The Hydra ~ Caro rears her head again

[TAYLAW]

15th means we are going to have to have a worse year than last year.
Doubt that could happen

And yes we could possibly finish 15th, we could also POSSIBLY finish 2nd, theres 16 places and anyone can finish anywhere.
I think theres a great chance of us finishing top 8 than bottom 8

[Johnson#26]

QUOTE: I admit that we haven't recruited 'overly' well in the off season.

Don't people rate Morrison & Carracella??

In a couple of words......not really.

One has a dodgy knee, the other a dodgy shoulder.
Caracella is a top player but has looked awfully good in fantastic teams such as the Baby Bombers and the best team in the last 20 years.

Morrison would have struggled to get a game in the West Coast team this year and they wouldn't be crying in their cereal knowing they lost Chad but picked up Tyson Stenglein now would they.

Have to agree with Cam too in a sense, we could well finish 15th, just don't want Caro to be telling me.

I had a horrible dream last night. Mumbles did his knee on the coming Saturday against Sydney and was out for the season. Please don't let this happen in real life!

Morrison never struggled to make the Wrst Coast side last year. he had a real blinder, and is rated by Garry Lyon as a smart pick up. He averaged 26 possessions between rounds 16 and 21 last season. Great pick up.

Sure, we 'could' finish 15th,.. even 16th IF we have injuries, shut down mentally & the wheels fall off for example.

Any side could do that. St.Kilda, Brisbane and West Coast could all be injury stricken with any bad luck. Same with us. Its a roll of the dice thing.

1. Our list (stonger in 2005 than 2004 IMO)
2. Our Form (2nd round Wiz + def last years premiers - better than last years pre-season...)
3. Current Injuries (almost a full list to pick from bar 3 maybe 4 players - better than last year)

All positives. Last years pre-season/Wizard Cup campaign was the exact opposite. 100 point first up loss. No confidence. No fresh faces on the list. No hunger. Aside from Bucks' hamstring (he'll be right for round one), Richards' knee (he'll be right in a few weeks - its not as bad as first thought), Tazza's groin (MM smokescreen) and one or two other 'minor' glitches, its looking good.

2004 was an abberation

Funny how the media jump off us? This time last year we were stilla quallity side. One year on, we are duds. Hmmm. Bandwagoners anyone?

[Nicko]

Diego Maradona knows more about AFL football than Caroline Wilson.

We'll make the 8.

[Streak]

I have no problem with Caroline Wilson, I don't mind her writing at all.

If she's predicted us to finish 15th, fair enough. Everyone's going to have an opinion on where we finish this year, and who's to say her 15th is better or worse than my 4th? We'll find out in a few months.

I suspect the journos latch on to trends, though - realising footy can be a cyclical sport. "Collingwood were down... and they made their way up the ladder to finish runner's-up two years in a row... and now they're going down, down... " If you look at it as a cycle, it kinda makes sense. But journos are paid to look at underlying factors - injuries, development, recruitment, the performance of other clubs. Too many journos are predicting a poor finish for Collingwood, and I can't help but feel that's part wishful thinking, part laziness (after all, it's much easier to say something everyone else already agrees on, right?) - much like the continued touting of Fremantle's great and auspicious 2005... but that's a rant for another time.

[Clemo]

Clemo, unfortunitly there's no link on the Age site, although they do have the Essendon one up.

That sux. Spose I better get to the library to check the article.

[Doc63]

Do you think she's 'in bed' with Walls

Thats a VERY ugly thought!!!!!

[35forever]

Of course we could finish 15th or last, we could also finish first. I think the two are as likely as each other (not very). But Port could finish last and The Hawks on top. Every team could finish in every position.

I think we'll finish 6-8 this year, but at the end of '03 I was certain we'd finish on top in '04 with hardly a loss. At the end of '02 I thought we'd finish 4-6 in '03. At the end of '01 I didnt think we'd play finals in '02. At the start of September '02 we looked like crap, I thought we'd be wiped.

The thing to do (really the only thing we can do at this point is to go on history. At this point in '03 we looked great, and did great. At this point in '04 we looked crap, and did crap.

CFC seems to thrive on getting bagged in the press. We're getting what we want!

[you idiot sheahan]

I usually have a lot of time for Carro, but when it comes to picking teams' abilities and form she's pathetic. She's not cheif football writer on her abilites in those fields. She's good at getting stories for the paper on big issues usually involving politcs. She pretty well always comes last in the tipping. Her record on Collingwood is attrcious. She picked us to come 9th in 2002, 8th (I think) in 2003, and mid-way through 2003 after we were 6-6 shw said we'd miss the 8. She's also notorious for being anit-Collingwood.

