1 hour ago, DeeSpencer said:

Salem, Hibberd, May, Rivers, McVee were amazing and Tomlinson played as well as he could.

Lever was incredibly ordinary and the Pies caught him in no man’s land and danced all around him pretty much every time they went forward quickly. Had he put an intercepting clinic like he did v Collingwood I’d play him in this role each week but Salem, Rivers and May had as many intercepts and McVee just the one less.

Hibberd played full back on Ash Johnson as the third tall.

We didn’t need a 4th tall and we certainly didn’t need Brayshaw’s turnover ability in the middle, though he did get his hands on some clearances. He could’ve done Lever’s role, Lever could’ve played Tomlinson’s role and assuming he was not terrible in the few big aerial contests Tomlinson had the game would’ve been the same.

We dragged an undermined Collingwood in to a dour defensive battle. 

If the aim is the lose in a prelim at best we’ll keep this set up.

Barring Tomlinson making big strides in his defensive reliability whilst somehow still lacing targets on his left, Lever improving his mobility to levels that allow him to chase smaller forwards and not look completely inept and Hibberd keeping the fountain of youth we’ll be too slow, too defensive and lack the kicking skills to bounce the ball out effectively.

If we want to go further we need a backline with more run, skill and speed for when we play the real Collingwood.

That assessment is absolute nonsense. The defence as a unit worked very well. If we kick straight we win by 5 or 6 goals.

Jordan Lewis nailed it on 360.

The first game of the year where it felt like finals (preliminary) footy in his opinion. Have to agree. 

1 minute ago, Jaded No More said:

Cry me a river

I couldn’t care less as these things happen during winter but I was told earlier in the week, not when they lost.

 

2 hours ago, Hopeful Demon said:

Yesss!!!! This is the happiest I've been since the 2021 GF.

We can worry about our inaccuracy and the last minute later. Let's just appreciate the fact that we [censored] beat Collingwood!

Jack Viney, take a bow you star.

Jack Viney? Some of the pundits around here wanted him gone 3 or 4 years ago. Mistake.

Speechless. Seriously, speechless as in no voice. Stilled jacked up on adrenaline, disbelief, euphoria and way too many Red Bulls and Gummy Bears. So, so proud of our boys. But also super proud of our fans. We brought it today, we brought the noise and the passion. That frenzied level of energy was nuts!

YEAH THE DEES!!!!

And when I get home ima watch the goddamn replay to find out WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!!!

Edited June 12, 20231 yr by WalkingCivilWar

1 minute ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

Sidebottom and particularly Pendelbry have age against them these days and I'd expect them to become more fragile as time goes on.

Elliott has always been injury prone, so I don't know if Collingwood can really count on him being there in their best 22.

De Goey was cancelled by Oliver.

Sidebottom was playing very well until injured. I rate him very high

And we covered for Oliver in some ways with Viney

Elliott might have a few injuries but not always.  An extremely dangerous forward

De Goey is a star

Going into the game we had a bit of an advantage in terms of available high-end talent

But against all that we had the yips something chronic in front of goal so kick straight and we win easily

Don't be underestimating the Pies.  We got the win but there will be a next time

They've been up for a long time and this loss for them will probably do them the world of good

Put it this way, if we underperform in front of goal like we did today (in a final) ... we'll lose

But enjoy the win, we played very well and beat a worthy opponent

If anyone tells me Oliver isn’t a better player than De Goey and Sidebottom I will fight them to the death!

37 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Depends on your definition of elite, but for mine elite kicks are guys who lace the ball a variety of distances and routinely hit corridor kicks.

Salem’s always been undervalued for his contested work, marking, positioning, tackling and slightly over valued as a kicker.

If he was unquestionably elite he’d take more kick outs.

Who then are the AFL players you consider to be elite kicks.

By the by, I'm not sure how, but I forgot fritter. In my book, he absolutely is an elite kick.

Can't think of many other AFL players, maybe two or three tops, I'd pick ahead of fritter to nail a set shot from anywhere inside 50 to win a game after the siren.

That's five elite kicks, by my defintion.

We are not normally that inaccurate so that doesn’t worry me at all.

thought the outs were pretty even

we also had no Petty and Bowey on top of Oliver.

