Post Match. Pies lose to Giants. All comments please.

[Haff]

Reading Grant Thomas's expose (and he didn't even spill half of it), and what I've been told, yeah... the AFL is absolutely manufacturing outcomes. They don't want us there in September. They want a Sydney and Queensland side there though, no doubt about it.

Give it a rest. Umpires made no difference to our game at all. How can you say they don't want us there in September?

We were DOMINATED in the opening quarter by the better team. Umpires hadzero impact on the result.

If we turned up, we could still be 2nd on the ladder.

I'm not denying GWS thrashed us in the first quarter and won the game, mate. But when you see Treloar's jumper stretched more than a few times at the centre bounces, Adams getting blocked from a run at the ball, blatant dropping the balls in tackles, you have to ask the question -- why are the umps not seeing that when we can? The blocks and shoves and arm chops on Cox all game. Blind Freddy can see them from the top of the stand. Look at the North game last night, they were absolutely robbed. The AFL wants Queensland and Sydney sides in September, not us -- they're a corporation, it's business, and they are bleeding money in the northern states. Dilbert McLachlan and his polo friends wake up drooling after wet dreams about a Brisbane vs GWS grand final. And our club won't speak up because the AFL has us by the short and curlies, they've got photos of Eddie or something -- it's why our players get scapegoated in the media and whacked with big suspensions, when other clubs's players are getting caught and kept quiet -- because the AFL is sending a message to us. THey're the mafia, and it's their version of putting a horse head in Eddie's bed.

This is an absolute croc. Umpires rarely actually impact on games and the Norf game they got a contentious free not 4 minutes earlier.
Pies have naught to blame but themselves. I don’t see how this is turned around but I’m squarely looking at Bucks. 1 positive season in 8.

[CootaPie]

After a very disappointing drive down the highway to watch last night's debacle; a few observations.

- Appleby and Crocker simply aren't up to it. Appleby was so far out of his depth I started to feel sorry for him. Why not Scharenberg? Horrrible selection error.

- Cox was dreadful (again). Deserves to be dropped but not sure who can replace him unless there's a seven foot witches hat on the list that I'm not aware of.

- Leon Cameron gets a lot of criticism but he was a hands down winner in the coaching stakes last night. Both teams were missing plenty of class but their first quarter was superb. Perhaps Leon believes it is part of his job to motivate his players, unlike some other coaches. Only one side was ready to go from the first bounce yesterday.

[RudeBoy]

Our worst game (actually our worst first quarter) I can remember. We were out-coached, out-toughed and out-played.

With Moore out, we should have played Goldsack, who can play tall and is as hard as they come. Hardness was what we lacked.

In hindsight, I reckon we should have dropped Sier (the Panda bear), who needs a wake up call by being sent back to the VFL. He's in the siude to give us some grunt around packs, but he is not doing anywhere near enough.

Despite his 2 goals, Crocker is not an AFL player, and neither is Appleby. I'm yet to be convinced that Brown is either.

Grundy deserves a medal for his performance, battling against 2 or 3 opponents and ending up with an amazing 31 disposals. He must be gutted that not enough of his teammates put their bodies on the line as he did throughout the match.

We lost because of poor selection and because of a lack of intensity and hardness at the ball. Not good enough Pies.

[Mr Miyagi]

This and the North game gave me flashbacks to the 2000s when we were Brisbane's whipping boys. Literally, I got the same sick feeling in my stomach. I kept expecting the Scotts, Voss, Brown, Lynch to be there laughing at us.

AFL admitted umpire made a mistake that cost North the game last night. They'd never do that for us!

[matrix10]

perfect storm for a loss

Slogged it out on hard ground in Perth last week.
Our toughest player out (Levi) and tall attacking defender out (Darcy)
Appleby first game in over a year
Crocker 2nd game in over a year
Adams- first game in months- not quite right
Pendles- not quite right
GWS had lost 3 in a row and looking like the wheels had fallen off- copping it from everywhere in the media.

First q was all over- only Grundy can hold head high from midfield- rest were soft and insipid- constantly handballing to someone under pressure.

Cannot blame backline for this- we could have had an All Australian backline and copped the same- the ease of which the ball came out of midfield was shocking.
Added to this they kicked straight

Pendles fumble really set the ball in motion.

