+ and -

[Robbo's my hero]

Positives everywhere last night. We've taken another step forward. Pressure, in close, was exceptional.

Negative. Collingwood Football Club. If they want to watch a match without the opposition supporters present they took a big step forward last night. I had to stand all effing night because of the disorganised arrangements.

 

[thylacine60]

Positives everywhere last night. We've taken another step forward. Pressure, in close, was exceptional.

Negative. Collingwood Football Club. If they want to watch a match without the opposition supporters present they took a big step forward last night. I had to stand all effing night because of the disorganised arrangements.

Went home at half-time. Didn't reserve a seat, got there an hour and twenty before the game, was told I had a choice of top deck Aisles 31-33 last 5 rows up in oxygen deprived section.

Moved around being tossed out of seats time after time by late comers turning up with their tickets until 25 minutes into the first quarter when I thought I was home free with a seat, half a dozen theatre goers turn up. Enough, tried standing, could see nothing, watched 15 minutes on telly at the bar before leaving. Top night all round. ****ing felching McGuire.

 

[blue gunslinger]

Negatives: the usual suspects who appear and take more pleasure in a loss than a win

Positives: Henderson, Kreuzer, Lucas, Bower and Mclean to come back into that side

ellard army

 

[jj1978]

Positives:

- We controlled the ball for a longer time during the game.
- Jamison makes our backline more stable and love his new running game
- Watson will be amazing
- We have improved and considering we were not playing our best 22 (4-5 short) we have some good depth.
- One of our weaknesses in the past was giving up scores during our kick outs from the back 50... last night we conceded 0 points clearing from back 50 (as did Collingwood)

Negatives:

- Our handpassing was woeful!!
- Conceding 5 goals from balls up in our D50 (the difference in the game).
- Not enough strut!
- Betts, Walker and Russell so far having a dog of a season.
- Judd has to be the superman again! Simpson, Murphy, Gibbs - STEP UP!

 

[blue gunslinger]

thought that said not enough sturt

 

[Jack TY]

JUDD not only laying tackles but rippers that stick. A huge + I have noticed this year.

 

[gbatman]

the thing holding us back is a lack of quality core players.

Core players being:

A full forward. Wait is doing an adequate job but he needs to lift a notch.

A CHF. We have none, we are not playing with one at all. We are playing with a tall FF and a tall pocket.

A full back. Jamison fills this role fine.

A CHB. Watson will be good but he's not quit there yet. Bower is a no show.

And the biggest gaping hole. Our lack of core onballers. This is the reason why Collingwood and play nearly any fringe player and they will do really well. It's because they have such a good group of core players. The have good KP players and onballers and we don't

I think our KPP stocks are far better than our on ball stocks so far.

For starters Judd is a star and a dream on baller. Curnow is very good in this role and we would be up shit creek without him. Robinson is growing in this role in the center but has some improvement to gain.

The reason why we can't match Collingwood is Gibbs and Murphy. These guys are not in the side to play average or servicable games. They are there to win a lot of footy and hurt the opposition as well as being tough and physical in the center and at stoppages. These two hate body on body and that's why they can not be played on the ball until they get over this. If you are to play on the ball you have to be able to relish physical pressure. You have to be able to win a lot of hard ball. These two are dissapointing footballers indeed.

Ellard and Mclean must not be far off if they play well. I hope Cachia turns out. We can't have guys like Murphy, Gibbs and Carrazzo who play like outside players in the center at ball ups.

 

[Swade]

We can't have guys like Murphy, Gibbs and Carrazzo who play like outside players in the center at ball ups.

Im not sure who started this rubbish about murphy not going hard at it, he goes in as hard as anyone in the centre, and that was clear for all to see when he was the leading contested possession winner in the COMP after 2 rounds, murphy does NOT need to harden up, hes doing exactly what is asked of him, he was a let down against the pies ONLY because he didn't get enough of the ball

and that could be said of all the midfielders on the night, especially the well talked up "top 5 mid in the comp now" pendlebury, only the 2 champions were able to get much of the ball in a game like that, thats why they're the best...

