What did you learn from the first weekend of the NAB pre season competition for 2012? Did you see a team that will dominate the year in West Coast, Hawthorn or Collingwood? Did you see that in 3-4 years we will be talking about GWS and Gold Coast as the powerhouse teams or did you see the rise of a super star? Or for some was it purely Dreamteam research were the game itself is almost non-important? Me? I saw all that plus the importance of keeping your star players on the field for the year.
Witts and Folau, who? The NAB pre season is the perfect time to try out young players & others in new positions while other clubs just want a win so they can sell promise to their supporter base.
Last week we saw Mark LeCras do his knee and while Gerrick Weedon and Ashton Hams looked promising as their replacement, West Coast would still be spitting chips over his injury. Likewise North and Collingwood would secretly be happy that their game injuries were not to their stars and only depth players in Grima and McCarthy.
Richmond vs North vs Hawthorn
Pre match I thought this was going to be the most boring and one sided games of the weekend yet history will tell us that while the scores were not as tight as the Collingwood/ Bulldogs/ GWS triple header it was the most even with one win each. I am unsure what you can read into Richmond defeating Hawthorn but a win is a win.
I liked Buddy playing midfield as I really think he can be the next Richo/ Kouta and play midfield. I maintain that Hawthorn will play off in the Grand Final for 2012 even with the ‘surprise’ loss to Richmond.
With Richmond and North, not much surprised me expect the tall target forward line which reminded me of West Coasts forward line of 2011 with Aaron Edwards, (Jack) Black, their resting ruck & Drew Petrie. Unsure how it will go on the Tesltra Dome as at times WCE last year struggled.
Collingwood vs GWS vs Western Bulldogs
Can we read anything into GWS pushing the Dogs and Magpies? Yes and no! No because Gold Coast defeated Sydney and pushed West Coast in successive weeks and they only won two games and got flogged a lot. However Yes we can read something into it because Collingwood are a league above WCE and Sydney (even in pre season with several stars out) and the fact that their ‘dads army’ & ‘B rated players’ surprisingly play well together.
Skinner will be a star, Boyd is a star but apart from that I do not see any good signs for the Dogs who will continue to struggle. Expect a few years in the bottom 8…
West Coast vs Fremantle vs Essendon
Boy these games were a major flop including the Derby, while it was tight for the first half (thanks to West Coast inability to kick a goal) they dominated the play, inside 50′s and their defense/ forward press was finite tuned for a pre season match. Ashton Hams and Gerrick Weedon out played the other small forwards fighting for Mark LeCras spot.
Fremantle did rest three players for the West Coast game which reminds me of the way he coached for St Kilda in the sense that he did not give many fringe players a chance to shine where both Essendon and WCE found several players who will be able to step up in the regular season if needed. Essendon have never played well at the wide Subiaco ground and would just be happy it was only a pre season game. Jetta, Dell’Olio and Melkshem were their best.
What did you learn from Week One?
Let us know what you learned for Week One in the comments section below, feel free to discuss it from a Dreamteam point of view or even a fans point of view. If your a Richmond, North, Bulldogs, Essendon or Freo supporter are you still upbeat about your chances in 2012? If your a Hawthorn, Collingwood and maybe even a West Coast fan, have you planned your September holidays already? And please let us know if your a GWS fan and if so tell us what you think and why are you a fan?
Recent Comments