Managed to win next two quarters- just couldnt put the score on the board- the Himmleberg goal just before half time crushed us- dominated play the whole quarter and to end up a goal ahead for the q not enough reward for effort.

Next week it doesnt get easier- Tigers will be breathing fire - wanting revenge for past two games.

Win that and we are back- lose and we will be likely making up the numbers- unless we can get our best (of what's available) team on the park and play them for the next month- the team is seriously lacking continuity- revolving door of injuries hasnt allowed the team to gel.

[Magpietothemax]

perfect storm for a loss

Slogged it out on hard ground in Perth last week.
Our toughest player out (Levi) and tall attacking defender out (Darcy)
Appleby first game in over a year
Crocker 2nd game in over a year
Adams- first game in months- not quite right
Pendles- not quite right
GWS had lost 3 in a row and looking like the wheels had fallen off- copping it from everywhere in the media.

First q was all over- only Grundy can hold head high from midfield- rest were soft and insipid- constantly handballing to someone under pressure.

Cannot blame backline for this- we could have had an All Australian backline and copped the same- the ease of which the ball came out of midfield was shocking.
Added to this they kicked straight

Pendles fumble really set the ball in motion.

Managed to win next two quarters- just couldnt put the score on the board- the Himmleberg goal just before half time crushed us- dominated play the whole quarter and to end up a goal ahead for the q not enough reward for effort.

Next week it doesnt get easier- Tigers will be breathing fire - wanting revenge for past two games.

Win that and we are back- lose and we will be likely making up the numbers- unless we can get our best (of what's available) team on the park and play them for the next month- the team is seriously lacking continuity- revolving door of injuries hasnt allowed the team to gel.

great summary
To that I will add I think that GWS sprang a few surprises at teh start (Greene, normally forward, and Williams normally HB, into the centre, and clearly set out to smash the ball forward and exploit their massive height advantage up forward. We need to start looking at the possiblities of rotating our mids in such a way: Crisp goes into the middle more, likewise Maynard, and other midfielders then go back to support the defence. This especially seems necessary given that our midfield has been disappointing in intensity alot this year.

[bally12]

AFL admitted umpire made a mistake that cost North the game last night. They'd never do that for us!

Yes they said that was not a block, but the Maynard one in the GF they ticked off as the right call.
The AFL is a joke, we all know it. The draw is compromised. The umpires are biased, and make inconsistent calls all the time. It's not basketball. Even in basketball you are allowed to block
Yesterday I saw a player take possession of the ball and allowed to just throw it in front of him because he was about to be tackled and then regather the ball.
In our game I saw a coke addict thug allowed to take a full swipe at Grundy's head after Grundy tooki the mark, and the commentators just laugh it off. That same player previously kneed Murpthy in the ribs and broke them, in a tackle. He plays only to illegally smash players, and yet it's all good.
The AFL tells us you need to have prior opportunity in order to dispose of the ball, but if you don't then you can just throw it out, no problem. except sometimes when they call illegal disposal.
You have umpires that supported a club growing up are allowed to umpire that club in a GF.
Why bother? I'm almost at the point of giving up on the game. They are taking us all for fools.

[Cam]

Next week it doesnt get easier- Tigers will be breathing fire - wanting revenge for past two games.

We will belt the Tiggers. I'd be more worried about them if we had beaten the Giants by 50. How about we will come out breathing fire after copping it all week, the Mummy stuff will be on high rotation, and give it to those yellow and crap pretenders led by pretty boy Lynch, the 'lifetime Collingwood supporter'.

[58pie]

As much as i like Crockers story he needs to absolutely slay it in the two's to get another chance much the same with Appleby and Varcoe. Surely Max Lynch should be offered a go to see if he is up to it without dropping Cox just yet. John Noble was up to it(what a pick up mid season so hope he is back quick smart). As for Shazza cannot see why he was dropped would have marked and repelled some of those GWS attacks. Lets hope Saturday was a one off after our return to form against WC. IMO I think we make more mistakes at selection than on the field (including drafting back someone that appears to have an ongoing problem). I was pleased to see his return but some would have had a bit more info to make an informed judgement. Go Pies.

