Post Match. Pies unplug Power. All comments, please.

[Jezza]

Been an amazing year whatever happens from here. So much fun watching this side grow and mature under McRae, and finding new ways to grind out tight wins.

I was concerned about the loss of Mihocek and the non-inclusion of Henry, so was hoping for Elliott, Johnson and Ginnivan to all step up. Between them, we got 6 goals so they stepped up when we needed them.

Refreshing to see us perform better in clearances compared to previous weeks, so we made some positive steps on that front but still plenty to work on to be more consistent. It helped JDG being there and Adams was doing a good job until his groin injury.

Carmichael is becoming our new "super sub". Surely match committee can see now that Carmichael needs to be in the starting 22 based on his recent form. Can find the goals, hits targets and plays hard footy.

Thought Port had it a little too easy on the outside, as illustrated by the uncontested possession statistics (Port won 246-171).

I'm in awe of how this team has managed 10 consecutive wins. They deserve our praise and adulation.

[RudeBoy]

Well said Jezza.

Of course winners are grinners, but it's great seeing our whole team enjoying their games and celebrating so well together. Positive energy is infectious and everyone seems to be on board. Fly and the whole coaching staff are to be congratulated for creating such a great environment for our team to perform to their best.

[Jezza]

Fly's presser

Another close win.

"You'd love to be winning by more. I just said to the playing group then, we're doing a lot right. You can clearly watch us play and there are moments where little bounces of the ball, it's just footy isn't it. I thought today wasn't a 6 point win to be honest. We probably did enough to warrant a scoreboard that looked slightly different to what it is but anyway, we get a win".

Regardless of the margins, 10 consecutive wins must be special?

"Yeah, I said we had a moment to smell the roses just in the rooms. I think we can say we've qualified for the finals and we haven't really spoken about that until now, or literally till half an hour ago. Not that we will stop and rest and smell the roses for too long but there's a moment of reset ourselves of now that we've qualified, now 'let's get busy'".

You're a first year coach, has finals happened faster than you thought?

"Yeah, we did talk about that when we came together as a group and we were all trying to form a relationship. You're set on a vision and trying to get yourself better every day and trying to become winners and act like winners. To say we're in a position we thought we might be, I don't think that's true."

Taylor Adams and Jeremy Howe sustained injuries. How are they?

"Tay will get scans, but it looks like he's got some groin injury of some sort so we'll get some scans to learn what that looks like. Howie's just got a knee in the backside and unfortunately just couldn't function, so he'll be fine. Unfortunately, he just couldn't get on the ground so he should be okay."

Brodie Grundy returned through the VFL today. Where does he sit in terms of his availability next week?

"Yeah, we were rapt. He took a big step forward today. We thought he needed the run and played up until the last quarter in the VFL and by all reports he was getting better as the game was going on. I watched two quarters and I was happy with what I saw. He got a little scuffled and got the bumps and bruises you need to which you can't get at training. We're trying to set him up whether that's six days time, we'll see how he pulls up. We're really pleased he got through today".

Are you definitely not going to play Cox, Cameron and Grundy in the same team?

"I said 'no' originally on the back of Checkers being available. If Checkers is not there then we'll probably need a key there. I probably should always preface what I say. We're anticipating Checkers will be right next week, so I would be surprised if we played all three".

Jack Ginnivan spoke post match about the toll on his mental health in the last few weeks. Are you wrapping your arms around him?

"Yeah. We're conscious of this. We see him and we try to protect him. We get to a point where we say I think maybe enough is enough; let's look after this kid. There's all these stories and again we've got to look at what we can control around that. He's a 19 year old kid and he's saying his mental health has been strained. Let's look after him".

Ginnivan kicked 3 goals today, what did you make of him on the field?

"I thought he prepared really well today for this game. The way he trained and reset himself a little bit during the week. He trained with great purpose and for a young guy trying to forge a way in the AFL, you got to prepare well whether it's training, diet, sleep. All these little things matter and today he got rewarded and you're not always going to. Today he got rewarded from what I saw of what was a great week of preparation and he should be proud of that".

Is Ginnivan being treated fairly by the umpires?

"This is a story that keeps rolling on. The way we look at it is you're going to get some right and get some wrong. Jack keeps putting himself in a situation where he's a bit of spotlight for this stuff. This is another great lesson for him and for all of us where free kicks were not paid potentially and we just got on with it. You have to. What if it's a Grand Final; just get on with it. Jack got on with it today and Ash Johnson got on with it. Late in the game their might've been a free kick paid not against us or not for us, and you just get on with it. I think that's a good lesson for us".

