Pre-Match. Pies v. Dockers. All comments.

[Piesnchess]

Jeezus, few weeks ago, prior to our injuries, I said to my son, and he agreed, "we should be picking s few kids now, look to the future, four of our senior players may retire seasons end". Wow lo and behold, we have no less than seven kids in the team, third of the side.! All good, great for the team for the future, and gives these Magpie babies experience, in front of huge crowds, you cant buy that. We may not beat Freo, who knows, but im sure the kids will have a red hot go. !

[The Black and White Lion]

100% piesnchess. I was calling for young blood when we were stinking it up in the first 3 rounds. I never imagined we’d need them all in one go. But each that have come in have had a go and shown a bit at AFL level. I feel my early rants have been vindicated and I’m comfortable with where we’re headed this year now.

Hopefully we can remain consistent and get some players back across June with a competitive hungry group to drive us deep in September

[gurugeoff]

As for Macrae, having been on our list for 4 seasons, I am yet to see him do much at all

well, he did kick three goals 2 weeks ago

[inxs88]

Many have bemoaned our "apparent lack of depth" early in the season. Irrespective of Friday night's result, we have proven this to be a falsehood.

[Magpietothemax]

Many have bemoaned our "apparent lack of depth" early in the season. Irrespective of Friday night's result, we have proven this to be a falsehood.

I agree. We just seem to be very cautious in debuting our young players, no doubt to maximise their chances for success.
Looks like we are absolutely on the money atm., given the perfomrances of our debutants.

[masoncox]

Look at the VFL of late.
Our side has been flogged by bottom sides.
No one has stood out in the VFL including the newbies.
I am a bit skeptical about some of these newbies.
Hope I am wrong.

[Take_a_Screamer]

No way, Pearce off...

Walyalup (Fremantle) captain Alex Pearce determined to take big AFL scalp against Collingwood.

Alex Pearce has declared his team is determined to claim a big scalp and they are eagerly anticipating the chance to put their finals credentials on the line against reigning premiers Collingwood at Optus Stadium on Friday night. The Friday night spotlight will firmly be focused on the ninth placed Dockers as they attempt to record their first win over a top-eight team this season. While the team is 6-4, their wins have come against teams currently placed 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th. The Magpies are in fifth spot and haven’t lost since their horror start which left ...

https://thewest.com.au/sport/fremantle- ... c-14744846

[Newelly]

'... Craig McRae believes the mounting injury toll across the competition is sending the AFL a message about the length of games.
The reigning premiership coach said the Pies would only have 29 players to choose from for Friday night's clash with Fremantle...
(S. Gullan, Hun)

If they are going to start the season early they need to give the teams more breaks. I would say make the playing lists larger but the talent pool is already diluted with players frequently plucked from other sports (basketball primarily) to fill the gaps.

[qldmagpie67]

Well we now of finally have 13 players on the injury list.
This isn’t ideal really

[The Black and White Lion]

What are the chances of little Brayshaw vs Maynard flaring up? Reckon there might be a bit of niggle there from Brayshaw and some tough contests between them

[Rd10.1998_11.1#36]

Allan in not suprising but Parker? Surely will be sub at best or emergency?

Don't get why Krueger is continually floated... can't fault his effort - if anything, too much effort - but 3 full games (plus 2 as sub and 4 subbed off) for 4.3 over 5 years... not really helping

Ash has his faults we know but has at least kicked 36.20 over 26 games (also 4 games subbed off but still...)

Looking forward to it and don't see why we can't pull it off but more focussed on good debut(s), no more injuries and getting some players back for the next 2 games

Still a bit miffed at the Hawk's choke putting us out of the top 4, but that will come

[Charlie Oneeye]

We will miss Degoey, and WHE who has been our patch swingman. Dare I say it, they have been the difference in close games. It's a worry. Overall, Pendles, Sidey, Crisp, NJDaicos have been on fire.
Lipinski (WHE MKII) is still the linkman, and I expect to see him more up forward. Our backline is intact.
HH, Richards I reckon will have learned a lot over the last couple of games.
We will miss an extra tall forward, Cox needs to improve, but Cameron is taking his customary few contested marks up the ground.
Noble (out of the top 12) has been as damaging as I have ever seen him.
Schultz is third man in, in every contest forward of centre.

Our offensive ball can still execute, remains to be seen how/if Fremantle is good enough to break our weaknesses.

[Presti35]

Freo have not been a high scoring side (But who is these days). They have not really beaten anyone significant, but have put up a fight against Port and Carlton. However, I'd say they have not been convincing. They're averaging 77 points a game in 2024, but have been a bit of a yo-yo with their form.

The Swans smashed them 2 weeks ago in Perth. Recently, they've beaten St Kilda, Richmond and the Dogs, but they lost to WCE 5 games back.

Collingwood were favorites until the news that JDG was out. Now Freo are the favorites with the bookies. Maynard is still playing, Moore is still playing, Josh and Nick are still playing, Crisp is still playing. If Checkers and McCreery play we'll still have 16 premiership players out there. None of that guarantees a win, but it's not like our team is gone without JDG, who did not play in the wins against Carlton or WCE. Plenty of people have written Collingwood off. Because our "VFL team" will be playing. Our VFL team being Joe Richards, Lachie Sullivan, Harvey Harrison, Fin Macrae, Ed Allan and Wil Parker.

Major ball winners; Serong, Brayshaw, Ryan, Young, Clark. These guys are the worry.
Major goal kickers; Treacy, Amiss. Frampton and Moore will need to keep them quiet.
Hitout winners; Jackson, Darcy. Cameron will need to keep Jackson busy.

For me, Schultz and Cox needs to lift. Nobel and Lipinski have been doing really well and if they can keep their form going, with Josh, Nick, Pendles and Crisp in their form, then we will win this game.

[stui magpie]

Look at the VFL of late.
Our side has been flogged by bottom sides.
No one has stood out in the VFL including the newbies.
I am a bit skeptical about some of these newbies.
Hope I am wrong.

Some of them are showing it's actually easier to play your role and do well when you have lots of talent around than it is to play well in a poor team.

[piffdog]

If Checkers and McCreery play we'll still have 16 premiership players out there.

That's a good stat and should provide some conviction that we can challenge. Of that list the names missing would be:

Elliott
Jordy
Ginnivan
Mitchell
Hosko
Murphy
Howe

Ginni is no loss, and Murphy hasn't featured all year. Potentially Jordy and Mitchell are covered by promoting Lipinski and Crisp to the middle for more on ball time. Although not the same, they're 85% replacements IMO. We played Howe forward last week, so he's not a loss from the backline per se who are rated in the top couple of defences over the last 6 weeks (so theyre going ok).

So the real net losses are Hosko and Elliott. On the proviso that Checkers comes back in, I think we are potentially a little fortunate that the injuries are what they are (and not to Cameron, Cox, Moore, Nick Daicos).

Off the back of this unsophisticated analysis I feel a little more optimistic.