Agree with an earlier comment about Garlett...not sure he's suited to a defensive role. On more than one occasion yesterday he tried to take mark of the century and left his opponent over the back to get easy balls. He's got pace but just doesn't seem to have a defensive nature to his game and his kicking lets him down at times too.
Of our blokes out, I would probably only think Kruezer, Marchbank, Fasolo (fit) and maybe Kennedy would be in the possible best 22 this year...obviously Docherty out for the season.
But a very encouraging performance and the midfield looked 100% better than anything from last year.
Always had high regard for Phillips but the bugger is always injured. Here's hoping he can stay on the park as depth in the ruck department is always handy.
Good comparison with Geoff Raines....he's got that slightly hunched over look....but what an unbelievable half of footy from the kid. I know it's hard to make a call based on half a game in a practice match but I'll be opening the wallet and having a punt on him to win the Rising Star Award. SPS is looking fantastic too and looks a lot quicker and fitter. None of the tall forwards have done much but our midfield is dominating.
Loving the decision to keep pick 1 and snare Walsh. The kid looks like an absolute jet and plays like he's got 50 games under his belt already. SPS showing great speed. Only a JLT game that means nothing but already looks better than anything we produced last year. Not sure Gibbons could've had a better start...and don't get me started on Polson!!!
We look pretty thin down back if they load up with Daniher, McKernan, Brown and then Stringer.
But IMHO I'm not that fussed about the result here. I want to see Walsh and McGovern and also Gibbons and also rapt that Setterfield is playing. I think when we traded him in, the feeling was that he wasn't going to be ready for Round 1 anyway, but he's out there and fit.
Said it in other threads.....we have to target midfielders who can kick the ball. Curnow & McKay have got no chance with the delivery they get. On a brighter note, would this be O'Brien's best game?
That number 1 pick was a lock a long time ago. That said, looking forward to seeing TDK have a run around....I'm guessing still pretty raw but worth a punt and let Harry McKay play as a permanent forward? Polsen has done an amazing job at holding his spot in the team given he's done SFA for most games.
After watching the horrendous kicking skills of some of our midfielders, we need blokes who can kick....throw the big bucks at Gaff as a free agent and try to broker a deal with GWS for Shiel. Then if you can get one of Libba or Dalhaus or Wallis as midfielders via free agency then go for it. Our midfield is not up to scratch. Defence will be stronger next year if you put back in Jones, Weitering, Plowman, Docherty and Williamson into the side that played on the weekend.
Kerridge might rack up the possessions but barely any are worth it? Continues to turn it over as does Nick Graham. Graham's miss when kicking around the corner early in the 3rd quarter from 30m out was so costly...Freo took it down the other end and goaled and from there we just fell away. Polsen is only young but runs around like a headless chook burning up fuel tickets to gather half a dozen kicks. Way too many players register single digit possessions week after week....Silvagni, Polsen, Marchbank etc. We simply do not have enough quality players on the current list to be remotely competitive for 4 quarters each week. Pickett looks like he could be anything but rarely gets near it...and the same with Jarrod Garlett. I thought he would be a handy pick up given we gave up virtually nothing to get him...but not up to AFL standard.
Lobbe has worked hard since coming into the side and is worth persevering with. But big questions now over Kruezer, and Phillips is always injured.
If we don't secure some talent through free agency or with packaging up first round picks for players then it'll be another 3 or 4 years of battling it out for the wooden spoon. I hate being a pessimist but it's very hard to see where the improvement is coming from. Apart from Cripps, Curnow and maybe Fisher, we have an uncanny knack of taking young players who look like they've got some talent and turning them into ordinary footballers.
