NAB Round 1: reflections

[hungry for a premiership]

*Clearly, we are bottom 4 material, mere chickenfeed for the teams that will be competing for this years flag, but there's enough there to suggest that, in a realistic time span of about 5-6 years, we will have a very exciting team indeed.

*Make no mistake: This year could well be worse than last year. We still may have further down to go before we start going up again.

*We traded McEvoy for Savage and Dunstan. Good and ballsy decision IMO.

*Alan Richardson is a rock.

*Jack Steven is the most damaging player on our list, and just as I foresaw that he would become an A-grader, so too will Nathan Wright.

*Our backline is much better than last year... tonight was minus Fish, Dempster, Gwilt, Gilbert.

[Gershwin]

*Clearly, we are bottom 4 material, mere chickenfeed for the teams that will be competing for this years flag, but there's enough there to suggest that, in a realistic time span of about 5-6 years, we will have a very exciting team indeed.

*Make no mistake: This year could well be worse than last year. We still may have further down to go before we start going up again.

*We traded McEvoy for Savage and Dunstan. Good and ballsy decision IMO.

*Alan Richardson is a rock.

*Jack Steven is the most damaging player on our list, and just as I foresaw that he would become an A-grader, so too will Nathan Wright.

*Our backline is much better than last year... tonight was minus Fish, Dempster, Gwilt, Gilbert.

Appreciate your reflections.
I think our backline included:
Geary, Delaney, Simpkin, Webster, Bruce, Wright, Roberton
Who would you drop for the 4 you mention?

[MC Gusto]

i like these reflections

mine:
i thought hickey had one of his better games for us - promising start
eli brings the x factor
bruce showed promise as did dunstan and delaney did some ok stuff
no doubt joey, steven and armo will be carrying the bulk of the midfield load this year
savage adds some spark

on a negative note
was hoping to see more from newnes, ross et al. i thought their contribution was disappointing
stanley i fear is a list clogger. what are we doing with this bloke and where are we playing him. continues to dissapoint

[plugger66]

i like these reflections

mine:
i thought hickey had one of his better games for us - promising start
eli brings the x factor
bruce showed promise as did dunstan and delaney did some ok stuff
no doubt joey, steven and armo will be carrying the bulk of the midfield load this year
savage adds some spark

on a negative note
was hoping to see more from newnes, ross et al. i thought their contribution was disappointing
stanley i fear is a list clogger. what are we doing with this bloke and where are we playing him. continues to dissapoint

Surely Newnes didnt play. I didnt see him at all.

[MC Gusto]

i like these reflections

mine:
i thought hickey had one of his better games for us - promising start
eli brings the x factor
bruce showed promise as did dunstan and delaney did some ok stuff
no doubt joey, steven and armo will be carrying the bulk of the midfield load this year
savage adds some spark

on a negative note
was hoping to see more from newnes, ross et al. i thought their contribution was disappointing
stanley i fear is a list clogger. what are we doing with this bloke and where are we playing him. continues to dissapoint

Surely Newnes didnt play. I didnt see him at all.

whoops! didnt he? my bad!

i should add webster and wright to the positives list.

[plugger66]

i like these reflections

mine:
i thought hickey had one of his better games for us - promising start
eli brings the x factor
bruce showed promise as did dunstan and delaney did some ok stuff
no doubt joey, steven and armo will be carrying the bulk of the midfield load this year
savage adds some spark

on a negative note
was hoping to see more from newnes, ross et al. i thought their contribution was disappointing
stanley i fear is a list clogger. what are we doing with this bloke and where are we playing him. continues to dissapoint

Surely Newnes didnt play. I didnt see him at all.

whoops! didnt he? my bad!

i should add webster and wright to the positives list.

No I dont know if he played. he may have. I just didnt notice him at all.

[noob]

I feel Webster is showing the most so far out of the 3rd year players.

[Jacks Back]

Newnes was out there (No 16) but didn't get much of it.

[plugger66]

Newnes was out there (No 16) but didn't get much of it.

Yep I didnt even see him at all but just looked up his stats and its no wonder I didnt see him. Its only one practice match. No need to worry as yet.

