The players how I thought they went (and remember it's just MHO
)
2. Will Thursfield - liked Will's game. Good to see him running and chasing hard. His closing speed seems to be back
3. Brett Deledio -BOG for mine by a long long way. Ran hard, chased harder, tackled hard and his disposal was spot on. Fantastic game
5. Troy Simmonds - played about 10 minutes a qtr but when he was on the ground he was good. He and the mids worked well together. Was also great see his leadership at centre ball ups calling the mids into a circle to obviously discuss and plan
6. Graham Polak - I posted this somewhere else on this thread but I though Polly was very very good. He was matched up on Scarlett and Scarlett (who I rate as one of the best fullbacks in the game) gave the Cats very little if any run from the backline. Also, our crumbers need to realise that with Polly (like richo) in a contested marking contest that if Polly doens't mark it there is big chance he will bring it to ground... be ready
8. Jack Riewoldt - dropped 3 of the easiest marks in the first qtr and a bit of the game but after that he was good. Once he and Polly worked who would lead to which area rather leading to the same spot the structure worked. Another pleasing thing is Jack would lead up the ground and then quickly double back towards goals and get his opponent out of position - got a couple of goals doing this = smart FWD play
9. Trent Cotchin - started slowly. First half was average, 2nd half was good with his third qtr a atandout
10. Shane Edwards - liked his game. Actually seeing him standing next to couple of the Geelong kids he looked like he had actually added some muscle
thought his disposal was very good and his running through the centre was more direct this week
15. Mitch Farmer - I was really impressed with Mitch. Why? because I really enjoy watching blokes putting in 2nd and 3rd efforts. On a couple of occasions Mitch got beaten in the first contest but he backed it up with a 2nd effort and won the ball back and it doens't hurt that he can tackle
16. Luke Mcguane - good first up effort by Luke.
17. Chris Newman - dare I say it - solid game by the skipper - everything he did was clean and precise. Clearly he is one of the "go to" guys runnng out of the back half
19. Daniel Connors - KRock said he was solid so he must have been
Seriously I didn't notice him that much but as I've already said although the disposal was better this week, he still misses a few to many targets when he is under little pressure
20. Mitch Morton - pretty quiet game by Mitch despite kicking 2 goals. Good to see him willing to work harder defensively
23. Daniel Jackson - like Simmo - first game of the pre-season and had limited game time. Nothing flashy but his altercation with Varcoe was entertaining. Good goal in the 3rd
25. Angus Graham - didn't play but should have a look at Simmo's tape of this game
26. Robin Nahas - as mentioned already - disappointed with Nahas' game. Missed to many targets especially in the first half. Much better in the 2nd half when he played as a permanant forward. Not sure we can afford to have him running of the HB line
27. Tom Hislop - kicking at times continues to be shocking
but his defensive pressure and attack on contest in the forward line creates opportunities for the Roberts of this world
28. Jake King - rarely noticed Jake no impact
29. Tyrone Vickery - much better game from Ty. He just seemed to play with more confidence knowing Simmo was in the side. Based on yesterday for round one Simmo & Vickery to be our ruck division
30. Richard Tambling- started on the bench (first 3 minutes) after that he was away and one of the best on the day.
31. Adam Thomson - very good game indeed. Super quick hands at stoppages
32. Ben Cousins - a typical Cuz game - all class
36. Dustin Martin - quiet day compared to Tassie but in a way a good thing - he will learn. But credit to the kid he didn't drop his head
40. Kelvin Moore - terrific game from Kel. His running out of the back half set up many drives into our F50 and his disposal this week was spot on
43. Matt Dea - was super impressed with this kid. Terrific body size = very solid. Reads the play well and actually played "tall" a couple of times. Good clean disposal majority of the time
44. Troy Taylor - started well but I think ran out of "puff". Needs to work hard on his 2nd efforts a couple of times he was very slow in reacting and didn't chase. But overall a good start - certainly has great skills and a good turn of pace
46. Jeromey Webberley - didn't come on until the 2nd half but it was worth it. First kick was a shocker (turnover) but after that terrific. At one point in the final qtr he ran the ball from the HBF line to just outside 50 - we wanted him to have a shot but he did the team thing and looked for the target - I was so disppointed
50. Relton Roberts - fantastic first up game. Magical skills and brillant footy smarts. And when he puts the burners on - he isi bloody fast
Defensive pressure was excellent along with his 2nd and 3rd efforts. WOuld have done his chances of senior list promotion no harm at all
