Post Game Thoughts

[MarkT2]

First and foremost we have improved. It's only a week 1 win but the dogs came at us like they did late last year but we doubled our efforts and we beat them in the midfield with Jolly or Ball having any influence.

We still need a bid pack marking forward.

We are solid contenders.

 

[Axl the great]

Really wrapped with the win today no doubt about it and cant praise most of the guys enough.
However without trying to be a wet blanket the Dogs really missed Morris IMO would have got Medhurst or possibly Didak and Morris is a hell of a player very hard to kick goals on and balances their backline.
The Dogs afforded us way too much space in our forward line with their numbers simply not getting back quick enough too help out, Eade must be filthy hahahahaha!

In all a great game by us but will be interesting to see how or if we have learnt to cope with deep flooding teams like Hawthorn and St Kilda who push numbers right back and give no room to attack into, this will be our real test IMO

 

[stanley86]

was super impressed and everyone has already mentioned the obvious standouts.
although jack didn't do a lot he created contests and somehow the run that lake normally generates wasn't there, not sure if thats because jack was leading wide
was also extremely helpful that morris didn't play which forced hargrave on to medhurst and stopped his run off half back also
bob murphy looked good for them, but the midfields are what win and lose games now, and we managed to clamp their's when needed and the supply through him slowed and we could set up from half back also

love seeing dale thomas in that wing/half back role he played at times today

 

[HeavyPop]

Most pleasing thing from my POV was it looked like everyone was playing for each other. Everyone put their body's on the line because they knew their teamates would do the same. Especially in that last quarter.

Also agree with what Invigoration said about Brown. Made a few basic errors, but overall showed how he does his best wherever he goes, shown when he went down back when he was having some trouble in the forward line.

Swan, Harry, Maxwell, Medders, Didak, Thomas, Pendles all played great. Also enjoyed how Barry Hall was no where to be seen after half-time.

 

[mattys123]

You've got to be kidding. I'm a Jolly fan, and I'm sure today was a one-off, but he got absolutely pantsed by Hudson and beaten by Minson.

Like others have said, it's a fantastic sign that despite our rucks and key forwards all struggling badly, we still put together a comfortable win.

He was beaten by Hudson, but Minson didn't beat him, the umpires gave minson about 4 free kicks he didn't earn.

Jolly's last quarter was very, very good, in fact I didn't even notice Hudson at all in the last quarter.

We have a ruckman, that's the point I'm trying to make, and like the second half today, he will only get better with time and that time will bring more cohesion.

Usually in the rucks today we would have been "smashed" off the map, and would have struggled to win any clearances.

Even if Jolly didn't win may knockouts, he made a contest, and the clearances ended up fairly even.

Yes, he wasn't great today, but he was better then Josh, and was better then anything Wood would have offered.

He will get better with time, no problems there, as will Ball.

 

[Swooop]

There were two other aspects that I thought very significant also.

First, we played the corridor regularly and i rarely noticed the deliberate, routine, round the boundary shite that we've persevered with over the recent times.
Maybe, the coaches are now happy that we do have the players to match the other teams, including the best, like the doggies obviously are

Second, our fitness was fantastic given first round and all.
Most of the other games this weekend have had heaps of guys stretching out their cramped legs, seen guys running up and down on the spot.

Pies ran this out beautifully...the dogs also did pretty well here too, way better than average this weekend, esp given this one was such an intense game.
Kudos to the coaches here, Arizona also no doubt helped with the altitude training.

 

[robertg22]

I wouldn't get remotely excited about anyone beating Minson though. He is honestly one of the stupidest players in the league.
Jolly was solid. I do expect more though - he competed well in the ruck and gave us first use. Would expect more from him around the ground. Signs are ok though.

 

[Axl the great]

He was beaten by Hudson, but Minson didn't beat him, the umpires gave minson about 4 free kicks he didn't earn.

Jolly's last quarter was very, very good, in fact I didn't even notice Hudson at all in the last quarter.

We have a ruckman, that's the point I'm trying to make, and like the second half today, he will only get better with time and that time will bring more cohesion.

Usually in the rucks today we would have been "smashed" off the map, and would have struggled to win any clearances.

Even if Jolly didn't win may knockouts, he made a contest, and the clearances ended up fairly even.

Yes, he wasn't great today, but he was better then Josh, and was better then anything Wood would have offered.

He will get better with time, no problems there, as will Ball.

Mattys do you think that Jolly will take a while to be effective on the bigger grounds?
The SCG is smaller, easier to get to contests and less taxing as Sydney play a stoppage style of game which brought Jolly into the game a lot easier than he will find it at Collingwood?

