Post match. Pies annihilate Cats - all comments

[mel_kay39]

I couldn't get to the game last night, but was invited to a bbq with a bunch of geelong supporters from work. i wore my 1979-1984 duffel jacket, just to liven things up, not expecting much. But wow, was the best night I have had for ages with a bunch opposition supporters. Living down in Torquay and working in Geelong has been a nightmare with the smug b^&*)@^ds. When I left the wake, I drove through Geelong. Not a soul around. Drove down the streets, honking the horn and hanging out the window. Loved it.

Can't wait for work on Monday, going to get in early and get the song going, before the 8.30 meeting. Should be fun

Mate, I feel your pain. I live in Geelong - have all my life - and are well and truly sick of their unreasonable hatred of Collingwood. It's not like we've cheated our way to countless premierships, or had to suckle from the AFL's teat like Brisbane and Sydney. You'd understand it then. But the way you get a "oh god not another Pie supporter" look and a groan or derogatory comment when you say you barrack for Collingwood down here is pretty hard to take at times. You'd think we barracked for Richmond or something. Now that I'd understand!
I predict the mother-in-law will avoid me for the next fortnight. Not that I'm in the habit of giving her shit when my boys thrash her boys. She just can't stand it when they do!

[raymond35]

This is what i've wondered all my life, why do morons hate Collingwood? If anyone should be logically disliked it is the 3 teams you mention, particularly Carlton.
Seeing as most teams either live off our money, or rob us of premierships i honestly don't understand it.

[eddiesmith]

I couldn't get to the game last night, but was invited to a bbq with a bunch of geelong supporters from work. i wore my 1979-1984 duffel jacket, just to liven things up, not expecting much. But wow, was the best night I have had for ages with a bunch opposition supporters. Living down in Torquay and working in Geelong has been a nightmare with the smug b^&*)@^ds. When I left the wake, I drove through Geelong. Not a soul around. Drove down the streets, honking the horn and hanging out the window. Loved it.

Can't wait for work on Monday, going to get in early and get the song going, before the 8.30 meeting. Should be fun

Mate, I feel your pain. I live in Geelong - have all my life - and are well and truly sick of their unreasonable hatred of Collingwood. It's not like we've cheated our way to countless premierships, or had to suckle from the AFL's teat like Brisbane and Sydney. You'd understand it then. But the way you get a "oh god not another Pie supporter" look and a groan or derogatory comment when you say you barrack for Collingwood down here is pretty hard to take at times. You'd think we barracked for Richmond or something. Now that I'd understand!
I predict the mother-in-law will avoid me for the next fortnight. Not that I'm in the habit of giving her shit when my boys thrash her boys. She just can't stand it when they do!

Sounds like a fun place to live when we beat them though Wonder what sort of reaction I will get in Geelong during the week with my Pies gear on, especially looking forward to wandering through Skilled stadium I assume they have a shop to look through

[Wombat42]

An important part of the performance was that the Pies were able to apply "The Crush". Outscoring Geelong in each quarter, withstanding the seven minute scratch-back in the Third and not taking the foot off the accelerator. It reminded me of that great Collingwood fan, Peter Brock's race at Bathurst where he set a lap record on the last lap to win by six or seven laps. He set the record to prove he wasn't nursing a tired car. The Pies kept running to the end to reinforce their superiority on the night.

The other aspect of "The Crush" is it removes the effect of poor umpiring, when you are clearly in front, you can withstand the occasional dodgy call. Remove the subtle (sometimes blatant) anti-Collingwood bias from the equation by being well in front.

This was a case of 100% teamwork for 100 % of the game by the Pies, against an opponent that was not prepared for the intensity.

Collingwood played as well in this game as any one could ask, in the future we need to see the same sort of commitment against teams that may be better prepared for the Collingwood style of play. When it all clicks together it is awesome to watch!

[ktszyu1]

Okay after finally grasping the win, I can talk about properly:

The most notable differences in our performance were quite obvious - the tackling. It's been well-documented already, but we had a 55% increase in tackles, which is simply outstanding. 55 in the first half, and teams average 52 for an entire match. And better yet, they were actually sticking. Ferocious tackles, that even had Gary Ablett looking over his shoulder. Lockyer, Thomas, Wellingham, Burns, Shaw (both), Obree all had 6 or more tackles. Outstanding stuff. High-pressure, one-on-one football is the way to go, and the way to combat the handball-happy running gameplan that is favoured by the best teams. And as a result of such fierce tackling, despite getting smashed in the ruck, we broke even in clearances with the best midfield in the competition. Furthermore, Pendlebury had 9 contested possessions, Lockyer 9, Obree 8, Didak 11, Medhurst 10.

