Pre Match: Pies v. Lions - All comments here please.

[Culprit]

Someone posted he did well, I could not remember..lol

Oh well bye bye Scoots.

Woey no second effort, you betrer watch some replays Tess.

[swooper]

Good post Piepark. I think Willo might go (no offence Willo) but I would love to see Scoots back, he is a pretty good kick at goal and is overdue for a run in the seniors. But MM will decide in the end and it will be the right decision. HAve been toey about this game since Sunday. I pray and hope Cloke and Clement play or else I cant really see us winning. We will need more than feelings of revenge to win this game. The lions have just hit some winning form and will probably have Chris Johnson back. Nonetheless, I am sooo excited about the prospect of going to see a really good game of footy, it is a real test for us as most people will have you believe that we havent beaten anyone. I think there are some people out there that are yet to be convinced of our ability. We need to prove them all wrong Pies starting with a good win on Sat.
BTW - ALL Collingwood people/supporters/barrackers whatever, member or not - should be there - lets get a HUGE magpie inhospitable crowd there and be loud!!!

[Daniel]

HUGE game! Clement, Cloke will definitely come in. Out: Walker, Williams

Really looking forward to a great game of football more than anything, I hope the weather holds up.

[woe_is_me]

This should be a cracker of a game - similar to last year.

It will be tough and uncompromising football - what we need ATM.

I believe we will win, and Woey will have a great day just as he did against Adelaide! I can't believe anyone would think he could be dropped..

Anyway, PIES by 11 points.

[PeterWH]

As MM said on GMA yesterday.....this game will be HUGE......but lets look at it another way,the LIONS are playing on OUR TURF,so they will have to battle us on HOME soil.
I recon that the way the boys are firing they will do to BRIS what Saints did to WCE last week.
PIES to win by 30 points and go to the rightful position on the ladder.
At least residing up here in the rural of NSW we get to see ALL games live.

[Blanch]

What does everyone think of Lokan playing up forward....hear me out. Lokan has done run with jobs from time to time and in previous encounters Chris Johnson has hurt us bad. Lokan has the nouse to play as a tagging forward on Johnson and if presented with the opportunity can kick goals too.

Leon, Rupe and Davis are all attacking players first, defense second. I think shutting down Johnson will shut down a lot of their run. Brodie is still needed in the middle so I don't want to use him. What do you guys/gals think?

[peter_pies4ever]

In: Clement, Cloke, Scotland
Out: Walker, McKee, Betheras

McKee would be unlucky to get dropped but he does not have a big impact on games.

[JLC]

What does everyone think of Lokan playing up forward....hear me out. Lokan has done run with jobs from time to time and in previous encounters Chris Johnson has hurt us bad. Lokan has the nouse to play as a tagging forward on Johnson and if presented with the opportunity can kick goals too.

Leon, Rupe and Davis are all attacking players first, defense second. I think shutting down Johnson will shut down a lot of their run. Brodie is still needed in the middle so I don't want to use him. What do you guys/gals think?

Im not sure as i think Lokan had enough problems defending Steve Johnson last week.

Brodie would be a good surprise selection to play on Johnson as he has improved his defensive side of his game, and can hurt Johnson on the scoreboard. You could be onto something there.

I wanna see my man SSB go head to head with Voss in the middle.

jlc

[HotPies90]

Its difficult to work out who will tag who b/c Brisbane have an extremely good midfield with Voss, Aker, Black and this year, Luke Power (I dont think Lappin will play). Our three main taggers this year have been Holland, Lokan and of-course Lica, though he's just as good in an offensive role. I guess you can mix-and-match yourself to see who'll tag who!

In terms of Chris Johnson though, yes he does provide Brisbane with great rebound, so he does need to be tagged. As JLC said, Holland would be the obvious tagger, however he's probably needed in the midfield. Personally I think Roop may be the surprise candidate - he's tough, he can plays well in the big games and defensive forward was pretty much his role last year!

[Joel]

In: Clement, Cloke, Scotland
Out: Walker, McKee, Betheras

McKee would be unlucky to get dropped but he does not have a big impact on games.

MM has said that McKee will get plenty of game time leading up to the finals. A second ruckman in the finals could be essential.

[Joel]

Here is a story from the Age (Realfooty.com) about Brodie Holland and the leadup to this week's game:

Holland can't escape buzz (Click on heading for full story)
August 06 2003

Collingwood hopes to maintain a cool build-up to Saturday's game against Brisbane at the MCG amid massive hype for the rematch of last year's grand finalists.