Replay time.

Edited June 12, 20231 yr by binman

2 minutes ago, Macca said:

Put it this way, if we underperform in front of goal like we did today (in a final) ... we'll lose

Nah, there is no evidence that other teams are more accurate in finals- if anything I’d say we will regress back to the mean with our accuracy. Not sure what the expected scores were.. surely a 6 goal win. 

15 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Not wanting to take the polish off but Kozzy is really going through arguably career worst from. He is lost at sea and Goody really needs to sort it out.  Not sure whether it’s droppable territory yet, but he is not performing to anywhere close to his best. Two very gettable set shots are telling he is down on confidence otherwise he is one of the more reliable set shots. 
 

Every player has em but he has been off since he got suspended and nothing to indicate he is shaking it off. 

Surely they are instructing him to stay down for the crumbs. And I would be giving him more midfield time. But then quite often the ball goes high into our forward 25m zone with Kozzie up against one or two bigger forwards so he feels he has to contest in the air. Get our forward set up right and he will click. 

Well that win greatly helped me over come my recent doubts. Good solid performance but I will leave the kicking for goal at the wayside for now.

12 minutes ago, BW511 said:

I’ve got a mate that works for CFC, it was a thing

Tell him to get stuffed

Love Smith’s athleticism and intensity. Plays like someone who’s spent a decade trying to make it but been sabotaged by injury and, suddenly, has a chance to be a premiership player…

Viney is my God. Many thanks to Ethan and Mary for the tickets, you guys are ace!

Let the talk be about the filth.  The game went as i expected, except for the poor goal kicking.  Even at half time i was happy, because I was watching us put the sort of defensive effort that will win finals.  Nice to get the points and hose out the filth, but in the scheme of things I hope the narrative stays on them and we can just keep taking care if business.

54 minutes ago, Wizard of Koz said:

Joel Smith has always had the attributes of a good player.  Injuries, panic related errors and lack of a clear role have hurt him. Would definitely have been a Premiership Dee if not for the injury. Maturity and confidence can be a force in football and Smith is ready to make his mark for a bit. Wont last forever but he will be valuable. Shaun Grigg sort of valuable.

Joel is a premiership player - for Casey

Absolutely loved that match. 

Are the usual suspects still writing us off?!

Few things- one did anybody else spot the cheeky smirk from JVR before his set shot. After a heap of set shot misses I knew he wasn’t going to miss when I saw that. 
Also how sickening was BT,s barracking for the filth 
 

3 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

Surely they are instructing him to stay down for the crumbs. And I would be giving him more midfield time. But then quite often the ball goes high into our forward 25m zone with Kozzie up against one or two bigger forwards so he feels he has to contest in the air. Get our forward set up right and he will click. 

Nah, no, nope. He's taking mistimed leaps from the back of packs of talls. Some Casey time to cool his  heels.

Just now, Engorged Onion said:

Nah, there is no evidence that other teams are more accurate in finals- if anything I’d say we will regress back to the mean with our accuracy. Not sure what the expected scores were.. surely a 6 goal win. 

We can't bank on any opposition being accurate or innacurate

Take care of our own.  Today our kicking in front of goal and our sets shots was below par

You cannot do that in a final, not that that is likely but today was not the first time we've had the yips in front of goal

I compare it to the batting collapse in cricket ... one follows the other, rinse & repeat.  Many of the shots were to an open goal (not much of an angle)

Don't get me wrong, we were by far the better team in nearly all aspects but our kicking for goal very nearly cost us the win

Still, not nearly as bad as the Bombers in the '48 GF ... 7.27 to 10.9 (us)

We won the replay haha!

Was surprised to see my Sunbury line train home packed to the gills with their supporters. They must breed like rats. 

2 minutes ago, speed demon said:

Love Smith’s athleticism and intensity. Plays like someone who’s spent a decade trying to make it but been sabotaged by injury and, suddenly, has a chance to be a premiership player…

Better suited to the forward line. Highlights his strengths and hides his deficincies. 

How was that Mitchell hit on McVee,  to the head, not a free?

Oh I know, because it was worse than the 2 head highs on Hunter, in the same incident, which were also not paid.