At the break of Gawn

So I had some time on my hands and using Fox Footy's Premiership window metrics, I've collected the past 6 weeks For/Against Scores and this is what it currently looks like. One thing I can say with certainty, that Collingwood are no where near the premiership window over the last 6 weeks. Port is the best team over the last 3 weeks, however we're the best team over the last 6 weeks. The only thing that's dragged us down the last 3 weeks is our points scored. To be honest, this is my main concern going into tomorrow night. Will we kick a big enough score? This is the graph for 3 weeks While this is the graph for the past 6 weeks

Hopefully the media asks Goody about Smith.

I’ll sell you my house if Grundy is selected.

Pleasantly relieved by this. It’s those sort of players that bob up against us.

Three changes is too destabilising for mine. I thought Turner was actually pretty good and I don’t really see any Collingwood forward getting a hold of him. If Cox wasn’t playing you could take out Turner and put Hibberd in which could give coverage on Elliott. I wouldn’t be surprised if Goody had Hibbo as sub as a back up on Elliott In: Hibberd (Sub), Tmac Out: Laurie (Sub), Melksham

Listening to Hoyne on Sportsday and he thinks the biggest threat is Elliott (I’m also worried about him). He’s Collingwood’s no.1 rated player the last 6 weeks. Salem was also called out. At the moment he’s a bottom 60 player in the competition which is alarming.

Not sure if anyone else saw the Herald Sun Finals Crystal ball article, but this is the summary: Premiers: Collingwood x 8 Melbourne: x 3 Brisbane: x 2 Runner Up: Brisbane x 8 Collingwood x 1 Melbourne x 2 Port x 1 Giants x 1 Straight Sets: Port x 9 Melb x 3 Pies x 1 Also, a big [censored] you to Scott Gullan who thinks we'll go out in straight sets and somehow thinks Port will get past Brisbane and go all the way to the grand final with all their patchy form/injuries.

The decision to play both Cox and Cameron will backfire for Collingwood with the wet weather. Did anyone see Cox play against Port in slippery conditions? Had about 2 touches and was a liability.

Which show did he call it a fluke? That’s pretty disrespectful if true. We’re the only team with 3 consecutive top 4 finishes at the moment. We’re nothing like the 2016 dogs.

Are you sure? I think their win against Port in Adelaide it rained or at least seemed like a slippery game.

Weather app has gone up to 2-8mm (Friday is just as bad). My only hope is that because the forecast is saying most likely in the afternoon and evening it pushes back to late in the night. More often than not, the rains comes later not earlier.

Pies have officially ruled him out now.

If the weather forecast doesn’t change I’m going to put money on the Pies. I just don’t think we have enough good ball users to take smart options and try and hit up targets in the wet. It’s a real risk that we’ll revert to bombing it in and get caught on the rebound with chaos ground ball that Elliott and the like will love.

Given the weather forecast is expecting rain, what do we need to do differently to ensure we can win this time? I worry about our ability to score in wet weather if our smalls have quiet games. If you take the Carlton game for example, our smalls struggled to fire. Collingwood has superior forwards in wet weather games. Miocek (pretty agile player), Elliot, Hill, McReery will all trouble us.

I’m glad we didn’t take him. He would have been just a prequel to Scully. Stay for 2 years then leave. We all know Watts never lived up to his potential, but I’ve often wondered if shipping him off due to his lack of professionalism sent a message to the group which led to mass buy-in from this group on professionalism. I also think with Watts’ lack of competitiveness, the recruiting staff made that a real focus for future picks. So all in all, I wouldn’t change a thing as we might not have had the 2021 flag.

Same. I hope the forecast changes because at the moment it’s 0-5mm of rain. If it rains, we’re doomed.

Good re-signing I think. We definitely need the depth. We can’t rely on Tmac/BB while Grundy’s mgmt will seek a trade it seems. With another pre-season under his belt at Melbourne, who knows, maybe he’ll surprise us and grab an opportunity in 2024.

Tom Stewart making the team is an absolute joke. Has had an average season and Geelong’s defence has been ****house this year. I genuinely hate Harris Andrews and I’m no Weitering fan, but to have Stewart before them is ridiculous and the AA selectors are just playing favourites.

100%. If he dominates, I can’t see us losing.

So Port get a 6 day break if they lose and we beat the Pies?

Ideally I want to see: A 100+ score on the board keeping them to under 60pts no injuries oh and Port to win.

Can someone please explain the rationale for this? Surely the Brisbane game is the obvious choice? Brisbane last year on the Thursday night worked well so I just don’t understand the reasoning here. You’ll see a smaller crowd on Thursday night at the MCG.

Yet there was a gap with Marchbank’s?

Did anyone see Big O’s goal soft called a behind by the umpire as touched, but despite inconclusive evidence, the ARC overturned it? Funny how things change…

Exactly. It’s why we belted them there last year and why their second half of the season record at the GABBA is worse.