We have three tiers in our playing group.

Henderson
Menzel
Docherty
Buckley
Murphy
Warnock (based on his last 3 weeks)
Yarran
Crisps
Curnow

----------------------------------

Simspon
Walker
Casboult
Rowe
White
Tuohy
Jamison
Daisy
Armfield
Everitt
Garlett

-----------------------------

Lucas -- peahearted, not a team player
Robbo -- peabrained, reached his ceiling and now his G&D efforts slipping
McLean -- Not quick enough, bad disposal
Waite -- Injury prone
Carrazzo -- Slowed right down, injury prone
Scotland -- retiring
Judd -- see carrots
Gibbs -- should not be re-signed
Bootsma, Watson, McInness, Ellard just no where near AFL standard.

------------------------------

The top tier should be persisted with and bought along and given the keys to the car. They are the future, and in saying that there's only a few A-graders among them.

The second tier, are blemished, ageing or limited. Take Casboult for example. He can be serviceable if we get our structures right. He takes a good good grab, so he needs runners working off him all over the ground to take his easy handballs after he wins contested ball.


The bottom tier, no ifs or buts about it. They need to put out to pasture. They won't be part of our next finals team, let alone our next premiership side.

The rest, or bottom tier are our passengers.

I saw Lucas last night at a stoppage, rather than take the contact and draw a collingwood player or possibly two into him, then handball out to wide open murphy for the outlet, he simply handballed the ball to the feet of a pies player, they picked it up 70 metres from goal, two handpasses and a short stroll later (i think it was Blair) was lining up for a set shot, and goaled. Typical of his courage.

Gibbs is playing bruise free and saving himself for his next club. He has to be. If not, he's not worth 250k a year in his current condition, let alone 550k plus.

Judd admits his hard work and miles early in his career are taking their toll. Let the walking human salary cap retire or play for richmond next year. Carrots, same.

Waite misses too many games every season, and takes it upon himself when he decides to show up and play. He's gone too.

Our game plan for 3 quarters last night was calamitous. All the flooding, not one single player forward is setting ourselves up for failure. How many times did we win the ball last night, our players instinctively played on only to look up and find nothing in front of them, then we hand it straight back to them and get hit on the scoreboard the other way?

Why did we have no forward structure until the last qtr?

We don't have a balanced midfield. We're one speed. We don't have a KPP to take a game on. Henderson has been lost at sea as a forward spearhead, because he's a better defender than a Full Forward/ CHF.

We are woefully inept all over the park, but our troubles are born of a terrible, self-serving board and president, a coaching staff past it's used by date and players not willing to buy into any of it.

Savage and aggressive change must be undertaken right through all departments, or we are, if we're not already St Kilda circa 1980's ...

Generally agree Braithy. My only comment would be I think you are being a bit generous about a few players.

Cripps is slower than Watson believe it or not

I have always been a Gibbs fan but we are at ground zero. Reset and build again. I honestly believe we will stay bottom four this year. Top 5 pick and then a FA compensation pick straight after for Gibbs.

Those picks will be a big help in rebuilding but it's the 2nd, 3rd, 4th rounders and rookie picks that make the difference. Every pick needs to be a winner.

During the broadcast they spoke how pies have biggest and best funded recruiter network in the league. Why don't we? Why are so far behind in everything? We lost our way in the '90's and we are still wondering lost in the wilderness FFS

Cripps is slower than Watson believe it or not

gibbs is not playing like he cares
we rely on scotland and simmo to move the ball out of defence simmo is about to turn 30 too... scotland cant do it anymore.
midfield slow
lucas i was happy with him last 2 weeks but that was one of his worst in a parade of bad games
happy with rowe.. hes not afl standard but thats ok.. he has heart
buckley very good but needs to settle
zac gone backwards
mclean slower than usual
walker has no confidence in those around him
jamo an honest trier but howls his kicks out of defence
white was ok.. the midfield is shot
robbo tried
hendo didnt get into it
garlett lost without eddie... (always knew that would happen)
casboult cant run out a game.. cant kick and is hopeless defensively
nothing in the reserves coming through and if there is . its so minimal it wont make a difference

for the first time in our glorious history were abut to fall upon hard times... lean pickings coming up

cant rely on a duigan masterstroke every week

If it's one thing I've taken out of the replay is that re-enforces my belief that the only way to beat taggers on a consistent basis is to have a running pattern throughout the game that is not only above average in its intensity, but also unpredictable in where and when you're going to run.

Look at Ablett's each week, 30 touches will be broken down into 10 each in the guts, the backline and bobbing up in the forward 50 more often than not. Pendlebury and Selwood starting to do the same.

Then look at the usual suspects who are constantly tagged out of it - they dont gut run hard enough to help out in the defensive 50, guys like Rich, Gaff, Pearce, they back themselves in to slot it from outside 50, and whilst its a valuable weapon, it's also their undoing, because they won't feel the need to run deep into the forward 50. Which gives you about a third of the ground to worry about losing your opponent in, rather than constantly looking around for Ablett at the stoppages to see if he's drifted forward or not.

Without having seen it yet, I'd be pretty sure Murphy spent about 1/3 as much time in Collingwood's attacking 50 that Macaffer did, and only reactively once he started hurting him on the rebound a couple of times. Rest of the game either at the centre bounces, or resting high up on the half forward flank. No unpredictability, and really, once Waite was officially a late out, you'd be prepared to let him rest up there, because the forward line structure is so impotent once we lose the luxury to play with three key forwards.

I'd be playing Murphy off half back for the rest of the year as Hawthorn have done with Mitchell. Not just because it teaches him some long overdue respect for the defensive aspect of his game, not just because the lack of a successful contingency plan for this position post Simpson/Scotland is alarming, but because it mixes it up for him and makes it difficult to predict where he's going.

the whole club is at 70% but we want the players to be at 100%

doesnt work like that...

the club needs 100% culture

sticks will be relieved he has hopped off the hotseat.

he truly had no more answers....

MArk has the answers now..... and the same people sticks had around sticks will also be around mark..

for the first time in my football going years I left at 3/4 time. Ive been a paid up member since 95 and that is the first time I have left at 3/4 time.

exactly true

we have nothing

and if we did theyre not learning from people who understand what it takes

that was another horrible game

the modern game has come so far again from last year... like a snake... it keeps shedding its skin each year and moving forward

if youre not recruting into whats required going forward... all these players will slip to you for a reason

but youre never going to get there

Perfectly put. Some of us have been alluding to this for a few years now - only to have it fall on deaf ears.

:

It was embarrassing and all over by about 20 minutes into the first qtr and Collingwood knew it.