I went out to Preston to watch the boys win easily today, and overall was pretty pleased with our depth, with more than half a dozen players putting their hand up for senior selection. These included Grimes, Vlastuin, Stevenson, White, Edwards, Arnott and Knights. As well as this, on what I saw today Elton looks to be progressing well, and even Derryckx(?) took a couple of really strong grabs.
Okay, so we know Grimes doesn't have to win over the selectors. It's more a case of just getting the games into him and he'll come straight in. But one or two of the others who I felt were unlucky to miss out the other night (Vlastuin and White in particular) really played with an intensity which suggested they had a point to prove.
We pretty much dominated all day, building our lead slowly at first, and, like the seniors, frittering away a lot of opportunities in front of goal.( There was one comical shot on goal at the Market end in the 2nd quarter, where a Coburg-listed player was awarded a free dead in front for his opponent walking through a behind under no pressure. And somehow he managed to kick into the man on the mark from the goalsquare. )
But by 3/4 time with Stevenson dominating Warnock in the ruck, our mids killing them at the stoppages, and Edwards having a purple patch with 4 goals for the quarter, we went in with a 62 point lead. Along with Hardwick and Williams, it was pleasing to see a large number of Richmond players in attendance, including King, Morris, Ellis and Batchelor. Dimma had a long conversation with Vlastuin at the 3/4 time huddle. Williams admonished the defenders for being too "fancy-schmancy" (his words) on one occasion, before praising their overall effort. And even Batchelor took the defenders aside and gave them a few tips which was good to see.
From there we put our cue in the rack a bit, with Grimes and Stevenson finished for the day, and as such the Bullants managed 5 unanswered goals in the first 15 minutes. But just as I was thinking "here we go again" the boys hit back with 2 quick ones, then managed to ice the clock pretty effectively for the last 5-8 minutes or so to finish with the big win they deserved.
