I am thinking this round will be remembered as the suburban round with the Telstra Dome looking like something you would expect from a local footy ground and what about the tiger snakes? We had Tiger Snake corner at Blacktown and someone leaving their snake behind in the car park at the Dome from the AC DC concert.
St Kilda defeated Collingwood by 1 point
Collingwood had a full strength side while St Kilda was missing up to 7 regular players yet like the Hawthorn match last year, it did not change the result with St Kilda dominating much of the game and made the most of mistakes one by the umpire for a soft 50m penalty to Riewoldt in the 3rd quarter and another by Ben Reid in the last quarter.
Schneider looked good in the midfield with 3 goals and young Smith also showed enough to push for a senior spot this year. Collingwood will need Brown to kick 30-40 goals this year and with 4 on Friday weekend, he showed enough to be able to help Cloke provide a tall target. This will allow Medhurst, Didak, Thomas etc to feed off them.
Sydney defeated Carlton by 12 points
Lets face it, this was not the best advertising game we could have showed to the Blacktown people. We had a forwardline-less Carlton and Sydney who was missing Bradshaw and White, yet Carlton still was unable to stop a bunch of rookies (Jetta, Dennis-Lane & Rohan) from kicking a winning score.
Ziebell in the Kangaroos defeat over Geelong
I have a feeling it will be a frustrating year for Carlton, their starting forward line was Fisher (who know needs an ACL reco), Carrazo, Henderson, Judd and Robinson.
I enjoyed watching Lewis Jetta pace around the ground, with him, Dennis-Lane, O’Dwyer and a few other young players, Sydney may even be one of the teams to watch this year.
Kangaroos defeated Geelong by 14 points
As much as Geelong where flat and it showed that they had started their pre season late, the Kangaroos where amazing and I wonder if Nathan Buckley maybe regrets not taking the opportunity to coach them. With Ziebell, Anthony (38 possessions) & Warren (4 goals) staring, they surprisingly have the nucleus for a descent side with only one player over the age of 28.
What will impress coach Scott the most is the fact that yes they got to a 46 point lead but when Geelong came back to within a goal, they then showed heart and kept the Cats at bay and never gave the lead back to them.
I do not think its a sign that Geelong’s reign is coming to an end, yes they be easier to match against but they still have pretty much the same premiership side and it needs to be remembered they where missing 5 regular players and a lot started their pre season late.
Fremantle defeated Melbourne by 47 points
From what I have found out, only one radio/ tv station (SportsSENtral radio) in the whole country followed this game. If this is the case, its shocking, yes the game was rubbish and its only pre season but still…
I am sure at the very least, Dreamteamers where interested on how three of the top four draftee’s fared. From reports Scully & Trengrove only got 23 possession between them and Morabito did not do much better.
However it was the rookies and pre season picks that impressed the most with Joel MacDonald providing great maturity and run from defence. While for the Dockers Mature-age VFL recruit Michael Barlow made a convincing case for pre-season elevation with 29 possessions. Fellow rookies Alex Silvagni and Clancee Pearce (20 possessions and two goals) also impressed.
NAB Round 2 and Regional Challenge Games
NAB Round 2 Match ups:
- Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs – Friday Night (The Dome)
- West Coast v Port Adelaide – Saturday Night (Subiaco)
- St Kilda v Sydney – Saturday Night (The Dome)
- North Melbourne v Fremantle – Sunday (The Dome)
Challenge Games:
- Collingwood v Adelaide - Friday Night (Traegar Park)
- Carlton v Brisbane Lions – Friday Night (Visy Park)
- Melbourne v Essendon - Saturday (Visy Park)
- Richmond v Geelong Cats – Saturday Night (Yea Recreation Reserve)
NAB Round One Talking Points
Even though we only saw four games this weekend, 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.
- Which Collingwood side is the real Collingwood side? The one who got 40 odd points behind St Kilda or the team who got back in front?
- I do think its still too early to tell but I am sure some fans will silently be worried.
