Post Match v Pussies...all comments here thanks.....

[Morrigu]

Just read on another site that Dids may have a broken jaw!!! This season went pear shaped vey early and that just adds to it

Sick of making excuses for Ant at his age it is all downhill I am afraid - may still have some good games left but will never be the presence or take the game by the cruff of the neck like he should do

Oh well - bring on 2005!!

[stik35]

I was very disappointed in tonight's game.

It was over-umpired - usually in the cats favour - and some of our players may as well not have bothered showing up.

Rocca had a crap game. A few others appeared to be injured during the course of the game.

Even though we did well until 3/4 time (no thanks to the umpires), as soon as we took the field in the last it was as if they had just switched off.

Even Josh, who normally stands up, just gave up and let the cats run away with the ball.

I would not mind so much if they at least gave it everything, but once again we appeared unable to run out the game.

Brisbane only need to show up with 1/2 their team next week, Lynch and Voss may as well stay home and rest.

(Maybe I should have waited until tomorrow before I posted this as I am not too happy about it right now.)

PS: Thanks to the umpires for those last few free kicks after the game was won!

[tazza2000]

You are actually kidding here, aren't you? If Geelong had kicked straight, they would have easily beaten us. Our disposal was 2nd rate tonight.
Who the hell have we beaten to make us so deserved to be in the top eight?

We aren't that bad of a team. We hardly ever get blown out of the water in matches, we've had several close matches, most could be won apart from final quater fadeouts, with top 8 teams such as Essendon, Port Adelaide, St. Kilda, Melbourne, Sydney and Geelong. The reason that we are not playing in the finals this year is due to the team not making the most of their oppotunities.

I think it is you who underrate geelong

[makkawakka]

It's not all so bad.

Now we get to see a bunch of youngsters play and see where our future lies.

Next year will be the year.

[Dale61]

The most disappointing part of tonights loss was seeing those Collingwood supporters leaving the stadium early. There weren't many, but one is too many.

As Malty said post-match, there is an AFL rule that states at least three players MUST be taken off the list every year, and there are a number of kids that they want to see more of (I read this as Mullins, Nixon, King, Walker, Rowe) and some we just want to see (Shacks, B&H Shaw, Morrison?) if they can play. (Priority picks for 5 or less wins?)

It is still mathematically possible to make the eight, but other results would have to go our way, so basically, our immediate future is not in our hands.

Let those with injury niggles have a spell and let the kids play.

BTW, MM also stated that Maxie is NOT a listed player (elevated rookie), so there could be at least four players shown the door at years end. Anyone want to guess who those four might be? (Williams, McKee, Kinnear & Lokan)

[grims]

I really hope that was Mckee's last game of football for collingwood, he gets beaten by everyone in the ruck and looks very lost out there. I think presti should have a bit of a run a willi to get some fitness up cause he looks very slow at the moment. Season is almost over (still a slim chance.) We've just got to try and better the football club by playing a few more of the kids.

[London Dave]

We aren't that bad of a team.

At the present, we are. Get used to the idea.

[Johnson#26]

[STOKA35]

What can you say we played we tried we did,nt conquer.
With all our thoughts and predictions seemed like bomber thompson surfed this site and made his own game plan which we could not counter attack.

POSITIVES
-Didak(until injured) and leon got more of the ball again
-Rowe and maxwell at times show plenty of poise
-bucks played well but seemed angry
-Taz ok
-tarkyn good
-geelongs goal kicking

NEGATIVES
-Rocca poor if he is injured MM please come out and say
-Fraser seemed to get pushed of the ball a bit tonight
-telstra dome surface or choice of footwear
-burns, licuria, woey did'nt seem to be as effective as previous week
-scarlett baiting the crowd what goes around comes around

Now what.....

[Johnson#26]

Just a few things to add:

-Umpiring was very poor. That Wakelin decision in the 3rd was disgraceful.

-We are carrying many passengers.

-Rocca is badly out of sorts/carrying an injury.

Put simpley, this hasn't been our season. Injuries, off field woes etc. Lets regroup and have a massive assualt on 2005!


