Saw that on FanFooty too, six blokes get over 30 touches, perhaps over using of the ball?
Caused by Collingwood's immense pressure.

+1
Yep...lets pump up those tyres

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I see you watching me watching you.

So what are we doing when we have the ball?..we really need to get organised and make use of possession..

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

We should throw the kitchen sink at ROUGHEAD!

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I see you watching me watching you.

Can't believe what I am reading sometimes.

McLean has played 3 very good games, 1 he hardly played in and 1 bad.

If anyone should be under the microscope it should be Henderson. Waite should have played this game instead of him.

I hate losing to Collingwood ... and I despise losing to St Kilda. Come on MC ... get it right.

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I am as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!!!

All in all, pretty hard to get too down about today - was a 4-5 goal loss were it not for seriously running out of steam and a bit of heart after it wasn't winnable. In reality, I thought our defence was pretty solid - Armfield, Russell, Bower (good return) all put in very good games.

We just got belted through the midfield for extended periods and conceded too much ball through the corridor - failed to stop them with poor tackling and some one-way running.

Have to query McClean, Henderson and White - the last two I've got some time for but both look a little out of their depth at the moment - particularly when there are replacements for all of them (Hadley, Waite and Robinson/Austin). Garlett should get another game but needs to get near it a bit more.

Thumbs up to Setanta - it'll never be pretty but he's an awkward match up.
Judd and Simmo too - absolute professionals - leadership like that around the club I think we're heading places.

Perhaps Im getting old and senile but was disappointed we lost by over 50 points but wasnt so disappointed that we lost - nothing like the loss to Essendon* and this one gave me some heart
Hate the Carringbush but objectively at the moment are the best team in the AFL - doesnt mean that they will win the premiership
We had the second youngest team on the park of all 16 sides this round and so were generally going to struggle against them
I think today showed one of the best teams ie top 2 or top 4 against a team that is a lower finals team

We did match them in some areas but came up short in others

Real positives this game

Setanta -forget about Carmichael Hunt -this is a much better story - a fantastic story of perserverance -strong will - continued hard work and capacity to learn and adapt - his achievements given that he didnt even play gaellic football are remarkable

Continued development of armfield and russell also a testament to hard work and patience

The beautiful bald man is just sublime

Krakaouer brothers albeit jeffrey was quiet still give you a reason to go to the footy show some real flair
Youngsters lucas white jacobs kreuz hendo huge upside

Sorry should have mentioned how well bower played after 4 weeks on the sidelines is a ripper - west coast were interested in him as part of the judd trade but I for one whilst a kennedy supporter still think bower would have been a bigger loss
He is so creative but yet can take on much bigger opponents he is a beauty -love his run only disappointment was the judd/bower run he didnt go for goal when he got to 50

Henderson needs a rest in the reserves.

Waite comes in and we have two talls in the forwardline. Setanta cant be the only tall presenting. No idea where henderson is most the time. But he seems to always be out of the play.

Would not be surprised if big Robbie comes in this week, l didnt get much out of sauce playing today.

I would consider bringing back TBird, he would of shut down Dawes. Reads the play well and plug up holes as a lose man in defence. Could of used that today.

Honestly, is there a team that converts turnovers into goals better than collingwood?

Not a clue on the stats there, but every turnover seemed to result in a score. Very well drilled and the structures superb.

Each player works really hard. No time for one way traffic and a dropping of the head if it doesn't go your way.

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Congratulations CK95

Disagree with that hugely. I still think we've looked so much better without thornton across half back. Our turnovers across our own half forward line rendered our defenders sitting ducks plenty of times today.

Bower didn't have a great game but his first thought is to create and provide run - needs to learn the balance of that against when to stick tight. Players didn't work for each other today.

Thornton slows us down beyond belief, not in terms of legspeed but in terms of ball movement.

I give Ratts a huge thumbs up for Thornton's spell in the 2's.

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Congratulations CK95

We played some really good football in patches, but at other times we struggled to get the ball past the centreline. Credit to Collingwoods structure for that. They're so disciplined and as others have mentioned they play for each other and the team.

The other area we struggled with was the physicality of the game. That doesn't mean we were soft or lacked courage, but at times we waited for the ball to come to us rather than attacking it and the stat I'd like to see is for missed or broken tackles. They seemed to be able to brush us off too easily at times.

Its hard to know what to do with McLean and Henderson.

McLean is doing a lot of the hard work and I reckon his teammates let him down today by not working hard enough to provide options. McLean looked slow getting rid of the ball because he was looking for a good option rather than the first option and Collingwoods pressure was too quick for that. He's not going to improve playing VFL.

Henderson may improve at VFL level, but it may happen at VFL level too. All he needs is to get his hands on the ball, have a couple of marks stick and it could turn around quickly. He may go back though.

