Round 1 discussion

[Nige]

Not being able to close out games has been a problem for a while. Tiredness getting the better of the boys every game isn't good. Hopefully we'll be all over St Kilda next round.

[quinny88]

Sooo good that we finally defeated the Blues  ;D
Even though we nearly chocked in the end  ::)
Cotch was good as usual.
Deledio was BOG for 3 quarters.
Vickery was very good and stepped up as Jroo done nothing.
I was very impressed with Batchelor down back, showed a lot of poise and was pretty good. Don't know why you don't like him Quinny, because I easily see him in our best 22 even before yesterday p.
McGuane played his role and his tackle at the end of the game was great.
Conca was impressieve and Dusty was awesome in glimpses.
Tuck was great and as usual no one really noticed him (including myself)
I was also very happy with the way Jackson played today  :o
We were lucky to hold on, the Blues played some good football when they wanted to. Gibbs was great for them. I thought Judd was close to BOG, Kreuzer played well against Maric, Jamison destroyed Jroo and Walker was great for them down back.
Very happy to get the 4 points  ;D ;D ;D

I think you will find riewoldt did did exactly what he was asked to do, dimma was really happy with him after the game. His job was to get Jamison out of the 50 to leave vickery and McGuanne 1 out and it worked perfectly. If jack had of kicked straight he would have slotted a few to.
I agree batch played fantastic and was back to his 2011 form. I just think he is lazy at times and have had a grudge on him ever since I saw him out at 3am blind drunk and smoking the night before a game (although he wasn't playing)
It's funny the 3 guys I didn't want out there all played well.
Assuming grimes plays next weekend, who comes out?

[Toga]

Yeah I agree quinny, Jroo did a great team job of freeing up Vicks and Guan 8)

Deledio was very impressive, whilst Cotchin and Tucky we're quite unassuming imo - when I checked DT scores at half time and Cotch was 50+ I was very surprised, thought he'd had a very quiet game! Vickery looked great, look forwards to seeing a big season out of him!

Conca was in and around it a lot - our next inside midfielder? Tross was a general down back, Chaplin had good moments, and while at the start of the match I was a bit worried about Griff down back I thought he did ok in the end.. And Dusty looked good when he was around the ball, the kid has great composure (coughed it up badly in the last few minutes though :-X) but think he is in for a good year - would like to see him fully unleashed into the midfield!

My only real disappointment for the night was Brandon Ellis :( I think he'll be a great player, don't get me wrong, but at points last night it just looked like he did at the start of last year... Pretty nervous and jumpy... Rather than tackling full on it looks like he kind of waits for his opponent to run into him to be tackled! ??? But hopefully that just comes down to nerves and he can come out next week and play like he did late last season! :)

While it was a bit of a choke last night, not the best display by the boys, a win is a great way to start the season, bring on the saints next week!

[LaHug]

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with the win. I just don't believe we played like a finals side. That being said, we have another 21 games to prove we're worthy ;)

[AFEV]

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with the win. I just don't believe we played like a finals side. That being said, we have another 21 games to prove we're worthy ;)

Will be very interesting to see which of Fremantle, North Melbourne, Brisbane, Essendon, Richmond and Carlton make the 8.  Probably only room for 2 of them but all looking pretty good..

[Jroo]

Sooo good that we finally defeated the Blues  ;D
Even though we nearly chocked in the end  ::)
Cotch was good as usual.
Deledio was BOG for 3 quarters.
Vickery was very good and stepped up as Jroo done nothing.
I was very impressed with Batchelor down back, showed a lot of poise and was pretty good. Don't know why you don't like him Quinny, because I easily see him in our best 22 even before yesterday p.
McGuane played his role and his tackle at the end of the game was great.
Conca was impressieve and Dusty was awesome in glimpses.
Tuck was great and as usual no one really noticed him (including myself)
I was also very happy with the way Jackson played today  :o
We were lucky to hold on, the Blues played some good football when they wanted to. Gibbs was great for them. I thought Judd was close to BOG, Kreuzer played well against Maric, Jamison destroyed Jroo and Walker was great for them down back.
Very happy to get the 4 points  ;D ;D ;D

I think you will find riewoldt did did exactly what he was asked to do, dimma was really happy with him after the game. His job was to get Jamison out of the 50 to leave vickery and McGuanne 1 out and it worked perfectly. If jack had of kicked straight he would have slotted a few to.
I agree batch played fantastic and was back to his 2011 form. I just think he is lazy at times and have had a grudge on him ever since I saw him out at 3am blind drunk and smoking the night before a game (although he wasn't playing)
It's funny the 3 guys I didn't want out there all played well.
Assuming grimes plays next weekend, who comes out?