 

[gbatman]

u put body on murphy at stoppages he can't handle it. Gibbs too. Needs to get over this. Murphy was a lot harder at it in his first few years for memory too. Not sure why.

 

[Sin City]

u put body on murphy at stoppages he can't handle it. Gibbs too. Needs to get over this. Murphy was a lot harder at it in his first few years for memory too. Not sure why.

The guy who's 13th in the league in first possessions, 4th in clearances and 7th in contested possessions. Grow up gbatman.

 

[Dramoth]

the thing holding us back is a lack of quality core players.

Core players being:

A full forward. Wait is doing an adequate job but he needs to lift a notch.

Waite is a third tall option or a winger/utility. Able to move into defence or run into attack with ease. One of Mitchell or Casboult is going to be our FF in a couple of years.

A CHF. We have none, we are not playing with one at all. We are playing with a tall FF and a tall pocket.

True. Henderson is missing from the side. He really needs to be in the side to allow us to have a decent marking option up front.

A full back. Jamison fills this role fine.

Jamo is our full back. We have McCarthy as our backup option at this point, be he needs a couple of years of development and training.

A CHB. Watson will be good but he's not quit there yet. Bower is a no show.

Bower will be back this week and will allow us to use Watson as our third tall in defence.

And the biggest gaping hole. Our lack of core onballers. This is the reason why Collingwood and play nearly any fringe player and they will do really well. It's because they have such a good group of core players. The have good KP players and onballers and we don't

I think our KPP stocks are far better than our on ball stocks so far.

For starters Judd is a star and a dream on baller. Curnow is very good in this role and we would be up shit creek without him. Robinson is growing in this role in the center but has some improvement to gain.

The reason why we can't match Collingwood is Gibbs and Murphy. These guys are not in the side to play average or servicable games. They are there to win a lot of footy and hurt the opposition as well as being tough and physical in the center and at stoppages. These two hate body on body and that's why they can not be played on the ball until they get over this. If you are to play on the ball you have to be able to relish physical pressure. You have to be able to win a lot of hard ball. These two are dissapointing footballers indeed.

Ellard and Mclean must not be far off if they play well. I hope Cachia turns out. We can't have guys like Murphy, Gibbs and Carrazzo who play like outside players in the center at ball ups.

Murph isnt an extractor type player. He can get in there and win the ball, but his main skill is being the first receiver and extracting the ball from the press around the bounce or throw in. He can move through traffic easily and with his low centre of gravity, can shrug off tackles and change direction easily.

Gibbs is a pure outside player, he should be playing forward of centre directing the ball he receives from Murph into the forward line and hitting one of our leadup forwards laces out. He should never have been used as a negating player Friday night and they should have forced the filth to put the hard tag on him.

By my reckoning, by being a receiver of the ball and using it means that both Gibbs and Murphy are outside players. The shouldnt be burrowing under a pack to extract the ball because it means that players like Mclean and Curnow arent doing their jobs properly.

Carrazzo is a HBF/wing player and should never be anywhere near the centre at ball ups. Carrots will be replaced eventually sooner or later by either Lucas or Cachia.

 

[The_Wookie]

Could not stand all the friggin kicking backwards - and missing targets and fumbling while doing it. guys like Russell, Armfield and Jamison are at their best when we're attacking, not trying that chip around the D50 rubbish. It was some of the worst defensive fiddling around, was like we had a whole defence of Thorntons circa late 2009/early 2010. Watson was fine for a second gamer. Im not impressed with Laidler, and Duigan was fine last week, but struggled a little against the bigger pies. None of which was helped by us not having a CHB.

Its not just hampson missing marks and goals up forward. Its betts, its garlett, its judd. FFS everyone is doing it. But then our ruck coach, Capuano, was never noted for his mark and goal abilities either. Walker needs to stop trying to take the mark of the friggin decade and for the love of god will someone get to the feet of Hampson when he drops or knocks the ball down. I actually thought Waite started to get moving for the first time this year against the Pies. Thornton was reasonable.

