Round 1 Recap: Eagles Put Leash on Dogs; Take them for Walk around the Dome

A slightly creepy looking JJK

Apologies for the uber-long title, but such an emphatic victory requires a pun-heavy introduction

To be fair to the Dogs, they tried hard and kept it close for two and a half quarters. I now know the name of their Coach. It is Brendan McCartney, or in my mind Brendan McFreckles. However, in all honesty, I didn't think the ultimate victory was ever in doubt. Although the momentum seemed to swing every 10 minutes, I was more annoyed with our inability to build a lead than actually afraid that me might lose. It felt like a question of 'when' more than 'if' and in the end it was quite the doddle. Some might say a 'doggle'. But not me, that would be completely lame. A solid 49 point win away from home, with some underdone players and a missing star. You can't ask for more than that.

I think what is most promising is that it wasn't our best performance. Actually, far from it. Early on, especially, many players seemed intent on passing the ball short when the Dogs clearly had an inability to stop the long bomb to the square. We also turned the ball over several times when under no pressure. We switched off defensively at times in the first half as well, with the Cooney goal from a stoppage a prime example. More than that, some of our best players were pretty poor. Kerr, got completely Pickened out of the game with a mere 7 possessions and 2 tackles. I also didn't think Shuey was all that effectual.

However, as the game went on we moved the ball and scored with ease. The Dogs tired and when you've got men like Lake on your team you're (that's you are) not going to win many games. He played like a fool. I mean 29 in Dreamteam- C'mon Man!

In terms of our best performers, JJK was amazing with his 7 goals. An absolutely dominating game by the future Coleman Medallist. That's right, I said it. It was even more impressive considering he had a very limited preseason. As long as Cox keeps his bloody tennis ball to himself he should have a great season. Everywhere else I though we were very solid. Cox and Nic-Nat controlled the ruck. They also both provided highlights. Cox, with his tackle and goal in the first and running goal in the 3rd. Poetry in slow motion indeed. And NicNat's goal...well you know what I'm talking about. Embley provided some good running off the bench and I thought Hill was very quiet but he kicked 3 goals. I have to give Porky credit too. He provided some decent forward pressure and chipped in with a couple of goals. As Q alludes to, we really need these two to kick goals:

That's a lot of goals we're missing, but we'll cover for them and we'll get better and better every week I reckon,...It's just another challenge to mould another couple of blokes...We've got roles to be played down there; it just means different players are playing those roles.

 You can watch Q talk about how awesome we are below:




So win one in the bag. Next up is the hapless, gutless and spiritless Dees at Subi. Do you think the AFL should call it off and just give us the points? Nah, I love a good slaughter as well.


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 In totally unrelated news, I just thought it would be nice to relive this truly priceless moment from last season...