Post Match. Pies down to Hawks - All comments please.

[The Boy Who Cried Wolf]

I don't see it as megalomania - more of a refusal to give in or to give up.

Germany, May 1945

[PyreneesPie]

We seemingly lost to them the same way we have for the last 7 years with not enough pressure on the ball carrier

They won the uncontested by 35 and that's game over I'm afraid with their ball use ability and forward line.

Agree. It's quite weird really. You think by now that we would've worked out to man up and be prepared for those shorter, precision kicks. Zone defence does not work against the Hawks - only in close pressure, which we did display for short periods tonight - unsettles them.

[RudeBoy]

It's round one, and often these performances can be deceiving, but phuck me, we looked ordinary tonight.

I've been saying for a while now that our fortunes depend on Cox. Oh dear, I wish that wasn't the case. I've never seen a more embarrassing performance from a player in 6 decades following the Pies. We played with one man down all night. He was a complete liability. He needs to be dropped and not returned to the side until he takes 10 marks for successive weeks in the VFL.

Obviously, we are missing some class in Elliott, De Goey, Wells and possibly Fasolo. However, it seems to me that our leader, Pendles, is in serious decline. Also Varcoe seems to be in the same boat. I've thought Reid was cooked 3 years ago.

We have a number of work horses, but not a single absolute game changer of the ilk of Dusty or Danger. Back in 2010 we had the likes of Swan, Pendles, Daisy and Dids who were all absolute champion players all capable of turning a game and lighting up the place when the chips were down. On tonight's form we don't have a single one. I had high hopes for Hoskin-Elliott, but he needs to do more. Young Stephenson took some time to adjust to the pace of the game, but he showed some promise collecting 16 disposals in his first outing. Murray looks a goer, but there wasn't anything else to get excited about.

Message for Bucks - ffs, drop Cox, move Moore to the forward line and Reid back to defence.

At least we fought it out, but we were structurally phucked because of Cox. Change the team around and we can still bounce back next week.

[K]

...
Our kicking skills were also poor, but in my view this was not the major reason that we lost.
What is the reason for this total lack of intensity? ...

The stuff we keep hearing about being a "grunt side", etc. are a denial of reality. Our kicking skills are so poor that we need almost superhuman intensity just to break even. That's just unsustainable for a whole season. Just think of how many tackles it required for us to scrape home against Sydney last year, in the midst of their 0-6 start.

[PyreneesPie]

I don't see it as megalomania - more of a refusal to give in or to give up.

Germany, May 1945

Yes, there's a thin line between the two, I grant you.

[swoop42]

Good debut from Jaidyn and showed glimpses of why he was drafted and what is to come.

He certainly didn't look out of place against a side with a multitude of experienced premiership players in a game we had little control of.

Murray also was very encouraging and I admired his courage and continual willingness to take the game on with his run.

Both players are exactly the type we need.

[Raw Hammer]

Penldes looks like a player who knows he has played his last final.

What an absolute wast of one of our greatest ever players.

Echoing my thoughts and posts of the past 4 seasons.

It's almost criminal that Pendles never got to play finals and showcase his genius in September during his prime years, after winning a Norm Smith at 22.

[PyreneesPie]

It's round one, and often these performances can be deceiving, but phuck me, we looked ordinary tonight.

I've been saying for a while now that our fortunes depend on Cox. Oh dear, I wish that wasn't the case. I've never seen a more embarrassing performance from a player in 6 decades following the Pies. We played with one man dowqn all night. He was a complete liability. He needs to be dropped and not returned to the side until he takes 10 marks for successive weeks in the VFL.

Obviously, we are missing some class in Elliott, De Goey, Wells and possibly Fasolo. However, it seems to me that our leader, Pendles, is in serious decline. Also Varcoe seems to be in the same boat. I've thought Reid was cooked 3 years ago.

We have a number of work horses, but not a single absolute game changer of the ilk of Dusty or Danger. Back in 2010 we had the likes of Swan, Pendles, Daisy and Dids who were all absolute champion players all capable of turning a game and lighting up the place when the chips were down. On tonight's form we don't have a single one. I had high hopes for Hoskin-Elliott, but he needs to do more. Young Stephenson took some time to adjust to the pace of the game, but he showed some promise collecting 16 disposals in his first outing. Murray looks a goes, but there wasn't anything else to get excited about.

Message for Bucks - ffs, drop Cox, move Moore to the forward line and Reid back to defence.

At least we fought it out, but we were structurally phucked because of Cox. Change the team around and we can still bounce back next week.

This all makes absolute sense to me Rude Boy. However, don't blame it all on Cox. As another poster said, one of the cardinal rules of footy is to have someone at the feet of the big guys and there were too many occasions when there was too few players there for us tonight.

[Mugwump]

[Albert Parker]

Just lamentable.

Stephenson and Murray kept pushing to the end at least.

But our skills are appalling. We can't keep picking players like Phillips, Smith, Thomas - who might win time trials, but have no football sense.

Crisp, Adams, Treloar all consistently butchering the ball again tonight.

And our forward line - How many marks to Cox, Reid, Aish?

I too had some excitement for what Cox may bring. But the wet weather tested his marking and then his confidence was lost. Woeful.

Who can we look forward to bringing in net week? Wells? Fasolo?

[The Boy Who Cried Wolf]

[Magpietothemax]

I simply don't agree with the conception that it was Cox who totally screwed us up tonight. Yes, his confidence was shot, but FFS, whenever he brought the ball to ground, there was no Collingwood player at ground level able to take advantage. Under these circumstances, what could have been brilliant deflections of the ball, had we been there, instead looked like errrors as Hawthorn seized the ball. What worried me was the total inability to understand where our players should be to contest for the ball when it fell to ground, and also the lack of energy when we happened to be in the right position. Our midfield, meant to be our strength, was cowed into subservience by the Hawthorn midfield pressure. This meant that Cox was on the back foot from the very beginning. Nor did he have a crumber at ground level to capitalize on the opportunities when he knocked it to ground. This absence of ground level capacity made Cox look ineffectual.
The inability to anticipate where we should be in relation to Cox is a real worry: why haven't we figured this out during the preseason?
I agree with those who have pointed out that Darcy looks like he belongs forward, and Ben Reid looks like he belongs in defence. Since our preseason was based around playing Darcy in defence, this again is a concern.
On the positive side, I was thrilled with Ben Crocker's performance.

[PyreneesPie]

[PyreneesPie]

Perhaps I should not have mentioned anything about 'balls" tonight.

[Raw Hammer]

I raised our front and centre issues with Derek Hine face to face at the post season members' forum a couple of years ago. Asked whether we were looking at Brandon Matera, Josh Green cheaply, why we didn't try to get Jeff Garlett for a 5th round pick instead of Melbourne. I got the impression from his answers that he (and Bucks) prefer beige 'by the numbers' players inside 50. Staggering.