Gibbs was ok. There is nothing wrong with Murphy. When your playing against Swan, Pendlebury, you can have a quiet game every now and then. Curnow and Robinson are going along quite sweetly at the moment. Scotland has been servicable, and still getting the footy. Carazzo is probably the weak link there at the moment, and doesnt offer us much that we couldnt get from Armfield or Ellard.

Collins was pretty crap but it was his first game. Warnock was great as usual, even if Jolley got away from him once or twice.

The fact is we did well when you consider the full strength of collingwood vs a blues side missing several key players. 28 points was a good result, and im looking forward to next time.

 

[gbatman]

Agree with Dramoth. We lack a solid group of core players. We had Robinson, Curnow, Judd, Gibbs and Murphy being the main players at stoppages and ball ups. If your role is that of a key onballer your job is to do more than just play ok. You'r job is to win plenty of it, controll the game and have a profound influence on the game. If you're playing on the ball and not having a profound influence on the game then you are a passenger. We need all our guys in the guts to really start contributing. Ellard and Mclean might be close to getting a gig if we can not have all our onballers stand up against good sides. It's fine that they all stand up and have a strong influence on games against the GC and Richmond but that wont get you any where near a flag.

The guy who's 13th in the league in first possessions, 4th in clearances and 7th in contested possessions. Grow up gbatman.

3 games, one against the GC, does not make a season. I really want to see him influence games more than he does. I want to see him stand up against good sides that play physical footy. It's the next step in development I'd love to see him take it.

This is what we need of these guys if we are to win a premiership.

 

[Blue since 72]

Jeff and Jamo as the pluses for mine. Overall Collingwood had a more thorough spread of contributers than we did. While the likes of Pendlebury, Swan and Thomas had quieter games others stood up and made the difference.

Walker going for ridiculous screamers yet again (when was the last time he actually got a hand on one), plus I'm really starting to think he should go into the middle where his size (190cms), known stamina and good pace and the fact that few midfielders get the opportunity to attempt screamers might pay better dividends for the team.

While he can get on the end of a few goals he is very inconsistent and doesn't appear to be a smart footballer. Perhaps chasing the ball would be his best option.

Alot of fumbling by alot of players was another negative and we appeared to really struggle at stoppages whereas Collingwood were very clean away from them.

I'm going to mention Collins but not as a personal slight. In hindsight it was a stupid decision to debut him as a sub in such a massively hyped game against the current premiers. Fair enough if he won selection on merits but he should have been on the bench and allowed to work himself up to the pace of the game throughout the game.

Being put in the position of bringing him on cold when we were down was too much to ask and while he looked out of his depth I'm hardly surprised given the situation he was put it.

Eddie was very ordinary and needs to show alot more mettle this weekend or I'd be resting him. Jeff Garlett is playing light years better at the moment and he was effectively dead wood in that forward line on Friday night.

However, why didn't the coach give him a burst in the middle to get him into the game and away friom O'Brien?

Eddie seems to be struggling with another small in the forward line with him. Hope he hasn't got a dose of the Fev syndrome and can't handle not being the main man.

Goals when the game is done is happening far too often in recent times.

I think our best team on the park would have pushed them hard but only if all are putting in.

 

[gbatman]

Sometimes when guys like Betts and Walker are not getting their hands on the thing, not influencing the game and having no impact it's up to the coaching staff to get them into the game some how!

For example. Walker was struggling up forward. What I would have done was push him into the middle, perhaps to tag or just to get hands on the footy and get going. Instead our coaching staff subbed him off.

Betts needed to spend a few moments on the ball as well. Instead we just left him up forward the whole game

This is a problem with our coaching staff. They are failing to identify guys who are struggling to have impact and their methods of dealing with it are poor. It's not good on the players behalf if they are having no impact but it does happen and it's up to the coaches to do something about it.

I'm backing Ratts and I'm pleased with the additions of Richardson and Brown but this gives me doubts. Our match day coaching needs to lift in this area.

Who knows, with Gibbs and Murph not impacting on the ball Walker or Eddie might have snuck under Collingwood's radar and had an impact and swung momentum...