NAB Cup: Sydney Swans v Carlton Blues v GWS Giants - team list and match discussion

[Auntie.Gerald]

2nd game against GWS 14 lads not from our GF team and only 10 from our GF team........we certainly made sure that we wont be playing in the finals of the NAB Cup

with a few mins to go in last qtr......

Armstrong - looked much better with less pressure and was giving and going off the back line and pushing up to the HFF for a delivery into the forward line
Cunningham - struggled a little on a couple of sharp little small forwards but his counter was still strong
Towers - played tight in the backline but looked a little overawed in body language first half against GWS then pushed up forward in last qtr against GWS....nice goal at the end from his pure speed !
White - ok except for the best play of the day he was brilliant !!!!!......to be fair played most of both games and worked reasonably hard
Lloyd - appeared to be subbed for Membrey
Lockyear - only on late in the 3rd qtr that i could see........i did get him mixed up a few times with AJ though.....they looked a little similar front on in the distance
Rampe - played tight in the backline and is a physical presence and a long kick.....last qtr pushed into midfield and was physical and quite ok with clearance. could play seniors in a tight role and would do it well enough !
Jack Jnr - up front in 3rd qtr and we didnt get the ball in our forward line against GWS in this qtr of footy
Walsh - same again Walsh the ball was up there but was quiet when it did come in the forward line
Lamb - same again as Lambie was on the HFF.......last qtr though he was involved
Everitt - same again for Everitt who was on the HFF and or Wing..............pressure second half ok but not brilliant
Biggs - same again for Biggs appeared to be in the forward line and not of senior quality or body type.......had toby greene alot of the time to mark and struggled a little
Naismith - didnt play 3rd qtr ie 1st qtr against GWS nor last ??
Membrey - looks really trim and fit but didnt inject himself but then again it was GWS attacking most of both qtrs into our half of the field


old guys who played in the 2nd game:

ROK
Grundy
Ted
Macca
Bird
Jack
Reid
Parker
AJ
Hannes

[aardvark]

Liked Dane Rampe, Brandon Jack and Dean Towers. Wasn't impressed with Walsh and Biggs. Everyone got through without getting injured. A successful result in my book.

[Wazza]

I thought the games went pretty much as expected I really enjoyed Armstrong,Cunningham and Towers. I was happy with jesse's game given the conditions, rucked well and given our lack of success in FWD 50 couldnt undertsand why he wasnt at FF at some stage. I wanted to see more from lamb was a little dissapointed in his game. Didnt rate tommy walsh last year and stated he would struggle to make any SANFL side, Im thinking my thinking back then was pretty accurate.

Cheers

waz

[Nico]

Our kicking was very poor. Probably the worst 2 pre season games we have ever played. But you could see the class of Mcveigh and Jack when they got the footy. Shocking out of the centre as usual. Dont like the sliding in rule. Too technical and many times it was a player simply going for the footy rather than a slide. There is going to be a lot of howling during the season over this howler of a rule. And fancy ruckman not being able to jostle at a throw in. First they banned grabbing the ball from the ruck and now no touchies. I look forward to a wonderful season ahead as sides adjust to playing touch footy.

[Nico]

Thought Cunningham went ok. Certainly looked capable of being a good back up player during the season. Looked a bit like Brad Seymour in build.

[gazza]

nab cup 24/2

didn't show me much,proved white and walsh will never play senior footy.towers,lamb and rampe showed a bit.
some seniors looked like they were still enjoying the premiership.
we obviously didn't care about the result.i expect better next week

[Auntie.Gerald]

geese Gaz I didnt see White doing as badly as you have alluded to ?

wasnt he pretty much the lone ruck for 4qtrs ?

[Auntie.Gerald]

agree Nico.........Harry has filled out alot

i think he went from 72kg last year to 80kg and looked like how Sewell runs into packs head over the ball both hands out in front.

harry only just turned 19yrs old in dec 2012 also !

only 2kg off Macca and 180cm tall........Cunningham is a keeper and if not this year the next year he will be very much part of the 22

[liz]

It was certainly painful to watch. I think we can tell how much the coaching staff cared about the results by the very small number of players we used. We know some are injured, but not Kennedy, Pyke, Jetta, Jude, LRT, Eski. Still, the games show there is a lot of work to do before the season starts.

Agree with Nico that the 'contact below the knees' rule needs a bit of tweaking. Fully understand why they have introduced this - if we can stop another player suffering a broken leg like Rohan all will be well. But the umpires need to learn to distinguish between something that is dangerous to the standing player and a player just putting their head over the ball. To be fair to the umpires, it is a new rule for them too, so they might take a bit of time to get the balance right.

We know what the likes of Ted, Macca and ROK can do. And they generally did it OK tonight. My main positive was probably Armstrong, who injected himself well into the games and showed he could break the lines.

[Matt79]

Pre season...avoid major injuries? TICK - Successful night!

[stellation]

Pre season...avoid major injuries? TICK - Successful night!

Now that's some positive thinking!

[Matt79]

I cringe watching pre season games just thinking...don't get hurt!! *That's not positive *

[giant]

Jesus these @@@@@@@*** umpires have been on us all day. Missing Shaw, Mumford, jetta, goodes, smith, mattner, Kennedy, Bolton, pyke, Morton, LRT, Mcglynn, Malceski,

The umpiring was bizarre. If I'd had a newbie to the game with me I'd have struggled to explain about 2/3 of those decisions (both for and against us). How many new rules were they trialling???

[cyanide]

Agree Armstrong was impressive and Everitt was busy, particularly in the Carlton game. Jesse played a lot of minutes but frustrated as usual, despite his spectacular goal. Reid took a great speccy and a few more contested marks. Macca was tireless as always, although i agree many of the GF players were showing their short pre season. Towers and Cunningham looked like they could push for a senior spot this season. Rampe did a bit but most of the rookies looked overawed.

I didn't think the effort was appalling, although maybe not Bloods standard, however the skill level and execution was generally low. Obviously the coaches saw it as a chance to blood youth and experiment with roles for the kids, unlike the other teams who fielded near A-grade sides.

By the by, Blacktown Sportspark is an unexpectedly pleasant venue, muggy and wet conditions notwithstanding.

[ShockOfHair]

I thought Armstrong was the standout too. With Smith and possibly Mattner making a late start he's a lock for round 1.

White's effort wasn't too shabby, but he's still our #4 ruck option. Interesting that Walsh was used as a forward and not up back. He's also at the back of a long queue.

We looked pretty clunky but an acceptable first-up hitout.