We're a club in crisis mode right now. Absolutely obliterated by a team that was hanging on the edge of the 8; smashed at the contest by a team chock full of youngsters sitting pretty in 17th.
It's not the losses, it's the manner of the losses. You always wanna show your brand. This team is quickly earning a brand that none of them want, but on the last couple of outings, it's well-deserved: fumbly, panicky, soft as butter.
There are some players who are exceptions to the above rule, who keep putting in good shifts while everything around them turns to s**t. But, sadly, they're few and far between at this stage.
The Best
1. Steele Sidebottom
2. Brayden Maynard
3. Darcy Moore
The Worst (tough field today)
3. Will Hoskin-Elliott
2. Chris Mayne
1. Josh Thomas
Steele Sidebottom - so far and away our best player that he really embarrassed his teammates just by being competent. Didn't panic, didn't sell his teammates out, didn't get scared by Freo's fearsome brigade of skinny 19-year-olds. Showed cleaner hands than anyone on the field and actually had the guts to finish his hard work, nailing two cracking goals when the rest of the forwardline were too busy shirking the responsibility with sideways handpasses. A rare shining light, and showed how easy this game can be.
Brayden Maynard - our best player for the year, and one of the few feel good stories to come out of the club. Continues to dominate. An absolute bull. More of a chance for AA than Moore, in my opinion. The comments about playing scared most definitely don't apply to this man.
Darcy Moore - another strong game in defense, though if we're being honest, was shaded by his counterpart in Luke Ryan at the other end. He did cough up a couple of goals to Taberner, and the obvious howler of a short pass was another blot against his name. I know he's a bit of a sacred cow on this board, and nobody should question his position as CHB thanks to his consistent level of good play, but I think the time has come to plonk him at full forward. There's only so much he can do across the backline, and we're getting pantsed anyway. A good CHF is worth ten times the value a good CHB. And our key forward stocks are a lot thinner than our key backs.
John Noble - a good game, one of his best, and showed his ability on-ball with a team-high 25 touches (edit - second to Treloar, but half of those Treloar touches were dodgy handpasses which sold us into huge trouble). He was guilty of poor decision-making and too handball-happy, especially early, but got better as the game wore on and played with a desperation that was pleasing to see, and absent in too many others.
Jamie Elliott - another who plays with the requisite intensity. Did some wonderful things through the midfield and was one of the few who could actually win a contested ball. Got crucified for a "deliberate" out of bounds which serves to highlight that the only folks more confused than our players are the umpires.
Brodie Grundy - won the ruck contest against probably the worst ruck brigade in the competition, but not by heaps. Fed Mundy about a dozen clearances with beautifully weighted taps that put the Freo star into all sorts of space. The connection between Brodie and our mids is probably the worst of any ruck-mid combo in the league. Not sure whose fault it is, but right now, we're paying a million a year to watch him drill taps to opposition stars time and time again. Still, if this is his "bad" form, it's not that bad. And more than 50% of our issues in this department probably fall on our incompetent mid brigade.
Adam Treloar - speaking of incompetent mids, this guy is battling big time. He runs all day and racks up possessions at will, but he's more panicked than just about any player on the field. He second-guesses himself so badly when he gets it that it's painful to watch. He constantly puts others under pressure with calamity passes. And in at least three crucial moments this year, he's fumbled terribly under pressure and gone with a blatant, obvious throw. Has lost any semblance of coolness which he used to play with, and is the barometer for a team who can't make a correct decision with ball in hand.
Taylor Adams - has stood up so far this year but lowered his colours massively today. Got an absolute pantsing from Caleb Serong, of all players. Fumbled like crazy and wasn't throwing himself around with the same desperation as usual. He'll bounce back, he's better, and he has the runs on the board.
Jack Crisp - played more of a midfield role, and while not being bad, he's taken a pretty huge step backward this year from the gun rebounding defender we've become so used to. Not the worst, but a shadow of his former self and not immune to the incompetent decision-making that's infected the team.
Tom Phillips - on the verge of being dropped. The shorter gametimes have taken away his primary weapon - endurance. Without the game opening up for players like him, all we get is a fumbly, poor ball user who can't win his own ball and struggles to get separation from his opponent. His tackling efforts were woeful today.
Darcy Cameron - not sure this guy is the upgrade on Cox that people keep telling me he is. Once again, he played a decent first quarter before completely disappearing. And once again, I don't think I even saw him impact a marking contest inside 50. He gets all his touches on a wing / high HFF; this isn't what I'm looking for from a 200+cm key forward. If we're being completely honest with ourselves, neither he nor Cox are the answer.
