talk of playing Williams

I am a Williams fan but that would be crazy.

It would be madness and reeks of desperation.

Hopefully Voss & Co are scrutinising the Swans Pies game and will implement the Swans template to beat Pies.
They suffocated the Pies' dangerous forwards weapons Mihocek and Elliot.
And set up really well to stiffle the Pies' rebound.
The Pies' game plan is brilliant because it is perfectly tailored to their personnel.
While they have some fine players in there they do not have one of the best midfields and don't rely on clearances as a strength.
They also don't have absolute stand out key forwards, with the small Elliot their best forward.
Their strength is their defense.
So McRae has built a very shrewd game plan where they load the backline creating an incredibly dense cluster of Collingwood players making it really hard for the opposition to score.
As a consequence they are always in games.
While they lost yesterday the reality is they were still in the game late in the match despite having only kicked 4 goals.
So the defensive game style keeps them in games.
That's why they have won so many tight games this year often with their key onballers not getting high possessions.
Then when they get possession of the ball they run forward of the play with incredible speed.
The game winning goal against Essendon*** was amazing. Yes Ess didn't set up well to defend the transition but regardless the Pies' dare and speed was incredible.
This forward game style of rebounding with electric speed and dare allows their moderately tooled forwards to impact on the game.
This overall game plan is all about maximising their strength (defense) and allowing the lesser parts of their game to shine.
That's why I really worry about this weekend's game.
Even if we do turn up mentally I worry we just aren't that well organised yet as a team (the last 2 mins the other night is all the evidence you need). Voss & Co have their work cut out trying to implement a game style that will a. allow us to kick a game winning score, and b. stop the Pies' rebound.
Part of our problem this year is our strength (Harry and Charlie) is also our achilles heel as we don't have enough avenues to goal. That's why it was good to see Martin hit the scoreboard last weekend. Reality is Durdin and Motlop are very inexperienced small forwards and let's be honest Owies is slow for a small forward. And JSOS keeps getting thrown all over the side it must be hard for him to impact as a forward when he doesn't know if he is to play forward or ruck or even down back as he was late last weekend or even if he is going to be in the 22.
And then there is the ruck. The Pies as good as they have been this year are not one of the best clearance sides but our rucks are all over the shop. Hasn't helped that Voss keeps chopping and changing the rucks.
To win this weekend we will need to ...
- hopefully perform better in the ruck than we have been to hopefully allow Cripps etc to win some vital clearances from the centre
- this then allows Harry and Charlie the best chance to hit the scoreboard
- when the ball is in our F50 we have to set up so well to stop the Pies' inevitable frantic rebound
- and part of this will be finding a way to stop Mihocek and Elliot

In 2023 Voss will need to find other ways for us to score and Motlop and Durdin getting more experience will help
But this coming weekend we really are going to need Harry and Charlie to have good days I reckon
Because once the Pies rebound I really worry

Reality is when Harry and Charlie have good days we win.
When they don't we tend to lose.

Key will be seeing how Syd suffocated the Pies' forwards but I worry the narrow SCG helped Syd achieve this
The wider expanses of the G will be harder to defend
Was it a positional thing the Swans did? They seemed to be able to cut the Pies' rebound off at the knees better than any side has done for 11 weeks
If it is a positional masterstroke by Longmire then hopefully we can replicate that
I think our wings ability to rush back and defend is going to be massive
Cottrell becomes vital, as does the flawed LOB
We are simply going to have to be so switched on to defend once the Pies defenders get the ball in their grubby hands

Reality is even if we get a lead going into the 4th the Pies will take the game on running with dare and going through the corridor.
Will our players be able to hold their nerve better than they did last weekend?

Hopefully Voss & Co are scrutinising the Swans Pies game and will implement the Swans template to beat Pies.
They suffocated the Pies' dangerous forwards weapons Mihocek and Elliot.
And set up really well to stiffle the Pies' rebound.
The Pies' game plan is brilliant because it is perfectly tailored to their personnel.
While they have some fine players in there they do not have one of the best midfields and don't rely on clearances as a strength.
They also don't have absolute stand out key forwards, with the small Elliot their best forward.
Their strength is their defense.
So McRae has built a very shrewd game plan where they load the backline creating an incredibly dense cluster of Collingwood players making it really hard for the opposition to score.
As a consequence they are always in games.
While they lost yesterday the reality is they were still in the game late in the match despite having only kicked 4 goals.
So the defensive game style keeps them in games.
That's why they have won so many tight games this year often with their key onballers not getting high possessions.
Then when they get possession of the ball they run forward of the play with incredible speed.
The game winning goal against Essendon*** was amazing. Yes Ess didn't set up well to defend the transition but regardless the Pies' dare and speed was incredible.
This forward game style of rebounding with electric speed and dare allows their moderately tooled forwards to impact on the game.
This overall game plan is all about maximising their strength (defense) and allowing the lesser parts of their game to shine.
That's why I really worry about this weekend's game.
Even if we do turn up mentally I worry we just aren't that well organised yet as a team (the last 2 mins the other night is all the evidence you need). Voss & Co have their work cut out trying to implement a game style that will a. allow us to kick a game winning score, and b. stop the Pies' rebound.
Part of our problem this year is our strength (Harry and Charlie) is also our achilles heel as we don't have enough avenues to goal. That's why it was good to see Martin hit the scoreboard last weekend. Reality is Durdin and Motlop are very inexperienced small forwards and let's be honest Owies is slow for a small forward. And JSOS keeps getting thrown all over the side it must be hard for him to impact as a forward when he doesn't know if he is to play forward or ruck or even down back as he was late last weekend or even if he is going to be in the 22.
And then there is the ruck. The Pies as good as they have been this year are not one of the best clearance sides but our rucks are all over the shop. Hasn't helped that Voss keeps chopping and changing the rucks.
To win this weekend we will need to ...
- hopefully perform better in the ruck than we have been to hopefully allow Cripps etc to win some vital clearances from the centre
- this then allows Harry and Charlie the best chance to hit the scoreboard
- when the ball is in our F50 we have to set up so well to stop the Pies' inevitable frantic rebound
- and part of this will be finding a way to stop Mihocek and Elliot

In 2023 Voss will need to find other ways for us to score and Motlop and Durdin getting more experience will help
But this coming weekend we really are going to need Harry and Charlie to have good days I reckon
Because once the Pies rebound I really worry

Reality is when Harry and Charlie have good days we win.
When they don't we tend to lose.

Key will be seeing how Syd suffocated the Pies' forwards but I worry the narrow SCG helped Syd achieve this
The wider expanses of the G will be harder to defend
Was it a positional thing the Swans did? They seemed to be able to cut the Pies' rebound off at the knees better than any side has done for 11 weeks
If it is a positional masterstroke by Longmire then hopefully we can replicate that
I think our wings ability to rush back and defend is going to be massive
Cottrell becomes vital, as does the flawed LOB
We are simply going to have to be so switched on to defend once the Pies defenders get the ball in their grubby hands

Reality is even if we get a lead going into the 4th the Pies will take the game on running with dare and going through the corridor.
Will our players be able to hold their nerve better than they did last weekend?

Did everyone get a ticket?
This game is going to be huge for both clubs.

I'm hoping the opposite.
How much more motivation does a forward need, two major achievements in one game.