At the moment, Kick2Kick is half way through previewing the 16 clubs and once we have done that, we will preview the 2010 season before the start on the 25th March. We started off with Fremantle, then the Bulldogs, the Kangaroos and Collingwood. Last week we have looked at Richmond, Sydney, the West Coast Eagles, Essendon and Melbourne. This week we started off with Geelong and look at whether they can still be a force in 2010.

Western Bulldogs defeated St Kilda by 40 points

40 years is a long time to not win a Grand Final of any type let alone play in a Grand Final but Saturday night was a night to remember for the Dogs but I get the feeling they are not satisfied with just the pre season competition premiership. The night also meant they know they can not only match but can beat the Saints.

This pre season has been almost perfect from the Dogs (expect Johno missing the Grand Final) with the final keys playing and performing in Barry Hall (Michael Tuck medal winner) and extra talls Tom Williams and Andreas Everitt playing well.

A worrying sign for the Saints is that again Kosi, Milne & Schneider was too quite up forward in an important game and it was left for Riewoldt to try and drag his team back into the game after being 22 points behind in the first quarter. More worrying signs was the Dogs had 20 more tackles throughout the game and only kicked 3 goals in the first and last quarters where the Dogs managed to kick 10 goals.

Regional Challenge Games Wrapup

The last “official” hit out for these teams, while some don’t take the whole series seriously, they do for the final hitout before the regular season. While for other teams they are still madly trying to get together some of the finer details sorted for their playing style, just like Carlton with their forward line.

Adelaide defeated Carlton by 1 point

Carlton have improved their forward line and steadily we are beginning to see how it can all happen with 3 goals to O’hAilpin and two each to Betts and Robinson. You can then add the improved fitness to Waite and while I still see question marks, you can begin to see that maybe they can kick a score week in, week out.

For Adelaide, Kurt Tipett was again the difference with 3 goals with Taylor Walker and Jared Petrenko two goals each. They have now won the last two games which will act as a good warm up for the season proper in two weeks time.

Brisbane defeated Hawthorn by 11 points

It was a scrappy, windy game but the news that has every Hawks fans again shaking their head was that Roughead finished the game with an ice pack on his knee. Last week it was Lewis and Taylor breaking a leg and now its Roughead. Although it was only a precautionary I must ask who walked across the black cat?

For Brisbane Fevola was again quite with no goals but the other off season recruits in Brent Staker, Andrew Raines and Matthew Maguire all stood out along and Simon Black, Luke Power and Josh Drummond playing their first pre season game for the year.

Sydney defeated North Melbourne by 42 points

I think both teams would be happy with the game, result aside as Sydneys forward line is looking dangerous with O’Keefe (four goals), Goodes (two) and White (three) functioning (and do not forget to add Bradshaw) and Wells continuing to step up his midfield game time.

West Coast Eagles defeated Melbourne by 38 points

Colin Sylvia broke his jaw which will put another dent in their best 22 and forward line. The Demons best players where the established players MacDonald, Bruce & Green. From the four pre season games, Melbourne are the only team to not win a game.

For the Eagles Daniel Kerr and Matthew Priddis played after two weeks off and their forward line again functioned with Hansen (3 goals), Mark Nicoski and Mitch Brown playing the new Adam Hunter swing man.

Essendon defeated Richmond by 72 points

Hardwick is happy with his sides progress after loosing 12 goals? He must know more than me, maybe its the 5 year plan he is talking about or the fact that a kid who has not even played an AFL game is their best player.

In Kick2Kick’s Essendon’s season preview I talked about whether they could find enough goal kickers, well in this game, they had 14 individual goal kickers. Is this a once off or a preview for the year? Maybe whats even better than the 14 goal kickers was that Scott Gumbleton got through the game and showed why every Bomber has been praying over his body.

Collingwood defeated Port Adelaide by 81 points

This was the Port Adelaide we are used to see, great one week (just lost against the Dogs) and then terrible the week after, maybe it was because they had to travel for three weeks in a row and even at the start of the season, that will tire any team out. A bright note for Port is that they’ve managed to look at 37 players in the four weeks, they now their list and who can play.

Collingwood on the other hand kicked 27 goals and it was the usual suspects that shined for them in Luke Ball, John Anthony (three goals), Tarkyn Lockyer, Paul Medhurst, Dale Thomas and Scott Pendlebury (two goals) and Leon Davis.

Geelong defeated Fremantle by 31 points

This was Geelongs first win in the pre season but they only played 3 games as their last weeks game was cancelled and it showed with Freo getting to a 3 goal lead at half time even with Geelong playing 19 premiership players. Geelong then kicked 8 goals to none in the third quarter which set up a 5 goal lead and the game was over.

Apart from that third quarter, amazingly Fremantle won the other three quarters but for Freo to play and win finals, you must play four quarters. Until they do that, Freo will stay the laughing stock of the AFL.

NAB Grand Final & Challenge Games Talking Points

I am sure we all have many issues, point of views and arguments we want to jump on the soapbox and talk about. Well this is your chance…

Please give us your thoughts in the comments section below or add your own talking points. The questions will be asked in bold and my response will be un-bold under them. Your input and comments help us make Kick2Kick a better website, so please express your opinions.

1. Which club(s) have impressed you in this pre season?
   • Kangaroos, Port and the Bulldogs
2. What have you learned in the pre season?
   • Barry Hall is the saviour for the Dogs, imagine how many more Grand Finals they could have played in if they recruited a big forward?
   • Apart from four or five teams (Geelong, Collingwood, Adelaide, St Kilda, Bulldogs & maybe Brisbane), there will be a log jam of other teams in Hawthorn, Essendon, Carlton, West Coast, Port, Sydney, North & Freo fighting for 2 or 3 spots in the top 8.
3. Apart from Riewoldt, is the Saints forward line their weakness?
   • They are all inconsistent which is the worry and to me the weakness, forget their lack of pace. Kosi, Schneider and Milne are too hot and cold, you can afford to have one forward like that but three?
4. How can we fix the NAB pre season?
   • Scrap it… I have been playing with some ideas, so let us know and we can explore some this week together.
5. Who has been the worst team? Richmond or Melbourne?
   • Richmond has won a game, while Melbourne has not but Melbourne have been in with a chance with their games unlike Richmond who was smashed by Essendon & the Hawks. For Richmond has been the worst team by far.
6. Do you agree with Saints coach Lyon saying its the game they needed to loose?
   • Never agree with that load of spin rubbish by the coaches but it did show up weaknesses that maybe by winning it covered them up.

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