Post match. Pies rumble Roos - all comments please

[John Wren]

[Hiss]

filthy north fans abused my wife after I sang the club song at 3/4 time. I had a sausage roll thrown into my hair and Bertha was grabbed from behind! Nevermind it was another great win and no one on this site will back me in when I keep saying we are a fair dinkum flag chance this year. I am sitting home here in Corio pretty drunk now watching the 1990 GF and checking out where we are marching on Anzac Day! Floreat Pica Magpie fans one and all we are the real deal this year . What a great Coach he is so exciting! Cloke you bloody beauty ! Wow I am really wasted here you are all welcome to join us

[swoop42]

Fantastic first half by us, ordinary second half by both teams.

We still are a fair way off what we are capable of IMO (in particular lazy disposal at times and to many fumbles around the goal face which cost us plenty of scoring opportunities today) but you'd have to be happy with how our makeshift defence has really improved over the month with North restricted to 30 inside 50's till 3/4 time.

Hats off to MagpieBat for his belief that Fasolo needed to be trialled across half back.

His creativity and kicking ability is just what we needed and importantly at present isn't really being exposed for a lack of defensive experience.

I thought he was also super impressive today in how he was to get himself out of a tight spot time and again.

He aint super quick but he's footy smart.

Frost is a revelation and plays with controlled aggression and a willingness to take the game on.

His tackle that crunched his opponent near the boundary was a highlight for mine.

Keeffe is getting better by the week and we look to be losing nothing really with him in Browns place.

Plenty of other players deserve a big pat on the back but i can't beef hooked writing anymore.

It's been a long day.

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

Scoreboard flattered the roos, we destroyed them. A lot more confident heading into next week now. Outside of the hawks and cats, we're probably travelling as well as anyone and still have plenty of upside.

[E]

[HAL]

Who, specifically?

[melliot]

It wasn't the margin, it was the way we played. Had we kicked at goal reasonably and entered 50 a little crisper , it was a 10 goal win. The score flattered the Roos. Cloke kicks the ones he should have and it breaks their back before half time.

We had majority of the best players. Hard to say who had a bad game.

The frontal pressure and swarming on the loose ball was what impressed me.

It will now be interesting if we can bring that to far better opponents like Hawks, Port, Freo, Cats.

We have selection dilemmas too. Who goes out for Reid? Dwyer?

Ball as sub was baffling. He is an accumulator, not an impact player and not good as a sub. If Ball isn't in our best 21 then sub ain't his go Imo. I hope it was just to take some load of him and not form. Has Ball gone the way of OBree in 2010? Surpassed by JT? I hope not.

[Pies4shaw]

In his after match presser, Buckley said Ball was a little unwell and making him sub was just done to ease the load. He also said Ball is in Collingwood's starting midfield.

[Tannin]

[Jezza]

Fantastic win! The first half was absolutely magnificent and it's the standard we need to reach to be a strong and consistent side this season. Our ball use is still a little questionable but it's improved in the past few weeks, but our tackling pressure and intent on the ball was great especially in the first half. We looked much more comfortable with the ball than we have on previous occasions under Buckley.

Great games by Swan, Beams, Sidebottom and Pendlebury. The fact that they all had starring games was a major difference between the two sides. The battle was always going to be won in the midfield initially and to see these four dominate was brilliant. It's great that we have such a deadly midfield combo that will trouble many sides this season.

Travis Cloke played his best game of the season and absolutely dominated Scott Thompson who proved to be the spud he is. Cloke should have kicked more than 4 goals and while it was a little disappointing he missed some easy shots at goal, it was the fact that he made his presence known early on and he took several marks and freed up the other forwards is what proved instrumental in winning us the game. So therefore Travis was instrumental in not only scoring goals, but being a presence up forward as well.

Very pleased by the games of Jack Frost and Alex Fasolo. Frost did his job beautifully in defence and kept Petrie well-contained and Fasolo was great in the sense of the run he provided from defence and he's a good user of the ball as well which excited me greatly. Keeping him in the defence is the way to go in my opinion and I love how his attitude has improved immensely in the past twelve months! Maybe his injury last year gave him time to ponder and re-evaluate his goals at the club and become a better player for it in the process.

Overall the whole side was terrific yesterday and while we only scored three goals in the second half it's the fact that we already had the game won in the first half was what pleased me the most. I must admit that after low expectations heading into the season I've been pleasantly surprised by how well the Pies have played so far this season barring the first game against Fremantle. The youngsters are emerging and developing nicely, our experienced guys are beginning to stand up and Buckley's game plan is starting to become clear and succinct. I like the fact that there's more emphasis on man on man footy as opposed to zoning which I found was a problem with Bucks in 2012 and 2013 so it's a good sign that he's learning that man on man football is the way to go in most cases.

Anyway, my excitement levels for this season have lifted greatly after a very pessimistic summer. I like what I'm seeing with the boys and I hope we can continue to keep this up for the remainder of the year. I can't wait to play Essendon now and they seemed to be out of form so we've got a great chance here but we better make sure that we play with 100% commitment and intent and we don't get complacent. Essendon will come out to play on the big day, but I'd like to think we can rectify what happened last year on ANZAC Day!

Great win and GO PIES!

[The Boy Who Cried Wolf]

[Born to Pie]

Good signs keep coming, the form shown by Cloke & Swan is the biggest positive for next week.

Other positives from this week:
Faz's form and ball use,
Frost's aggression at the ball (and the ball carrier),
Goldsack's forward pressure,
Harry was much better this week, and
Thomas was good, after a couple of week getting used to the pace again.

Everybody showed a bit, but I think Langdon & Witts may get a rest shortly.

Only problem we have is that there are no quality players to come in as replacements! The only decent players missing for what ever reason this week are:

Reid, Brown, Adams, Dwyer, Kennedy, Williams, Sinclair, Seedsman and maybe Karnezis, Freeman & Scharenberg.
And maybe a couple more if their form demands it!

[Dave The Man]

Good:

Fasolo was Fantastic, Had 32 Touches
Cloke Kicked 4 Goals
Witts and Grundy did well vs Currie and Goldstein
White working well with Cloke
Keeffe and Frost holding down the KPD Spots
Sidebottom had his Best Game
Elliot keeps on Impressing

Bad:

Ball as sub was a Stupid Idea
JT did nothing
Our Usual Crappy Goal Kicking

[collie dog]

What?

Four premiership points. A win over the fancied North. Cloke kicks four goals. Swan back to his best. And STILL only 5 pages of comments!???

Tannin is absolutely right that I am not Jack Spain, but at least Jack Spain brought the punters onto Nicks to argue with him. I have never seen Nicks so quiet.

Let's hope after ANZAC Day this forum will come alive again. Perhaps it is time the mods relented and allowed Jack Spain back. From Tannin's comments I think he would agree with me.

[Brown26]

When everyone is happy, Nicks is quiet.

When we get beaten by 11 points by a premiership fancy the place goes into melt down.

It's a recurring theme!

- Ben