 

[half_back_flank]

Just some of my thoughts:

Pendles is a midfielder, pure and simple. He does his best work in traffic and he didn't get that opportunity playing on a forward flank. I know what your talking about when you say he looked lost MDC.

that was the only thing i can think of other than the obvious positives of Harry, Maxy, Dids, Medders, Wellingham, Swan and Shaw.

 

[half_back_flank]

He was beaten by Hudson, but Minson didn't beat him, the umpires gave minson about 4 free kicks he didn't earn.

Jolly's last quarter was very, very good, in fact I didn't even notice Hudson at all in the last quarter.

We have a ruckman, that's the point I'm trying to make, and like the second half today, he will only get better with time and that time will bring more cohesion.

Usually in the rucks today we would have been "smashed" off the map, and would have struggled to win any clearances.

Even if Jolly didn't win may knockouts, he made a contest, and the clearances ended up fairly even.

Yes, he wasn't great today, but he was better then Josh, and was better then anything Wood would have offered.

He will get better with time, no problems there, as will Ball.

Harsh. Fraser outplayed Jolly for three quarters today, and Wood in his current state would have played a better first half then Jolly. He improved as the game went on, but was still well beaten.

 

[Drizt]

Just some of my thoughts:

Pendles is a midfielder, pure and simple. He does his best work in traffic and he didn't get that opportunity playing on a forward flank. I know what your talking about when you say he looked lost MDC.

that was the only thing i can think of other than the obvious positives of Harry, Maxy, Dids, Medders, Wellingham, Swan and Shaw.

Agreed. On the ball for him, love him to bits, but looks lost elsewhere on the field.

 

[Invigoration]

This won't be popular, but Sidebottom:jam tin, anyone?

 

[Zahki]

Must be the people who went to the game saying Jack Anthony tried hard cause from what I saw on TV he was just terrible. Dropping marks left and right, he had almost a dozen opportunities and just faultered at every one. Sidebottom seemed to be down as well, though he is just a 12 game player I can forgive him for that considering the opposition.

 

[mattys123]

Mattys do you think that Jolly will take a while to be effective on the bigger grounds?
The SCG is smaller, easier to get to contests and less taxing as Sydney play a stoppage style of game which brought Jolly into the game a lot easier than he will find it at Collingwood?

I think you might have hit the nail on the head here, Jolly has played 12 games a year on that pissy little ground in Sydney, and now comes to Melbourne where the grounds are bigger, the games are faster, and our gameplan is completely different.

One brilliant moment from Jolly was in the last quarter, when he double handed flipped a ruck contest ball over his head to Swan, who then goaled and sealed the match, Swanny was so happy to have some good ruck feed.

Jolly will be fine, he and Ball will just take a while to "settle in", although I liked Ball's first game on the ground even he admits is his worst.

Watch for a big game from both Jolly and Ball next week, against lesser opposition, to raise their confidence in playing in the black and white.

 

[mattys123]

This won't be popular, but Sidebottom:jam tin, anyone?

I saw him thump a ball out of the middle of Visy park against Richmond pre season, and it went about 65m.

He has the leg, he just rushed a lot of his kicks today, which was so unlike him.

His skill is fine, sometimes his brain just goes a little too fast.

 

[Axl the great]

I think you might have hit the nail on the head here, Jolly has played 12 games a year on that pissy little ground in Sydney, and now comes to Melbourne where the grounds are bigger, the games are faster, and our gameplan is completely different.

One brilliant moment from Jolly was in the last quarter, when he double handed flipped a ruck contest ball over his head to Swan, who then goaled and sealed the match, Swanny was so happy to have some good ruck feed.

Jolly will be fine, he and Ball will just take a while to "settle in", although I liked Ball's first game on the ground even he admits is his worst.

Watch for a big game from both Jolly and Ball next week, against lesser opposition, to raise their confidence in playing in the black and white.

Agreed Jolly will be out to rectify a poor game next week, now when do we do the Bruce and Dennis thing and start rubbing eachothers leg while discussing the BIG ISSUES!!! hahaha!

 

[magpiewarrior]

I think next week will be highly beneficial to Ball, Jolly, Sidey and possibly Trav., Jolly and Ball just need to settle into our game plan and playing style which is not at all similar to the clubs that they have come from. Sidey and Trav (and possibly Jack as well) need a confidence boost. On another note did our VFL team play this weekend, if so what happened and how did Rus & Beams go.

 

[Art Corvelay]

Great game today; as mentioned, to kick 18 with little to no impact from Cloke & Anthony was great. Jolly took a while to get going. Harry O's run from the backline is phenomenal, just takes the game on. I reckon we look a ten times better side when playing quick, direct footy rather then the chip chip possession style we've played in the past.

