Toast Collingwood, well done

[GutsyBug]

That was one of the most gut-wrenching losses I have ever witnessed in person.

It meant nothing to us, and yet it somehow meant everything towards the end. The heart and guts we showed throughout the game was inspiring, and the effort we put in was all we as fans could have asked for. The emotion showed by the players after the game was tragic, Maynard was in tears, Varcoe on his back, it was emotional.

Although we are left with a lot of what-ifs, I really cannot wait until next season, and judging by the standing ovation of our team after the game I bet you guys can't either.

Carn the pies!

 

[Justlokan]

As much as 2016 has been a disappointment, it's nice to finish on a strong note, as opposed to the last 2 seasons when we started well but limped across the line. As long as players, coaches, the club (and the fans) don't get deluded into assuming we'll have a good year in 2017, we look like being in reasonable shape

 

[Magpie Girl]

I thought Buckley summed it up beautifully, and poignantly, when he said:

"the only thing we didn't do today was sing the song"

 

[Saintly Viewed]

Better.
Now:
We await a strong pre season.
We await natural maturity of the young folk.
We await a healthy playing list.
We await the natural improvement in players.
We await more wins....

 

[legendstatus]

And some gun trades maybe?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[BringouttheGimp]

Its the hope that keeps us going for the next 6 mths we need re.. tigers supporters supporters haven't felt that for 36 years re.. idiot of a club.

 

[Saintly Viewed]

Its the hope that keeps us going for the next 6 mths we need re.. tigers supporters supporters haven't felt that for 36 years re.. idiot of a club.

See if nothing else, as frustrating as we can be, there is always solace in knowing we're not Richmond.

 

[Gone Critical]

I am a bit of the opinion that yesterday, as gut wrenching as it was, and as hard as we tried, should be viewed with suspicion. We were worse in 2016 than 2015 considering the whole season. We won one less game and finished with a much worse %. We didn't really contend in the season at all, it was all over very early for us. I am suspicious of a team rattling home when there is nothing to play for when the early season form was so bad. We don't seem to have progressed in the area which hurts us most, turnovers form simple skill errors.

I preferred 2015 when we were at least in the hunt for finals. A number of teams with young developing lists have gone ahead of us and I am thinking of the Dogs, GWS, saints and Melbourne. Bucks has a lot to do over the pre season to up our skill levels and gets us into a position where we can realistically think finals is a real chance. I am hoping he can do it but I don't want to read too much into a big effort in an end of season game that really had no meaning for us.

 

[Kappa]

Another season we go backwards in the end.

Less wins, less percentage, and a bunch of seniors players out the door to ensure another year of "We have to get games into the kids" next year.

 

[PieLebo87]

There'd better be a bigger emphasis on disposal skills during the off season or I'll be pissed.

 

[Saintly Viewed]

I am a bit of the opinion that yesterday, as gut wrenching as it was, and as hard as we tried, should be viewed with suspicion. We were worse in 2016 than 2015 considering the whole season. We won one less game and finished with a much worse %. We didn't really contend in the season at all, it was all over very early for us. I am suspicious of a team rattling home when there is nothing to play for when the early season form was so bad. We don't seem to have progressed in the area which hurts us most, turnovers form simple skill errors.

I preferred 2015 when we were at least in the hunt for finals. A number of teams with young developing lists have gone ahead of us and I am thinking of the Dogs, GWS, saints and Melbourne. Bucks has a lot to do over the pre season to up our skill levels and gets us into a position where we can realistically think finals is a real chance. I am hoping he can do it but I don't want to read too much into a big effort in an end of season game that really had no meaning for us.

I thought this season was better, just seemed we were getting somewhere.
Next season will see more details emerge.

 

[Gone Critical]

I thought this season was better, just seemed we were getting somewhere.
Next season will see more details emerge.

Thought 2015 we were in contention for a long while which to me means more. Thought our early 2016 was the worst the club has performed since 2005. Few good games at the end of a bad season can deceive. Next year will be pretty wide open at the bottom of the 8. Not many of this years teams look ready to drop out and all of Saints, Dee's, Port, GC and us will be looking to challenge. Bucks has been brave saying he has to make finals to keep his job because that's still a tough task for our current list.

 

[Mateyman]

Another season we go backwards in the end.

