fr_ap

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

Depends - have they been loading?

Good post and sums up how I feel about this too. We can all see the cliff - does a very good half back stop us falling off it? Probably not. I have very little faith in Tim Lamb. Seems to be shrewd enough with re-signings, but his work at the trade table has been so poor. In terms of experienced recruits, we are still living off the work of Josh Mahoney and Todd Viney.

Seeing their star 3 trio developed from the draft bully our midfield was a very clear signal where we're at imo. Tbh I don't think the Clarry that won bnfs will return, this year or another. Not buying that his fitness and lack of pre season has anything to do with it. Whatever happened, it's clear footy is no longer his #1 focus like it once was and he doesn't have the fire, energy or care factor he once did. Once you lose that it's exceptionally hard to recapture. Let's face it - even at his ripping best he was hardly a picture of fitness. He was all effort, all heart, all care for his teammates and the win. When that part isn't there he's just a player. A trade this off season may be the best thing for all parties. It would be a very sad end to one of the great MFC careers...but an eventuality the fanbase should probably start preparing for.

Probably our worst defensive game structurally that I can remember. The number of goals they scored by just being all on their own in f50 is completely bewildering. Lever seemed at fault for probably 10 goals. I'm sure he wasn't as clearly they just walked the ball down the field uncontested which makes his life difficult, but gee whiz... Simon why would you push the defensive line high with no ruck against a dominant ruck duo? We compressed the field...leading to stoppages....leading to clearance loss ...leading to them running back to goal uncontested when they are pacy and we are not... Like honestly what the hell was the plan?

We look absolutely cooked. Jogging on the spot and no desire

With both our superstars out, theirs (Merrett) will probably be the difference. If we can clamp him to even 70% of his game destroying best, that will go a long way. Also a little worried about the flakey [censored] Stringer just because we don't have someone with his combo of size, aggression and agility down back. Tbh Turner would probably be his best matchup but alas, he's now a ruck forward?? Haha

Yep. Tim Lamb has deadset destroyed the list