Preview Round 4 vs Collingwood @ Etihad Stadium

[FishingRick04]

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?

Good post and probably wont

 

[_Buffalo_]

Ok the players should be out for blood MORE than Collingwoods. One bad week of press vs one year of humiliation.

You'd like to think so anyway.

 

[DonDraper]

Wingard or Gray to make Harry O accountable. With Shaw gone a lot of their run from the back comes from him...we need to make him think twice before leaving his man. I get like this every Friday, thinking how we can win and it very rarely materialises because we are let down by our poor skills time and time again. That stops and we have a huge chance.

Kornes to Pendles could be good, who on Swan though?

 

[240volt]

I believe we will lose by a fair amount, be nice to be wrong but i just see them coming out breathing fire after the Carlton thrashing.

 

[Schulzenfest]

Swan, Pendles and Cloke (and by extension whoever we play on them) are the key to this game. If those three fire, then we're playing a team who's been in the Grand Final two years straight with a few players out through injury but with their stars still shining. If those three don't fire, then we've brought the injury-ravaged Collingwood down to our 'no A-graders' level and our B and C-graders are better so we should win. Those three are clearly the three best players on the park, but I think if you took out their top 3 players and our top 3 players then we're a better side right now.

Also, lol at the odds in the 'Pies See the Light' link in the Bigfooty News Feed.

Port Adelaide to win: $8.00
Port Adelaide to win by under 39.5: $7.80

...

wat

 

[PowerKat]

Even if they are out and with the other injuries you still have a better team than the ones we have lost to this season so no we aren't really huge chances. We do play Etihad far better than the MCG though so that will help keep the margin down.

Not sure about that. I think early days we won a lot there (esp Essendon), and then our record is not so great in the last 5 years. Of course we play the G less frequently, but I remember some good wins there. Probably too small a sample size.

 

[HarveyWallbanger]

I will buy a Port membership if you blokes win.

That will send the scum into freefall.

Go the Power!

 

[DonDraper]

All this talk of Collingwood coming out breathing fire ****s me off. WE have way more motivation! OMG we had a bad week in the media! We lost by 20 goals to these guys last time AT HOME! If the players aren't going to do everything they can to right that wrong then they can well and truly **** off

 

[PowerCafe]

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

It's just so easy to think like this now. A humiliation could de-rail the whole season.

But beating the Saints in round one, and competitive showings in the last two games, has given us reason to hope for an upset.

 

[portly]

I believe we will lose by a fair amount, be nice to be wrong but i just see them coming out breathing fire after the Carlton thrashing.

Nah, not if we come out breathing more fire to cure our past-pawnage and temper our backbone.

Its time. The time is now.

Whip em up Matty.

Lets win by heaps.

Just do something! NOW.

(Sorry, I'm tired of 4 years wimpery.)

 

[Rankor]

Nah, not if we come out breathing more fire to cure our past-pawnage and temper our backbone.

Its time. The time is now.

Whip em up Matty.

Lets win by heaps.

Just do something! NOW.

(Sorry, I'm tired of 4 years wimpery.)

I like your thinking.

I'm also hoping that our forwards react faster and play a little deeper this week. We still have the problem of our midfielders having no forward to kick to after a turnover. Forwards leading back fast towards all the space in the forward line will surely see a higher return for our efforts.

Didn't see last weeks game but in round 2, guys like boak didn't know what to do with the pill because there was nothing on offer up the field.

If our forwards work harder this week we may see some high scoring and this is a great game to start that with the pies lack of defenders.

 

[hazard]

I like your thinking.

I'm also hoping that our forwards react faster and play a little deeper this week. We still have the problem of our midfielders having no forward to kick to after a turnover. Forwards leading back fast towards all the space in the forward line will surely see a higher return for our efforts.

Didn't see last weeks game but in round 2, guys like boak didn't know what to do with the pill because there was nothing on offer up the field.

If our forwards work harder this week we may see some high scoring and this is a great game to start that with the pies lack of defenders.

We have the height advantage in our forward 50. What I'm interested to see is our delivery inside 50. If our midfielders can hit targets, our forward line will be very powerful.

 

[DonDraper]

All comes down to the midfield really. They have the guns still there. We need Boak to have a massive day out (feel like I've said this every week so far this season).

 

[tribey]

Sans Ball, Thomas, Davis, Krakouer, Reid, Brown, Tarrant and Didak from the last time we met. Whole new ball game.

We should actually be favourites for this game all things considered. Will be as disappointing a loss as any should we fail.

 

[portly]

Nah, not if we come out breathing more fire to cure our past-pawnage and temper our backbone.

Its time. The time is now.

Whip em up Matty.

Lets win by heaps.

Just do something! NOW.

(Sorry, I'm tired of 4 years wimpery.)

Bump.

It's so hard being wrong, again.

If only these guys could improve their decision-making.