Terrific news. I love what MM has done in terms of teaching him to have a defensive game. Perhaps even making him, in the short term, a small defender / back pocket.
In the NBs he played as a mid and / or small forward and tended to fade in and out of games. And when he was on he looked really good, but too often just vanished. Now being down back means he cannot afford lapses in concentration and is learning the caper nicely and no doubt learning about his real potential.
At this stage, only up side. Must be given consistent games in the Seniors now.
So much to be disappointed with and yet there were definitely things to be encouraged by.
The first question should be, why weren't we ready to play? We were shell-shocked for the first qtr and a half... that should never happen, especially when you know the opposition is going to come out hard and fierce. Between the ears stuff. Coaching staff has to wear a lot of that - our boys weren't ready. We had to wait for some heat to go out of the game before many of our boys felt safe to assert themselves and get their hands on the aggott. Soft.
Talking of soft. Has the winning culture completely gone from the place? Missing easy shots at goal is all about between the ear. Warnock's knees turned to jelly when he was shooting for goal at a critical moment (would have been 2 on the trot and changed the game). Likewise Waite... and others. That's a serious lack of confidence, in fact, it's about doubt and we seem to have plenty of it.
Encouraging is that we can, as a group, eventually find the minerals to apply legitimate pressure and actually play some very good footy. But our last qtr last night was almost a carbon copy of our last qtr against the Dishlickers in that NAB Challenge game... so why wasn't that fixed? Why so many jelly legs when kicking pressure goals?
There is hardness but it seems only as a reaction. Now to state the bloomin' obvious... need to start hard and desperate and maintain it for 120 minutes and that means concentrating for 120 minutes and that means working ruthlessly hard (even when the aggott is nowhere near you) for 120 minutes.
Very disappointed in the efforts of Gibbs, McLean (7 bad qtrs in a row), early disposal and composure in front of goal. Dinger Bell did not impress. Has so much going for him except a footy brain. Warnock worked really hard but the bottom line is the bloke is one dimensional. Tap ruckman only. In 1988 would have been a beaut. But a ruckman who cannot mark and goes to water in front of goal aint no good in this era of footy. Dare I say Wood wouldn't have been as good in tap work but would have marked and kicked truly!
Those who write that a couple of bona fide KPPs will make a significant difference are right on the money. Waite is too unreliable. Henderson is a ripper and so is Jamison.
Wrapped in the overall efforts of Buckley, Everitt & Yarran. Daisey is beginning to show us why we worked hard to get him.
Haha Robbo. If Champions Data had a stat for Rainmakers, he would be leading the pack by a country mile. Still though, we know he has no skill but his attack on the ball borders on madness.
