Pace ourselves its still a long season.

[daics cousin]

Ok we are getting close to the half way mark of the year.

Seriously if we can beat the Bulldogs and Melbourne which we should, we should be ready to assualt the second half of the year and secure a top 4 position.
Malthouse has to get fair dinkum and start reacting to changing our game style to suit horses for courses he says,then do it.
Have plan A,B,C in place and ultilise it.Learn from our three losses and don't make the same mistakes again.

Our best footy is played when we tackle hard,create enormous forward pressure and move the ball quickly.No time for lazy players who cannot be stuffed to keep running the length of the ground.They all get paid very well to be fit,its a full time job for them, no excuses or they are out.

We want to win the flag.Then put these priciples in place and we will.
Malthouse must listen more to his assistants,beacuse Neeld and Buckley were the two who got the pies up and playing hard pressure footy when we were smashing sides.Malthouse was not the catylst in this.
Really Buckley should be working with the midfield ,but Malthouse has given him a diffrent resposiblity and this is good.Buckley knows what to do and must be given some creedence yet he hasn't.Once he has medhurst,dick, at his disposal this will imp[rove our forward structure in the mean time improvise.

Anyhow the positive so far we are 7 wins and 3 losses lets make that
9 wins and three losses moving to the half way mark.
We are then perfectly placed to steamroll into the second half of the year.and ready for serious finals action.But we must beat stkilda and Geelong when next we meet.This will give us much confidence
when we get to the pointy end of the year.

The bottom line is this..............Every team has a dip in the season lucky we are having it now and not later.
In retrospect i would be worried if we were playing our best footy right now,we are not.
Build confidantely for our assault towards September,with a full side ready to kill anything is possible,a few different game structures and game plans will go a long way to out smarting the smart arse teams that think they are so good.

Come on Pies its time now to sort out the boys from the men,cause come september we only want 22 strong willed men playing. hard tough uncompromising footy.
Now is the time for Premiership success not next year.NOW !
Just do it!

 

[spartan-magpie]

great post..


we will win the flag... the last couple of weeks have just been a hiccup.

-neon (in form)
-medders
-dick
-fraser (im hoping this man has some pride)
-rusling(i wont give up on him until we delist him or he doesn another shoulder. fingers crossed)
-goldsack (unless he is the defector)

all the above, in particular the first 4, can come back and significantly boost our side... imagine the ball being prised from the grips of other backmen by quicky dick, medders and leon (a bit of talent there)... josh fraser, and im a huge critic, is still good enough to be in the side (i was all for wood but he is sadly out of sorts) and still good enough to play a pivotal role as a back up ruck provided he learns to float down forward and kick 1-2 goals a game....

on rusling and the sack, well, its more hopeful thinking but esp. in the sacks case, he could come in an do a job straight away - either as a defender or id like to see him given a run with role. i reckone he'd thrive. and poor old rus, how i wish the vline train could plonk himself in our goal sqare and just lead, lead, lead..

 

[pauly_moss]

Not overly concerned by last two losses it has been a tough road of travel going from Melb to Perth to Melb to Bris then back to Melb.

Im not expecting a win against dogs but I am not concerned either. Top 4 is very important but this was always going to be a tough time with the amount of travel against quality teams. I dont understand why travel affects so much but the fact is it does look at Port after a game in Darwin against the tigers no less, no side has ever won after a trip up there.

I'd rather lose games now and rest players with the niggles like Fraser, Davis and Medhurst who are all clearly in our best 22. Come finals we will need our best 22 for a chance at success.

 

[hellfire]

I think that we're in the midst of a slump. We will lose this week, not because we're not good enough, but because we're just off the boil. There are a few tired bodies [therefore we can't apply the pressure necessary to execute our game-plan], our small-forward injuries are hurting, our midfield is struggling and lacking confidence to play through the middle, our defenders are getting beaten [save for Presti the star]. The break can't come soon enough... because I think we'll bounce back with all guns blazing after the break. But until then... I'm fearing the scoreboard.

 

[ksardog]

personally i think our defenders are relying on zone defence too much and their form has dipped in the process. heath, harry [ until this bris game ] hav been poor . maxwell is the third defender mick not key back and toovey's disposal and ball handling is always going to be a concern. i would like us to go back to man on man occasionally and guts out wins instead of continuing with a game style when its not working against certain opposition. i like the process of reid and brown tho

 

[Pie eyed]

I think that we're in the midst of a slump. We will lose this week, not because we're not good enough, but because we're just off the boil. There are a few tired bodies [therefore we can't apply the pressure necessary to execute our game-plan], our small-forward injuries are hurting, our midfield is struggling and lacking confidence to play through the middle, our defenders are getting beaten [save for Presti the star]. The break can't come soon enough... because I think we'll bounce back with all guns blazing after the break. But until then... I'm fearing the scoreboard.

