Post Match. Pies win thriller. All comments.

[doriswilgus]

What a heart stopper..I am beside myself and up myself,as Kim from Kath and Kim would say.

[Dave The Man]

Pies Won but Still some Massive Worries.

Can't play 4 Qtrs
Midfield getting Smashed
Too Much Handballing

[Haff]

If you skipped the 3rd like I just did we played pretty well.
Happy enough with winning. Just wanting to see the premiership side some time soon.
Got to be better than we are at the moment. It’s June.

[Magpietothemax]

In the final analysis, a team can win every game by 5+ goals, and Finals, but then lose the GF on the day, anything can happen in GFs, as we know all too well. I think we are in a minor slump, BUT we are still winning close matches, and we will snap out of this, once JDG and Sidearse return, and McStay perhaps too. Long way to go yet, as Paul Roos said, you need to hit your peak in August, iin run up to Finals. Yes, Im rapt we are on top, and that we eeked out a win today, against the odds again, this side never, ever, gives up, that alone must be a great assett to have for the Finals.

Great post, Piesnchess. I think that the incredible willpower to get across the line in this game is worth gold in terms of preparing us for finals - worth more than smashing the Crows from half time onwards.

[Magpietothemax]

And how good was the Howe comeback. Like he never missed a beat after a couple compound fractures and four months on the sidelines. Ridiculous achievement !

Yes, it was an amazing game from him.

[doriswilgus]

If you skipped the 3rd like I just did we played pretty well.
Happy enough with winning. Just wanting to see the premiership side some time soon.
Got to be better than we are at the moment. It’s June.

That’s true.I thought we were the better side for three quarters,the first,second,and the last.The third quarter was so absolutely diabolical for us,it almost cost us the game though.

[Take_a_Screamer]

What counts now is, we are 2 games and 10% clear of 3rd placed Brisbane.
Let's keep this gap over the next few weeks, pls.

Thank you Mason Cox for the 4th quarter turnaround,
never underestimate the leadership and presence of a Big Cox.

I look forward to the next episode "The Mason Cox Show".
You can tell us all about the goggles incident.

[Pies2016]

So who is so much better than us at the end of round 15 ?
Port who we belted by 70 points ( albeit a long while ago )
The Dees, who the injury riddled Cats beat this weekend ?
Maybe the Lions, who were comfortably beaten by the Hawks a fortnight ago ? Maybe even the reigning premiers who aren’t in the eight right now ?
It’s the middle of a long season, the dead of Winter and some players are short of their best for a number of reasons.
Yes, we’ve got problems but we’ve got a lot less problems than about 16 other teams right now. There’s no point bemoaning a lack of perfect football at the end of June when you’re sitting on top of the ladder. Once the finals are within sight, we will all get a truer idea of where we really sit in the premiership pecking order.

[Take_a_Screamer]

And how good was the Howe comeback. Like he never missed a beat after a couple compound fractures and four months on the sidelines. Ridiculous achievement !

Yes, it was an amazing game from him.

There's a man hungry to play in another GF and be part of a Premiership side.

[mgh3536]

Against both Adelaide teams we seem physically smaller

[rambler]

The Frampton non-selection is two sided coin.
If he's picked at Howies expense then we get a tall defender but less leg speed and one less week to get some game time into Howie. I think we rolled the dice there.
A peculiar trait this year with our selection is picking stalwart players like Lippa and Howie as soon as they are passed fit without a any warm up VFL games.
I think Fly is looking ahead to finals and the earlier we get these experienced guys back the better we are for it, and with our ladder position we can afford to take the chance.
Lippas had two quiet games since back but i reckon he'll come good.
I reckon Fly will bring McStay in as soon as he's fit and we'll all moan about his first few quiet games but come finals we'll need him battle hardened. If it doesn't work out the alternative is playing Cox as permanent forward and play Frampton/Cameron ruck combo.

[DT]

The Good

IQ, Noble, J Daicos, N Daicos, Bruz, Markov, Elliott, Cox, Mitchell,Cameron, Adams, Murphy

The Not so Good

Crisp, Mihocek, AJ, Lipinski,

The Ok

Moore, Howe, Harrison, Hill, Pendlebury, WHE

McCreery - not enough time to assess

I think we get into trouble when we overdo handball chains. Crisp today was a particular culprit. I wonder if this is overfinessing or is it a lack of confidence in the forward options?

I was very pleased with Darcy Cameron’s and Mason Cox’s last quarter. Both really stood up and got it going in our favour.

IQ and Noble were superb in holding up under pressure.

We missed JDG big time today. He will be a massive inclusion.

I agree that the selection is not yet settled. I am a big fan of Frampton who offers height and strength against the talls. I don’t think Tex the idiot kicks 5 if Billy had played.

The glaring other area which is a problem is the key tall forward. If either McStay or Krueger can get right and into form then that would be huge for this side. It looks like AJ is in a bit of a form trough although it was very pleasing to see him make more defensive efforts which has been his weak area.

The only other selection issue is the small forward area - Elliott is amazing with his pressure and tackling - Hill and Harrison still need to contribute a bit more. I am a huge Ginnivan fan so remain hopeful he can find some form as he has X factor but needs to do the basics more often. At least we have options. Even Sidey may be a wildcard option if we need as WHE. An play wing too.

[inxs88]

Casual observations from being at the game:

* we fumbled and got too cute with our ball movement
* Mihocek and Johnson two shockers in a row
* Degoey out kills us. We miss his 6-8 bursts from clearances
* We gave Adelaide those bursts from clearance
* Cameron was strong in the last quarter when it counted
* Crisp's 15 metre shot from goal was taken at 35 metres. Horrible effort
* Our forwards got zero separation from Crows defence
* Their forwards got maximum separation
* McCreery should never be the sub again
* Dropping Frampton was stupid
* Welcome back courageous Jeremy Howe

[DT]

Casual observations from being at the game:

* we fumbled and got too cute with our ball movement
* Mihocek and Johnson two shockers in a row
* Degoey out kills us. We miss his 6-8 bursts from clearances
* We gave Adelaide those bursts from clearance
* Cameron was strong in the last quarter when it counted
* Crisp's 15 metre shot from goal was taken at 35 metres. Horrible effort
* Our forwards got zero separation from Crows defence
* Their forwards got maximum separation
* McCreery should never be the sub again
* Dropping Frampton was stupid
* Welcome back courageous Jeremy Howe

Was at the game too and these are very fair observations.

I think the coaches are going to do a little experimenting around the edges and suspect Frampton is one of those.

[Jezza]

Great win. Not perfect by any means, but hard fought in many respects. Adelaide needs to be credited for their second half turnaround and pushing us to the end. I think they're more than capable of playing finals if they maintain that standard of football.

The Daicos boys and Mitchell were the backbone of driving us to victory. Some excellent defensive efforts from Noble, Quaynor and Markov today particularly in the dying stages of the game where Adelaide were pressing us.

Our lacklustre third quarters continue. Part of me wonders whether it's a deliberate strategy to conserve energy for the final term, but by doing this we risk allowing the opposition to comeback at us.

Forward line looked a bit dysfunctional as well. Johnson looks well off the pace, and probably would have been dropped if it weren't for McStay's persistent injury troubles. It's the second consecutive game he's been tactically subbed off. Harrison's efforts are admirable, but Ginnivan is an upgrade to replace him. Elliott was decent on his return. Mihocek's in a mini slump after being on track for a career best season a few weeks back.

Overall, plenty of learnings to take out of this game but things are good. We sit on top and our fighting spirit is as strong as it's ever been.