Was at the game, positives for me:

Walker - Thats 3 out of 4 good games now...Had 21 touches from CHB while beating Croad IMO, he just needs to learn that trying to take stupid marks while leaving your opponent to pick up the crumbs and have a shot for goal is something you don't do as a backman...Apart from that one small thing, excellent game Walks...

Houlihan - Hasn't played a bad one so far, definately stepped up and looks made for the midfield...He's also getting a lot of clearances which is suprising...His disposal was very good last night, when he did turn it over it was because he was forcced to kick to a contest because that was the only option he had.

Whitnall - IMO after these first 4 rounds, he is the frontrunner to replace Kouta as captain at the end of the year (it better be at the end of the year, but this belongs in the negatives thread)...After getting beaten by a more athletic Croad in the first he worked hard all night and was the only pplayer prepared to make a target...Had 16 marks with 5 of them being contested...I think he really does need to play up forward, thats his natural position..

Also, mentions to Carrazzo who tried hard all night, Fisher who was solid (will be much better with the return of Waite and Fev), Bentick who i thought was good again in the middle, Murph did some nice things, Eddie was also good again and i definately liked the looks of JR in his second game (even though he didn't get a whole lot of it)...

A strong crowd, not as vocal as last week but good to see we stillpull big crowds.

AB getting a fair run, and alot of time in the middle if only we had some pace and players that could run the lines AB would be even more valuable.

Walks growing in confidence. He did some nice things last night and i didnt mind the attempt of mark of the year, just shows has has theconfidence now to back himself.

I agree its great to see Walker with a bit of confidence, he is really starting to take the next step...I feel he will be one of those unique players that can play anywhere on the ground and do it well, like Kouta back in his prime...BUT, IMO its silly things like that that cost you goals...I have no problem with Walker going for screamers but not there, you could just see that Croad would get the ball, Walker was just lucky he didn't make him pay...Don't get me wrong though...I love that Walker is going for them and he will take mark of the year one of these days, but there's a time and place for evrything, that wasn't one of them...But again, fantastic game Walks...

Positive for me is that we now know without any shadow of doubt what we need.We always did,but positively,absolutely,we gotta get a CHB and a lot more run in the guts.I know that is old news,but until we are prepared to try some new blood in these areas,we are going nowhere.
For instance,Bower and Blackwell would be a good start.Its not as though we dont have other options.
PS........i wouldnt be knocking Pagan at the moment.At least he has dragged himself out of the last century and trying something differant to the old school go nowhere paddock.

_________________
All my dangerous friends

And Commetti was telling everyone that he took one just like it in his first game too

Almost Dennis

_________________
"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

Does anyone else think it would be a good idea to play Walker at CHB? He showed last night that he can still play his attcking game while shutting down his opponent...Obviously he wont be able to hold a player like Brown or Treadrea just yet but i think he could play on the Riewoldt / Pavlich / Tarrant types...

Marc Murphy just watched the replay yer for his 4th game a little quieter but cripes he is a great player already... his disposal and the way he weights his kicks is a revelation for the Blues. He goes in hard for the ball seen him in all 4 games given a fiar bit of attention and dosnt take a back seat just gets back up and gets on with it.. Also last night should have had a couple of frees from poor attention especially in the last quarter when he had his head taken off.

He has just been a great positive for the Blues for 2006

The same positives that have been mentioned

Whitnall
Murphy
Houlihan
Betts
Walker

You come to expect Betts to chase people down now. His effort in the last quarter on the city side wing against two opponants was fantastic.

Walkers spoiling was sensational.

The other thing I wanted to mention was the leadership from Stevens and Kouta after Setanta missed his shot at goal. he followed up and caused a turnover which lead to a goal. All the players around went and congratualted him. Stevens then followed up and had a quiet word to him. Santy was still kicking himself, pushed Stevens away and went to the goalsquare. Kouta then went over and spoke to him.

For those who dont think Kouta has grown as a leader those are the kind of quiet things which really make a difference.