Jaiden Stephenson - has regressed at an alarming rate. Looks disinterested out there, didn't even want to celebrate a goal to get his team back in it on the 3QT siren. More than anyone else, you can tell that something is very wrong behind the scenes looking at this guy play right now.
Josh Daicos - That decision not to go forward at the end of the first quarter, choosing instead to go to Phillips with a hospital handpass, and almost costing a goal from what should have been a goal-scoring opportunity of our own... that passage of play right there demonstrates that it was the coach, not the players, leading the charge to hold up the play and move it forward slowly. We were out, he had one-on-ones ahead, he had acres of space... and he still chose to stop, prop, and go backwards. You could almost see him fighting his natural urges to go forward. That summed up our whole game.
Brody Mihocek - did what we needed Cameron to do and flew for almost every ball that went into our F50. He battled hard, but he's undersized for the role. Needs help desperately, because he can't operate as the spearhead - he's a support player, not the numero uno.
Brayden Sier - nice goal, and a few sharp handpasses from the packs, but precious little else. Looks more stylish than Wills but had about the same impact. Still, he deserves another game to find his feet, as Willsy got more than a month.
Jack Madgen - physically gifted and goes hard, but lacks skill and composure. Reminds me of another Jack who used to run around our backline, only that guy had blonde hair. Like that Jack, he's probably just not up to the level, unfortunately.
Will Hoskin-Elliott - possibly the biggest casualty of our revolutionary "refuse-to-move-the-ball-forward-at-all-costs" gameplan. This guy has battled ever since that free-flowing, surge-it-forward 2018 side has been instructed to slow it down and keep possession. He just cannot get into games any more - except, ironically, when we move it forward fast and direct, almost in spite of ourselves, when he'll invariably kick a goal. But as long as this team insists on inching forward at the pace of Franz Joseph Glacier, he's not going to have an impact.
Isaac Quaynor - his quietest game this season. Didn't have much of an impact. Didn't do much wrong, which is more than a lot of his teammates can say.
Mark Keane - not a great debut. Skills looked sub-standard, not much defensive prowess to get excited about, and the obvious free-kick which probably cost the game. Strange selection.
Travis Varcoe - so far this year we've seen the hesitant Varcoe who can't impact a contest, or the one-touch player whose cleanliness stands out. Today was the former, definitely not the latter. Perhaps due to the fact he was in off an injury lay-off, as per the Essendon game. Fumbly and indecisive. A poor outing. Probably gets another week to find touch due to lack of competition.
Chris Mayne - was he playing? He barely touched it and didn't really get involved in anything at all, save for a toe-poke in the 3rd. Completely MIA.
Josh Thomas - and speaking of MIA, this guy's been missing in action since 2018. Not sure what's happened, but it's just about career over for Josh. Feel for him, but you can see his heart's no longer in it, and he just doesn't have the talent to coast by on less than 100% effort.
The Coach
A special mention to one of the worst fortnights in Nathan Buckley's coaching career. Everything he's touched over the past two weeks has been diabolically bad - from accidental COVID breaches to hilariously terrible gameplans that had me literally laughing out loud as clusterf*ck after clusterf*ck unfolded on screen.
Bucks: you are struggling, big time, as bad as any of our players. Your selection choices have been poor, your structure worse, your gameday tactics laughably bad. Whether intentional or not, you've managed to inflict a team-wide malaise of utter incompetency that's reminiscent of the horrible 2014, '15 and '16 seasons. Players are beyond confused. They don't know where to position themselves. They're hesitant to move the ball for fear of making a mistake. They're unsure whether to attack the contest or mark space.
And what we're getting as a result is bottom-four footy. Handball-happy passages of play where a player in good position hesitates, holds up play, and opts for a handpass to a player in a worse position, who opts for a handpass to a player in a worse position, who opts for a handpass to a player in a worse position... until the poor sod who gets on the end of the final dodgy handpass is under immense pressure and forty metres further back than the idiot who should have just roosted it long in the first place.
Contrast that with Freo, whose simple get-ball-roost-ball strategy worked, despite its lack of complexity. Or here's a crazy thought... because of its lack of complexity?
So Bucks: simplify. You've confused them beyond belief with a gameplan that's unplayable. You've made them hesitant, timid, scared and soft. You've taken a good 2018 gameplan that got you within a kick of the flag and revamped it into pissweak nonsense.
It's time to put away the arrogant, re-invent the wheel, Chris Scott style "look at me" coaching choices for good. F*ck the overused handball right off. If I never see a Collingwood team try to play f*cking "possession footy" again, it will be too soon.
