The Soaring

Things have been fairly quiet around here the last couple of week but as we round the bend into the season proper I thought I’d re-cap the Eagles (footballing) pre-season:

• One win from four starts is nothing to get too excited about but I wouldn’t read anything into it. We did the same in 06. And the trend is that the pre-season is less about notching wins and more about fine-tuning your players roles, game plan and executing it under some sort of pressure.
• Good signs during the pre-season from many of the lesser lights in the Eagle’s squad. Matt Priddis grabbed his opportunities and is a likely starter in round 1. Rosa, LeCras and Hurn showed some promising signs, as did rookies Mitch Brown and Tim Houlihan.
• The big guns are again going to be critical with Judd, Cousins, Cox, Glass, Hunter, Stenglein, Lynch all getting good pre-season tune-ups for the season proper.
• Injuries were of greater concern than we would’ve liked; Nicoski, Morton, Thornton with major complaints, and now Hansen joining Embley and Kerr with soft tissues injuries in the lead in to round 1. Selwood has a neck injury as well which is never great news.
• For the reigning premiers, the on-field pre-season has been nothing exceptional. We know what to expect given it won us the flag last season. The big guns in the midfield will again to the mainstays and the key position players down the spine (Glass, Hunter, Hansen, Lynch) will again need to stand up for us to succeed

To be honest the rest of the stuff in the news about the Eagles is not worth repeating here. The words “Drugs” and “Eagles” sell newspapers in this state and whilst you don’t want your team being distracted from the task at hand, or the individuals concerned stuffing their lives and careers up you can’t live other peoples lives for them. That’s all that needs to be said.