[PADDLEPOP1001]

Newnes ,I didn't see either but got 38 suppercoach points,I didn " t hear his name mentioned !

[SainterK]

Yep Nath Wright was my highlight...

Cut out that game and paste it on a dry deck = exciting.

[SainterK]

i like these reflections

mine:
i thought hickey had one of his better games for us - promising start
eli brings the x factor
bruce showed promise as did dunstan and delaney did some ok stuff
no doubt joey, steven and armo will be carrying the bulk of the midfield load this year
savage adds some spark

on a negative note
was hoping to see more from newnes, ross et al. i thought their contribution was disappointing
stanley i fear is a list clogger. what are we doing with this bloke and where are we playing him. continues to dissapoint

Surely Newnes didnt play. I didnt see him at all.

I remember one play, he was the unlucky guy who tackled that dogs player who dropped his body and got done in the back early in the game

[spert]

Terrible conditions to play in, but a couple of things were obvious- a lot of these guys are not yet used to playing together as a team, and it will take a while to settle the team in, as new players are brought in and out to see who fits- so don't expect too much. The midfield was ordinary last night and I think might be a worry for Richo- second to the ball and just didn't get their hands on the ball enough..same story as last season. Some good signs- Webster, Savage, Dunstan, Bruce... and Eli could be a find. Probably not good conditions for a tall like Stanley, and he really needs to pull his finger out on a dry track this season. I'm not too worried with what I saw last night, and the team had a good attacking spirit and didn't lay down under pressure- that's a good sign.

[St Chris]

- Pretty happy with the new boys. Delaney, Bruce, Longer and Savage all showed a bit. Longer seems to lack size for a ruckman, maybe just different body shape at this stage. And I wish Savage would stop kicking up and unders - made teammates camp under the ball a few times.

- I fear for Jack Steven this year. He's gonna get worked over by opposition midfielders, and we don't really have anyone to give him a chop out. Armo might become No. 1 bodyguard.

- Stanley. Geez where do I start?? Hopefully can show something in the next 2 weeks for his sake and ours.

- I hope we can find someone to push Maister out of the side, nothing against the guy, I just hope he's not the 2nd best forward on our list.

[Verdun66]

Thought Ross got involved early, but seem to fade. Or did he not have a lot of game time? This is a guy we need to have working hard in the midfield. Should be starting to show something.

[spot on]

Thought Webster looked really good. Much stronger and confident. Hickey seems to hold his ground better and think he will have a better season too. Like lingers attack on the ball and player. Loves the hard stuff and tackling.

[cwrcyn]

Clearly missing some leadership out there, and it's probably a fair point that these guys need to get used to playing together. The midfield will be the big test. Can Ross and Saunders fill the void left by Dal Santo? Both had little impact last night, but I'm sure they'll be better. Hickey's tap work is very good, while Longer was harder to assess. Webster looked very composed down back, Wright has a maniacal attack at the ball and runs in a straight line, while Templeton seemed to adjust to AFL tempo with ease. Dunstan and Billings tried to get involved, but struggled, and that's unsurprising. Interestingly, Geary and Jones were down on form. TDL was TDL, and I'd be extremely disappointed if he denied senior opportunities to younger players during the season by getting games.

[Spinner]

My highs

Webster
Wright - hopefully the pace and kicking are more effective in dry
Hickey


Lows

Stanley
Ray
Newens
Hoping more from Ross


Need to intertwine this with game time played which I havnt got stats for yet but I remember Dunnell having little.

[FQF]

My highs

Webster
Wright - hopefully the pace and kicking are more effective in dry
Hickey


Lows

Stanley
Ray
Newens
Hoping more from Ross


Need to intertwine this with game time played which I havnt got stats for yet but I remember Dunnell having little.

Agree - except for Ray being a low.

Stanley was woeful, rain or no rain, as we have come to expect. My faith with him has just about run out.

Think Saunders is a feisty competitor. Gives it his all.

[stkildathunda]

Dave Savell asked me to post link to his photos given he cant register on here!!

