Jaded No More

Tonight is a good game to see if this season is just “make finals for the sake of saying we made it”, or “make finals to win finals and give it a shake”.

I think we'll lose by around 3-4 goals. Hope I'm wrong. We've looked all at sea since losing Lever, and our midfield has had a shocker the last 2 matches.

Not confident. Port by 25 points.

About time. We needed it then when we were in major debt and playing like crap anyway. Now it is impacting our ability to succeed on the field, which is priority #1. Time to go.

Roos like Jackson didn’t leave. He effectively retired, which is very different. I don’t think Melbourne would let another CEO meddle in the footy department. The problem at Collingwood is that everyone felt entitled to get involved in the footy department because their president did. How can a president except the CEO not to get involved when he is so deeply and destructively involved, I don’t know. We have a very different set up and a very different structure. I have no doubt when given the job, Pert was told his KPIs revolve around revenue, membership, sponsorship and finding a permanent united home base.

About to have a kid. Understandably wants some stability for future. If he wants to stay and get a good deal he has 11 games to prove he’s worth it. Otherwise I think we should facilitate a trade.

Whenever someone in a senior position leaves any job, there is always some bad blood somewhere. Otherwise why leave? Anyone who has ever left a job usually feels some animosity towards their former employer and vice versa. I am very comfortable with this appointment and I trust both our board and the AFL. If Pert did a lot wrong they wouldn’t endorse his appointment. We have come too far and they don’t want us to become a basket case again! Trust me, they have enough issues with the likes of GC. Now let’s build a home base, get a better fixture and get rid of the NT deal.

And we thought our camp situation was a debacle. Garlett for Betts? ?

Good luck to him. Enjoy Fritsch. Move on.

Less concerned by his numbers then his effort. Firstly he did no follow up work in the ruck. I have zero expectations that he wins the ruck, especially against Cox who is a good 11 meters taller than him, but he got just 1 clearance. So his follow up was poor. Also only laid 2 tackles. Pedo is in the team for effort. I don’t care if he kicks 0 goals, or gets 6 touches. I care that he works hard, gut runs, lays tackles and brings ball to ground. He didn’t do that today. Sadly he isn’t a good option as that 3rd tall/ruck and he ain’t the future either. Weids’ numbers aren’t heaps better but he is going to be around for 10 years and we need to give him the experience he requires to see if he makes it or not.

Needs to reset. Perhaps dominating a game or two at Casey will do him good, and remind him that his spot in the side isn’t a given, which I feel he might think is the case. With a few players knocking on the door at VFL it’s unfair to let players who are down on form keep their spot based on reputation. Then what incentive do guys at Casey have to perform?

I am far from his biggest fan but he wasn’t even close to our worst today. Our midfield sucked hardcore today. 18 clearances down. Nothing the backline could do, including Lewis. He was ok under enormous pressure. The loss today comes down to the midfield group who couldn’t get it and couldn’t use it. How TMac kicked 6 is amazing to me.

I thought we looked our most potent in attack when Weids was playing. I would bring Weids in and Hunt (if fit? Someone mentioned he was on crutches?), play Weids as Max’s backup when required and have Hunt play half back/wing to take some pressure off Hibbo who is clearly feeling it without Lever. Out: Pedo and Vince Would also be ok if Trac got dropped and we brought Tyson back. He needs a kick up the bum.

Where do we find pace though? Our midfield is good but very one dimensional. Good fast hands. Can get a clearance. Can gut run. Slow as the day is long. Every time we play teams who pressure us and have good outside pace (Richmond, Hawks), we get pantsed.

I knew we would lose this. Flat track bullies. McDonald and Jetta the only players deserving of a paycheck today. Lack of leadership the most disappointing. Lever going down will probably cost us a top 4 finish. Maybe even a top 8 finish when you look at the draw.

Thank god we signed McDonald.

Blame the coaches. They did not come prepared for this game. We let them smash us in every area. We made dumb selections. We went for slow Pederson when we needed pace like Hunt. We let [censored] Cox be isolated 1:1. We literally shat our pants from the first bounce. Garbage.

Garbage. We have given up which is the most disappointing thing. Gonna quickly lose a lot of % if we aren’t careful.

38-20 in clearances. Pathetic. Gawn has wasted every hit out. Got nothing from Jones, Viney or Oliver. Brayshaw wasted on the wing. Bad selection with Pederson. We needed speed. Hunt should have played. Nobody will come close to replacing Lever. I think we will make the 8, but we look like just ladder fillers.

Again I have to question Goodwin. Whenever the pressure has been on he has had no answers what so ever. Is it just our team not being good enough, or can some blame fall on Goodwin. We have been outplayed since the first bounce in every part of the ground.

Flat track bullies

[censored] this. Coast to coast [censored] with 10 seconds to go. Back to the old garbage from this team. I’m going back to bed. Annoyed that I got up so early to watch this [censored].

We are all done. Sadly it’s been a no contest. Its fair to say that we are flat track bullies at this stage of our development. We are still nowhere near being contenders. And gees Lever going down has totally [censored] us.

Our midfield is a [censored] disgrace today.

I think it’s telling that the internet in this hotel where I am staying is so bad, the only place I can watch the game from is the toilet. Bad bad omen. Sorry