Pies match thread

[Lucky Knickers]

I do like Sumner's game and hope he builds on his awareness. In Q1 he had a clear shepherd to lay which would have seen Everitt away and clear. Was disappointed as lead to Everitt being pinged.

[Swanner]

questions marks over bolton and mcveigh but i think they are just having a slow start to the season. jetta is kicking too early ... he needs to carry the ball for a few steps more....everitt...could be really good or permanently gaff prone, not sure but i guess they should persist because his upside is very good. TDL looks intimidated with a bit more attention...Campbell Brown in the GC match gave him a love tap just before the start of the game and he looked a bit worried by it and his body work and aggression fell off at times, although at other times it was good. Getting him into the boxing ring and toughen the lad up! I think they promoted the wrong bloke to captain, should have been K Jack. All in all no reason we shouldnt finish 5,6,7 ... i just hope they're is a bit more improvement in the kids to tip us into the top four. Bring on 2011.

[giant]

Thought that was a great effort after a blindingly awful start. Many great efforts but Bolton, TDL and Meredith are all under varying forms of pressure.

The defence was outstanding without B2 & LRT and did a great job avoiding the Pies choker grip - plenty of teams will be watching that effort to get some ideas on how to play the Pies I think.

Easily worst part of a very good pre-season game was the umpiring - I understand that like the players that the umps will be a tad rusty, but both teams must have scored round 8 goals from rubbish soft frees, 50m, kicks down the ground etc. Who wants to watch that crap in the pre-season? Chamberlain is an embarrassment.

[aardvark]

I thought it was the TAA Cup

Wasn't it originally the "ESCORT CUP"?

[aardvark]

Josh Kennedy is an absolute gun.
Pykes ruckwork is better than Seabys
McVeigh missing in action again.
TDL even more missing in action.
Rohan ready to be in best 22 Rnd1.

We need a forward line ASAP.

[satchmopugdog]

We need a forward line ASAP.

My Mum , a Carlton supporter, said that to me this morning and she's legally blind.

[ScottH]

Sumner looked impressive.
Jetta was finding the ball well.
Rohan is gunna be a gun.
Everitt was so-so
Seaby may struggle to get a spot, once Mummy is back.

Kennedy is getting better with every game.
Bird was getting lots of touches early.
Hanners seemed a bit out of touch.
Jack was on fire. The ball didn't bounce for him a few times.
McV didn't look like captain material last night.

Goodes easily beat Tarrant last night, but needed more help at times.

All up a good effort, but some really dumb skill errors cost us badly.
Beams was loose far too often in the last term, and Swan is very hard to shut down.
Kraukor was on fire in the first term, should be a good pickup for the pies.

[Nolie]

Just back from Etihad and a quick squiz at the thread. Agree with the positives people have picked out. It was a good hitout for us, and once we got the rust out of the system we were good to look at. Kennedy was terrific and Uncle was very impressive. Bird is not a runner, but what a pair of hands he has. Good to see Jetta on different players, including Thomas, whom he more than matched for pace if not always for positioning. There were no poor players despite a few clangers. The Pies were better on skills and more consistent, but if a couple of ump decisions had been different, and if we had not turned over the ball at one or two critical moments, the game could have gone the other way. Altogether an enjoyable and very encouraging Friday night at the footy.

Great to be watching footy again. But some horrible ump decisions in the last quarter (McGlynn's "hand in the back that wasn't a hand in the back" when he took a mark up forward and the "deliberate" out of bounds that resulted in a goal to Swan) reminded me about why I also hate watching Swans games. How many times over the years have we been dudded by shocking deliberate OOB decisions? One I think in 2005 against Kangaroos when Jason Ball was pinged resulting in a winning goal to Kangaroos. I can feel frustration in my bones for 2011.

[Nico]

Sumner looked impressive.
Jetta was finding the ball well.
Rohan is gunna be a gun.
Everitt was so-so
Seaby may struggle to get a spot, once Mummy is back.

Kennedy is getting better with every game.
Bird was getting lots of touches early.
Hanners seemed a bit out of touch.
Jack was on fire. The ball didn't bounce for him a few times.
McV didn't look like captain material last night.

Goodes easily beat Tarrant last night, but needed more help at times.

All up a good effort, but some really dumb skill errors cost us badly.
Beams was loose far too often in the last term, and Swan is very hard to shut down.
Kraukor was on fire in the first term, should be a good pickup for the pies.

My observation was that Rohan was on Beams in the last Q. Beams can seriously play.

