Pre-Match: Collingwood V Essenscum - All comments here

[PeterWH]

I dont really think that shutting Hird/LLoyd down will do any good.Our boys will have to play 210% to do any good.
There just isnt any heart at present and with the injuries,well lets see what happens.
It will be either a PIES win but only points,OR the SCUM will win by a motza and we will be on the bottom of the ladder.
The 1/2 forward line will have to come to the fore,and the boys will have to find the old ANZAC spirit to getover the line.

[favourites 2008]

I H8 to say it but we r F*****. If anyone can tell me where we r gona get a spark to win from i would like to hear from them.

[commonwombat]

Another round ...... another hiding, sorry to say.

All that we've seen this season has been agroup of largely dispirited individuals roaming around a football field with generally no common purpose.

Until that returns, wins will be very hard to come by.

[Big T]

The reason this game is being played should be all the spark we need. Every player in the 22 needs a bloody history lesson if they can't find some aggression and confidence, and most of all SPIRIT, this weekend. If I was MM they would all be at the dawn service.

59512 of our finest died in WWI, including 44441 on the Western front and 8709 in Gallipoli. 28,238 died in WWII. No matter what the feelings of war in the community are, these men and women were only doing their jobs and gave their lives for it.

This football game is a dedication to the memory of their lives (and all Aussie soldiers who died in other wars). It is the day our troops landed on the Gallipoli peninsula. It is a day that all of the talk of lost spirit, pride, aggression, hardness etc must be forgotten and replaced with guts, effort, determination at all costs. We know what our team is capable of, hopefully they remember why they are out there and the special meaning the game has for Collingwood fans who have lost family members to war in the past. The way we play is much more important than winning or losing. They must play for each other, as the Anzacs did. We as supporters can never give up and always support the team through thick and thin.

Think about this diary entry from Les Carlyon's book "Gallipoli":

"A sledgehammer blow on my foot made me turn with a feeling of positive relief that I had met my fate, but it was a mere graze and hardly bled. Another bullet passed through my coat, and a third ripped along two feet of my rifle sling. Then the wounded man on my right got a bullet through the head that ended his troubles. And still without remission the air was full of hissing bullets and screaming shells. After an hour the fire slackened, but we continued to work feverishly, in the cruel pain of sheer weariness, until each man, including the wounded had a shallow pit to lie in".

[burnsy17]

Ok, my suggestion.... logic says we are going to get spanked. Keeping this in mind, i'd rather be spanked with kids in the side than with blokes we know wont be around next year. Im not saying major changes, but i'm hoping that we try something like the following:

Out: Williams, J. Cloke, R Shaw
In: McGough, C Cloke, Davis

Lets Debut Cloke Jr, get back McGough the Anzac specialist, and Davis, who provides some pace - which the bombers definately lack.

I'd love to see blokes like Richards, King, C Cloke & Mullins running around on Sunday. Give them a taste of it. What the Anzac clash is all about.

And th blokes who have been around for a few years...Never know, blokes sometimes need a trigger when they're flat - No bigger trigger than Anzac Day.

[Birdy]

The form of both teams going into Anzac day is irrelevant. Every year it's the same, no matter who the underdogs are they always rise to the occasion and make a great game of it. I can't believe people are saying we'll get thumped. The entire football world will be watching this game and every player on the field will be busting their guts. It's just going to come down to who wants it badly enough and I think we need this game a lot more.

[Joel]

Birdy, we got beaten by 66 points on Anzac Day, other times (atleast once) we have been beaten by 40 points. Yes, there have been close games on Anzac Day, but there have been some thrashings too.

That is why people think we are going to be thrashed.

[Cam]

First. McGough hardly got a kick last year in the ANZAC day game. Was at the 2002 game and thought Cloke was really stiff not to get the medal even though McGough was good.

Second. If you don't think that we need to shut down Hird then you obviously don't remember nearly every ANZAC day we have lost in the last 10 years. Hird left alone or moderately tagged will absolutely DESTROY us. That's D E S T R O Y us. Happened last year, will happen to ANY team that does not negate him. Go back and read the posts about last years game and learn something.

[M@®©]

lets hope we can lift ................ previous games show we can play well despite where both teams finished after the home and away season

95 - draw - pies finished 10th to ess 4th
96 - pies by 12 points - pies finished 11th to ess 6th
97 - pies by 29 points - pies finished 10th to ess 14th
98 - pies by 20 points - pies finished 14th to ess 8th
99 - ess by 8 points - pies finished 16th to ess 1st
00 - ess by 40 points - pies finished 15th to ess 1st
01 - ess by 8 points - pies finished 9th to ess 1st
02 - pies by 33 points - pies finished 4th to ess 5th
03 - ess by 66 points - pies finished 2nd to ess

played 9 - 4 wins each and a draw each

[PiesFan]

Lets not also forget the last time we met them (end of last year) we beat them in a good, hotly contested game (Pies 12.11 83 - Dons 9.13 67).

If we are close enough at 3/4 time, i think we can get over the line

[roccasok]

Did anyone notice that whenever Freo manned up and shut down options, our guys kicked the ball out to the wing, and since eberyone was manned up, this invariably meant kicking to a competition. If we won the competition, the next kick would go wider again. Effectively goal to goal was about 10 posessions. Almost all of those contested, so 10 chances to loose the ball.

When Freo had the ball, and we manned up, they kicked it down the middle. Once again, to a competition, but they only gave us 3-4 chances to take the ball off them before they made it to their goal.

With this in mind, how about beating the Scum with a simple instruction. If you get in trouble and have to get rid of the ball, and there are no obvious uncontested options, kick long toward the centre half forward position (or full forward position closer to goal). DO NOT KICK TOWARD THE WING!! Every now and then you need to just kick the bloody thing before the opposition has chance to re-group instead of looking for the perfect option every time.

[CQ]

Time for the club to purchase 22 tubes of lubricant as we are going to be bent over this week.

hahahaha! cheapest laugh ive had in a few days lol!!!
but its so true!

[Cam]

What and give Dustbin Fletcher, Pig Rioli and Crookman 105 possessions each? Football is about using your brain, your matchups, the conditions, your eyes and adapting as you go. Simply going up the guts is no good. It has to be more than that.

When we did go direct against Freo, McPharlin marked it, often on his ownsome.

[Johnson#26]

We should win but on currant form the dons will do it easy.

McGough must play (its his game after all)

Cam Cloke should get a run

Mullins should play the majority of the game on ball.

Burnsy should be right with his knee - he'd never miss a game like this

Our rucks should win out against Allan & Hille.

Jonno for the ANZAC Medal

Pies by 6 points.

*Will post more later*

[JLC]

I still think Essendon are grossly over rated. Last Anzac Day i think we may have had a slight over confidence given Essendons injuries going into the game. We then got blown away in that last quarter and Hird played his best game for the year that day and they just could not miss. Surely we could not be that unlucky again.

Our forwards just have to be more accountable to their defenders and help keep the ball in the forward line. Otherwise on the rebound Fletcher and Wellman will chop us up.

If our midfield can lift then we are well on the way to victory.

jlc