Pre-Match: Collingwood v Fitzroy Bears, all comments here...

[David]

because I want to talk about it now.

What are our chances? Brisbane were far from terrible over in Perth, and we are playing on their home ground... I reckon they're going to do really well this year, so this will be anything but an easy win.

how will we win it? And who's going to get Brown?

[John Wren]

i applaud your desire to want to talk about it. this thread should be turned into a sticky for the pre-game:

http://www.magpies.net/nick/bb/viewtopic.php?t=42296

obviously we need to stop brown, and brennan and bradshaw and hooper and black and .... oh dear.

stop the supply and we can stop brown and in turn brisbane.

[kambarker]

Its going to be tough........they will want to win this one at Home in front of their supporters after loss this week.

We will have to play all 4 quarters...............like we played the 4th against the Dockers!!

And stop Brown et al!!

Will be humid and sticky.................forcast rain.

Iam going...........will make my support ,sound Loud and Clear amongst the Lions!!

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

The boys will be keen to atone for last year's debacle. Should be enough to get us over the line. That and the obvious. Shoot Jonathon Brown.

A leg wound will do

[David]

We'll have to play better than last week, and by all accounts we played quite well last week.

Let's hope Brisbane doesn't become our bogey team... again

[daics cousin]

This game will be tough,especially because a few will try and go woody,so he must get some strong support from Fraser this week.
I reckon Wakelin will go to Jonathon brown.Maxwell to fill the hole.
Obrien can take brennan.
Nathan Brown to Bradshaw.
Either rhyce or heath to take hooper.Which leaves Goldsac ?
Their midfield must be stopped,the blacks,power,johnston etc.
Will be a tough game but they haven't got the backline to stop our forwards.....Rocca,Medhurst,reid,Cloke,fraser.
Didak and davis may run through the midfield and push forward.
Plus Benny Johnson may come in for Egan (who has no defensive skills)
Also too we forget that the General Burns will be back this week,with holland also pushing for selection.
We won on their turf last year,so Pies by 20 points in the end.

[mel_kay39]

Didn't Brown kick five or six in a losing side? I would, personally, double-team him. Other teams do it to Rocca, why can't we? Maxy and Wakes would do the job, maybe even Brown although I think it would be confusing for the commentators, trying to explain (especially on radio) which Brown they're talking about!
So I would put Brown on Bradshaw, Goldie on that new kid Mithell Clark or whatever his name is, and double-team their Brown. As someone else said, the boys will be wanting to make up for their non-effort of Rd 17 last year. Rocca and Travis will get their best defenders, obviously, so Medhurst and Thomas and maybe even Swan should sneak under the radar a bit. Didak will be tagged, but not knowing who the Brion's taggers are these days, it remains to be seen whether he'll manage to throw them off. Not sure who I'd have on Black. He gave us the run-around last year. Might be trouble.

[lethalburns]

I'd rather be playing West Coast in Perth.

Lions will be a huge challange.

Hope we do it but my head says no.

[DaVe86]

Double teaming Brown is not the answer. That just means loose guys for Brisbane in defence. Our loose guys will be talls covering Brown, offering no run. Their loose guys will be Lappin, Macdonald and Johnstone and will absolutely dominate. You could have 10 on Brown, and these guys will still find a way to him.


The key is midfield pressure. No loose men. If Brown wants to take 20 marks, make sure he has to work up the ground for them. Make Brisbane stagnant around the ground. That means our players will naturally go into defence and offer plenty of cover. Giving Brisbane such run is dangerous. Men on Men is the way to go.

[kickit2me]

It'll be huge.

Brown on Brown, Wood vs Hamburger, Matthews vs Malthouse, Burns back, sausage rolls, Brissie weather, Leon Davis, Russ Hinze Medal, and a 4 goal win.

[Pied Piper]

I think this game is extremely winnable, and I get to see more of the Brions than most of you. Sure, they have some massive strengths - Brown is the most dominant if not the best player in the competition and their ruck division and midfield is A-grade. Charman is a force of nature, Leuenberger will be a superstar and Black, Power and Lappin are still formidable when the ball hits the deck.

