titan_uranus

Unbelievable. Literally losing every facet of the game. The old Melbourne is back - too many at the ball, losing inside, losing outside, not tackling, dropping our heads. Aim from here has to be to win the half, at least restore some pride and undo some of the paychological damage this game will cause if it keeps going this way.

Disastrous. All 4 goals from turnovers. Can’t hit a target. Belted in CPs. Nothing going right.

Indeed that is true, in fact ours was probably softer, but we won an extra game against a top 8 side, and have won two more since, such that even if we lose tomorrow, we'll still have a better record against the top 8 than Collingwood does. They got a double chance by going 14-0 against the bottom 10.

I reckon that's unfair. We haven't played yet and we still have more wins against top 8 sides so far this season than Collingwood does. They got into the finals on the back of a draw which gave them 14 games against the bottom 10. Full credit to them for making a Grand Final with the injuries they've had, but going the "well I always said they were good" route is unfair when the criticism of them was completely warranted given their record.

The pre-finals bye will be looked at, but Richmond's last month going into the finals wasn't great. 3 point win over Geelong, 8 point win over Essendon and a 3 point win over the Dogs (which they should have lost), around a thrashing of GC. He's good, not great, and he had an appalling night. For someone of his ability, that wasn't good enough.

There was so much hype about it filling up and being a lock-out that I reckon a lot of people were scared off. If we make it next week though...

As a positive, if we do win tomorrow, we'll get to play the GF out of our home rooms (we share with Richmond, Collingwood share with Hawthorn, so if Richmond had won we would have had to play out of the other rooms).

West Coast beat Collingwood at the G earlier this year.

Rance whinging for free kicks with 3 minutes to go. The game's biggest [censored] and IMO one of its most over-rated players.

Richmond finished 13th in 2016, their supporters wanted Hardwick gone but they kept him, premiership 2017. Collingwood finished 13th in 2017, their supporters wanted Buckley gone but they kept him...2018?

Got to beat West Coast first. If we do, Frost will likely have done a good job on Kennedy. And we didn't have Frost on Queen's Birthday. Cox was also putrid against West Coast and GWS. He got his confidence up early but keep him quiet early and he's back to being a giraffe. It's feast or famine with him.

Martin 18 disposals, 2 marks, 1 tackle, no score. Caddy 10 disposals, 1 mark, 3 tackles, no score. Edwards 10 disposals, 0 marks, 4 tackles, no score. Castagna 6 disposals, 2 marks, 2 tackles, no score. Cotchin's had 23 but how many turnovers? Rance was flogged by De Goey and Cox early. Nobody saw this coming.

Was getting excited at 21 points at the prospect of Collingwood losing from 53 points up, but then reality hit and the game's over now. A satisfying way to watch Richmond's hubris come crashing down, but I still cannot stand the concept of the 2018 Collingwood being in the Grand Final. It just feels wrong.

If Collingwood win, it'll be 2-3 (in favour of sides who play in the semi finals) in prelims since they brought the bye in. Even if West Coast beat us, and it's 3-3, that's a 50% fail rate for top 4 sides who win their first final in the prelim since they brought the bye in. From 2006-2015 only once side did it (Hawthorn in 2015). Don't jinx anything! Their constant mantra of trying to keep the ball in motion looks terrible when it doesn't work. Lots of players not wanting to put their head over the ball and get the contested ball and instead just tap it forward or kick it forward because usually that works, but it looks silly when those taps forward just go to Collingwood players.

It's a few things. Riewoldt aside, their A-graders are having no influence (Martin, Cotchin, Rance, Edwards are all struggling or getting beaten). In 2017-2018 they've hardly had games where those players have been poor, and we know none of them get injured, so it's no coincidence IMO that when they struggle, the B-graders fall away (e.g. Caddy and Rioli have been woeful tonight). They're too short, and Collingwood are tactically using their height to their advantage. Collingwood's pressure is also through the roof, and any side under this pressure is going to struggle.

To date they've won two games all season against the sides who made the finals. Everyone was right to question whether they were any good given that until last week, Queen's Birthday was their only win over anyone good (and we were tripe that day). In saying that, they've weathered Richmond's attempted fightback this quarter and extended their lead. Game looks over and they'd fancy themselves against either West Coast or us.

Brodie Grundy is also tearing Nankervis to pieces. Richmond's lack of talls (no key defender to go with Cox, no tall for the bail out mark down the line, no second ruckman) is a massive problem. I suppose Lynch helps with that next year.

The tactic of putting Cox on the mark for set shots at goal is (I hate to say it) so smart. I reckon @Clint Bizkit would be a fan.

He went straight forward after the opening bounce. As Collingwood got on top he didn't get moved back into the middle. It's funny how Richmond look so different when their stars are down. They haven't had to deal with those players being out of the side or even out of form. Pull the other one, they've beaten pretty much everyone all year and they haven't lost at the G for 18 months.

Surely the home jumper with white shorts, which is what we wore last time. They wear royal blue so we can't wear the alternate. No way we send our 50-goal forward to the backline and hope for Weideman to get on top of Hurn, McGovern and co. That's a fair argument. I think, for me, a lot of my frustration at the change comes from sympathy for Fritsch, but taking emotion out of it I think we've done the right thing. Possibly. But Kennedy's influence against Collingwood in the first final was clear. As he got into the game WC got on top. We can't take him lightly.

The same agency has West Coast as favourites to beat us, which is odd. I suppose punters think we're more likely to beat Collingwood than West Coast is?

Pretty sure Martin and Astbury are unfit and shouldn't be playing. #overconfidence?

Pathetic. Every time he gets beaten he whinges to the umpires. I can't stand Collingwood and the thought of them making the GF makes me sick, but at least watching Rance get flogged is immensely enjoyable.

They gave Cox a sniff early and now, like Queen's Birthday, his confidence is up.

What am I watching? Richmond looks inept. They can't get the ball out of their back 50, they're rushing everything, they can't take a mark, they can't stop Collingwood's run. Collingwood are good starters and Richmond are good finishers but it's already 6 goals and Richmond hasn't played catch up footy all year, essentially. I'm not confident about Richmond from here.