Post Match. Pies superb in Semi victory. All comments.

[Haff]

I don’t get the Noble hate. He takes the game on and creates so much off HB. Sometimes it comes unstuck but positives outweigh the negative by a long way.
AJ didn’t have a great night but at least did a couple of good things in the last. Hoping he adjusts to the pressure next week.
Bring in the swannies

[VicParkTragic]

Given AJ has only played a handful of games at AFL level I think he’s going well. Last night you could see him trying to adapt to the increased pace. He gets to the ball and could have kicked three or four goals. I think he’ll be even better next week and the week after that!!

[Big T]

No changes. Bianco held his spot.

[think positive]

Not sure why any of our players are getting criticised. IQ and Noble were terrific...again....and AJ and WHE certainly missed some gettable shots, but the fact they got the ball and had shots, is evidence they played well. For perhaps the first, or maybe second time for the year, I reckon we'll go in against the Swans with an unchanged line-up. In each of our last 3 games I've witnessed our side getting better and better. Seriously the Swans are in for an almighty shock. We are a different side altogether with rampaging Jordy in our team, just as the Tigers are with Dusty in good form.

The next week or two will tell if we win the flag or not, but right now I'm feeling pretty chuffed I whacked $500 on the Pies back in May to win the flag at 41-1 (we are now 5-1).

Yeah I don’t get any of the negativity at all!


That’ll buy a lot of dim Dims!

[think positive]

Fly's presser

Other than the result itself, what else pleased you about tonight's performance?

"I suppose just a little reflection mode, we're 1 of 4 teams left in the competition. At the start of the year if you thought we'd be in the last 4, you could have got pretty big odds for that I would have thought. Really proud of tonight in particular, just the growth in us. I said to the playing group, the best is in front of us. I just feel like we're growing before your eyes, whether it's individually and guys stepping up and getting more used to the occasion, or as a group just getting better. It's a bit of a theme for us, it's something we want to do. We strongly believe our best is in front of us".

You made reference about what outsiders predicted Collingwood would do this year. What did you expect would happen during the off-season?

"I was hoping we would be competitive, but we've been far more than that. Credit to the players; motivation levels are really high to improve. Credit to all the coaches and staff. I'm not here to do a Best and Fairest speech and thank everyone. In particular, the players themselves have had to apply themselves and they've done it continuously, so they should take all the credit".

After a devastating loss to Geelong last week, how did you get the response tonight because the 1st quarter set the tone?

"Yeah, I sat here last week didn't I and said 'don't lay on the ground'. That's a part of the journey for us about showing that we're wanting to continue to be better. The end line will come at some stage for this season, but that doesn't mean there's a start line; this is a journey for us. Our players rock in on a Monday; and that's why we have such belief because we've got guys who are doing PB's in the gym, we've got guys doing PB on the GPS in training. The training on Thursday was the highest GPS in 6 weeks. That's how you build belief. Belief through action and this group believes".

De Goey and Crisp in the middle filled the void of Adams. What did you make of them stepping up, especially De Goey?

"Tay Adams is hard to replace. We don't have another one waiting in the wings. Everyone else had to grab a little bit. I thought Jordy was outstanding again, playing with slight duress [but] nothing major. For him to just be at his best and others take up the slack. A big part of the game was get the ball forward and we won the territory battles tonight, which was going to be a critical part of the result".

When you kicked 9 or 10 consecutive behinds, is that a part of the mentality of the group to not stress about it or were you stressed?

"I was stressed [Laughs*]. No, I wasn't really. I thought we were dominating that part of the game, but we just couldn't quite finish. A part of our growth is that. Take in those moments. The way we wanted the game to be played, we were so we take confidence in that. Execution is part and parcel as well".

Jack Ginnivan provided a spark up forward. Can you speak about how important he is to the team and how much impact he can have on the team as he did tonight.

"Jack's a good finisher isn't he. I think he missed a couple of shots in the third quarter, but he's a good finisher for us. He's an energiser. The crowd get energised when he does something well which we feed off to. We've got an interesting forward line. Some guys bob up here. We've got a lot of inexperience in our forward line. Credit goes to Hayden Skipworth, he's done an amazing job with that group to get the best out of what we have. We find a way to score. Unfortunately we can't get more than 80 points at the moment, so we've got to keep the opposition under that. That's something we're trying to work towards [improving]".

What are your thoughts about heading to the SCG for a preliminary final?

"We're better for the experience. We played them three weeks ago. Jordy [De Goey] told me he didn't play, so we're much better for it. I think we learnt some good lessons and there will be time to talk about those lessons we learnt. Tonight we'll just celebrate the fact that we've made it into a prelim".

Fremantle's ball movement was really stagnant. How did you see the defensive effort of your team?

"We were really proud of that. That's something we worked on during the week. We scouted and knew that they would try to possess the ball by foot. We took that away from them and forced them down the line. Our aerial guys got to work; Howie, Moorey and these other guys. That's a real strength of ours; intercept marking. I think we're #1 in the comp for that. We wanted to force it into that style of the game. We choked them around the uncontested mark in particular".

Do you think Darcy Moore's two finals performances have been slightly underplayed?

"He's been sick all week, so I'm just going to call that out for what it is. I'm going to protect my players. I thought he was pretty good tonight. I think if you look back at the way he played and how he intercepted, the guy's been in bed for a couple of days pretty ill. I love what he does and I'll stand up for him".

First final series for some players, how proud are you of them being able to handle the occasion?

