grazman

Not necessarily he's just not in the starting midfield, best 22, but not starting in the square. Starting midfield is usually Gawn, Oliver, Viney and Tracc. Can't see him pushing any of those out ATM and Langdon and Tomlinson have the wings locked up.

What makes you think 2021 is going to be any better?

Did he train this morning,? Gil just said he didn't.

Good work RN. I don't know where one would find the pressure rating data, but it was mentioned on the coverage that our pressure rating was over 200 for the first quarter, which only happened once in 2019 and was a large reason we went 42 points up. The second quarter it was mentioned we'd dropped back to 160. No mention what the third and fourth quarters were, but I imagine they were probably even lower. We clearly need to improve on our consistent application of defensive pressure. I noticed the TOG by Gus as well, but another possible explanation is that they maybe managing the midfield loads after the extended lay off and it was Gus who got more bench time - so it will be interesting to see what his TOG next week is.

Hamish McLachlan "clear clarity" Jobe Watson "seeked" BT " a lessened width ground".... errr is that a narrower ground Brian? I don't regard myself as a pedant when it comes to the use (or misuse) of language, but for crying out loud!

I had this conversation with a friend today, but there's a potential seismic shift in terms of the income streams for clubs. Clubs rely heavily on membership dollars to not only generate income, but to attract sponsors. COVID will continue to loom large over the confidence individuals have in committing their disposable income to a product that is no longer a guaranteed commodity in an uncertain world.

fixed

If I was being cynical, I'd say Eddie is trying to further diminish HL and his claims in the eyes of the Collingwood faithful even more than the club has already (I doubt that many of the Magpie supporters would pick up on the not so subtle distinction that when you ask for fairness and respect that it isn't the same as being given a soggy salad sandwich and told to shut up). If I wasn't being cynical, I'd say Ed has the EQ of a turnip beetroot!

The club self-reported. I wonder what the AFL penalty will be for those that don't self-report? Footballers being footballers I can see a lot more breaches coming up for all clubs.

Maybe, he may have helped some of our younger players walk a bit taller though. There were some key players who were thoroughly intimidated by the occasion -not mentioning any names, but Jimma wasn't one of them. It might also have helped if we kicked the very gettable goals that we missed in the first quarter.

Garry Lyon's Torpedo from the square ?and Steve O'Dwyer belting Steve Da Rui to be rubbed out for the GF ?

We've done quite well with our trading with Adelaide over the years: Ingerson, Vince, Vardy (though not nearly enough games) and one of my favourites the unlucky Matty Collins (I just rewatched some of our game from 2000 on youtube ?), but there were also forgettable busts: Jace Bode (9 games), John Meesen (4) and Nick Pesch (4). Other recycled players I remember over the journey that never quite reached the heights the club hoped for were: Trevor Spencer from Essendon, 3 games Gary Moorcroft from Essendon, 3 games David Grant from St Kilda, 7 games Wayne (the Moose) Henwood from Sydney, 1 game 'Rocket' Rod Owen from St Kilda, 9 games Steven Pitt from Collingwood/Western Bulldogs, 5 games Danny Seow from Collingwood, 7 games (traded for Glenn McLean if I remember correctly). Michael Pickering played too many games (15) to qualify, but never regained the lofty heights he had ascended to at Richmond. The other one who was slightly before my time, but was my PE teacher in High School was Mark McKeon (6 games) who ended up being a runner at Collingwood and was responsible for escorting a certain Magpies Reserves player off the ground in a televised match on Sunday arvo (Army Reserve Cup) after he head butted an umpire and then jumped the fence to have a go at one of the spectators. The commentary from Ray 'Slug' Jordan is 80s footy folklore!

Hopefully we beat the Saints and Freo in the next two weeks to make it into the virtual 8. ?

Exactly

The Age had Hibberd in our best players. Hopefully that was from a journalist and not offered by the club!

I got so frustrated I ripped my vintage Demons t-shirt I was wearing in half as I was watching the game. Ok it was an old T-shirt -because I'm really not that strong... but you get the drift. An incredibly disappointing display. I think we have to persist with the core unit such as Lever, but he really needs to be schooled as to staying inside his driving lane when he kicks and doesn't try to be too inventive. Hopefully Rivers comes on quickly to replace Hibberd who is a woeful kick.

I agree with everything you wrote and you can add Max to the leaders group. Strangely lacklustre performance from the Captain in his first game in the role. I can't understand how coming off the back of 2019 we could come out with such a lack of intensity. Gerard Healy made a very good point that all our midfielders tend to get possessions around each other with very few moving forward of the ball. There were a lot of examples of lazy defensive running.

What the... I thought he along with May and Lever gave us something to build our defence around. Hibberd and Jetta worry me. Lockhart was great.

I actually thought Hibberd was worse. I counted at least half a dozen occasions he literally kicked it long to West Coast players with no Melbourne players even near them.

Not as bad as Hibberd.

The way to beat West Coast is to kick the ball along the ground inside F50. Kick it in the air and you are just feeding one of their strengths. Four smalls (only three on the ground at any one time) inside forward 50 to apply pressure and gather crumbs. I suspect Bedford or Kozzy have benefited from Chunk's absence.

Thanks Andy, good photos. Good to see the boys enjoying themselves.

I think it's far more likely that Adelaide get an extra first round pick after Brad Crouch joins the Cats on a five year multi-million dollar deal as a RFA.

If the biggest issue for us in pre-season is debating the limitations of ANB and whether he plays Rd 1 then we have had a pretty good preparation. Fingers crossed it continues.

Pick 3 Jackson. Pick 10 Weightman Pick 28 Cooper Stephens