Post Match. Pies demolish Dees. All comments.

[Mr Miyagi]

Why is everyone going on about Melbourne’s bad goal kicking? Elliott missed 2 in the first qtr as did Mihocek. Kick a couple of those and the match is over at qtr time.

This. Should have been cues in the rack by half time, but poor set shots kept them in it. Oh, and the umpires’ third qtr. four of them and they still can’t see the jumper pulls, arm chopping, and one handed throws. Stevic absolutely hit a call to get Melbourne back in it so it’d be a closer game.

[Meredith1965]

Glad we made the Prelim and dodged the death side of the draw (Lions at the Gabba).

But geez we make it hard for ourselves. How Melbourne didn't win that game with their total dominance of clearances and inside 50s (plus the 50/50 umpiring decisions all going their way), is nothing short of a miracle. Whatever happened to the last quarter kings?

Some truly heroic performances by the defense - great to see Darcy and Murph back. I thought Sidebottom showed all the craftiness of his long career. Bobbie Hill was sensational. WHE was big and McStay had his moments. Ginni did well when he came on (as a defender because we didn't get the ball in our forward line). So many players down. Josh Daicos unsighted. Thank God we'll have his brother back now.

As for the midfield, apart from a few good things from DeGoey (that goal!) we got smashed.

Someone please tell me why Lipinksi should be in this team?
Ditto McCreery. He owed us a big performance coming in for Noble. And he gave us his usual single figure stats. Not good enough.

Jamie better get his kicking boots on fast. And John Noble must not be dropped again!

We can definitely win the flag, but we need a BIG improvement on tonight if we are going to beat Brisbane or Carlton.

We will beat either of those teams by 10 goals+. Melbourne is the second-best team in the comp on the MCG (we play no game anywhere else this season) and we beat them with good performances from a handful of players and many stars playing a bad game. Collingwood only gets better from here.

As for the question how we could possibly beat Melbourne, the answer is we led for the entire game and they actually never looked like it. They had one scoring shot in the last 20 minutes or so of the game. Consequently, Collingwood won for the most usual of reasons - they were by far the better team all night and finished with a higher score.

On a quite separate note, it beggars belief that there seem to be people who didn’t think Sidebottom was in Collingwood’s best 5 on the night. It must be that the way the stats are counted tricks people - in addition to his counted disposals, he must have had hands on the footy to force a stoppage or tap the ball on another 20 or so times. The Collingwood game plan depends on the wings clogging up space - Sidey and WHE are the engine room of the Collingwood game. Number 22 plays the clean up and close down role better than any player in the game.

As an aside, it might be good if De Goey didn’t play like that ever again. He was a walking debacle. His complete absence of work-rate was distressing to watch.

For a supposedly elite player, DeGoey seems to get injured a lot and plays a lot of ordinary games. Crisp was worth three De Goeys last night. Petracca is worth 5 JDGs. After years of superstar promise, he’s still just a good player, sadly. The team I fear most ? My suspicion is that the third best team in the comp is GWS, strangely, and I think they might be our prelim opponent.

It’s a very astute point about Sidebottom and WHE being the engine room of Collingwood. They add an extra defender and an extra attacker morr than any other wing combination in the game.

[David]

The Giants were in great form in the last couple of months but still got washed when they played Port at Adelaide Oval (which will be their most likely match-up). I don’t see them getting through that.

[piffdog]

1. We can play better than that - when Hill, WHE are in your top 3-4 players, and Josh, Elliott and Jordy aren't noticed I think there's plenty of upside.
2. Loved watching the experience of Sidey play out. He had a great finals series in 2018, capped off by a forgettable GF. Maybe a point to prove?
3. Coaching master stroke: try and nullify Gawn - tick; don't let Lever and May run amok - tick. Hard for Noble but going in taller looks to have paid off.
4. If defence wins premierships, we are in great shape. Howe, Murph and Moore must be the starting 3 "bigs" down back. Quaynor again very good. As much as they were coming back in 4Q, still felt like we were somewhat 'in control'.
5. Happy for McStay that he turned his game around to make a great contribution in 3Q. Kicked nicely too.
6. Loved Coxey's game. He was physical and didnt take a backwards step and genuinely nullified that contest early in the game. I think Gawn got him in the end, but only as Cox tired (IMO)
7. I though Lipinski was average - but he hasnt looked a star at any stage this year really. Some nice kicks inside 50 as we were bursting out of defence, but as some others have posted, didnt do as much as he would have liked with someone likely to make way for Nick.
8. Goodwin can go and get ###. He is such a lightweight. "Maynard jumped and my guy got concussed so needs to get rubbed out", while Van Rooyan (with a blatant elbow to the head) is a "nothing to see here". Please. What a flog. Give me our coach 10 times over. He should be looking at himself and his coaches for their loss. Yes, they've lost some key forwards with inury late in the season, but I have never seen a forward line that disfunctional. Hopefully straight sets for those clowns.
9. Their best were Gawn, Oliver, Petracca (who will probably be top three in their B&F). Totally different story for our side which I think is much better balanced.