We can't get too worried about what she has to say. I was actually surprised that Wallsy picked us to come 9th. That's ahead of Carlton and Essendon. Let's just hope that by mid-season they'll all have to say. "Well, I was wrong about Collingwood, but.."

[35forever]

Ahh, its lovely to be hated again! Remember in '98-'99 when people stopped hating us & started feeling sorry for us? I'll take hated any day, it means we are a threat. Any unbiased observer would look at Collingwood and see a team that was following a brilliant coaching plan which was coming along beautifully in '02/'03 and was thrown off course last year due to injuries & lack of confidence & mental solidity. I cant work out how anyone could believe that last year was caused by lack of depth, poor coaching, or any other factor. We had half the team out! The signs this year are excellent with 3 close wins from 4 games. If we'd played last quarters like that in '04 we would have somehow played finals with half a team. What's to be worried about??? I dont believe anyone needs to suddenly become the next Voss or Hird, If the spine of the team plays all year, with half decent supporting roles from the 'second line' players we'll be a very happy group come September!

(sideline: I'm watching a night game from '93 with a 24 y/o Al Lynch at FF for Fitzroy, amazing how much he looks like Taz at the same age! Exactly the same build, style, and innacuracy. Imagine if we get 11 more years out of Taz with no CFS to slow him down! If he looks after his groin, he could be up there with Carey & Plugger as one of the great forwards of the game, he's faster than Lynch, and one of the best marks playing. If he could get kicking lessons from Daics we'd be looking very nice indeed)

[The Prototype]

Do you think she's 'in bed' with Walls

Thank you for that image, excuse me while I go chuck.

[uuuuu..... The LoneSTAR]

Hey YOU!

ME??,.... Nah, i know where your coming from Cam. Preparing for the worst makes it easier to cope if things don't go our way.

And in all seriousness, if there is ever one of those 'sticky - POLL' threads asking who's avatar is the best, yours will certainly get my vote!!

Motris & Doc63,....... imagine if they hads kids & what they'd write if they were 'jurno's'

PS Doc63 - Your avatar would also be right up there!!!!

[Cam]

Mine was inspired by Cooldewd's old one.

[pietillidie]

I just watched a re-run of this week's White Line Fever, and Grybus relayed a caller's question to Wilson wondering if she still thought Geelong was a certainty to make the top eight (or top four, I can't remember), and if she thought the Pies were still a certainty not to make it.

She commented that she thought Collingwood had done all the wrong things off season - we had spent a lot of money, had a well-publicised review but made no tough decisions actually adding to the staff rather than getting rid of people, etc. etc. She then added something to the effect that a couple of our young players had done better than expected and one or two other things I can't recall.

Anyhow, the tone of it was dismissive - she said nothing to the effect that she was wrong, that she had underestimated the effect of our injuries, that the tough decision may well have been to ignore the media and the disgruntled mob of supporters calling for heads, etc.

Of course, I didn't expect any better from her, but her comment lacked class and honesty to an even more pitiful extent than expected, and she did her best to avoid even the smallest fraction of praise for the club or even the team's performance on the weekend.

The brilliant thing was just as she thought she had wiped the question aside, Terry Wallace piped up with a comment saying he was at the game on Saturday night and he thought it was the best performance he had seen from any club in any game over the last five years.

It was a joy to watch.

I haven't been a big Terry Wallace fan in the past, but he's growing on me, and I give him credit for making an effort to offer considered, rational and balanced opinions, even if he errs on the side of fence-sitting, which is reasonable for a coach not wanting to provide ammunition for the opposition.

Perhaps Caroline Wilson and Tim Lane could get together and create the Bitter, Twisted and Envious anti-Collingwood Show.

[Mossi]

Of course, I didn't expect any better from her, but her comment lacked class and honesty to an even more pitiful extent than expected, and she did her best to avoid even the smallest fraction of praise for the club or even the team's performance on the weekend.


Perhaps Caroline Wilson and Tim Lane could get together and create the Bitter, Twisted and Envious anti-Collingwood Show.

You will never get praise from C.Wilson no matter how well we play. I Like what you said about getting them toghethor to create the Anti collingwood Show! Especsially now the way we are travelling

The more I think about some of those passages of play last Saturday night the more I feel sorry for those cats!! They were helpless in getting anything going just outplayed! Wilson and Lane would have seen it and they will never admit it even if was there in Black and White!!!

[London Dave]

Who wants praise off a person like her, or Lane, or any other media dork for that matter? Rather win a flag and let em suffer as their teams go belly up.