Ok it's got to the stupid stage.
JHF getting continually booed and it's the media that's driving it and one particular knuckle dragger is - as usual - the instigator and ring leader.
If he can't be got by fair means it's time to use other methods.
Every club comes out publicly in support of...
Here's a topic sure to provoke extreme views . . .
There is little doubt that the list is now vastly improved but what was it's genesis???
For me it goes back to the Treloar trade time - that year we had a huge purge and in the end it was Grundy's turn.
A lot of people copped a lot of SHT...
You've heard it from me before but it doesn't change the facts.
The Australian media have been meddling with the game for years now and the Melbourne soccer derby is just the latest instance of it.
Any simple alien visiting earth and seeing those despicable media ads could be forgiven for...
Now don't go off half ccked at the title.
The NFL is in a different stratosphere to the AFL in every possible conception as a professional sport - so I'm not making any comparisons there.
My point is about how the game honours their true greats.
The AFL are not only not in the same universe...
Our die is set for this finals campaign but looking forward (and backward) brings up interesting thoughts.
Commentators and armchair experts rave about skilful teams and rightly so but what about finals time?
When your stars are down or blanketed there is nowhere to hide for a skilful side...
For how many seasons has selection remained basically static only to be revitalized with an injection of well picked youth over the last couple of years.
And for those Hine haters . . .
He's still here and he's picking the eyes out of the mid season draft.
BazBoy over at Nicks posted a thread along these lines this morning so my thanks to him for keeping the flame burning.
50 years ago almost to the day a thug copper targeted John and set a mangy gutter cur to sucker punch him.
That trash filled club honoured the gutter cur.
I'll never forget...
Whatever happens for the rest of the season the slumbering bear has awoken.
The last 3 weeks and in particular the last 2 weeks are what builds and cements team lists.
You don't win games like that on talent - it takes courage and commitment - as a group and to the group by every player.
Dad...
With Scott closing quickly on the magical 300 games it's telling - IMHO - that we have only 2 other players in our history to reach this mark. Gordon Coventry and Tony Shaw.
This hints - to me - of an overriding attitude within the club of less than total professionalism in...
Having got off of 2 consecutive DELIBERATE high contact charges - both times he even jumped to get high enough - it is clear that Abblett will be allowed to play and do as he pleases, add this to the incredibly soft draw for the cats and the strategy is clear for all to see.
Hopefully we can...
Cast your minds back gentle readers to the Collingwood landscape of 4 years ago.
A desert of middle sized and middle class players with a couple of small oasis' in Pendles and Brodie.
A backgound noise of discontent and poor communication, both from the Administration and the coaching staff...
Our captain clearly wasn't 100% last year and here is the reason why - with many thanks to 'think better' over on Nick's for posting the OP there.
an article in the Adelaide Now site talks about Pendlebury's injury throughout 2018 - seemed pretty obvious the he was carrying something for most...
Viewing the competition from a lens of 50 years support it's saddening to see how much of the game has been taken away from the average supporter.
My first taste of the elite level Aussie rules was a trip down to sleepy hollow with my old man in 1964, the dear old Victoria Park stands and outer...
Collingwood just put in an immense performance that reminded me of the 2007 vintage.
Beams wanted back on board the bus, Marshy is making noises whilst the rest of the world raves on about Westies.
I'm looking forward to more intense and focussed players at training as the realization seeps in...
I've noticed a tendency on these pages - and especially since the GF - for some of us to lament about 'the same old Collingwood story, bad luck, curse etc., etc.
I have lived through 50+ years supporting this club and have known more heartache and distress than all but of a few here.
There is...
Gentle readers the 2020 football season will mark the start of the centenary of the single most dominant decade by any club in Australian rules football.
1920GF, 1922GF, 1925GF, 1926GF, 1927 flag, 1928 flag, 1929 flag, 1930 flag.
Plus 3 Brownlow medalists 1927 Syd Coventry, 1929 Albert Collier...
I have been a true believer of this club for 54 years, but this year by round two I was floundering in misery and desperately hoping we could find a way to manufacture scraping into 8th.
What I didn't understand was that the essential fibre of this playing group had changed. They had been...
Surely our most dysfunctional aspect and symptomatic of an over obsession with contested ball winning - IMHO.
Winning contested ball is crucial - but so is conversion and we haven't been converting our opportunities in the forward line for a long time now. I hear some of you saying it's...
Yet again abysmal set shot kicking gave an opponent an armchair ride and it's time to forget about the frigging tax and get someone in there who understands about football and kicking.
Same goes for ruck coach.
It's all very well to stand on principle but FFS it's costing us game after game.
Two players that we invested huge amounts in both money and support, both walk for nothing and the club gets left holding the bag. I'm sure our club isn't alone in this.
Time for a change in recruitment/contract rules?
Because as it stands a club can invest thousands of dollars in a player and...
Both as a supporter base and as a club.
From a perspective of half a century of support for the Pies I see it as a gradual erosion of confidence or belief cheifly driven by the VFL/AFL and their tame media.
Rock and roll is littered with them but other categories have them too.
For me . .
Richie Valens
Roy Orbison
Ella Fitzgerald
Frank Sinatra
Freddie Mercury
We have seen the start of it with the forced retirement of Johnson, Jolly, Didak and Luke Ball, Adams seems a like for like or slight upgrade for Ball but you simply don't replace Didak's - they just happen, lol. Our young rucks are getting there but had to jump in the deep end a year or two...
Much has been written and spoken about culture in sporting teams and its effect on clubs and individuals. It's certainly one of the least understood dynamics in sport and can have far reaching effects.
Over the last decade and a half a culture seems to have developed which rewarded those with...
A lengthy article on our Captain in the Melbourne Age
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/buckley-on-pendlebury-theres-no-better-leader-than-captain-cool-20140704-zswd2.html
"I reckon I capped my career and players cap what they could become by putting too much pressure and too much stress...
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/eddie-mcguire-wants-compensation-for-lowest-collingwoodcarlton-crowd-in-93-years-20140630-zsqb3.html
No surprises here...
My friends our team is in a dynamic rebuilding phase both in personel and philosophy - so far as that relates to gameplan and recruitment/development.
Young and very promising rucks plus a slew of talented top 20 draftees in the last few years have transformed the (potential) look of our top...
An interesting view of players time outside the club and their privacy issues.
http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/nathan-buckley-says-players-need-worklife-balance-as-aflpa-finds-afl-players-perform-better-in-supportive-club-environment/story-fndv8g1a-1226933617865
“Just because they’re not at...
It needs to be recast but the question is in what way?
First and foremost of course is big Trav, he is a shadow of the player he was last year and the admittedly abysmal forward entry efforts cannot cover the fact that his confidence appears shattered and his head is just not in the game...
Well the secret is out and perhaps it's time us fans took a little more notice of the clubs success in both areas.
http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/collingwood-success-with-late-picks-is-keeping-it-relevant-in-compromised-drafts-era/story-fndv8g1a-1226907866873
COLLINGWOOD’S surge into...