Here's my match report but excuse the lack of journalistic polish please:
We won the toss but there was no breeze and no advantage. It had been showery during the day but the ground held up well and wasn't slippery to the players, only the ball that skidded a fair bit. We started with Morton Browne Foley and McMahon on the bench and I don't know who/if we had subs. Schulz at FF and Jack at CHF. The crowd was around 5k - might have been more - and we definitely outnumbered them. My initial guesstimate was about 80/20 but I reckon 70/30 was probably closer - it was very obvious though.
The game started out slowly and we started to get on top a bit tawards the middle of the term. Bowden was playing a linking role from defence to attack and Deledio was getting heaps of it. Richo was roaming all over the ground and picking up quite a few possessions in the backline. Schulz marked from a good lead up and switch but missed a simple set shot. We were fiddling a bit but not nearly as much as the first game and we were on top in the midfield. Edwards was doing a Kingy - running all over the place chasing anything that moved and he was getting a lot of possession but made a few costly errors of judgement - trying to break tackles, hanging on to the ball for too long etc. The umpires were a bit hot but no-one was getting a benefit. We looked much more potent than them for the term but only led by 3 points. Best for the quarter were Brown, White, Bowden, Richo and Deledio (not in any order).
We got on top early in the second and outplayed them for most of the quarter. Tambling and Cousins started to get a lot of possessions and used the ball well, and this gave good supply to the forwards who were teaming and pressuring well. We seemed to lift in intensity in this term and the Lions chased all quarter. Schulz limped off very quickly with a leg injury that initially looked like it might have been a hammy but he cam back on so obviously wasn't. What was also evident was that we used intelligent switching of play a lot, especially coming from the wing area - we would look up and bang a long 50 mt pass to a teammate on his own on the other side of the ground for a good set up. It happened on a number of occasions and worked well. Our skills were definitely improved from 3 weeks ago. Best players for the quarter were Deledio, Tambling, McMahon, Bowden and Cousins.
Graham came on after Browne had played a lot of the first half. We continued to apply good pressure in the forward line and were getting a heap of the ball but we started to go back to our bad habit of overusing the ball when there was no need. We were in control and we started to get a bit cute at times which led to a few turnovers. Tambling was getting heaps of the ball but after a faultless 2nd quarter he made a couple of costly errors that really shouldn't have been made at this level - 2 dropped easy overhead marks spring to mind. Cousins class was really standing out by now and he showed that with a bit more conditioning he will be capable of playing at very close to his best. Edwards was quite amazing - he was the hardest worker/trier on the ground but he made quite a lot of mistakes. I will forgive him because he was always trying something - hopefully he will learn as he gets older. We were still playing a lot better than them but overused (and consequently butchered) the ball a lot. Best for the quarter were Cousins, McGuane, White and Bowden. For a supposed 'seasonal late starter', Bowden is definitely up and about at this point in time.
Graham was on the ball for the first part of the last quarter and was getting beaten badly in the hitouts. Their midfield got on top and once they got a run on it was hard to stop. To add to the problem, the umpires went a bit trigger happy and started paying heaps of tiggy-touchwood frees. Of course, the side with the run on got the benefit from that. We were now taking poor options and you could see a drop in intensity from some of the players whose fitness is still not at a peak. Our forward line also started to fly against each other and lacked the cohesive efforts of earlier in the game - Brown was the main culprit but he had mates. It was actually the backline that turned the game around by stopping the onslaught at the last line and they held firm against a lot of opposition pressure until the Lions run ended and you could see that happen about 10 minutes from the end. We started to break even in the midfield and the game played out fairly evenly from that point. White especially, stood out in the last quarter with his running - you would suggest he is one of the fittest in the team by that effort because he ran hard all night. Another one that stood out in this quarter was Rance - he showed a fair bit (good 2nd efforts) and I'm very confident now that he is going to make it. Other for the quarter were White, Bowden, McGuane and Deledio.
Overall I thought we showed significant improvement from the first 2 games and it was only our poor conversion from very gettable shots (Simmonds missed one from a metre out) that kept Brisbane in the game at 3/4 time. We are not fit enough to run out a full match yet but will be very close by Round 1. You can see the improvement in 'fit' game time each week and I'm sure this has been deliberately planned. Our best for the game were Cousins, Deledio, Bowden, McGuane, White, Richo and Brown, and serviceable games from Tambling, McMahon, Simmonds, Jackson, Tuck and Edwards.
And finally a couple of predictions/obversations:
Browne is already a better ruck option than Graham.
Deledio will be very hard to beat for Jack Dyer #2 - barring injury.
Cousins will win a couple of games off his own efforts this season - barring injury.
Bowden will be a very damaging player in a more versatile role this year (similar to Richo last year).
McGuane is our best defender and that is taking nothing away from Moore or Thursfield.
Tambling has the ability to be a match winner but lacks a lot of confidence.
McMahon's delivery was first class tonight - not one even average pass that I saw.
Bradshaw kicked his goals with his only touches (or frees) and was beaten by his opponents on the night.
That's all for now - any questions then fire away.
