Gotta be happy with first half...

[liz]

... (just in case it all goes pear-shaped over the next hour!)

I know it's not quite the fearless running style of game that we've all grown to love but the boys have shown some impressive skills and concentration out there so far.

Most pleasing are that Nog, LRT, Powell, McVeigh, Jamesy and Bevan have all made good contributions and look confident out there. None of them looks out of place in that line up.

[Charlie]

We MUST NOT let them get the 5-6 goals in a row in the third quarter that they customarily get. We have to keep control of the match at all costs.

[Newbie]

Originally posted by Charlie
We MUST NOT let them get the 5-6 goals in a row in the third quarter that they customarily get. We have to keep control of the match at all costs.
That is negative thinking, Charlie. How about kicking the next three goals and the game is over?

[NMWBloods]

Yep - the guys look pretty reasonable in the first half.

McVeigh has really good hands and Bevan is getting reasonably involved. Ablett and Powell have had a few possessions and look okay.

LRT is doing really well, although at times his kicking is a bit wonky.

James is doing a very good job down back. Barry has been fantastic - how were a couple of his running with the ball marks!! Bolton okay. Mathews seems a bit underdone, fumbling a bit and not really finding the ball as much as normal. Saddington has fairly ordinary - done a couple of okay things, but dropped a few marks and starting to be beaten by Pike.

Main problem with the backline - what is it with all flying and no one scouting!?! Two of their goals came very easily from all our guys flying in the air.

Williams is playing a great game. Fosdike is doing quite well.

J Bolton not really having much influence - is he minding Black? Not doing a great job if so.

Also, who is minding Voss when he's on the ground?!

Kirk doing a pretty job on Lappin plus getting a bit of the ball.

Crouch doing a good job on Aker.

Davis has been awesome - hope his injury is minor and just a simple cork. Seems to have bulked up a bit in the off-season.

Hall doesn't seem to have practised his overhead marking over the summer. Having a pretty ordinary game, although the last one he took to kick his goal was very good. Hopefully that builds his confidence.

O'Loughlin moving well in the forward line.

Goodes doing a good effort around the ground, but really needs to kick better at goal from a set shot. How was that ridiculous free against him in the first qtr ruck contest!!

[Charlie]

Originally posted by Newbie
That is negative thinking, Charlie. How about kicking the next three goals and the game is over?

That'd be nice...

Although it wouldn't be over. We must accept that we are NEGATING Brisbane tonight. We aren't playing our own game, we're playing negatively. It's working... so far... but we have to keep on top of things.

[NMWBloods]

Yes - we have to watch when Brisbane has one of its bursts. They've threatened a couple of times, but their forward line isn't full strength so that's helped.

And bugger - Goodes just went down the race with an ankle injury.:mad:

[Charlie]

Originally posted by Newbie
That is negative thinking, Charlie. How about kicking the next three goals and the game is over?

See what I mean?

[NMWBloods]

Well, that was one of the more ordinary quarters of football I have seen our guys play in a while.

Foot skills were very ordinary and some of the handballing was woeful.

As for Saddington - people wonder why I complain - what was he thinking trying to outmark Keating from behind?!?!? :rolleyes: :mad: Good that Barry has moved onto Pike as Saddington was being comfortably beaten toward the end of the quarter.

So much for our fabulous kicking at goal - we have missed some easy shots tonight - probably 5!

Well, hopefully Roos can say a few things to them at 3qtr time. Surely they can't play worse. We'll get an idea of what the 2004 guys are made of in this qtr. Should be interesting.

[dendol]

yep, Charlie guessed it. Lions kick 3 - 0 goals in the third quarter. Lets hope we can run this game out and not get hammered. It will mean to at least have an 'honourable' loss, though Im still hoping we can win it!

[Newbie]

Originally posted by Charlie
See what I mean?
:) :) :) :)

[Rob-bloods]

Let's be positive, we have taken up where we left off last year....no not losing to the Lions, I meant having a red hot go!

McVeigh... all you pre-season judges were right....a real touch of class, Bevo got stuck right in for a 'rookie'.

Not entirely unhappy, just devastated, and fancy Ball'y "doing a Mott"!

[Charlie]

Originally posted by Rob-bloods
Let's be positive, we have taken up where we left off last year....no not losing to the Lions, I meant having a red hot go!

McVeigh... all you pre-season judges were right....a real touch of class, Bevo got stuck right in for a 'rookie'.

Not entirely unhappy, just devastated, and fancy Ball'y "doing a Mott"!

Wow... there's three comments I now DON'T have to make.
Agree. To all.

[ugg]

We really missed Nick Davis, I didn't think O'Keefe or Powell could provide the third option up forward and this also allowed Chris Johnson to free up.

And bloody Martin Pike!! Stitched us up two games in a row now.

[Schneidergirl]

SHATTERED!
We coulda shoulda woulda won that!

Nice kick Ball (R.M). If a former full forward (WC) can't kick straight, what hope is there?!! :rolleyes:

Best players:
Goodes
Crouch
L Barry
Davo
Cressa and Schneider ;)

PS. Can we start up a Ricky Mott award? Worst kick of the match! My vote is (well, this was hard...) BALL!:

[ScottH]

Originally posted by Schneidergirl
SHATTERED!

PS. Can we start up a Ricky Mott award? Worst kick of the match! My vote is (well, this was hard...) BALL!:

I don't know I thought Bevans first effort was pretty ordinary!!

