Carlton Supporters Club

I would like to see Kemp get a run in the midfield, like on a wing. He isn't that slow and few other wingmen could match him in the air. Not sure he has the tank yet.

I've watched 3 quarters of the game so far, and generally liked what I've seen.
[1] Marc Pittonet has to play seniors next week. He was obviously short of a galop, but the way he palmed the ball and the way he interjected himself into the action showed why he was so important to us early in the season.
He simply wouldn't get monstered, which still happens to Tom de Koning, for all the improvements he's made.
[2] Alex Mirkov continues to step forward. afl.com.au stated that Ceglar 'dominated': ha! What a joke! Mirkov thrashed him.
Geelong tried 4 different guys in the ruck, and none of them got close to breaking even to Mirkov and Pittonet! Big reason why we won!
[3] McGovern certainly wasn't a standout, although he was more than serviceable. He is clearly not match fit yet, but he showed some glimpses. Give him another week or so to get back some fitness, form and confidence and he'll be a massive inclusion for us.
[4] Our forward structure in the VFL still needs considerable improvement.
With Josh Cripps not playing, we played Akuei up forward. He has a fair way to go, but he does do some very nice things. He was quiet, but he wasn't a total dud.
At the moment he is offering almost as much as Josh Cripps has been, which says a lot about how Josh Cripps is going. Cripps isn't a disaster, but he has a LOT to work on: building a tank, so he can get to contests; building up his upper body so he holds those marks and doesn't get pushed out of the way; and working on his ruck craft (which is very ordinary at the moment.
Jesse Glass-McCasker also played forward and kicked a couple, but he doesn't tend to take many contested marks. His ruck work is not that great either, but it is better than Cripps'. He has more idea how to play, but he hasn't been as good as I'd hoped.
We were improved by having Ben Crocker back, but he seemed to find the conditions quite difficult. He could well have had 5 goals, but ended only with one.
Ned Cahill is a good small forward. He may well get an invite to train with us over the summer, but he goes missing a little too much for my tastes. When he is on, he is damned good. His form is on the improve, after a quiet patch through form and injury.
Ollie Sanders had a much quieter day this round, but he does know where the goals are.
Overall, we really miss having a big key forward who can take a mark. as a result, we tend to go around the mulberry bush far too much. Geelong had a key forward who took took contested marks: it straightened them up a lot.
[5] I've mentioned McGovern, so I won't go over him again.
Kemp played last night and did some nice things, but not enough of them. Give him a couple of big pre-seasons and we could have a gem there. That extra bit of strength and having him hold his marks would greatly improve his game.
I would like to see Kemp get a run in the midfield, like on a wing. He isn't that slow and few other wingmen could match him in the air. Not sure he has the tank yet.
Sam Durdin generally disappointed me last night. he played on Shannon Neal, who kicked 4 goals. Didn't do much more than that, but his effort was one of the reasons Geelong remained as close as they were. Durdin did a couple of nice things, but he really needed the run.
Leiu and Lewis also spent time in defence and weren't disgraced, but neither did they do a lot. Leiu was clearly working on his punching and his spoils were generally reasonable, but neither did a lot positive in the air. We needed someone to take a big mark in defence almost as much as we needed someone to take one in attack.
Cincotta and North were both reasonably quiet, but generally did their jobs. I don't think Cincotta liked the wind all that much; he was struggling to judge things that he normally does quite well.
[6] We had an ordinary patch or two, but we kicked the last 3 goals of the game and were the better team comfortably.