The Collingwood Loss - A few observations.

[The Don]

Four Key Things were evident today:

1.- McVeigh on the Ball (Ala 3rd Quarter today ) - Sensational, JJ's permanent position in doubt.

2.- Mal Michael - Too slow and one dimensional at the moment to be taking a key forward , maybe needs to take a flank to fill holes rather than spoil.

3.- Laycock - Killed us in the last quarter , not ready for ruck in senior football- Dont know where he is best suited as he is to unco and gangly. We definitely need a solidly built and agile ruckmen in this next draft.

4.- There is still a trick or two in Sheedy's bag . Hird back probably for Hawthorn- Were not dead yet! Half time address must have been a killer

[Windy_Hill]

Only saw the last qtr but it was clear that we simply lacked run, pressure on the opposition and small forwards.

Monfries looked very average and couldnt get clean possession

They were just harassed out of it by a better, more disciplined side

[BenDoolan]

Only saw the last qtr but it was clear that we simply lacked run, pressure on the opposition and small forwards.

Monfries looked very average and couldnt get clean possession

They were just harassed out of it by a better, more disciplined side

He was horrible today. Lockyer gave him an absolute pasting.

[Essendon4eva]

Today the difference wasa team competing for top four aginst a team competing to make the finals.
DIfferent stages of each teams devlopment.

[Bomber_Fan]

Now what were my observations for the game
1) The amount of contested marks that Collingwood took in their forward line - FFS can't anybody spoil. Will we ever see a contested mark in our forward line? Leading players are great when you have a good midfield but not so effective with a midfield like ours!
2) The amount of time a Collingwood player was in metres of space and was able to carry the ball to just about the forward line with no pressure from behind or from the front. I don't think I ever saw our players with that much time/space - when the hell are we going to learn to play accountable football!
3) Our centre clearance work in the first half - absolutely terrible; what the hell was so different in the third quarter? Hille and Laycock should smash Fraser in the centre of the park - this was one of the most disappointing aspects of the day for me.
4) Kick ins from Collingwood - they got it so easily from a kick in to their forward line quite a few times with no touches from us. We need to have some different defensive strategies in place for opposition kick ins when something is not working!
What I thought were positives:
1) McPhee towelling up that pretty boy Thomas (finally he did a good defensive job - what a miracle!) and Slattery keeping Swan quiet pretty much for most of the day. And that criminal Didak been kept quiet by Mark Johnson.
2) Dyson's goal - backed himself and took on a couple of players either side of himself - this is exactly the sort of stuff that he needs to be encouraged to do! I'm a fan but I'm yet to be convinced by him. BUT I was particularly pleased to see him start on the ground!
3) Ryder moved up to CHF and demonstrating that he could be an effective option - a moment of initiative from our coaching staff shock horror.

[Doctor Fish]

I have one beef only and it's a major one.

That ridiculous zoning thing we attempt to do everytime an opponent gets the pill on the wing. Instead of chasing, manning up and applying pressure we seem to stand back waving our arms and impersonating Ossie Ostrich. WTF??? The good clubs don't do it. Why do we?

I know the theory behind it but I'd rather see an attempted tackle fail and our opponent run around us, rather than the opposition kick into their forward fifty without any pressure on them whatsoever (Which is usually what happens)... Am I the only one that thinks this way? It drives me nuts. Pev in particular does it all the time... It's rubbish.

The worst thing about it yesterday was the fact that our younger players have started doing it too...

[BenDoolan]

I have one beef only and it's a major one.

That ridiculous zoning thing we attempt to do everytime an opponent gets the pill on the wing. Instead of chasing, manning up and applying pressure we seem to stand back waving our arms and impersonating Ossie Ostrich. WTF??? The good clubs don't do it. Why do we?

I know the theory behind it but I'd rather see an attempted tackle fail and our opponent run around us, rather than the opposition kick into their forward fifty without any pressure on them whatsoever (Which is usually what happens)... Am I the only one that thinks this way? It drives me nuts. Pev in particular does it all the time... It's rubbish.

The worst thing about it yesterday was the fact that our younger players have started doing it too...

I mentioned this tactic last week after the Bulldogs game. It starts from the opposition kick out after we score a behind. I simply do not understand the f****** idea at all.

[tonysoprano]

Today the difference wasa team competing for top four aginst a team competing to make the finals.
DIfferent stages of each teams devlopment.

Maybe if we stopped recruiting has-beens (eg Campo, Heff) or retaining the very average (eg Bolton) we might have been at a better stage of development?

[uptick]

I have one beef only and it's a major one.

