fr_ap

Anyone care to post the Pete Ryan article? Paywall

Like many I've found this upsetting. One of my favourite players, effort attitude and commitment could never be questioned, which is more than you can say for most.

Imo - Clarry has already checked out. If he can get his desperation & commitment back - then of course none of us would ever want him to leave. But if he doesn't - you'd still want to keep him around? If you've managed large teams you'd be aware of the importance of upholding and demonstrating high standards - and how small cracks spread and undermine collective effort. It's not as black and white as you make it - there are versions of Clarry like there are versions of each of us. The clarry that won 4*bnfs is welcome at any time. The current version - we would be best to move on from.

For those asking for Pert and Roffey to face the press, save your breath. The place could be in voluntary liquidation and they'd tell us the club has never been financially stronger. And don't blame Christian. Blame Tim Lamb and Alan Richardson. Tbh, we have an emerging stink about us that echo's what Richo presided over at St Kilda.

Bang It is something we do so poorly

I'm not basing it on his output as a mid last night. I'm basing it on my assessment of him as a player and I've been saying this ever since people started mentioning his name for midfield Am allowed to have long held opinions champ. Jog on

McVee - not a mid Does not have the frame or ability in heavy congestion. He's a ripping 1v1, aerial and slingshot player. His home is half back.

100%. I'm still [censored] he was picked in round 0. No other player with that pre season would be picked. I'm very glad he's got his health together and if playing footy has helped, then great. But objectively, right now he's not a very good player. Lazy, unaccountable, hasn't stuck a tackle for several weeks and is completely unproductive with the football. I've said it before - his fitness is never what made him great. It was desperation and will to win. This is what's disappeared because he's focusing on other things.

Agree entirely

Ive noticed this too - they appeal the most of all teams in the comp and it really does effect the umpires

Hell no

This is incredibly misguided - you've genuinely read every match up wrong. Only thing you've got right is that Howes would get ragdolled. Guess what - so will Hore. Bowza doesn't have the speed, agility or tackling ability in the clinches to take Rioli. And he's incredibly unaccountable for a defender. AMW equally unaccountable....but he's played what...5 games? At least he has speed and tackling ability. As for Salem - DBJ will absolutely run him off his feet and get him out the back if that's the matchup - which it won't be.

Pretty sure I'm alone here but whenever we lose, Lever seems to be a big problem. Yes - he takes a good intercept mark and spoils well on occasion. But the number of goals he concedes directly from a hand or foot errors, poor athleticism/speed, losing 1v1s (often to smaller players), overplaying or losing his marbles (which he's starting to do with more regularity)... Turner's athleticism and closing speed was instantly noticeable when he came on last night. We seem to pay an awfully large cost for Lever as a defensive organiser who can't win contests, isn't a good distributor and can't play on key forwards. He's still young, so unfortunately is going to get less athletic. He's had some fantastic games over the years but for a senior disciplined player he's quite inconsistent. I'm not sure the modern game has room for a slow intercepter who gives no offensive drive

Agree I've been saying it for a bit. The hunger is unlikely to come back.

The fault here lies squarely at the feet of Tim Lamb. His inability to recruit a single senior player to add to this team is a travesty. Worse, those he has added are genuinely negatives from a competitiveness and physicality POV. To maintain a competitive list you need both trading and drafting to be on point. We built our flag with draft + Langdon, Lever, Hibberd, Melksham, May. We haven't added a single solid piece since. I said at the start of the year that we were a Trac injury away from missing finals - I was right. I'm not sure what we expected tbh when our midfield depth consists of Laurie, Woewoedin, Tholstrup. They're just kids - but it's just not at the level. We knew Oliver would be poor. I don't think any of us thought Viney would be this poor. Deloitte might have broken him... We simply had to add some senior, good players to this team after the flag. Richmond went and got Tom Lynch. We got Grundy...

Saddest for our supporters really. 3 years of dominance and we couldn't see a single finals win in person. Unreal.

Yep. Defensively a very weak performance again - this is becoming a trend. Weak in the contest, weak in transition, weak 1v1 down back. We're a shell of what we once were. And I don't think it's coming back.

I think he needs a string of games. He's no worse than ANB was in the very early stages of his career - but we were a side not expecting to win as much, so ANB was given a longer crack at it.

I can be negative but this really irks me. Coll would have got no more than 35k to that and have double our membership base - 17k is disappointing but tbh about par. Richmond for all their might got 20k a few weeks ago against this same opponent, in the middle of the day when kids can actually attend. It was absolutely icy, forecast hail, rained all day, and more importantly the team were beyond disgracefully bruise free last week. Dees supporters are smart and can see the demise. This is a positive in all senses except commercial - the reason Collingwood fans always show is because they have [censored] for brains and have nothing else in their life of such importance. It's why they're disgusting when winning.

It's not. He's never been in the top runners at the club - his game never revolved around fitness. He's not ANB or Walsh (who without their superior fitness would be average players). The absolute thirst and zeal he had for the contest and game has reduced - as I think football is no longer his no.1 focus. This is probably a better outcome for his health and life, but makes us worse clearly. He's still a very good player - but he's now a one or two effort player instead of a 3,4,5 effort, tireless, absolute will to win player. That edge was what made him so special. He played well tonight - but if the first or second ball didn't go his way I watched him quite a few times slow to a stop. Largely, it's his defensive game, which was always underrated, which has fallen away. Great post. The FD fumbling the window is pretty bang on - list management, fitness, playing injured players, game plan/bombing to pockets, inability to address goalkicking. Couldn't keep Burgess for even one more year. Couldn't keep Jackson after doing so much work to get him. Couldn't keep & develop Bedford, couldn't keep Jordon. The crowd ... Collingwood vs GWS would have got 35k in that weather tonight. We're about half the membership base aren't we, in which case 17k makes sense. It was absolutely icy, rained all day, half the train lines were down (no one EVER talks about this) and worse, we played like an EFL team in the west last week with statistically one of the worst midfield performances of all time. Plus, dees supporters are smart. Most (except the deluded ones) can see whats been happening for a little while now.

I know people are saying we got close with a lot of young kids in the side - but this was our leaders who lost it. Gawn was absolutely bullied by Briggs in that game breaking spell start of q4. May, McDonald and lever gave up marks deep inside 50 to Hogan and green. McDonald turns over lateral kick for goal. May drops mark. ANB run down on the wing, partially due to Melkshams poor handball. Lever drops intercept mark with 1 min to go. Oliver let's Greene walk away with the last clearance. Not good and alarming for the future

Nail meet head

Respect the positivity but we won't. This list as it stands is cooked - midfield in particular is threadbare and there is very little in the cupboard. We have some good kids but the gap in our list between 23-29 means we'll have some lean next few years.

Jeffo with some crucial up the ground 3v1 ground ball wins and then the i50 contested mark on the siren. Kicking letting him down...I've been critical but fair play can see the development

Yze has some power