"Two weeks in a row, we've looked like we can handle the big stage. This is what we play for. Our game plan stacks up. All year we're thinking and preparing for a finals type game plan and just honing our craft and getting better, and individually they look like they're more at home. 90,000 people there; most of them black and white. Thank you to the Magpie Army for coming. We look ready for the occasion, it's exciting".

How have you managed to get more out of Mason Cox? His second half of the year has been good in the contest as well as the ruck.

"Like everyone, we want Mason to get better. I think he's over 30 now and just ask him to get busy on your craft. When he marks the ball, he's a presence. Again he's another one that ignites the crowd when he's up and going. I think he's an important cog as many are".

How close was Darcy Moore to missing the game?

"I hate it when the doctor rings me matchday and he rang me matchday, so there was some concern. Level of confidence was still there, but there was some concern."

Did Moore suffer from cold or flu like symptoms?

"I won't give too much away".

Two senior players in Taylor Adams and Brodie Grundy weren't out there tonight. Could you explain what role they've had around the club not being able to play unfortunately.

"Brodie is working with our rucks and analysing what's coming with all experience and Tay was in the box tonight I'm pretty sure doing centre bounces. It was really hard for Tay after the game. He's in, but then I said last week he's going to struggle match day. We've got to try and keep these guys close to us. This is 22 who played tonight, but there's many more who are contributing to why we're in this position so we'll keep them along for the journey".

How did Adams go in the box? He said on Thursday he may not even watch it.

"I don't know, I'll have to follow up on that".

A bit more of a comfortable margin tonight compared to all the close wins in the second half of the year.

"Yeah, like I said we're getting better. We're finding ways. In the last quarter, you're trying to manage the clock a bit, which it makes it harder to score so potentially if you can go for it you can score more goals but we didn't need to score too many more, they had to kick 6 goals at one stage. Those things keep the game a little bit tighter which we're learning lessons about. As I keep saying, our best is in front of us. We're looking forward to the challenge of what comes this week".

What did you make of Trent Bianco's performance?

"I was really proud of Trent. He came in and do what he needed to do. He gets caught up in making a couple of mistakes, but it's OK, we're allowed to make mistakes. But I thought his discipline to task and he allowed others to shine, too, just by doing his job. I did read a couple of comments when we picked him, I thought they don't see the trust we have in this young kid. Credit to him, he played well"

Can Collingwood win the Premiership?

"We're here to win it. One more game and you're in a Grand Final. We're here to win this thing. We're going to work our butts off to get better everyday to give ourselves every chance. We'll set ourselves up and we know what's coming up in Sydney, but we'll give it our best shot."

Any injuries to come out of tonight?

"No".

https://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/video/ ... Names=news

Cheers, Thankyou, love this as always

[#26]

The next week or two will tell if we win the flag or not, but right now I'm feeling pretty chuffed I whacked $500 on the Pies back in May to win the flag at 41-1 (we are now 5-1).

I got on for $30 before the season started at 67-1. Last week I put $20 on Darcy Moore for the Norm Smith at 200-1.

[Cam]

We are Collingwood. We MAKE Grand Finals.

Spot on, Cam. I'm fortunate enough to have followed the Pies from '56, so I've experienced 3 Premierships from 16 GFs - including the day I introduced my new girlfriend to Aussie Rules. We watched the '70 Granny. Nuff said.

Those numbers are pretty painful reading Donny. Be nice to make it another win out of nowhere this year though.

[Pies2016]

And what a phenomenal effort by Moore to have been crook for half the week and still play the way he did.
Just on Noble, I agree he wasn’t at his best last night, especially after the great month of footy of he had put together earlier. What I don’t agree with, is the venom that comes with the level of criticism. All players play within a plus or minus of their average capacity every week. Sometimes you get the plus, other times you get the minus.
We are fortunate to have a coach who has turned this club around on the back of “ embracing imperfections “ and accepting that mistakes will happen when you play attacking footy. As supporters, we need to understand, we can’t have it both ways. You either watch a team that’s winning by playing high risk, high reward footy or you watch a team of robots who don’t make mistakes but hardly ever get a shot on goal.
We played exhilarating footy last night and it was the perfect audition for beating the best. Reckon I can cop a mistake or two if that’s what the finished product looks like ( and it wins you finals, too )
Having said that, finishing on the scoreboard is another story

[Pies2016]

DeGoey 660 metres gained. Crisp 600 metres gained.
There’s your formula for success right there.

[Pies2016]

D P

[Take_a_Screamer]

Noble was awful. Simply awful

He got a lot of possessions but at times looked slow.
Overall he did OK. Wonder if he was 100% on the night or just nervous.

His pass to Cox resulted in a goal to Ginni He'll be good for next week.

[the fuzz]

Great win!! We’re into a Prelim! Unbelievable!
Whatever happens from now, I’m very proud.
The players all looked very relaxed before the game. Plenty of smiles and laughs. When I saw this, I was pretty confident we’d do well.
Let’s bring that next week and who knows!
Go Pies

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Only 1 change for Sydney is out noble and in Carmichael

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Only 1 change for Sydney is out noble and in Carmichael

[Pies4shaw]

I’m not generally persuaded by Noble but he was very good last night. He isn’t big enough or strong enough to do certain things - but that’s like criticising Sidebottom for being too slow. He was very hard in the contest and his pace across the ground allows others (notably Nick Daicos and Maynard) to run forward with confidence that they aren’t leaving huge holes behind them). A bit of confirmation bias, I think, in the view that Noble’s spot in the team is at risk. He wasn’t in our bottom 3 last night.