Post match. Pies go down by a goal - All comments please

[Joel]

That's dissapointing. Shaw has to produce more, otherwise he will be on the chopping blocks come season end.

[Adz]

Clement was good, however had 4 goals kicked on him and his job is to stop goals. Bucks was awesome. Rex Hunt seems to think his 25+ possi days are over and he must play forward. Apparently he can't run quick anymore too... Not so sure about that. Hopefully, for Buckley's sake, his hamstring troubles can be fixed for the next year. We seem to be lacking that extra forward (Tazza) and that fast midfielder to take us to the next step.
Hopefully Mick plays the young guys now the seasons shot. What a waste.

[^*Cl|T*^]

The skill level of our players, bar Buckley, is not good enough to be playing Malthouse's possession game plan. They are not playing the accountable game they have played the last two years. For some reason our midfield looks like they expect the other team to play our game plan, letting opponents break free too easily. However, I think this is due to our lack of pace. I don't know why Shaw isn't getting more game time, he was going well on Maxfield early on.
We need faster more skillful players through the midfield or we have to play a different game plan to suit the abilities of our players.

[labrooy]

Shaw may have spent 76 mins for his handful of possessions but I personally thought he did a good job on Maxfield in the first half. I don't think his job last night was to get possessions. Similarly J Cloke did a good job keeping Goodes out of the game for long periods by keeping him deep in the back line.

As for Guy, I would much rather he get 10 taps to his teammates than 30 to the opposition. Having said that I accept he is a developing player and is improving all the time.

[Johnson#26]

Is it just me or is this one of your silliest Johnson.

Player Review:

Alan Didak: 2/10 - Sat on the pine for most of the night, which is surprising given his recent form.

WTF - What form? One good game from 12?

Guy Richards: 3/10 - Tried his heart out in the ruck but was beaten by Ball at the finish. Should be proud of his efforts.

This is the best one.. 3/10 Should be proud of his efforts!!!!!!?????

Ben Johnson: 3/10 - Quietest match for a long time. Surprisingly sat on the bench for most of the night before coming on in the last quarter to hit the packs with some vigour.

Surprisingly? Has done bugger all in the last 5 games now after a bright start. Has lost his way.

Mark McGough: 3/10 - Similar to Johnson and Didak. Why was he on the bench for so long? When on, got front and centre often and his creative handball was a feature.

If it was such a feature how did he rate a 3? Those 7 handballs most have been zingers.

Cameron Cloke: 5/10 - Still continues his improvement. Led well, marked well but needed to score more goals to be a better contributer.

WTF 4 marks and 6 kicks and he gets a 5??

Be real, and check the stats my friend.

Didak: Very good against Roos, good against WCE, avergae at best vs Melb. 2/3 matches as at least good is fairly good form.

Richards: Yeah, I suppose I did make a mistake with that. He was good but was still beat (in my opinion) by Ball.

Johnson: Yes, he has been below par in recent weeks but still didn't deserve the time he got on the pine. Was good in the last quarter.

McGough: I gave him a 3 as he got a lot less game time then he deserved. Its pretty hard to judge a guy who only plays a 1/4 - a 1/2 of a game. He was ok when on but that missed goal stuck in my mind.

Cam Cloke: Maybe 5.5 was more realistic but a 5 is about right in my mind.

How would you have judged them?

[Lone Ranger]

Johnno was paid a lot of respect by having Kirk on him early...Kirk killed him. Thats why he ended up on the bench.
We were right in it till the 5 minute "arm wrestle" in the last quarter. Ball up after ball up ... a HUGE momentum boost if someone goals ... Kennelly eludes a diving Bucks and kicks a brilliant goal. Game Over.

[Cam]

Burns has been targeted the last two games - reduced his effectiveness considerably.

[spads]

What was worrying about the game for me, wasn't necessarily missing set shots on goal. The fact that we had the set-up to create a set shot, is a good sign. But we didn't really have many of these, nor many avenues to goal. Tarrant may change this, but we still havent kicked goals this year with him.

A lot of the goals we did kick, were lucky. Cam Cloke's clanger that went through, Josh Fraser's free kick right in front in the first quarter, Lonie's long goal that bounced through, Holland's 2 snaps. I wouldn't like to have to rely on these types of goals. I think we had our fair share of luck last night.

Buckley's goal on the run was outstanding though.

[Big T]

After 13 rounds of football - Points for 1033. That's less than 80 points per game. 14th in the league.

Johnson, I haven't seen the game but I enjoy your review every week and think it is very hard to judge a players game out of 10 - considering effect, effort, luck, the way he is coached, etc. Therefore ambiguities will always be there, however I personally rely on your assessment to help understand the game and how the players are progressing.

[magpiefanatic]

Please delist McGough - he ran into an open goal and did what Mick told him that he would do - kick like a crab!! - Anyone who thinks he knows better than the coach (McG at the start the year re his kicking!!) should be delisted.

Stinky McGough you stink!!!

Is he the only player EVER to miss a goal? Davis and Lokan missed easy ones as well, and I seem to recollect a couple that Tazza missed in the 2002 GF. There have been thousands of misses before and there will be thousands more.


2nd half - Collingwood 4 goals 11 behinds. Obviously others missed as well.

De-list yourself.

[Culprit]

Fantastic is all I can say, no worries about September. No standing out all night trying to get a ticket and end up the laughing stock at the end of the season.

I had to laugh when I hear Buckley and MM say we are still a chance for the finals.