_________________
"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

Yes, is starting to learn how to play midfield and win the hard ball and use it well - not just be a receiver! (Just happens to have won more hard ball gets than anyone else so far this year) Pity a few people here can't be a bit more patient and expect them to be perfect after one game (And that's you SHHHH).

Positives for me were:

Betts - 4th consecutive consistent game and has blossumed. Pressure applied was great to watch

Walker - Mighty impressed with the amount of height he was giving away and the stirling job of toweling up Croad.

Houlihan - seems to be fitting in nicely in the midfield - showed really good signs of composure in the heat of the battle.

Murphy - another game under his belt, be it his worst out the the 4 games thus far.

_________________
For some silly reason, you people want to assassinate him, and it's just rubbish. You people. All of you, ALL of you!

A real positive is the list of names we are talking about compared to 12 months ago.

Last year we were being smashed and screaming at Fev etc each week...we were awful...

Now, suddenly we are talking about the improved performances of Simmo, Walker, Betts, Bentick, Fisher, Murphy, Carrots - great young players coming through the system, building a future for the club. Over a third of our team seems to have stepped up.

Add to this better performances in Stevens, Houla, Scotland, Whits, Fev, French etc, I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

In the end, we asked for a competitive team and I reckon we have one. The moment that the penny drops, and we have the confience and self-belief to win matches, watch out!! We are in for a fantastic ride...

_________________
"...that's the thing about opinion - you don't have to know anything to have one..." Andre Agassi commenting on Pat Cash 2004
"...the less you know - the more you believe..." - Bono 2006

Positives for me...

Walker - The run, the dash, the poise, the speed demon. Did a fantastic job on Croad when moved on to him. While Croad was probably BOG on the night, I thought Walker stopped the flow and killed off any chance of Croad kicking 10 which he would have easily done had Lance continued to play on him.

Bentick - Had a blinder! Ran hard, tackled hard and played his role to perfection. Becoming quite a good in and under midfielder with those bullet like handpassing. Loved it when he hit the ball hard and at the same time knocked over a urgency lacking Kouta.

Lance - Extremely good game. Couldn't have asked for more. I'll admit that I have been a huge critic of his in the past and have wanted him gone in the past two seasons, but last night he showed us all his worth to the side. His game last night was very 2000-esque and if we can get Livingston back in the side and playing at full back, that will release Lance to the forward line.

Saddington - Getting better with every game. Really gives us another tall option down back. Has a bit of dash about him and his skills are fairly good for a big man. Looking forward to watching him more this year.

DeLuca - Some people hate him, some people like him. The gloves are certainly working and he is holding his marks which is good to see. Won't get dropped for next week, but if I have on concern about him is that he doesn't "rock" the ball on quick enough. Needs to take the mark, wheel around on the left foot and send it forward long and high.

Carrots - Sure he didn't kick as many goals as he would have liked, but how good were some of those leads. Absolute speed demon when he leads out. Wouldn't mind seeing him play in the forward line more often and I hope he practices his goal kicking a lot more as he could be deadly up forward for us.

_________________
Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24

walker's almost speccy ..


surely he is getting closer to actually grabbing one of these


another great game walks .. improving every week


.. go blues ..

walker is fast becoming mr fix it which is great, but at the same time i really hope he doesn't get pigeon holed as a backman. at the moment he has an enormous leap which holds him in good stead against bigger opponents. at the end of the day he is only 189cm and is not going to be able to hold down a KP for ever. i wouldn't mind him being given a run through the middle for at least a while in every game. i think this is where he'll end up playing his best football. havign said that what a sensational job on croad. moved onto croad when he was dominating and did a great job on him. and just on the attempted speccie that was in the 'wrong' spot. a bloke about 17 years ago went for a speccie at CHB and dragged it down. don't remember too many people wondering whether starcevich would have hurt him on the scoreboard if he'd missed it.

I think he probably could (think Leo Barry). Although I doubt it would happen, since it would be a waste of his running power.