Post Match. Pies Blitz Bombers - All comments please.

[Doc63]

What a fantastic win that was.

After last week's performance, I was looking forward to going to today's game more than I have for a couple of years, and they didn't let me down.

It was just a great team performance right across the ground.

The medal could have gone to Treloar, Pendles or Sidey - they were all great. Pendles has been back to his sublime best the past two games.

I thought Dunn was an outside chance to for the game he played on Daniher.

We need to start a petition for Stephenson to keep the number 35 - he'll do it proud.

And big Cox!!! He is just going to get better & better. He will kick a bag shortly.

When you think of the players we have to come back, its going to be very interesting. Glad I'm not a selector.

Really looking forward to how we go against Richmond. Even if we don't win, as long as we show the improvement from the last 3 weeks, it will stand us in good stead for the rest of the season.

I don't think there will be too many changes. I don't think they will bring in anyone who didn't play in the 2nds, So I cant see Moore, Adams or Elliot coming back in yet - In think they'll be conservative with those 3. Maybe just Wells & Fasolo - depends on how everyone pulls up.

And another great coaching performance from Buckley - hopefully he, and the team, can keep it up for the rest of the season. With our draw really opening up after the Geelong game in Round 8, anything is possible.

Its great to be excited about the football again!

[Presti35]

Another meme going round...

[Geek]

Such a good win today. Showed we could play good grinding pressure footy and also showed a bit of dash and flair as well.

Yep. Dons were missing Fantasia and that hurts them a lot. Probably as much as us missing Elliott. Ambrose across half back would have been useful too as he can play medium and small. But then Moore, Wells, Adams, Fas, etc...

Dons lost Begley early and he can be fairly useful, but is no star by any stretch. Green has started brightly this year but was invisible in the 1st and then pinged a hammy trying to keep up. Neither player features much in their midfield rotation so losing them wasn't what was responsible for them fading so badly. Reckon we are just fitter.

Reckon we got the rub of a couple of pretty contentious decisions that we would not normally have got and in the case of the non-htb for Crisp, it was could to see us take maximum toll. Even so, I've seen other players get away with that sort of disposal - usually it's the protected species big name players though, not players of Crisp's ilk and certainly not wearing our stripes. As usual there were plenty of throws and so on, from both teams, that went completely ignored by the maggots. Yeah their performance was poor again but I think we got the better ride this one time. Certainly injuries and umpires weren't the difference. I think we still would have been better on the day. Just played better footy right the way through.

Good to see Stringer choke at a critical time, especially after having a go at Pendles. Rumours I hear about Pendles is that he's a fine and upstanding gentleman. Rumours I hear about Stringer aren't nearly as flattering. Too toxic for WBD but Essington reckons he fits right in worthy of a coupe of 2nd rounders. But what would you expect from a bunch of drug cheats?

Even better to see that dickhead Daniher putting in such a poor performance as well. Where's your twirly fingers now ya big goose?

What a spud.

To think I was worried about the impact he could have had on the game. 22 possessions and a negative effect on the result. An absolute liability for 85% of the match. Strikes me as a bit of a slow learner too so long may it continue.

Merrett and Zaharakis got a lot of it and Heppell was solid but our mids combined to beat them pretty comfortably in the end. Good to see them sacrifice Smith's game in trying to curb Sidey. They don't have the midfield depth to cover "losing" Smith and Sidey just wound up burning him off over the course of the game anyway. If there was a 5th quarter, he would have kicked 8 today. To think that we can still drop Adams and Wells into that midifeld....

As for their forwards - no chance. Yeah, this is where losing Green and Begley hurt, but 5 goals to red time in the last was shite - I don't are who you think they were missing. Anyone else see whatsisname aiming for goal at 5.10 thinking "you know... if he gets a point it will be like that other time we played 'em here".

Good times.

Geez our back 6 is starting to look good and what a difference it is making seeing more of our mids dropping back into D50 to help out. Shaz might never win a Stawell Gift but he is fast enought o get where he needs to be most times and then he just beats whoever he meets when he gets there. He must be deadset loving playing the footy he's playing after all that time on the sidelines.

Muz showed he doesn't just rebound. He can defend as well. Clangers worked his way into it nicely and hopefully found a bit of form to take into Sunday. Maynard is finding more and more of it which is great but is still struggling with getting it to where it needs to go. It's taking him a while to work his way out of this slump so hopefully it means he will take a while to fall out of his good form patch when it comes along. If he hits his straps, then watch out.

WHE was great. Knew he would show up at some stage soon. Stevo is a joy to watch. Aish just keeps on improving.

When it was getting to the end and they started talking about ANZAC Medals, it struck me that I couldn't really pick who should have got it. Think Treloar was a worthy winner with his stats and goals as well as that ability to hold the ball and let play go past him long enough so he can accelerate through the gap they leave. Can't recall any howlers of kicks either. To be frank though, I reckon there's a bunch who could have staked a claim. Dunn and Sidey were great, Pendles wound the clock back a bit and Grundy, after a slow start just ground them down until he could cut loose in the end.

