AFL Rd 1 2022 Post Game Permutations

[crashlander]

On the strength of the last two games (Melbourne practice game and tonight), Cripps looks back to his best. Looks to have slimmed down a bit but not lost any power...he was a beast last night and gave us first possession outta the middle so many times. And then had Cerra and Hewett in there to feed it out to....not that they weren't getting it themselves either.

He's playing fully fit for the first time in a long time. It makes a difference. He has still has work to do on his kicking.

Have always maintained that Kennedy was unfairly dealt with at selection over the last couple of years given the others that were getting games before him. Won his spot back late last year and, like Cripps, his two games this year have been sublime. And has the added advantage of being able to go forward and take a strong mark and is usually a pretty reliable set shot.

Matthew has really put his best foot forward from the time he got back into our side in the second half of last season. It could be argued that he was a little unlucky earlier, but if this is what he gets for going through some bad times, I'm willing to live with it. His form at the moment is showing why we were interested. His work rate has been excellent.

Said it before too but Pittonet is under-rated. Nankervis is not unlike him in his style so that might've helped a bit but he cracks in non-stop and offers a contest...not afraid to put his body into the contest. TDK is a good foil being able to drift forward but then jump over opponents in the middle. Another 40 odd games into him and he'll be cherry ripe.

Pitto was workmanlike against Gawn, but last night he played one of his better games. Really took the ruck away from Richmond, which hasn't happened for a long time. Kreuzer used to do it in patches, and then get hurt. But nobody has consistently outdone the Richmond rucks for a long time. It was a great effort. May it continue for a long time.
As for Tom de Koning, his early ruck work was not impressive: he tried to out-body his opponents and generally failed. In the last quarter he started using his leap. We got clearances, two of them from Tom himself. It really hurt Richmond, which was the best part. You could see the confidence coming into him. More please!

Silvagni still a huge player for us with his 2nd and 3rd efforts when the ball is on the ground are amazing. Could've easily ended up with 3 or 4 goals last night.

Jack hit the post twice himself. He didn't have a big game and he got his hands to balls he didn't hold, but when it comes to heart ... Honestly, he deserved 4 goals.

I think McDonald/McGovern are capable of being a good foil for Weitering. They'll take some time to gel but McGovern's kicking is a feature. Speaking of kicking being a feature, how good is Adam Saad....his kicking is elite and it's like having two blokes out there....his run and carry is priceless and reckon we'll see an even better season from him this year and I'm more than happy to have given up the pick to get him.

McGovern was so unlucky to hit the post like he did. He was going to punish Richmond when we needed a lift. Saad was slow early, but the longer the match wore on, the better he became. Like you, I love his kicking, no matter how strange it may look.