NAB cup rnd 2. Saints vs Swans Game Thread.

[Jewels]

Not ever really sure what you can tell from any team in the NAB cup, but I reckon Port & the Roos want to win badly for the money. We were a bit dropsy tonight but hey it's not a real game. Where do we play next week now we are out?

Apparently, It's back to Blacktown, just don't know against whom.

[Bas]

Poor crowd butmost of the Saints supporters were probably marching in Sydney.

Would have been nice to win BUT it was their Grand final team minus Ball, Clarle and Gardiner. We have alot to look forward to this year considering the performance of players tonight and the players out.

I'm sure Roos will have a very different package in Rd 1.

[Midfield]

Agree, Mumford and sons needs to do more, but goodesy seems to be the major concern. IMO the plan was hatched to have him play forward when we didn't have bradders. Now we do I say save it for one year and keep him in the midfield. Our backline is first class, and our forward line with Jesse and Bradders will be ok, goodes in the forward line mightt fail but we know he scares the crap out of the opposition in the middle (ruck or small).

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Jetta hype crash and burns

What? Did some really good things tonight, impressive on the wing I thought.

[Reggi]

Just back from the game. Overall we look better than last year, without really having a super classy midfield

Seaby Very Good, Mumford good tapwork

O'Dwyer killed all night. Disposal?
Our backline most of the nifgt is awesome, except for small defender, so Shaw or McGlynn
Mcglynn and Kennedy impressed, suspect Kennedy will be the better player
Jetta was exciting, still a lot to go
Two dads murdered Koschitzke, Roos took him off in the last
Sumner had some great take aways, looked so excied to be out there
Grundy has gone to a new level, was awesome on Riewoldt

Really McVeigh, O'keefe and Goodes were down. We will have patches of being exciting during the year. Our run was so much better than last year. Jesse White looked scary on the lead, strong hands, looked to get sucked up mthe ground a bit

Nick Smith also looked very good

Some errant disposal but early days

[Lucky Knickers]

That was a very entertaining game of football.
Grundy vs St Nick - I'd almost give the points to Grundy as outside of the first qtr St Nick didn't have much of an impact and LRT is solid.
I liked the short Sumner shots. He did a couple nice things. Shame about the OOBOTF. That's the second week he has only come for a qtr.
We are still a little messy but wow.
McGlynn's disposal remains a worry but I thought he got better as the game went on and his last goal was a beauty.
Goodes doesn't look quite comfortable yet in that forward role.
White looks nice and fit and I'm not a bit tattoo fan but I thought his ink looked rather nice.
Kirky's haircut was a highlight as is his superb handball work - gosh he's clean. Tadhg and Jack were very good.
Poor Jetta very hardly done by with that HTB free not being paid. What a great long kick.
Richards was great early and special mention to the Bevanator! The batteries look to be fully charged. I imagine Nick Smith is a little disappointed but I hope it inspires him to new heights and he squishes that annoying little fly in Round 1.
Rohan and TANGED Gilbert but good.
Words of praise all round really. Looking forward to the next additions.

[msb]

good game, pretty exciting stuff. I think we have a chance of beating them in rd 1.

Really pleasing the defensive pressure all round the ground from us.

Maybe I missed something but didn't Jetta execute a perfect tackle out of nowhere, plum HTB and it wasn't paid?? That pissed me off.

We have a bloody good chance of beating them in round 1! What a great effort, I was expecting a 6-7 goal loss considering they were near full strength, bring em on again!

[magic.merkin]

Just got back as well. Everyone above has summed it up well.

great stuff. and IMHO good on seaby for nailing the 6 points, % play is what the swans are about.

Few tidbits, Rohan will be a star.

Kozi is slow and hopeless, killed by lRT and reg, they ran away to get the loose ball at will.

Pyke is best suited back when not rucking, he had some great speed closing down Riewoldt from memory.

good signs!

