The first round has finished and some supporters are starting to realise that 2009 will be a long season as their hopes, dreams and prayers turn into nothing..
This is fast becoming a regular image as Richmond continue to disappoint everyone with insipid & poor performances
Carlton defeated Richmond by 83 points
This was a devastating loss for Richmond, they where one team that many experts (including Kick2Kick’s experts) thought they would finally play finals but even after one game you have to start to wonder if maybe everyone over estimated them. They could not tackle, could not hit targets 20m away and looked very slow and insipid.
Carlton on the other hand were amazing, they were hungry, fit, exciting, unpredictable and they showed why they are seen as the new power to challenge Geelong & Hawthorn this year. What was good for Carlton was that Fevola only kicked two out of 20 odd goals for the game.
Geelong defeated Hawthorn by 8 points
Geelong have played down their inaccuracy problem but its rather obvious bad goal kicking loose’s you games, they lost the Grand Final by bad kicking and the Cats almost lost again through the same issue.
Geelong look like they have not lost anything especially with their 4 goals in 5 minutes in the 2nd quarter. Ottens played a very solid game and clearly dominated the undermanned Hawks ruck division. Another hole that Geelong exposed was the Hawks defense, they played Hodge brilliantly and continually exposed holes.
Adelaide defeated Collingwood by 4 points
Did Collingwood turn up to play? This question almost caused Mike Malthouse a heart attack and like normal, he tried to deflect the attention from his sides poor game.
Adelaide however did turn up to play and although their forward line looked young and inexperienced at times, Tippet, Maric, Walker and Porplyzia provided a good mix and finally Adelaide look capable of kicking a winning score.
Brisbane defeated West Coast by 9 points
Both sides showed enough to say they will improve from last season and what will please the Eagles is that they did not give up after having 9 goals kicked on them in the 3rd quarter. What will please Voss is that they showed spirit and adapted their game plan to effect.
Daniel Rich showed why he was widely talked about with a strong performance in his first AFL game
Hooper repaid some debts with an outstanding performance and showed Brisbane stuck by him along with T Johnstone in his best game for Brisbane. Surprisingly West Coasts forward line functioned with Hansen, LeCras & Lynch kicking 10 goals between them.
St Kilda defeated Sydney by 15 points
Sydney flew out of the blocks with a 5 goal first quarter but then the old legs seized up and they slept for the next two quarters by only scoring 2 points. St Kilda scored 11 in this period and walked over the Swans.
Milne, Kosi & Gardiner showed enough by kicking 7 between them and if they continue to kick 6-10 goals a between them it will help captain Riewoldt a lot who is struggling as he gains match fitness.
Kangaroos defeated Melbourne by 34 points
McIntosh round the clock back to 2007 with a dominate performance and surprisingly he had more contested marks than the whole Melbourne side put together. Again the Kangaroos had a nice spread of goal kickers with McIntosh, Thomas, Campbell and Petrie all kicking 2 or more.
While Melbourne will be happy that they provided a contest for most of the game, I liked Dean Bailey when he said that the weekends game was their minimum performance they are allowed to put in week in – week out, this sets a standard!
Port Adelaide defeated Essendon by 41 points
Port easily won and I am really liking their forward line set up with Daniel Motlop (four goals), Justin Westhoff (three) and Brett Ebert (two) along with Gray and others will provide many headaches. Essendon’s forward line however needs attention with Lloyd and Lucas again only managing to kick one between them, Knights, time for them to spend the rest of the year in the VFL.
Tarrant kept Johnson goalless playing in defense which is a welcomed sign for every Docker supporter.
Essendon had plenty of triers in Watson, Skipworth and Hille battling manfully in the ruck but I get the feeling that Essendon will really struggle at times this year.
Bulldogs defeated Fremantle by 63 points
Some people do not like change and I am sure they are Fremantle supporters as Fremantle again served an insipid performance. While Fremantle played a lot of young players in Hill and Suban it is the older players like Murphy, Schammer, McPharlin and to a lesser extent Pavlich that do not take that next step.
Bulldogs continue to try and prove experts wrong with their lack of tall key position players in attack with players Hahn, Gilbee, Eagleton, Griffen, Giansiracusa, Akermanis and Higgins all kicking multiple goals. They managed to leak 90 odd points which is a bit of worry.
Top 8 after Round One
- Carlton
- Bulldogs
- Port Adelaide
- North Melbourne
- St Kilda
- Brisbane Lions
- Geelong
- Adelaide
Round One Talking Points
Every weekend brings some talking points that we as fans, supporters and experts have an opinion about and we at Kick2Kick would love to hear yours. So please give us your views on the following talking points and then raise your own. The talking points are in bold followed by the authors opinion.
- Of the teams outside the top 8, who apart from Hawthorn and Collingwood who else could get back in their after only one game? Collingwood looked very ordinary and maybe only Richmond could get back into the top 8.
- Has the AFL public over estimated Collingwood? I believe so and I think its time for Malthouse to retire and stop living on his early 90′s reputation.
- Just how good was Daniel Rich and Carlton? Carlton showed why many experts suggest they will be top 4 material and I wonder if six clubs are questioning why they did not take Daniel Rich..
- With Lloyd and Lucas continuing to disappoint is their time up? I have been off them for all last season and all pre season. Think Hille needs to be captain and they sit in the VFL waiting for injuries for another chance. No more room for romance left in AFL.