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Schneidergirl
PS. Can we start up a Ricky Mott award? Worst kick of the match! My vote is (well, this was hard...) BALL!:

We could do biggest blooper of the match. There were a few:

- Goodes' miss
- Halls' miss
- Ball's kick
- Bevan's first kick in AFL
- Barry's kick OOTF
- James' attempt to bounce while running across goals
- Saddington trying to outmark Keating from behind

[monopoly19]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
We could do biggest blooper of the match. There were a few:

- James' attempt to bounce while running across goals


And I think we have a winner. It was so bad it was comical (kind of reminded me of some of Leo Barry's 'I meant to do that' moves). But s'okay Jamesy, we still love you :D

[swan_17]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
We could do biggest blooper of the match. There were a few:

- Goodes' miss
- Halls' miss
- Ball's kick
- Bevan's first kick in AFL
- Barry's kick OOTF
- James' attempt to bounce while running across goals
- Saddington trying to outmark Keating from behind

Yeah but these didn't cost us the game.....coughBallcough

[gossipcom]

Saddo keeps saying he's not happy with the way he's playing and that this is the year he'll start showing his potential - well if he decides to keep on marking from behind it'll never happen!

That being said the mark that Keating (I think) was paid (subsequently goaled from) that was on a 2nd attempt - Saddo actually touched the ball first.

I think there might be a few visits to the tribunal this week.

Willo and Davis were my standouts tonight - though I gotta love Crouchy's new boots :)

Did anyone get the final possession winners on the night? I know Willo jumped Black right at the end in total number but I was curious to know the final count.

AFL.com's website is playing funny buggers at the moment.

[liz]

Originally posted by swan_17
Yeah but these didn't cost us the game.....coughBallcough

You could argue that Hall's and Goodes' did as much as Ball's - not to mention the two uncharacteristic misses from Ryan"I'm normally a dead-eyed dxxx" O'Keefe.

Still them's the breaks. No one player lost the game. They all made a contribution to coming mighty close.

[gossipcom]

Whoops forgot to add absolutely adored Willo's 65 metre goal - reminded me of his 250th against the Lions.

Also congrats to Bevan and McVeigh for having pretty good first round matches and Mark Powell for his damn fine new hairstyle :)

[Dpw]

Originally posted by Schneidergirl
SHATTERED!
We coulda shoulda woulda won that!

Nice kick Ball (R.M). If a former full forward (WC) can't kick straight, what hope is there?!! :rolleyes:



You will find thats Centre half foward

and yes he shanked it or u could see he choked whatever u like but others missed very easy goals and please this is a team game. win lose draw.

[The Boot]

Original by dpW
and yes he shanked it or u could see he choked whatever u like but others missed very easy goals and please this is a team game. win lose draw.
I just reckon a little bit of sock straightening ... getting the jox outta the crack, and a few more milliseconds of ball spinning can focus the mind for A BLOODY IMPORTANT KICK!!!!!!!!!

[Foreign Legion]

G'day Everyone,


I am amazingly calm after such a close game - then again I could only watch the AFL.com.au scores as I am in New Orleans Louisiana. I can assure you that if Bally had have kicked the goal then there would have been a loud shout at 6:00AM local time!

Must have been a pretty good effort - losing Davis was obviously bad but really, to get so close against the No.1 side is a good sign.

Kennelly and Schneider will give us even more pace and skill - I look forward to "monitoring" the game next week from NYC.


Cheers

[Rob-bloods]

Originally posted by The Boot
I just reckon a little bit of sock straightening ... getting the jox outta the crack, and a few more milliseconds of ball spinning can focus the mind for A BLOODY IMPORTANT KICK!!!!!!!!!

Very true, Ball'y looked absolutely terrified and did not take his time. When he is match fit and the other boys back we will be OK. We matched the premiers all night and to be honest I think a few players had very ordinary nights. Where was BBBBH's pre-season form?

[sfan]

Originally posted by lizz
You could argue that Hall's and Goodes' did as much as Ball's - not to mention the two uncharacteristic misses from Ryan"I'm normally a dead-eyed dxxx" O'Keefe.

Still them's the breaks. No one player lost the game. They all made a contribution to coming mighty close.

Yes the game could have gone either way. The atmosphere at the game in the last ten minutes was sensational and the finals like experience will do no harm. We played a very chip short kick tpye of game and the lions played the flood very well. There was not a lot of space for Hall to lead and he got very frustrated in the last ten minutes. Sitting in the lions members area you gotta laugh though. IMHO not many of them know the rules and make the most stupid comments about the umpires decisions. It might take a few more years for them to learn.

[stellation]

Originally posted by swan_17
Yeah but these didn't cost us the game.....coughBallcough

Well if we only lost by a goal and the other mistakes lead to a goal then they did just as much as Jason's miss.

[The Boot]

Originally posted by stellation
Well if we only lost by a goal and the other mistakes lead to a goal then they did just as much as Jason's miss. True. And I also recall another recent game-losing gaff.
A Mr A. Goodes v Adelaide last year.
A classic shank.
But I still luvem.
What a cracker of a match!
SCG next weekend will be electric.

[Schneidergirl]

Originally posted by Dpw
You will find thats Centre half foward

and yes he shanked it or u could see he choked whatever u like but others missed very easy goals and please this is a team game. win lose draw.

Should still know how to kick a ball straight, even if he was a "centre half forward".

Saw a good kick from a WCE today out further than Ball was and under pressure and he was a youngsta

Someone mentioned before about Adam's goal against the Crows last year... same thing. He kicked a R.M.
Nothing wrong with kicking a R.M once in a while but it just gets me p!ssed off when it means the difference between winning and lossing.

Anyway... it was only a bit of fun. I was very dissappointed after the match.

Wonderful news though- pos 9 on ladder! HURRAH!:)