Go and enjoy the game now, no pressure what so ever and it's going to be interesting who gets the flick and who we go after come November.

[sq3]

After the loss I looked at the players rating regarding the ground coverage and it STILL looks like the boys are not conditioned to play a full game of football.

DB does a good job with the rehab but the PIES have not been able to run out a full game now for 5 months starting with the WCE game and the losses to Blues & Dees were due to poor conditioning.

Being poorly conditioned after a 2 week layoff is completely unacceptable.

Rocca played really well as he is only 70% right.

Wakes and Presti are a joke and we need to trade to get good defenders - now anyone who suports those 2 in defense should just stop and think how many goals Taz and Pebbles would kick on them in a full game.

Lonie is improving and showed why MM wants to play him on the wing as he can get the ball midfield and pass to the forwards or kick for goal himself.

Stretch played another great game and was clearly the best ruckman on the graound - the 30 tapouts speaks for itself. But everytime he won the tap the Swans roved it and murdered us in the take aways and clearances. This was made easier as it seemed the Pies midfielders were running with deep sea divers boots on (the poor conditioning).

Shaw was too easily moved off the ball and in the last quarter actaully shepherded the way for the Swans to get a clear take away - this kid has skill but absolutely no confidence and is gun shy - he may be gone forever.

Davis is a lost cause and we should only be playing Dids as the small forward as Taz can be out at HF with his pace and ground coverage.

Bux just looked totally dumbfounded at several times in the game that his teammates could only execute poorly and that is what really cost them.

I am most disappointed that MM did not get the runner or at the breaks just get someone to stay on Okeefe - as that one move would have put us in a position to win the game.

MCG's poor miss was normal but just showed that his kicking is not up to AFL standard - I am tipping Swan will replace him now and for the remainder of the season.

Maxwell or Walker to come in now to make up for Wakes and Presti and taz back will be a big advantage for the Pies.

MCG, Shaw and Davis to be axed this week.

Hopefully now MM, Balmey and Eddie are contacting some US teams to find out how to source a better conditioning trainer/coach as THAT single handedly has cost the Pies the 2005 finals chances - and the board should have seen that after the pre season, Blues game, Dees game and all the other under achieving performances - the Swans ran over us.

Someone must he held accountable.

[Johnson#26]

Fantastic is all I can say, no worries about September. No standing out all night trying to get a ticket and end up the laughing stock at the end of the season.

I had to laugh when I hear Buckley and MM say we are still a chance for the finals.

Go and enjoy the game now, no pressure what so ever and it's going to be interesting who gets the flick and who we go after come November.

That made me think: How nice it will be to watch the finals without being one eyed. Oh well, play the kids and see where we end up in the draft. Then the fun really begins..

[Millane42]

Pretty pathetic, I was at the game and most of the players looked slow and disinterested. Shaw is a joke, Jason Cloke at full forward is a bigger joke, good one MM. Davis, Rocca and McGough cost us the game with their shots at goal. Just really spineless all around. This loss really hurts. Given that our season was on the line to make the finals and we produce an uninspiring contest and we are really lacking confidence.

James Clement tried really hard but didn't have support. O'Loughlin is just a freakish sort of player.

What a joke Collingwood. May as well not even turned up.

[Cannibal]

I must admit I logged in at three-quarter time intending to see what people were saying in chat/live scoreboard but the game was too damn exciting to sit in front of my PC. It was a game which had butterflies swarming in my stomach and kept me on the edge of my chair all night. I was shouting at the TV so loudly, I'm surprised Tim Lane wasn't heard complaining about it!

But after the game, I was just too damn annoyed to trust myself to say anything sensible, so have taken the time to calm down.

I read with interest everything people have said but it more or less amounts to the same material as can be seen in any post-match thread. It's no use looking for scapegoats. Basically, I saw this as a welcome return to the tough, hard, committed footy, the loss of which I was bemoaning in the pre-match thread. It really doesn't matter if you think X or Y player did something wrong which might have changed the match if he had done it right; what would be the point? One incident, even a dozen incidents, didn't cost us the match. Sydney made as many clangers than we did. To my mind, that's a pointer to the intensity and pressure players were under. I called it our 2004 GF in the pre-match and I think that's the type of game it was.

We started strongly and played out the full four quarters for the first time this year. We were committed and played hard footy, our trademark. So we should be feeling a bit happier with our form instead of whinging. We're almost back to where we were in 2002 and 2003. And that's an encouraging thought to carry into the remainder of the season.

After going 1-7, we've gone 3-2 and the two losses were in very tough, hard fought, close matches against very good opponents. I can see us going 6-3 for the rest of the season, but that may not be enough to get us into the finals. No matter. Taz will be back in front of goals next week. Plus we'll probably see some new players make their debuts over the next few weeks.

If you checked the Willi best players from the weekend, they were Shacks, Rowe, Swan, Heath Shaw and King. So, I'm feeling encouraged on a second front. These kids are playing in such consistently good form at Willi, it puts pressure on the senior players to perform and the selection committee to give them an opportunity to step up. Swan was promising in defence earlier in the year as was Maxwell when he was elevated from the rookie list. So, let's see what Shacks and Rowe can do in the middle and Heath Shaw on a wing/HFF.

My guess? Taz a certainty to return against Hawthorn and I fancy the chances of Shacks, possibly Rowe, to make his debut. I'd like to see Maxwell and Swan back in defence as well. We'll improve and develop greater depth and I'll be satisfied if we continue to play tough, hard, committed footy for the rest of the year.