You can check them out here - http://www.davesavell.com/p400582359

[BringBackMadDog]

The Good: Hickey, Wright, Webster, Eli, Dunstan, Bruce, Maister, defensive pressure/tackling
The Bad: clearance work, Newnes, Curran, Ross, Saunders didn't show much
The ugly: Stanley was just terrible, Ray and Jones' disposal is putrid

[matrix]

i stopped after reading 'clearly we are bottom four material'

yeah we might be
but f*** me how many senior players wernt playing??

roo joey leny gwilt fisher dempster schneides??

f***** nab cup round one and already we are doomed
yay us

[HitTheBoundary]

I haven't seen the game, or any of the pre-season footage.
How do people see Luke Dunstan and Seb Ross in terms of development - my understanding is that they're both left footers (?), solid in and under types, but slower outside.

They sound very similar to me, can we play both in the same team, and is Dunstan already ahead of Ross?

[mad saint guy]

We clearly ARE bottom four material, and that is to be expected after challenging for a flag from 2004-2011 while ignoring anyone under 25 from '07 onwards.

There were some good signs, but not enough to suggest we'll have a miraculous Port Adelaide-like revival. They spent a good 3-4 years drafting extremely well before it started to come together for them. I'd say we're one year into that.

Hickey and Longer were both very impressive in the ruck contests, we had the most hitouts to advantage I can recall since the Gardiner/King combo. Both have plenty to work on around the ground though. Wright has the most potential of all of our kids excluding last year's batch - he has the great ability to take clean possession of the footy at pace and keep charging forwards. With a bit more experience and composure Wright could become an outstanding midfielder/wingman.

Savage got involved a fair bit but his finishing wasn't great. He's a definite upgrade on other experienced fringe players like Jones and Ray though. Delaney competed well for most of the game and looks like a solid option to take the gorilla forward/resting ruckman. Bruce did some good things as well but could spend some time at Sandringham if our more experienced defenders are all fit. Simpkin was the most impressive backman IMO and I'd have him starting ahead of Bruce and Gwilt. Despite lacking a bit of height his intensity, strength, timing and technique make him a quality defender.

Dunstan didn't look out of place and should play 8-12 games this year. Honestly I didn't notice his first five or so possessions and then I checked the stats and realised that many were contested possessions and clearances. Hopefully he's the long-term Lenny replacement. Ross needs to show improvement if he doesn't want to be overtaken by Dunstan this year - they are quite similar players and Seb needs to start impacting games more. Newnes continued being Newnes - gets a few disposals and doesn't stuff many up, but doesn't have the tiniest bit of impact on the game either. Newnes needs to either get consistently big disposal numbers or start doing some damage with the footy.

We got what was expected from the older guys. Quality game from Joey, Maister was a workhorse who dropped too many marks while Ray and Jones ran their guts out to get the footy and butcher it. Geary and Steven both continued their 2013 form. It was disappointing that Dunell couldn't have an impact, this is his make or break year. TDL has his customary 6 disposals and a goal which just isn't an acceptable output from a 25 year old forward. Stanley was incredibly disappointing in what was his big chance to show that he can hold down CHF. Templeton, Webster and Curren all played decent games, unfortunately Billings didn't get involved at all.

I would have liked to see Weller and Siposs playing, hopefully they'll both get a crack in the next game.

I'm aware that this is only the pre season, but at this stage we need signs from players that show ability and/or potential. I'm a bit concerned that we don't have any real A-graders coming up through the ranks. Steven is a star, Wright looks likely, and we all have high hopes that Billings, Acres, Longer and White can become gun players but other than that, it looks like we have lots of b-grade/support players and not the nucleus to build a top four team around. To use the '09 squad as a benchmark, it's as though we're getting the Blake, Dempster, Jones, Baker, McQualter, Ray, Clarke, Dawson level players who can 'hold down a position' without replacing Riewoldt, Goddard, Dal, Hayes, Milne, Fisher level players who will win you games.

[kosifantutti]

Dave Savell asked me to post link to his photos given he cant register on here!!

You can check them out here - http://www.davesavell.com/p400582359

Thanks for the link. Great photos.

Captured Billings first kick much better than Foxfooty who were concentrating on interviewing Gia.