Overall it was disappointing to lose by 53 points. It didn't feel like that and we will go away look at the tapes and learn a lot from this game about ourselves and the type of intensity thats required to take another step forward.

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"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

We were out-gunned and out-muscled by a stronger more mature, better drilled team. No shame in that.
Our turnovers and lack of poise at times were the crucial factors for me. In the 3rd 1/4 fightback, Murphy Judd and Gibbs all bombed indiscriminate kicks staright to Collingwood defenders at crucial times.

I thought we were 2 goals away from really getting on top of the game. We needed to hit the front and get another goal. Collingwood play rebound footy better than anyone and we were playing into their hands in the last 8 min of the 3rd.

It all comes down to experience and familiarity. I'm not all that concerned to be honest.

There was as many positives as negatives to come out of the game for me.

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T E A M

Can't agree with that Brad. He MUST go back for at least a week. McLean was lazy and disinterested. He didn't put his head over the footy and made some shocking turnovers that cost goals. The loss wasn't all his fault, obviously, but for a guy that was recruited to help Judd, he should hang his head. Judd did everything himself.

I must admit that the exclusion of Warnock didn't help. When you've got a bloke that's 6'10" and fit - you bloody well use him. I'm baffled as to why we dropped 206 last week after we smashed the premiers and brought in a 6 game player to jostle with 2 29YO - one of which is a premiership ruckman, while the other has rucked in 2 GFs.

Meanwhile we persist with a forward who can't buy a mark.

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Went to the game and very disappointed in the final quarter.
I dont think the end margin was a true reflection of the game.
We had plenty of it early but didnt convert it into goals.
Our backline was badly beaten yesterday and Waite and Thornton would have made a difference.
We have to give credit to Collingwood, they are a good side who were much tougher than us.
The pressure placed on us resulted in many turnovers.
Judd is a freak, O'Hailpin was great as was Murphy.
Hate losing to Collingwood but there is always next week. Hang on.............Saints

When you're always outnumbered at the contested ball or when you have the pill and are being swarmed by the opposition and have no team-mates around, you know the other team are running harder and are determined.

The filth had more numbers around the contest, around the loose ball and spread far better when they got possession. Not many out-and-out champs but a bloody solid unit!

They wanted it more and were ferocious. The loss hurts like hell but I am glad the team experienced a game like that. The filth showed us the intensity and the level of running required to mix with the best teams.
What is required now is for Ratts to make the necessary improvements to the team to make the progress required. And the team is capable of making the improvement. Its up to the coach and players now

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C'mon Blueboys!

We were beaten by a much, much better team on the day. Fair play to them.

Just a comment on gibbs... Didak's goal in the seocnd quarter was a direct result of lazy running from Gibbs where he sorted of cruised around the contest without moving in towards it with more intent which may have allowed him to pressure Didak a little more. I think that was fairly representative of the game from us yesterday - Collingwood were full throttle all game, whereas we seemed to ebb and flow in working hard when we didn't have the ball. I guess that's the next level for us.

White needs to be dropped for Waite immediately. He is getting multiple shots at goal taken from his opponent every week. This is happenign because white gets lost far too often. If Dawes ahs got metres on you, there's a major problem. Dawes had his way with White in the first half. If Waite is fit enough to get around then bring him in. They guy was a freaking All Australian in waiting last year FFS.

I was very supportive of Hendo keeping a spot until now. He needs to go back and start taking marks. He's also making silly disposal errors and hatching the ball. we can't afford to have him work his way out of that in the seniors.

I would also love to bring in Hadley for McLean but clearly that's not going to happen.

Sounds like it will be hard to keep robbo out.

I do hope we keep the helpers intact for this week against St Kilda, I ahve a feeling the only way we'll get around St Kilda having an 18 man backline is a bit of magic off the deck.

Which part didn't you agree with? That his teammates didn't work hard enough for him or that a week in the VFL wouldn't help him? Your point on Warnock may answer the part b. A week back to get some touch may help him.



I think this sums it up pretty well. Someone also said we did ok in the 1 on 1's but poorly in the 4 on 4's when Collingwood got numbers to the ball we struggled.

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"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

Brad - McLean's job is to work for his teammates, not for them to work for him. You say a week in the twos won't help him - well so be it - but another week in the ones won't help the team. I don't think we needed to drop Warnock for that game. He was dropped for a younger, smaller and less experienced player. That confuses me.

Collingwood worked out last year that they couldn't win a flag with the rucks they had. They needed an experienced big body - that was the beginning of the end for us yesterday. Maybe we should've gone in with Kreuz/Sauce/Warnock and left out Hendo. We should then have had Waite in instead of White.

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How about McLean standing around as a receiver, or sneaking forward of the ball up to get into a position for a loose to receive...I don't think that was the reason we recruited him. That has been driving me crazy since the first NAB game against Swans.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue