I just loved seeing McEvoy tap it down to Armitage, who would kick it to a contest that would be crummbed by Lynch who would give it off to Stanley for a goal.
I love seeing Lynch kick it 40 meters to hit Geary on the belly button.
Armitage's in and under work was as good as always but he seems to be really adjusting to the game a bit more and could become a real clearance machine for us.
Geary, Lynch, Armitage and Stanley have all shown they know where the goals are.
McEvoy looks like he will be a very servicable ruckman (even if he does jump to early for mine) as well as being very handy around the ground.
Gaetner did enough to show he might have something special as well.
We also have Steven in the sidelines who has shown he is all class as well as two players who could be major bonuses in Jesse Smith and Tommy Walsh.
Not to mention we've got players like Goddard, Gilbert, Zac, McQualter, Schneider etc. who aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
This is the most excited I've been about a group of young players since we had Riewoldt, Kosi, Ball, Xavier, Dal Santo, Maguire, Montagna, Goddard and Raph all come through over a few years.
The loss of Luke Ball really doesn't seem that bad now that Armitage really looks like he is going to force himself into that position.
The Lovett farce doesn't seem like the massive blow that it was a few months ago either. If we could have a Geary or a Gwilt come into the side and really make a half back flank their own that could realease Gram to play the role we had earmarked for Lovett and on exposed form Gram looks like he is ready to take his game to the next level and really try to decrease the difference between his best and his worst, as a matter of fact, considering his form in his last two grand finals he might be worth putting a few bucks on for the Tuck medal next week
It is a real credit to our recruiting and development teams that we have managed to develop so many players in such a short period of time without having access to any good draft picks and by taking full advantage of the rookie drafts (God bless Clinton Jones
)It's good to be in another GF, yes it's just a practise match, but it is so important that we maintain the winning culture that we have been developing since GT's arrival and have taken to a whole new level since RL's arrival.
Having said that though it is important that we stick to the plan and allow our youngster to do the majority of the work this week and use our older players very sparingly with round one as the primary focus.
One thing that you always hear coming out of the top teams is how important the internal competition for spots is, how it drives them all that little bit harder, I have no doubt that this is the case and this is the healthiest our depth has been in my lifetime.
Looking forward to not only a good year, but a good few years coming up.
