Post match. Pies down by 9 - All comments please

[GreekLunatic]

i am not making excuse but we did miss tarrant and rocca bad i reckon they would have made a difference also melb didnt impress me that much we had our chances to kill the game off but we didnt

[Adz]

Mathamatically, 8th is about the highest we can get.

[Magpie Gal 19]

ok there were a good few points to come out of this games and a few bad ones

GOOD ones

So close to winning the game with no forward line!!!!
I think if Tazza was to play this game I thought the out come would be different! but than again that what I think

Bad one
Slipping away in the last 1/4 after being 30 points up! grrrrr


ok onto another thing
What on earth was the bloody Goldspink was thinking in that last 1/4 ahhhhh he was pulling free kicks out of his um u know what!

and another thing is that Why was Burnsy not paid a free kick in our forward line in the 1st 1/4 clearly pushed off the ball and taken out of the contest no Happy

Oh and Way in the last 1/4 was MCG and Shaw on the Bench when we were getting tired Melbourne was running all over us. Micky Bring in the fresh legs when this happens again

[stik35]

On the positive side, I expected to get thrashed today without Taz and Rocca so 9 points wasn't too bad.

It was pretty disappointing to lose after being 30 points up at one stage (after a slow start), that's almost worse than being thrashed.

Apparently we ran out of legs in the last quarter.
I can understarnd that Tarks and Bucks may not be up to running a game out, also Burns missed a bit of footy earlier in the year and Brodie has just come back in.
Some of the young players playing their first year may not be up to it this year either.

But what I can't understand is the fact that McGough, Rhyce Shaw and Wakes just sat on the bench - surely fresh legs would have been a good idea - unless they had injuries.

Tony Shaw said it was embarrassing the way Rhyce was played for 2 x 30 second stints in the last quarter and that it might be better for Collingwood and Rhyce if he were to go to another Club and have a fresh start rather than be treated like Heath Scotland was.

Rhyce put in a good effort last week and could have done so again today if given the chance - why keep him on the bench?

I thought Jason Cloke played really well today and tried his guts out and I thought Cameron did a few good things too I loved his mark but it was a pity his shot on goal hit the post.

[nitric]

Henny Penny, Chicken Little .....

"The sky is falling, the sky is falling..........."

I thought we played very well in rotten conditions against a top 4 side.

We have some very, very good players out there and it was a pleasure watching them. They are growing and becoming experienced. Soon, they will prevail. Add in those who were absent, steady the ship and hey!

Why do you suppose everyone talks about Collingwood? Coz they rock! Melbourne may have wriggled out of it today, but we gonna rock Sidineeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Carn the Pies!

[Gomez]

1. Why did CC go all the way back to the 50m to kick for goal when he marked 15m out? Just go back & kick the simple goal. Inexperience is not a reason, he's been kicking for goal since he was about 9.
2. Leon did cost us with that miss.
3. We were probably lucky to still be in it at 1/4 time, they could have been 7.1 to nothing.
3. Why did we play such a small forward line in the last 1/4?
We had no-one to take a mark the few times we went forward.
4. When was the last time we played through the centre of the ground?
We stuff around the boundary line & make it slow & hard for ourselves & too easy to defend. That's one of the reasons we can't kick a decent score any more.

Not happy Mick.

[magpies are 2 good]

did any one watch it on tv and if so what happened in the last quater i think it was. i heard that someone was kicked in the head or something like that and they showed it only 1 time. it contains didak im NOT sure if he was the 1 that got kicked in the head or he kicked a melb player in the head this is what i have heard and i want to know if its true or not

[lethalburns]

Didak pulled a shifty and back heeled Hena in the head ....

Hena retaliated by slapping him in the face..

Dids should be careful I have seen him use the boot a few times...

Studs to the head are not on... And Dids may want to stop doing it before he earns himself a reputation...

[Go the Biff]

did any one watch it on tv and if so what happened in the last quater i think it was. i heard that someone was kicked in the head or something like that and they showed it only 1 time. it contains didak im NOT sure if he was the 1 that got kicked in the head or he kicked a melb player in the head this is what i have heard and i want to know if its true or not

Hello Pies, I've been reading this site ( a very good one I must say) for the past week without intending to post but now find myself getting on board to defend a Collingwood player I admire but can't stand in Alan Didak. Magpies are 2 good, no-one got kicked in the head, 'twas just a scuffle between two prostrate players. Chris Hefferan gave Didak a bit of a shove to the face so if anyone should be worried about what Ian Robinson watches on TV over a cup of tea & biscuits it should be Heff, not Didak.

Now while I'm here, a touch harsh on your players some of you I'd have thought. While the game was won in the middle, there is every chance that with Taz & Pebbles, the Pies would have held an insurmountable lead, such was your dominance from about 15 in the first quarter until about 15 in the third. I'll agree with those who question the benching of McGough & Shaw but to can Leon Davis for his OOB is a bit savage. That's the type of player he is. You'll all get up & applaud his miracle goals when he defies the team rules & ingrained disciplines that say kick to the top of the square. Now you bag him for attempting to do the same today. That is what he does - to ask any different of him would be a bit disingenous I'd suggest. There are many Demon supporters who bag Russell Robertson for the very same things. Leon didn't cost you the game - it was a bit broader than that.

While it's possible but unlikely now that you'll make the finals this year, at least you don't have to do what most teams do which is take three steps backwards before going forward. Young Cam Cloke showed more than you'd be hoping for from a first year KPP. Cloke the Elder showed that he does have a future at CHB. Your midfield is fine, could possibly be topped off by the addition of one more player with class & pace. I reckon you'll be a better side next year than you were last year - when you made a GF. Oh - keep playing Dane Swan - the kid can play !

