Post Match. Pies tie again. All comments.

[lazzadesilva]

I look forward to seeing the royal wanker Nicholls getting a please explain letter from the AFL as to why he pulled out the free kick out of his arse

[gurugeoff]

Players often leave the ball for the umpire to pick up. Is that a free? Players often throw the ball away from the boundary umpire. Is that a free?

[Jezza]

Fly's presser

Crazy finish, what were your thoughts on the match?

"I just said to the players that anyone watching at home as Collingwood supporters would be extremely proud of the effort from our players. We've got some young players playing their first games, two of them, and six under 10 games. They just didn't look out of sorts. There's a lot of things to go into the end result, but I think for most of the night we've had enormous effort. To walk away with 2 points is better than 0. We've come over here a long way, they're [Fremantle] a very good team and their clearances were enormous. Coming in we were worried about that sort of stuff. There's a lot to take in, but right now I've got this enormous pride of our effort".

Couple of weeks in a row the opposition had all the momentum and could have won, is that because of the inexperience of some of your players?

"No, if you look at the detail of it, there's two weeks in a row where we've had our key forward out of the game. Mason [Cox] got concussed and Brody Mihocek's got another injury. He might have done his hamstring again, so he's off in the last quarter and we don't have any key forwards. If you looked at the detail of that, then you go the same thing happened last week. We have a makeshift forward line with key forwards and we've got Ed Allan in his first game playing as a key forward for us against [Alex] Pearce. We're fighting and scraping, and I'm really proud of that. There's circumstances around that. We'd like to walk away with a couple of more points, but geez it's not through a lack of effort".

The main talking point will be about the free kick against Sullivan. What's your interpretation of it?

"I'm looking forward to what the AFL tell us about that because I wasn't aware that was a free kick, but clearly it is because they don't pay things that aren't there. I'm looking forward to seeing what they say".

Will you seek out an explanation?

"I'd assume you guys have reported enough [for it] to be spoken of. It will be what it will be. It doesn't help us does it?".

How was your emotion in that moment?

"In that moment? I was confused because I was told he touched the umpire Nick [Daicos]. That's what I got told so I was 'like okay, that's a bit much' in the moment. Again, I was unaware of what actually happened until afterwards".

Do you think that moment flustered your team given what happened towards the end of the match?

"Well I hope not. We like to live in that space; we made way more mistakes than the umpires did tonight and he's I assume just umpiring to the letter of the law. But, no I'd like to think not. I'd like to think that 'hey no, let's move on, let's go, what's next?' because that's all you can control. If the umpire comes out or the AFL go it 'oh, it was a mistake' that doesn't help us either, we're just moving on so there's no point for us sitting in it. The reality is it was probably a free kick and we move on".

Did you have a message to Lachie Sullivan after the game about the decision?

"No, not particularly. No, we just praised effort. What about the handball back and we create a goal in the third quarter that Lachie did in what is his 4th game? I'm living in the space that we drew Anzac Day and we felt like it was an even tussle and hard to walk away with the win, and tonight there's a little bit in you that goes you're '25 points up with 7 minutes to go, ooh come on can we hold on?' This would have been one of our best victories for the year if not for the last couple [of years]. We knew that it would be a really tough challenge for us today. Did we exceed expectations? Maybe not, we just show that we've got players that come in wearing a Collingwood jumper and it doesn't matter what number they're wearing, they do their job and we add adversity to it and we're proud of that".

You mentioned those injuries of Mason Cox and Brody Mihocek. Do you have an early read on their situations?

"Mason's got concussion. The knee sort of twisted underneath so he might have some bruising too and there's a bit more to play out so we'll have to wait and see on that. Brody's got signs of a hamstring awareness strain, I'm not sure so we'll work through that".

The same hamstring that Mihocek had previously injured?

"Yeah, the same one. When I'm talking about us here, I just want to make sure that people understand that we're playing Freo who have been in really good form. They're going to be hard to beat here. Their clearance stuff was enormous. I thought the way the game was played, we got the game on our terms because they're so dangerous around stoppages so it was a real challenge. Tough competition isn't it?".

The six youngsters you mentioned. Can you expand on the role(s) they played?

"Harvey Harrison, the pressure. Joey Richards, clean and setting up goals and kicking goals. They've played 3 games and 5 games. [Lachie] Sullivan in the midfield against some really seasoned midfielders. Ed Allan in his first game looked good, geez he's trying his guts out. He would have done his family proud. Wil Parker comes on. You know he played cricket last year, so it's a great story isn't it? He was bowling leg spinners last year, and here he is setting up goals for Bobby Hill. It's a great story".

Has your opinion of the draw changed in terms of it having extra time or retaining it as it is?

