Godinoz wrote:
Senior Seagull wrote: BC, Fridays game showed just how much we are missing Clarke, he gave our mids an armchair ride all last year and took our game to another level. Sutherland is an honest toiler but was shown up badly by a couple of big young Eagles boys who gave their very capable mids first use at most of the stoppages so we were on the back foot at stoppages for most of the day, it was really only the last half of the last quarter where we broke clear when the young WCER looked to tire a bit. We may have been lucky that Warterman was missing as he has been the the best forward in the WAFL so far. Both teams were hopelessly inaccurate in conditions that were pretty good and far better than expected, 5.14 from both teams to halftime was pretty poor from last years dominant team and a team mostly made up of fulltime pro's.
Clanger is a big out as his ruck support and physicality around the packs is so important plus he's usually good for a couple of goals when resting up forward. Having Heal back is a big plus, he's all class and really should be playing up at the next level. Locks was good keeping their key forward Mcinnes to 1 goal and Lith gave us good run out of the backline. Waters was our most efficient forward with 3 straight from 12 disposals, but despite being lively up forward Soks kicking let him down badly, could have had 4 or 5 if he'd brought his kicking boots. Our experienced mids did well to a losing ruck, Horse, Kitch and Deluca were classy all day and kept us in the game and were still running hard at the end which proved the difference when WCER made a charge and hit the front. that 3rd qtr where they took control was the first 3rd qtr we have lost in something like 30 games but credit to the boys that they found a way to win.
There were 7 missing from last years premiership team so it's reasonable to expect some settling in time for the new guys and for a new coach developing his own ways, but we are currently no where near the team we were last year and no way will we go through unbeaten or with last years ave winning margins. As much as that was great for us Lions supporters, this season is shaping up as a much closer season with Claremont looking to be the big contender and the D's playing some good footy finally finding how to win games that for years they would have dropped. Some good challenges in the next 4 weeks with Peelmantle, Souths and Claremont, after that, we will have a much better idea where we are at.
Thanks for that honest summary SS.What in your opinion is the difference between this year and last year? Will Waterman have what it takes to be there in September? Did anyone manage to catch up with Schoey as I heard he was at the game. It goes to show how loyal he is to the club, just being there.
No worries Godinoz, I think there is a bit of a hangover, last years group was massively motivated to make up for the 2 losses to Freo, now that's been addressed there may be some mental drop off, not by guys like Horse, Kitch, Deluca, Locks and Gus, but others are certainly not back at full tilt. Wardman, while not changing things too much (why would you) still would want to run the programme his way, so some adjusting by everyone is needed. They appeared tired at times in the first 2 games, apparently Wardman had been pushing them super hard at training, still in pre-season mode given we had a late start to training, but they finished off Friday well against a predominantly full time pro team, so maybe he's tapered things a bit. Subi have in the last couple of decades, prided themselves on being the fittest strongest team in the comp and would generally run out quarters better than the rest. As I said lets see where we are after round 9 and we have all our best back on the paddock, really looking forward to the games against the D's and Tiges.
