Pre-Match: Collingwood v West Coast - Sat 17May03

[The Prototype]

They will play Jackovich down back, because they will need someone like him to shut down our forward line. If they are to play Glenn Jackovich as a forward their backline will be weak, and will help set up a Collingwood victory. I reckon it will be a close game, up until the final quarter where Collingwood should have the legs to run it out.

[HAL]

Let's wait and see what they do.

[hscotland29]

Feeding off the last win the woods will do very well, but the players so cant get complacent. Too many times do they play a sensational game of football just to take a step of the metal and let teams back in.

100% anger and ferocity, like we showed adelaide.

It is my opinion that Stunning will do much better this week, he did a good job against Clarke. Those second grabs are a damn effective means for him to assert dominance.

Wear gardiner, shutdown Cousins...

But watch that JUDD kid faulter!

[grims]

haha cousins is so over rated. People over here rating in a class with buckley if not above buckley, but he is no where near buckley. The eagles would be wise to tag, cause if their midfield thinks they are going to play off woewodin and buckley they will pay for it. Eagles have had a pretty easy run so far this year, still haven't beat anyone in melbourne (melbourne don't count as they are piss weak)

[Joel]

HUGE NEWS: Jackovich is out of tomorrow's game. This is the press release (thanks to Radioshark at Bigfooty - fellow Pies supporter):

[Blanch]

He may be old and he may be slow but Jako knows where to go to get the ball and helps position the backline. There will be a lot of pressure on Mcintosh now. Glass, Mcintosh and Carol are their big defenders now. One of Josh, Ant or Taz will take them to the cleaners. I'm much more confident with Jako out.

Pies by 36 points.

[hscotland29]

I had so much confidence in McKee now i hear he wont be there - I am beginning to feel a little impatient to see how this game unfolds, oh well i'll be there after a quick stop to the locker room

[silf85]

Today's umps are

#8- Brett Rosebury (1st Game for 2003)
#30- Shane McInerney ($£$%^%%$ disgraceful)
#32- Darren Goldspink

[Blanch]

Bloody Goldspink...geez I hate that bugger!

[Ian]

Back to the drawing board WCE 18.11 Coll 15.13

[Chantal85]

That first qtr was absolutely shocking..we started playing really good footy about half way through the 2nd qtr. I dont know what happened in the 4th. It really looked as though it was ours. Oh well all in all collingwood played a good game, but they just cant give up at any time!

[Bones]

3 words

O'Bree you dikhead!!!!

[JasonWildRemembered]

We have BIG problems as a team...not just one or two people...but the next 10 weeks are relatively easy, so I'm not giving up just yet...but by god they break your heart...




Star

[annewilo]

Is Jason Wild dead?

[lethalburns]

The next ten weeks are easy? hmmmm

Some things that concern me... I dont mean to be negative.. just wanting to generate discussion on what I find a worry...

- Our midfield does not kick goals, even when it is hoarding possession. We rely far too much on set forwards kicking goals.

In contrast, you saw today what a fast skilled midfield can do in the span of 5 minutes. IMHO their midfield is possibly the best in AFL. The amount of running talent they have is scary.

- We are not a 'smart' football side. I watched Buckley move today and if there was a PhD for reading and creating play, he would be the first to have one. There are only a couple of players in our side that are proactive rather than reactive impulsive types.

- Our backline has no strategy to fall back to when a side sets up a very good zone. We played into their hands for 30 minutes.

- Why was our best pace started on the bench when we were clearly being run off our feet early?

- Williams is a reasonable pickup, yet possibly one of the softest guys to pull on the B&W journsey in a while.

- Wowey for a guy who prides himself on fitness, seems mighty stuffed all the time. Not to mention his the only guy I know who manages to go to ground when the wind blows.

- Tarrant is the only 6ft+ guy I can think of who knows he cant kick 50 meters easily. Running around your opponent at 50 meters is a sign you have no faith in your kicking. Plenty of talent, yet some glaring flaws for this boy.

With all this said, we lost to a very good football side. I personally do not think we have a BAD team, yet I don’t think we have a diverse range of gifted players either. A lot of our guys are toilers who work their guts out, and that’s why I love em. Unfortunately guts and determination wont always prevail, and maybe we got to take it on the chin when it happens, keep getting back up, and hope things start to turn. My gut tells me that we are a couple of surprise developments or trades off a flag. Our talent to courage scale ratio needs some tilting towards the former before we become a consistently dangerous side every year.

On a final note, I think we are doing OK considering losing Lokyer. He has been one of our primary taggers, and link men for the last 3-4 years. His pace, footskill and ability to play different positions make him invalueable to us IMHO. I know plenty dont agree with me, however I think he leaves a big hole in a side that lacks a lot of his natural talents.