FlashInThePan

Wagner and White were absolutely disgraceful. Their disposal was some off the worst I have seen. That is not going to improve for having another week in the ones. Potentially the fumbles and general incompetence might improve once they get used to the speed and ferocity of afl. Those 2 broke every possession chain that they were a part of. The swans were hardly even bothering to cover them toward the end. We need strong bodied, good ball users for our system to work. I really can't work out why they got a guernsey. I would like to see Joel Smith in for Wagner and Trenners in for White. Hunt to go back where he can break lines and start possession chains. Hopefully Garlett and Hoges come back too.

They won't beat us with a score like that. We have barely kicked under 90 points this year.

Agreed, it is really a perfect storm that is driving the improvement. Jason, Todd and the recruiting team, Brendan Macartney's development work in no small measure, Roosy & finally Goody as well as the coaching team around them. Everyone deserves a lick of the ice cream if we can turn this momentum into something special.

If Hunt is out as well I think we ARE playing our Casey team McQueen! I'm still backing us, I'm backing our system. It's been a long time coming but I am starting to believe!

I agree Hemingway. I'm seeing a steady stream of no fuss signings coming out. Looks very much like players were waiting for the CBA to get done and now the signatures are flowing. Club is in a great state, clearly about to play finals. Great to see that players are signing on for the ride.

No one is untradeable but Gus has something special if he can get on the park for a decent run. I would hate to see him traded. There is something special about a list of talent that you grow yourself. Gus, Trac, Salem, hoges, hunt form the nucleus of that group we have built here through the hard times. I'd prefer to keep them together to do something special. These boys will surely play hard for each other and the club.

I agree DS, he looks dangerous anytime he is near the ball. He is fast becoming the missing ingredient in our forward line. I am so excited to see how we look with him there with Hoges and Pedo. Trac will have to spend more time in the midfield to make room... I'm okay with that.

you don't remember winning there last week in front of 70000+ people?

Finally, the full 4 quarter effort. Didn't take our foot off their throat the whole game. OMac, what a game! Surely silenced the haters, at least for a week Gawn and maybe Hoges back next week, we could be anything in the back half of the year. Bring it on!

Yes, I completely lost my s#!t when he kicked that goal, everyone around me lost it. A really great moment.

I hate reading this rubbish. Some of you people need to take a look at yourselves. We pulled this back and it had nothing to do with the umpires. We have been umpired out of games so many times this year, all I can say about today is that we had a fairly even share of both good and bad calls. Jack Watts... wow! I love it when Jack plays like that, he owned that goal from the second he took it forward of the wing. I screamed my heart out, I don't remember loosing it like that for quite some time. Pies fans, Jesus. Calling ball before a player even takes possession, it beggars belief. What a pack of whingers, makes beating them all the sweeter.

God I get tired of the TMac bashing. He did not plough into a guys head. They were belting after the ball and the guy ducked to pick it up. He is, in general, a great one on one player. I thought his game last night was really good and balanced. Even his disposal was fantastic. No one wins every marking contest, as a defender the dice are always stacked against you since the ball is being delivered by the opposition to their own advantage. Everyone loves to bag KPDs, it was the same with frawley. Any mistake deep in defence can be catastrophic and draw attention to something that would be no big deal in the forward line. Without TMac we would be in a world of pain. Our defence needs a chance to settle and gel. Having Hibberd and Frost back there is looking really good. They need a chance to get that intuitive feel for where the other will go.

I agree with PD, WB, etc. We really don't know what the KPIs are that they are looking at. They are clearly looking at something very different to the basic stats we tend to pay attention to. What i really enjoy is reading the club press statements and interviews and working out from the way they talk about a player, what sort of run they are gong to get. I could tell early in the pre season that JKH was back in favour. Also that no matter what Trenners does he is on the outer. The news around ANB was also very positive in the preseason. You could tell he was going to get a clear run at it. If you go back in the website news pages you can read statements about players that give you a pretty good idea what sort of leniency they could expect if their form was down.

