Post Match. Lions beat Pies. All comments.

[Simply_Brutal]

How is it “soulless” ? Like what does that even mean!? By definition it would suggest it has no individuality or character. I find that a bizarre way to talk about a structure, but in reality Marvel is very much unique. The way they do the lighting effects for goals etc is awesome.

It beats the repetition of going to the G every week. I miss the days where teams actually had home grounds, not half the league based out of the MCGeneric

[dalyc]

Club officially in crisis. Carlton ended our season and exposed us as frauds. We’re not making past the 2nd week of finals

FOUR star players out, no MCG, and you parrot this utter crap, get real.

Yes. There’s some dead set losers posting tonight.

[Meredith1965]

It was a dead rubber, from a banged up side playing against a side with far more to lose than we had, while we were missing three of the top ten players in the AFL from our side, and on a ground that does not suit us. We will see the real Collingwood in three weeks at the G. Til then we need to hold our nerve.

[dalyc]

It was a dead rubber, from a banged up side playing against a side with far more to lose than we had

Lachie Neale conceded as much in his post game interview.

[duggieboy]

Yep.

And Fly actually said "you just feel like you're biding time, somewhat".

To me it didn't seem in context with the journo's question about Cox, but more a general comment about where things are at.

[qldmagpie67]

Don’t be mistaken last night wasn’t a lack of personnel it was a exposure of players weaknesses
The blue print has been there for months not a few weeks it was masked by other teams inability to make the most of there opportunities

Mitchell Adams Lipinski Sidey all are too slow and there disposal by both hand and foot is well below the standard needed to play the game style the coach wants
They all just give the ball off to whoever doesn’t matter how much pressure that team mate is under and it’s turned over and we get exposed defensively pushing to hard up field
Last night Sidey first 3 disposals went like this. out on full from a hack kick when he had time but panicked, second was a missed kick to a team mate 20m in the clear hit a lions player on the chest led straight to a lions goal third was a handball which hit Pendles on the toes when he had 2 lions players on him.
Mitchell was equally as poor his first 4 touches either missed the target or where turnovers
Lipinski missed 5 kicks to Team mates in the clear 2 off the instep of his boot
Adams disposal has never been his strong suit but the last few weeks it’s hitting new lows

The lack of speed from all 4 kill us as well
When a team is rebounding from there defensive 50 whoever is playing on those guys just runs straight off them generally into the corridor the ball gets switched inboard our HBF all rush up the ball goes over them and we are exposed
The loss of JDG and Nick D has really exposed our lack of pace in the middle

So we either completely alter the game plan or we change personnel
We don’t have time to change game plan so move the magnets

Adams doesn’t leave the forward 50 he stays put away from butchering the ball in the middle
Pendles moves back to HBF and IQ goes onto the ball. His speed and foot skills we be more valuable there.
Mitchell stays in the centre he’s still our most reliable ball winner at the bottom of the pack
Lipinski misses out altogether. Bring in HH and play him as a small forward and use McCreery around the contest. His breaking speed away and body size would be very useful
WHE plays on 1 wing he’s a decent mark and good kick
Sidey goes to sub and can think himself lucky to retain that spot

Cox starts at FF Howe goes back to try plug the losses of Moore and now Murphy (likely concussion) i
When JDG is back either him or Elliott are are in the middle at all times they work best in traffic we have available

We can’t expect to win a finals game with so many slow players in the middle it’s that simple

[What'sinaname]

Club officially in crisis. Carlton ended our season and exposed us as frauds. We’re not making past the 2nd week of finals

FOUR star players out, no MCG, and you parrot this utter crap, get real.

Lol, we got smacked in the head against a depleted Carlton (missing 7 of their stars) and got smashed by the 4th last Hawks. You can only keep your head in the sand for so long.

There is a myth that we move the ball fast. We don't. Watch Brisbane again and see how they transitioned the ball making it easy for their forwards. We mark and wait and allow 30 players to congest into our F50.

[What'sinaname]

Correct weight, and thank God for some sanity here. lIke take Curnow, Cripps, Saad, Weightering out of Carlton , see how they go. Long way to go yet, to the Qual final, we were never going to win with four of our best play makers out, never, beat the Dons, week off, and we are back in business.

We played Carlton missing 7 players and we were full strength. They even lost the BOG player half way through and still smashed us.

[Rd10.1998_11.1#36]

and his first shot on goal early in game; hit the goal maggot's ****!!! You could see the stitch-up was on early

If you open your other eye you will see it very, very clearly - 100% - hit the post first, before going on to hit the dangling flag

[think positive]

^It was always going to go this way, anyhow. We did better than scheduled early given we're still a few quality players short, then got hit with injuries. So, we're effectively early in getting this far and late in making corrections, if that makes sense.

