Post Match - Pies beat Cats by 24. All comments here please

[Magpie Since 1986]

Weak first half.
Great second half.
Mark McGough was bloody brilliant in the 2nd 19 possies won plenty of ball out of the middle.
Rupe is a bit iffy id swap him for Leon next week, I know its against the Lions but I reckon thats even more reason for Davis to stand up.

[BJ]

That is one of the best wins you will ever see! People may think I am a lunatic, have rocks in my head or whatever, considering the scoreline.

But look at it on face value. Geelong had a point to prove, they had to challenge us, and that is what they did.

We were smashed early by their hard work and skill level. There is no reason to deny this. We eventually decided to do what good teams do when they are challenged.. we fought back and lifted in the areas we were getting beaten and overcame.

The side I saw tonight was at least 4 short of it best, but was still good enough to have a 7 goal turn-around in the second half. That was something special..... it takes a good team to not only break momentum, but to actually turn it around in your favour..

Have no doubts, we were challenged and rose to the occassion...

Bring on Brisbane

[AGE]

Outplayed in the first half. And the umpiring didn't help either.
Second half was just amazing to watch, when Rocca and Taz put it into another gear. And McG off the bench was great too.

And I think the Club must have been at the wrestling on Thursday night because the tackling was just hard and ferocious out there, especially McG.

[Warbler]

TC for Mark Mcgough , he was fantastic ! After that performance he must be kept in the side for next week - maybe on Voss ?
I thought Rhys Shaw was back to last year with his disposals or should I say turnovers , but in the first half he had plenty of mates .
This is the end of the season when we don't want any faltering - Please beat the Lyins next week . GO PIES

[Brown26]

Shocking first half, they just looked VERY casual. Second half was better, just did enough to beat what wasn't a great team out there. Geelong had intensity that we didn't, but they didn't have the skills in the end to punish us. MCG was fantastic when he was on, on the bottom of ever pack, on his knees, players smashing him in the head, he was great.

The umps gave geelong the best chances they could ask for - Lloyd has had four goals awarded post-match after he complained that he wanted THOSE umps at the essendon match - we were just lucky that geelong weren't good enough to capitalise on them most of the time. The umpires need to be shown that replay because they looked ridiculous out there, imagine that umpiring in a finals game! (or next week - Lynch might kick 20).

And from where I was, almost right behind the kick, Tarrants kick looked every inch like a goal, maybe my eyes are failing, or maybe that decision was in keeping with the rest of the them!

[Magpie-Pep]

A. Williams needs a run in the two's, and betheras struggled I thought.
Our disposal was shocking by soe of the youngsters, and we still won.

Hopefully they would've learnt that dosen't matter who you play against you have to give 100%.

Cole's tackling was fantastic, he is getting better with every game...

[Chantal85]

From where i was sitting, Tarrants kicked definately looked like a goal but theres no use crying over spilt milk, we won and thats the main thing.

[tdesmaele]

Some of you won't agree with me but this was a great win for the following reasons:

1) We have not had a hard 4 quater match for about 4 weeks now which was always going to be a problem this week.

2) Geelong have had the wood over us in recent times. This is the first time we have beaten them twice in a season for as long as I can remember.

3) The backline was undermanned. Hopefully Clement and Cloke are back next week.

4) We had to come from behind to win.

Lets go Pies. Top 4 is up for grabs.

[chalky]

Agree tdesmaele, Put the win in perspective. That was as good as Geelong gets - fired up, nothing to lose, run, run, run. We obviously had our minds elsewhere in the first half (maybe on next week). Lesser sides would have chucked it in. We arm wrestled them, with MM working hard to find the right mix. What was missing was the hard, efficient in and under work of Lica, Holland, Burnsy etc. Everything we tried was just that little bit off due to this lack of "oomph" that sense of urgency. McG finally emerged as the catalyst, showing the way, providing that missing element and they finally clicked.
Are we off the boil? IMO, mentally, the team were thinking about the weeks ahead and finals football and the cats nearly caught them napping. They will be switched on for the bears and play accordingly

[magpie willow]

It was a brilliant 2nd half perfromance and I beleive that we are very mature to of won that game and Im very proud of the boys.

