04-08-2023, 02:54 AM
The feeling after the game was a bit like last week in a way.....4 points but a lot of improvement to come. To be 46 points up...should've nailed them to the wall and won by 10 goals or more but it just isn't something we're able to do. The first half was bloody hard to watch to be honest and North, to their credit, seemed to drag us down to their level. Apart from Shiels (post-retirement), Tucker and young Sheezel playing his 4th game, it was basically the same team that won the wooden spoon last year....and missing McKay and Logue...and Larkey on one leg.
Goldstein was killing us in the ruck and Simpkin, Cunnington and LDU were dominanting in the middle.
But the 3rd quarter was exceptional to watch. The ball movement improved dramatically and we seemed to be able to chase and tackle...something we didn't do in the first half. Cripps looked buggered in the first half and plenty of blokes couldn't get near it.
We should be taking more advantage of the fact that so many of our defenders, for the most part, use the ball by foot really well. Weitering, McGovern, Saad, Newman, Docherty, Cowan......Young probably the only one who can be really shaky by foot.
O'Brien, Honey and maybe Ed out for Walsh, Kennedy and Acres next week? Not sure Owies will come up after only a week off. That should stiffen us up even more and make the midfield better again.
Thought Cerra was exceptional yesterday and his last few weeks have been really good. Newman was good again. McGovern played probably his best game this year and is incredibly important to us IMO.
Charlie is Charlie....he just finds ways to hit the scoreboard week after week. Harry should've kicked at least 6 too but his strong marking around the ground was a big feature.
One and a half of quarters of footy won't win games against the top sides but it shows that if we play at our best, it's exciting footy and Walsh, Kennedy and Acres in will have us as close to full strength as we've been for awhile.
Goldstein was killing us in the ruck and Simpkin, Cunnington and LDU were dominanting in the middle.
But the 3rd quarter was exceptional to watch. The ball movement improved dramatically and we seemed to be able to chase and tackle...something we didn't do in the first half. Cripps looked buggered in the first half and plenty of blokes couldn't get near it.
We should be taking more advantage of the fact that so many of our defenders, for the most part, use the ball by foot really well. Weitering, McGovern, Saad, Newman, Docherty, Cowan......Young probably the only one who can be really shaky by foot.
O'Brien, Honey and maybe Ed out for Walsh, Kennedy and Acres next week? Not sure Owies will come up after only a week off. That should stiffen us up even more and make the midfield better again.
Thought Cerra was exceptional yesterday and his last few weeks have been really good. Newman was good again. McGovern played probably his best game this year and is incredibly important to us IMO.
Charlie is Charlie....he just finds ways to hit the scoreboard week after week. Harry should've kicked at least 6 too but his strong marking around the ground was a big feature.
One and a half of quarters of footy won't win games against the top sides but it shows that if we play at our best, it's exciting footy and Walsh, Kennedy and Acres in will have us as close to full strength as we've been for awhile.