- There's a laughable degree of cronyism between Swan/Heater/BJ/Didak. Didn't hurt us much today, but has the potential to.

I agree, I reckon it's been happening for a while now.

 

[Katherine Amateurs]

According to AFL.com.au Ball only had 5 contested possesions. Surely that's a mistake.

Doesn'st matter, Fraser got 11 and wellingham got 10.

Cloke and Anthony didnt do much. Davis didnt have much presence except the last two goals. Jolly wasn't that impressive.

BUT, it doesnt matter becuase we still beat prob a top 4 team. It was great to see a good win without a few key players.

Go the pies.

 

[Blur]

I saw him thump a ball out of the middle of Visy park against Richmond pre season, and it went about 65m.

He has the leg, he just rushed a lot of his kicks today, which was so unlike him.

His skill is fine, sometimes his brain just goes a little too fast.

I blame 'The Bounce' for pulling that prank on him. It's obviously effected his skills this week!

 

[swamp13]

I couldn't care if a few players were off there game, as a team we are going to be hard to beat on our day because we finally have our missing piece, DEPTH! you say daisy didn't do much, 22 disposals and a goal, same with Ball 18 disposals and 7 tackles, what matters is when a few of our players who we've relied on in past seasons are having a off day, others now fill in and keep us going. in China its the year of the tiger, in Australia its the year of PIE

 

[2TONE]

11 goals between the 3 'small' forwards in Didak, Davis and Medhurst is a great first up effort.

What pleased me the most was that we matched the Doggies in runners, and didn't try and use talls to change the game. Cloke was very rarely used, and the ball was generally run through the field, instead of bombing to contests, which still happens, as it IS a Collingwood team.

It'll be interesting to see how we go with players like Cloke, Jolly, Ball and Fraser actually having an impact.

How good is our defence? Harry O was spectacular, Heater was close to BOG, Maxy was inspirational, Presti did his job, as always and Toovs was Toovs, so no-one should complain.

I hope Didak has this game another 24 times this year. 20-odd possessions and a bag of goals. This is the Didak we've been after for 6-7 years. I'd rather that, than 15 possies and 5 goals, or 35 possies and 1 goal.

Its exciting, we've pretty much beaten the top AFL side of 2010 in Round 1, so hopefully its the platform to what will be a trademark season.

i wouldnt mind this another 23 times this year.

also when all big blokes get going the pies will be unstoppable.

 

[bradrowe#32]

Some really good signs today.

We should be happy with our backline even though we conceded 93 points. Footscray were the highest scoring team of last year, averaging 108 points per game. We can improve, but the unit of Shaw, Maxwell, Presti and O'Brien was very good. They got quite a few goals from the midfield.

I was really pleased with Medhurst. If he can fire again, that will help immensely. He was inconsistent last year, but he had injuries and never really had a good run at it.

Ball and Jolly were decent. I really liked Ball's hustle and pressure. Jolly was down, but showed some nice signs, such as that tap that led to Swan's goal.

If we can get Jolly, Fraser, Cloke and Anthony all firing on the one day, then we'll be unstoppable.

We had a few players down, but it was a solid win against a very good team.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Need to improve our conversion as well. Seemed that heaps of the Dogs' scores were as a direct result of our scoring a behind rather than a goal. Pendles, Rusty and Jack, I'm looking in your direction.

 

[HFF]

Everyone pretty much has got it right in regards to the performances of Harry O, Heater, Swanny, BJ, Leigh Brown (seems to have a knack for playing well against the top sides), Daisy, Medders, Dids etc.

However, on Jack and Cloke, from being at the game, to just finishing watching the replay, I do believe that both played a very "selfless" game today for the team.

How many times did either play at FF today? Zero.

How many times did either stay inside the forward 50? Hardly.

How many times did both play virtually high-half-forward? The majority of the game.

Both contested, hit packs hard and created spillages for our dangerous smalls/onballers further up the ground today than normal.

Mick coached brilliantly. He realised that the smaller/medium Bulldog defenders were vulnerable one-on-one close to goal and he exploited it. See Didak, Medders and Davis all kicking 11 between them. It was a bonus that Cloke and Jack managed to chip in with a goal each.

All in all, just imagine how much better we can be with more contributions from guys like Jack, Cloke, Jolly, even Josh who I thought was ok.

I also may add that Wellingham looks to have taken the next step. He was BOG for mine in the first half and in the bests overall. Was everywhere. Half-back, midfield, half-forward won contested ball, spread exceptionally well, accountable and courageous. Pretty much a complete performance from him. And to think some people wanted him to be traded.