Expect a awesome 4 quarter performance next week as we kill the lion the mongrels who stole our flag!!!!

[JLC]

To Geelongs credit they played some good footy in the first half. A few of the decisions especially the one against Taz and the free to Chapman were disgraceful. I will be interested to watch the replay of the game and see what the commentators thought.

Thought Scott Burns once again played a brilliant game and personally i think he will win the Copeland. Not sure about the Brownlow as the moron umpires may not recognise his brilliant efforts. The second goal of Scott Burns was sensational and surely would have fired up the rest of the team. Anthony Rocca stood up when it counted which is what i would expect considering he was on Ben Graham.

The team could do a lot worse than watch the way Richard Cole attacks the ball and tackles. I thought our tackling was slack for a lot of the game but Cole can hold his head up high.

Walker needs a stint in the reserves as he isnt up to senior footy yet. He needs to learn to not slip over and punch the ball when in contests. He is lucky that McCarthy is a crap kick and wasnt punished on the scoreboard.

McGough also played a brilliant game and showed how effective he can be in the middle of the ground. Its great to see a player accept an opportunity when presented with one.

Memo - Collingwood players could do a lot worse than watch how Shane Obree crumbs the ball around goals. On too many occassions players like Betheras would be the third man up in the pack when clearly he should stay down and crumb off Taz and Pebbles.

jlc

[foxy]

good point JLC re: tackling. when we're playing crap we usually can't tackle, & in the first half we continually missed tackles. thankfully in the second half i saw a lot more gang tackling, which seems to be our strength.

& the OB comment is spot on. he's our best crumber. rupe, while solid overhead, hasn't really taken one of his classic rupestar marks for a while - he should stay down & see if he can snare a goal or two next week.

[mudlark]

I don't think you're a looney BJ. I totally agree, it was a great win.The pussys came to play and don't forget most xspurts tipped them to make the8. We were very undermanned in the backline but to their credit they fought back and kicked arse in the second half. Pebbles was fantastic as was McG and Burnsy.Great to see the hard tackling came back after half time which has been a feature in the last few games.Bring on those bigger pussys from briz.

[magpie willow]

Your not crazy BJ i did think it was the best game as well because we showed how much of a diciplined side we are by coming from a 4 goal half time buffer to end up winning by 4 goals I think it was sensational!!!!

[Pied Piper]

Any northerners (Brisbane) get a tape of this one? If so PM me

Obviously I can't comment in detail on the game, but I was absolutely RAPT we won this one. To me this was the real danger game, far more so than Carlton or a weak and injury-riddled Richmond:

1. Physical and mental fatigue after coming off five straight wins, with the acknowledged "crunch" game coming next week;

2. The Cats match up on our best players as well as any side in the league - Ling almost always at least contains Buckley, and although Tarrant thrashed Scarlett last time around, Scarlett was always going to bounce back;

3. Our backline unsettled and missing three key players;

4. Geelong on paper are no match for us, but you'd sooner their list than either of the last two challengers - they're young, fast and energetic.

To come back after a poor first half shows this squad (not just "side") has learnt plenty not just from last year, but the first half of this one. Last year we were winning the matches where we weren't rated, and falling away against lesser opposition. If we've had an "easy" part of the draw in the last six weeks then the boys can't do any more than win those games, which they've done - great effort.

Great in particular to hear Anthony Rocca took the game by the scruff of the neck, and that the Mulwala Magnet made his presence felt - I reckon he will be hard to shift from a senior place and he will be fresh for the finals. He may have poor disposal by foot, but it sounds like he was doing what he does best - getting his head over the ball and showing those great hands in traffic.

Next week will be exactly the kind of test we need pre-finals.

The Weed