The good, the bad and the ugly truth about Collingwood

[RudeBoy]

OK, with 5 games to go before the finals (if we make it), I reckon it's time for a thorough review.

The Good.

We have a lot of high end talent, with Grundy, Pendles, Treloar, Howe, Adams, Roughead, Sidey, De Goey, Crisp and Maynard.

Other good players are the exciting Quaynor, Mihocek and Phillips.

The Bad

Players who are not yet good enough imo. These are the one's who would be dropped, if we had players available to replace them.

Sier has the talent, but is not doing enough. he's built like a Grissly bear but plays like a Panda.

Brown is developing, but goes missing for too long in games, and lacks polish in his disposals.

WHE is an incredible talent, but does not contribute near enough.

Thomas has been dropped because he was not doing near enough.

Daics has had chances, but has failed to grasp his opportunities so far. Time might be running out for him. His main problem is a lack of leg speed, and being a dwarf.

The Ugly

I don't care what the stats say, Mason Cox has gone significantly backwards this year. His inconsistency means he cannot be relied upon to contribute much at all. Most weeks it means we play with a player short.

The ugly truth is that both Moore and Elliott (no fault of their own) don't seem to be able to withstand the rigors of AFL footy. If they were both flying, we would be a 5 goal better side each week, but sadly, this seems but a pipe dream.

The most ugly factor however, imo, is that we are a pretty soft side. I hate to say it but we only have 4 hard players in our team - Grundy, Maynard, Adams and De Goey. Obviously we also have Goldsack who is hard as phuck, but he seems to be a VFL player now. Varcoe too is no longer a regular senior player and seems to be fading before our eyes. Too many of our other players rarely smash their bodies into opponents and too often lay sloppy tackles.

The other ugly factor imo, is that we have too many dwarfs in our side. Having small/short players is fine if they are as hard as phuck or as fast as grease lightning.

The upshot

On our day we can beat anyone, as we did against the Eagles. However, it seems that our team has to some how psyche itself into a frenetic state to bring the necessary intensity to win big games. This hardness and intensity is clearly NOT in the natural DNA of our side. Looking at our VFL side, there is no hardness coming through. So our improvement (if it is to come), has to come from within our current team. Whether Bucks and the coaching staff can do this in time, remains to be seen. I'm skeptical but hopeful.

[Mr Miyagi]

Add Crisp to our hard nuts. His physicality when put in the midfield is huge. Howe can take it, and so can Aish he doesn't shirk from a contest.

Our problem is centre clearances. Our mids there are too easily outmuscled/blocked/held. We need to throw Crisp and JDG more often in the middle for centre bounces. Put Treloar forward for those times. Play Varcoe as a permanent forward pocket, his days chasing the ball around the ground are numbered, he'd kick 2-3 every week and loves to tackle -- one thing missing from our forwards, pressure, the ball gets out too easily.

[RudeBoy]

Good points Miyagi. We have other brave players, who put their bodies on the line, and Crisp and Aish do that, but I guess I'm more talking about players who smash opponents and put fear into the opposition. On that score, I should have listed Varcoe, but sadly he is slowing down and does not get to enough contests anymore.

[PyreneesPie]

You forgot to mention Levi as one of the tough nuts Rudeboy.

[Mr Miyagi]

Yeah good point Rudey, we need players the opposition fear. Not just their skills and getting the ball, but fear of getting hurt. I saw a Giants player think twice when Crisp was coming at the ball. But geez, North saw our weakness and smashed us. GWS the same. I saw Jonathon Brown on an ad and that is the kind of fear we need. Thing is, our players would get suspended the moment they glare at someone.

[K]

[RudeBoy]

Mihocek has been terrific all year, despite being very quiet yesterday.

I really love WHE, but he doesn't do enough imo, and his tackles rarely stick.

PyreneesPie, you are absolutely correct about Greenwood. Brain fade on my part. He is actually our hardest player by far.

[K]

[Pies2016]

[Kill for Collingwood]

Cox often attempts marks clearly with only one arm.
Looks frustrating and ridiculous.
But is this him being shithouse or is he being impeded illegally each time and not rewarded?

[Kill for Collingwood]

We have played 7 solid competitive quarters out of the last 8 since Haw loss when we were likely looking at 3 more in a row. The only shit quarter yesterday cost the game. Rest was goal for goal and if spread across the 4 quarters would have finished in a 14-15 goal each cliffhanger. The first quarter shocked everybody like last prelim; no one saw it coming. Freakish and bloody hard to overcome.
Buckleys simple diagnosis last night and as inconsistency which makes sense since Eagles turnaround.
I therefore believe our cup is closer to full than empty.

[BazBoy]

The Good—100% effort every minute, quarter,game is Crisp
Mentioned by every media guy by every Pie supporter

The Bad —by his example we see many of his teammates below that 100% in various stages

The Ugly —because not all on same page our Win to Loss suffers

Another Ugly is loosing heart —we must be 100% Good on that

[Cam]

WHE too often hardly touches it until half time as a forward, gets moved down back or onto a wing, starts to get it and finally has enough dash to run forward and nail a goal or two from an advantageous position [hardly ever from a lead].

We are playing three players short for a half when he, Varcoe and Browny are doing similar things. They add up to one good player.

[stui magpie]

[bally12]

Cox is a real worry. He looks like he's not trying out there. He needs to be doing a lot more work off the ball so he can get a clear path to the ball. At the moment he's just standing around. You can't blame the mids for bombing i t on his head if he's just going to stand there.