Less wins, less percentage, and a bunch of seniors players out the door to ensure another year of "We have to get games into the kids" next year.

Not sure how much the retirement of a bunch of senior players who played about 5 games combined for the year will have much of an impact on our fortunes given they had next to no impact on our performance in 2016.

 

[Mateyman]

I am a bit of the opinion that yesterday, as gut wrenching as it was, and as hard as we tried, should be viewed with suspicion. We were worse in 2016 than 2015 considering the whole season. We won one less game and finished with a much worse %. We didn't really contend in the season at all, it was all over very early for us. I am suspicious of a team rattling home when there is nothing to play for when the early season form was so bad. We don't seem to have progressed in the area which hurts us most, turnovers form simple skill errors.

I preferred 2015 when we were at least in the hunt for finals. A number of teams with young developing lists have gone ahead of us and I am thinking of the Dogs, GWS, saints and Melbourne. Bucks has a lot to do over the pre season to up our skill levels and gets us into a position where we can realistically think finals is a real chance. I am hoping he can do it but I don't want to read too much into a big effort in an end of season game that really had no meaning for us.

Not at all convinced St Kilda or Melbourne have gone past us despite winning more games than us this year.

 

[Gone Critical]

Not at all convinced St Kilda or Melbourne have gone past us despite winning more games than us this year.

Reckon Saints have for sure, better youth than we have. Dee's closer but still they have more elite kids to build with.

 

[Mateyman]

Reckon Saints have for sure, better youth than we have. Dee's closer but still they have more elite kids to build with.

I think our youth is actually really good. I think they've actually been let down in general by lack of senior depth in the 28+ bracket. Moore, De Goey, Adams, Treloar, Grundy, Aish, Maynard, Crisp is a pretty solid core group with likely types like Crocker, Wills, Ramsay, Scharenberg also promising. Then most of our 'senior players' like Sidey, Pendles, Reid, Brown etc. are not actually that old mostly being in the 25-28 range, so theoretically still with 5-8 years left if they are lucky (although obviously for some like Reid and Brown this may be unrealistic). I think that's a fairly impressive list if they can get their act together as they appeared to be doing in the second half of the year. Grundy, Moore, Treloar, Adams, De Goey would have to be one of the best combinations of 23 or under talent in the league IMO.

 

[35Daicos]

Reckon Saints have for sure, better youth than we have. Dee's closer but still they have more elite kids to build with.

St Kilda obviously moved past us on the premiership ladder this year, and I do think they have a fair bit going for them, but I consider that we're still far better placed to move forward over the next few years than them. They won just two and lost eight games this season against the teams that made the finals, with quite a few bad losses included. Ten of their twelve wins came against the lower placed teams (10W/2L). So perhaps their final points tally was a bit flattering, and they may cop a tougher draw next year and not progress at all.

We won three and lost seven against the 2016 finalists, not a lot better than the Saints figure, but three of those losses were by rather modest margins. For some reason we were able to lift ourselves against the higher rated sides, too many of our losses came against teams we would have been expected to beat (6W/6L versus non-finalists). That seems to suggest a problem with the players' attitude, hopefully next year will see us performing flat out against all-comers.

I don't think it's even a close race in terms of who has the best young talent out of the two clubs. The post above this one spells it out very well, if we're looking at those 23 and under we're better off than most clubs in the league.

 

[Horaceg]

Hawthorn have a knack of winning these tight games, we need to be on the right side of this ledger moving forward. That said I think we were unlucky with the kick out of the center but hey we stole one off Richmond early in the year. I am positive about the team and how it is shaping up, there are some good leaders coming through, Treloar, Adams, Moore, etc and we have some real leadership there that you know don't want to be there about.

Let's see what happens over the trade period and through the draft but I am a little more optimistic after the Hawthorn game, there was a real want to win. It was great to see the guys were gutted with that loss and maybe that will help them more than a win.

 

[Prestige Presti]

I am a bit of the opinion that yesterday, as gut wrenching as it was, and as hard as we tried, should be viewed with suspicion. We were worse in 2016 than 2015 considering the whole season. We won one less game and finished with a much worse %. We didn't really contend in the season at all, it was all over very early for us. I am suspicious of a team rattling home when there is nothing to play for when the early season form was so bad. We don't seem to have progressed in the area which hurts us most, turnovers form simple skill errors.

