realistic finals thoughts.....?

[bennymac1]

whats the thoughts out their amoung the great magpie army for finals....? could we go 1 step further than last year...? or will we fall at the first hurdle...? have we got the depth in the squad to push for a good finals campain.....?

 

[Optimax]

We can win this week, play the saints the week after (likely)

and then i think our run will be ended due to fatigue and the fact we'll most likely play hawthorn although if its the Dogs and we get lucky we can get through and then who knows.

Im happy to win a final maybe two that would meet my expectations for the start of the year and exceed what i was thinking only a moth ago. Losing the first final would hurt though

 

[Kirby]

In my opinion we have far too many good players unavailable so unless Burns and probably Thomas can get up for this week then I think we may get bundled straight out. Adelaide are going to make this a stinking slog and 12 goals will win it.

If we do scrape through I doubt we can beat the Saints. I can see our youngsters puncturing.

Sorry to be gloomy but I think that too many things have gone wrong this year.

 

[Swanny36]

We can win this week, play the saints the week after (likely)

and then i think our run will be ended due to fatigue and the fact we'll most likely play hawthorn although if its the Dogs and we get lucky we can get through and then who knows.

Im happy to win a final maybe two that would meet my expectations for the start of the year and exceed what i was thinking only a moth ago. Losing the first final would hurt though

yes it would be 2006 all over again, although we havn't gone aswell this year as we did in '06

 

[thatday]

I'm a bit inbetween. I think we can beat Adelaide, it depends on which team goes over, and I also believe we can beat the Saints. It is finals time and anything can happen, we have got a shitload of players in our best 22 that aren't playing which worries me. It has a lot to do with whether Malthouse can fire them up and if we are mentally up to it.


To be completely realistic though, we will lose to Adelaide this weekend. We just have too many injuries/suspensions and the home ground advantage will get the crows over the line IMO. Extremly happy to be proven wrong though!!

 

[beez]

To be completely realistic though, we will lose to Adelaide this weekend. We just have too many injuries/suspensions and the home ground advantage will get the crows over the line IMO. Extremly happy to be proven wrong though!!

Agree with everything there. Unfortunately, injuries to key players hit us at the wrong time of year.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Adelaide are deserving favourites, but we are probably good odds. I think we'll play above expectations as underdogs, as we are prone to doing, and it will be a close match. If we get through it, with the likes of Burns and Thomas possibly returning, we'd be a real chance against St. Kilda and then who knows?

 

[bennymac1]

In my opinion we have far too many good players unavailable so unless Burns and probably Thomas can get up for this week then I think we may get bundled straight out. Adelaide are going to make this a stinking slog and 12 goals will win it.

If we do scrape through I doubt we can beat the Saints. I can see our youngsters puncturing.

Sorry to be gloomy but I think that too many things have gone wrong this year.

have to agree to many things have gone wrong this season injurys to key forwards rocca and rusling (was gutted for the lad rusling he has no luck at all) have'nt helped matters at all' whats killed us aswell is the inconsistant form' not beating teams that we really should be beating' example last wkend' frustrating stuff. playing finals with a full deck of cards i would be happy for a good run' but at the min i just dont no' but i will be giving my full support come the weekend

 

[well left]

Adelaide are deserving favourites, but we are probably good odds. I think we'll play above expectations as underdogs, as we are prone to doing, and it will be a close match. If we get through it, with the likes of Burns and Thomas possibly returning, we'd be a real chance against St. Kilda and then who knows?

Agree with this. Unfortunately with the injuries and suspensions, we are depleted and have a very young side so can not be sure which team will show up. With youth comes inconsistency but also no baggage and no fear. If we can get over the Crows, then St Kilda is definitely winnable.

On a positive note, we will probably have 10-12 players 21 years and younger playing at least one finals game. We all know the premiership formula is a core with 100 - 150 games experience but having a young side coming through and playing finals together is invaluable in my opinion.

 

[BigPieSky]

I booked my air fares today. Myself and three others will be going.
$280 in airfares & ticket to the game. For me its worth it gents.

We may be the underdogs gents, but experience tells me we should get through o.k. If not who cares really? The odds are stacked against us. Crows will put up one hell of a fight im sure but are they really that much better than us?. Name 4 young Crows palyers... I could not without a scratch of the melon.
Our young boys deserve our respect for getting us this far so im paying my dues biting the bullet and going in their support win or lose.

These younguns are our future and this weekend it is most likely all we have to put on a show and give the club some much due respect.
True Pies supporters will back their team through thick and thin.
If this is our 'thin' then i for one am proud. There are more experienced sides out there with full lists that didnt get a sniff of the finals. We are there arent we ?

How long can we rely on the experienced boys to drag us across the line ?
They aint gonna be around forever we all know that.

Support the team, support what we strive for (victory) and give our side a a fighting chance to prove to us that we must have faith in their abilities and the yunguns future at CFC.

Go to Adelaide, Go for the true spirit of what the Magpies stand for and most importantly..................... GO YOU PIES !

Geez i get emotional finals time......