- What was your view of the patch work job on the Dome?
- I think we are we just becoming precious.. I heard one player say it was actually softer than normal and a lot more comfortable than usual.
- Did you find the match up between Ball and St Kilda kinder boring?
- I was expecting some fire works, some boo-ing, something but nothing…
- After watching the half time Sheady interview at the Sydney/ Carlton game. Do you get the impression its more about him than AFL in West Sydney?
- I wonder if I am the only one who thinks this?
- Where you impressed with the Kangaroos?
- How can you not be?? They outplayed Geelong and Scott as some have called it, be the recruit of the season.
- Did you follow the Melbourne/ Fremantle game? Or was it a case of “Was there a fourth game?”
- With the high draft picks I am sure some was interested but it is a Fremantle/ Melbourne game, I doubt many non fans would have been interested.
- I heard Freo went and saw George Michael on Saturday night. Was this their version of being inducted into the Freo inner sanctum?
- Well purple is their team colour…
- Who was the most impressive on the weekend?
- We have added a poll to the left, let us know in the comments or vote on the poll.
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February 23rd, 2010 at 8:27 pm
1. I seemed like there were 2 Pies teams out there, and I do think the second half team is the true reflection as Presti came on and dominated the back line and Beams just ripped it out of packs when he finally had a run. It’s true that while Rooey was off the ground the Saints lost momentum so doesn’t that point to the need for him to stay on the ground and that the Saints are useless without him? That’s what I’d be asking.
2. The ground looked awful and did cause a couple of mis-kicks, notably Jolly on the wing sprayed sand everywhere.
BTW, what happened to Medhurst in the first quarter? He took a mark in front of goals, but while Channel 7 were blabbering on about the play up field, the ball was in St Kildas hands and there was no explanation. Someone, anyone, do you know what happened? Did he kick it on the full? How?
3. Well, as a Pies supporter I was looking forward to the contest and wasn’t surprised that when they could, the Saints players gave him a little shove here and there, but nothing that you would call malice. The fans did boo him all night, but it’s just that the Pies fans drowned them out with cheers.
4. Didn’t see the interview, but not surprised.
5. Again, didn’t see it and all I can say is “NAB CUP”. Also, Scott will do very well with the Kanga’s, he learnt from the master.
6. There were a few posts on @aflscores on twitter on Sunday evening, I thought they were testing the system.
7. I’m sure there is a heave ho joke in there somewhere but I won’t say it….
8. Probably the Friday night game, closely followed by Scott’s coaching.
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:43 pm
2. For those of you wondering, here is what bigfooty forum has to say about the Medhurst thing.
BTW we seem to have all forgotten about Medhurst being robbed of a goal in the first quarter as well for a behind the play incident where the umpire said Didak pushed Jones in the chest..
February 24th, 2010 at 9:30 am
I have to admit I was surprised that Beams was a subsitute unless he came off a limited pre season (Tony??) but I guess it shows that Collingwood where not 100% committed to wining the game as Presti at the moment is still in the best 22. Reid, Brown etc really need to step up as Presti cannot go on forever.
While the ground did look horrible, surely it was no worse than some of the grounds we have all played on (ie: cricket pitches in the middle) and the grounds from the 80s and earlier where they were muddy etc. Think the AFL players are just precious.
February 25th, 2010 at 9:48 am
I think that professional footballers are accorded the same respect as we do as employees at our places of work. The ground is their work place and therefore all efforts have to be made to provide a safe environment. This is what the AFLPA is there to enforce and if they think the ground is unsafe, the game will be called off. So far, this hasn’t occurred but I thought Friday nights game must have been close.
I think Beamsey showed signs he is ready to have a break out year, just absolutely everywhere and getting his hands on the ball, it was great to see.
February 25th, 2010 at 9:56 am
Call me a pessimist but I doubt the AFLPA or the clubs would have the ‘balls/ courage’ to pull their side from playing on the Dome. The ground has looked worst before, yet they did not do anything….