Rd 1 Carlton vs Richmond Post Game Prognostications

[Amers]

I had high hopes for this game, and they were nearly proven to be founded, but alas.....

The lack of effort and pressure in the last 10 minutes of the last qtr was the only real time I was frustrated with the team as a whole.

The 2 50m penalties, 4 set shots that missed in the 1st half, Kerridges shocker, and possably others, we only needed 2 of these incidents to have gone our way and we would be celebrating a win. So all in all we got pretty close, we also won a lot of the key KPI's.

Murph played very well for his 1st game for the season
Cripps, so good to watch, so glad he wears Navy Blue !!!
Graham, not the quickest, but a pure footballer who does most things well, most of the time, and has no trouble finding the football.
Boekhorst, ran all night, and looking forward to seeing develop into a top class player.
Weitering, it's only his 3rd game and I'm already running out of words! He is all class, plays his role very well, and will be very important going forward.
Wright, a role player, who did well to hit the score board tonight.
Simpson, Mr reliable, did what he always does.

Buckley, was quiet.
Touhy was caught with the ball at least 3 times.
Casboult has to learn to kick straight, every week.

Plenty to learn from, but also plenty of positives and small shoots showing, so bring on next week and see what we can show against another top 8 side in Sydney.

Go Blues!!!

[Amers]

I know we have SOS now, but I'm really annoyed that we let Kane Lambert get to another club, he was consistently in the best for the Northern Blues for a couple of seasons and we over looked him, Richmond pick him up an he is showing very good signs of becoming a good AFL player. We let a player in our own back yard slip through....

Not happy.

[Brettie]

Wow, some of the pro-Casboult and anti-White comments on this thread are hard to believe. Head shaking stuff.

Casboult has no place being on any AFL list, let alone ours, with the kicking 'skills' he possesses. I'm gonna lose my shyte if I have to put up with that all season. His kicking appears to have regressed at a fair rate since last year and quite frankly, it's unacceptable.

I saw Simon White make 2 consecutive errors in the 2nd quarter....and they weren't good, but apart from that, what the hell did he do so horribly wrong that has most of you calling for his head? Give me a break.

I'm not at all guttered by the result, but massively encouraged - haven't felt this optimistic in the list for quite some time, not to mention the game style, which has been completely overhauled and modernised.

We're still a fair way off being an elite list, so the skill errors are gonna haunt us for a while yet - but geez, when it all clicked tonight, how good did we look!?

I loved the Kreuzer/Phillips ruck combo and happy to admit that the person who I claimed was the biggest spud in the AFL.....Sam Rowe, was more than serviceable tonight. Absolutely hated Buckley's game though.....not sure what his role was supposed to be, but it failed miserably and for mine, Bolton took too long to act on it.

Thankfully overall, so much more to love than not about our performance tonight. Richmond once again stamped themselves as a middle-of-the-road team and nothing more. Kerridge kicks that goal at the start of the last, Tigers drop their heads, game over....*sigh*.....if only.

[Tragic]

What did people think of Phillip's game? I thought he rucked well was good around the ground and is surprisingly agile and applies good pressure even against smaller more nimble players. If he plays like that every week he will be a very handy pickup.  He probably surprised me the most. A green shoot where i least expected to see one.
On the game. I actually enjoyed watching a proper team effort. Yes we lack some polish but atleast we played like an AFL team. When we clicked it was scintillating stuff through the middle.

[PaulP]

Casboult's work around the ground is handy, but he needs to be played to his strengths, and also where his weaknesses aren't detrimental to the team. In general, this would be :

1. contested marking target after a behind is scored
2. wing
3. occasional ruck work
4. in the goal square

If he is going to be played as CHF or anywhere in the F50, he must have some decent sharp shooters streaming past every time he marks, as someone else here suggested.

And just for old times' sake, "make no mistake - The Tigers are a very good football side."

[PaulP]

What did people think of Phillip's game? I thought he rucked well was good around the ground and is surprisingly agile and applies good pressure even against smaller more nimble players. If he plays like that every week he will be a very handy pickup.  He probably surprised me the most. A green shoot where i least expected to see one.
On the game. I actually enjoyed watching a proper team effort. Yes we lack some polish but atleast we played like an AFL team. When we clicked it was scintillating stuff through the middle.

Agree.

[Peter Brady]

The simple response is, you persist with him until we have better.

As for his kicking, he did do a pcl. 

Maybe he should do a "Place" as in "place kick", because that may be the only way he can prevent that horrible ball drop. ;D

I thought Curnow was very good last night and probably didn't get the credit some others are getting because of the role he plays.

There were lots of positive signs but it's really important that we follow up with another strong performance.
The early win is also important, so there is some reward for the effort, otherwise the "effort" may be hard to maintain.

[PaulP]

Maybe he should do a "Place" as in "place kick", because that may be the only way he can prevent that horrible ball drop. ;D

I thought Curnow was very good last night and probably didn't get the credit some others are getting because of the role he plays.

There were lots of positive signs but it's really important that we follow up with another strong performance.
The early win is also important, so there is some reward for the effort, otherwise the "effort" may be hard to maintain.

Agree with your last paragraph. Next week against the Swans at Etihad. I hope the boys take it up to them for 4 quarters. A win is unlikely IMO.

[blue4life]

The talk here around Casboult reminds me of the talk on this board around Hampson three or four years back, Hammer was going to be our very own Nic Nat after he had his inevitable break out season.
It never came and for the record he was at his usual woeful standard last night, 8 touches, ineffectual in the ruck and missed a sitter from 20 metres dead in front.
It happens when you're at or near the bottom, the slightest glimmer of ability from any player gives rise to hopeless and irrational optimism, but that's football supporters and always has been.
We won't be going anywhere until we get a key forward, preferably two.

[blue4life]

I thought Curnow was very good last night and probably didn't get the credit some others are getting because of the role he plays.

Ed sticks to his task well but his skills are shabby.