig Ellis Dermie Jeff Kennett & Huddo. Despite the result & the sickening injury to Eski, it was a positive exercise for the club. The flight to Sydney OldRoyboy was on left 30 minutes beforehand. Eski was on crutches obviously. Evryone else looked it decent enough spirits though. Goodes looks to have lost a bit of weight; maybe he could have had a run in the NAB Cup?

The thing that was the biggest surprise was the support we had in the stands. Considering "the Tassie Hawks" are supposed to be the defacto Tassie team these days, we'd have had over 60% of the support yesterday. All this even though we never take the NAB Cup seriously & had a bad end to our season last year. Two girls behind me, all decked out in Swans regalia, were watching their first ever live footy game. I'm sure several other Swans fans there were in the same boat.

Can't say I'm a fan of Aurora Stadium. Besides the main Gunn St on the players entry side, the rest of the stands in the ground were made of very temporary scaffolding-style seating with wooden boarding as floors. In the last quarter the ball went between the two stands & a kid went under the & ran off off with the ball out the back. Where we were there were people walking in front of you all match which got annoying, especially during the last quarter. On the outer wing the stands there were really a long way from the action. There was a walkway, a miniature hill, then what can be described as a pool fence, then a walkway up in the stand, then the actual seating. To say the atmosphere was awful goes without saying. As Simon said to me during the game, Tassie sports crowds are generally very quiet, as many aren't brought up on the week-in week-out barracking culture. Still, it had cover from the sun, something many grounds don't have for GA ticket holders. We had 120 seats held for us behind the goals, but nobody knew about it at either the gate nor at the Swans office. Incredibly the woman at the gate to the ground said that the left-of screen grandstand if 'demand called for it'. We walk in & the gates to the stand were already open & people were sitting there. Welcome to footy in Launceston folks! No bloody idea!

You could see the endeavour in the players' eyes as they ran out. But that youthful exuberance also led to the Hawks waiting for our errors & catching us on the break. The fact that could kick supergoals & we'd still look to pass it off around 50 was the reason we lost. We had several opportunities to get it forward better in the last term, but players panicked & kicked it OOBOTF. The O'Dwyer one on the outer win proved crucial, but he like the others are only young, so clangers are to be expected I guess.

To me LRT & Mattner looked great. I have said LRT should be our 2nd ruckman all along, but we still seriously lack height in defence so we need to keep him there. He is very underrated because he looks so awkward when he has the ball. I'm expecting a big season from him to be honest. We'll definitely be a better team for having him there punching the ball to safety in the backline. am not sold on Grundy as a backman, yet. Will be following his fortunes with interest this year.

Had Eski not gotten injured, we'd be raving about yesterday. Unfortunately his injury has put a major dampener on things. But we just have to move on I guess.

JF

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

We can't get carried away with what we saw yesterday.Yes,we saw some promising new kids,but it wasn't under normal match day conditions so the jury is out.But it was really a disaster as far as our year goes.After watching Mal come up through the seconds after the first reco to go down again is tragic.I'm sure he has the will and courage to come back again.Roosy is on the money with his dislike of this whole NAB Cup thing.We don't need the money so why bust ya boiler.

Having said that, I'd like to see more of the kids get serious game time this season. And would be even prepared to go as far as forgo short term success to do so.

In the past guys like Laidlaw et al have been thrown into the deep end & dropped again, never to return. I want this culture to change.

JF

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Yes - I don't understand it. Current football strategy is to use the corridor (look at Geelong).

LOL!

This is what worries me about this season. Geelong has changed the game tactically by combining defensive strategy with an attack-minded game that involves going straight down the guts.

Meanwhile under Roos we are still trying to opt to kick to smother the ball around the boundary and chip chip things like we did in the last quarter to some degree. Does Ben Matthews EVER play on when he marks it, I tell you? I'm getting SO fed up with watching him standing there looking left then right trying to find a player to kick it to, 15 metres away and beside him.

I still am of the the belief that until Roo's changes his gameplan, we'll struggle with our ball-up-fest footy. The last quarter may have been close, but as a spectacle it was an absolute horror to be honest.

JF

[Nico]

Having said that, I'd like to see more of the kids get serious game time this season. And would be even prepared to go as far as forgo short term success to do so.

In the past guys like Laidlaw et al have been thrown into the deep end & dropped again, never to return. I want this culture to change.

JF

I agree on a lot more game time for the younger players. Schmidt didn't play but you would expect him to line up in Round 1, then again....

Thornton played in the back half at least in the 2nd half and showed considerable poise, strength and dash and his disposal was good. Contrast him with Bevan, still poor disposal and decision making. Surely Thornton would be far better value with a regular than Bevan, and don't anyone give me this crap of experienced game time (the John Howard line). So that's one new player.

Second one: Craig Bird, a little Dieselesque. Same build, reads the play and has eyes in the back of his head. They didn't give him no.14 for nothing and I reckon they think he is a real star in the making (that buries the annual RWO no.14 debate for a long time). Compare him with Jude Bolton and McVeigh. Bird actually made our centre bounce group look potent and significantly he spent a fair bit of time in there. Correct me if I am wrong but wasn't he on Mitchell, and didn't he beat him on the day. Whereas the afforementioned 2 fluffed around in their usual fashion, some things never change.

That goal by Bird was very good in that he went left, saw it was covered both by foot and hand, swung to his right and banged it through over his shoulder from at 30 metres. The other 2 would have dished off to someone under pressure.

Third: Brabazon: huge motor and surely he did a lot more effective work than Matthews the High Plains Drifter and could take his place at a pinch. A couple out on the full was a blight on his game but he pushed back really hard and was effective in the last Q and he and Thornton really stood out.

So there are 3 additions that I believe would improve our side and even though Jack worked hard to get the footy his disposal was very poor indeed. Liz and I disagree on Jack but I am happy to get on his bandwagon if he can show much more poise when in possession and better disposal and decision making. Unless he does he is just another small with crap disposal and prone to turnover. Mind you I reckon I would take him ahead of McVeigh purely on endeveour and heart.

That's my prognostications, but will any of it materialise?

[cruiser]

Eski hurt = Ansett Cup is a farce.

Ansett ceased to exist last century. Catch up or be left behind with the bogans.