[eddiesmith]

Essendon’s run home:

@ Gold Coast
vs Port
vs Bulldogs
@ Dockers
@ Collingwood

Let’s just say, they’re probably going to finish 1-2 games ahead of us. That’s how good we’re travelling.

Bombers top-4 bound, Pies lucky to hold on to an away elimination final.

Players and coaches need to be held accountable for this shitshow.

But isn’t that what the AFL gifts you for being rubbish the year before ?

Our draw is pretty bloody soft! We've lost to bottom teams in North, Hawks and Freo. Win those and we'd be challenging for top spot.


Losing to GWS and even West Coast last week wouldn't have been too bad if we were winning the games we should win. The problem is losing to GWS by playing so shit on the back of 3 months of shit football, its clear this team won't be challenging in September.

[Pies2016]

Essendon’s run home:

@ Gold Coast
vs Port
vs Bulldogs
@ Dockers
@ Collingwood

Let’s just say, they’re probably going to finish 1-2 games ahead of us. That’s how good we’re travelling.

Bombers top-4 bound, Pies lucky to hold on to an away elimination final.

Players and coaches need to be held accountable for this shitshow.

But isn’t that what the AFL gifts you for being rubbish the year before ?

Our draw is pretty bloody soft! We've lost to bottom teams in North, Hawks and Freo. Win those and we'd be challenging for top spot.


Losing to GWS and even West Coast last week wouldn't have been too bad if we were winning the games we should win. The problem is losing to GWS by playing so shit on the back of 3 months of shit football, its clear this team won't be challenging in September.

Of course we lost games of footy we shouldn’t have. Every team does, that’s what happens in an equalised competition.
We also won last week when nobody tipped us.
It’s a six month season, forget who you lose to or who you win against.
Just be in the eight when the finals start.
Trust me, it’s a lot harder to win one from outside the eight.

[Jezza]

We need to rebuild the list like Geelong, Sydney and Hawthorn have done at times over the last 10-15 years.

Our core is Stephenson, DeGoey, Grundy, Treloar, Langdon, Scarenburg, Adams, Aish, Brown, Phillips, Roughhead, Crisp, Moore,WHE, IQ, Sier and Maynard.

Our senior citizens become Pendles, Beams, Mayne, Greenwood, Sidebottom and Howe.

Our second and third tier depth needs an over haul.

We have to say farewell to Wells, Goldsack, Dunn, Varcoe, Reid, Murray, Broomhead, Appleby and Magden.

Question marks over the worth or trade-ability of Elliott, Thomas, Murphy, Wills & Crocker. Either keep, trade or delist. Assuming not too much interest in most of them.

Cox is contracted but the last four weeks has shown him to be a liability, too many commercial appearance's and too often failing to show anything on the ground.

2019 is not over, however if we are smarter than we have been, a lot of second and third tier players need to be replaced with smart recruitment as we lack a first rounder in the draft.

Good post.

A lot for the club to ponder as we prepare for the new decade.

[Cruisinwithdids]

There’s a lot of talk on our injured brigade on this thread, but no mention of Ben Reid. I think he’s critical to our structure, can take a tall forward and also could replace Cox if things get worse. And he is swingman and a class player.

[K]

We need to rebuild the list like ...

2019 is not over, however if we are smarter than we have been, a lot of second and third tier players need to be replaced with smart recruitment as we lack a first rounder in the draft.

Good post.

A lot for the club to ponder as we prepare for the new decade.

It all sounds very gloomy.

Are we doomed?

[K]

M. Gleason:

"Collingwood lost the game in the first quarter on Saturday, or perhaps earlier than that. Maybe they lost it on Thursday night. At selection the Giants went big and Collingwood went small. On Saturday big belted small.

The Giants loaded up with tall forwards and Collingwood had nothing to match them. ... The Giants played through poor Flynn Appleby’s opponent and within a quarter had a seven-goal lead. This time last year Tyson Goldsack came in and helped hold a backline together. Matt Scharenberg was dropped after the Hawthorn game this year after his forays back from another knee reconstruction.

It remained perplexing that neither Goldsack or Scharenberg were brought in for the Giants."