Ideally, the challenge would've hit before the Melbourne loss so we had more time to adapt, but it was always going to be down to injury luck because we have to play this style given our talent gap (another gun mid, a gun CHF and a gun CHB).

So, bearing that in mind this is still the right approach, as unsatisfying as it feels. We literally have to flirt with form to try things and cover injuries.

The alternative was to rework things earlier and bet on storming home, but (a) that rarely works anyhow, and (b) as I've said before you can't pause winning momentum mid-stream to rework everything. So, we in a sense banked premature wins, the upside of which is our ladder position.

So, given that less-than-ideal context, what we did today was exactly what you'd want to do if you were dealt our hand: prove to ourselves we can put the foot down and run over a challenger; get some clean footy flowing and test a few things (Coxy back; Frampers more game time; Checkers more marks and play up the ground; Howe more time forward; Pendles, Crispy, Noble and Bruzzy all more central to our play, etc.); and get a very good look at them before easing off.

You can only play the cards you're dealt. You can bet Fly hasn't forgotten 2003. Lethal would've done the same if dealt this hand, knowing he has more chance of winning a few finals than having the perfect preparation, something Geelong also did in 2011.

If it's any comfort, it's always been down the injury gods and our ability to lift for finals footy.

Very sensible and nuanced view of the situation.

Really appreciate reading this.

Totally agree

With their amazing field kicking I’m shocked it wasn’t more. Not to mention the non call running off line, checkers n9n push in the back and Ginnie non mark!

They had to play to the death, we didn’t, and it would have been a silly risk.

However, for (mates with) sake why can’t Adams kick straight? Missed 2 sitters.

Pendkes best game for a while.

I would have played Ash Johnson or Macrea , the new kid would not be in contention for finals, why play him? hope he’s ok.

[1eyedpie]

I have read a lot of optimistic posts in this thread and I try to be a half glass full person myself but this form line is worrying!

The champion data guy Hoyne stated a few weeks back that the last five weeks of the season is the runway for the eventual premier! Nearly all recent premieres have won all or most of these matches!

We seemed to be on the runway spluttering and miss firing trying to take off while the fire trucks (the media and the haters) are on standby to watch us crash and burn! We may still get into the air but it’s looking more and more like a crash and burn scenario with all these injuries hitting at the wrong time!

[Ronnie McKeowns boots]

You have to go back to Sydney in 2012 to find the last Premiership team that lost more than one match during the final 4 weeks of the H&A season.

They lost 3 of the last 4 including the final 2. During this 4 week period they lost to Hawthorn, the side they eventually defeated to win the flag.

Of the last 10 Premiership winners 5 sides only lost once during the final month of the H&A season, while the other 5 didn't lose at all.

One of those losses was against us I think swoop, was that the game Seedsman announced his arrival with a big performance at Olympic Park in Sydney?

In any case, it will take a similar effort as the Swans put in that year to get the flag me thinks

[ANNODAM]

We all know the 2 obvious things that need to go right heading into September & that is -

1. Winning form
2. Injury free

ATM though, we have neither & all our recruits over Summer have not set the world on fire either.



ETA: May be nothing, but could be something, I have a feeling the AFL needs to help BNE or GC, with their campaign. The introduction of the new team the Dolphins up on the GC have sparked a lot of interest, so they need BNE & GC to remain in the hunt.

Anyways, if the Pies fall off the wagon, I still have my beloved Panthers going for Gold, at least I’ve seen 3 flags from them in my lifetime & by the time this season ends, it could be 4!

[Pies4shaw]

He was picking up Neale most of the night.
And Neale thrashed him.

Pendlebury carried Collingwood tonight. 31 disposals, 12 clearances, a goal, 2 goal assists and 517 metres gained. The only reason he might not get the 3 Brownlow votes is because Collingwood were well-beaten. You need to distinguish between Neale looking good because he's surrounded by talent and Pendlebury having to do everything the hard way, on his own.

Neale thrashed him...simple.
Pendles did ok when the game was over just when the lions put the cue in the rack.
Pendles is not the player he was.
He made 3 critical mistakes in a 5 minute period in the second quarter.
Whether he got 30 disposals does not matter to me.
It is impact and he had the best of our midfield but he was far from Neale.

He had 26 disposals and 10 clearances at 3/4 time, when Collingwood was within 2 kicks.

[Haff]

Fly Presser
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ah-FqwleNNg

Interesting one. Cracks showing for mine but his answer to the Howe question was very good. You don’t see those things in the heart of the moment and certainly not in the match day thread calling for him to go back.
Interesting question around Howe still stay forward, my read was no way, this is us putting time into a plan b.
If that’s the case, the coaching staff and clearly the players have an eye on September.
I guess we can only wait to see if we can flick the switch and be the best team in September with a plan b