Sydney V Collingwood Match Day Thread

[barry]

You saying the crowd was poor last night at the SCG Barry? If so then you really need a reality check, your bagging of the SCG is quite tiresome.

Oh the hypocracy.

If the crowd and injuries were at ANZ this board would be in meltdown.

[dimelb]

Oh the hypocracy.

If the crowd and injuries were at ANZ this board would be in meltdown.

Rule by hippos?

[annew]

I

Oh the hypocracy.

If the crowd and injuries were at ANZ this board would be in meltdown.

I dislike ANZ stadium and have always thought the crowds poor but I do agree that the crowd for a supposed sell out was disappointing. I would have expected in excess of 40,000. Although I was not in the Chairman's Club on Friday night but have been in the past I do believe the numbers for that function were well and truly up.

[Dan]

Oh the hypocracy.

If the crowd and injuries were at ANZ this board would be in meltdown.

The injuries from this game have nothing to do with the ground though? More to do with tackling techniques and collisions.

[Faunac8]

Oh the hypocracy.???
Maybe something to do with how ANZ used to look for our games
Hypocracy: an ancient roman sport where Hippopotamus raced in an anticlockwise direction at the coliseum usually held as the last event due to the condition the field was left in.

[Scottee]

I value Cunningham. Yes, he had a clanger or two on Friday night, but he did some good stuff too, and I was very pleased to see that after the players had climbed off a pile-up, Harry was on the bottom of it.

What I saw was Harry sting himself into action after that horrendous bobble in the goal square. He knew what he had done and put his head down and worked even harder after that. You can't complain when a player reacts like that. He is still learning and will be a valuable player for us.

[wolftone57]

I just watched Bullies annihilate Dees. Someone, I just can't remember who, said last week when I mentioned our list would be better with Biggs that he was not good enough. Well he has just played a great game in a side that is far better than ours mate. We don't have enough depth this bloke says and then when you bring up blokes like Biggs and Everett, who are both playing pretty good footy due to playing with us, he poo poo's them. Interesting. Depth is a problem because we lost too many players in the in-between age group. Too many players who were on the cusp of great footy. Getting Bud & Tip did hurt that proposition but so did bad list management. we de-listed Biggs and several others who were better than some on the list at the moment. The other problem is we have plenty of good very young players but they are not quite ready for the big time and these second tier players like Biggs would have made a huge difference this year.

Add to that proposition the fact that too many of the reserves players who have played well this year are Rookies;Newman, Perris (since his return), Foote, Naismith (when he's been fit). I would have de-listed Marsh and taken him in the Rookie draft allowing Newman to get a spot on the Senior list. I think the managing of our list after 2012 has been pretty ordinary. We have taken some players in the Draft that have been ordinary and then we have let players go who could have been very good players because we decided that two stars were worth a premiership. I do notice we are yet to get a premiership out of them and are not likely to get one in the near future. I say that because there are several emerging teams, Bullies, GWS, Saints (still early but going in the right direction), Suns (if they can keep a team on the park), Crows, Eagles. We on the other hand have not been able to trade and made bad list decisions. We have a few good prospects but need a long term plan that doesn't include Goodes, Teddy, Shaw, Macca, Benny, Reg or Pykie as all these players are now in the over 30 category.

We also need to look at some of the list decisions we made and admit we made mistakes. big tom is just not up to AFL standard, nice guy but is not good enough. Marsh (unless he plays soon) won't ever play a game for us otherwise he would have already played in the three years he has been here. Towers too has probably been another failure. He has such talent but just doesn't seem to bring it at AFL level. I'm not sure about McLaren, he is young for a big man and not fully developed yet. At 198cm he is a big lad but needs to take a leaf out of Sam Naismith's book and get a bit of mongrel. I would like to see him for another yaer and see how he goes. A full pre-season can do wonders.

Injuries have killed us. Naismith got injured at the most inopportune time, he was on the cusp of senior selectrion. Pykie was having soft tissue probs and not really playing well at all and unfortunately Big Sam got injured. He is still carrying a groin injury but hopefully will be back for finals footy. Benny has been injured on and off all season and most of last as well. Now poor Lukie goes down in a sickening injury. Perris and Newman have had setbacks so we only got to see thenm after the mid break. Rooster and Isaac have had long stints out. Pykie has been in and out all season. Tip and Bud have also spent time out and Bud, Benny & Lukie will probably not play GWS. We know Lukie won't. Add to all this AJ and the probs he has been going through.

