FlyingHigh wrote:doggies4eva wrote:whufc wrote:The way Central are playing this year and the team we have i don't think we would have been sitting 7-0 last year.
The standard has definatley gone down, but that may be due to the competition being a bit tighter this season therefore more pressure and defensive tactics applied, meaning the skills are harder to apply.
But whufc, if there is more pressure and defensive tactics applied then that means that the standard has gone up! for example I thought that the dogs played reasonable well (considering it is still early in the season) against Norwood. Norwood nearly won by playing 4 quarters of good footy. Where that went last week when they played Glenelg I don't know but then Port came out and challenged the doggies. Make sme think other sides are improving but inconsistant.
That could be the problem - the other sides are trying to challange CEntrals, whereas during a lot of the previous seasons, at least during the minor rounds, other teams were on par with them.
Whilst I agree with most points in part, I think the thing we may have to be cautious of is I reckon as the season is starting to progress we will see much more improvement and more challenges (and wins against) to Centrals.
I think the Dogs have had just a slightly above average start to the season and have been lucky to be 7-0 while some of the more fancied challengers have had a fairly indifferent start to the 2009 campaign.
I think another factor that will start to weigh into the equation is form and injuries. I just feel there are a few Centrals players prone to lapses in form and at present the Dogs have been hit hard with injury, even more so now. Both Paul Thomas and Justin Hardy (who has been superb down back for them) are going to be sidelined for at least a month with broken bones in the hand.
Whilst there are a couple of quality experienced players to come back in the mix in the coming weeks, I think the timing of the draw will start to even the comp out a little. Centrals had a fairly modest draw to start the year and now come up to a much more challenging period in the season facing sides that have progressively shown improvement. The timing of these key injuries will certainly help the other sides Centrals face in this period.
Eagles at Woodville (after the State game bye) is always a challenge for Centrals and then the game that will really test them I feel is the Double Blues at Unley on the public holiday Monday. I guess the thing that falls in their favour is the extra depth Centrals seem to have this year with most of the 'fringe' blokes in the reserves in pretty good form, which always helps.
I say watch this space over the next 6 to 8 weeks as we see some sides really start to build momentum and winning form whilst at the same time reeling the Doggies back in a little, with the points mentioned above regarding Centrals, a contributing factor.
