Thoughts - Ess v Col

[Windy_Hill]

Firstly great to see the suspended boys back and all looked pretty sharp and made it through unscathed

I always felt we would fade as the senior players were always going to be rested in the last qtr

Nevertheless a lot to like with some real dash on show with Green really impressing

I thought Stewart was a competitor without dominating in possession. But he managed on several occasions to bring the ball to ground and with our fleet of small forwards this is always going to be an important part of the game plan

Merrett Z looked great and I cant help but think if he remains uninjured will be a real chance at the Brownlow

Jobe looked amazing and Hepp did well too although his disposal looked a little rusty.

McGrath looked very composed and his decision making when in possession was first class.

Disappointed with Langford who seems lost at times. Needs to get into the play more often than is the case at the moment.

We were the better team over the first three qtrs when things really mattered

[BenDoolan]

Top 4 for sure. McGrath will win Rising Star. Zachy will win Brownlow. Fantasia is f****** fantastic. Trump is President.

2017 is looking good.

#17 in 2017.

[BERT]

Top 4 for sure. McGrath will win Rising Star. Zachy will win Brownlow. Fantasia is f****** fantastic. Trump is President.

2017 is looking good.

#17 in 2017.

We need a like button.

[F111]

Goddard rusty.

[Rover99]

Been gathering rust for a while

[rockhole]

I was staggered how much condition the likes of Jobe, Benny Howlett, Hurls, Myers and Colyer had lost. Looks like they have some solid gym time ahead.
Hepps was the only one who appeared to have held on to his body shape.

McKernan played the game of his life but I fear the "No Third Up" rule may hurt him when rucking.

Agree with what has been said elsewhere regarding the new boys. Stewart in particular caught my eye.

Etihad is really showing its age and need a fortune spent on it. Just to illustrate this, the internal TV packed it in for over an hour!!!

Some of our ball movement was jaw dropping and a great sign for a first up game. In fact the standard of the game was amazing. We were prepared to use the corridor whereas the Pies went the flanks. It was a fascinating duel.

Would have loved a fairytale win, but saw enough to give a lot of confidence for the year.

[Ronny Rotten]

A good solid workout especially for the returning players. However losing to the filth, especially after being 28 points ahead late in the 3rd quarter, was galling.
Though it's only practice match & we rested many senior players after half time the result was unimportant in the bigger picture. But hearing their tiresome theme song after the match was too much for this long time supporter with a distinct hatred of the filth.

The Positives:
Pace.
Quick ball movement.
Our score last night was only bettered twice last season.
24 shots at goal from 37 inside entries at 65% efficiency.
Continued improved development from Fantasia, Z.Merrett & Parish.
Hard grunt work, largely unnoticed, from Bird.
Promising games from newbies, McGrath, Green & Stewart.
Solid games from the returning players.

The Negatives.
Losing after being the better team for the majority of the game.
37 Inside 50's compared to the filth's 50
Missing "gimme" set shots, four I counted. My pet hate at this level.
58% shooting accuracy compared to 68%. With the same number of scoring shots.

Overall plenty of positives with plenty to work on, after all it's only February. Lots to look forward to in 2017.

It would be great to see a forward line comprising of Daniher, Hooker, Stewart, Watson, Fantasia, "Tippa", Green, Colyer with the likes of Zerrett, Zaka, Langford, Laverde, Heppell drifting forward with Francis, Stanton, Bellchambers, Howlett & perhaps McKernan to add to this mix.

The backline should be OK with the likes of, Hurls, Kelly, Hartley, Gleeson, Dea, Ambrose (if he stops making simple errors), Baguley, McGrath, BJ, Brown, McKenna & Myers.

The midfield has some depth now but more assistance is needed for Leunberger. McKernan is a trier but is too small to meaningfully contest the ball-ups, also he is a rookie & can't be considered unless there is LTI. We don't want to send Joe Daniher into the ruck too often.
Injury prone Bellchambers must get up ASAP & stay fit.

[nudder12]

It's only early (obviously) so we can work on it still, but I thought Coll were much better "spreading" from stoppages than our team. Something we've not been very good at for a while now.

[rockhole]

In the last quarter, we got slaughtered out of the centre as McKernan was no match for the tall Yank.

[paddyl90]

Sucks to lose it in the last we were the better team for three quarters but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter and I left feeling excited of what could happen this year.

