The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

[SquirrelGrip]

Some observations from our first hitout:

The Good

- Dale Morris made it through
- Brett Goodes
- Murph back in the forward line
- Jarryd Grant's tackle
- the attack on the ball/opposition by Smith, Lower & Jong
- clearly not as many peptides as the opposition

The Bad

- where is Clay Smith's right foot?
- Howard looks like Luke Power, plays like Sam
- still can't play games out
- Cordy never looks even close to taking a mark
- Tarzan Higgins is more like Jane - silky but slows downs significantly as the game goes on

The Ugly

- the fact Gia is still our best marking option in the forward 50
- our Captain's kicking, especially when not under pressure

[LostDoggy]

Re: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good

-Brett Goodes looked composed, tough and skilful.
-Nick Lower impressed with his attack on the ball and work to make the next contest.
-Jack Macrae was composed under pressure and his left boot looks fantastic.
-Clay Smith is a monster in the contest and has put on some real size in the off-season.
-Moz not only made it through unscathed, but looked like he's hardly missed a beat.
-Jack Redpath's attack on the ball in the air and defensive pressure.
-Gia and Cooney seemed to be moving a lot more freely than last season.

The Bad

-Have to wait over a month for the real stuff to start.

The Ugly

-Black and white stripes don't suit Huddo very well.

[GVGjr]

Re: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Does McCartney's facial hair deserve to be in the Ugly category?

In my opinion, he needs to clean it off asap.

[AndrewP6]

Re: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Does McCartney's facial hair deserve to be in the Ugly category?

In my opinion, he needs to clean it off asap.

Absolutely, looks terrible.

[wb_age]

Re: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good

Jason Johannison - Did a lot right, ran the lines and kicked quite well (kick lacks a tiny bit if penetration after a long run, but still at least gives our forwards a chance)

Markovic - strange because he wasn't actually great, but did not get embarrassed in any one on one contests, didn't try be to clever with the ball and turn it over like in the past. Also doesnt look as slow, perhaps it's just because he is wearing his socks down??

Jones - Kick for goal, he would never slotted that in the years gone by.

Grant - played with a bit conviction, still has some way to go but showed signs and can be a clever player. He is the kind of player that will thrive when the team as a whole get going and improve delivery. (He will never be the player to drag us over the line on his own, but can be a solid contributer.

Competitiveness - I watched the games again today and we were nowhere near as doom and gloom as most posters suggest, we competed well , but if our foot skill level improves and we're a better side, look at the diff from the removal of Boyd and Lower and the immediate improvement against Collingwood. If our foot skills don't improve, it doesn't matter who is in our forward line we'll struggle to kick goals

The bad

Ryan Griffen - His disposal was well below his standards, shouldn't be an issue though as he is a star.

Dickson - Other than the goal on the siren which was created by Gia, he didn't do much at all and was actually quite undisciplined and gave away multiple free kicks that were not necessary. It's a shame because he was one of our few shining lights last year.

Back up rucks - Campbell and Cordy we're as close as you can get to being useless out there. Disappointing as we need one of them to really stamp themselves as an AFL quality player.


The ugly

Mathew Boyd - As mentioned by all, his disposal and decision making we're atrocious, re-watched the game this morning and other than his first blind kick that fortunately landed in Addison's arms, every single one of his kicks resulted in a turn over, I also would pause the play prior to his disposal and there were better, simpler options. Really disappointing from our captain.

Lower - As per Boyd, with the exception that he actually made some good decisions but his foot skills were not up to it, even simple kicks that many on this forum would hit on the frequent.

Disposal efficiency - Just like last year, it needs to improve! It doesn't help when your top 2 disposal winners don't actually hit a single target by foot in a half. Boyd should take a leaf out of Cross' book, he displayed the ability to recognize a weakness and handball it off to a teammate to dispose of the ball by foot (in the collingwood game)

[LostDoggy]

Re: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Does McCartney's facial hair deserve to be in the Ugly category?

In my opinion, he needs to clean it off asap.

Disagree. Definitely chuck it in The Good category!

[Greystache]

Re: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The good

JJ showed further improvement and looks like he'll play a lot of senior footy this season. His trajectory continues to go in the right direction.

All of the mature recruits look like they could potentially offer something. Only early days but none of them so far look a total waste.

Jones lead and converted really nicely on one occasion. He looked like he really wanted to work to find space to lead into and get on the end of an easy mark. We haven't seen that much from any of our younger forwards previously and I'm hoping that's a sign that Jones is looking to add that to his game.

The scores reset to zero between games!

The Bad

Lack of any cohesive forward structure

Lack of willingness of forwards to present

Skill level still below VFL level, even from the senior players

The Ugly

Gia is still easily our best forward target and he looks slower again this year

Lack of composure of our players with ball in hand or even in marking contests.

And yes, McCartney's beard!

[Missing Dog]

Re: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

I thought Tom Young Showed a bit at Half back last night

[Ghost Dog]

Re: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

That's good. As not many on here rated him after seeing him at training.

[GVGjr]

Re: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

I thought Tom Young Showed a bit at Half back last night

Yeah he looked OK. It's early days but there might be a spot for him in the best 22.

[Eastdog]

Re: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

What do you think is the best way for us in organising our forward line which once again last night really hurt us. How can Macca get the most goals out of it which clearly last year did not happen at all. I think it's both a question of delivery and the quality of our forwards at the moment.

[Ghost Dog]

Re: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Does McCartney's facial hair deserve to be in the Ugly category?

In my opinion, he needs to clean it off asap.

Is he the only current coach in the AFL with a beard?
Looks ok. Hopefully it has a performance enhancing effect!

[The Underdog]

Re: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

I thought Tom Young Showed a bit at Half back last night

Solid, used the ball well. Certainly bigger than I thought. Could play a role.

[LostDoggy]

Re: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Brendan might be wishing to take over the 'Peoples Beard' mantle!!

[Ozza]

Re: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Good:

- Goodes. Looks to be potential the best option on the kick outs. Uses his body cleverly in contested situations. Looked pretty comfortable out there in his first (semi) AFL hit out.
- Lower - didn't kick the ball well, but can forgive these as its Feb he has the action of a neat kicker. Clearly a smart player who knows how to find it.
- Clay Smith - beat three Collingwood players on the back flank and won a free kick. With a full pre-season under his belt - will quite possibly be a best 22 player all year.
- Dale Morris moving well, and pulling up fine.

Bad:

- No real forward structure, and players getting sucked too far up the ground (as usual) leaving us with nobody to kick to.
- Poor kicking. I don't like to whack Boyd, because he is regularly our best player, and always our hardest worker - but the first centre bounce - he had a clear possession, and had time to dispose of it and just threw it on the boot with not much care. Set the tone.
- Bobby's poor use of the footy by hand and foot. Expect more out of our best players.

Ugly:

- Christian Howard and Ayce Cordy.
- Several of Jong's possessions from deep in defence.
- Marcovic and Austin looked very lost.