Prediction Semi Final: Changes Vs Collingwood (We survived to round 2!)

[Nodgey]

I reckon we will have more than 4,500 fans. Plenty of freo fans living in Melbourne who would have bought GA tickets, at least a couple of thousand anyway. We could have 7 or 8k fans there which is enough to make decent noise when we score.
I can’t wait, will probably be surrounded by pies fans but IDGAF I’ll be screaming my head off!!

Agreed. And if every freo fan brings just one friend with them, then double those numbers. It'll obviously be a partisan pro-Collingwood crowd, but not as bad IMHO as those slime home games with 50,000 slime and only 1,500 opposition fans. Reckon we'll make some noise at the G.

 

[Eski3]

Based on Longmuir's comments about Amiss and Taberner in the press conference today I'm pretty sure we will go with an unchanged lineup

 

[Square Peg]

Collingwood played a game last week we can’t quite match yet. We just don’t have the bodies and experience to deal with that level of pressure

Their pressure game is nothing extraordinary, it's another Collingwood myth, like they are a young rebuilding team

Pressure ratings: Swans star, Dogs hard nut set the standard

The qualifying final between Sydney and Melbourne ranked No.9 of all opening-week finals in the past 13 years

www.afl.com.au

Get a fair run from the unpires and we're up to our eyeballs in this.

 

[Grape Bear]

For all the oohing and ahhing over collingwood’s meteoric rise up the ladder, it’s glossed over that they remain an experienced and seasoned side, they’re right to be confident they can account for our young side at home.

Any win after this week would be a bonus for me, but I would be disappointed if we lost because we didn’t give it a red hot crack. If we played well but lost, I would be happy with that (but sad for Barra).

 

[TheLastCall]

Umpires for Sat are Rosebury, Stephens and Stevic.

Collingwood fans are calling for blood over Stevic.

 

[Grape Bear]

Umpires for Sat are Rosebury, Stephens and Stevic.

Collingwood fans are calling for blood over Stevic.

Doesn’t Stevic hate us as well?

 

[Square Peg]

Umpires for Sat are Rosebury, Stephens and Stevic.

Collingwood fans are calling for blood over Stevic.

Could be worse

 

[Joao]

Doesn’t Stevic hate us as well?

I'll let you in on a little secret.

Literally every fan base in every sport thinks they get reamed by the umps in almost every game. At least one or two fans on BF call for corruption inquires after losses.

 

[Purple Jesus]

Doesn’t Stevic hate us as well?

IIRC he has given us the rub in some away games. Surprised me at the time.

 

[serial_thrilla]

Doesn’t Stevic hate us as well?

From what I've seen he seems to support the away teams. Goes out of his way to flip the noise of affirmation.

 

[EastcoastDocker]

Does Aish get a job on degoey?

 

[TheLastCall]

Does Aish get a job on degoey?

Yes after Darcy gives Degoey's shoulder a good bump.

 

[Nodgey]

Stevic did a sterling job in our away game agaist St Kilda this year.

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

Stevic did a sterling job in our away game agaist St Kilda this year.

Did he actually, or are you just going off of old mate Pluggers posts in the GD thread?

FWIW I do remember feeling pleasantly surprised by some of the umpiring decisions in that game

 

[Spirit Level]

Stevic did a sterling job in our away game agaist St Kilda this year.

The non-HTB call on Clark followed immediately by the HTB call on Hill and subsequent 50m penalty is still one of my favourite memories for the year

I could feel 1000's of Saints fans melting at that very moment

 

[Scham]

I'll let you in on a little secret.

Literally every fan base in every sport thinks they get reamed by the umps in almost every game. At least one or two fans on BF call for corruption inquires after losses.

There definitely are repeat offenders within the umpiring fraternity though. When a pattern of giving us a hard time forms its easy to know the biases that exist.

 

[Eski3]

IIRC he has given us the rub in some away games. Surprised me at the time.

The Saints game I think it was? Where he didn't give a HTB to the Saints and Saints fans literally blamed that one single incident for a 40 point loss

 

[Joao]

There definitely are repeat offenders within the umpiring fraternity though. When a pattern of giving us a hard time forms its easy to know the biases that exist.

Perhaps, but no way I would get the fans of the team who think they are hard done by to make that judgement.

 

[MrDanggazz]

This will be a tough job, I believe that the crowd won us the game against the Bulldogs so I'm not sure we will have it in us to beat the Pies at the MCG with an 80k magpie army behind them. I just want them to do us proud and take it up to them but if we are going to go down, go down fighting, and not be flogged by 30 points.

Win or lose, the learning experience will be immense for the young player group.

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

This will be a tough job, I believe that the crowd won us the game against the Bulldogs so I'm not sure we will have it in us to beat the Pies at the MCG with an 80k magpie army behind them. I just want them to do us proud and take it up to them but if we are going to go down, go down fighting, and not be flogged by 30 points.

Win or lose, the learning experience will be immense for the young player group.

On the flipside to the crowd, I feel our crowd being so quiet was why the dogs were able to get a run on early. I think if we remove the expectation of the crowd having to Gee us up, then we are better for it - just treat it as outside noise, rather than something that has to feed us. There's a reason we have only lost two games on the road and having the crowd behind us isn't it - and let's be honest, Gold Coast's crowd doesn't count.

Having said that, we haven't played a game outside of Perth with more than 35K so it will be an entirely different scenario at the same time. Hopefully, our 4-5K fans will be joined by a bunch of neutrals who hate the pies

 

[Outshined]

Interesting to see how close it gets to 90k.

Either way I'm tempering expectations. At our best we're absolutely good enough to win but even with all the mental preparation Longmuir's indicated they're going through, it's easy to see a few too many young players being overawed by the occasion.

The experience will be immeasurably valuable for them moving forward.

 

[rgauci]

Their pressure game is nothing extraordinary, it's another Collingwood myth, like they are a young rebuilding team

Pressure ratings: Swans star, Dogs hard nut set the standard

The qualifying final between Sydney and Melbourne ranked No.9 of all opening-week finals in the past 13 years

www.afl.com.au

Get a fair run from the unpires and we're up to our eyeballs in this.

Are they that young? Seem like a relatively old side.

 

[Square Peg]

Are they that young? Seem like a relatively old side.

Yes that's what I mean, it's a media myth that they're young and a media myth they have an elite pressure game

 

[Outshined]

Yes that's what I mean, it's a media myth that they're young and a media myth they have an elite pressure game

I know I keep harping on about it but the 'young Collingwood' myth drives me up the ****ing wall.

And yes it's predominantly because it glosses over how impressive this Freo team has been given its average age and experience.

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

Yes that's what I mean, it's a media myth that they're young and a media myth they have an elite pressure game

Does that article not show that Collingwood are a good pressure team? Equal top H&A average of the top 8 sides and 2nd best of the weekend?