my take is great we played finals which was our 2023 goal,bonus we played 3 games . But our problem is so obvious it has been there ALL season our game plan ,method is no good it showed in the finals we were lucky against swans and melb to win .Our coaches need to change this style over summer and to nick Austin find some QUICK players

We were not lucky to beat Swans, christ on a bike, we had them at arm's length all game and then they got lucky to bring it within a kick at the death.

These quotes nail it I reckon.

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

i still think if we'd gotten over lions we'd beat the pies again on the G. then again, we were running on fumes.


lions at home is the closest thing to impossible in the league. we had a torrid finals draw tbh ...

the other side of the draw woulda been much nicer. lol

just wanted to add something abit different.

was at the gabba ... and when acres did it again, and touched the ball with his bonce ... the crowd reaction was great ...

but to see acres smiling and laughing whilst the chant was going on, was hilarous. He genuinely looked chuffed with it and the supporters response.

(and it has turned out to be one of, if not the best 3rd round pick trades of all time)

Can't wait for next year. Only thing is I remember feeling like a flag was close at hand after our narrow loss to Wet Toast in the finals in 2011. Nothing is certain.

I have to say I expected Lions at home to be a bridge too far. One thing that pissed me off was Coleman running around loose gathering possessions across half back.

Can't say I rate Pies all that highly. Haven't looked very impressive for awhile now, could easily have gone out in straight sets.

Pros:

Gave ourselves a chance with the way we started. That was our best footy for the final series.
Carlton support in the crowd.
Walsh again.
Defence was good, especially when you consider how fast and often the ball was coming in.
Special mentions to Saad in controlling Cameron. Marchbank for his best game since his return. And Boyd was terrific. Great selection from the MC.
Harry was our best forward.
Hewett controlled Neale.
Captain's goals from Crippa.
Hollands was pretty good.

Cons:

Got smashed out of the centre after quarter time.
Again couldn't cope with Brisbane's speed between half forward and half back. We probably needed Cottrell to play higher. Need more speed on those hard, fast and dry tracks, against the better opposition.
30 inside 50s after quarter time was never going to be good enough.
McInerney got us again. 2 goals from him were particularly costly. Our rucks seem to be able to control Gawn, but consistently get beaten by this bloke.
Missed opportunities in the 3rd quarter.
Daniher diving around like Matty Lloyd, and continually appealing for frees.
Needed a lot more from Cripps and Cerra. We really needed to physically monster the quicker and smaller Brisbane midfielders.
I thought our tackling fell away after quarter time. And the opposition were more physical. Probably paid the price for carrying a number of sore players.
Small forwards. Motlop is a sublime finisher and has a heap of improvement in him. But that's the 3rd final in a row where he didn't look he could compete with the speed and intensity. Fogarty was terrific early, but once the ball started pinging around, he couldn't apply the pressure we needed.
Charlie. Got into the game late, but 3rd final in a row where our best player has been a bystander. Maybe if his form hadn't been so sublime during the season, we might have developed some creative methods to get him into the game when struggling. We did well to get across the line in the previous 2 finals without him.

fora all our depth our VFL team didn't make finals. won some good games when we had decent players returning via the VFL but not that convincing.

Too right it would have been. GWS were terrific, but they also got a much easier run in the finals.

GWS had to travel interstate every week during the finals. Not sure they had an easier run than us. Admittedly, Brisbane in Brisbane has become the toughest fixture in AFL - but at least we got to play on our home ground in the first two weeks of the finals. If we had to have played at the Adelaide Oval in the semi, I’m not so sure we would have made it to the prelim.

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

If for some reason a Collingwood supporter gives you stick about a 5 goal to 0 lead and losing the game just remind them of the 1979 Grand Final.

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"IF YOU FAIL TO PREPARE, YOU'RE PREPARED TO FAIL" - Mark Spitz

Nah , i'll remind them of the 1970 Grand Final .

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All my dangerous friends

While you're at it add 1981

I like the '79 comparison because they were 5 goals to zip up and blew it.

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"IF YOU FAIL TO PREPARE, YOU'RE PREPARED TO FAIL" - Mark Spitz

...and 2018 (even though it wasn't us).

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THEY LIKE TO SEND UP!!!!!!!!

Until each team plays each other the same number of times, the AFL, as a fair dinkum competition, cannot be taken seriously.

He (Mr Swann) said the honour and pride associated with the club's traditional navy blue jumper was priceless.

Nah all good….

none of my friends give me crap about
losing…!


kindest regards tommi

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that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!

Nice to have a choice hey Nav .

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All my dangerous friends

St Kilda and Essendon* supporters having a go was pretty funny.

StK were insipid in their one finals game and the Dong couldn't even make it with an easy draw.

StK ..... not relevant. Never have been. Never will be.
Dong ..... nuff said.

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"IF YOU FAIL TO PREPARE, YOU'RE PREPARED TO FAIL" - Mark Spitz

Ya know….

I’m exhausted still…mentally obviously….
not sure how i would’ve handled the stress
of a GF week*….!

there’s a sort of relief I’m experiencing…!

hard to explain the feeling…!

it’s funny…right up till we lost i honestly
believed we could win the GF…but as soon
as we lost…the feeling of…yeah maybe
we weren’t ready yet appeared…!

it’s all good…just a little sad really…and none
of the devastation we’ve experienced in the past…!


kindest regards tommi







* I’m sure i would’ve found a way…!

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that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!

Good summary. Feeling very much the same. Also, just wasn't ready for the season to end which is a new feeling for us.