Note: Players to delist/trade are:
Kinnear, Williams, McKee (maybe), Lokan. If we need 4, thats who goes.

[Cannibal]

Those who think we lost last night because we played "insipid", "crap" or think the umpires gave us a raw deal are way off the mark.

It was a game played under finals intensity, right from the very start - hard and tough; there were no easy possessions to be won, they had to be earned the hard way.

Both defences played tough, tight footy and were very hard at the ball. Scarlett and Harley are a cornerstone to Geelong's success. Scarlett is one mean, tough bugger and I think there are 15 other clubs which would love to have him (incidently, he will probably be video reported for kneeing Dids in the back, a quite unnecessary act, and arguably also for the flying arm to Did's head in the tackle immediately preceding it). There was no standout forward on either side - Kingsley and Graham kicked three for Geelong, Taz and Pebbles kicked three for us. Call it a draw.

However, Scarlett did more than defend. He played up the ground a lot and Rocca couldn't go with him. For that, on top of his defensive meanness, I rank him second only to Steven King for having an influence on the game. But he was matched for running the ball out of defence by Jimmy Clement who turned in one of the best games I have ever seen him play. He surely loves the big matches this guy!

The ruck was almost a one-sided affair, very much a typical, dominant performance from King, arguably BOG, a beautiful display of old-fashioned tap-out rucking (37 hitouts). Fraser had the edge around the ground and was even ruck-roving some of King's taps. He didn't give in all night but was beaten (but not disgraced). McKee showed quite clearly again that he is simply no longer capable of playing at this level, so we just couldn't throw Fraser forward for any length of time to try to upset the Geelong defensive structure. We need Richards back before we can do that.

Geelong's midfield was much more prominent than ours but the pressure exerted by our guys held them in check until the last quarter. Their inaccurate kicking at goal was not profligacy but a reflection of the sheer intensity of the game and pressure placed on them when they were close to goal. Similarly with the inaccurate disposal - it was caused by players simply not having that extra split-second to balance and deliver to a teammate. The gang-tackling from both sides was awesome.

For Geelong, Bartel, Ling and Corey just slighted shaded our guys for three quarters and ran rampant in the last (Geelong racked up 80% possession for 15 minutes in the last quarter when they won the game). Dids, Bucks and Johnno, in particular, were tremendous and Woey was running all over the ground. Leon showed enormous courage winning the ball under pressure and his one-grab pickups were extraordinary.

On the night, however, we were beaten by a team which showed its credentials as a Top Four side. We are arguably a Finals quality side but we won't be playing in them and maybe that's fair enough, given the hole we put ourselves in early in the season. But that we lost last night was because we played a better side, not because we are a bad side.

[Final note: a few weeks ago, some posters started arguing that players should be dropped for not having double-digit possessions. Well, last night, only four of our guys didn't rack up double-digits but Geelong fared worse; seven of their guys were kept to single digits. It really was a strong effort from all our guys.]

[Dr Alf Andrews]

Abysmal game of football.

Geelong are a straight-sets candidate at best. So how bad does that make us?

I've never seen so many players go arse-over-tit ... I've never seen so many players cough the ball up to the opposition.

And both sides were equally to blame.

Maybe the fact that the two sides wore identitical jumpers might have helped to explain the turnovers.

And the inadequacy of the playing surface might help to explain the A-O-T syndrome.

But if that game was a blockbuster worthy of a full house, then I'm Mick Jagger.

I wouldn't give you tuppence for either side ... and on what I saw last night, expect more Collingwood misery in 2005.

We are cactus.

Geelong won because they were the best of a bad lot on the night.

[Dale61]

Hey Doc, Eddie gave you a mention last night. Cometti mentioned something about the cheersquad not having any PhD's, and then mentioned you and offered to show Cometti a copy of your thesis.

[piedys]

So can we hope Brisbane will declare at half-time next week?
Our main objective next week should now be breaking Lynch's jaw and little else.
It's payback time with NOTHING to lose.

dyso

[Woods Of Ypres]

The Fat Lady Is Singing (in the kitchen)
(shut up mum!)