We do see Ginnivan "getting on with it", but it's obviously taking its toll behind the scenes for him.

"I'm not going to speak further to it. I've made my comments about it. We'll try to protect him as best as we can".

You can tick off making finals. How do you set up for the next three weeks?

"Like we do every week. In six days we've got Melbourne; I don't want to look too far ahead and we haven't done that all year but we live in the moment now and we look at what we did well and what we can improve on. If you step in our four walls, you wouldn't know that we have won. This group is getting back to work and within six days it will come around really quickly but nothing changes, we just got to keep trying to improve ourselves and see where that gets us".

You're keeping it at one week at a time, but the run of Melbourne, Sydney and Carlton must be a good build up to finals?

"I think every game presents as an opportunity to get yourself ready for finals. Those teams in particular are all in the eight as it stands, so it's a great opportunity to see where we sit."

https://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/video/ ... 9165931001

[Jezza]

Well said Jezza.

Of course winners are grinners, but it's great seeing our whole team enjoying their games and celebrating so well together. Positive energy is infectious and everyone seems to be on board. Fly and the whole coaching staff are to be congratulated for creating such a great environment for our team to perform to their best.

Thanks, RB.

It's been fantastic watching the players enjoy themselves and we're all about embracing imperfections under Fly.

It bodes well for list management purposes and might see us as a "destination club" for outgoing players from other clubs. Players will be enticed by what they see and want to be a part of it.

[Piesnchess]

I see the Blue baggers lost to the Crows, so that gets them off our back a bit, and aint it grand to see those arrogant tossbags drop one, while we notch ten wins in a row, enough to make Kane Cornes choke on his Weeties this morning. LOL

[BenBronx]

Collingwood v Port Adelaide | Last Two Minutes | Round 20, 2022 | AFL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6FBO1770zk

[think positive]

Thanks Jezza, much appreciated

I’ll be back at the G next week, can’t wait!

What a team, what a coach, what a club

And Jack, I love you, don’t change! What a head on his shoulders, well for now anyway! (*&^%^& scumpires

[Born to Pie]

Carmichael is becoming our new "super sub". Surely match committee can see now that Carmichael needs to be in the starting 22 based on his recent form. Can find the goals, hits targets and plays hard footy.

Is a super-sub 12 disposals and a goal from 40% game time.

I think the reason he may remain best suited to being the in the sub role is that there may be a question mark on his fitness to run out a full game given he's a mid-season draftee without the benefit of an AFL level pre-season etc

[What'sinaname]

Didn’t watch but free kicks 23-18 the Pies way doesn’t suggest the one sided anti Pies umpiring display this thread is hinting at?

It’s not the number, it’s where. 4 of their first 5 goals were WRONG. Even Rievoldt and Buckley said so.

No, it's about perceptions more than it is reality. Go back and watch the first quarter, and 3 of Ports first 4 goals had NO umpire involvement at all.

Finyason goal from a failed Bianco clearance.
Marshall goal from a mark 15m out
Amon goal from a mark inside 50

[Clifton Hill-Billy]

When I was watching the Norf game I thought that the umpiring couldn't get much worse, but I was completely wrong. I thought the same thing after Cows and Essendrug games but yesterday was an utter disgrace and amounted to blatant cheating. The reason we keep having close games is that the opposition gets at least 2-3 goals gifted to them by the luminous maggots in their F50 and at least 2-3 goals taken away by disgraceful non calls that would be paid to any other team in the competition. Yet we still have found a way to win 10 in a row, shove that up ya biased maggots!

[Magpietothemax]

Been an amazing year whatever happens from here. So much fun watching this side grow and mature under McRae, and finding new ways to grind out tight wins.

I was concerned about the loss of Mihocek and the non-inclusion of Henry, so was hoping for Elliott, Johnson and Ginnivan to all step up. Between them, we got 6 goals so they stepped up when we needed them.

Refreshing to see us perform better in clearances compared to previous weeks, so we made some positive steps on that front but still plenty to work on to be more consistent. It helped JDG being there and Adams was doing a good job until his groin injury.

Carmichael is becoming our new "super sub". Surely match committee can see now that Carmichael needs to be in the starting 22 based on his recent form. Can find the goals, hits targets and plays hard footy.

Thought Port had it a little too easy on the outside, as illustrated by the uncontested possession statistics (Port won 246-171).

I'm in awe of how this team has managed 10 consecutive wins. They deserve our praise and adulation.