No-one should be feeling too tired after the Brisbane game.

The Dogs have had as torrid a time of it as well so I think both sides are in a similar situation.

I'll be looking for a win this week.

Te boys should be hurting after two poor games and looking to reassert themselves.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Malthouse must listen more to his assistants,beacuse Neeld and Buckley were the two who got the pies up and playing hard pressure footy when we were smashing sides.Malthouse was not the catylst in this.
Really Buckley should be working with the midfield ,but Malthouse has given him a diffrent resposiblity and this is good.

Interesting assessment, what are you basing this on?

 

[Go_collingwood_]

Rusling is shit and a list clogger serious get over the clown he isnt in our best 35 let alone 22

 

[spartan-magpie]

Rusling is shit and a list clogger serious get over the clown he isnt in our best 35 let alone 22

he isnt shit.. he isnt a list clogger.. he is injury prone and has talent. im not saying he is the saviour, but a fit rusling would help our side greatly.. you dont agree, good luck to ya.

 

[Go_collingwood_]

he isnt shit.. he isnt a list clogger.. he is injury prone and has talent. im not saying he is the saviour, but a fit rusling would help our side greatly.. you dont agree, good luck to ya.

lol you have got to be joking lol the guys a waste of time the medical staff are now overpaid because of him...if i was eddie id start charging his bills to medicare because its wasting valuable money and time

 

[spartan-magpie]

lol you have got to be joking lol the guys a waste of time the medical staff are now overpaid because of him...if i was eddie id start charging his bills to medicare because its wasting valuable money and time

luckily for us your just a poster on bigfooty...

 

[HFF]

Correct.

It is a marathon, not a sprint.

We are going to lose games, it is a fact.

However, our second half of season's has been pretty strong and thus far, we have set that up with an awesome start early.

Still a long way to go and we need to pace it accordingly.

 

[ozpie]

but i want to make outrageous knee jerk reaction calls like the little kiddies on this board...
drop obree
delist leon
replace maxwell as skipper
murder reid
etc etc etc

 

[mattys123]

Brad Dick is our saviour, you heard it here first.

 

[Grumpy Bum]

he isnt shit.. he isnt a list clogger.. he is injury prone and has talent. im not saying he is the saviour, but a fit rusling would help our side greatly.. you dont agree, good luck to ya.

Thats all and good, but just when will he be fit and make a contribution? No good being the best player that never did, we have had a number of those over the years, that show one glimpse then sit on the list injured for years, walker and davidson being the prime examples.

He nearly quit after last season because he himself was frustrated, yet we get one more year of the same contribution, injury or no injury, he is the epitome of a list clogger, he is not putting any pressure on any player in the seniors, he is seemingly not any closer to senior selection. Its a pity, but its the facts.

 

[No SPIN]

Thats all and good, but just when will he be fit and make a contribution? No good being the best player that never did, we have had a number of those over the years, that show one glimpse then sit on the list injured for years, walker and davidson being the prime examples.

He nearly quit after last season because he himself was frustrated, yet we get one more year of the same contribution, injury or no injury, he is the epitome of a list clogger, he is not putting any pressure on any player in the seniors, he is seemingly not any closer to senior selection. Its a pity, but its the facts.

So was Podsiadly!!!!!

 

[Grumpy Bum]

So was Podsiadly!!!!!

Podsiadly wasnt consistantly injured. Podsiadly apparently suffered from more cerebral inflictions, not physical like Rusling. Funnily enough, attitudes as you mature may be easier to turn around, than career long injuries are.

 

[Markfs]

I dont understand it... I saw the nicely balanced title of the thread and then I clicked on the button and saw the usual over-reactionary stuff that normally clogs this forum..

buckley and neeld drove it in the good times but mick is responsible for the bad times...LOL... i mean, is that a joke? Just say that you dont like Michael Malthouse

And all that stuff about "we are going to win the flag!!! ra ra!!"... well what can ya say about that..

by the way, the thread title is still good. Its a long season. We have to make some decisions between the older guys and young ones. At this stage, the old ones are starting to look good again but the younger guys might be back in a few weeks.

