Sturt vs Eagles 1st Semi Final Review

[Mickyj]

mickyj........believe me there were many changes during the game made by Ron......

the Eagles won the second half....the move of McGregor forward made a difference.....players were kicking to the top of the square.....

it was bad kicking for goal that cost the Eagles today in the third.....scoreboard pressure is a must in finals......

we were again exposed by pace and Sturt breaking our takles in the first half.....

the to the players credit they rallied and gave it everything they had for the second half......

Rimmington and Grocke were clearly our best......

sadly lack of a good pre season, missed games and age caught up with a few today!

hopefully the seconds can take the Grand Final ia a couple of weeks time.....they blew Sturt of the ground in yesterdays game!

Actually I made a typo in that first post .
What I meant by the moves bit was Ron left the team unchanged at the start of the second term,when clearly the side needed to be moved around.Third term there were changes a plenty.
Pace we lacked
height we lacked
Miles appeared our best ruck.
The captain allowed his player to much room.
Jarrad did the same at times but he hurt Sturt more than the skipper did.
We relied to much on one big forward,but we had no crumbing forwards .The crumber from last week was in the seconds .
Trebby goaled and was taken off the side seemed to lose something then.
Fuller era over let the "god" era begin
And to the bays fans counting my posts after a loss that would be four now .If it don't rain watch my fishing posts guys.
Cheers

[spell_check]

#24 and cicca was terrific for the eagles today. i actually thought the eagles played the better football more often, but sturt banged on goals in a row more often. goes to show the worth of the ken farmer medallist is to sturt.

Broadbent and Cica were fantastic today.

He can't retire, Cica, surely not. I heard he is going on because Ron isn't there next year.

Who was the idiot who posted last year that Cicca would win the 2009 Magarey Medal ....

He did get 7 votes, and you could say the slow start to the season stopped that 7 from having a 1 in front of that digit. Or more.

[Mickyj]

Poor Selections matchups and coaching cost the eagles today - they tried but when you carry 4 or 5 of players that aren't up to A grade standard you can't expect to win a final. Hopefully Godden was watching the game today and can send them packing to Henley #10 in particular.

Nathan Daniel is a young kid on the improve - deserved his spot in todays side based on his recent performances. He will only improve further with more experience at league level.

Rowntree
Goldsworthy
Hill
Redden
All would have been handy today.

[FlyingHigh]

mickyj........believe me there were many changes during the game made by Ron......

the Eagles won the second half....the move of McGregor forward made a difference.....players were kicking to the top of the square.....

it was bad kicking for goal that cost the Eagles today in the third.....scoreboard pressure is a must in finals......

we were again exposed by pace and Sturt breaking our takles in the first half.....

the to the players credit they rallied and gave it everything they had for the second half......

Rimmington and Grocke were clearly our best......

sadly lack of a good pre season, missed games and age caught up with a few today!

hopefully the seconds can take the Grand Final ia a couple of weeks time.....they blew Sturt of the ground in yesterdays game!

Pretty much spot on CCL. Missed three easy chances in the third, and then Shirley missed from straight in front early in the last.

Sturt were too fast, too good. If Chambers and Nelson can get back next week, then its wide open again for the flag.

Don't understand why we went in one big defender too few. Coad and Herring were great early and Johncock good all day.

Have been impressed by Rimmington in the last couple of weeks.

[FlyingHigh]

was listening to the parts of the game on radio this arvo

for those who watched or were there

the scuffle at half time i heard two differnet reports from 5aa and abc

5aa - jeez there have been some haymakers thrown

abc - there is a bit of push and shove been goin on

which one is correct

From what I could see, there were a couple good ones thrown, but nothing overly vicious

[Mickyj]

Maybe the next coach will work it out
There is an EG player who played 100+ games in the AFL as a key forward
But for some strange inexplicable reason too often he only gets a gig up forward when his team is several goals down
f..''KEN'' hell ...

Having said all that coach Ronnie Fuller has done a great job with WWT in his coaching tenure
Unfortunately his team was up against a freakish finals team in CD in the last decade
He has won a flag and has ensured the WWT club was a very good competitive outfit
I think he should have a couple of years off
Refresh himself
And come back in a 2nd stint as a coach again

Mal that player seems to struggle if he plays at FF all day .The last Norwood game proved that correct.
I think if one more tall had been selected it could have been helpful,as the number one ruck seemed to be having a few problems.
The new coach may well have a better run with kenny mac at FF .If we can win the ball out of the midfield which we struggled to do all day.

[Dogmatic]

Poor Selections matchups and coaching cost the eagles today - they tried but when you carry 4 or 5 of players that aren't up to A grade standard you can't expect to win a final. Hopefully Godden was watching the game today and can send them packing to Henley #10 in particular.

Nathan Daniel is a young kid on the improve - deserved his spot in todays side based on his recent performances. He will only improve further with more experience at league level.

Rowntree
Goldsworthy
Hill
Redden
All would have been handy today.

