old55

refused classification

Both probably warming a seat but one should be play.

That's a concern. It makes sense that Moloney was demoted from the "leadership" in this context. I'll directly contradict myself elsewhere and say that we may be missing McDonald's and Bruce's influence here.

I like "the Pies" but wouldn't call them "the Maggies" that's for sure.

Good post IMO. Yes Scully and McKenzie are best 22 and must come in, there'll be other injuries. We're getting closer to a settled 22. It's a positive that McDonald and Bruce aren't on the list - even though that does affect our results this year it's beneficial long term.

Yep I think that was in the player review from R2 - Liam needs to get back to basics in his game - or similar.

True not every player is a hard-nut but our best 22 contains Watts, Bennell, Morton, Jurrah and Davey - however the first 4 are developing players.

R2 vs Carlton must've just been a nightmare after all!

I've always hated "Dees", they're "Demons" to me Maybe "Tappsco" is more manly Altho calling something "gay" is a bit "Dees" itself

Hypnosis!

I want Ablett to play - great experience for Bail - I really like him as the defensive mid. It allows McKenzie to play a more attacking role and use his clearance winning ability.

That is the general concern. Maybe that's the answer - "the man on man zone". I think you're channeling Bhima here.

And the sub doesn't have to stay on the ground for the whole of the rest of the match.

I think that's a great thought, he needs to build his confidence and as you say we need to find out if he can play. This week would be a good to start him but who to leave out - I'm not in favour of leaving Morton out, that was his first footy for the year.

Agree there's some minimum standards and team rules that he has to follow but to fully school him in defensive positioning etc may be counter-productive. I'm in no way suggesting he couldn't become a cog but I'm not sure that's what we want. We may be saying "What the 4^&% is Jurrah doing?" but the fun really starts when the opposition is saying it.

It's quite likely I read that too then.

The advantage he brings is his unpredictability but that delivers the outstanding and the dire. We could drill him in team rules and we'd eliminate the dire but we'd also blunt his brilliance. It's a tough one - Liam could become cake but I think he's more value as icing. I think we should just let him play his own game and accept the highs and lows. In a big, tight final his X-factor could truly be a game breaker.

Indeed - guilty as charged. I enjoyed reading all the endorsements here of Thompson's game plan in 2006, Clarkson's game plan in 2007 and Matlhouse's game plan in 2009 - they were enlightening. No-one, including me, has got a clue really.

He got Collingwood up pretty quickly in 2002-3, but for lack of even talent he would've won a flag then - that's not a problem he'll have at Melboutrne

I don't know if Bailey's game plan will be successful but Malthouse has said it takes 2-3 years working on a plan to get it nailed. It doesn't surprise me at all that we're struggling with it. We've recruited good contested ball winners, good kicks with good endurance which complement our style. I don't think those attributes are going out of fashion. But the players have to work very hard to make it work and execute well when fatigued - I'm not sure that our players understand or are capable yet of the level of intensity required to make it work. As posted, I'm glad we're not copying the current vogue - that was TGR's greatest criticism of ND. We're trying to play a style to beat it, just like Collingwood developed a game style to beat Geelong. Essendon has a much more mature list than us. I thought they were really great against us in that NAB Cup game. Do you think that they're going to win a flag playing that way? Remember that's all that matters.

We currently have a low inside 50 count and a high perecntage of goals scored for inside 50s - we don't generate opposition turnovers inside our 50 becuause the opposition hasn't got it very often in there.

One thing I can guarantee is that Collingwood's current gameplan wont win the 2014 premiership. My son's lawyer thinks that Bailey is on the right track.

It's hard to pick Sidebottom at 17 when he was already picked at 11.

I believe he got the 3 Brownlow votes in both games against Collingwood last year.

It's not just us - I've seen the stats and there's a dip in games played in that range across all clubs. Gysberts was only "left-field" as far as BF predictions were concerned - just like Pendlebury was "left-field"