Another thing: LONG KICKING! How good was it to see us kicking long? I loved it. And it wasn't just aimless long kicking, we were hitting targets, or putting it to the right/most dangerous spots. We average 75 long kicks a game, but we had 93 on Friday night. That's a 24% increase. And perhaps what made the long kicking so effective was the form turn-around by the likes of Cloke and Rocca, and all of our players had sticky hands. We had 18 contested marks for the match, compared to our usual average of 10, which is an 80% increase. That's a great figure for the team that's already the best contested marking side in the competition. Cloke had 6, Rocca 3, Medhurst 2, with a group of guys having one each.

A few other interesting stats: Heath Shaw and Marty Clarke both played predominately midfield roles for the first time this year, yet both played every single minute of the match. Add to that the fact that we ran out the match, and won every quarter, and perhaps we can see the benefits of our massive pre-season begin to emerge.

Where we can continue to improve: Our ruck division really needs to step up, we shouldn't lose in the hitouts against that sort of combination. I know Fraser had a niggle, but he had only 5 hitouts for the match, of which none went to advantage. Bryan had 14, of which 6 went to advantage. So we had 6 taps to advantage for the entire match. If we can rectify this, and continue the high-intensity, 4-quarter footy we displayed on Friday night, we will win the flag, I have no doubt. The key is doing it consistantly. I'm not getting ahead of myself, because I acknowledge the difficulty in sustaining such intensity for over half a season.

[Geek]

*gasp* Surely not "Sidestepper Pendles!!!"

Nah I'm just taking the piss. He doesn't usually smash th epacks - not heavy enough. But there's ways and there's ways of getting the pill.l

On the rucking, yeah we were probably weakest there last night though some aspect had to be the weak point and everything else was so damn good. I hope Rogan's ok. You don't wanna play roulette with your knees in this game I think. If he's not good, then bring Wood back.

We face up to Coxy next week. Hmmm... Frase would struggle against him in the ruck, but we would need his mobility round the ground to nullify Cox's. Having Bryan to jump into Cox at the ruck though might take away at least some of his effectiveness.

But... last years semi (and check out this statement) showed that Bryan has a bigger tank than Cox. Which of the two rucks was cramping in th efinal quarter? Which was running forward to kick the crucial goal? Which one's improved his fitness this year more?

Anyways... that's probably a topic for next week's pre-game thread. For once, I'm firmly in the camp that supporters shouldn't get too far ahead of themselves. Gonna be dwelling on friday night for a few days yet

[ktszyu1]

Fraser easily beat Cox in the Vic vs. All Stars match, however he does appear to be carrying an injury. So it will be interesting.

[medders#7]

GOOOOOOOOD WINNNN

watching it for the 3rd time!!!!!

cant help but notice we r 6th with 20 points

if we won those games we should of

North and BL we would be on 28 points and 4th and only down from top 2 by a game

[rocketronnie]

Okay after finally grasping the win, I can talk about properly:

The most notable differences in our performance were quite obvious - the tackling. It's been well-documented already, but we had a 55% increase in tackles, which is simply outstanding. 55 in the first half, and teams average 52 for an entire match. And better yet, they were actually sticking. Ferocious tackles, that even had Gary Ablett looking over his shoulder. Lockyer, Thomas, Wellingham, Burns, Shaw (both), Obree all had 6 or more tackles. Outstanding stuff. High-pressure, one-on-one football is the way to go, and the way to combat the handball-happy running gameplan that is favoured by the best teams. And as a result of such fierce tackling, despite getting smashed in the ruck, we broke even in clearances with the best midfield in the competition. Furthermore, Pendlebury had 9 contested possessions, Lockyer 9, Obree 8, Didak 11, Medhurst 10.

Another thing: LONG KICKING! How good was it to see us kicking long? I loved it. And it wasn't just aimless long kicking, we were hitting targets, or putting it to the right/most dangerous spots. We average 75 long kicks a game, but we had 93 on Friday night. That's a 24% increase. And perhaps what made the long kicking so effective was the form turn-around by the likes of Cloke and Rocca, and all of our players had sticky hands. We had 18 contested marks for the match, compared to our usual average of 10, which is an 80% increase. That's a great figure for the team that's already the best contested marking side in the competition. Cloke had 6, Rocca 3, Medhurst 2, with a group of guys having one each.

A few other interesting stats: Heath Shaw and Marty Clarke both played predominately midfield roles for the first time this year, yet both played every single minute of the match. Add to that the fact that we ran out the match, and won every quarter, and perhaps we can see the benefits of our massive pre-season begin to emerge.