Westbrook too.

[eaglehaslanded]

Disapointing end to our season - we were very poor in the first half, picked up our mojo at half time and won the second half. Could have almost pinched it in the end but ooohhh well it wasn't to be. Umpiring wasn't great but we should be used to that by now - my problem is more with free kicks that weren't paid rather than the one's that were. I lost count of how many times our forwards were held high without ball, scragged or hit high as the ball was coming in - Salter and McGregor especialy were unlucky not to be awarded a few frees. Overall Sturt deserved the win.

[Columbo]

Having had a few hours now to think about what we saw today IMO it's probably a good summary the previous 21 games the Eagles played this year all rolled into a couple of hours.
The bad start was something that was evident a few times this year, the lack of a dominant forward was there again, the up and down form of some of the younger guys had returned which combined with the dominance of Sturt saw the boys 7 goals down just before 1/2 time. Then there was the second half which showed the things we had seen against the Bays and Central earlier in the season, there was a willingness to put their body on the line, take the opposition on and suddenly there was a bit of confidence and if not for some poor execution in the third quarter despite all of Sturt's dominance in the first half the game was there to be won, but a couple of costly turnovers were pounced on by the opposition and the game, season and 9 years of Ron Fuller leadership were over.
I thought James Rimington was a shining light today, gave 110% from start to finish, showed what he is capable of, the challenge for him next year is to do it week in week out in the same way that Treeby, McKenzie, Powell and Cicca have in the past.
Thought Adam Grocke was good today also but like alot of games this year seemed to be just a bit too far up the ground to be really dangerous, his efforts to make contests and take stong marks are excellent but is too far from goal usually to be making the most of his good work.
Would think Luke Norman would have some concerns heading in to next week, but at the same time would think that his side's best is well and truly good enough to challenge both the Dogs and Bays, will the confidence they gained winning a close one today get them over the line next week though.

The end of an era at Oval Avenue and a new beginning for 2010...hopefully some exciting times ahead.

[Mr Fuller]

Poor Selections matchups and coaching cost the eagles today - they tried but when you carry 4 or 5 of players that aren't up to A grade standard you can't expect to win a final. Hopefully Godden was watching the game today and can send them packing to Henley #10 in particular.

Absolutely spot on with your comments there arcadefire.

I have been a massive fan of fuller over the years but in some ways it is good he is going so a new coach can sever the ties with some players who Fuller seems to think we can't do without. How Daniels can get a game is beyond logic. I don't care if he is the hardest worker at training he lacks skill, pace, strength and most crucially, decision making. Yes he is young but any mug on the boundary can see he simply is not and never will be up to it. And he keeps getting handed these important jobs in the centre square and we keep getting smashed. Fairclough is another who must go. Symonds also must be tossed out into the garbage - his last good season was in 2006.

I thought that Fuller simply had to bring a key defender into the team this week. The trouble is that person would have been Hier who has had dreadful form since midyear. However we needed another tall back there so Broadbent and McKenzie were not forced to play on key position players. Too often today they were both were getting outmarked by bigger players (Broadbent by Herring and McKenzie by Johncock) so not really there fault - more of a coaching error. Once Fuller released these guys in the second half I thought that helped us get moving.

For th eagles out better players IMO were Rimmington who had a fantastic game. Broadbent in th esecond half. Cicca at times. Also grocke was ok but probbaly dropped too manyball in the first half.

While I am disappointed Sturt were by far the better team. I have maintained that they have been the best side all year the eagles have come up against and expect them to overcome Glenelg.

[spell_check]

I lost count of how many times our forwards were held high without ball, scragged or hit high as the ball was coming in - Salter and McGregor especialy were unlucky not to be awarded a few frees. Overall Sturt deserved the win.

Salter especially; in defence, he gave away a free! Every week he seems to be manhandled and everyone gets away with it.

[FlyingHigh]

I lost count of how many times our forwards were held high without ball, scragged or hit high as the ball was coming in - Salter and McGregor especialy were unlucky not to be awarded a few frees. Overall Sturt deserved the win.

Salter especially; in defence, he gave away a free! Every week he seems to be manhandled and everyone gets away with it.

And then he got a soft one right at the end!! Thought we got the better of some weird decision after half time, after Sturt were on the right side of a few in the first half, but these were mainly because they were first to the ball and palying the better footy.

[FlyingHigh]

To go forward, I think we need to find a big ruckman, although we may get two good years out of Redden, and one or two midfielders with some game-breaking, lightning pace like Centrals have to complement the Gowans etc, to complement our hard workers in Treeby, Powell etc. Obviously we are going to need a forward to replace Salter and Passador. And a Zac Hier who can get back to controlling the full-back area.

[Columbo]

I lost count of how many times our forwards were held high without ball, scragged or hit high as the ball was coming in - Salter and McGregor especialy were unlucky not to be awarded a few frees. Overall Sturt deserved the win.

