Be a realist!

[leondavis21]

Is was always gunna happen. Unfortunately we will never gunna win a premiership with 7 or 8 injuries. Too many kids in the team. Today we were found out. Lucky for us we hav a good squad and we will be there abouts. Hawthorn should win premiership! A prelim at very best a good result for us I rekon. And cloke definitely is gone. He's not interested 1 bit!!!

 

[Adz]

Agree. Too many changes each week. Mooney, Young etc should not be in the team in round 17.

 

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

I think you're on the right track, but today Hawthorn have just been brilliant. We are relying on way too few at the minute. Sidebottom and Beams (though still playing great) are going to be worn down by the end of the season because they have been asked to do too much through necessity. Seedsman is always a liability when he plays, and Elliot is also not strong enough just yet. But that will come in time, we have been very brave for the most of the season, it just seems we don't have the luck this year to give it a full crack.

As for Cloke, the man is spaced out between the ears. Run and jump at the ball Travis. All he does is body on body constantly, and he is not winning the ball that way. Needs to hit up and run at the ball.

 

[Rustin Cohle]

No amount of excuses can make up for some of the pathetic, pissweak efforts of some of our players today. A loss is acceptable to Hawthorn but to capitulate like this is not on. I can handle players getting beat, however the lack of effort from some is unforgivable.

 

[Quicky]

Today has highlighted some areas of the game we need to address. It probably shows we are not as good as perhaps we thought we were. Although I think most would concede we haven't been the dominant side this year that we were last. But to come out and make a statement that we won't win the premiership based off this performance is ridiculous. Maybe you should look at being a bit more realistic.

 

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

Today has highlighted some areas of the game we need to address. It probably shows we are not as good as perhaps we thought we were. Although I think most would concede we haven't been the dominant side this year that we were last. But to come out and make a statement that we won't win the premiership based off this performance is ridiculous. Maybe you should look at being a bit more realistic.

We would need no more injuries, Didak, Wellingham, Johnson and maybe even Krakouer back to have any hope of playing good finals football this year. Guys like Young, Seedsman, Elliot, Mooney...these guys won't help us in a big final, its almost like playing a man down and you cant do that against the best teams. WE just seem to be running out of steam. It took a big effort to play as well as we did earlier in the season and with out seasoned reinforcements I fear Beamsy, Steele and Blair will all tire in the run home, as is to be expected. I am not in the slightest disappointed about this. We have done all we could this year considering the change in personnel. Remember at the start of the year when we were all worried about our depth? We were thinking we would be very competitive as long as we didn't lose key senior players? Well we lost the players and so many of our stars have had interupted seasons.

 

[leondavis21]

We would need no more injuries, Didak, Wellingham, Johnson and maybe even Krakouer back to have any hope of playing good finals football this year. Guys like Young, Seedsman, Elliot, Mooney...these guys won't help us in a big final, its almost like playing a man down and you cant do that against the best teams. WE just seem to be running out of steam. It took a big effort to play as well as we did earlier in the season and with out seasoned reinforcements I fear Beamsy, Steele and Blair will all tire in the run home, as is to be expected. I am not in the slightest disappointed about this. We have done all we could this year considering the change in personnel. Remember at the start of the year when we were all worried about our depth? We were thinking we would be very competitive as long as we didn't lose key senior players? Well we lost the players and so many of our stars have had interupted seasons.

Agree

We may get a couple back but the injured ones arnt gunna e right this year! We really miss 1 or 2 smalls in forward 50, cloke obviously gone now so things will be changin next year! Lucky there is free agency now and we have a window over the next 4 or 5 years!

 

[eddiebankbalance]

We were out played all over the ground. Do you fancy our chances in a Coll v Crow GF?

 

[biggiemediums]

We were out played all over the ground. Do you fancy our chances in a Coll v Crow GF?

If we play like we did today? No. If we play like we did against Adelaide last game, then Yes.

 

[eddiebankbalance]

If we play like we did today? No. If we play like we did against Adelaide last game, then Yes.

that's beauty of AFL - each week is different. But I'm really cut with today's effort. Although not dismissing how awesome the Hawks played.

 

[MegaBob]

We're a good side, just didn't turn up today. But you can't discount the Hawk's effort, they looked phenomenal. I can't see us making/winning the GF, but I'm very willing to be proved wrong.

To be fair, and I know it's a shocking excuse, we have had a shocking year, our personnel have been pushed and that's why guys like Young and Seedsman have to be played. However, I don't see us the dominant force we were two years ago, if any team can lay claim to that mantle (and with the way this season has been going, that's a big if), it's the Hawks.