Thanks Jezza, your words totally sum it up for me. I think you nailed it when you said that under Fly we embrace imperfection. Imperfection is the essential condition for improvement. I think that is our philosophy right now! So we embrace risk with freedom, and that is what makes us a frightening challenge for every opposition . I am in constant awe at how quickly and effectively our coaching team learns from these imperfections, and passes on the knowledge so effectively to our team. At the start of the year, we recall those gaping flaws in defence when the opposition just romped home with goals because we were leaving our D50 unguarded. Our coaching team and players addressed this issue so quickly, and comprehensively! Fly repeatedly, and Jack Ginnivan in his interview yesterday, emphasised that we are a process driven team. Clearly, all our players have been completely imbued with this process, and execute it automatically. It is astonishing that they have been able to achieve this in such a short time. I think also our team is being driven by joy and exuberance. They are feeling joy right now in playing with freedom, underpinned by full confidence in a thoroughly understood system.
TBH, I am not dreaming of a flag this year. I have embraced Fly's philosophy of celebrating the achievement of the moment, and just looking forward to next week's game, which will give us more opportunities to learn and improve. One game at a time, and see where it gets us.
I think your analysis of the game is correct too. We were beaten too often on the outside, and they were able to carry the ball too easily as a result. I am sure Fly et al are already at work to find where we can improve in that aspect.

[watt price tully]

Been an amazing year whatever happens from here. So much fun watching this side grow and mature under McRae, and finding new ways to grind out tight wins.

I was concerned about the loss of Mihocek and the non-inclusion of Henry, so was hoping for Elliott, Johnson and Ginnivan to all step up. Between them, we got 6 goals so they stepped up when we needed them.

Refreshing to see us perform better in clearances compared to previous weeks, so we made some positive steps on that front but still plenty to work on to be more consistent. It helped JDG being there and Adams was doing a good job until his groin injury.

Carmichael is becoming our new "super sub". Surely match committee can see now that Carmichael needs to be in the starting 22 based on his recent form. Can find the goals, hits targets and plays hard footy.

Thought Port had it a little too easy on the outside, as illustrated by the uncontested possession statistics (Port won 246-171).

I'm in awe of how this team has managed 10 consecutive wins. They deserve our praise and adulation.

Well said Jezza. I really thought “we’d” be in the bottom four this year. Amazed and delighted.

[DT]

Add Mihocek and Grundy to the team yesterday and it will improve. JDG was really good.

And as for the winning streak many if not all commentators have missed the point. It is not whether we win playing a bottom side or not - it is how does the other side play. For example, look at Adelaide. They smashed up Carlton last night with their physicality. Essendon beat Sydney, supposedly one of the best three teams. Richmond are a massive threat but we’re beaten by North. Port almost beat Geelong, who are also on a 10 game steak - however, in my view, our view was more comfortable than the Cats had.

So the team is playing really well. That said, there are areas that need improvement and so full faith that the coaches and players are working to rectify these areas. Yesterday, it was great to see an improvement in centre clearances.

We also share the load and are not reliant on one or two star players - this makes it very difficult for opposition teams to pinpoint how to beat us.

I think our no. 1 weakness is susceptibility to big tall forwards as we don’t have an outstanding one on one key defender. But the collective defence is excellent, as outlined by the great intercepting markers we have.

This week will be a great test. In some ways, it was lucky we didn’t cop Melbourne after losing to the Dogs as they focused totally on team defence after conceding too many points. The remaining two matches are also a very good preparation for the finals.

[Magpietothemax]

Didn’t watch but free kicks 23-18 the Pies way doesn’t suggest the one sided anti Pies umpiring display this thread is hinting at?

It’s not the number, it’s where. 4 of their first 5 goals were WRONG. Even Rievoldt and Buckley said so.

No, it's about perceptions more than it is reality. Go back and watch the first quarter, and 3 of Ports first 4 goals had NO umpire involvement at all.

Finyason goal from a failed Bianco clearance.
Marshall goal from a mark 15m out
Amon goal from a mark inside 50

I just watched the first quarter again, and it is absolutely correct to say that Port were gifted 3 goals: a) free kick against N Daicos to Boak before the ball was bounced, b) ridiculous 50 m penalty against us when both teams were involved in the flare up which allowed Boak to kick a goal from unmissable range, c) Dixon paid the mark against Moore despite pushing him square in the back during the marking contest, throwing Moore out of marking contention.
I would not conclude that this was bias against Collingwood however as much as sheer incompetence from the umpires. You can really say that the margin of our victory was more like 4 goals rather than 1 goal in terms of relative play across the match.

[scoobydoo]

Who was it who said Hosk would kick 3 goals? Well he got two and could have more.

And every week some genius’s want to drop him.