Post Match. Pies stone the Crows. All comments.

[david975]

Good article today's Age - Steve Barrett - he acknowledges the "questionable umpiring"
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/from-sick-to-starring-role-pies-skipper-moore-stands-strong-in-one-point-win-20230430-p5d4g5.html

An excerpt: "...As Collingwood’s fourth-quarter surge took shape, some questionable umpiring decisions went against them, making the already stiff task that bit tougher.

With just under 11 minutes remaining, backman Nathan Murphy was left with a bloody nose but no free kick after being crunched by Fogarty.

As play inexplicably continued, Jordan De Goey, seconds later, was penalised for deliberate out-of-bounds while trying to prevent the ball from hitting the Magpies’ medical staff who were attending to Murphy

Then in the dying minutes, Ash Johnson was unlucky not to be awarded a free kick and denied a certain six-pointer after being taken high in the goal square..."

[Boot]

What a tremendous victory for the mighty Collingwood Football Club. Makes me very proud of the players, coach and the club.
Whilst this was always going to be a tough game, due to a variety of reasons as so many of the Nicksters having pointed out in this thread, I remain concerned with why Collingwood is finding itself behind at 3/4 time so many times.
I'm thinking the injuries are the major reason this season why we are getting into troubling deficits during some of the games and that the teams fitness must be superior to our competition so that is a tremendous credit to the fitness team at the club. However there are a couple of players I would like to comment on and I'd be interested to hear fellow Nicksters views;

1. Darcy Moore - I was a bit concerned when Pendlebury handed the captaincy baton to Moore that he would be too aloof from the majority of the team and not be as easily related to, given his back ground in higher education and reputed intelligence and interests, which might impair his ability to lead the team. So far Moore's form as captain has been fantastic, but I was very impressed with his performance yesterday against Adelaide, not only for his form on the field where he continued to dominate the defensive side of our team, but for the first time I saw some of Moore's passion for the team when he swore whilst being interviewed by the broadcaster as he walked off at half time. Whilst it is unusual for the F-Bomb to be dropped on live TV, I thought it was great to see how deeply Moore was feeling about the struggle the team was in and what needed to be done to rectify the situation. I am now a lot more confident that the club has a champion player and captain playing for us.
However, not for the first time, I was dismayed to see Moore thrown forward when the game had to be won with about 10 mins of the last quarter to be played. I heard Moore say after the game that he felt the lack of tall players in our forward line needed him there for the game to be won, but I have never seen him make a positive difference to the team when playing as a forward so I would far prefer to see him saving the game in defense and providing the drive from the half back line into attack rather than in the forward line, regardless of the state of the game.

2. Jamie Elliot - I feel Jamie is in a real form slump and I'm wondering if he is in need of a rest for a week to revitalize him? I love his effort but he seems to be off with his kicking for goal and his one touch handling of the ball seems to be off over the last couple of weeks too.

3. Bobby Hill - provided great excitement, speed and energy in the first month of the season, but his output has seemed to drop off in the last couple of games. Bobby needs to work on his game to maintain the impact we have seen at the start of the season. Hopefully the coaching panel will be able to provide him with the guidance to bring out his best for the rest of this season and he will continue to hit the scoreboard and provide the pressure of his electric speed on the opposition defenders.

4. Beau McCreery - Beau's form has improved since last year and he is starting to get the appreciation he deserves for his form and importance to the team displayed this year. I feel his confidence is growing and he continues to play with great speed and strength that is creating plenty of attacking opportunities. When everyone in the team seemed to be trying to kick the ball off the ground instead of picking it up in pressure situations yesterday it was only Beau who seemed to be able to actually make decent contact with the ball and achieve the aim of gaining ground under wet football conditions.

5. Will Kelly - As far as Will is concerned, the "jury is still out" as far as I am concerned. However after watching yesterday's game I'm starting to think that maybe the coaching panel is seeing what he can do rather than what he can't. Will Kelly's running ability is well documented so if he can gain the confidence by playing regularly over the next few weeks by contributing to the team's success by leveraging his strengths of hard running and long kicking to position then maybe he'll continue to develop into the player we all hoped he would be when he first burst onto the scene a couple of years ago to kick a long goal after bursting through a pack as a tall marking forward. I would like to see a bit more vigor in his approach to the contest but he hasn't done too much wrong in the last couple of weeks.

6. Ash Johnson - Full credit to Ash for the clever well thought through tap of the ball through for a point to draw the scores yesterday. Johnson is having to perform the second ruck roll at the moment which is definitely not his forte but due to the cupboard being bare of alternatives he has to perform this role as competitively as he can. However, I don't think he has the tank to perform the 2nd rucking duties so the sooner Mason Cox returns the better to allow Johnson to focus on being the 3rd tall in the forward line where his mercurial skills and superb kicking for goal could be a real X-factor for Collingwood.

7. Nathan Kreuger - This beast of a footballer just can't stay on the field long enough to be a reliable option. Hopefully the injury that took him out of the game vs Adelaide won't be too serious and he will be back playing really soon. I understand that the cupboard is so bereft of rucking options at the moment then Kreuger just has to play to provide a competitive option, but I'd far rather see him play at least 4 or 5 games in the VFL to get some continuity into his game before he is considered for further games at AFL level.

8. Will Hoskin-Elliot - Will seems to be the whipping boy for a lot of Nicksters, but I'm liking his contribution to the team at the moment. His inconsistency in delivering his silky skills has been a frustration for a number of years but he remains a very skillful and impactful footballer who has delivered over the last couple of weeks when it was needed. Hopefully he can keep delivering for the remainder of this season.

[Mr Miyagi]

Self-preservation by Number 19, who probably thought the feral Adelaide supporters would jump the fence and do to him what happened to that ump who got his jaw broken.

[David]

[PyreneesPie]

Yep, this is my thinking too.
I recall Darcy being sent forward in the dying minutes of last year's Prelim final and I said then, I didn't agree with that tactical move at all.

[Damien]

Ash Johnston’s deliberate tap over the top to tie up the scores. Pure genius. Didn’t know how long exactly to go, but knew it would just about guarantee us 2 points and with all the momentum our way it was the percentage play to keep the ball at our end and improve the chance for 4 points. Bloody brilliant!

Also… I NEVER complain about umpiring and to be honest I think many on here are very one-eyed about it often, but the Murphy one and the Johnston one were absolute howlers, when the game was on the line. I genuinely expect an AFL acknowledgement and apology for these two monumental stuff ups.

[BazBoy]

Yes he had been crook late last week (as was Moore)

That would tell on a person at the energy that they are asked to use

[PyreneesPie]

[PyreneesPie]

[PyreneesPie]

[Pies4shaw]

Elliott was instrumental in the last quarter. 7 disposals (second only to Josh Daicos), 5 marks and a lot of hard work. They can't always kick goals but I thought he, Ginnivan and WHE all made telling contested work contributions to the victory.

[doriswilgus]

[think positive]

[BazBoy]

Ash’s tap for point.
Fly says they train for 4th qtr super effort

In the bag of tricks the players are meant to know and execute when required
is a tap for point practiced at training—or was it Ash being proactive as Fly wants players to be

[piffdog]