Collingwood vs Richmond

[Neil Appleby]

Well, I arrived at the MCG feeling pretty confident yesterday.
We had played pretty well against Brisbane and we had Josh and Brownie back.
Set back No1 was the crowd. I reckon there were 45000 Richmond front runners there but where were we???
On the rare occassions we did kick a goal there was hardly a murmur.
Set back No2 was the poor form; we were thrashed out of the middle had no run through the lines and as stated here by Foxy,
there was nothing to get excited about all day.
Richo and Presti did a terrific job I thought with Richmond bringing it into their fifty at will.
Our forwards were really terrible. Rocca looked as if he was going to dominate the game early and then got comprehensively thrashed (by Kellaway???)I was really disappointed in his terrible lack of responsibility.
Betheras and Lockyer played their guts out as usual and that's about it.
Bucks was beligerent and effectively tagged out of the play.
I haven't seen Bucks more effectively tagged.
Tarrant did very well in the first half but the ball just wasn't coming in often enough....but doesn't he move beautifully?
Orchard was everywhere in the first quarter; Frawley then moved Campbell into the forward line. It was comical; Orchard looked like a little leaguer against him there.The coaching panel didn;t react until the third quarter....Campbell had kicked 3 by then and the horse had well and truly bolted.
Adkins needs to go the twos for some confidence...his lack of defensive skills were plain for all to see.
I wanted 8 wins this year after last years 4; I think that's a reasonable ask still.
We have slid back to the pack and look pretty ordinary. Our young kids are feeling the grind and it's going to be a long winter. The big difference this year is obvious; we are building to 2001 and beyond and we have a coach who knows what he is doing.
We need to stop navel gazing and look at the big picture.
The early weeks were a total surprise and a bonus. It's now back to reality and character building.Isn't confidence an amazing commodity???
Best: Betheras, Prestigiaccomo, Lockyer, Richarson, Tarrant.

[CJ]

Neil, I couldn't agree more. Good summary of the match.

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"Good Old Collingwood Forever"

[*miss_magpie*]

Neil, you definately were right on that one.. the game was uneven ever since the 2nd quarter, it was as tho all of our boys had just given up.
Apart from the occasional good passage of play in the back line the guys didn't get a single break
Richardson played a ripper of a game, and lockyer (as always) gave it all he had
I only hope we can pick up our game before next week at CS.

[Joel]

By the way, did we go down the centre corridor once during the game? This thing with always playing along the wings is pathetic.

[This message has been edited by Joel (edited 14 May 2000).]

[ytry4]

Hasn't anybody noticed the fact that we are getting thrashed in the centre of the ground? We have the least number of centre breaks in the AFL and clearances (or thereabout).. Monkhorst should have been kept at the club for at least one more year. I think Malthouse has stuffed up on that issue and he probably knows it. If McKee is regarded highly at the club (we traded our 2nd pick for him), then why isn't Malthouse giving him more time to opreate in the ruck? We are geting flogged there because Josh is still very young and lightweight...

[Greg J]

We gave up either Pavlich or Halseby (the guy that kicked the two goals that buried us in the Freoo game) for McKee, and all along we have that 200cm Smith guy in the Reserves. Does anyone know how far Smith is off? We have kept him on our list this year, surely there was a reason.

Who is in charge of coaching our midfield? Who is our ruck coach?

[Sly]

I haven't been to training since Pre-Season but, believe it or not, Brad Gotch was supervising the majority of the Ruck-drills.

They have this huge foam-cone which is about 6-7 feet tall and is used to approximate an opposing player.

One of the Ruckman - Smith or McKee - would hold the cone (as it has a tendency to capsize when hit). Gotch would throw the ball high above it and the other Ruckman would leap over the cone for the punch, tap, etc.

Josh never participated in this drill, (that I saw). Usually, Y2Malty would work one-on-one with Josh after the bulk of training-drills was done.

Interestingly, though, Nick Davis participated in these Rucking-drills with Gotch, Smith and McKee. Davis was instructed to thump the ball as hard as he could, indicating that he was being groomed as a spoiler.

Also, Loggy smith did about 70% of the drill, so they must have thought he needed more work than McKee.

As I said, though, that was Pre-Season.

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Sly LeKoupa.
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