I preferred 2015 when we were at least in the hunt for finals. A number of teams with young developing lists have gone ahead of us and I am thinking of the Dogs, GWS, saints and Melbourne. Bucks has a lot to do over the pre season to up our skill levels and gets us into a position where we can realistically think finals is a real chance. I am hoping he can do it but I don't want to read too much into a big effort in an end of season game that really had no meaning for us.

I personally believe that's a tad harsh, it's easy to say that on a wins to loss level we failed, but at the risk of sounding like a broken record, injuries played the biggest part in the outcome of the season.

http://m.afl.com.au/news/2016-07-14/winners-and-losers-on-the-2016-injury-ladder

It's pretty simple to just throw this up and spew out a few excuses, but this season more than any it's viable, we unfortunately coped the second most of any team in the first half of the season and unfortunately the gap was just way to big to recover from, almost an AFL record between 8th and 9th I believe. We played some fantastic footy in the second half of the year, and when you consider this graph doesn't take into consideration scenarios like Cloke and Brown being dropped I think it's a fair assessment to say that if we had an injury list of St Kilda and Melbourne (2nd and 3rd best) we not only would have surpassed them on the ladder, but would have given ourselves a massive crack and the top 8, the other teams you mentioned such as the doggies and GWS have passed us, but I think we can really close the gap this offseason.

All teams are susceptible to injuries, the Hawks won the premiership in 2008 and dropped off a cliff the next year, Freo obviously won the minor premiership last year and finished below us on the ladder. Even this year the Roos were up and about, lost there director of fitness to the NBA I believe, and soon after copped injuries and almost missed the 8 despite being in an almost untouchable position. I personally believe in a few years and a few more mature bodies we will be able to better cope with injuries, but in this stage of our rebuild, not yet.

For what it's worth, I disagree with Bucks that 2017 is the year we challenge, I think with all that's gone wrong the past few seasons (Injuries to key young players, drug issues) that has to be pushed back to 2018, but I believe next year we could still give it a red hot crack.

Always respect your opinion mate.

 

[noideaatall]

I see a difference between how we performed and how we improved over the season. In 2014 and 2015 we may have performed better than this year but actually looked like we were going backwards and ultimately the results the following year supported this conclusion. This year despite the loss of key players like Eliot or Swan and despite players like Cloke or Moore missing many games we improved and cemented our depth through the games we got into players like Marsh, Maynard, Crocker or Wills. This evidence suggests we have reached our "low point" in the rebuild and are on the way up. No doubt it is a long way back and a massive gap to actually being a flag contender but a place in the eight seems likely in 2017.

That this game didn't mean much in real terms to us (but did to the Hawks) yet we clearly gave it our best shot and were devastated by the loss is what tells me this team is going places.

 

[Dynamics]

I'm not quite as suspicious of a team improving despite the chance of finals being lost. It wasn't the case for many of our opponents and yet we played better football as the season wore on. It's definitely disappointing that the season was over so early - I've watched less non-Collingwood footy than I have in any other session I can think of as a result. But being increasingly competitive shows me that some cohesion is finally being developed and some of our younger/fringe players have really stepped up.

The issues are still there however and need to be addressed over the next couple of seasons to take our core of quality players into the 8 next year and a contender for a top 4 spot from then on. That has to be the minimum goal or we effectively waste the second half of the careers of guns like Pendlebury and Sidebottom.

So mixed feelings from me.

 

[Good_Old]

Every year in recent times "don't worry, we'll be better next year."

 

[DWil6]

Every year in recent times "don't worry, we'll be better next year."

Preferable to expecting to be worse next year, I guess.

 

[Good_Old]

Preferable to expecting to be worse next year, I guess.

Maybe, but there's probably some middle ground in there somewhere.

 

[TheGreatGrundy]

Better.
Now:
We await a strong pre season.
We await natural maturity of the young folk.
We await a healthy playing list.
We await the natural improvement in players.
We await more wins....

Let's hope all the awaiting will be worth it! You're lucky. Your horses will keep your mind active for the next 4 months - maybe longer? In the past, the awaiting time has also included news of season ending injuries over pre-season. It would be rather nice to enter the first round of 2017 without any bad injury news to nibble at our faith and expectations.