 

[bennymac1]

I booked my air fares today. Myself and three others will be going.
$280 in airfares & ticket to the game. For me its worth it gents.

would love to go to the game but the air fare from ireland is a bit more expensive. but i'll be cheering come the weekend

 

[Rohan25]

I booked my air fares today. Myself and three others will be going.......

Make sure you all scream yourselves hoarse!

 

[BigPieSky]

Make sure you all scream yourselves hoarse!

No doubt about it Rohan im gargling the good fluids as we speak

 

[i_hate_scams]

we only have these guys missing...

Dale Thomas
Scott Burns
Shane Wakelin
Anthony Rocca
Heath Shaw
Alan didak...

but unfortunately they are also pretty much the core of our team.

 

[daics cousin]

Guys i would love the pies to go all the way,but realistically we will get smashed out of the finals within a week or two.

Here is why !

The one positive thing that we will get out of this finals series is that players like Anthony,cook,dawes,cox,macarthy and maybe wood will get valuable experience in the big games that will do them all a lot of good,but we have a massive hole as far as experience goes.

Remember last year when the so called baby pies made it through to the prelimainary final? Well in that team we had didak,shaw,buckley,clement,rocca,rusling,burns all playing.

This week we will have didak,shaw,rocca,rusling,reid,burns all missing.
I think that this tells the story.If we had all these players available at this time i would now stick my neck out with confidence and tip us for the flag.With the inclusion of these players in our existing team would have had all teams worried especially geelong.

So personally,even against Adelaide we will find it difficult becuse they are experienced fianls campaigners and more importantly they have the bigger more mature bodies that our kids don't have.This will be telling.
So i reckon if we win we will be very lucky otherwise its eight position and bye bye 2008,look forwrd to 2009.

 

[Mobbsy]

Malthouse is the king at getting the best of players in BIG games.

I reckon we will beat the Crows, beat a sore and sorry St Kilda, then take it to the Hawks with Burns and Rocca back...

then look out Catters

 

[daics cousin]

Malthouse is the king at getting the best of players in BIG games.

I reckon we will beat the Crows, beat a sore and sorry St Kilda, then take it to the Hawks with Burns and Rocca back...

then look out Catters

Mobbsy i would love that to happen.Ah well we will see.

 

[tess]

I've got a good feeling about the finals..... and if we play Geelong in the GF they will be worried.

 

[ksardog]

if we beat adelaide it will be our best finals win since defeating port adelaide in 2002 final series.with the amount of players not available it will be a huge task.

 

[PAFC04]

I think your side is a much better side than the Crows when their heads and hearts are in the game.

All you need to do to bring 50% of that effort as you did against the Cats earlier in the year and you come away with a win.

I would like to see your players get as far as they can for Scotty Burns....


GO THE PIES...........do us a favour...please!!

PS: You are going in as underdogs...thats a good think!

 

[Sloth]

The pies will rise!

 

[mattys123]

Week one, Adelaide, Footy park, 22 point win after starting too strong, and with the crows lack of goal power, they never got any closer then 2 goals.

Week Two, StKilda, with Burns and Ben Jonhson back, Pies too skillful and physical for tired StKilda, 14 point win, after scores tied at 3/4 time.

Week Three; Hawthorn, after finally giving up on one out contest in the backline, Collingwood double team Buddy, Presti stops roughead, and the pies win by 22 points running away.

GF; Geelong, worried by Collingwoods record against them, the cats come out too physical and give the pies a 28 point start at Quarter time, by 3/4 time the scores are level, but coming back took too much out of Geelong, and with Ablett and Johnson injured, pies win flag.

OH WAIT, THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE REALISTIC.

We will beat Adelaide then lose to StKilda, cause we will be physically buggered, still nice to dream.

 

[Snag Breac]

Week one, Adelaide, Footy park, 22 point win after starting too strong, and with the crows lack of goal power, they never got any closer then 2 goals.

Week Two, StKilda, with Burns and Ben Jonhson back, Pies too skillful and physical for tired StKilda, 14 point win, after scores tied at 3/4 time.

Week Three; Hawthorn, after finally giving up on one out contest in the backline, Collingwood double team Buddy, Presti stops roughead, and the pies win by 22 points running away.

GF; Geelong, worried by Collingwoods record against them, the cats come out too physical and give the pies a 28 point start at Quarter time, by 3/4 time the scores are level, but coming back took too much out of Geelong, and with Ablett and Johnson injured, pies win flag.

OH WAIT, THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE REALISTIC.

We will beat Adelaide then lose to StKilda, cause we will be physically buggered, still nice to dream.

In complete agreement, Mattys - up until the REALISTIC bit. Only I had us beating Adelaide by a Rocca - 23.

 

[dodgeball]

realistically anyhting could happen with collingwood, if we get an even contribution from which ever 22 runs out we will be a chance against anyone if our intensity is up.

 

[BEEG]

To many players out not enough depth whole new ball game finals footy Neil Craig will be pumped up because they havnt won a final for a while and he knows the pressure is on

You can just tell the team isnt fit and alot of little injuries seem to have the Pies down

Being Realistic

Adelaide by 4 Goals

Ziebelle with our 1st pick hopefully