Brayshaw is going to be a gun. Trading him would be insane. Why this forum needs to descend into cannibalizing our own list constantly is completely beyond me.

I've always thought he could be the best of them. I try not to post when everyone carries on about clarry and how he has the biggest upside since everyone should be able to wax lyrical about their current favorite but Gussy could easily be the next pendlebury. He has incredible football smarts and is always where he needs to be. The only mistakes he makes are typical young player ones, the occasionally poor disposal. I won't carry on, but that boy is going to be something special. He isn't a showboat so i think it will sneak up on people but even at this early stage he is able to motor around and just be in the right place at the right time. He can go inside or out with equal skill. He can kick in the left or right with equal skill. He is the full package. Okay maybe i did carry on a little

There are potentially so many non-sinister reasons why he wouldn't play it isn't funny. From looking at different forward structures and looking at the spencer/gawn setup to managing his load coming into the season. If you say you know something from the inner sanctum then ok. But up until now he has been mentioned as a standout in any number of training threads. Seems odd that all of a sudden he is called out as a liability to the team. I'm going to wait for something more solid on this.

Despite some of the posts here I thought both Garlett and Brayshaw looked great. Brayshaw was in everything and his positioning and running were fantastic. Everyone was blowing out the cobwebs as you would expect in the first preseason game. If people are going to come down on occasional skill errors in the preseason they are missing the point. Chunk off the half back was a revelation. As was Salem in the midfield. I am really excited by the game plan and how it might look by mid season.

Draft and development is the only way to build a dynasty. We have invested heavily in these areas and it is just about to pay off. If we can pick up some high end talent and maintain the payment balance in our group over the next few years then fine, but time and time again clubs have tried to pay for a superstar and ended up killing the goose that lays the golden egg. I don't think we want or need to do that.

He definitely plays a lot of the game as a tall forward, rotating the lead up role with Hogan. However, he seems to have a license to move into defence whenever he feels there is a need. Obviously he plays the backup ruckman when required. I don't think it is a simple as saying he plays the second tall. I seem to remember him, recurited as mature age, being listed as 188cm in his first season. I note you are correct Chook, he is listed on the site as 191 now. How did he grow 3cm in his mid 20's??

Given the fierce competition for spots, I don't see games being gifted to anyone just to get them more experience. I think Weed and Pedo will be competing on form. Vanders, Trac or Trenners are also options as mid-sized forwards who can play tall and that choice will likely depend on team structure and form as well. Going with 3 talls is really only an option because Watts is so versatile. If Garland hits some form again, I wonder whether he might be another possibility. He didn't do too badly there when he was inch hitting a couple of years ago. He can certainly bring some defensive pressure.

Jesus, the season can't come quick enough. The fact that I am reduced to reading rubbish articles like this is sad. Collingwood as the best midfield in the League, with Richmond as number 4, WTF?! There is literally no change to the Collingwood midfield since the 2016 season. Either this is complete rubbish or midfield strength no longer has an influence on the outcome of a game.

Macrae sure but you think we should be shattered that we didn't get Vlastuin, Mayes, Thurlow, Corr, Garner? We already ended up with Kennedy which no one seems all that Happy about.

As DS noted we also got 2nd rounder (29) and 50 as well but I get the impression Howe wanted stupid money and was going regardless. H must have been the best deal we could get done and Toumpas was just steak knives. Unfortunately the damage was done when we selected Toumpas at 4, what a shocking piece of drafting that was, although only Wines and Stringer look like better first round selections below ours that year.

Yeah, this can only be good. I don't think anyone is going to get the chance to find form in the 1s next year. If they drop off there will be someone waiting to take their spot in the 22. They are going to have to find form at Casey and earn their way back in... exciting times!

We were great in the contest but we didn't spread wide enough. Short handballs increase the number of tackles you are exposed to. Long handballs to running targets and accurate kicks, short or long, will reduce the number of tackles. I guess you can't do everything in one season. We built a game around stoppages and contested ball. Now we need to add fierce spread and accurate kicking. I'm really keen to see how goody tackles this