JLT Round 2 - Blues v Pies (11 March, Monday holiday)

[cookie2]

The loss, though minor on the scoreboard, does not distill much faith in the coaching nor the retention of players who will never be any more than ordinary or just simply past it.

Seems harsh, but we're a long way away from looking competitive ... in my opinion.  I hope I'm wrong

A little harsh imo, although we still do have plenty of development ahead of us without doubt.

[Baggers]

There was a lot to like about our performance today and only a few negatives.

We came up against a grand finalist with the capability to one step further this year **cough, vomit, choke **

How we hung in there when they were dominating was a real credit to us, and I'm stuffed if I know how we did it.

We saw first hand, I think, the influence of the Terrier in that last qtr, they were tiring and our blokes looked to be still full of run. That endeavour and fitness should see us finish over the top of a few this year.

Love the silky skills of Cuningham but, yet again he did a Houdini for two qtrs.

Forget the Polson experiment. Yes, he's quick and gets to contests but his disposal technique is severely flawed.

Big ? on Garlett.

Be a big call to have Kreuzer displace Flip. I thought the big fella competed well against the equal best ruckman in the competition.

[WASurfer]

A bit harsh capcom.....only a practice game and if one of those late shots goes through, we win against a side that was within a whisker of winning the flag and has been strengthened even further with the addition of Beams and the return of Elliott.

Didn't watch it so can't comment on the skills or gameplan (or lack of) but that's two good JLT hitouts....a win against a team most would rate as a top 8 chance this year and a close finish against a team most would have in their top 2 or 3 going into the season.

But yes, apart from Kreuzer and maybe Marchbank, we were close to full strength so a bit of work still to go. I don't count Docherty or Pickett in that "full strength" list as they're unlikely to play at all this year and it's impossible to say on Fasolo right at the minute.

[flyboy77]

There was a lot to like about our performance today and only a few negatives.

We came up against a grand finalist with the capability to one step further this year **cough, vomit, choke **

How we hung in there when they were dominating was a real credit to us, and I'm stuffed if I know how we did it.

We saw first hand, I think, the influence of the Terrier in that last qtr, they were tiring and our blokes looked to be still full of run. That endeavour and fitness should see us finish over the top of a few this year.

Love the silky skills of Cuningham but, yet again he did a Houdini for two qtrs.

Forget the Polson experiment. Yes, he's quick and gets to contests but his disposal technique is severely flawed.

Big ? on Garlett.

Be a big call to have Kreuzer displace Flip. I thought the big fella competed well against the equal best ruckman in the competition.

Polson's disposal must be elite otherwise there should be no spot for him imo.

[ElwoodBlues1]

There was a lot to like about our performance today and only a few negatives.

We came up against a grand finalist with the capability to one step further this year **cough, vomit, choke **

How we hung in there when they were dominating was a real credit to us, and I'm stuffed if I know how we did it.

We saw first hand, I think, the influence of the Terrier in that last qtr, they were tiring and our blokes looked to be still full of run. That endeavour and fitness should see us finish over the top of a few this year.

Love the silky skills of Cuningham but, yet again he did a Houdini for two qtrs.

Forget the Polson experiment. Yes, he's quick and gets to contests but his disposal technique is severely flawed.

Big ? on Garlett.

Be a big call to have Kreuzer displace Flip. I thought the big fella competed well against the equal best ruckman in the competition.

You cant run Polson and Garlett up against quality players and the Collingwood smalls/mids are amongst the best going around..........

re: Kreuzer...take your point but Nankervis is no mug and I prefer Kreuzer and his better ground skills to Philips.....Cotchin and Martin are playing really well for the Tigers and we need midfield superiority.
As Collingwood showed we still have a young under developed midfield and we need the experienced Kreuzer to help them.

[Baggers]

Polson's disposal must be elite otherwise there should be no spot for him imo.

Way too often he gave the aggott back to the opposition today, after having worked hard to gain possession. Deflates team mates when a bloke's disposal is ordinary in regular play and hopeless under pressure.

[laj]

There was a lot to like about our performance today and only a few negatives.

We came up against a grand finalist with the capability to one step further this year **cough, vomit, choke **

How we hung in there when they were dominating was a real credit to us, and I'm stuffed if I know how we did it.

We saw first hand, I think, the influence of the Terrier in that last qtr, they were tiring and our blokes looked to be still full of run. That endeavour and fitness should see us finish over the top of a few this year.

Love the silky skills of Cuningham but, yet again he did a Houdini for two qtrs.

Forget the Polson experiment. Yes, he's quick and gets to contests but his disposal technique is severely flawed.

Big ? on Garlett.

Be a big call to have Kreuzer displace Flip. I thought the big fella competed well against the equal best ruckman in the competition.

Phillips competes really hard but he only touched it 4 times. Need more than that. Kreuzer often touches it 18-20 times.

[Macca37]

I'm worried about Charlie Curnow's maturity.  When he first came to Carlton it was exciting to see him win the ball and  burst away it.  I never knew whether it would go to a Carlton player or to the opposition but I thought with a few years under his belt we would maybe see emerging signs of a Wayne Carey coolness under pressure.

He is still exciting to watch but when he gets a mark or takes possession and runs off he still doesn't seem to know what he is going to do with it.  He is still just as likely to kick it to the opposition and the ball rebounds out of our forward line. I know I may sound harsh but I want to see him kicking to a leading player rather than being close to a brain fade.

[shawny]

Haven't seen any stats but Poulson seemed to be doing plenty of chasing/harassing and I noticed him lay a few tackles.

No disrespect cookie but I’m so sick and tired of hearing this. It must take a lot more then this to hold your place in any AFL team.

Polson cannot hold his spot IMO until he learns how to hit a barn door with no pressure. He kills us every time
He goes near it as he 9/10 butchers it.

Yep he runs fast and chases well and even lays a few nice tackles most games. So what !!  If we want to accept being a bottom team then we could argue his stats are worthy of another game. Jack needs to show more imo yet is still streets ahead of polson. At least jack has some smarts and can execute when going inside 50. Polson has neither of those attributes.

Cant have those sorts of player not up to it against a top team like tigers. If the MC is serious about giving us a chance the a half fit Fasolo is a big upgrade on Polson.

[WASurfer]

Agree Shawny....unfortunately Polson has become a bit of a whipping boy for us on this forum but you're right...he needs to do more and show that he can actually do something with it on the rare occasions he actually gets it. There are some players who are 10 possessions/game types but who can win a game for you...he's not one of them. If he's spending the entire game chasing and tackling then it implies he's not getting enough of it himself. Gibbons probably deserves a spot in round 1 as does Cunningham and that's your two "small forward" types. Silvagni isn't high possession either and can still butcher it himself too but if it comes down to one or the other for round 1, I'd have Silvagni in there. Said it before re Garlett, he's not a defender (not sure where he played today)....in a top team he could be a bit of cream on the top with his skills and flashiness up forward but for the moment I reckon he's a liability.

Back 6 would be Weitering, Jones, Simpson, Plowman, Newman and Thomas for round 1. Richmond small forwards might hurt us but there's a few of the mids that can work back.