Game Day Round 19 vs. Hawthorn, MCG, 4:35pm Saturday 20/07

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I went into this season expecting to go back to back. Unrealistic yes. But I did the same in 2011 and that really should have panned out.

To go from a flag to seemingly missing the 8 is horrible. At least should have been top 4 after a flag.

Anyway I’m not expecting a finals berth now. If we somehow pull it off, that’ll be a surprise.

Finals starts a new season so if we can qualify I don’t write us off still getting to a prelim. Just think we’re out of runway now to recover this season.

You’re entitled to whatever expectations you want to have in your head but that’s all about you not about Collingwood. Just because you thought we’d go back to back doesn’t mean we should have. It just means you were probably wrong.

Geelong missed finals last year and nobody gave a rats. Now they are a hot contender in 2024.

GWS desperately clawed into the eight last year at the last minute and ended up missing the GF by less than a kick. The Dogs won a flag from the bottom half of the eight.

It ain’t over till it’s over and when that happens there’s always next year.

 

[jmac70]

I went into this season expecting to go back to back. Unrealistic yes. But I did the same in 2011 and that really should have panned out.

To go from a flag to seemingly missing the 8 is horrible. At least should have been top 4 after a flag.

Anyway I’m not expecting a finals berth now. If we somehow pull it off, that’ll be a surprise.

Finals starts a new season so if we can qualify I don’t write us off still getting to a prelim. Just think we’re out of runway now to recover this season.

Put the grand final replay on and relax.

 

[stormskye]

Put the grand final replay on and relax.

Have you got your account back from last nights hacker jmac?

 

[stormskye]

Are any of 2010 flag team available?

 

[jmac70]

Have you got your account back from last nights hacker jmac?

Some emotional posting on my behalf. I’ll own that.

Put as Fly says, I don’t want to live in that space.

 

[LuckyLee]

Thank god we snatched the Premiership last year - much like the Doggies in 2016. It will make the next few years easier to endure.

Our list composition is horrible. Big structural deficiencies (esp tall forwards and A-grade mids), an over-reliance on aging stars who are well past their primes, very little VFL talent demanding promotion and no draft picks to fix the problems in the short term. It’s going to be ugly for a while.

But I’d still rather be us than say Brisbane or Port - teams who have been near the top of the ladder for years but with nothing to show for it in terms of Premierships.

(Oh, and Hawks to win comfortably,)


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[LuckyLee]

Are any of 2010 flag team available?

Yes - Pendles and Sidey - and 14 years later, that’s part of the problem.


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[FromTheBoundaryLine]

Some emotional posting on my behalf. I’ll own that.

Put as Fly says, I don’t want to live in that space.

Good to have you back. Thought you and Dave had swapped bodies yesterday

 

[Anzacday]

Um, what’s a ‘neural hamstring issue

Nerve related.
Neurology relates to the nervous system ie, brain, spinal cord and nerves.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Yes - Pendles and Sidey - and 14 years later, that’s part of the problem.


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It’s only a problem if holding on to them didn’t result in a premiership. But it did…. and those two in particular were integral to that when it mattered

Steele still easily best 22 and has another year in him, maybe as a super sub rather than destroying careers of the likes of McInnes and macrae by playing them as sub too often and never giving them a fair crack.

starting to worry about Pendles though.

But list decisions are for another thread.

 

[jmac70]

I’m sure Hawthorn will play us the same way that Essendon and Geelong did.

We’ve got to try and counter that.

But how?

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I’m sure Hawthorn will play us the same way that Essendon and Geelong did.

We’ve got to try and counter that.

But how?

Kick a bigger score than them.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Thank god we snatched the Premiership last year - much like the Doggies in 2016. It will make the next few years easier to endure.

Our list composition is horrible. Big structural deficiencies (esp tall forwards and A-grade mids), an over-reliance on aging stars who are well past their primes, very little VFL talent demanding promotion and no draft picks to fix the problems in the short term. It’s going to be ugly for a while.