"Well, I'm feeling if this went to extra time we're not hanging on. Anzac Day may be a different story. Today we've had three 6-day breaks and every injuries we've had along the way in the last few weeks has been a cost on the group. One on the bench against West Coast for a half, the next week [against Adelaide] two on the bench and today or tonight [as well]. Those things are a tax and the key forward stuff is stressing us out but we're dealing with it. We're dealing with it. We're still here, we're still breathing. It's not ideal, but we're working our way through it".

Is that an example of not having extra time with the injuries you had?

"I never got caught up on the opinion on [having a extra time or not in the event of a draw], that's up to you guys to do that. We're just worried about why we let some goals slip in the last few minutes. We'll put our energy there and then reward the effort".

What was the mood like in the change rooms given the team gave up a 25-point lead?

Mixed, because we don't know how to act and I said this last time. I just don't want the guys to walk in and act like it's doom and gloom because it's not. I'm looking forward to watching the replay and picking out all those incredible moments and fight. Charlie Dean is another one I hadn't mentioned, did you see the rundown tackle? He's playing his 3rd game [in] a critical moment. We're going to learn so much from that. Our young players are going to be so much more hardened for that and that sense of belief and belonging. It gives us some good confidence we've got some depth on our list that gets exposed through opportunity".

How proud were you to be after being 3.9.27 in the first half and to come out hard and dominate the 3rd quarter?

"Yeah, there was a moment at half time where we sort of didn't want to get disillusioned by the scoreboard because I felt a lot of stuff was going well. We just had to turn it around and we dominated that 3rd quarter. We're a hard team to stop when we get a bit of momentum but we're playing a good team away from home, so the game is never done".

Will you likely get anyone back for the Dogs game next week?

"Yeah, I think Howie might be available. I'm not sure at this stage".

https://www.afl.com.au/video/1136618/fu ... 6559851001

[RudeBoy]

Fly's presser was terrific. He was rapt in our fighting spirit and praised all our newbies. He reminded people that for the 2nd week in a row we had no key forwards in the last quarter, forcing Allan to play at full forward.

Obviously, it's hard to know how to feel when it's a draw, but I am one who was pleased we scraped through with a draw. Seriously, Freo are a good team, this was our 3rd game in a row with a 6 day turn around, this was on their home turf, we had 6 players with less than 10 games experience, including 2 playing their first game, and we lost both our key forwards through injury....and we were the victim of a crazed umpiring decision which turned the game in Freo's favour near the end. Under those circumstances, I'm thrilled we scraped through with a draw.

[qldmagpie67]

Ok on that free kick. Letter if the law it’s a free kick
Rule was bought in a few years ago to stop players deliberately wasting time
It’s been paid 3 times this season last time was a couple weeks ago against Gardiner from Brisbane
Was it commonsense no it wasn’t it was BS but under the laws of the game it was
Easily avoided though you leave the ball on the ground at all times never ever hand it back let them pick it up and use that time to find your man.
Same as over the boundary line DONT pick it up just leave it for them to find.

That wasn’t the reason we lost
Our poor kicking for goals was reason #1 we had 4 posters and 3 other sodas we missed. Bad goal kicking is common for us. We never should have been in a position for them to be that close. Until 7 minutes to go we were by far the better side and should have been 6+ goals up.
Reason #2 the injury curse again. Lost Cox at half time then checkers so 2 talls down meant we had no forward line tall. Had to move Frampton forward to give us a chop out as we had Allen playing FF on Pearce otherwise.
When Cameron went off Frampton had to ruck and they win each of those 3 clearances.
Reason #3 we got exposed exactly how we knew they would. They went wide then switched it back to the corridor and used there pace to cut through us. That last quarter they exposed our wing in Sidey for pace several times. Sharp and Young worked him over. When he was playing HBF Banfield got him for a goal then O’Meara got him for 1 as well both from pace which was always going to be an issue. We set up badly to let it happen. We had the pace in the backline to avoid it but Noble and IQ both pressed higher up field leaving Sidey with those jobs.
Reason #4 we just lacked that extra little bit of experience when it counted most. 6 players under 10 games all of who did great but little things count when momentum is against you. Those moments caught up with us twice.

Overall getting 2 points coming off another 6 day break coupled with the longest trip in football, missing 6 best 22 players and a couple ordinary frees against (no sense of occasion really) wasn’t a bad result.

Looking forward Cox and Checkers out next week.
I don’t know how we find enough talls to make a game of it really.
Dogs are a tall side and with a full team it would have been hard.
Only McInnes and king shot Howe might be available from current injury list.
If they don’t get up our injury kits will hit 15 the highest of any team in the comp

[Lone Ranger]

The only rule possibly broken was “time wasting”. Very hard to argue that was time wasting so not even a free “by the letter of the law”. Very poor decision

[thesoretoothsayer]

Yes, inaccurracy (especially in the 2nd quarter) cost us the win.
Yes, the umpiring wasn't the best.
But, as others have mentioned,
we travelled to the other side of the country to play a team in reasonable form,
about a quarter of the team were playing VFL a month ago
and we suffered injuries to two key talls during the game.