- Is Ports and the Kangaroos performance over estimated by the teams they defeated or will they be solid top 6 sides? I think while Essendon & the Demons will be bottom 4 teams, Port and Kangaroos showed enough to suggest that they are serious top 8 sides.
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March 30th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Woohoo! Go the Blues
Back where we belong…on the top of the ladder!
Pickless last blog post..Slick Dogs thump Freo
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March 30th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Its amazing Pickles how many Carlton supporters have come out of the woodwork. You guys sure did play very well though.
btw when was the last time that Carlton were on the top of ladder? 1995?
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March 30th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Don’t jump too quick on Daniel Rich yet. has to come to melbourne to play this week.
I think it’s a case of Collingwood “underestimating” their opposition rather than the public getting it wrong. Thye did have an easy run in the DRAB Cup, don’t forget, & continously they lose to top 8 sides that they should beat.
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March 30th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
To answer your question Germ, we were last on top of the ladder in Rounds 11 & 12 in 1996 (I got this info from http://www.blueseum.org, a pretty cool site on Carlton history).
As for the Talking Points;
1. I still think West Coast have a slim chance for the 8 but they are probably the only team outside of Hawthorn & Collingwood.
2. Over-Estimate, maybe a little bit but they are still a handy team (and it pains me to say that about them). I think it was more a case of Adelaide being under-estimated.
3. I didn’t see Daniel Rich but we were amazing. Ok that is probably a little to far but I did think we played very good footy but a lot has been taken away from us because of how bad Richmond actually were. It will be interesting to see how we go against Brisbane this week.
4. They should probably both have retired at the end of last year, but saying that Lloyd was still playing some good footy. I would probably give them a few more games to see what happens.
5. I think Port will make the 8, I am a little unsure on the Kangaroos; they did not look that convincing against a team that everyone has tipped for the spoon.
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March 30th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Thanks Geaghs for the answer to my question re: Carlton last on top of the ladder. Would that be the longest any current side has been on top? I can only think of maybe Fremantle who have not been on top since 1996.
Yes you are right Craig but what does help him is that Black, Power and T Johnstone play in the same team and most of the time will take the main taggers, allowing Rich to continue to develop and star.
In regards to the Eagles ever so slight chances of making the top 8, they play Port at home, so that will be a good test. Their fade outs to me is a bit of a worry as they got 9 kicked on them in round 1 and in the NAB Freo kicked 6 in 5 mins.
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March 30th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
To answer your question Germ, we were last on top of the ladder in Rounds 11 & 12 in 1996 (I got this info from http://www.blueseum.org, a pretty cool site on Carlton history).
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April 2nd, 2009 at 11:26 am
imho re the Lloyd and Lucas situation, these guys are still great players however the supply they are getting is not good at all, essendon’s lack of speed and skill through the middle is hurting their champion forwards. i watched all of Sundays game and was appalled by the skill level of the Bombers. Stanton seems to be the only one making the right decisions at the moment. Put Lloyd up front for the Dogs or Crows and he would still kick 60-70.
I thought Port and particularly the Kangas were very ordinary on the weekend. If North play like that this week they will get smashed.
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April 2nd, 2009 at 11:47 am
What gets me in regards to the Lloyd and Lucas situation is what benefits does having Nagle playing full forward who has shown absolutely nothing in the few years he has been around. Surely even if Lloyd played out the goal square like Hall etc he could at least kick 2-3 a game. Get the number one defender and then allow Nagle to develop his game more (I personally dont rate him).
It also helps the midfielders to develop their game as their hard work can be turned into goals..
= poor coaching by Knights imo
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April 3rd, 2009 at 12:27 pm
It was kind of expected that Cousins was going to hurt himself. I think when people have been out of play for so long, they tend to forget to do the endurance training and focus more on muscles and I think that possibly this could have been a main reason for the problems with many players that come back after so long out of the game. The game of footy is really an endurance game – it is a game of stamina and if your body isnt use to playing such a long intensive game then your body wont last the match let alone the season.
I dont know what happened with the Cats last week – very disappointing match – when they should have dominated and won by many points they just lost their nerve at the last minute and nearly lost the game – come on boys whats going on there – it shows that not only is it a game of endurance its also a game of the mind.
I hope they play better this week – GO THE CATS
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April 4th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Is it just me or are the Bulldogs still very under-rated, last year they went undefeated for a number of rounds and nobody really rated them that much, alot of people think that Collingwood and Carlton have a better chance of making the Grand final but so many people dismiss last years preliminary final where the Dogs could have easily won and played off in the Grand final. because we don’t have a key forward i think we’re being written off too easily. just remember we were the second highest points scoring team in the AFL last year!
I think Richmond’s problem has a name, Terry Wallace
As do Collingwood, Mick Malthouse
Neither of these teams will win a premiership under these two men, wallace failed to make two Grand finals with the Bulldogs even though they were probably the Better team,
and Malthouse failed to win two premierships. they are old, old-fashioned and need to retire while they still have some credibiltity.
Lucas and Lloyd are done. they can’t keep up with todays game and Lloyd should take up soccer so he can dive and actually get a free kick
Carlton are a good team, but i think their time too shine is next year and onwards. West Coast and Port Power may be the suprise package this year, i think the Eagles will improve drastically on last year but may still fall short of finals, Port Adelaide are sleeping giants and history shows us they never stay out of finals for long since 2001
again i think Geelong are again the team to beat, but they are still overrated and up themselves and i can’t wait to see them fail.
this year i go for two teams, The Bulldogs and WHOEVER plays Geelong (that includes Freo and West Coast)
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