Salter especially; in defence, he gave away a free! Every week he seems to be manhandled and everyone gets away with it.

And then he got a soft one right at the end!! Thought we got the better of some weird decision after half time, after Sturt were on the right side of a few in the first half, but these were mainly because they were first to the ball and palying the better footy.

Would agree re the weird decisons during the day, think both sides sucked the men in white in today on more than one occasion.

[Jackal]

Eagles just not good enough this year to seriously challenge the top 3 teams. All year the reason for
our losses has often been one bad quarter. This has been a cop out and has tried to mask the fact that
we lacked team balance, leg speed and genuine on ball class.
Sturt were very good today and the final margin flattered the Eagles, Sturts first quarter decided the game
and despite our gutsy effort we were never going to catch them.
Team balance...most of the year we have been a tall player down and have been beaten in the air inside both 50's constantly.
Our best clearance player was at Centre Half Back and another good clearance player was in the back pocket on Herring.
Three of our on-ball division were a few class levels below Sturts on-ball division. Whilst Daniel is ok, he is still a long
way short of making an impact in finals, the other two will probably get squeezed out of the team if we are to improve.
Fourth is where we deserved to finish, I was glad we showed some guts to tough it out.

[wedgetail]

Rimington a candidate for most improved this year.
Smashed in clearances all game. Two gun onballers(Skipworth?) a priority as is Jacobs, key backman and key forward.
Hopefully Banner, Hill, Rowntree can step up.
Cut losses and send Cheep back to free up some salary cap.
Godden will be a breath of fresh air and I expect several of the older players to be rejuvenated.
Sturt too good today but will struggle to get past Bays.

[CUTTERMAN]

Well done Blues, well fought out to the end despite the umpires. Have to agree about Johncock, he has been our most improved player this year, just ahead of Kurtze. Herring needs to have a look at JJ's agression in attacking the ball and his confidence in decision making and base his game around that. Thought Fish's first 1/4 was very good though. Bring on the Bays

[Mickyj]

Poor Selections matchups and coaching cost the eagles today - they tried but when you carry 4 or 5 of players that aren't up to A grade standard you can't expect to win a final. Hopefully Godden was watching the game today and can send them packing to Henley #10 in particular.

Absolutely spot on with your comments there arcadefire.

I have been a massive fan of fuller over the years but in some ways it is good he is going so a new coach can sever the ties with some players who Fuller seems to think we can't do without. How Daniels can get a game is beyond logic. I don't care if he is the hardest worker at training he lacks skill, pace, strength and most crucially, decision making. Yes he is young but any mug on the boundary can see he simply is not and never will be up to it. And he keeps getting handed these important jobs in the centre square and we keep getting smashed. Fairclough is another who must go. Symonds also must be tossed out into the garbage - his last good season was in 2006.

I thought that Fuller simply had to bring a key defender into the team this week. The trouble is that person would have been Hier who has had dreadful form since midyear. However we needed another tall back there so Broadbent and McKenzie were not forced to play on key position players. Too often today they were both were getting outmarked by bigger players (Broadbent by Herring and McKenzie by Johncock) so not really there fault - more of a coaching error. Once Fuller released these guys in the second half I thought that helped us get moving.

For th eagles out better players IMO were Rimmington who had a fantastic game. Broadbent in th esecond half. Cicca at times. Also grocke was ok but probbaly dropped too manyball in the first half.

While I am disappointed Sturt were by far the better team. I have maintained that they have been the best side all year the eagles have come up against and expect them to overcome Glenelg.

Spot on guys with most of what you have said .
Symonds was a surprise inclusion
Fiacchi was another surprise inclusion .
Both should have played in the seconds and Heir should have played at FB.Why ron would not play him this week is beyond me.

The era of Fuller and Fullers favourites has ended.We finished this year where we should have.
and once again sturt well done

[Mickyj]

Rimington a candidate for most improved this year.
Smashed in clearances all game. Two gun onballers(Skipworth?) a priority as is Jacobs, key backman and key forward.
Hopefully Banner, Hill, Rowntree can step up.
Cut losses and send Cheep back to free up some salary cap.
Godden will be a breath of fresh air and I expect several of the older players to be rejuvenated.
Sturt too good today but will struggle to get past Bays.

I agree wedgetail but I think last year we relied to much on Skippy coming home .Perhaps this year we should chase him but chase other quality midfielders as well. Not just put all our eagle eggs(so to speak) in one basket.
We could also chase Jay schultz .
We need a big ruckman big backman midfielders who are fast and a big forward .
Godden will be good and will hopefully get us up and running early in the first quarters next year.Plus he should move players when the need arises not like Ron who didnt in the first half yesterday!!

[Cambridge Clarrie]

Apparently we're in the Grand Final now... (see caption under main picture...)

So next week's just a trial game...

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/sport/afl/sanfl/

They've now changed it from "Sturt have secured its Grand Final berth" to "Sturt may have secured its Grand Final berth"...

My god they have some Clowns working at The Advertiser...