That ridiculous zoning thing we attempt to do everytime an opponent gets the pill on the wing. Instead of chasing, manning up and applying pressure we seem to stand back waving our arms and impersonating Ossie Ostrich. WTF??? The good clubs don't do it. Why do we?

I know the theory behind it but I'd rather see an attempted tackle fail and our opponent run around us, rather than the opposition kick into their forward fifty without any pressure on them whatsoever (Which is usually what happens)... Am I the only one that thinks this way? It drives me nuts. Pev in particular does it all the time... It's rubbish.

The worst thing about it yesterday was the fact that our younger players have started doing it too...

I mentioned this tactic last week after the Bulldogs game. It starts from the opposition kick out after we score a behind. I simply do not understand the f****** idea at all.

It's driving me insane to observe it as well. We score a point, may as well mark it down as a free kick to the opposition in the centre of the ground.

[Ramanama]

McVeigh has been a stand-out this year.

[Makaveli]

It was an atrocious performance, just like last week and a lot of the past 5 seasons.

[billyduckworth]

My observations (due to absence overseas, first game I have seen in person this year):

Overall game situation:
Considering we only played good footy for less than half the entire game, we weren't beaten by much. If we can just play 100% of the time, we should be able to win a few more games before the season is over. Not convinced Collingwood are that good, but they play disciplined, accountable footy (which most of the time we do not).

Negatives:
(1) I agree with those of you who mentioned the "zoning off" thing. I found myself often yelling out "for god's sake, run AT him!"
(2) Except for a brief period in the 3rd quarter, we were smashed in the ruck/clearances. Not sure if this is a ruck problem or a midfield problem, but it needs to be fixed.
(3) I'm told that our defence, led by Fletch and our "new" recruit Mig Mal, has been our strength all year. Yet we allowed Rocca, Cloke etc to take far too many marks and the little goal sneaks (Davis, Thomas) to get far too many possessions. Not sure why.
(4) Stanton clearly not fully fit. Why is he playing then?
(5) What's wrong with Lloydy? Got a few possessions by leading up the ground at one stage, but never looked like kicking a bag and never looked like he knew what to do with the ball when he got it.

Positives:
(1) Paddy Ryder has certainly come on in leaps and bounds this year and I thought he provided a good option when he went forward.
(2) McVeigh almost stole the game for us.
(3) Lucas has the turning circle of the Queen Mary and plays from behind too much, but he keeps scoring goals. You can't knock that!

Just a few random thoughts...sometimes you get a different perspective on things when you haven't actually seen a game for a while.

[Royza]

We don't block for our forwards or protect the ball carrier as well as the Pies. Or hold tackles.

Occasionally we do this & beat teams like WC, then have games where we do jack.

[Jazz_84]

We don't block for our forwards or protect the ball carrier as well as the Pies. Or hold tackles.

yeah i thought the same thing while watching another game, something that would work well along with Lloyd leading from the square, god forbit

[uptick]

We don't block for our forwards or protect the ball carrier as well as the Pies. Or hold tackles.

yeah i thought the same thing while watching another game, something that would work well along with Lloyd leading from the square, god forbit

Leading from the square is sooooooooooo old fashioned.

[Jazz_84]

We don't block for our forwards or protect the ball carrier as well as the Pies. Or hold tackles.

yeah i thought the same thing while watching another game, something that would work well along with Lloyd leading from the square, god forbit

Leading from the square is sooooooooooo old fashioned.

worked for collingwood pretty good

[uptick]

My point exactly. Some things never change, never need to change.

[Jazz_84]

oh i thought you were debating with me, lol all good

[bpdons]

Four Key Things were evident today:
3.- Laycock - Killed us in the last quarter , not ready for ruck in senior football- Dont know where he is best suited as he is to unco and gangly. We definitely need a solidly built and agile ruckmen in this next draft.

Hi Don, I believe waiting for next years draft for a ruckman is a lost cause, the club must have a lot of belief in our ruck division not to bother. We just had pick #2 in the 2007 draft and could have snared Matthew Leuenberger, who by all accounts will be Dean Cox the sequel. I am looking forward to Gumbleton in the coming years when he's fit and showing promise from the Bendigo side.

[rockhole]

I have watched the last quarter several times and there were a couple of key plays where both Monfies and Slattery came up short.

I have really wanted to see Monfires develop, but in the clutch plays he tends to panic and give away vital frees. Slatts is lauded for his defensive work, but less than double figure possessions week after week is simply not enough.

Given the position we are now in, and Sheedy's pledge to play everyone on the list, I would like to see both of them given a spell and new options. tried.