I would've been rapt with 4 points, I'm happy with 2.

[David]

[Culprit]

The umpire's decision changed the momentum of the game. The AFL will back the umpire as they will never reverse any decision. If it's time-wasting, if the players drop the ball on the ground for the umpires to pick up, is that time-wasting? If the Umpire says to a player. "pick up the ball and pass it to me" and the player doesn't. Is that time-wasting? A can of worms has been opened.

I would have loved the win, hated the loss but the draw is fine. We are getting tough tight games into youngsters is a huge bonus. Our system works.

Note: There is a theory that we hold onto the ball to waste time.

[Pies2016]

^^^
Thank you Qldmagpie
From a tactical point of view, the reason we were overtaken in the last, was because Frampton was forced to play about 10 mins in the ruck in the last quarter, while Cameron took a much needed rest. Cameron off the ground was a double whammy because our defence with Frampton had been rock solid for the first three quarters and Cameron had been excellent in the ruck. The Dockers won every clearance while Frampton was forced to ruck and that coincided with their run on. The other misfortunate moment that also cost us, was Pearce kicking his last quarter goal. Allan ( now full forward ) was his opponent at the time and that match up allowed Pearce to back himself to have more impact up the ground than his debutant opponent. If Miochek had played out the entire game, both Pearce and Miochek would have handled that scenario very differently.
The Collingwood team was superb on the night considering everything that conspired against us both leading up to the game and during it. If anyone believes differently, you should be ashamed to think otherwise.

[DT]

^^^

Pretty much agree. Sensational effort - down at half time against an in form team up for the occasion. Young team, suffer injuries to key players, hold on for a draw when I knew we were in big strife that last quarter.
The last two weeks how we come away with 6 points is miraculous

[derkd]

I think in retrospect, it wasn't a bad result. The team ran out of legs and injuries and the number of inexperienced players all played a part.

I am sure the freo fans are saying if we didn't drop so far behind we could have won.

[Pies2016]

It’s a pity all the umpiring talk has detracted from the positive feedback that our rookie players deserve. Everyone will see their efforts differently but I think collectively, we couldn’t have got much more than what they all produced on the night.
Richards looks one pre season away from being best 23 in 2025. He’s got great clean hands, composure and makes right decisions so instinctively. Tackles well for a little fella too
Harrison is another who looks set to break into the best 23 nest year. Quick, aggressive and works hard to be involved. The goals are now coming and that’s the cherry on top.
Sullivan has been asked to do a lot in a short time and he’s answered every call. He seems just slightly off the pace when the heat is really on but hopefully that’s just adjusting to the tempo and I would expect him to be better again next year.
Dean was simply part of a very well drilled Collingwood team defence and given the Dockers tall forwards had little impact on the night, you would say he played his role well. The run down tackle of Chapman ( ? ) in the last quarter will be highlighted at the team meeting and was a big moment in salvaging the draw.
Allan shouldnt be critiqued on such a small sample size, especially given the role he was asked to play in the last quarter. He did get caught ball watching in the first quarter when he got sucked into a contest and his opponent Sharp kicked a goal on him. He was also instructed to swap wings during the first quarter, quite possibly because the coach felt he was being beaten by his first opponent. He will quickly learn AFL quality opposition requires much more respect defensively than VFL opposition. At 194cm and a genuine gut runner, it’s a good base to improve on.
Parker also can’t be critiqued on such a small sample size but in the short time he was on, he was involved in a couple very neat plays. There is no reason to think he won’t be much improved in 2025 either. He may yet be the biggest improver of them all having spent so little time at the club compared to others.
Really enjoyed what I saw from the above last night. A lot can change in one off season and there are no guarantees but they are all fortunate to be part of one of the very best programs in the AFL, so the ball is now firmly in their court.

[Pies4shaw]

I think that's a result we would have taken coming into the game, and again at halftime. It's a shame they didn't hang on to win, especially since they probably played well enough to win by 4 or 5 goals - but they did look to be going up and down in the one spot in the last 10 minutes, just physically spent. Still, with so much going against them, they remain the only undefeated team in the last 8 matches.

What was really encouraging was the form of the players who aren't established stars. Harrison and Richards have high levels of skill and pace and the other lads looked - even when they were a bit patchy, like they have a future at the level.

Also, a shout-out to Lipinski. He is just infinitely better than the talentless, backwards-running leper he replaced. He has his limitations when he doesn't have the ball but he is one of the most creative players in the team - so, he doesn't need to have the ball 40 times to play an adequate role. The third quarter last night was as much a consequence of his brilliance as the first quarter of the previous game was a display of Pendlebury's.

Finally, the coaching - getting that level of competitiveness out of a side containing 6 players that weren't seriously in their thinking on Grand Final day 2023 - and in circumstances where there were so many forced changes - was quite remarkable. Their ability to cobble together such high-level performance out of what they happen to have available to them should not be underestimated.

[stoliboy]