Yep, I agree, was one of the best games of the season.
Just a few notes from the game:
a) We got smashed in the clearances but were still competitive due to generally good around the ground pressure - particularly 2nd half.
b) We only played about 20 mins of really good quality football, in that time we kicked 10 goals.
c) Despite Bowden having his colours lowered on first Edwards, then Hansen, then Staker, plus a combo of Newman and Jackson getting thumped by Matera, it was really our defence that almost won us the game by constantly thwarting the Eagles' attacking forays. Key to this were the efforts from Kellaway, Graham and Hall who were all very good in their own ways.
d) Richo is too tall and too strong for Glass one on one - need to isolate him if we can on Saturday night, and it certainly wouldn't hurt having a ruckman rest down there when possible.
e) On top of only playing 20 mins of quality football, we carried what might be termed a lot of 'baggage' in the game. I won't name the players, but there were several who didn't contribute much at all.
f) Krakouer was superb in patches of this game - roved very well in attack and won quite a bit of hard ball at the bottom of packs.
g) We'd kicked a very disappointing 3:8 by half time and were down by 32 points. We came home over the top of the Eagles (both physically and on the scoreboard) and only a few poor shots for goal really stopped us from pinching this game playing only one decent half.
e) Wallace's tactic of dragging their only tall mobile CHF back (either Staker or Hansen) into our attack was very effective. They totally broke down across half forward for most of the 2nd half and without 2 goals from Judd would barely have scored.
All in all, the match reinforced that the Eagles are vulnerable at either end of the ground and vulnerable to tough one on one football as we played in the 2nd half. If we can apply constant physical pressure, take our chances up forward and do our best to limit their midfield dominance, this is a very winnable game IMO - even if it is at Subi rather than the G.
