Preview Round 4 vs Collingwood @ Etihad Stadium

[schooners]

Cheers schooners, jumped straight on sportsbet based on your rumour. (nothing big - just a fun bet)

Noted that we have come in from $7 to $4.50 already.

Ive had a bit of a crack myself $7 juicy id say!! Good luck!!

 

[DonDraper]

Even with those outs, it's still a big challenge. Collingwood in Melbourne! We need to show we can handle the pressure because they will come out and be ferocious. We need to have a great intensity and a greater want and desire to win the hard ball. This is the time for our future stars to become current stars

 

[The Smaller Warrior]

Come on Port!

Got on us at $8.

Already down to $4.

Thanks so much for the tip schooners - champion.

 

[Moses01]

got on at 7.75, Cheers for the tip Schooners Now we just have to win

 

[Wargreymon90]

I dont like this. It now feels like we should win.

Now is the time to bring in experience in the hope that they will outclass their youngsters.

wouldnt mind seeing Ebert, Salopek, Logan and maybe Renouf come in

 

[DonDraper]

Didak will come in for them surely?

 

[WHOME]

Let's add to their pain.

 

[PhoenixPower]

renouf will be named in the eagles reserves

 

[ploppy]

with heath shaw and dale thomas outwe are actually a good chance this week especially with jolly not playing well and woods will be pants by redden...glad I backed Port at 8 to 1. Get at em boys....

 

[Portmanteau]

Who cares how a (potential) win would be perceived? A win that you hadn't budgeted for would be solid gold.

Still a few stars in the Collingwood lineup to deal with. They quite comfortably have at least the best 4 players on the field...

 

[Natman]

I hate this talk about x number of players out - I hope it's only restricted to this board and doesn't filter into the minds of the players.

There are numerous examples of teams winning with backs to the wall efforts from second string players.

Complacency at your peril.

 

[Portmanteau]

I hate this talk about x number of players out - I hope it's only restricted to this board and doesn't filter into the minds of the players.

There are numerous examples of teams winning with backs to the wall efforts from second string players.

Complacency at your peril.

2002 finals, for example. We still have an epic battle on our hands.

 

[ploppy]

finish them

 

[Lightning_Rod]

"I'm yewin!!" cheers schoons for the tip got em on sportsbet for 7

 

[JAlexG]

Surely no better time to beat them than this weekend.
Get right back on track and make it 2-2 leading into the clowns game.

 

[Hank93]

I'm on the +32.5 point line. You guys have a great shot at beating them.

 

[HugeJohnson]

I'm on the +32.5 point line. You guys have a great shot at beating them.

Got on the +37.5 line

 

[DonDraper]

O'Shea playing SANFL this weekend

 

[finbarr]

Totally with Natman here. In previous years under the previous coach these were the games I worried about the most. However, I doubt Primus would be letting any complacency filter into the players heads. They'd be getting it drummed into their heads how much quality Collingwood still has out on the park despite the outs.

They are a MUCH better football team than us. All this has done is even up the balance a little bit.

 

[PJ Power]

Totally with Natman here. In previous years under the previous coach these were the games I worried about the most. However, I doubt Primus would be letting any complacency filter in to the players. They'd be getting it drummed into their heads how much quality Collingwood still has out on the park despite the outs.

They are a MUCH better football team than us. All this has done is even up the balance a little bit.

Yeah - these are the games we have a history of falling over in.

After the 2002 final, I'll never allow myself to consider an injured opponent an easybeat.

 

[Papa G]

Ch 10 said O'Shea has been dropped

 

[Hartletts Heroes]

I hate this talk about x number of players out - I hope it's only restricted to this board and doesn't filter into the minds of the players.

There are numerous examples of teams winning with backs to the wall efforts from second string players.

Complacency at your peril.

I remember a few years ago when we had only something like 24 or 25 fit players to choose from and played the crows in a showdown. They had a streak of something like 4+ wins over us and we got over them by a few goals. Probably one of our best wins for the year..

 

[SupportMe]

The more I think about how we need to win this match, the more I think we'll fold meekly.

 

[tribey]

The more I think about how we need to win this match, the more I think we'll fold meekly.

And this is just it.

In the study of History there is a sexy genre of the counterfactual, in which the historian wonders what might have been had a key turning point not turned or rather gone in a different direction.

Popular ones include the legions of Varus that were slaughtered in the Teutoberg Forest, thereby preventing Roman civilisation from pacifying the Germanic tribes. Or if Mussolini hadn't have invaded Greece, thereby buying the Panzers another couple of warm months to tear off toward Moscow. Or if, say, a brave but battered Collingwood gets over Geelong in the 2007 Prelim to face a fresh Port Adelaide.

What if?

Port is at a crossroads here. We either step up, take this opportunity and finally strike a deserved blow against one of the many teams that has owned us for the better part of a decade - let alone a rival that had a habit of killing us at the best of times (02, 03, 05) - or we squander another winnable victory and let the monkey on the back get bigger and bigger and bigger for a myriad of reasons. Confidence. Culture. Respect. Belief. Momentum.

So much is at stake.

If we can't have guys like Boak, Cassisi, Kornes, Gray, Hartlett, Schulz, Chaplin, Surjan, Westhoff, Pearce, Carlile and company step up collectively on Saturday, when will they ever?

 

[Malibu#27]

I'm really hoping we see a tight leash put on Pendlebury.

We saw last week how minimal his output was (much to my dreamteam/supercoach detriment), but if we can make him a non factor, I'm hoping we can limit the spread Collingwood can produce.

Many of their on ball youngsters probably haven't played a lot of games without the top line players they are missing so the load is going to fall back on them, hopefully we can put the pressure right back on them.

Also, we need to be going long and deep into the forward line, we have some marking talls down there and it doesn't look like Collingwood have the height to cover them all. We need to isolate some one on ones to our advantage and continue to hammer the ball to dangerous spots.... this requires our tall's to play smart and "spread" to try and reduce the ability of the likes of O'Brien to drop off his man and help off. I don't want to see Schulz/Butcher etc jumping at the same balls.

I also think Shaw out is a significant bonus for us as he provides good rebound and is generally good at running the angles.

While they will spend time on ball, having Gray/McCarthy spending time resting up forward at the talls feet (to compliment Wingard) is also going to be important to us.

I have a level of confidence in our tall backs being able to do a good enough job to hold their tall forwards, so we need to put a lot of emphasis on clearing the ball from the back half quickly.

If we get on top for a period we need to hit the scoreboard hard, put some scoreboard pressure on them, and not play for time if we have 5 mins left in a quarter and we are on top.

Do we roll back the clock and use Kane on Pendles or Swan ?