Adam The God

It's also how you interpret those stats. David King has no idea. He's one of those guys that never made it as a coach, but considers himself a bit of a tactician. It's farcical. It's like calling Terry Wallace the 'List Manager', when under his watch, he stuffed up the Tigers' list. Besides, I'm not even sure what you're talking about here. We're not 17th or 18th on the ladder. We're 15th and our stats are clearly improving, almost universally. Not everything is on the up, but it's a mighty improvement, particularly given where we're coming from. If you can't see progress, DO, it might just be all those mental scars from the past few years. We're clearly on the up. We won't play finals this year, but we are no longer a basketcase. We're competitive with probably 15 to 16 other AFL teams and could beat any on our day. It's been a while since we've been able to say that.

I don't think they'll be able to hold on to their entire list though. Too many top picks in there that it'd be very difficult to keep them all happy. I can see us getting someone from GWS at the end of this season. Who, I don't know.

His name is Lumumba and it has been mentioned.

That's fine. By the end of 2017, we should be well and truly amongst it and ready to lure him again. Only this time, we'll be in a much stronger position. Let's turn our attention to Prestia. Perfect time to strike. His value has been lowered due to injury, but he's still an A grader. Upon a fitness test, I'd give up Howe or a first rounder. Maybe I just have Prestia blinkers on again.

This thread run its course then?

Agree with all of that, except I'd have Riley as the sub and ANB on the bench.

I think this stuff is becoming harder and harder to pick, due to the midfield rotation of the modern game. Unless there is a hard tag being applied, I can rarely tell. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Not sure about that. I love him in the team, but his disposal is ordinary. He hasn't improved it. His old man (who I loved) struggled with disposal efficiency throughout his entire career. I hope Jack can rectify this area of his game.

Calm down. It is relevant, given the amount of rubbish Toumpas has copped on Demonland. Won't make them see it any more, but it might get them to pipe down for a little while.

Already posted something similar, but I can't help myself, so excited by this bloke. I just watched our two strings of goals in the second and third quarters. Brayshaw was front and centre in just about everything, with strong involvement from Gawn, Vince and Jones. Even Lumumba. But Brayshaw is all class. I love him.

Agreed, except two of them were our experienced defenders in Dunn and Garland. They shouldn't be making these errors.

He rarely plays to that stature though.

I wonder if it's more the smoking that is holding him back, rather than a lack of one pre season?

Jamar's played one good season, mate. He showed nothing for so long, even after we retired White. He's a dinosaur. As soon as the ruck contest is over (which he only occasionally wins), he gets killed around the ground. He's slow, horrible below his knees and to put it bluntly, one dimensional. He's finished. If he's smart, he'll retire at year's end. Spencer and Gawn are ahead of him.

Agreed. He taps to advantage, he just can't run out games. Still. Hasn't appeared to improve his tank at all.

And then the finish. Loved it. Had me up on my feet and in the ear of many a Collingwood supporter around us. He did lay a few tackles in the first half, but I suspect you're right. This would also explain him yoyoing in and out of the team. That wasn't the difference, OD. It was horrible, stupid skill errors from Dunn, Garland, Viney, Fitzy, Gawn etc.

Not sure that's right at all, mate. Jimmy Toumpas says hi.

Cross will go around again. He's having a brilliant season for a player of his age.

Meanwhile, I walked away from the ground yesterday confused and extremely disappointed. We didn't turn up to play in the first quarter and then completely stopped in the last, when we had the momentum going into the fourth. Let's make no mistake, Pendlebury was playing injured, Swan is a shadow of his former self and taking Beams out of that line up severely compromises the depth their midfield once possessed. They'll struggle to play finals and if they do, they'll be bundled out in the first round. They are an ordinary side, but brought almost finals like pressure in the first term and we were inexplicably, given the build up and circumstances surrounding Danners, unprepared.

Most definitely, BM. Channel 7 commentators are notoriously out of touch with the game. Was Luke Darcy one of the commentators? One of the absolute worst. He doesn't have a clue.

I believe we should have won the game, due to our stastical dominance (TBH, I thought we'd run over the top of them in the last). However, we didn't deserve to win, due to our ridiculous errors.

I think that's more anxiety from our supporters. We've been burned so many times in the past by over use and staticness that the reflex response is to yell "just kick it". To be fair over use may have got us out of defence a couple of times yesterday, but it also hurt us a number of times too.

I'm gonna say it again. Viney needs to improve his disposal. It was woeful for the most part today. Love his attack on the footy and despite these errors, he is a vital cog to our midfield. He sets the tone and his hard nosed style places pressure on the opposition.

Everything except that hopeless effort running into the goal square and lazily sticking one hand out, dropping it and Collingwood taking it straight down the other end and goaling. Otherwise, his intensity was stronger than normal.

Sorry, I should have mentioned Brayshaw's game. Vince, Jones and Cross were good and Viney was important (even though his disposal efficiency must be about 10%), but Brayshaw. Wow. He just makes the right decisions 9 times out of 10. His kicking on both sides has improved and he nearly always kicks to advantage of his team mate. He had about 3 goal involvements in a row in the second term. He seems to have so much more time and composure than anybody else out there. He's very exciting.