Mr Fuller wrote:Well I went to the game thinking the Eagles would at least get close and perhaps even pull off an upset – how wrong I was.
I thought we started off ok and were getting our hands to the ball. However you’d think it was pouring with rain the way we were fumbling the ball, dropping marks, slipping over etc. Central were so much cleaner. Aside from that, the most obvious thing early was that Centrals were not mucking around with the ball i.e. run hard, kick long and straight and minimise handballs. A very simple, effective strategy and perfect for the conditions. By contrast for some reason our strategy was to stop, chip the ball 20m. Stop. Chip sideways. This is a very slow way to bring the ball forward and we have been doing it all season. Centrals kicked a couple of early goals but that is nothing to get too concerned by. But when Grocke missed from 20m out almost directly in front, we seemed to drop our bundle and basically just gave up given we were about 4 goals down at the time. This was the most disappointing thing. If it is not Godden who is instructing this sh!thouse stop-start chipping sideways movement then he simply gets tough on the players. Do it once, you get warned. Do it twice then you come off. Continuously do it then you will risk get dropped to the reserves. We need team players who follow the rules and if you don’t then you need to find another club regardless of who you are.
Another thing I noticed was that Centrals were able to run it out from our defence so easily and this is where they set up their push forward. Everytime the ball hit our forwards, their rovers would pick it off and run off. We can’t get it every time but where was our pressure to keep it in our forward line? I can’t think on one occasion of us reading the ball off our hands. This was Lane/Hall’s job as the small forward. Unfortunately neither of them are up to league standard but we don’t have anyone else more suitable for the role. Both need to be sent on their way next year.
Question for eagles supporters – Cicca has been a fantastic servant but is the way he plays the game good for us at the moment? Whenever he gets the ball he always stops, turns back into trouble and slows down our movement. His decision making seems to have decreased as time goes on and he cannot evade like he used to. I kind of hope this year is his last because I’d hate to see him continue down this track. He is a true champion but I really think this should be his last.
I can’t think of too many good players but I think Sumner needs to be commended on his performance. He just gets better and better with each game and has to be considered a success story in an otherwise dismal year. Grieger took some great grabs up forward (but sadly for him is not a great kick which would otherwise hurt the opposition more), Mckenzie played solidly down back and Thompson was ok. Not much else though.
Centrals really impressed me. Aside from Thomas, Collier, Symes, Boyd, I didn’t think they had a team full of household names (yet) on paper but I was very impressed with their young brigade of ‘lesser lights’ who we will no doubt become more familiar with. That tall forward who looks like a slimmer version of Sutherland looks to be the pick of the bunch. Also their young ruckman (not Sutherland) more than held his own against Parry and Redden, the latter who had a really disappointing game IMO and won’t be rushed back into the Power based on that performance.
Where too from here for the eagles? Well this thrashing isn’t that important given our percentage is so bad we can effectively forget about it. We only need to be concerned about wins and losses. I think we’ll win a few more games against the mid-range teams but won’t get close to Norwood, West, Centrals etc. I think we’ll miss the finals by a couple of games and finish second bottom which is about right.
As noted many times on here, Godden and co have a lot to think about leading up to the end of the year with all players’ performances under review in the remaining games. This will determine whether they figure in our plans for next season. We know what we need – A running midfielder/rover , a ruck, a key forward (assuming Salter isn’t delisted) – so we can only hope the process of searching for them is already underway.
And Collier didn't play!
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