Soft nab cup?

[LENNY LEADS THE WAY]

No injuries is the key for the pre season comp.
Testing out the kids and trialing new players in new positions is critical.
Winning form is good form although a loss is nothing to worry about.
Looking at the mighty saints pre season i find myself a little worried about the quality of opposition we have faaced as we ramp up for round 1.
Wins against a very depleted Swans and Adelaide was nice but nothing to ride home about.
A win today against Melbourne was encouraging but lets admit they not exactly world beaters.
So we look to next week and we've been drawn to face GWS, would this be ideal preparion leading into the season?
Yes Nab cup isn't serious and nab form is no indication of the season ahead but personally i would have liked to face some tougher competion, maybe a Tigers, Bombers, Roos, Blues type match up.
Thoughts?

[Moods]

You say that we played teams with depleted teams? Well we have been fairly depleted throughout this comp. Not as if we have been beating up on teams with a full strength team whilst they have been playing kids. We hadn't played GC or GWS like other teams have, which have turned out to be % boosters. The only really weak team we played was Port, in 38 degree heat after already played a half and they had a rest. I'm very satisfied with the pre-season. The bombers certainly haven't looked strong all pre-season until they came across a bunch of kids in GWS.

The pies look strong, so do the cats. Hard to say exactly where we're at, other than to say it looks like we'll still be very competitive this year.

[The Linton Street Flash]

We beat a top 4 team convincingly with little more than a team of kids - yes they were in the same shape but we still beat them - at their home I might add.
We got soundly beaten by another team in blistering heat after playing a game already that afternoon.
We beat the reigning premier with a team missing the bulk of our senior core and were never threatened against Melbourne, again in blistering heat, again missing several players.
It's been a solid pre-season - some people are never friggin happy!

[SuperDuper]

Softer the better IMO.. simply no need to have a full team going full at it for 4 quaters ... not until round 1.... 22 games is a VERY long season in this caper.... very demanding... making into 25 games + finalsis counter productive in tyhe long run

[saintspremiers]

The nab cup is a total farce.

The latest stupid thing from the AFL is that Brisbane, who have earnt the right to host the final, are forced to play at Etihad against Carlton as the Gabba is unavailable.

Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast is available, but the AFL have gone the bigger crowd option of Jihad.

Voss is pissed off. A fair whack of prize money is involved at the final stage.

And we get friggin GWS at Blacktown.

The clubs should tell the AFL to go shove their nab cup up their clakker.

Crowds are schiezen and no one cares less about this AFL Wankfest.

It's surely time to ditch this so called comp in favour of 2 weeks of praccy matches and a 2 week longer season.

And don't get me started on Geelong having the luxury of 3 consecutive games down at Geelong...

[bigcarl]

The latest stupid thing from the AFL is that Brisbane, who have earnt the right to host the final, are forced to play at Etihad against Carlton as the Gabba is unavailable..

Greed rules. No surprises there.

Voss is pissed off as a win would be the highlight of his so-far-very-average coaching careeer.

And he has to achieve it at his worse-performed opponent's home ground.

Plus he makes a fair point about this being a chance to grow the game in a non-football state.

[plugger66]

The nab cup is a total farce.

The latest stupid thing from the AFL is that Brisbane, who have earnt the right to host the final, are forced to play at Etihad against Carlton as the Gabba is unavailable.

Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast is available, but the AFL have gone the bigger crowd option of Jihad.

Voss is pissed off. A fair whack of prize money is involved at the final stage.

And we get friggin GWS at Blacktown.

The clubs should tell the AFL to go shove their nab cup up their clakker.

Crowds are schiezen and no one cares less about this AFL Wankfest.

It's surely time to ditch this so called comp in favour of 2 weeks of praccy matches and a 2 week longer season.

And don't get me started on Geelong having the luxury of 3 consecutive games down at Geelong...

I like your consistancy. And there was no heat policy at the game yesterday.

[damienc]

The nab cup is a total farce.

The latest stupid thing from the AFL is that Brisbane, who have earnt the right to host the final, are forced to play at Etihad against Carlton as the Gabba is unavailable.

Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast is available, but the AFL have gone the bigger crowd option of Jihad.

Voss is pissed off. A fair whack of prize money is involved at the final stage.

And we get friggin GWS at Blacktown.

The clubs should tell the AFL to go shove their nab cup up their clakker.

Crowds are schiezen and no one cares less about this AFL Wankfest.

It's surely time to ditch this so called comp in favour of 2 weeks of praccy matches and a 2 week longer season.

And don't get me started on Geelong having the luxury of 3 consecutive games down at Geelong...

Excellent post. You've summed up the NAB Cup perfectly.

[stevie]

But the silly thing about the Brisbane issue is that the media reported all week that if the Lions won they would host the final!

So no one knew that cricket was gonna be on at the Gabba until last night?

[Moods]

The nab cup is a total farce.

The latest stupid thing from the AFL is that Brisbane, who have earnt the right to host the final, are forced to play at Etihad against Carlton as the Gabba is unavailable.

Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast is available, but the AFL have gone the bigger crowd option of Jihad.

Voss is pissed off. A fair whack of prize money is involved at the final stage.

And we get friggin GWS at Blacktown.

The clubs should tell the AFL to go shove their nab cup up their clakker.

Crowds are schiezen and no one cares less about this AFL Wankfest.

It's surely time to ditch this so called comp in favour of 2 weeks of praccy matches and a 2 week longer season.

And don't get me started on Geelong having the luxury of 3 consecutive games down at Geelong...

What's wrong with the NAB cup? I reckon they've tinkereed with it to get it absolutely right. As long as you take it for what it is, then what's the problem? It's a great opportunity for clubs to play their kids. In the last couple of weeks all clubs are building twds their best team. Really they are just better standard practice matches played at better venues. Who cares about the crowd?

All clubs in almost all levels of footy play 4 practice matches (I know I did when I played) No-one ever plays two practice matches, which would mean that clubs wouldn't get an opportunity to trial their kids/recruits

[borderbarry]

In the old days clubs played several inter-club practice matches. Which was when they saw the new players, tried new positions out etc. I think they only played one game against an opposition club.

[Moods]

In the old days clubs played several inter-club practice matches. Which was when they saw the new players, tried new positions out etc. I think they only played one game against an opposition club.

How far back we going BB? I know in the early 80's they always played 4

[plugger66]

In the old days clubs played several inter-club practice matches. Which was when they saw the new players, tried new positions out etc. I think they only played one game against an opposition club.

How far back we going BB? I know in the early 80's they always played 4

I follow a club in D grade ammos and we even play 3.

[Moods]

Personally I reckon playing intra-club matches just doesn't cut it. The standard is NEVER as high as playing against another club. That's when you can truly judge how your recruits and young blokes are travelling. In today's footy you'd have to recruit blow-ins from Sandy who aren't even on the list to make up the numbers. They bring the standard down, and what's the point? One intra-club game is fine, but anymore than that is a waste of time