Cheers Pies - even though you were undermanned, I'm glad the drought has been broken.

[AGE]

Why couldn't it keep raining for the whole day? Stupid Melbourne weather. Once the rain stopped, we stopped.

Not going to say much on today's game because anything I say will just be a repeat of what has already been said by everyone else. Needless to say I agree with abotu 90% of the posts on here, and the one I strongly agree with is Shaw & MCG. Why weren't they brought on when we were running out of legs?

Wouldn't be surprised if they both asked to be traded come seasons end. This would ensure Collingwood's great trade plan of getting nothing for something ala Scotland, and therefore giving away 2 underused young players who are starting to find form and maintain a spot in the team, even though it's "Pine Time", for picks say, oh let's pick a number, picks 35 and 89?

[jeff corfe]

Melbourne are a very fast side and deserve to be in the eight come september, Melb jumped the pies at the opening, when the rain came the pies got well and truly on top, when the rain stopped Melb got on top of us,
When you consider we didnt have taz and rocca and i believe mcgough got injured early in the game the pies did pretty well and showed plenty of spirit, im agreeing with MM we aint out of it yet.
This collingwood side aint too bad!!!!! and we will make the eight.

[Dr Alf Andrews]

Didak pulled a shifty and back heeled Hena in the head ....

Hena retaliated by slapping him in the face..

Dids should be careful I have seen him use the boot a few times...

Studs to the head are not on... And Dids may want to stop doing it before he earns himself a reputation...

Might be a bit late to avoid the 4 games he'll probably get for it.

Ah, well ... it's only a game.

[droche 2004]

Melbourne are a very fast side and deserve to be in the eight come september, Melb jumped the pies at the opening, when the rain came the pies got well and truly on top, when the rain stopped Melb got on top of us,
When you consider we didnt have taz and rocca and i believe mcgough got injured early in the game the pies did pretty well and showed plenty of spirit, im agreeing with MM we aint out of it yet.
This collingwood side aint too bad!!!!! and we will make the eight.

We did not get in front when the rain came. We were already there.
We hit the lead then it rained.

I kept note of this just incase people started to say we only won because it rained.

[swooper]

Was at uni all day yesterday , ran out of the house in a rush in the morning and forgot to set the VCR (DOH!) and only heard bits and pieces of the game on the radio...ANYWAY

Can someone please enlighten me on how Johnno, Woey, Burnsy went and why Wakes was on the bench in the 2nd half?

THanks to all on this site for keeping me informed yesterday as much as possilbe - love it.

For what its worth - I reckon we would ve won yesterday with Taz and Pebs, having said that, VERY disappointing to lose when 30 pts up. BUT lets not lose sight of the bigger picture and that is some of the kids are looking OK, Cam Cloke stands out, others here have already mentioned other positives from the game (which I wont go into again). Although I am disappointed to think we will probably not play finals footy this year, we must keep some hope for 2005.

[Cannibal]

God help us. It takes a Melbourne (and obviously a Ray Biffin) fan to come on to our site and put things into perspective.

...the game was won in the middle...

Exactly.

In the pre-match thread, I said that the danger to Collingwood was Jeff White in particular. I also said that it would be best to put Tex Walker into the side if Rocca didn't come up. Otherwise, the danger was that to rest Richards meant robbing the forward line of one of Fraser and Cam Cloke. Which is exactly what happened. Whilst Fraser was in the forward line, we looked very, very dangerous but, although he was named one of our best for his ruck play (as was Jeff White for Melbourne), the difference over the last quarter and a half was that it was Melbourne getting the ball out of the middle, not us.

And that's where the game was won and lost.

Plus, Melbourne had marking forward targets to kick to - Neitz 3, Yze 3 - and we didn't. In the last quarter, I thought our forward line looked like a bunch of midgets. Not much chance kicking a long ball into the forward line and finding a target. So, what I had dreaded happened. We robbed our forward line to compete in the ruck and lost out in both places in the end.

I'd also like to thank "Biff" for putting the issue of player criticism into perspective.

...but to can Leon Davis for his OOB is a bit savage. That's the type of player he is. You'll all get up & applaud his miracle goals when he defies the team rules & ingrained disciplines that say kick to the top of the square. Now you bag him for attempting to do the same today. That is what he does - to ask any different of him would be a bit disingenous I'd suggest. There are many Demon supporters who bag Russell Robertson for the very same things. Leon didn't cost you the game - it was a bit broader than that.

Some of the posters on this site are an absolute embarrasment. Just sitting there waiting for an opportunity to find a scapegoat. Then leaping on him with undisguised glee.

I thought a key difference late in the game was that we ran out of legs. In the pre-match thread, I said I didn't think Holland should come back into the side because he'd been out for four weeks and probably needed a run at Willi. Having said that, during the 2nd quarter torrential downpour, our small guys just dominated, so in fairness, I have to say that the selections looked a match-winner at half time, so I'm not going to bag anyone for the lineup (and that includes MM). If we'd won, and for chrissakes, please remember that the margin was only 9 points, we'd be singing everyone's praises.

Actually, at halftime, we all were. The Collingwood fans in the ground stood, cheered and clapped the boys off the field to an almighty roar, one I haven't heard for a while (2003 Prelim, maybe).

Like all of you, I was gutted at the end. In a match where the difference is just 9 points, we can all probably look to one incident which might have made the difference. If only..........

But all that is futile and pathetic. What's done is done.

For me, I'd like to thank the whole team for a fantastic effort, particularly in the second quarter. It was truly inspiring and I'd like to think we'll take the positives away with us. Well, I will anyway.