Your thoughts on our Rd. 1 opponents?

[Go Richo 12]

North were crap and the Blues were at full strength... guess they need the prize money! North are going to struggle to replace Thompson and Grant and already beginning to rely on kids who have not yet played a senior game eg. Ziebal. The blues were impressive however, pretty slick for this time of the year!

[F0551L]

 watched the game last night on tellie   there was a couple of shots on the screen at restarts when all players where in a line up the guts   didnt see anything like that when we played freo last week  certainly didnt look like "zoning"
 the blues did look slick but early days yet

[Hellenic Tiger]

Round 1 of NAB Cup or last Saturday in September

Our round 1 opponents are and always will be

Lying Cheating Stealing Filthy Putrid Smelly Disgusting Refuse. 

[bojangles17]

their midfield is strong albeit stevens will miss thru suspension in R1...Both Cuz and cotchin will add some cream to our hardworking quick midfield

[WA Tiger]

their midfield is strong albeit stevens will miss thru suspension in R1...Both Cuz and cotchin will add some cream to our hardworking quick midfield

Cotch wont be there and niether will Cogs IMO

[mightytiges]

watched the game last night on tellie   there was a couple of shots on the screen at restarts when all players where in a line up the guts   didnt see anything like that when we played freo last week  certainly didnt look like "zoning"
 the blues did look slick but early days yet

I saw that footage too. Both sides trying to block up the direct route down the centre but all it did was leave plenty of space for the Carlton midfield to spread out into as they were up for the game and always first to the footy.

Anyway we'll see how the Blues go next week against the understrength reigning premiers.

[Chuck17]

Anyway we'll see how the Blues go next week against the understrength reigning premiers.

It was almost playing the the over performing wooden spooners instead

Cant believe the dawks won

[Stripes]

The Blues remain predictable and will struggle against our new zone. Their weak backline remained unchallenged and they still are weak in the ruck.

They look fast if given space, we won't allow that. Foley, Lids and Cousins match up well against Steven, Murphy and Judd plus we include our extra strength around the packs with Tuck and Richo with their midfield missing Carrazo they will be shown up in round one.

Stripes

[Mr Magic]

It was almost playing the the over performing wooden spooners instead

Cant believe the dawks won

Melbourne's performance just shows how little weight you can put into pre season form.

[Infamy]

I am with you mato73 regarding your comments, and also pre-season or not the Blues are way ahead of us at the moment in ball movement, skill level by hand and by foot, centre breaks and really their overall run, IMO. They are very fit, very fit, I thought they would run out of steam the way they started the game but not to be. The Blues also have a habit of starting every game in a flourish, goal after goal after goal before the oposition realises whats going on, I have seen them do this a lot.

Don't worry about saying wait to the season proper starts, if they take this momentum and self belief into the season proper the will be more then ready for round 1. Carltons foot passing over distance was excellent last night as was their hand passes, I only recall them missing a few targets late in the game when fatigue started to set in. They also run and work well in numbers, they really protect each other and seem to find players in space.

Expect Waite and Gibbs to rotate on Richo, I thought this game would be a walk in the park for us come round 1, after last night pre-season or not I now have my doubts. We will need to be switched on from the first bounce and expect a shoot out.

Didnt they win the NAB cup a couple of years ago? They looked a million bucks then
Followed up with a ripper of a wooden spoon

2 Years is a long time Inf and most of those players are either gone or have grown. What did you think about their young tallent or how they went compared to ours??

I'm not saying they're going to win the spoon again, I'm just saying that looking slick in the preseason doesn't mean much. Same with Essendon last year, they looked great in the NAB cup, but it didn't do them much good at the end of the H&A season though.

[mightytiges]

The Blues remain predictable and will struggle against our new zone. Their weak backline remained unchallenged and they still are weak in the ruck.

They look fast if given space, we won't allow that. Foley, Lids and Cousins match up well against Steven, Murphy and Judd plus we include our extra strength around the packs with Tuck and Richo with their midfield missing Carrazo they will be shown up in round one.

Stripes

Replace Stevens (who won't be playing) with Gibbs in that trio. Gibbs' footskills are far more dangerous to us than say Murphy. I would even tag Gibbs.

If we can match them in the midfield we will win (provided we kick straight of course  ). Both sides will be missing best 22 midfielders so there won't be any excuses.

[mightytiges]

From the first half of today's game against the Hawks, the Blues backline is still iffy and inexperienced to handle key forwards. Unless their midfield is on top they can be hurt badly going the other way. The Hawks don't have Buddy, Hodge and a number of their other premiership players either. Carlton have hit back since their midfield has got totally on top.

We need to match the Blues in the midfield in round 1 as it's their strength.

[Go Richo 12]

Spot on MT! Anyones forward line will go good if they are getting quality service from the mid-field! I think our midfield stacks up favourably due to the fact we have run and carry types like Axl

[mightytiges]

We'll have to be on song in 18 days time because the Blues will feel very upbeat despite last night's competitive loss. A few of their younger players played very well. They still played longer direct footy even without Fev up forward too so their gameplan shouldn't be a surprise come round 1.