Opinion Is Our Flag Window Shut?

[schmuttt]

Collingwood have us covered on paper and in reality, they are squeezing the talent out of their best players meanwhile we have May, Lever, Trac, Fritta, Langdon etc not playing at AA level. You can flip that as a positive but it's no guarantee in my mind they just suddenly find form.

Very harsh on Lever and Fritsch imo

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

The flag is there to be won, we're one of a bunch of sides who could emerge as frontrunners if we hit our straps second half of the season.

Personally though I'd have us a few pegs behind Collingwood and a peg behind Geelong. Roughly level with the Lions.

For varying reasons I'd have Essendon, Saints, Crows and Swans as long shots, although not without some chance.

Nobody ever mentions Port except Kenty and me.

 

[Topkent]

Very harsh on Lever and Fritsch imo

AA form would they? Cause I wouldn't I have them squad. Lever hasnt done alot for a month and Fritta has kicked goals but so have a lot of other players.

 

[LarryDavidNeitz]

Yep Framptom has stood up, love Mihocek always has a crack every week but I didn't lump him with the lesser lights humble beginnings but I rate him highly, not quite a super star but he's damn good.

I’d love Mihocek in our side. He’s severely underrated at how good a footballer he is just because everyone focuses on how hard he competes and it makes people think he’s just a battler trying his heart out

 

[pjfairbairn]

I’d love Mihocek in our side. He’s severely underrated at how good a footballer he is just because everyone focuses on how hard he competes and it makes people think he’s just a battler trying his heart out

Yep, always loved watching him play.

 

[markm106]

I think McRae and the coaching group have Collingwood absolutely humming. They get the best out of role players and old blokes like Sidebottom and Pendles have had a great season. They have also had access to some elite talent through academy and f/s.
Whilst I haven’t done the exercise I’d say player for player we are more talented. Their system and belief has been awesome. I’d agree they probably don’t have any more tricks up their sleeve but what they do will stand up in finals.

 

[mrmonkey]

I’d love Mihocek in our side. He’s severely underrated at how good a footballer he is just because everyone focuses on how hard he competes and it makes people think he’s just a battler trying his heart out

Yeah he's definitely more than a 'battler' he's a class above. He's very reliable around goals and will turn half chances into goals.

 

[mrmonkey]

On that note who are Collingwood's bottom 6? Ginnivan is the sub and he probably gets a start in any other team. Cox is the only one I would say doesn't but he is serviceable for their game.

 

[Tulip]

On that note who are Collingwood's bottom 6? Ginnivan is the sub and he probably gets a start in any other team. Cox is the only one I would say doesn't but he is serviceable for their game.

Who would you have Ginnivan replace in our best 22 out of interest?

 

[Topkent]

Who would you have Ginnivan replace in our best 22 out of interest?

Is it 40 goal Ginnivan or this season one. Cause if it's last year then quite a few players

 

[markm106]

A Collingwood supporting mate of mine was saying last year he wasn’t convinced Ginnivan was a long term prospect. Maybe lacks a bit of speed for his position? Not sure. But he said it a few times. Despite the season he had as a 19yo.

 

[schmuttt]

AA form would they? Cause I wouldn't I have them squad. Lever hasnt done alot for a month and Fritta has kicked goals but so have a lot of other players.

Look I’m not saying they are AA locks but their form has imo been very good. Fritsch at worst same form as last two years and lever looks close to his 2021 form.

 

[DemonZombie_001]

Look I’m not saying they are AA locks but their form has imo been very good. Fritsch at worst same form as last two years and lever looks close to his 2021 form.

I agree with you

Fritsch has kicked 16 goals. Round 8 he had a bad day in front of goals and kicked three behinds only (I would have backed him to kick 2 of those).
- He is on track for around 40 goals that is huge.

Lever is more of a general down back and I felt that became more obvious in round 5 losing to Essendon. Though he has some moments. Only teams that bomb the ball into the forward 50 will make him standout I feel. Otherwise he is just a quiet achiever.

 

[TheBoss]

A Collingwood supporting mate of mine was saying last year he wasn’t convinced Ginnivan was a long term prospect. Maybe lacks a bit of speed for his position? Not sure. But he said it a few times. Despite the season he had as a 19yo.

It’s a fair comment. He has no standout physical attributes, and his skills are from from elite.

But he is a smart player and reads the game really well. He finds himself in the right spots far too often for it to be considered dumb luck.

He is also a total flog with the exuberant celebrations and I love him for it.

 

[mrmonkey]

Who would you have Ginnivan replace in our best 22 out of interest?

Not sure would probably require a rejig, atm play petty back and run a smaller forward line

 

[Topkent]

Look I’m not saying they are AA locks but their form has imo been very good. Fritsch at worst same form as last two years and lever looks close to his 2021 form.

Shorten up your answers when you agree with me next time matey save us all alot of time

 

[djpaulydemon]

Pies have an unwavering belief in the way they play, which is a fairly dangerous prospect. We had it at the end of 21 but it wasn't 100% the whole year, but by Anzac eve players have said they genuinely believed.

It's crazy how good a team can play when everyone trusts of their team-mates and the gameplan.

We can get there. A solid win against the pies or Geelong would get the confidence up. We couldn't beat the genuine challengers last year but it feels like we are more willing to change things up this year to make things happen.

 

[Johnny Karate]

Last year, Geelong won the flag with a deep and diverse midfield.
Their 2022 midfield included: Atkins (tagger), Blicavs (utility), Cuthrie, Dangerfield, Duncan, Holmes (largely wing), Parfitt (depth), Selwood and Smith (wing). It remains much the same this year with Selwood retiring and Bruhn and Bowes joining the depth mix.

