Collingwood vs StKilda - NAB Cup Round 1.

[jefffff34]

BTW we seem to have all forgotten about Medhurst being robbed of a goal in the first quarter as well for a behind the play incident where the umpire said Didak pushed Jones in the chest...

C**ts

 

[burtpies]

ben reid how did he go?????

Ben Reid is a Joke, can not kick, poor decision making and will not make it

 

[mattys123]

Well what about Blake's 9 pointer in the 3rd quarter, the replay clearly showed he was 1 metre inside 50 when he kicked it, sorry, but ban the 9 pointer now, even from the NAB Cup, it's the worst rule ever created.

 

[mattys123]

Ben Reid is a Joke, can not kick, poor decision making and will not make it

Ben Reid WAS BRILLIANT tonight, yes his decision making needs work (not his kicking) but his defensive work was outstanding.

In our best 22 now, he is our CHB, NOW.

 

[shizzle]

BTW we seem to have all forgotten about Medhurst being robbed of a goal in the first quarter as well for a behind the play incident where the umpire said Didak pushed Jones in the chest...

C**ts

That was a f#$%n joke, was watching on tv and there was no explanation watsoever, just brucie saying "Oh its been reversed".

How far off the ball was the alleged push?

 

[HeavyPop]

BTW we seem to have all forgotten about Medhurst being robbed of a goal in the first quarter as well for a behind the play incident where the umpire said Didak pushed Jones in the chest...

C**ts

Ah, I was wondering what that was. Umpiring was poor, doesn't seem like they've got the advantage rule worked out quite yet, nor the new 'holding the ball' rule.

 

[magpie_watcher]

Fraser still clearly ahead of Wood for 2nd ruck

 

[abs_of_STEELE]

BTW we seem to have all forgotten about Medhurst being robbed of a goal in the first quarter as well for a behind the play incident where the umpire said Didak pushed Jones in the chest...

C**ts

Yeah, had no idea what was going on. I just thought that Dids lost his cool and hit him or something.

 

[Visions]

Nice game to start the season off for us. Could have won it, but wasn't to be. Can't understand what Reid was doing there near the end with that hurried short kick out of defence which led to the turnover for the final goal.

Positives out of tonight were:

Beams had a great game once he came on as a sub.
Ball had a good game.
Jolly showed he will improve our team big time.
Never gave up even when we were 43 points down.
Leigh Brown played a great game up forward.

Negatives:

Nathan Brown got creamed by every opponent, not up to scratch yet.
We overused the ball too much the first half and turned it over.
Our skill level is at times way below average. Too many missed targets, we cannot weight kicks properly.
A few of our better players seemed down and didn't have good games.

Just a point on the goalkicking of Travis Cloke. I don't have that as a negative as I expect it from him, he will never improve. I just face the fact now so that way I won't be disappointed.

 

[leondavis21]

difference = SKILLS!

thats all it was!

 

[PieBeast]

Well what about Blake's 9 pointer in the 3rd quarter, the replay clearly showed he was 1 metre inside 50 when he kicked it, sorry, but ban the 9 pointer now, even from the NAB Cup, it's the worst rule ever created.

Good point , i thought at the time " hope we dont lose this by a point or two "
Oh well thems the breaks i guess.

 

[TheGoatBaron]

Collingwood I thought, was very stiff not to win tonight. However, it was a very good game and easily, the best game of the NAB Cup so far.

Darren Jolly played a ripper game, he was always a great ruckman at the Swans, very underrated, the Victorian media didnt seem to take any notice of him, until now.

Some of St.Kilda younger players did well. Nick Heyne, Ben McEvoy and Rhys Stanley in particular.

Leigh Brown up forward for Collingwood was an interesting. Could surprise up forward, if he is left there all season.

 

[Prince_Rhodesia]

Big spew that we lost, but having now seen the benefits of Luke Ball and Darren Jolly, I'm more hopeful than ever that we will be much better than last year. Sure, The Saints had some players missing that would've given their forwards and sooky la la more delivery, but we weren't exactly at full strength either. Jack Anthony in the forward line with Leigh Brown is gonna prove to be a big headache to every opposition defense. Nathan Brown was pox tonight and doesn't yet deserve a position in our best 22. Sidey and Beams were pretty great and Cloke proved he still has the yips, even though he kicked a couple. He did play great around the ground though and looks more mobile than last year. Medders is a gun! He's back, and is gonna be awesome for us this year. Shaw is just a pure champion! Harry O looked even better tonight than last year and is gonna be a star this year. We lost the game because of our kicking for goal. Along with a lot of help from the umpires. How many times did they allow play to go on when one of our players were being held? If one of the Saints were being breathed on too hard a whistle was blown. But, we can't blame the umpires for the loss seeing as they're just maggots with NFI. We're gonna rock hard this year.