Focus on honest, no-nonsense footy again - because if these trends continue, you'll be back to coaching for your career, and this time, Ed might not be able to save you.
It's not the losses, it's the manner of the losses. You always wanna show your brand. This team is quickly earning a brand that none of them want, but on the last couple of outings, it's well-deserved: fumbly, panicky, soft as butter.
There are some players who are exceptions to the above rule, who keep putting in good shifts while everything around them turns to s**t. But, sadly, they're few and far between at this stage.
The Best
1. Steele Sidebottom
2. Brayden Maynard
3. Darcy Moore
The Worst (tough field today)
3. Will Hoskin-Elliott
2. Chris Mayne
1. Josh Thomas
Steele Sidebottom - so far and away our best player that he really embarrassed his teammates just by being competent. Didn't panic, didn't sell his teammates out, didn't get scared by Freo's fearsome brigade of skinny 19-year-olds. Showed cleaner hands than anyone on the field and actually had the guts to finish his hard work, nailing two cracking goals when the rest of the forwardline were too busy shirking the responsibility with sideways handpasses. A rare shining light, and showed how easy this game can be.
Brayden Maynard - our best player for the year, and one of the few feel good stories to come out of the club. Continues to dominate. An absolute bull. More of a chance for AA than Moore, in my opinion. The comments about playing scared most definitely don't apply to this man.
Darcy Moore - another strong game in defense, though if we're being honest, was shaded by his counterpart in Luke Ryan at the other end. He did cough up a couple of goals to Taberner, and the obvious howler of a short pass was another blot against his name. I know he's a bit of a sacred cow on this board, and nobody should question his position as CHB thanks to his consistent level of good play, but I think the time has come to plonk him at full forward. There's only so much he can do across the backline, and we're getting pantsed anyway. A good CHF is worth ten times the value a good CHB. And our key forward stocks are a lot thinner than our key backs.
John Noble - a good game, one of his best, and showed his ability on-ball with a team-high 25 touches (edit - second to Treloar, but half of those Treloar touches were dodgy handpasses which sold us into huge trouble). He was guilty of poor decision-making and too handball-happy, especially early, but got better as the game wore on and played with a desperation that was pleasing to see, and absent in too many others.
Jamie Elliott - another who plays with the requisite intensity. Did some wonderful things through the midfield and was one of the few who could actually win a contested ball. Got crucified for a "deliberate" out of bounds which serves to highlight that the only folks more confused than our players are the umpires.
Brodie Grundy - won the ruck contest against probably the worst ruck brigade in the competition, but not by heaps. Fed Mundy about a dozen clearances with beautifully weighted taps that put the Freo star into all sorts of space. The connection between Brodie and our mids is probably the worst of any ruck-mid combo in the league. Not sure whose fault it is, but right now, we're paying a million a year to watch him drill taps to opposition stars time and time again. Still, if this is his "bad" form, it's not that bad. And more than 50% of our issues in this department probably fall on our incompetent mid brigade.
Adam Treloar - speaking of incompetent mids, this guy is battling big time. He runs all day and racks up possessions at will, but he's more panicked than just about any player on the field. He second-guesses himself so badly when he gets it that it's painful to watch. He constantly puts others under pressure with calamity passes. And in at least three crucial moments this year, he's fumbled terribly under pressure and gone with a blatant, obvious throw. Has lost any semblance of coolness which he used to play with, and is the barometer for a team who can't make a correct decision with ball in hand.
Taylor Adams - has stood up so far this year but lowered his colours massively today. Got an absolute pantsing from Caleb Serong, of all players. Fumbled like crazy and wasn't throwing himself around with the same desperation as usual. He'll bounce back, he's better, and he has the runs on the board.
Jack Crisp - played more of a midfield role, and while not being bad, he's taken a pretty huge step backward this year from the gun rebounding defender we've become so used to. Not the worst, but a shadow of his former self and not immune to the incompetent decision-making that's infected the team.
Tom Phillips - on the verge of being dropped. The shorter gametimes have taken away his primary weapon - endurance. Without the game opening up for players like him, all we get is a fumbly, poor ball user who can't win his own ball and struggles to get separation from his opponent. His tackling efforts were woeful today.
Darcy Cameron - not sure this guy is the upgrade on Cox that people keep telling me he is. Once again, he played a decent first quarter before completely disappearing. And once again, I don't think I even saw him impact a marking contest inside 50. He gets all his touches on a wing / high HFF; this isn't what I'm looking for from a 200+cm key forward. If we're being completely honest with ourselves, neither he nor Cox are the answer.