 

[legendstatus]

It is a day to day week to week thing footy, remember the Dorks got rolled by the Tigers by 60+ points at the G and Druggy was playing that day... So yeah, you can put it down to it was one of those games, but gee wish we had Wellingham, Didak, Johnson, MaCaffer and Krakour, they were the sort of players we needed out there today.

Young not up to it. Seedsman, Elliott, Mooney, Sinclair still young and time to develop.

 

[Markfs]

The problem with the posts in this thread is that is that we're not focusing our dissatisfaction on one or two players....

 

[Scodog10]

Twelve months ago we did the exact same to them. 10 weeks later they should have knocked us off in a Prelim. Things change very quickly in football. By no means take anything away from the Hawks though they were brilliant today.

The thing that concerns me most though is that we were shown up for pace for the fourth time this year. It's simple if we keep the game in tight we win if it opens up we're vulnerable (no amount of experience coming back will change that). The question is though can we devise a way to keep the ball in contested situations longer? That's what the coaching staff are paid the big $ for.

FWIW guys Sydney are the other team that play a similar style to what we saw today so be prepared to see more of the same against them unless we change things up.

 

[PieLebo87]

Am I the only one who still thinks Collingwood will win the flag in 2012?

 

[76woodenspooners]

Am I the only one who still thinks Collingwood will win the flag in 2012?

Yep

 

[Number 10]

Our forward line is a liability to the midfield and backline. Have they been taught to lead for the ball ever? Goldsack back to the backline, Cloke to lead up the ground.... Or just anywhere and Dawes to play crumbed to Elliot. Honestly Cloke and Dawes are the biggest players in the afl, any chance of breaking a pack apart?

 

[TradeDraft]

Is was always gunna happen. Unfortunately we will never gunna win a premiership with 7 or 8 injuries. Too many kids in the team. Today we were found out. Lucky for us we hav a good squad and we will be there abouts. Hawthorn should win premiership! A prelim at very best a good result for us I rekon. And cloke definitely is gone. He's not interested 1 bit!!!

I see Semi Final is the best we can do.

The 7 Injuries are really hurting us and because of that it is a Develpoment Season

 

[Blur]

Can you image what it would have been like with Buddy in that Hawks team? We're lucky to come off only 47 points behind. I get worried about Collingwood when I see games like this, and it happens a few times where the team decides to just not show up and get completely dominated. If they showed some competitive heart it would be different, but we were pathetic today. If we hadn't got those cheap goals from Hawthorne mistakes in our 50 who knows how big the deficit would have been?

 

[PieLebo87]

Wow, with all due respect, you guys are being absolute sooks. Have a look at the ladder, we are still top 4, and have quality players returning prior to September, don't let one game dictate your thoughts. Remember how Geelong played last week? Look at them now after last night, looking alright, aren't they?

 

[Mateyman]

We played terribly for the 4th time this year, but I think we should keep a level head. We did this to the Hawks last year and they came back and nearly beat us in the prelim.

 

[Mateyman]

Wow, with all due respect, you guys are being absolute sooks. Have a look at the ladder, we are still top 4, and have quality players returning prior to September, don't let one game dictate your thoughts. Remember how Geelong played last week? Look at them now after last night, looking alright, aren't they?

This

 

[sr36]

Our structures and ball movement were dramatically exposed. Too predictable going forward - just bomb it to a 4 on 2 everytime. Allowing the Hawks to sweep in waves into space in the forward 50.

We also seem to have a couple of our stars playing different roles and their production has dropped considerably. Cloke has gone from a playing a role where he dominated by running his opponent off his feet whilst also working them over physically to becoming a stay at home tall forward who consistently has to wrestle with two or three. Thomas is spending significantly less time around the ball. Over the last two years he has consistently gone onto the ball and given us some spark when we needed it.

To me, the big difference between us this year and last year is not the onfield personnel. It's the way they are being organised and deployed.

We are still well positioned on the ladder and we still have the best list of players going around, so there is still time to reorganise and get back to the level that we produced during 2010 and 2011. But it's not going to happen without some significant off-field re-thinking.

 

[Yidaki]

Its the oppositions with pace that are killing us at the moment.

 

[Hardas]

Am I the only one who still thinks Collingwood will win the flag in 2012?

Nope, PL, a lot would have to go our way.
Some of that would be: 10 bounces back to give us more and better quality centre clearances [very, very likely] , 22 gets a rest [likely], 21, 13 and 4 provide more high quality F50 entries [possible], backline get back to their best collectively [probable], 32 and 2 [if forward] lead harder to the ball [possible], 31 plays deep if still considered 'first choice second ruck' [likely, unless Ceglar comes in next week and plays like he's been there for years (unlikely this year)]. Also, stating the obvious I guess, may need to play a slightly more accountable style at clearances both in close and outside to slow best teams [lets say Hawks for now] down.