Tigers matchday thread

[SCGonasunnyday]

Having watched this game at the ground and again on tv replay I must say: Great Win. Tigers had ample motivation - in the context of their season they really needed to win. We played really well, if it wasn't for the set shots at goal it would have been a big win. 2 goals 9 to Reid and Goodes, the football gods will even that out later on, no need to worry. So many of our players were great, special mention to Seaby, Kennedy, Hannebery, Reid, Mcglynn, Shaw, Kennelly, Richards, O'Keefe, Bird. TDL is really important to our fwd structure, I hope he keeps his spot. Great game, well done all.

[Bleed Red Blood]

I think Jetta is playing self conscious footy. I remember the way he played in the pre-season comp last year, just all instinct and without hesitation. I want that back. He is ALMOST doing some things really well but not quite getting there.

[aardvark]

Totally agree. I never thought I'd say it but LRT has good utility value, and his experience is critical in a team that has a lot of inexperienced players in it. He give s a good contest up forward, is servicable in the ruck and we know he is a more than capable defender. No way should he be dropped. Oh and he absolutely has won the miss of the year award for hitting the post in the opening minutes- that was a real LRT moment!

Agree. And if it comes to the crunch LRT is still a better FB than Ted even though Teds been excellent this year.

[neilfws]

Oh and he absolutely has won the miss of the year award for hitting the post in the opening minutes- that was a real LRT moment!

I think he was distracted by the screams of pain from Astbury. Poor bloke was in some strife.

[neilfws]

I suspect this was one of those games which looked a lot different for those of us at the ground than it did on TV.

Conditions were very difficult. Started out looking like it was going to brighten, then it didn't; really strong, blustery wind blowing down the ground, swirling at the city end then blowing across to the members; downpour in the last quarter and freezing cold. No-one was kicking well from the pockets today, the wind even carried a couple out on the full on the members side. Not sure how you train for that, even if it is your home ground.

What I liked today, especially from Reid, is that nobody looked like hanging their heads and giving up. Reid kept on trying and marking, even after 5 behinds and was eventually rewarded with his second. And the team didn't lose faith; Goodes gave one off to Reid at one point as if to say "go on, just try again" - and OK, he missed it but again, no bad body language afterwards.

Not sure what TDL has to do to get an extended run in the side. He's not going to kick 6 every week but has forward smarts and works well in combination with a tall who can make a contest: LRT, Reid. We saw this last week at Brisbane and again this week. Seems like the closest thing we have to a plan for the forwards.

Thought Jack as sub worked out OK; he had immediate influence. Just one bad moment, the HTB that led to a goal. Looked like a brain freeze at first, but I think he was expecting Kennelly to come up the outside, not realising he'd been held up.

I thought a lot of players went well today. Seaby looked like he really wants to hold his place in the side, the midfield all generally good. Kennedy again the quiet achiever, you don't see him then realise he has 20 possessions! Reid I hope will be awesome with development, Grundy was very solid - the whole back line pretty good (keeping Riewoldt to 2 takes work on any day). AJ was terrific and I hope will be a regular.

A couple for the highlights reel: TDL's early sliding goal and Shaw running almost the entire SCG just on the half time siren. Shaw looked like he was absolutely loving his 150th; just full-on all the time.

I thought at half-time that the team with a 3 goal buffer could win with 9-10 goals and so they did. So you can look at the score and say "gee, 9.21 is pretty awful kicking" but really, there was a lot more to this game than that.

[Bloody Hell]

Just watching the game compliments of Austar at Wodonga.

Listened to most of the game whilst in Melbourne today but is sounded really boring. Perhaps I was spoilt compairing it with the Cats Hawks game last night which was an incredible game to watch live.

The impression I got was that there was very heavy rain for most of the game but it doesn't look too bad on TV now. Melbourne had the same MMM commentary team as Sydney did (Luffy, Seymour and Frank). Which was interesting as 3AW flew their whole team up who are probably still enjoying Sydney tonight.

It was a win but the next two weeks will show whether we have improved since our last loss against Carlton and the Cats and Hawks.

Speaking of missed flights, Bruce Macca must be thinking another night in Sydney is deliciously special - CLEVER

BTW spending the night at Wodonga was on my Bucket List

You don't spend a night in Wodonga, you survive a night in Wodonga....why wouldn't you just cross the river?

Watched a replay, very boring match to watch.

[Bloody Hell]

It beats me why LRT's name is consistently mentioned as someone to drop. It seems the fact he is playing 2nd ruck is the reason.

Under no circumstance would I drop him. His flexibility to play forward, back and ruck is invaluable.

To be honest, as much as we are excited about Johnson, LRT is a much better defender at this stage. If there is no room for him rucking or forward, then he MUST play in the backline.

Unfortunately I'd drop Richards before Johnson. Ted and LRT play a similar role, AJ brings something different.

[Bloody Hell]

Think this game can be best summed up by a lone stat - that of the set shot.

7.0 vs 2.11

Can you guess whose is whose?

[Melbournehammer]

Agree. And if it comes to the crunch LRT is still a better FB than Ted even though Teds been excellent this year.

I disagree. LRT can play fb about as well as Ted. But Ted can play on talls and shorts. Ted can also read the play better and is a very decent third man up. LRT is best suited to the lumbering ff type and kreuzer may well be his ideal match up. So I wouldn't be dropping him this week but I think Ted has proved his worth as a defender this year and if anyone was in any doubt they should look at our selection panels decision this year

[stellation]

BTW spending the night at Wodonga was on my Bucket List

As in "list of things that will make me spew"?

[erica]

Most entertaining part of being at the footy yesterday was watching the cameraman who had to go up in the cherry picker near the member's stand to film the game for channel 7. The flags on the top of the stand were full-out horizontal all day due to the freezing cold wind and I wondered whether the cameramen had to draw straws to see who got that job. Poor bugger, especially during the 4th quarter when the rain really pelted down.

[Triple B]

As in "list of things that will make me spew"?

[Triple B]

What the hell was that LRT?!

That was vintage LRT. Has anybody ever managed to miss a goal from so close? lol

[Triple B]

......someone said John Blakey was Forward Coach, that would be stupid if true cos he was a defender.

I'll spare you the 'dumbest post of the year' award because it was made in the heat of battle and some strange @@@@ gets written and spoken during gametime, but feel free to come back during the week and explain.....

[Triple B]

Just on the wind, I didn't think it made anywhere near the difference the commentators made out.

Sitting behind the goals in the Noble gives a pretty good perception of flight for goal kicking and EVERY miss of Reid and Goodes was just a straight out shank. No suggestion that the ball was on target and grabbed by the wind on any of the kicks that I could see. As mentioned earlier, Richmond didn't appear to suffer.