 

[TheGoatBaron]

Collingwood I thought, was very stiff not to win tonight. However, it was a very good game and easily, the best game of the NAB Cup so far.

Darren Jolly played a ripper game, he was always a great ruckman at the Swans, very underrated, the Victorian media didnt seem to take any notice of him, until now.

Some of St.Kilda younger players did well. Nick Heyne, Ben McEvoy and Rhys Stanley in particular.

Leigh Brown up forward for Collingwood was an interesting. Could surprise up forward, if he is left there all season.

Whoops! Sorry to invade the Collingwood board guys, I thought it was the Gameday Board. lol

But I do think you were a bit stiff though.

 

[absy]

Whoops! Sorry to invade the Collingwood board guys, I thought it was the Gameday Board. lol

But I do think you were a bit stiff though.

You're forgiven lucky you weren't giving us shit haha

 

[TradeDraft]

Weird, I would've given Dawes a shot, but there must be a reason he's missing out.

I was Pissed Off he did not Play and I get a feeling he be spending more time in the VFL without been given a Fair Go

 

[TheGoatBaron]

You're forgiven lucky you weren't giving us shit haha

lol I wouldn't do that deliberately on your board.

I was supporting you guys tonight, I hate St.Kilda a lot, which may surprise a few.

 

[TradeDraft]

We kicked straight and we're murdering them.

A couple of hyper negative types tonight.

Go Pies.

We'll win it still.

That's been Happening for Many Years our Kicking Let's Us Down.

Had more Shots for Goal and Still Lost - Not Good Enough

 

[Zahki]

I was Pissed Off he did not Play and I get a feeling he be spending more time in the VFL without been given a Fair Go

Haha, I figured you wouldn't like that TD. Even you've gotta admit Leigh Brown did pretty good up forward though, ultimately playing him ahead of Dawes was probably the right choice.

 

[TradeDraft]

Stkilda were 44 points up 1/2 way through the 3rd quarter, then Presti came on, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Agree - When they Dragged Rambo for Presti the Game Turned 180 Degrees

 

[TradeDraft]

Luke Ball was outstanding, 22 touches, 6 tackles, can't ask for anymore.

k

Hit his Targets more and don't Turnover the Ball right in front of Goal would of been better

 

[TradeDraft]

BTW we seem to have all forgotten about Medhurst being robbed of a goal in the first quarter as well for a behind the play incident where the umpire said Didak pushed Jones in the chest...

C**ts

Do you Expect anything Different from the C**ts of Umps

 

[TradeDraft]

Haha, I figured you wouldn't like that TD. Even you've gotta admit Leigh Brown did pretty good up forward though, ultimately playing him ahead of Dawes was probably the right choice.

Yeah he did have a Good Game - Could do what Medders did in his 2nd Season and Looks to got rid of his Goal Kick Yips

 

[twaters]

Good sparing match. Good mental toughness to fight back from c43pts down to go up by 5. Not disgraced and we can try some moves in relative obscurity now till rnd 1.

Thought the advertising about Reid's long left racking 50m passes from defence must have been a Warne spin - lost us the game at the end by exactly not being precise, and others just went out of bounds. OK go for nerves for this one, but if that happens regularly we can't have a CHB who can't kick and a CHF who really can't kick goals.

Presti and Beams made an immediate difference.
Not sure JMac or Buckley made much of an impact.
Caffa, IMHO didn't look zappy in his run-with role, yet he got it a bit. Maybe in time.
Ball? - he played more game time and an end to end role than at the so-called Saints. However, the Jolly down to Ball tap needs a lot more perfecting (not surprisingly).
Jolly? - perhaps we were checking out the 'let's send all talls down forward' moves tonight. Jolly did ok there, but if that's the best he's going to do further up around the ground, we need Fraser back tomorrow.
Wood? - if we are going to send him forward, he needs the emotional/mental strength to take that dropped mark that would have won the game for us in the last 2 minutes. Can't say that Fraser would have taken it either.
Cloke? - anyone know a good hypnotherapist? 'See the goals, feel the goals, you are going to kick the goals'. The ultimate irony was LBrown (who did kick straight and snag 4 goals himself, so may have seen the hypnotherapist himself after last year's haul of nearly double more points than goals) from 35 metres then short passes to TCloke 20 metres out. Why? Does no-one want to kick on goals for our team? Cloke docked it, but gee.
Harry was fighteningly good as was Heater (often in an advanced mid role) and Swan for a run-through). Wellers did a great job swapping with Shaw on defence and offence, but is not yet as tight on as the latter.
Good game.