Where we can continue to improve: Our ruck division really needs to step up, we shouldn't lose in the hitouts against that sort of combination. I know Fraser had a niggle, but he had only 5 hitouts for the match, of which none went to advantage. Bryan had 14, of which 6 went to advantage. So we had 6 taps to advantage for the entire match. If we can rectify this, and continue the high-intensity, 4-quarter footy we displayed on Friday night, we will win the flag, I have no doubt. The key is doing it consistantly. I'm not getting ahead of myself, because I acknowledge the difficulty in sustaining such intensity for over half a season.

Interesting post... many of the stats for the night indicate the unlying reasons for our style of play on Friday night.

To me most of them are indicative of a central committment to winning the ball, and then doing whats needed to win the match - Desire and committment.

I was pleased with the improved tackling technique also. Earlier in the year our tackling was ordinary and we were giving away a lot of free kicks for poorly executed tackles. Also as a result of our rimprovement, our tackling stuck - very few tackles were broken that night.

The general improvement in play all round also successfully nullified some of our player's kicking deficiency -as it did last year when we we playing well. Also last night, our decision-making was so much better which helped in that area too. An average kick can be fine if the purpose and timing are there also.

All this leads from our desire and committment to the game, our morale.

it was wonderful to watch!

[MargOZ]

Oh my god! I've watched the replay 3 times already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know it was only one match in a season so far BUT I wish we could bottle that intensity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO PIES!

[Donny]

Same here Marg.

I've mentioned it elsewhere but watching the subsequent matches of this round has been like watching a lesser standard league or the seconds and just adds lustre to that amazing Friday night performance.

[Jason]

I'm chomping at the bit for next weeks footy, if we can play that style of footy each week our games will be a wonder to behold.

[1eyedpie]

Okay after finally grasping the win, I can talk about properly:

The most notable differences in our performance were quite obvious - the tackling. It's been well-documented already, but we had a 55% increase in tackles, which is simply outstanding. 55 in the first half, and teams average 52 for an entire match. And better yet, they were actually sticking. Ferocious tackles, that even had Gary Ablett looking over his shoulder. Lockyer, Thomas, Wellingham, Burns, Shaw (both), Obree all had 6 or more tackles. Outstanding stuff. High-pressure, one-on-one football is the way to go, and the way to combat the handball-happy running gameplan that is favoured by the best teams. And as a result of such fierce tackling, despite getting smashed in the ruck, we broke even in clearances with the best midfield in the competition. Furthermore, Pendlebury had 9 contested possessions, Lockyer 9, Obree 8, Didak 11, Medhurst 10.

Another thing: LONG KICKING! How good was it to see us kicking long? I loved it. And it wasn't just aimless long kicking, we were hitting targets, or putting it to the right/most dangerous spots. We average 75 long kicks a game, but we had 93 on Friday night. That's a 24% increase. And perhaps what made the long kicking so effective was the form turn-around by the likes of Cloke and Rocca, and all of our players had sticky hands. We had 18 contested marks for the match, compared to our usual average of 10, which is an 80% increase. That's a great figure for the team that's already the best contested marking side in the competition. Cloke had 6, Rocca 3, Medhurst 2, with a group of guys having one each.

A few other interesting stats: Heath Shaw and Marty Clarke both played predominately midfield roles for the first time this year, yet both played every single minute of the match. Add to that the fact that we ran out the match, and won every quarter, and perhaps we can see the benefits of our massive pre-season begin to emerge.

Where we can continue to improve: Our ruck division really needs to step up, we shouldn't lose in the hitouts against that sort of combination. I know Fraser had a niggle, but he had only 5 hitouts for the match, of which none went to advantage. Bryan had 14, of which 6 went to advantage. So we had 6 taps to advantage for the entire match. If we can rectify this, and continue the high-intensity, 4-quarter footy we displayed on Friday night, we will win the flag, I have no doubt. The key is doing it consistantly. I'm not getting ahead of myself, because I acknowledge the difficulty in sustaining such intensity for over half a season.

It is pretty hard to gage on TV but at times the pies looked to be implementing the Pagan's paddock set up. We all know the strength of the cats back half and setting up many goals from the drive they generate out of defence but at times we seemed to be streaming towards our goal and long kicks to advantage was the norm for the night which unsettled the cat defenders! Was this the case for viewers at the game or have I got it wrong as I said its sometimes hard to gage on TV.

[MACDAICOS]

How do we all feel about being 7th?

[swooper]

It sucks