[shawthing]

Hats off the Max Gawn, what a warrior.

An amazing player, probably the greatest ruckman I have seen, with the possible exception of Len Thompson

I agree with you both. It was amazing. And so was big Len!

[shawthing]

Sorry what happened to Brayshaw but if Bruz misses any finals game, let alone a grand final, with Cripps winning a Brownlow, then the system is phucked.

You just answered your own question.

[RudeBoy]

When the game was on the line in the first quarter, we absolutely smashed them. We were never losing it from there.

Cox is our best ruck option.

[BBHS]

Mason Cox battled so well. Gawn was good but don't underate how good Cox was especially in the first quarter when we where killing them and should have been 5 goals in front.

[Culprit]

I was stressed about the game and happy we won. You need to win the first final to give you the best chance at a crack at the GF. It was a solid team effort and we clearly don't rely on individuals.

The media has hung Maynard out to dry. Get onto Crips Lawyer if he gets done.

[think positive]

Just watched the replay and literally looked for the free kicks both ways.

First 1/4 we missed 3 sitters, inexcusable in this game imo. Jaimie 2 were shocking.

2nd quarter 2 tackles Melb player drops ball …. Nothing. Happened the other way …. Whistle every time. Missed high call I think it was Jamie.

3rd quarter it 10/11 frees, another dropped ball, Gawn tackled, dropped it, but protracca gets the free after that for tunnelling. Result, goal. The deliberate out of bounds paid against us was utter crap. It’s now 11/ 15.

Lippa tackles protracca, who drops the ball straight away, lippa still has him, protracca gets a goal from a free and it’s game on.

Jordy gets tackled by Oliver for 2 sec, as soon as the ball leaves Jordy hands, whistle.

18.34 remaining, side push in the back, nothing to see here.

11.58 it’s on the ground open a heap, Melbourne player has ball in hand and throws it out, play on.

11 Ginnie comes on, crowd breaks the sound barrier.

It’s now 13/19 score 60/47

7.43 one of our players tackled in a huddle, may have been dropped, 10 sec later Maythumps it out, no deliberate call but it’s our end.

4.41. Ginnie high, nothin paid, he did not duck.played it 3 times.

4.08 Bobby takes huge mark, player cracks it, pushes him over, no 50, they got 2 soft 50s.

4 min Q s mark, wow.
3.58 beautiful Ginnie tackle is paid!

2.49 is defibrillator time.

2.47 Jordy held off the ball by Oliver, nothing,

2 min free to may sosoft imo , it’s a final, 2 min left,

1.33 Jamie gets some redemption with that mark.

49 Oliver with soft on Ginnie, Ginnie needs to play it out, you won’t get a high call son, keep playing, that’s on Ginnie imo

23 Ginnie gets redemption

We know it’s done, crowd goes wild, and Q finishes it!

14/20 I think it was, take what you want from that, but as I always told the kids I coached, you have to be far enough in front that the mother of all umpire decisions doesn’t cost you the game. Summing up, not the worst by far this season, but pro level? I don’t think so.

[think positive]

P4S is correct, Sidey was HUGE in that win. WHE magnificent. Bobby brilliant.
McStay so important. Checkers, etc good, disappointed with Jamie’s misses, but he will beat himself up for that. I thought Moore looked rusty. Daicos not as illuminated as usual, not sold on lippa, but he did some things. I feel for Noble, but it was the right choice. Big team effort.

Now for ticketing. We were same bay as cheer squad, behind them to the left, next bay is Melbourne supporters. When Bradshaw went off I thought it was going to be on, the cops came numerous times. What were they thinking?

At least now we can watch this weekend and next, no pressure, just enjoy the footy!

Well done Pies!

[Meredith1965]

The Giants were in great form in the last couple of months but still got washed when they played Port at Adelaide Oval (which will be their most likely match-up). I don’t see them getting through that.

True, but it just looks to me like they are improving all the time and Port flatlining at best. Trajectory is everything.

[Pies2016]

Really enjoyed Flys comments on W H E. The coaches see and know so much more than the two hours we judge them on every week. There’s no statistic for smarts and composure and that’s why coaches see things so differently to what we see from a distance.
Sidebottom and W H E’s games were superb and both built on the back of smarts and over 500 games between them. All of sudden, the Hosk ( who has basically replaced Nobles role ) has added some extra quality to our D50 strategies and that can only make us better again.
It looked to me as though Sidey came back from the knee underdone but that extra week off helped him bring the knee back up to speed and he was back to his surgical best. Great performances from both of them to help out our stay at home defenders.

[David]

Do you think McRae was implying that WHE was one of the players he was considering leaving out before settling on Noble? That's kind of how it sounded to me.

If so, there's some vindication for that choice I guess. He was great.

[Geek]

To the knockers of WHE - it doesn't hurt to admit you can be wrong. He was hard at it tonight.

All up a superb performance - Sidey showed his class and finals experience. Pendles was huge in the last quarter. IQ stood up when it counted

WHE doesn't have knockers. He really is quite trim