Bring-Back-Powell

Random thought but would have we won a game in 2018 if we were missing all of Hogan, T Mac and Weideman? Probably against GC and Carlton...but anyone else....? I know I’m sounding like an apologist but the forward line we’re putting out each week isn’t league standard, and it’s cost us every week since T Mac got injured. That and our horrid skills all over the park.

Joeboy just got back from north’s 102 point loss to Geelong in the VFL. Apparently Tyson was - prolific but wasteful.

They will if they get some players back. They had 9 of their best 22 out.

Even if Collingwood win all 3 games I’ve got them missing the top 4.

Have we had one single win this year that we’ve been proud of? Today would certainly be one of them.

I’d say the opposite. We are horrid in the rain and would much rather a dry day.

What’s the bet one of our bottom 6 partners won’t be GC, despite finishing 17th.

The problem is there's never been a time in our game where the forwards have received the softest free kicks like this year. O Mac has to adapt to this if he's to have a future as a defender. Giving away 3 free kicks to Lynch no matter how soft they were, was too many. Without the frees against, O Mac's performance against Tom Lynch would've been commendable.

I think he played most if not all in the back 50. Played one of his better games last week, but has been a disappointment this year.

Did he really praise our captains? The same captains that had 0 tackles between them on a wet night and were far from our best players last week. I must be watching a different game to him. And Brayshaw had 11 possessions last week. The same Bayshaw that averaged 26 touches last year, finished 3rd in the 2018 brownlow and will most certainly poll 0 votes this year. What is this guy on?

Played against Geelong in round 1 last year and was no good.

Thanks, totally forgot about Hore. With Lever, Frost and Hore in the side could May spend a bit of time up forward as an option?

If that's the case, unless one of our forwards makes a clear lead, can we please play Port Adelaide 'dirty ball' and keep the inside 50 entries as low as possible? If we just kick the ball in the air, the Collingwood defenders will mark everything with our small forward line. Given the poor weather and no real back up for Grundy, surely Preuss gets dropped this week. In - May, Stretch Out - Preuss, O Mac Or they could play May up forward and keep O Mac who actually didn't disgrace himself against Tom Lynch. I see Saturday as a big day for the club. It's the last opportunity to claim a scalp and put in a performance the supporters/members can be proud of. There is literally not one win this year that we can be genuinely proud of. All wins we've either scraped over the line, played a rubbish side or a combo of both. The Freo win was probably out best for the year considering they were flying at the time and we dominated the last qtr.

Just out of interest what was Viney and Jones's reaction after those 18 year old rat bags targeted Gawn?

He's really scraping the barrel of things to say now. "We took some positives out of the first half of last week"

I f he wants another year, he gets another year. There are so many ordinary out of contract players that can go before him such as the Wagners, JFK, Maynard, ANB, Stretch, Keilty and Tim Smith.

A good solid analysis there. I would contend that the outs are equal in quantity but certainly not in quality as DeGoey (A+), Stevenson, Beams, and Moore are all A Graders, while T Mac and Jetta are the only A/B+ Graders missing for us. Assuming we lose, Saturday will highlight how much better depth Collingwood have than us, particularly up forward. While they'd prefer to have De Goey, Stevenson and Cox in the side, they can easily rely on Hoskin-Elliott, Miocheck, Elliott,Thomas, Varcoe and Sidebottom to pick up the slack and kick their 3-4 goals. Who can we rely on aside from Fritsch who will likely kick his 2 or 3 on Saturday?

This bloke?

Wasn't he out with a toe injury after the St Kilda game? He didn't crack a mention in the injury report for some reason.

Anyone that has managed to pull off a 27 possession, 11 mark, 6 goal game is of interest to me.

Geez I would've thought after 21 weeks, the players would have built a bit of match fitness, grit and determination to run out a game of footy.... When they actually dug in during a last qtr, they got a result against Sydney, Hawthorn, GC and Carlton. They showed they could do it earlier on in the season when they put their minds to it, why can't they do it now? But in fairness to you, the last quarter stats don't lie and do point to the fact that we're a hopelessly unfit side. I'm just sick of using our pre-season as an excuse, and perhaps we should raise the possibility that we are simply a very ordinary footy side that lacks the basic fundamentals with respect to skill execution, eg - the infamous ANB & Fritsch stuff up against St Kilda 2 weeks ago.

Agree in that he didn't get a game in the early rounds when they were up and about. Beams probably took his place. However, he had an interrupted pre season and was a part of their grand final side last year, so he's certainly in the best 22-26 mix for Collingwood.

Can't use injuries as an excuse this week: Collingwood missing 9 of their best 22: De Goey, Stevenson, Beams, Langdon, Sier, Cox, Moore, Aish and Wells (who will return for finals). Or will the apologists still blame the interrupted pre season, 21 weeks later?

Agreed. Bull Smith is not a good player but I’d happily welcome him back at the expense of Preuss, particularly given its going to be practically snowing on Saturday.

He is best 22. Been out of the side because of injury.