Similarly there are other sides who are playing very well that possess a number of midfield weapons.

Brisbane: Ashcroft, Berry, Dunkley, McCluggage, Neale with Bailey, Rayner and Zorko also rolling through. Lyons is also handy depth.

Collingwood: Adams, Crisp, J Daicos, Pendlebury, Mitchell, Sidebottom with the ability to roll DeGoey and N Daicos through.

Port: Butters, Bergman, Drew, Duursma, Horne-Francis, Rozee, Wines with Houston rolling through.

Whereas we have: Oliver, Petracca, Viney with Langdon and Hunter glued to the wings as well as the samey depth of Harmes, Jordon and Sparrow. Unless a couple of Bowey, Pickett, Rivers, Salem emerge as genuine point of difference midfield options we look a bit thin compared to the other four sides.

 

[stEdy]

You forgot Brayshaw

 

[Johnny Karate]

You forgot Brayshaw

And Dunstan - ****.

 

[Crusty Demon]

I feel like Goodwin is going to waste this generational talent we have. Really grateful to see a flag in my lifetime, but it was in Perth! I want to see one at the G but I can see us fast becoming a middling team that didn't capitalise on some awesome talent. 1 flag with this group is not enough. Somehow he's got to turn things around against the better sides. I'm not sure he has any tricks up his sleeve. We'll find out in the next 4 games. Huge month

 

[Jamurp]

I feel like Goodwin is going to waste this generational talent we have. Really grateful to see a flag in my lifetime, but it was in Perth! I want to see one at the G but I can see us fast becoming a middling team that didn't capitalise on some awesome talent. 1 flag with this group is not enough. Somehow he's got to turn things around against the better sides. I'm not sure he has any tricks up his sleeve. We'll find out in the next 4 games. Huge month

Honestly I just want us to make a grand final at the G so I can (hopefully) get the chance to go, soak up the atmosphere of the whole day, never been to a grand final, imagine if the dees were playing, winning is obviously something else. But still have to win a prelim to get there and we currently look way off the mark.

 

[danster168]

We're not a contender this year. Far from it.

We chose to bring in Grundy which has shown to be a major fail imo. It's caused Gawn to be in career worst form and Grundy just has no coordination. He gets pushed over by guys half of his size. And his skills are deplorable. People said he was an upgrade on Jackson. He's shown that Jackson is miles ahead of him, as a forward and ruck.

We chose not to fix the forward line in the off season and that is also coming back to bite us. We knew Ben Brown

50

Ben Brown

Age

31

Ht

200cm

Wt

100kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.7

3star

K

7.7

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

4.8

5star

T

1.2

3star

G

2.2

5star

D

7.9

2star

K

6.3

3star

HB

1.6

1star

M

3.7

4star

T

0.9

2star

G

1.0

4star

D

8.0

2star

K

4.6

2star

HB

3.4

3star

M

4.4

4star

T

1.4

4star

G

1.2

4star

and TMac were cooked but JVR is now showing that he lacks footy smarts. I think he'll become a good avg player but his lack of footy smarts will cap his potential. A lot of pressure on Jefferson now.

Thank Gosh we have a strong draft hand this year. We'll need to use every pick and not package up anything.

And now we're being led by a coach who probably needs to fall on his sword. Not tagging Butters will go down as one of the dumbest moves on his footy resume. In his post match presser he said that most of his damage was in the first half. It just shows that he has no idea. He had 17 and 2 goals including the 3/4 time match winner. Open your eyes Simon!

Ok rant over

 

[Tulip]

We chose to bring in Grundy which has shown to be a major fail imo. It's caused Gawn to be in career worst form and Grundy just has no coordination. He gets pushed over by guys half of his size. And his skills are deplorable. People said he was an upgrade on Jackson. He's shown that Jackson is miles ahead of him, as a forward and ruck.

Your Grundy hate-stork is blinding you here. Jackson has found some form over the season, we're all happy for him. Grundy, when he was first ruck, was doing exactly what was expected of him: winning hit outs and winning clearances. He's had a few down weeks since Gawn came back, although at least he's kicked a few goals, but that's the overall issue with trying to fit them both into the system whilst still playing Max as first ruck.

You're essentially asking one of them to be a role player, and both are rockstars that like to play close to 100% TOG and be around the action at either end. On any given week, one will have a quiet game going against their career average. Having both just means we're almost certain to dominate the ruck one way or another. There's a reason the two-ruck system went out of vogue for so long; you're essentially always sacrificing one or the other at any given time. Both were below par yesterday, particularly Gawn, and it really hurt us.

In what world are his skills deplorable? Such a braindead comment, given his skills are up there with the best for ruckmen in the comp aside from his bog-average marking. What exactly were you expecting, a smooth moving KPF or mid? The dude is a ruckman.

PS - of course Jackson has better skills than him. Jackson is the best big man in the league below his knees, and it's not particularly close. It was only people who deluded themselves that we had fleeced both Freo and Collingwood that are at all surprised by how either is playing.

Meanwhile, Gawn has literally had as dominant a season as any over the past seven years, he just missed four games with injury and had a stinker last night. If "career worst form" means "he was shit yesterday", then sure, he's in career worst form.

 

[Crusty Demon]

I'm not sure where the Gawn/Grundy combo stands right now. Both seem better playing full games in the ruck and both aren't setting the world on Fire up forward. Still needs time, but I'm not sure there were many other options to fix our F50. It's a shambles. We clearly don't have the pieces in the F50 to threaten the top teams. Time will tell, but JVR and Chandler look like they've hit a wall, and who else do we have to replace? Brown? Joel Smith? Schache? Yikes