Positives:

- Seeing the boys back out there and still seeing that although being slightly rusty, once they have more match practice they will be back to their best
- Small forwards! Can't remember ever having one small option let alone having 3-4. I really liked Green's performance and think he could be a handy 30-40 goal player this year with the right delivery into the forward line. Fantasia started off strong again with 4 and chuck Colyer or Tippa there if need be. Tippa may take a little while to get going down forward but I would persist with.
- Midfield of Jobe (Elite) , Heppell (Elite) & Zach Merrett (Elite) is extremely exciting and they showed how well they work together and racked up 20 + disposals even before being rested in the last.
- Smack can be a really good player if he would believe he can be I thought he was great but my concern has always been very good VFL player vs average AFL player. I keep holding onto something that he will click and be a good player for us
- McGrath just slides perfectly into senior football and I cannot wait to watch him play this season
- I like the look of Stewart with his mobility and efforts around the ball.
- No injurues

Negatives:

- Giving it away so easily in the last but obviously there were some reasons for it but still disappointing
- Shaun McKernan in the ruck is too costly as he gives away too many free kicks in ruck contests
- Bags had a shocker but that should get better with each hit out
- Stoppages need a huge amount of work as we were extremely poor in that department
- Kick outs from defence in the last were poor and hope this would be rectified.

Overall happy to have everyone back. Very promising signs. Bring on match 2 next week.

[robrulz5]

Without the super goal rubbish it was only a 5 point loss which isn't too bad considering we had the ball if our forward half for much less time. Jobe is in the best shape f his career and was fantastic with limited game time, looking forward to seeing him forward more this year as he will be very dangerous down there.

[j-mac31]

Sounds good, but FFS have we not learnt the stupidity of predicting Brownlows?

Disappointed with Langford who seems lost at times. Needs to get into the play more often than is the case at the moment.

No, haven't you heard? He's 18 years old and holding down CHF all by himself.

Etihad is really showing its age and need a fortune spent on it.

I don't even know what this means, but I do know that it's one of Caro's favorite topics. Cut it out.

The midfield has some depth now but more assistance is needed for Leunberger. McKernan is a trier but is too small to meaningfully contest the ball-ups, also he is a rookie & can't be considered unless there is LTI. We don't want to send Joe Daniher into the ruck too often.
Injury prone Bellchambers must get up ASAP & stay fit.

I don't know if we can play Luenberger and Bellchambers in the team together. I'd use Hooker as the backup. He did a fair bit of that years ago when he first started getting regular games.

[F111]

Etihad is really showing its age and need a fortune spent on it. Just to illustrate this, the internal TV packed it in for over an hour!!!

I think they must've got a discount on TV screens because they were everywhere in the inner concourse! I can't remember them in those numbers from last year.

[billyduckworth]

A couple more positives...

= We outnumbered them in the crowd
= The boys looked like they wanted to work for each other
= The boys looked like they were willing to take a risk and wanted to win (until the last quarter when they went back into their shells, unfortunately).

[Jazz_84]

Etihad is really showing its age and need a fortune spent on it. Just to illustrate this, the internal TV packed it in for over an hour!!!

I think they must've got a discount on TV screens because they were everywhere in the inner concourse! I can't remember them in those numbers from last year.

even from your seats you could see a TV in each stairwell facing the bloody ground, must have been about 100 TV's that dead set no-one would even watch.... ridiculous waste of money

[s'dreams]

Etihad is really showing its age and need a fortune spent on it. Just to illustrate this, the internal TV packed it in for over an hour!!!

I think they must've got a discount on TV screens because they were everywhere in the inner concourse! I can't remember them in those numbers from last year.

even from your seats you could see a TV in each stairwell facing the bloody ground, must have been about 100 TV's that dead set no-one would even watch.... ridiculous waste of money

Naa- they're there for the standing room "customers" who will be rocking up this year to popular clubs stuck at Etihad...

[j-mac31]

Etihad is really showing its age and need a fortune spent on it. Just to illustrate this, the internal TV packed it in for over an hour!!!

I think they must've got a discount on TV screens because they were everywhere in the inner concourse! I can't remember them in those numbers from last year.

even from your seats you could see a TV in each stairwell facing the bloody ground, must have been about 100 TV's that dead set no-one would even watch.... ridiculous waste of money

Naa- they're there for the standing room "customers" who will be rocking up this year to popular clubs stuck at Etihad...

What you say about standing room?