Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

[the banker]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

Overall they looked good. Ball movement a couple of times was scintillating while at other times overuse and bad handball options set up teammates for a certain turnover.

* Williams looks more assued and dynamic
* Easton Wood, if he can continue developing, will be a star player
* Higgins only needs to stay fiit to be a prime mover in the team - looked very sharp
* Grant has quite a few tricks and will worry many sides - potentially a hard match up
* Both Young Libba and Wallis continue to impress
* Sherman should improve once embedded in the team , looked a little indecisive at times
* Jones hits the packs and moves quickly with the ball - doesn't procrastinate, but has quite a bit of development to do IMO
* Moles finds the ball better than many and can kick.
* Josh Hill a good ball user, and can play all over the field. Even had a good defensive moment. I like him for the sub.
* A bit worried about Boyds defensive nous.
* Obviously missed our key forward target.
* Forward tackling pressure was improved?
* Gilbee, Cross, Griffen, Ward all looked off the pace to me

The first game thought NM were very ordinary. Bottom four on that form.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

The positives:
- Williams at CHB. When Lakey comes back in, it will help him even moreso but he is looking so much more assured and is taking on the game abit more. He was beaten once by Hawkins which resulted in a goal, but overall it was great to see Williams playing well.
- Libba, geez he loves getting his hands on the ball and dishes it off under pressure very well.
- Wallis - will play senior footy this year. Will pick up the speed of the game and you can see him absorbing as much about the game from the seniors guys as he can.
- Skinner - exciting to watch.

The negatives:
- Umpiring was terrible.
- Griff / Gilbee were underdone and struggled.
- Howard - was beaten and missed targets. He has time and hopefully this type of experience will only help.

Overall - i dont mind losing this one and going about our preparations away from the limelight. Best to keep things low key and build up to Round 1.

[westbulldog]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

Albeit watching the 2 games from afar on Fox I thought Djerruka and Howard were way out of their depth. On the plus side Higgins, Wood, Wallis, Liberatore and to a lesser degree Grant and Addison were very good. Wallis looks like he is a walk up start for Round 1.

[Dancin' Douggy]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

Skinner, even though he didn't have a lot of possessions, already looks like he's got more to offer than Stack. History will show that we basically swapped Everitt for Vezsprimi and Skinner.
Could turn out very well for us.

[Mofra]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

Cheers for the updates - for those of us who were only listening on radio, did either Minson or Roughead push a strong case for the no 2 ruck spot today?

[LostDoggy]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

Albeit watching the 2 games from afar on Fox I thought Djerruka and Howard were way out of their depth.

Interested in your comment about Djerrkura because yours is the first negative post I have seen about him. I was pleased to hear he had played well ..... but you thought otherwise. What reasons did you think he was poor?

[LostDoggy]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

Cheers for the updates - for those of us who were only listening on radio, did either Minson or Roughead push a strong case for the no 2 ruck spot today?

I listened to SEN Mofra .... but didnt get any indication on either Will or Roughie.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

Only really saw the highlights.
How long was Stack on Johnson for, who else played on him? Was he the difference?
If Stack is going to simple drop marks in the backline, he might playing Williamstown 2nds soon.

[AndrewP6]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

Cheers for the updates - for those of us who were only listening on radio, did either Minson or Roughead push a strong case for the no 2 ruck spot today?

I thought Willlbur threw himself at the ball well, was a marking option upfront (not sure his marking issues are solved!). Roughy from memory kicked a goal.

[Missing-Dog]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

I watched it and also thought Djerrkura was only average. He got caught a few times and skills not as magical as i had hoped. I think he still needs time to learn our game style i guess, but i see him in the same bracket as Moles. A good player but not brilliant. Not sure he is in the top 22 but he will hopefully be there pushing and knocking at the door. There is a few pushing for the final spots which is good thou.
I wasnt overly impressed with Stack or Hill either. I had hoped that they may also be pushing for the similar opportunity.
Libba and Wallis are looking good!
As for the ruck Minson did a few nice things and Roughead kicked a goal. Both didnt seem to dominant and for me didnt have a great effect on the game.

As for positives i thought a number showed good signs - Higgins, Boyd and Wood my top 3.
Early days so i hope things continue to improve. Hope game plan improves and we dont leak quick goals in the season proper

[The Adelaide Connection]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

Am pretty surprised more hasn't been said about Markovic who I (and the commentators) thought was very good. Didn't have bucketloads of possessions like Lake would, but his spoiling and tackling was excellent and when the ball did get in his hands he was generally able to get it to someone else pretty cleanly. A big tick IMO.

[Sedat]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

Panos has obviously been flogged in the pre-season because there was no evidence of his fat arse anywhere to be seen.

Player highlight for mine was Jarrad Grant. Looked very dangerous in both games and will provide a massive handful for opposition coaches.

[LostDog]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

Boydy proved he was the right choice to lead the dogs, so glad Gia didnt get the gig still wont go the hard ball

[LostDoggy]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

Cheers for the updates - for those of us who were only listening on radio, did either Minson or Roughead push a strong case for the no 2 ruck spot today?

Saw the second game only. Didnt really see either them in the game.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Nab Cup vs. North Melbourne/Geelong Review

Wood, I thought was Griff a few times in the Geelong game. Dodging and weaving through traffic. And he never got pinged, whereas the readl Griff did hehe