If Grimes comes in, out goes Griffiths I reckon.

[Toga]

I think so too Jroo..

What about Knightsy? Edwards? Vlastuin?

Thinking that it'd probably be Kingy or Nahas for Knights or Edwards... Not sure Vlas will break into the side for a while unless Brandon Ellis gets a rest next week... ???

[Jroo]

I think so too Jroo..

What about Knightsy? Edwards? Vlastuin?

Thinking that it'd probably be Kingy or Nahas for Knights or Edwards... Not sure Vlas will break into the side for a while unless Brandon Ellis gets a rest next week... ???

I reckon if Knights is 100% fit he should come in. Same with Petterd. A lot of players who are vying for a spot in our 22 which is great

[quinny88]

Personally I would leave the side unchanged unless grimes is ready. Saints is a danger game, I would rather save the experimenting and new players for the bulldogs the week after

[Toga]

Personally I would leave the side unchanged unless grimes is ready. Saints is a danger game, I would rather save the experimenting and new players for the bulldogs the week after

Yeah good call quinny! :)

[Jroo]

Personally I would leave the side unchanged unless grimes is ready. Saints is a danger game, I would rather save the experimenting and new players for the bulldogs the week after

+ 1 I don't think we would make many changes. Give an extra week to make sure Grimes is good to go.

[Nige]

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with the win. I just don't believe we played like a finals side. That being said, we have another 21 games to prove we're worthy ;)

Will be very interesting to see which of Fremantle, North Melbourne, Brisbane, Essendon, Richmond and Carlton make the 8.  Probably only room for 2 of them but all looking pretty good..

Freo should make the 8 comfortably in my opinion, maybe even push top 4, they look the goods. Also, if any of the other teams above are going to give us a challenge it would definitely be Carlton. Mick at the helm should make them a serious threat. North won't make it with their draw and Brisbane, even though they won the NAB Cup, are still a bit off.

And yeah, don't see a need for change, even if Grimesy is fit, give him a week and bring him in for Round 3, don't simply make changes.

[EZA100]

Sooo good that we finally defeated the Blues  ;D
Even though we nearly chocked in the end  ::)
Cotch was good as usual.
Deledio was BOG for 3 quarters.
Vickery was very good and stepped up as Jroo done nothing.
I was very impressed with Batchelor down back, showed a lot of poise and was pretty good. Don't know why you don't like him Quinny, because I easily see him in our best 22 even before yesterday p.
McGuane played his role and his tackle at the end of the game was great.
Conca was impressieve and Dusty was awesome in glimpses.
Tuck was great and as usual no one really noticed him (including myself)
I was also very happy with the way Jackson played today  :o
We were lucky to hold on, the Blues played some good football when they wanted to. Gibbs was great for them. I thought Judd was close to BOG, Kreuzer played well against Maric, Jamison destroyed Jroo and Walker was great for them down back.
Very happy to get the 4 points  ;D ;D ;D

I think you will find riewoldt did did exactly what he was asked to do, dimma was really happy with him after the game. His job was to get Jamison out of the 50 to leave vickery and McGuanne 1 out and it worked perfectly. If jack had of kicked straight he would have slotted a few to.
I agree batch played fantastic and was back to his 2011 form. I just think he is lazy at times and have had a grudge on him ever since I saw him out at 3am blind drunk and smoking the night before a game (although he wasn't playing)
It's funny the 3 guys I didn't want out there all played well.
Assuming grimes plays next weekend, who comes out?

If Grimes comes in, out goes Griffiths I reckon.

yeh your right but i think that griffiths talent is just being wasted down back but i know we needed that tall defender. Before he got injured against fremantle he was killing it.

[TheAnt]

Kinda annoying that McGuane played well otherwise Grimes in for McGuane and Griffiths goes up forward, BTW he's a MONSTER kick. Cotchin was BOG, Riewoldt will poll extremely well in the best and fairest votes. Knights comes in for Nahas, bloody hell he needs to get his act together, sitting nonchalantly in the 4th quarter when we were running out of legs and not even bothering to warm up...
Jackson must've put butter on his jersey because he was impossible to tackle. Really don't want Rance to kick the ball, just not a great decision maker. Overall, a good performance, needed a better 4th quarter. Especially considering Carlton were a man short and had a weak forward line. Not a top 8 team based on that performance however they can really push up the ladder if they win the next two games and from there on in it's a matter of holding on for that finals place  8) Don't need to kick anyone out if we're there from the get go/

[Nige]

So, apparently we won't be playing Carlton in Round 1 of 2014... but we'll play them in the opening game on Round 2.

Way to ruin tradition.