But I’d still rather be us than say Brisbane or Port - teams who have been near the top of the ladder for years but with nothing to show for it in terms of Premierships.

(Oh, and Hawks to win comfortably,)


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Not a fan of the word “ snatched”. We absolutely deserve that premiership. Had many snatched from us in the past.

 

[SouthernPie]

Our issues are between the arcs. Even with a makeshift forward line made worse with the loss of Schultz we still scored at a better rate than the cats.
Our continued issue is the supply into our forward line and the amount of inside 50’s we are conceding. As bad as Moore and co have seemed, the ball is living in our defensive arc and no clubs defence would handle it.
Midfield has been and is our issue. But there’s no way to fix it as we don’t have the cattle. 16 to 6 centre clearances.
And as is well established, the guarding of grass and just allowing Oppo teams to start the game outside our 50 arc needs to end. But that required an off season to change our setup.

This sums up our current problems perfectly I reckon, exasperated of course by effects of injury on players available, team balance and cohesion.
Last night, aside from Jamie Elliott's superb effort, none of our forwards were interested in defending the ball inside our forward arc and keeping it there. It seems like it's part of our game plan to let teams like Geelong and Essendon execute dinky kick and marks all the way back to the centre/wing and then they gun it from there.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

This sums up our current problems perfectly I reckon, exasperated of course by effects of injury on players available, team balance and cohesion.

Exacerbated.

 

[danielnajdek]

We have got a lot of concussions this year. Feels like way more then any other club.

 

[SouthernPie]

Exacerbated.

Thanks Timmy. I had a feeling I had spelt it incorrectly!

 

[sideswipe]

Thanks Timmy. I had a feeling I had spelt it incorrectly!

I am currently feeling more than a little exasperated


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[SouthernPie]

Regarding lack of pressure from forwards and mids to allow opposition teams to clear it via kick and mark style from our forward half, even JFN identified this by saying in his interview that Geelong played a "heavy uncontested brand of footy" which "challenged us at times". I'm just wondering why this is so difficult for us to address, even just a little, in the short term.
If our forward half players and mids switched from zone defence in these areas and guarded their opposition players, not grass, perhaps we could create more turnovers in our forward half (ala Jamie Elliott)? I realize this would be deviating from the habitual and previously successful game plan, but I'm betting Hawthorn will use the same tactics as Geelong and Essendon to move the ball down the ground.

 

[ElliottsMaggies]

Positive is we only lost by 20.

Are you even now getting concerned about our season going down the toilet at a rapid rate.

What's your point?

You want a member to your 'everything is negative' gang?

 

[BEEG]

Can we please just give blokes like Fin, Reef, Allen the last 6 weeks to see what they have.

What's the harm?

It's massive to have the break not playing finals almost a 4-6 week jump on the competition.

I truly believe a fully fit squad next year could have 1 last crack.

 

[IlovethePies]

Listening to Fly's presser, he seemed to be suggesting that we allowed Geelong to play uncontested mark to mark because they weren't getting anywhere by doing so. It seems like we are playing according to a theory that allowing some uncontested possession is Ok, as the opposition is not achieving anything by doing so if we position ourselves correctly. This might have a limited degree of truth, but clearly it needs to be balanced by front on pressure and man to man where necessary. It seems like we are not understanding the balance.

 

[slugger01]

Exacerbated.

It’s exasperating, isn’t it..

 

[Kes1984]

It’s only a problem if holding on to them didn’t result in a premiership. But it did…. and those two in particular were integral to that when it mattered

Steele still easily best 22 and has another year in him, maybe as a super sub rather than destroying careers of the likes of McInnes and macrae by playing them as sub too often and never giving them a fair crack.

starting to worry about Pendles though.

But list decisions are for another thread.

Pendles was playing good footy before the bicep injury. No one will convince me otherwise that he was not and is still not right from that injury.

 

[Tharazero1]

Wonder what the likelihood is of us wearing pour swooping magpie guernsey for retro round this week