But yeah... Don't think we're going that well. I mean sure we beat Carlton but they are shit and we should have won by more. And Adelaide in Adelaide was because of the wet and because they were missing 2 and a half of their best mids and our forward injuries can't be counted the same way apparently. And Essendon? Brittle under man-to-man pressure and somehow, not as fast as I remember. (It has nothing to do with our faster 22 and more direct style of play. Honest )

[Streak]

[AN_Inkling]

The really great thing about this game is that Essendon played like us at our worst, kicking backwards, sideways and had very few quality line breaking runs.

The weakness of their team is they are too tall (Stewart should't be playing) and their runners are too small. Adding Smith and Green to an already small lineup was not smart. We took advantage of both, smashing them in contested ball and rebounding from half back time and again.

Never would have believed that we'd look quicker and run better than Essendon. I've said it a lot, but this team has transformed. It hasn't happened overnight, it's been building, but now that we have some continuity and crucial additions in Murray (it's beyond belief how good he has been) and Stephenson we are putting it all together.

[Geek]

[Geek]

Just looking at the highlights Dave linked to. Loving BT and Lethal saying Tippa should have got a free for high contact when he's clearly ducked into it

Give it up BT. You're a hasbeen.

(Of course, the second free kick a half minute later should have been paid to him)

[K]

How many consecutive quarters have we now won (and how does it compare with past Pie efforts)?

[Mugwump]

Against GWS we saw some seeds that might sprout. Carlton, Green shoots. Adelaide, blades of leaf and lawn in full view. Then today it teemed warm rain and then the sun shone. The defence, in particular, was awesome. I have rarely seen a team so choked and frustrated. We wrapped them in our coils and then crushed the diaphragm to a reed. Then we devoured them in the last.

We’re back. There may be ups and downs but we finally have a team that can approach almost any task with confidence and with some of our x-factor players still on the sidelines.

I am delighted to see Eddie’s maturity and courage last year rewarded. Despite immense pressure, he refused to give in to the baying hounds, and he trusted the obvious quality of Nathan Buckley as a man and a footballer and a thinker to win through. The talent has taken longer to blossom than anyone thought, but here it is. God I love these periods in footy, when you know you’re starting to break through after years of pain.

[qldmagpie67]

It was hard to give GB votes today as really you could have handed out votes to a dozen players easily and not been wrong.
For mine that says a lot
To me it means we are sharing the work an the players are happy to the dirty work if it means there team mate gets a better opportunity.
So many positives again today
Take away the first 10-12 minutes when we decided we wanted to bomb it long at all times (after that we lowered our eyes and started playing our brand of footy again)
Half way through that 1st term Essendon had got to 21 points. For the next 3/4 and 20 minutes we held them to 31 points.
Longmire has really got the best from the backline and it will only get stronger when a fit Moore slots back on at CHB. His athletism will ahead a totally new dimension to a already well performing group
Our mids just worked overtime on second third and forth efforts. We weren't always first to the ball but we made them feel pressure at all times.
If we had converted our chances better this would have been a record Anzac Day massacre. It should have been a 12+ goal win allowing for some simple misses but that's footy I guess.
Our ball movement was at times today sublime. The players just seemed to know the next in line target and how best to get the ball to them.
Overall I'm really happy with the result
Attention now turns to the Tigers on Sunday
Barring any injuries unreported and how some bodies pull up I can't see us making more the 2 changed. We might just bring in a couple of fresh runners like Wells & Wills.
I would like to see Wills get w game for 1 reason only play him and Maynard on Martin as a tag team. Give them 10-15 minutes a term on him (except when he goes forward) and every time he gets the ball put him on his ass. There both big bodies and have the power not to be brushed aside easily. If Martin goes forward send Howe to him.
Off there HBF Houli sets up most of there play I would actually tag him. Make him accountable and give him no easy touches.
Rance is there general and stopper in defence. Make sure Grundy or Cox take him away from the contest at all times. Don't let him be close enough to impact a contest.
On paper this actually should be a good game.
If we bring our form from the past 3 weeks tighten up our goal kicking and bring our best ball movement we should have enough to beat them. Don't be mistaken they aren't as good as some are saying they've played some teams who have let hem play it on there terms. When the contest is hot and they are pressured they make plenty of mistakes. You need to make them pay for these for 4 quarters not 1

[AN_Inkling]

An important thing to note: our last two wins have come in different ways. Against the Crows we dominated clearances (57-34). Not often you'll lose a game doing that and it kept the Adelaide forwards out of the game.

Today though, we lost clearances (34-25). Instead, it was our organisation across the field which prevented the Bombers going forward (41 inside 50s) and our rebound from defence that made the difference, as well as winning the contested ball (141-117).

Being a multi-dimensional team is very important, as teams won't always let you play the way you want. The win against the Bombers was arguably more impressive as rebound from defence has been a big weakness for us. In previous years we struggled badly when losing clearances.

[Leggie]

You f*****n ripper.
Most excited I've been getting off a plane
Saw the final score and can't wait to watch the replay
Go Pies

[Adam Treloar 3 Votes]

What a difference a year makes, it was civil war on this site last year and not much fun. Now there are a smorgasbord of quality positive posts. Great insight guys, I love reading them.

[E]

[E]