Jaiden Stephenson - has regressed at an alarming rate. Looks disinterested out there, didn't even want to celebrate a goal to get his team back in it on the 3QT siren. More than anyone else, you can tell that something is very wrong behind the scenes looking at this guy play right now.
Josh Daicos - That decision not to go forward at the end of the first quarter, choosing instead to go to Phillips with a hospital handpass, and almost costing a goal from what should have been a goal-scoring opportunity of our own... that passage of play right there demonstrates that it was the coach, not the players, leading the charge to hold up the play and move it forward slowly. We were out, he had one-on-ones ahead, he had acres of space... and he still chose to stop, prop, and go backwards. You could almost see him fighting his natural urges to go forward. That summed up our whole game.
Brody Mihocek - did what we needed Cameron to do and flew for almost every ball that went into our F50. He battled hard, but he's undersized for the role. Needs help desperately, because he can't operate as the spearhead - he's a support player, not the numero uno.
Brayden Sier - nice goal, and a few sharp handpasses from the packs, but precious little else. Looks more stylish than Wills but had about the same impact. Still, he deserves another game to find his feet, as Willsy got more than a month.
Jack Madgen - physically gifted and goes hard, but lacks skill and composure. Reminds me of another Jack who used to run around our backline, only that guy had blonde hair. Like that Jack, he's probably just not up to the level, unfortunately.
Will Hoskin-Elliott - possibly the biggest casualty of our revolutionary "refuse-to-move-the-ball-forward-at-all-costs" gameplan. This guy has battled ever since that free-flowing, surge-it-forward 2018 side has been instructed to slow it down and keep possession. He just cannot get into games any more - except, ironically, when we move it forward fast and direct, almost in spite of ourselves, when he'll invariably kick a goal. But as long as this team insists on inching forward at the pace of Franz Joseph Glacier, he's not going to have an impact.
Isaac Quaynor - his quietest game this season. Didn't have much of an impact. Didn't do much wrong, which is more than a lot of his teammates can say.
Mark Keane - not a great debut. Skills looked sub-standard, not much defensive prowess to get excited about, and the obvious free-kick which probably cost the game. Strange selection.
Travis Varcoe - so far this year we've seen the hesitant Varcoe who can't impact a contest, or the one-touch player whose cleanliness stands out. Today was the former, definitely not the latter. Perhaps due to the fact he was in off an injury lay-off, as per the Essendon game. Fumbly and indecisive. A poor outing. Probably gets another week to find touch due to lack of competition.
Chris Mayne - was he playing? He barely touched it and didn't really get involved in anything at all, save for a toe-poke in the 3rd. Completely MIA.
Josh Thomas - and speaking of MIA, this guy's been missing in action since 2018. Not sure what's happened, but it's just about career over for Josh. Feel for him, but you can see his heart's no longer in it, and he just doesn't have the talent to coast by on less than 100% effort.
The Coach
A special mention to one of the worst fortnights in Nathan Buckley's coaching career. Everything he's touched over the past two weeks has been diabolically bad - from accidental COVID breaches to hilariously terrible gameplans that had me literally laughing out loud as clusterf*ck after clusterf*ck unfolded on screen.
Bucks: you are struggling, big time, as bad as any of our players. Your selection choices have been poor, your structure worse, your gameday tactics laughably bad. Whether intentional or not, you've managed to inflict a team-wide malaise of utter incompetency that's reminiscent of the horrible 2014, '15 and '16 seasons. Players are beyond confused. They don't know where to position themselves. They're hesitant to move the ball for fear of making a mistake. They're unsure whether to attack the contest or mark space.
And what we're getting as a result is bottom-four footy. Handball-happy passages of play where a player in good position hesitates, holds up play, and opts for a handpass to a player in a worse position, who opts for a handpass to a player in a worse position, who opts for a handpass to a player in a worse position... until the poor sod who gets on the end of the final dodgy handpass is under immense pressure and forty metres further back than the idiot who should have just roosted it long in the first place.
Contrast that with Freo, whose simple get-ball-roost-ball strategy worked, despite its lack of complexity. Or here's a crazy thought... because of its lack of complexity?
So Bucks: simplify. You've confused them beyond belief with a gameplan that's unplayable. You've made them hesitant, timid, scared and soft. You've taken a good 2018 gameplan that got you within a kick of the flag and revamped it into pissweak nonsense.
It's time to put away the arrogant, re-invent the wheel, Chris Scott style "look at me" coaching choices for good. F*ck the overused handball right off. If I never see a Collingwood team try to play f*cking "possession footy" again, it will be too soon.
Focus on honest, no-nonsense footy again - because if these trends continue, you'll be back to coaching for your career, and this time, Ed might not be able to save you.
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