1.The Doggies showed , the way to beat these Toffs, is to move the ball fast, and keep it away from Gawn, by pass him at all times, he means more to them than anyone, just keep it away from him , the dogs did it well. We did beat thm last time, Cox had a day out, so we dont fear them at all.
2. This week tells us whether we are the real deal or not. We got them on QB when they were in a slump and without Gawn. But now they are playing very good football. If we can overcome them, we can win the flag. I don’t expect it, as we have just been getting over lowly teams, but we are a team on the rise and they are at their peak. So now, we see where we are really at. It’s our biggest game of the year by a country mile. I am hoping that Johnson has a breakout game, as there is something special about him and it is the rise of players like him that will move us into contention.
3. Gawn played, it was May that was absent
4. Gawn's record against Collingwood is actually abysmal. He's played against Collingwood 12 times for 3 wins. His most recent win against Collingwood was in round 12, 2016. He rucked against Witts that day. He's probably due to get a kick against us, I suppose - but his presence is hardly an asset.
5. Correct weight. Gawn did cop a bit of an injury. Ginnivan kicked five, the last three were not related to frees or Melbourne trying to dislocate his neck
6. It looks like the Deeeeees are real warm favourites, many scribes saying, this is our first real test, this will find us out, can we handle the pressure, Melbourne are back to their best, etc, etc. Forgetting that we have beaten them 6-1 in our last seven matches, and pantsed them by 5 goals on QB. And forgetting, that two weeks ago, the Doggies took them to the cleaners, with ruthless, fast, aggressive play an tackling, our hallmark. Granted they had a good win over a lackluster Freo, who are tiring, but then again, we also beat the Dockers in Perth by six goals. So, there you go, in my view, the match is line ball, and is ours to lose, play as we have been, and we certainly can defeat the Toffs, no doubt.
7. I just watched the highlights of the QB game, against the Deeees. I tell you what, we were nil goals in the first qtr, then overran them ,our pressure and tackling was enormous, we just harassed them non stop, and outscored them easily in the second half. We had Henry then, but no Carmichael or Johnson , we have improved our team,, they have not. Cox was astounding, as were Daisco boys, Crisp, Elliott, and others, we did not have a poor player. We match up well on them too, play like that again, and we can take these bastards again, make NO mistake. They are far from unbeatable. ! (I think 6&7 are the same poster)
8. Re-watched the QB game yesterday, and it was very clear that they struggled badly that day with our pace and running game (and with Cox destroying their forward line entries throughout the 2nd half). Noble, Quaynor, Daicos x 2, Crisp, McCreery, Lipinski and DeGoey all broke them open repeatedly by running off half back through the centre in the 2nd half. They seem to have a more talented line up than we do on raw talent, but we can hope that they do not have answers to our game style.
9. Bloody heck I'm nervous about this match. Outright second on the ladder up for grabs
10. You oughta be nervous. This will be our toughest game for the year so far. It's a genuine litmus test of our Premiership aspirations. We don't even have to win, but we need to show we can match it with the best.
11. I’ll be shocked (and more than pleasantly surprised) if “we” can beat Melbourne this week.
12. Don't ask me why, I got a feeling the Dee's win this game by 18 points. A stat I heard a few days ago....we have not played a side in the top 8 since the bye...ironically Melbourne. I think they are a very different beast now. Massive test... but as long as we don't get blown away...I am not worried if we lose. Let's see where we are at! If we are to win, i think we have to put this game to bed early and keep a decent buffer on the dees.
12. I do hope our Coach was listening to SEN this arvo He has some ammo for our players. Daisy and Andy interviewed some Deeeees player, not sure who, and this dork said the Melbourne players view Collingwood as "a pretty good side, but also a One Trick Pony ". Really, a one trick pony ?? As a caller pointed out, "Jeezus, we have beaten them 6 out of 7 recent matches, sure taking a long time for them to figure out we are one trick ponies "! If we win, and as the Melb players trudge off the ground, id love a section of the crowd, near them to chant ONE TRICK PONYS to them as they walk off. LOL
13. It was Ed Langdon
Langdon says the Magpies are “a bit of a one-trick pony” and are “all duck, no dinner” in the way they play.
“One-trick pony”: Demon lights the fuse ahead of Magpies blockbuster"
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2022/08/04/one-trick-pony-demon-lights-the-fuse-ahead-of-magpies-blockbuster/
14. The loss of Adams hurts our chances because he's our version of Viney and like Viney he sets the example of unflinching football that can inspire his teammates to follow.
Melbourne really have no excuses tomorrow night, outside of McDonald they have a healthy list with no others missing from their best 22.
All the pressure and expectation is on them, they deserve to be favourites and if they're back in Premiership winning form like the media are suggesting should end our 10 game winning streak comfortably.
15. (This one's for binman) Just saw David King on Fox Footy discussing Collingwood. He is quite in awe of how our team is playing. He pointed out that our team is doing one major thing better than any other in the competition: gut running. We are able to get numbers into the contest more rapidly than any team because of this massive drive to run. He showed footage of how this played out in our game with PA, where we created an outnumber in our F50 due to WHE's gut running down the wing to be at the end of a chain. Likewise how in defence how we so rapidly amass numbers where the ball is in dispute to outnumber the opposition. He said: "Thiis is a team in total sync. Forget the stats, they are creating something special"