[Captain]

Positives:
- Rohan, Rohan, Rohan
- Sumner - looked polished and good in traffic
- Kennedy - is going to be a gun
- Jack - is a gun
- Richards - still one of our most reliable defenders

Negatives:
- McVeigh was useless
- So was ROK
- Bolton was ordinary and looked slow. Expect him to lift.
- Everitt isn't good under pressure and turns it over a lot
- Mattner - was so so and might struggle with Kennelly back

[Primmy]

Hanners looks like an eye socket problem.....Did anyone else notice that whenever cameras switched to sideline and he was in shot, he was talking?
Teddy is a keeper.
Tarrant looked hot....
Does Kraukor have a smile gene?
Kennedy is going like a gun
Everitt has a few issues, a big successful brother, great expectations, proving his hold club wrong, holding down a permanent position - on the whole not too bad really, with flashes of things that could be.
Benny is a little terrior but reminds me of Wade Chapman - little idea of self preservation.
TDL wasn't at his best,but holymoly that tackle!
Uncle Byron should get a spot in the starting 22, but maybe they will bring him in gradually.
Jetts is a better team player these last two games than initially - goal monkey off his back has improved things out of sight - orange boots last week, yellow this week, I am waiting for the purple, blue and chartruse in the future.
MikePyke, I told you his handballing had improved, so I was right there, I just realised that he is now playing about 30 meters away from himself insteadl of five, that's a big improve in a small amount of time. Rucking is just fine.

[giant]

Positives:
- ...
- Mattner - was so so and might struggle with Kennelly back

Seriously? Thought he was outstanding (and thought he was very good last week when others were bagging him too).

[ugg]

Mattner's the new whipping boy. I loved his defensive work, some great desperation lunges and stretches prevented what would have been Collingwood shots on goal. His main problem, and I suspect where many fans get such a negative impression of him, is his offensive game. He is liable to taking one step too many and getting pinged, he loves to bounce every 5 steps but does it with his head down, rendering him unaware of his surroundings and the opportunities up field, and seems to be quite error-prone at the kickins. At the moment I have him battling Dre for a spot in the 22, both can play on medium forwards, take the kick-ins and run and carry out of the defence.

[Nico]

I thought the backline played pretty well. The problem we had was dumb disposal/turnovers in the midfield that gave them easy breaks and half a dozen goals.
Mattner early was awful with his disposal. I felt Everitt was OK. That clanger to Bolton across half back was as much Bolton's fault. Why kick the ball to a statue when you have a thumping kick. Everitt doesn't appear to panic and when we get the rest of our backline back will slot in well.
Grundy was good given it was his first hitout.
Bird... gets to where the balls at and makes space but got done on his awareness a couple of times. I noticed on the replay that he made a gesture with his hand that means .."how about a bit of talking".
Hanners got a head knock from the replay and his actions on the bench. Great effort to make the contest.
Jack was very good, Kennedy is all class, Jetta was coasting, Malceski was good, McGlynn (did someone say last week he was battling for a spot?), ROK was well in need of the run, Richards solid, Pyke improved, Seaby battled a bit, Rohan's last half was good, Bevo was average, McVeigh had a shocker and for mine would be more value up forward than on the ball, Shaw was Ok but maybe when we get our backline back can play up forward and Summner looks is real find.
Jude.. a few people have said already how ordinary he was. Is now a statue of big proportions. When he went into the centre bounces in the second half the clearances dried up. Ball carved him up as did others. He bumps and blocks then when the ball is there for a contest he is static.
Moore seems to have picked up a bit of pace, but early he was poor. Improved as the game went on.
Lweis J did a couple of OK things but I remember his U18 reel and he was a live wire. What's happened?
Meredith got the footy but slaughtered it. Poor decisions and slow. Top up player.
Sam Reid.. moved around a bit but didn't find the footy much. Doubt he will start round 1.
TDL...2 weeks in a row has been as soft as butter. It looked to me at the game he dropped his head when he dropped amark in the first quarter (i think got dragged) and in the last quarter had 2 metres on an opponent and should have taken a chest mark and taken the bump for 50 metre penalty but at the last moment took his eyes of the footy, looked at the player and went with the finger tips. Those acts don't get you a game in the big time. I happy to be corrected on these.

2 bonuses - ROK is fit and could be the recruit of the year and Bolton in the stands says he confident of playing Round 1.

[msb]

Pathetic crowd (10,773) for a team that boasts the biggest number of club members in the country. Ironic considering the narky comments in the media about the size of last week's Blacktown crowd.

I think that is a statement that the NAB Cup and its rules is just rubbish. I hope upon hope these rules never get brought in, they are just bull@@@@, for the first time in all my time in watching footy, I was confused, especially with those rubbish 50 metre penalties when collingwood got 9 points but the same thing happened to us and we get 6??? Bring on the real stuff!