NAB Cup: Sydney Swans v Carlton Blues v GWS Giants - team list and match discussion

[giant]

Jesus these @@@@@@@*** umpires have been on us all day. Missing Shaw, Mumford, jetta, goodes, smith, mattner, Kennedy, Bolton, pyke, Morton, LRT, Mcglynn, Malceski,

The umpiring was bizarre. If I'd had a newbie to the game with me I'd have struggled to explain about 2/3 of those decisions (both for and against us). How many new rules were they trialling???

[cyanide]

Agree Armstrong was impressive and Everitt was busy, particularly in the Carlton game. Jesse played a lot of minutes but frustrated as usual, despite his spectacular goal. Reid took a great speccy and a few more contested marks. Macca was tireless as always, although i agree many of the GF players were showing their short pre season. Towers and Cunningham looked like they could push for a senior spot this season. Rampe did a bit but most of the rookies looked overawed.

I didn't think the effort was appalling, although maybe not Bloods standard, however the skill level and execution was generally low. Obviously the coaches saw it as a chance to blood youth and experiment with roles for the kids, unlike the other teams who fielded near A-grade sides.

By the by, Blacktown Sportspark is an unexpectedly pleasant venue, muggy and wet conditions notwithstanding.

[ShockOfHair]

I thought Armstrong was the standout too. With Smith and possibly Mattner making a late start he's a lock for round 1.

White's effort wasn't too shabby, but he's still our #4 ruck option. Interesting that Walsh was used as a forward and not up back. He's also at the back of a long queue.

We looked pretty clunky but an acceptable first-up hitout.

[R-1]

Would I be correct that the Giants had more senior-experienced players on the field in game three than we did?

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Remember we start the season proper against the Giants and then the Suns, so that in a way offsets any potential premiership hangover.

[Reggi]

Would I be correct that the Giants had more senior-experienced players on the field in game three than we did?

Yesterday we played 10 guys who had never played an AFL level game. I always thought we would be soundly beaten.

Disappointing that more young guys did not look closer to ready.

Longmire needs to persist with playing them. We do need 5-6 to step up.

Sounds like Rampe, Towers and Lockyer, are the most likely at this stage

[Big Al]

Thought it was a pretty good hit out considering where we are in our preparation. Like the Hawks, we were effectively a month behind our opposition so the results didn't surprise. Would expect to get better each week and be ready by Rd1 .

[Reggi]

I think it is exciting to be playing young guys though, think horse should definately persist. Find out which ones have a future

[liz]

I think it is exciting to be playing young guys though, think horse should definately persist. Find out which ones have a future

Except that he'll find out more about who is ready, or close to ready, if there are fewer in the team at any time - ie who can be effective playing a role in a decently strong side?

[707]

Having watched a few NAB Cup games in the past week, every team seemed to have untried players looking like they deserve an AFL debut. Some were outstanding.

The worry for me out of our matches yesterday, and I'm sure it's worrying the coaches, is that not one untried player for us looked to be deserving of a start in the seniors. That is a worry given our lack of experienced depth and still a few flag players getting over injuries.

Carlton and GWS were far from full strength as well.

[Mr Magoo]

We all know the drill. They will introduce a few more first 22 next week , rest some that played on the weekend, slowly increase the numbers of starting 22 round by round and keep those players in that look likely to snag a berth if normal starting 22 arent ready. The rookies such as X Richards, Naismith etc will get maybe one more game at most as the players that are more likely to snag a round 1 berth are kept in the side.

With only 10 regular first 22 playing and a lot of players who wouldnt have played together at all against proper opposition , the result wasnt suprising. It did look very disjointed and there were few that stood out but difficult to do so in the circumstances and conditions.

One thing that was encouraging is that if the swans slide in a couple of years time, I think we might have another sydney side up there in the eight. GWS look to be a pretty good side in the making and the forward duo will be downright scary in a year of twos time.

[Velour&Ruffles]

It was certainly painful to watch. I think we can tell how much the coaching staff cared about the results by the very small number of players we used. We know some are injured, but not Kennedy, Pyke, Jetta, Jude, LRT, Eski. Still, the games show there is a lot of work to do before the season starts.

Agree with Nico that the 'contact below the knees' rule needs a bit of tweaking. Fully understand why they have introduced this - if we can stop another player suffering a broken leg like Rohan all will be well. But the umpires need to learn to distinguish between something that is dangerous to the standing player and a player just putting their head over the ball. To be fair to the umpires, it is a new rule for them too, so they might take a bit of time to get the balance right.We know what the likes of Ted, Macca and ROK can do. And they generally did it OK tonight. My main positive was probably Armstrong, who injected himself well into the games and showed he could break the lines.

Giving the free kick to the guy who has his leg broken rather than the slider would be a good start. Gary Rohan was penalised last year in the incident which broke his leg.