 

[Invigoration]

Dunno why Reid is getting coupled in with Nat Brown's terribleness. He made a few mistakes with the ball, but I'd say it was nerves more than anything else. Defensively I didn't think he was bad, he had Kozi's measure for the most part, worked hard and will be a lot better for the run. Still the front runner for the CHB position IMO, though I'm not really sure he has any competition for it now that Brown has moved forward. I suspect he'll play the full 22 personally, we just need to make sure he doesn't get dragged back too close to goal because he tends to get nudged off it a little too easily.
Just a few things I noticed;

Nathan Brown - Terrible half and a bit, one he will be hoping to put behind him ASAP (thank god he got subbed). I realise it is only NAB cup, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who is starting to get a little worried with him. Plays with no touch on his opponent and consistently finds himself 5 paces behind a leading forward and it isn't because of his foot speed. Seems to lack the smarts to preempt where a forward is going to run, he always seems to be caught out. The other thing is, even when he gets into a position to affect a contest, he infringes (is it his reach?).
He had a quality opponent tonight (and some pretty decent ball delivery in the early part of the game), so it is forgivable, but I've got concerns over his versatility. It seems he needs a very specific type of opponent for him to match up on or else he is exploited. Interesting year ahead for him I think.

Wellingham - Was the standout in the first half, but faded somewhat in the second (I think he spent a bit more time on the pine). I've been quite vocal in my criticism of him, especially after his finals performance, but he showed a hell of a lot tonight. Worked a lot harder off the ball, kicking was impressive but the best thing was his willingness to drop back in front of a leading forward. I had a few question marks over his heart last year where he took the easy option, but he seemed to have really turned a leaf tonight... Was less concerned with looking fancy and more worried about doing the team thing.

Ball - He was outstanding I thought, his work off the ball, the 1%ers are absolutely priceless. They may not get recorded on the stats sheet but they really matter, just little things like committing himself to a loose ball when the numbers aren't in our favour to stop it going forward. Courage in spades and was consistently the last man up off the deck. Need to make sure he pays his opposition the correct amount of respect though, he didn't watch Armitage as close as I would have liked, although I suspect he was just trying to make sure his game was pleasing tonight which is understandable.

Cloke - He is unfairly maligned and I know he'll undoubtedly cop flak on here for his goalkicking, but he went a long way to getting back to his BnF year form. He worked his ass off and he turned Dawson inside out, his hands were a lot more secure (almost 2007 like) and he led to the right spaces. Should have had 5 goals for the game... I'm not necessarily sure his kicking will ever get better, but when he is dangerous like that he demands the best defender which frees up Anthony and potentially Leroy after that performance.

Just touching on that, the Anvil was bloody good tonight and he is continuing to prove a lot of people wrong (including myself). If he kicks straight, he creates another dangerous forward for our opposition to watch which I think is a really important factor. If the opposition have to worry about Cloke and Brown, Anthony it leaves one of them with the 3rd best defender... If that 3rd defender goes to Anthony, I'd be expecting an even better year than he had in '09 when he was taking blokes like Rutten and Scarlett each week.

Harry, Shaw and Maxwell were all good offensively, especially the first two who were running a muck, they all played a bit loose though I thought. Toovey needs to be resigned to a backline shut down role, running through the midfield doesn't flatter him at all.

Beams and Presti turned the tide dramatically. Beams was awesome to watch, wish he'd played the whole game.

Thomas gets a reprisal somewhat because of an injury during preseason, but Jesus ****ing christ, if he doesn't take a step soon he is going to find himself kicking the dew. He isn't soon going to break the midfield, especially with Ball coming in and blokes like Beams and Sidebottom seemingly overtaking him. I'm thinking it is only a matter of time before the likes of McCarthy and Macaffer push him out of the flanks as well.
What he does do, he does well, but he just blows up so easily that he ends up missing three quarters of the game. Plus I saw Peake blow him off like 3 times which is just embarrassing for everyone involved.

I'm just trying to go over everyone... Jolly, Swan and Lockyer were all really good, Wood had some of the best hitouts to advantage for the game but he is still very patchy. Buckley was largely unsighted and when he did have it, he took far too long to make a decision... he'll struggle for games.

Overall we should have won the game and our inaccuracy cost us pretty badly. The other thing was, when we actually got some momentum we started looking really good. Our midfield will only get better as well as they learn to read Jolly a bit better, I sensed the wires got crossed a little bit during the game. Davis and Didak will play a much larger role as welll.

The Saints structure in the back 50 really broke us up early though, they are really well drilled and it is quite stunning to see what they get out of some blokes who in other teams would probably be below the mark.
Armitage, Stanley and Smith for the Saints were all really good. I think anyone that believed the Saints don't have depth will find themselves a little red faced.

Sorry about the length...