Pre-Match. Magpies v. Power. All comments.

[warburton lad]

A small side note to our selection processes:
Hawthorn has almost always had the policy of giving recruits extended responsibility in their Reserves and it has served them well over their successful era/s

Perhaps the Pies see some of our younger ones needing more time to develop?
Ryan, Jath, De Mattea, Steene, Begg (certainly), Macrae, Richards, Carmichael, Allan, Harrison, Dean would be in this category.

If Pendlebury was to miss through injury, I would like to see Harrison come in- the additional fleet-footed player would be a welcome addition against Port Adelaide.

Will be interested to watch how Sullivan, Bytel and Macrae go today...

[David]

Based on the VFL game, fair to assume Macrae in for Pendles might be our only change?

[Said by Zed]

[David]

Ok, doesn’t sound so promising. Maybe Markov gets a reprieve then? What about Sullivan?

[qldmagpie67]

I watched the port game with interest
My take away
There mids as talented as they are forward runners and don’t work as hard going the other way
They spread wide quickly and use the width well
They like to go deep when entering forward line and hold there depth close to goal
They looked shaky in defence and there slow. Also real tall forwards scare them they panic trying to cover them
Horne Frances played as deep forward a bit and looked dangerous
Butters is a protected species and anytime some one goes near him he gets a free kick
They have speed on every line

To counter act this we need to win the ball at the contest
We need to be mobile up forward and use either Cox or Cameron resting there as much as we can
Our inside mids need to get there hands on the ball first
We need speed on the ball and on the wings
We can’t zone off snd press high in defence there forwards like to stay home


I don’t know how quick Sullivan is but he might be worth a game here
If memory serves me well Harrison is quick he might be needed as well

[Dark Beanie]

[Pies2016]

With so many teams playing corridor football, the most important requirement of any player these days, is good hands and good skills. If you turn over the ball in the middle of the ground, you simply get punished going back the other way. Players with speed are a plus but quick ball movement without error, offsets individual leg speed anyway. Scores from turnover has never been higher because risk for reward footy is todays norm.
Based on clean hands and ball use, I thought Bytel was one of our better players yesterday and that’s in a high intensity VFL game where most players were regularly exposed for poor execution under pressure. I’m not suggesting he comes in this week but in the modern game, his strengths may yet be called upon at some stage through the season ( likely on wing )
F Y I - Sullivan spent a fair bit of time at HB on the weekend. I suspect it’s as much about learning accountability for an opponent than it is anything else. He won’t get a game in the seniors until the club feels he has a handle on the defensive requirements of an AFL midfielder.

[Alex]

No changes for mine. Crisp probably back to sub, maybe Hoskin-Elliott. If Pendlebury unavailable then Macrae was the best from the VFL, so he comes in as the sub.

Reading other's comments, not sure why there is so much negativity towards our 2s? 2-1 on the season with our only loss being a 2-point loss to Brisbane. Been impressed with Sullivan, Bytel, Richards, and Harrison. Allan showing signs despite his age. Begg played well, but he's a bit of a weird one. 25 tackles, 4 marks on the season. Got dominated in the ruck but then similar to Grundy, can affect the play on the ground. Dean has showed signs and Markov is a good depth player. Carmichael kicked 3.

My emergencies would be Macrae, Begg, and Sullivan, and if Pendlebury unavailable then Bytel next up.

[Johnno75]

Sullivan was quiet on Sunday against Carlton but has been very good in the opening 2 games of VFL. If he can build the form he won’t be far away from selection.

[RudeBoy]

Unfortunately Sullivan, Harrison and Richards were all very quiet in the VFL. Macrae was our best, but did nothing to my eye to inspire confidence he would be good at the AFL level. Carmichael kicked 3 goals and at least is strong bodied, but I worry about his lack of pace. Contrary to others opinions, I was actually impressed by Begg, who was forced to carry all the ruck duties against a bigger opponent, after Steene went off injured.

Disappointingly, Allan was just OK, but doesn't look ready for senior footy.

Markov was quite good, as was Dean.

On that basis I expect there'll be no changes to our team.

[Pies2016]

Sullivan played the first half of the game predominantly at half back against Carlton, so he shouldn’t be expected to return his usual midfield field output. We rotated really heavily through the midfield in the VFL and Sullivan played more as a midfielder in the second half. We had a number of midfielders lining up in the centre square over the course of the game ( MacRae, Bytel, Sparkes, Long, Sullivan and Allan ) so we need to be careful gauging any performance based on possessions. Carmichael played as a forward all day, so I would suggest if the club believes he has any future at the club, it would be forward of centre.
I think Allan is going along according to plan. He’s 194cm and still only 20 years old and missed most of his final season in U18s. He’s creative with the ball rather than impactful, so some might see that as not damaging enough to look at. He should get a good run at senior level in 2025. As Fly constantly says “ we need to set them up to succeed at the higher level, not fail “

[The Black and White Lion]

No issues with setting the youngsters up to succeed. I have an issue with experienced / veteran players not performing however. Loyalty only goes so far as does age. IMO we should be rotating the youngsters through the team including Sullivan. And given the output and performance of many in the first 5 matches, this could have been achieved easily.

Whoever gets named this week, this should be a really good test. Port looks to have improved a fair bit from our last match with few injuries of note so this will be a really good test.

Hope the pies have no bye hangover and can be in the contest from the first bounce. Hoping for no long bombs to the F50 and hoping our smalls will dominate the forward ground ball like against the lions.

[Take_a_Screamer]

Fly hints at Pendles returning to the squad...

"The Magpies will take on Port Adelaide fresh off a bye McRae said his team needed more than we thought” after a heavy workload through the opening rounds that included three straight losses to start their premiership defence. But with two wins on the trot, McRae was also buoyed by how “healthy” his squad was, with former captain Scott Pendlebury “hard to leave out” for the Port clash having recovered enough from broken ribs to train fully on Thursday morning. "

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/collingwood-magpies/craig-mcrae-denies-collingwood-players-banned-from-taking-pics-with-trade-target-bailey-smith/news-story/ef03872c2070f0e065bcc31e613915c7

[stui magpie]

[slangman]