We need to be able to trade and draft effectively.

I say all this because it was evident on Friday night that we have some huge problems. It has been evident all season but too many of us have been like the Ostrich, hiding our heads in the sand. The coaching or lack of good coaching was also evident. Again we panicked under pressure. Again we bombed into the forward line to nobody in particular or to a player outnumbered by the opposition. Again we used the panic kick out of defence. again we gave ghe ball up so easily. We even managed to kick to a Collingwood player 10 metres out from goal, astounding. The concentration lapses are getting tiresome. The lack of strategies to combat opposition and to rev our players up is just frustrating. The lack of desire from our players is appalling. The lack of basic skills is also appalling.

I think the club really has to look at the coaching panel as well. Maybe some of them have been here too long and need to be moved on and we introduce some odf the Hawks style coaches into our coaching panel. At least then we will be on the right track with some coaches oin there that are flexible.

We showed Friday night against a young developing side, we are not good enough for finals footy. This young side almost beat us and they have been slaughtered by most of the top eight. That says a lot.

[liz]

I
We showed Friday night against a young developing side, we are not good enough for finals footy. This young side almost beat us and they have been slaughtered by most of the top eight. That says a lot.

They lost to the Hawks by 10, to Freo by 7, the Dogs by 14, Richmond by 5 and West Coast by 21. They had heavier losses to the Cats and Crows but many many weeks ago.

[barry]

Simple formula is that we win the next three "easy " games we will be 4th. What we do after that is anyones guess

[rojo]

On Friday night there were encouraging signs in that we at least showed some Bloods' grit and determination in the last quarter. Also, looking at the replay today I was surprised at the influence moving Rampe into the midfield had. He was Rohan-like in his attack on the ball and really important to our getting over the line. Food for thought when looking for a Parks replacement except our backline is already struggling.

It is not so encouraging to look at the other scores over the weekend. Adelaide kicked 27 goals, Western Bulldogs 24, Richmond 22, Hawks 19, N. Melbourne 18, even the Lions 20. Two losing sides GWS 13 and Geelong 12. Freo and West Coast are not yet finished. The mantra of 'every win is a good win regardless of the number of goals we kicked', and our inability to put sides away during the season means we have to win the next 3 games or we could drop as low as 8th. However, if we can build on the spirit shown in the last quarter on Friday night and we do win the next three games, as well as get Buddy and Benny back on the park, who knows!!

[annew]

Simple formula is that we win the next three "easy " games we will be 4th. What we do after that is anyones guess

Not if Bulldogs win all their 3 games and west coast only drop the Bulldogs game.

[giant]

How good was JPK? I take it the wee bairn is sleeping well now, he almost single handedly got us across the line.

[Zlatorog]

I think we don't deserve to be in the top 4. The way we play at the moment, the premiership is out of reach, but we'll enjoy another finals appearance.

[Bloody Hell]

I value Cunningham. Yes, he had a clanger or two on Friday night, but he did some good stuff too, and I was very pleased to see that after the players had climbed off a pile-up, Harry was on the bottom of it.

When the Swans were losing this, Hannebury and Cunningham were coping fearful abuse from me.

Hannebury was tracking at 40% DE and Cunningham was turning over everything he touched.

The problem with Cunningham is he doesn't take responsibility and will happily handball to someone in a much worse position than he, just so it isn't his problem anymore. I was gobsmacked he was named in the best.

[Go Swannies]

Left town after the game when I didn't need to as we won. But catching up and agreeing with the latter sentiment here - we beat the Pies by more than that Hawks did. It was a very messy game but the team showed a lot of spirit to get the win. BJ and Rohan stepped up big time. Tom always gives his all. What is wrong with Nick Smith? Any criticism of Shaw this week? He seemed to be giving us a lot of drive forward when we needed it. Overall, it was an important win. If we play with that intent, and the Dogs lose in the West we will finish 4th. Victoria has written us off but Top 4 at least gives us a chance.