Last Practice Match v Sydney

[tonyo]

Don't read too much into last night's scoreline.

Sydney kicked with a 3-goal wind in the first quarter, and our second-string midfield team took 20 minutes to realise there was a game on.  So 7 goals to 1, game almost done.

In the second, when we have the wind, the rain beats down and we kick 3.5 for the quarter and basically owned the territory, just couldn't convert enough due to conditions and sloppy delivery.

The second half was basically treading water for both sides, and we swapped out many of our team for the last quarter and a half.  

So, no biggie.  

The one real concern was our inability to transition from defence to attack - we got stuck in the back pockets and kicked to 50/50s on the wing far too often.

I thought the standout newbie was Lachie Cowan - at one stage in the last, he got pole-axed, but jumped straight up and laid a crunching tackle.  I think he looks like a classical tough-nut half back.

One other who has clearly had a great pre-season is umpire 22, Nathan Williamson.  If his name pops up on any of our matches this year, be very afraid.  

Our side will look and play very differently with Cripps in the centre square and McKay in the forward 50.