Carlton Supporters Club

Dont fancy Moore vs Richmond rnd1...he wont touch it and his opponents like Nankervis in the ruck or Grimes, Astbury, Balta etc down back will tear us a new one.
Who did Essendon have in the ruck...kids?
McDonald probably makes more sense, any long term injury to Jones or JW and we would be done for the year without some cover IMO.

Watched the game again and found a number of things to be pleased about or just plain interesting. These observations are framed with the full knowledge this was a practice match.

Strong improvement in disposal by foot, especially after qtr time.

We have a number of blokes who can quickly switch direction and wrong foot opponents: Zachery, Saad, Dow, Murphy, Williams, Betts, Jones (sometimes with our hearts in our mouths), Doc, SPS... etc.

That goal coming from a Dow lightning hand off to Saad who ran through the middle and kicked truly to Crippa in the goal square was bloody awesome.

Multiple goal kickers.

Zachery is coming along beautifully as a small forward and is so quick that the defensive area of his game will panic/pressure many a back line opponent.

For mine the biggest difference in the game of Dow was his confidence. It looked like he knew he fitted in whereas, in the past, there was a kind of hesitation. This bloke will only continue to improve... and he has the tricks.

Pitto may not have had A grade opponents against cheats.com.au but I love what he brings to our ruck division - hardness and a genuine love of the contest. Just a dash of Wow Jones about him.

Assigning Murphy to the role of small forward is playing him to his remaining elite strength - he is deadly around goals and can create them from nothing.

Cuningham still worries me. Oozes skill but still vanishes for extended periods. All between the ears with this kid.

Liked SOJ's game. Reads the game so well and has a fair-dinkum dip. You can just tell he loves the club.

We have a bona fide midfield mix that will trouble the best.

Yes, just a practice match but certainly one of the much better performances I've seen pre-season in quite a while. And I am well aware that 'one swallow does not a summer make.'

Good assessment - my main reservations from the match related to the 'kick in hope' delivery to the forward line and the fact that Pittonet was often out-reached in centre circle ruck contests.

I really like his around the ground ruckwork and competitiveness but TDK might offer more in the centre circle.

...and the fact that Pittonet was often out-reached in centre circle ruck contests.

I really like his around the ground ruckwork and competitiveness but TDK might offer more in the centre circle.

Who was our last aggressive ruck? Cain Ackland briefly.....Barnaby French barely....Big Nick?! 

WOW Jones

Watched the game again and found a number of things to be pleased about or just plain interesting. These observations are framed with the full knowledge this was a practice match.

Strong improvement in disposal by foot, especially after qtr time.

We have a number of blokes who can quickly switch direction and wrong foot opponents: Zachery, Saad, Dow, Murphy, Williams, Betts, Jones (sometimes with our hearts in our mouths), Doc, SPS... etc.

That goal coming from a Dow lightning hand off to Saad who ran through the middle and kicked truly to Crippa in the goal square was bloody awesome.

Multiple goal kickers.

Zachery is coming along beautifully as a small forward and is so quick that the defensive area of his game will panic/pressure many a back line opponent.

For mine the biggest difference in the game of Dow was his confidence. It looked like he knew he fitted in whereas, in the past, there was a kind of hesitation. This bloke will only continue to improve... and he has the tricks.

Pitto may not have had A grade opponents against cheats.com.au but I love what he brings to our ruck division - hardness and a genuine love of the contest. Just a dash of Wow Jones about him.

Assigning Murphy to the role of small forward is playing him to his remaining elite strength - he is deadly around goals and can create them from nothing.

Cuningham still worries me. Oozes skill but still vanishes for extended periods. All between the ears with this kid.

Liked SOJ's game. Reads the game so well and has a fair-dinkum dip. You can just tell he loves the club.

We have a bona fide midfield mix that will trouble the best.

Yes, just a practice match but certainly one of the much better performances I've seen pre-season in quite a while. And I am well aware that 'one swallow does not a summer make.'

Agree with most of what has been written before, however I do worry about the impact, aggressiveness, intensity and/or ground speed of all of Plowman, Curnow, Setterfield, SPS & from time to time Murphy. It's probably unfair to focus on this subset of players, but we do need to increase our intensity, ball  velocity & probably foot speed to trouble the better clubs.

Josh Honey stood out as a player with the tools to add another weapon to the Blues arsenal, however I haven't heard much about him this pre-season. Any update on how he is developing?

Agree with most of what has been written before, however I do worry about the impact, aggressiveness, intensity and/or ground speed of all of Plowman, Curnow, Setterfield, SPS & from time to time Murphy. It's probably unfair to focus on this subset of players, but we do need to increase our intensity, ball  velocity & probably foot speed to trouble the better clubs.

Josh Honey stood out as a player with the tools to add another weapon to the Blues arsenal, however I haven't heard much about him this pre-season. Any update on how he is developing?

Its worth pointing out that we shouldn't try and play like the tigers. The tigers play that way because they have the players to play that way.
We need to play a way that suits our players....and allows us the best chance of winning most weeks, especially in finals.