There are a number of players who might not make it

Wood Fraser or Brown
Nathan Brown
Cheesy
Davis
Anthony
Medhurst

All of them have played enough games to make a judgment on them

and then there's Reid and Dawes who are having their first real go of it.

I think in the end, Malthouse will put his faith in the old men.

 

[spartan-magpie]

Thats all and good, but just when will he be fit and make a contribution? No good being the best player that never did, we have had a number of those over the years, that show one glimpse then sit on the list injured for years, walker and davidson being the prime examples.

He nearly quit after last season because he himself was frustrated, yet we get one more year of the same contribution, injury or no injury, he is the epitome of a list clogger, he is not putting any pressure on any player in the seniors, he is seemingly not any closer to senior selection. Its a pity, but its the facts.

guys like corrie, stanley and cook are list cloggers... guys that get paid to play in the vfl while on afl list.... at least guys like rusling have enough talent for our selectors to persist with them in case we get their bodies right...

 

[Grumpy Bum]

guys like corrie, stanley and cook are list cloggers... guys that get paid to play in the vfl while on afl list.... at least guys like rusling have enough talent for our selectors to persist with them in case we get their bodies right...

If he has only played a dozen games in 5 yrs and is pretty much always coming back from some injury, its pretty obvious he ain't going to cut it. He might be the next Daicos for all we know, but we will never see it. Some player's bodies just ain't up to the rigours of AFL football, mores the pity.

 

[tasgia]

The pies will still finish in the top 4. We have arguably got the toughest draw in the comp and i think the players are now feeling it (we have been flat in the last 2 weeks). The AFL heirachy will always put us in a tough draw as we are massive draw cards for the AFL coffers and the tv networks. So Mick should rest players in June against Melbourne and Sydney plus the week off, and then start our assault in July. We as supporters do get fired up when we start losing (and so we should as a big club like ours shouldnt have to wait 20 plus years for a flag) but i honestly believe we have something this year, but Mick should start rotating his players smartly as we do have great depth this year. Cant wait for September.
Go Pies

 

[daics cousin]

Yes guys you all make good,relavant points.
I do agree but a little frustrated that we get the most difficult draw.
Every team loves hunting us and playing their best footy against us,most times we win but sometimes it does get to us.We are all only human.

What is important though is that we are mentally tough in the second half sprint to the finals and well prepraed to win at all costs.

Ideally if we can settle our best 22 and move into september,with a full side ready to battle all contenders...................We will win it!
Don't worry about the june champions,like geelong and stkilda.
Realistically these two are our only real competitors.

Geelong are getting a bit over confident but all it takes is a few murmurings to rock their boat...Notice they have lost Scarlett for 4 weeks.Without him in finals they will lose,he has recently been prone to injury,time is catching up with the battle, hardened body.Great player though.Corey,Ottens and Rooke
are missing from their side and honestly guys i reckon they will not have the same impact as previous years.Older battle weary bodies in finals can
bring a side unstuck.
The Gary Ablett saga will be a bone of contention all year especially with Ablett and Thompson not seeing eye to eye.This can become disruptive.
So all is not as rosy as it seems at geelong despite their recent winning streak.Good! Geelong are playing their best footy at the moment.

Stkilda are slowly getting better as the year progresses but they are clearly out of sorts without Reiwoldt.
Even if they rush him back......I reckon he won't last.
So they are not as bigger threat as first thought.
Other contenders like the Bulldogs well they are not up to it i reckon.
The hawks are a dark horse and if allowed can cause some headaches,but they are not that well balanced to cause any problems this year.

The Pies guys,the Pies we are the true contenders,if we pace ourselves
correctly......Finally i am hoping we will raise the Premiership cup up at the end of September and i can proudly say along with thousands of my fellow supporters ,Yes it took us while but we finally got there.

Go pies!

 

[Bloben]

teams like brisbane and geelong never went through their seasons in form the entire year. The only important two things are that we win enough games to finish near the top (whilst still playing badly) and that we hit our straps in september. Last year we managed the first however this year we are better and i still hold high hopes that things will be better in september.

 

[rose jam]

no surprise to see us flat, lost coming back from Perth, lost (just) 2nd travel in 3 weeks.
Got to close out this part of the season with 2 wins though, even if we play unconvincingly, need to knock down the bulldogs to keep our top 2 spot almost guaranteed.

 

[AsianWithAFro]

As mentioned before it's a Marathon not a sprint

All we should really care about is making the top 4 and from there anything is possible. Peaking at the right time is the key to winning a flag.