Chris Dalton wrote:
That could have been a comfortable victory, but we made it hard work for us because once again we had problems with kicking and opposition kicks. First half our kick returns were pathetic. We had a truly fantastic full back for this division, confident under the high ball and one of the best returners going in Gavin Dodd. I don't think Ford is in the same league in that position although his attacking seems to be quite a positive.
On the whole though, I am very confident for the new season. Our forwards were very good all game, particularly Haggerty. Were it not for silly penalties in the first half we would not have given them so many points. To be fair, their kicking game was better than ours and they are still going to be there or thereabouts this season, which is why I feel that with a bit of work in key areas we can go far with this squad. Ainscough can turn it on when he wants and I think Grady could have a good year if we show confidence in him. One negative is we had a lot of position on their line without scoring at times, again, we need to work on that. But its early days and we've got a lot of time to get things right.
Up the Vikings!
I guess this is where you and I differ in opinion Chris. I would not have labelled Dodd as comfortable under the high ball but I agree that there were times today when I was wishing he was about to make an impact.
I think Ford will do very well. He joined the line a lot today but there were possibly a number of times when he could have moved the ball on instead of taking the line on.
As for Ainscough.. I think the more he plays with Koe-Love the better he will be. He looks like a natural finisher to me.