But the Lions also have some important weaknesses, too. They lack top-notch flankers - Ashley McGrath is unlikely to play and if he does, he'll be underdone - and they rarely get enough goals out of their midfield. This leaves them structurally inflexible and overly reliant on Brown. They also lack genuine depth - a couple of bad injuries and they will struggle.

Both Bradshaw and Brennan can play back, especially Bradshaw, but because of their weaknesses up forward, they are reluctant to do so. The defence is a bit on the no-name side, but not to be underestimated - Merrett beat Rocca twice last year and Patfull accounted for Cloke in the round 17 disaster. Nevertheless, they are inexperienced and I think may struggle with Collingwood's rotations through this area (Didak, Davis, Thomas and Medhurst).

Jed Adcock is likely to miss and he's a major loss for the Brions, as he has become a key playmaker. Most likely they will bring in Sherman and he was badly exposed last year - he gets the ball, but is selfish and a bit soft for Leigh Matthews' liking. The biggest problem is Black, and here is a weakness that Collingwood must address - without Brodie Holland (who I'm no great fan of anyway) we lack a genuine run-with player. People here sniff at Alan Toovey but forget he played some pretty good games last year and has a big engine - he may have a role to play for us yet. Anyway, If SOMEONE can limit Black's output, we'll be well in the game.

As for how to stop Brown - see my earlier post on this. An elephant gun would help, but I'll back our Brown for starters with Maxwell and O'Brien helping out. O'Brien is just too small to stop Brown on his own.

On the whole though, last year's aberration aside (Brisbane played great footy that night but aren't yet good enough to play it consistently), I think Collingwood have superior flexibility, depth, youth and leg speed. A win here would give the boys enormous confidence and I'm tipping the Pies by 17.

[Zakal]

Yeah some good points here, and i think Piper has the right balance re Brown.

Whoever we play on him needs to get SOME support from guys like Maxxy...but we cannot afford (as dave mentioned) to become so brown concious that we double-team him all the time. (Dropping back off your man to help out is not double-teaming).

I think the best guy, on paper, to take Brown (J) is Presti...but he wont be playing, so the job falls to our Brown (N). He's taller and quicker than Presti, but lacks a lot of experience and Presti is probably stronger. J definitely is. He needs to play J just like he played Pavlich last week...don't got for touch until the very last moment, and try and force him deep and wide. If J traps N one-out in the goalsquare, it is highly likely N will just get pushed aside, and J kick a bag.

THe onus is on our midfield to ensure the delivery to Brown is poor, and this is accomplished by playing hard, accountable footy thru the middle. We are much better on paper than the Lions, and we should be favourites. But they are clearly our bogey side, and we therefore have to be on our game at all times.

Take this game seriously and put in a 4 quarter effort and we will win the game. Of this i have no doubt. They cannot beat us if we get this part right, and that puts the ball in our court right from the opening bounce. But if we go in unprepared, lazy or arrogant...we give them the perfect opportunity to knock us of, and after last year, i will be furious if we allow it to happen.

[Dave The Man]

Collingwood won't know until Wednesday whether forward Sean Rusling requires another shoulder reconstruction that would ruin a third successive AFL season.

Rusling injured his left shoulder during last Saturday's win over Fremantle at the MCG, which prompted fears he would need another bout of surgery to mend the joint.

Scans confirmed Rusling would require some sort of surgery after his latest blow, but the Magpies are unsure how bad the injury is or what sort of surgery he requires.

Rusling, 21, suffered serious injuries to his left shoulder in 2006 and 2007, limiting the South Australian to a combined ten games over those two years.

Collingwood football operations chief Geoff Walsh said Rusling would on Wednesday visit a specialist, who would determine what sort of surgery he needed.

Rusling has impressed in his 17 games (19 goals) for the Magpies as a speedy forward on the lead with sure hands and has provided a good foil for Travis Cloke and Anthony Rocca.

Well That would at least be 6+ Weeks - Poor Kid

http://news.theage.com.au/magpies-await ... -21h3.html

[DEBPIES]

Pretty unfortunate...I sincerely hope it's good news on Wednesday.

[favourites 2008]

*Fingers and toes are crossed* the X factor...