Promising Signs ???

[Broders]

Difficult to judge when the entries into the forward line were rubbish. The amount of times we just long bombed it to a nest of Freo defenders was amazing. It's hard to tell when you are not at the game but there didn't appear to be any movement from the forwards. I can't remember seeing one lead let alone one that was honored.

A lot will be said about our kids but our senior players were horrible and certainly didn't show leadership.

- Vlastuin must have been injured because he was hardly ever on the ground
- Vickery injured before quarter time
- Chaplin was his usual useless self. Fumbling and panicking under pressure.
- Batchelor made mistakes you'd be disappointed seeing from an under 16 player
- Astbury was soundly beaten
- Griffiths couldn't get near it prior to being KO'd
- B Ellis had no impact

Conca and Grigg had a go but the kids were left to fend for themselves and most floated in and out of the game, they showed glimpses but couldn't maintain it. Slot the likes of C. Ellis, Menadue, Broad and Markov into a stronger line up and they would have found it easier. They showed that with some work they could all be valuable senior players

 

[The_General]

Even worse by the club not to release him for what his worth a 5th rounder

He failed the fitness test at Lions. Nice work Zips, but you've never been one to post on facts, only rambly *smile*.

 

[K3]

I reckon the kids were thrown to the wolves (see. Frockers) too much. Really should have had more seniors in the team to help guide the younger ones. Just one senior on each line could have been great to provide advice, guidance and leadership for them to follow.

Loved seeing the kids buuut... IMO wrong move on the club's part.

 

[Columbo]

He failed the fitness test at Lions. Nice work Zips, but you've never been one to post on facts, only rambly *smile*.

Did he fail the Lions medical did he? Thought the lions were more keen on Bastinac, Bell, Walker, etc.

 

[Harry]

You look for signs that a kid can step up in a full strength line up and reckon the likes of broad cellis short markov marcon and castagna showed enough that they can contribute

 

[mad_tiggy911]

No structure and 2nd to the ball all day. Woeful effort.

Positives were Conca, Markov snd a few Cellis touches and that was it.

Did Rioli get a kick?

I thought Townsend was underwhelming also.

 

[evo]

I wouldn't have commented but Dimma did mention it was something we had worked on so that makes it fair game. I just did not see any recognisable structure. What was it, 3 crumbing goals and 1 on the run. 1 goal from a back man and 1 from a beanpole kid. Our forward entries were awful, top of the square to a huge pack or over the boundary for a throw in, nothing new there. I only hope that with Vickery all hot and bothered and Griffiths head butting Sandys shoulder it left our forward line in disarray. Otherwise it will be a long year of dour struggles and low scoring games.

Been saying it for a couple of years. Hardwick is really easy to coach against. You just drop back a plus 1 or 2 into our forward line and Dimma doesn't know how to combat it.

I fear it will be a another year where the likes of Ibbotson, Gibson and Hansen can just float loose across our back line and pick us off at will.

 

[UKTiger]

I was hoping to see some structure in our game plan. Sadly there was neither a structure or a game plan

 

[scottyturnerscurse]

Pretty underwhelming.

But, to paraphrase Mick, make no mistake, Fremantle are a very good football side.

And it was on their home turf, kinda, in conditions that probably suited them more.

 

[Nik]

Yes our forward entries last night were abysmal. Easy solution though - just tell the players to deliberately kick to the opposition. Our guys will end up with the ball every time.

 

[zippadeee]

He failed the fitness test at Lions. Nice work Zips, but you've never been one to post on facts, only rambly *smile*.

He didn't fail a medical. It was he wanted 3 years

 

[ninjahaha]

Season over! Sack Dima! ;D

 

[Tigerfan]

Pretty underwhelming.

But, to paraphrase Mick, make no mistake, Fremantle are a very good football side.

And it was on their home turf, kinda, in conditions that probably suited them more.

I wouldn't read anything into that game for either team

 

[tote]

what i found disappointing was our player positioning/movements both with and without the ball - i know the team was inexperienced but they didnt seem to have any idea of positioning either way. Only player i saw as being a solid gain on last year was CEllis - had time and made great decisions - surround him with the big boys and he'll be a big improvement to the side.

 

[Harry]

we can't afford another slow start to the season like the past few seasons as it will cost us a top 4 spot - again. we need to go full strength in our next 2 nab games and go full throttle. we can't afford cheap losses to the bulldogs and melbourne early in the season.

 

[seven]

Season over! Sack Dima! ;D

I'm not a knee jerk reaction sort of guy.
But agree, come Monday Dimma should be sacked

And what about McBean?
Not one touch!
I know he didn't play but still no excuse, gone!

 

[Rancey18]

What were people expecting on here? Result was exactly what I thought it would be based on the teams chosen by both sides. Due to the amount of youth we had playing right across the ground, all I was looking for were glimpses from guys that would show their ability to translate it to AFL level.

Marcov, C Ellis, Broad and Menadue all showed in my opinion that they may be able to step up and make an impact at AFL level this season. Chol certainly showed enough to generate some serious excitement for when he fully develops in a couple of seasons. Looks a very astute rookie selection.

I was disappointed with Astbury's game, however with greater senior support around it would make a major difference - so I'm not writing him off based on a practice match...

 

[CarnTheTiges]

There's a bit to work with there. We had 8 - 10 best 22 players out and Freo put close to their best side on the park. We lost both of our key forward/rucks partway through the game. Markov looked good. Conca seems to have lifted a bit. Morris, Astbury and Batchelor were all awful and this was made look worse by the absence of Rance and the fact that Chaplin was playing forward (he won't do that regular season). Chol was Exciting with a capital E. This kid showed a lot for his first competitive hit out. Would have liked to see Corey Ellis get more of the ball, because he is an absolutely lovely user of it. Short played a nice role as the small forward and I'd rather we focus our efforts on trying to create a small forward on him than any of the other options. Rioli looked okay, but needs a couple of pre seasons under his belt before we'll really see much from him. Felt McIntosh picked up where he left off last season and I hope he'll develop into one of those big bodied midfielders we so desperately need.

 

[YinnarTiger]

I'm not a knee jerk reaction sort of guy.
But agree, come Monday Dimma should be sacked

And what about McBean?
Not one touch!
I know he didn't play but still no excuse, gone!

I thought Lade was our coach last night, not Dimma. Lade should be sacked for that effort.

 

[tha8ball]

Corey Ellis looks a walk up start in our 22. Makes great decisions every time he has the pill. Beautiful by hand and foot. Adds real class to our senior side. Very excited about him this year.