With so much riding on the game - both sides are in form, near full strength and eyeing a spot in the top four - the Magpies are working hard to keep their preparations under control.

But try as they might, Collingwood tagger Brodie Holland said it was almost impossible not to get caught up in what has become one of the most eagerly anticipated games of the year.

"You can feel the buzz around the club already during the week," Holland said yesterday.

[Woodsman]

What is with the campaign to get Scotland back in for this game? He is a one pace midfielder, with no heart, poor in-and-under skills and average disposal in distances over 30 meters.
Can someone please tell me what he actually brings into our team that we don't already have in the midfield. When has he ever taken a game apart?

...and if it was a choice between Scotland and Rupe for this week, I would take Rupe... Rupe is hard at the ball, strong overhead and a 'big game' player. Perfect for this week, even if he has been missing recently.

[Joel]

What is with the campaign to get Scotland back in for this game?

The fact that he kicked five with Willi last week.

[DaicosMagic]

Memo to Coaching Staff:

Please improve our zone defence on kickouts, especially against Brisbane. We need someone stationed near or on the boundary line at 50m one the left side so that Johnson (if he kicks out) can't use his across the body drill pass like he did in the GF every bloody kick out. Furthermore, when in a zone defence, we seem to stay pretty much on the designated spot, with little movement. If there are 3 or 4 people in our zone defence and only one opposition player, please use common sense and drift to that player someone - you will not be compromiding your position in the zone. I hate seeing us so stagnant when there is one opposition player, and we leave him unattended around 40-50m because we are meant to stand in our 'position'. The zone is a guide, not an absolute blueprint. Common sense, boys. Even Geelong were able to get past us relatively easily.

[Pied Piper]

What is with the campaign to get Scotland back in for this game? He is a one pace midfielder, with no heart, poor in-and-under skills and average disposal in distances over 30 meters.

Jeez. Who is anyone to say a player has no heart? Go and play the game yourself, big guy.

On a more worthwhile note I'm also interested in the match-ups for this game. Don't be fooled, Brisbane are still an awesome team and I don't think we're going to belt them. I'm hoping this is the first match of many where we assert superiority.


They will certainly be disadvantaged by the loss of Leppitsch. Lappin and Brad Scott face tests. Assuming they play, the midfield battles may look something like this:

Buckley vs B. Scott
Burns vs Voss
Licuria vs Black
Woey vs Lappin
Lokan vs Akermanis
Holland vs Power
McGough vs Caracella
O'Bree vs Johnson

Remember, this is just a list of possibles, MM and LM will swing the changes. McGough has played (and done well) on Voss last year but I'm not so sure this time. Expect McG to start on the ground, though, for the remarkable job he did in last week's second half. He might get the job on more of an outside player like Caracella to expose them in the hard stuff, but his accountability will be tested.

We must stop Luke Power - he is the one most likely to sneak under our guard and he is playing super football. I back the in-form Brodie Holland to take him on, match him for speed and hurt him on the rebound. Lokan could also take this role, however, if he doesn't get a big test on Akermanis who is dangerous again. If he fails, expect Lica to shut him down.

Brisbane will be desperate to contain not just Buckley but Burns. In an offensive move Burns could take Voss; otherwise perhaps Matthews may use Hart although surely he's a bit small for Burns? One or even both of the Scotts may take our two prime movers.

For us, without Presti, Lynch and Brown become the hardest match-ups. Wakelin will have to play a super game with Cloke/Clement spoiling. (Let's pray they both come up). Brown soundly beat Jason Cloke up in Brisbane - I was there to see that one - but he may get the job again.

The Lions have their own problems matching Tarrant and Rocca - I expect Michael to tackle the Ant with perhaps Matthews trying Bradshaw on Tarrant? But it's anyone's guess who'll take that role - I think Lethal is scratching his head as much as anyone.

If we can have the better of these battles, I'm tipping a 2-3 goal win. The reason why? Depth - their bottom six (arguably, that's Shattock, McGrath, Copeland, the fading White and Ashcroft and probably Notting) may not be up to ours (again arguably, McGough, Shaw, Cole, Betheras, McKee, Lokan). I think their injuries, and our improving list, mean we bat a bit further down the list than they do.

I think the real wild cards in this match could be Cole and Didak. Cole could be played anywhere, he is getting better by the match and he has the capacity to hurt opposition bodies like far more seasoned players. And Didak - well, this could be a real make or break game for the finals. He needs to be lively and to kick or set up at least two goals.

This is it guys. GO PIES!

The Weed