Post Match. Pies down to Dogs. All comments.

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

We were reliant on these players:

Sullivan
Harrison
Bytel
Macrae
Johnson
Parker

to replace:

Pendles
JDG
Elliott
Checkers
Cox
WHE

Not to mention us missing McInnes, McStay and the talented Richards.

What we have discovered, without doubt, is that Macrae, Johnson, Bytel and most likely Parker are not up to AFL standard.

The good thing is that Harrison and Sullivan are proving their worth. All is not lost peeps. After we get a few of our key experienced players back in 3 weeks or so, we are capable of going on a long winning streak, getting us into the finals. Even from 8th spot, we are capable of going all the way. Go Pies!

It’s delusional to think players 30+ are going to save us. Basically Fly had his his first two years to nab a premiership. He almost won it in his first year. We should be grateful that thanks to Wright we recruited a premiership coach who won it in his second year. Now it’s pain and misery for at least the next three years. Wright won’t be returning to Collingwood when he gets back from holidays because he knows it’s all downhill from here. Just to remind everyone, Buckley offloaded Treloar, Phillips and Stephenson for the future of the club, which at the time was Macrae, Poulter and McMahon. Treloar and Stephenson are still playing. MaCrae is the only one we have left and I suspect he’ll be delisted at the end of the year. Speaking of Stephenson, we recruited him when we could have had Naughton, who’d be handy now. I like what we did in the mid season draft. Pity we didn’t look to our future during the trading period and main draft last season. As I watch Hawthorn now, there’s a good chance we’ll finish this season on the same points as Hawthorn, meaning we just traded a young premiership player for nothing. Derek Hine always talks about recruiting players who fit into our program. I’ve got a novel suggestion. How about we simply draft the best player? And not give up our future draft picks. Then we won’t be relying on injury prone players 30+ years to get us out of trouble each week.

[lazzadesilva]

Special mention to Darcy Cameron for his game last night. Up against an AA ruckman in English, I thought Cameron helped significantly to drive the early dominance of Collingwood but without enough support, which is best provided by Mason Cox, to give Cameron a chop out he was exhausted by the last quarter and hence that contributed to Collingwood being overrun.
Cameron has been very good this year, but he definitely needs a chop out for about 30% of the game which makes it a necessity for Collingwood to have a viable 2nd ruckman in the team. Gee I hope Alex Condon abandons his basketball career to join the Pies at the end of this season...

I’d realistically look at the players we have instead of those we haven’t. It will bloody brilliant if we manage to snag Condon however we can only hope atm.

[David]

[think positive]

^

gees doom and gloom!
9 huge outs was just too many. had it been 5 we would have won.

we have blooded some kids this season that really look the goods. give them time around those premiership winning older players, we wont crash and burn.

[think positive]

[doriswilgus]

^

Well said Jo. We lose our first game in two months with half the side out and it’s all doom and gloom, and all downhill from here. How quickly they turn. By the way I still think we can win the premiership this year if we get all our players back fit and firing before the finals.

[Big T]

Some of Collingwood’s last quarters this year include:

Hawthorn: 0.5.5 (barely hung on)
West Coast: 1.2.8 (could’ve used a percentage boost)
Adelaide 1.2.8 (got overrun then pinched it)
Fremantle 2.3.15 (4.1.25 conceded in 8 mins for a draw)
Western Bulldogs 0.1.1 (5.1.31 conceded for a loss)

Deplorable.

This is indeed a key problem and was happening before the injury crisis.

[Pies4shaw]

A few of you have lost the plot - Collingwood just lost for the first time since March, despite all the injuries, and you suddenly have damn North as a danger game. Do try to keep a passing connection with reality, please.

[Pies2016]

^

This is indeed a key problem and was happening before the injury crisis.[/quote]

Without wanting to labour the point, it’s interesting that in everyone of those last quarters highlighted above, we kicked more behinds than goals. Maybe the focus should be more on our bad kicking at goal than it is to “ fault “ the reigning premiers last quarter strategies.
By the way, I think most teams would be happy with a narrow win against Hawks right now. They’ve now won four of their last five games

[think positive]

gees doom and gloom!

9 huge outs was just too many. had it been 5 we would have won.

we have blooded some kids this season that really look the goods. give them time around those premiership winning older players, we wont crash and burn.

Well said,Jo.We lose our first game in two months with half the side out and it’s all doom and gloom,and all downhill from here.How quickly they turn.By the way I still think we can win the premiership this year if we get all our players back fit and firing before the finals.

cheers hun, i totally agree xxx

we need to improve our goal kicking, but we had them for 3 quarters.

i honestly cant believe how the scum fans are so excited, they should be embarrassed to win like that!

[think positive]

A few of you have lost the plot - Collingwood just lost for the first time since March, despite all the injuries, and you suddenly have $$%^%%$ North as a danger game. Do try to keep a passing connection with reality, please.

lol yup!!! this

[Magpietothemax]

Again extremely impressed by our coach's presser after the game. His hatred of losing is so self-evident!! Yet, he remains absolutely calm and refusing to accept any excuses for the loss, while subtly suggesting at the same time that the loss is understandable within the context of the our current circumstances. He did it superbly. No excuses, but the loss can be explained!
He was also clear about our lack of run in the final quarters, referring explicitly to "this group". Clearly I think he is suggesting that our most inexperienced (HH, Sullivan, Fin, Bytell) are not "hardened enough" for running out four quarters.( I am not sure what he means by "hardened". But the suggestion seems to me to be that our young guys will improve at running out four quarters over the next few weeks, just from the very fact of playing each week). He also suggested that these inexperienced players are still in the process of fully learning and understanding their role in the system.
He is a formidable coach, who clearly inspires his team and teaches his team to refuse to accept defeat, like him.

[think positive]

Again extremely impressed by our coach's presser after the game. His hatred of losing is so self-evident!! Yet, he remains absolutely calm and refusing to accept any excuses for the loss, while subtly suggesting at the same time that the loss is understandable within the context of the our current circumstances. He did it superbly. No excuses, but the loss can be explained!
He was also clear about our lack of run in the final quarters, referring explicitly to "this group". Clearly I think he is suggesting that our most inexperienced (HH, Sullivan, Fin, Bytell) are not "hardened enough" for running out four quarters.( I am not sure what he means by "hardened". But the suggestion seems to me to be that our young guys will improve at running out four quarters over the next few weeks, just from the very fact of playing each week). He also suggested that these inexperienced players are still in the process of fully learning and understanding their role in the system.
He is a formidable coach, who clearly inspires his team and teaches his team to refuse to accept defeat, like him.

brilliant post

[Big T]

I never thought we would win this game and tipped the dogs. I am simply concerned that the trend of losing four last quarters in a row is a concern, we do seem to put the cue in the rack for long periods and go overly defensive, and I am keen to see what Fly does differently moving forward for the remainder of the season.

[Magpietothemax]

^thx TP.
During the entire presser, Fly's face was a picture of dour determination. As I type this post, there is no doubt in my mind that Fly and his assistant coaches are already poring over all the structures, tactics practicable for our current inexperienced squad to execute, deciding which skills and plays need to be particularly honed and improved over the next 10 days of training, and formulating a practical plan capable of defeating the Demons. Our coach simply refuses to accept defeat and believes that this team, regardless of the missing personnel, can improve to the level necessary to contend for victory next week.
To use his phrase, he concerns himself only with what he can control. He currently controls a limited squad containing several very inexperienced players, and he is utterly committed to get the very best from them. I have no doubt that we will be very close again next week. This coach, and his players, genuinely do not believe in the existence of an "impossible" task.