Game day thread - Rnd 2 v Freo

[MightyBloods]

Positives for me:
Kennedy ~ elite
Reid's fist half took me back to Lockett dominating up forward.
Our pressure all over the field was great. I particularly liked the manning of the mark....pressing up and starjumping where the mark is, give them no inch...a very malthouse tactic.
LRT was very good in a milestone game.
Jetta continues to improve. I like how we create 'pagans paddock' for him to run into.
I thought our senior players were outperformed by our mid range/junior players...a very very good sign for the future.

Note: I hope that Reidy's shoulder is ok...played proppy (and probably under an injection) second half ...and that Mummy is ok. Happy with that win...Freo will be no pushover for any club.

[Melbournehammer]

As good as we were in the first half we were absolutely poor in the second half. The wall freo put up in the second half just destroyed us and we had zero run from behind - which is a function of getting burned too often from poor disposals. everyone started playing entirely defensively. ultimately we were lucky and we got a very good run from the officials after the interchange infringement.

well done lrt in your 150th - you competed as well today as you ever have.

when reid got injured we lost our ability to move the ball over the half forward line. longmire was very slow to try and introduce an alternative vehicle and it could have cost us big time.

still well done, good win and onto next week !

[grarmy]

We just made it. Best said yesterday about the danger of using underdone players, particularly coming off a bye. The argument won me over especially with today's results. ROK earned two possessions before being dragged. Two! We should have played Jared Moore instead. Coming back after a bye is always fraught - just ask Goodsey. We should have played fully fit players.

[GongSwan]

I hope that tired looking performance after half time is not going to be typical thru the year, have we not yet adjusted to the i/c sub rule. We seemed to switch off second half and just do the bare essentials to win, but win we did and without Mummy and more or less without Reid for half a game. ROK may have been better off coming back though the ressies after all, but he'll be better for the run and we still won, Agree the younger brigade upstaged to old hands today, which is a good omen for the future as said

[Gary]

I'm afraid I just couldn't watch once they got close...it seemed like we had cut the motor & started going through the motions. I will enjoy watch ing them hold on later but was not up for what seemed to be happening before my eyes...so many time over almost 60 years. Much to like in the first half...some of the best team play I have seen from Sydney for a long time...if only we could kick.
I think this will be quite a year, but we would need to be more consistent than the first 2 games suggest to really worry the better sides...some of whom are looking magnificent. RR's compared to our (my) hard working but limited Camry (which I love).

[grarmy]

Let's put it down to a wake up call. Port will go into the game next week with lots of confidence. What they lack in skills and smarts, they make up for with passion. We cannot afford to let our guards down next week if we want to beat Port at home. The senior guys will need to lift.

[satchmopugdog]

I was beside myself when Freo kicked those six goals in a row. Our interchange people need a kick up the derriere...those mistakes are sooooo morale sapping.

Very happy with a win, very happy and my blood pressure is nearly back to a safe level.

Good on you LRT

[Alan]

Relax guys, a win is a win. Freo, along with Adelaide, are one of our bogey sides so to beat them in any way is a blessing. it is very early in the season. Have faith. Cheer, Cheer the red and white

[Mike_B]

Well it seemed to be convincing at one stage but mostly due to solid defensive work to stop them and manufacturing goals up forward. The Freo comeback was due to them smashing us at the clearances. We showed a lot of character to hold them off and steady. A win against a team that will be in the mix with us for the 8 at year end even this early is worth plenty.

I know that it was windy today but the number of dropped uncontested marks and kicks that missed targets by miles were simply inexcusable. Better teams will make us pay a lot more dearly than Freo did today. And I think there were two kicks into forward 50 that were clearly to the forward's advantage - that too will come back to cost us if we can't improve that in coming weeks.

So plenty of room to improve, but a win is a win and that's the most important thing out of today.

[Sandridge]

Very happy to get the 4 points,especially as I thought we'd really struggle today. Despite some "tear out your hair" moments, I felt we were deserving winners over a very good team. (Umps were generous to us - at last! - although not as generous as they were to the Dockers in the corresponding game last year!)

Go Bloods!

[ernie koala]

A good solid win, pressure was excellent, apart from a 15 minute snooze in the 3rd quarter.
Freo are a reasonably strong side.
2 from 2 with Port next.....so far so good.

[Mike_B]

2 from 2 with Port next.....so far so good.

I don't see Port going anywhere near the 8 this year, but they will be far more competitive than last year and will provide nuisance value to many teams this year. We can't take them lightly.

[SCGonasunnyday]

I am a bit surprised by some of the perspectives here and wonder if the difference is between those at the game and those watching on TV.

The 22,000 crowd atmosphere was great as it was packed in with one stand unavailable. The quality of some of the marks and goals and the excitement of the game (even one with basically no lead changes) was great.

Jetta's goal I expect may not come up as great on TV as it did live, it was simply beautiful and had most of the crowd on their feet. You could see the plan before the ball was kicked and you could see Jetta coming from so far away, he couldn't possibly make up that much ground, but knock me down with a feather he did just, juggled the ball got clear and scored. Awesome.

LRT's tackle and Goodes goal was super important, all up it was a great game to be at with so many great moments.

[gossipcom]

Kennedy was outstanding today, especially in that last quarter he was everywhere.

Mollison was the umpire who wants all the attention (but since he wasn't on the boundary I can't blame him for the idiotic IC free kick), we also had him in the GWS game. As soon as I saw his name I went bloody hell.

[erica]

Good grief, did you all watch a different game to me? At the ground, it was an engrossing game with some great hard tackling and some thrilling goals. We recovered from the third quarter fadeout well and finished with a brilliant piece of teamwork with Kennedy kicking a huge kick for Jetta to run onto and kick a goal.

Very happy with the way we held Freo for three quarters and that we won another 4 points. Happy for LRT that we celebrated his 150th with a win. Can't do better than two out of two at the end of round two.