[ugg]

Summary of Roos's press conference

- Defence was really good. Saints were slightly better, as evidenced by them having 6-7 more inside 50s.
- Seaby played really well 15 poss 1 goal - good pick up for us. Joked at 3 quarter time, that if we lose the game, he would have to pay the prize money out of his own pocket *chortles of laughter*
- Really good thing about the young guys, putting some pressure on. Lewis not strong but goes hard. We didn't recruit him for his defensive side. Gary's tackling at under 18 level was very good. Don't often see that in young kids.
- Daniel Currie - 1st half was very positive.
- Good signs for the years to come. Up to those players to keep developing.
- Bradshaw will start running Monday, hopefully run for a couple of weeks and train for a couple of weeks. Still on track for round 1, but until he starts running...
- Tadhg looks really good. Took him off at halftime because of his increased workload.
- Will look to rotate some of our older players if not this week then next week.
- Mal looks like had a good pre-season, playing some really good footy.
- Shaw to come back next week.
- Defensive effort was good, Milne got off the chain a few times tonight but he's a good player.
- When they upped the tempo in the 3rd quarter, we struggled to go with them. To our credit, we dug in and got back in the game so that's a real positive for us.

[dimelb]

Lot of experimenting going on tonight. McGlynn was forward and back - definitely better forward I think. Similar Pyke - and better back, can learn by being responsible for someone. Sorry he didn't quite clean up Milne. Another great mark from Currie, becoming a real asset in this company. Goodes didn't get into things as much as normal because he was well held (and I mean held - at a serious game Id have been spewing). Nick Smith has played better games, and I trust will in the future. LRT looked a master of his craft. Reg did very well. Indeed the back six, rotated as they were, were good all night, allowing for the odd lapse.
The forward six chopped and changed - which is what these games are for - but our best six I think will be as good as anyone's.
Saints' disposal was a level or so above ours most of the time.
Altogether a good showing against a team I expected to beat us fairly comfortably.

[hot potato]

Milne is an unbelievable goal crumber, gave him a few with turnovers.
Swans were terrific, I was impressed with thier enthusiasm and skill to keep on taking it up to The Saints.
Lots of positives there. Adam will come good when he gets a few more miles under him.
They should make Jetta eat at least 15 weetbix for breakfast to fill out those skinny legs.

HP

[Number 43]

I think Bevan at half forward is a winner. Lock it in for round 1.

[mcs]

Very happy with what I saw tonight. Granted we still find ways to handball or run into trouble, but there is a lot to like about our new recruits, and the team is looking like we are going to have a pretty decent 2010. @@@@ty umpiring in the last couple of minutes didn't help, but all in all I thought we did pretty well. Some of our young blokes looked good tonight- I though O'Dwyer did welll, got lots of the ball and generally used it well. Rohan has an excellent tackle in him, and Jetta did alright as well.

[ShockOfHair]

Entertaining game. Top effort to come back and nearly steal it when Goodes and McVeigh were given a bath.

No-one else seems to have mentioned Mattner. Was fantastic tonight. Got a lot of ball, disposed of it really well.
MOD was great. A couple of disposal errors but he knew where to run.
Likewise Seaby - 15 touches, filled in the hole up back and got into things up front. He'll be our no. 1 ruck. Mumford good in the ruck contests but quiet elsewhere.
McGlynn really good like last week. Love his effort.
Kennedy good in the clinches but his disposal a bit suspect.
Pyke is still a project player.
Sumner wasn't on for long but I can see the the excitement about him. Cool, clever.
Rohan is exciting just laying tackles. Will be hard to leave him out of the side in round 1.

Plenty of run out of the back. Our footskills and decision-making a little off as usual, but work by hands was really good against the league's best defensive side. Will be fascinating to see how Shaw gets used next week.

[smasher]

Great cameos from Rohan.This kids gunna be a star.
Bevan is good on the forward line.
Our defenders did very well IMO.
Disappointed with McGlynn and Kennedy after all the hype last week.
Our disposal were pretty bad,often due to no one to kick,handball it to.
We played well seeing it's only our second real hit out for year.Lots of promise for 2010.