Nick's Collingwood Bulletin Board

This could really hurt of Flag Hopes

Brenny wrote:^

Can't he's not named as an emergency.

But why? teams came out yesterday, Reid hurt himself the day before, i think we can play Keefe but it will cost us a fine, not 100% sure though, us not naming Keefe made me think the rumour was BS.

FFS!

Who ran over a black cat?

Feels like we have been covering for injuries all year - 3 broken hands, Jolly's knee, Nate Brown out all year.

Now Tarrant and Reid are looking shaky.

It's just not happening for us this year. This time last year we were flying. Feels like our wings have been clipped.

Keep the faith guys, I am as confident as ever, it's time like these this team was born for.

Well then Burnsy17 if you think like that how about changing your signature?

Talk about a defeatist attitude, God I hope our players don't think like you...
We should just not turn up then.

Our midfield will need to absolutely smash the Eagles midfield.

Goodness gracious....

Joel wrote:Our midfield will need to absolutely smash the Eagles midfield.

Beams and Pendles are gonna tear them to shreds and Swan will move so quick and hard they won't know where he is.

If Ben Reid doesn't play, it'll be tough backs-to-the-wall stuff that's required.
I think this team is up for it. This is a super team. How will the potential loss of Reid be covered? By keeping the ball on our forward line.
For when the ball does go into WCE forward line, well, Mick will have to devise some strategy. He will devise it and the players will execute it and we should still come away with a hard fought win.

Didn't Toovey play on Darling last time?

Darling is a first year player standing 191cm/87kg.

Toovey or Goldsack should be able to handle him.

If Reid is a possibility to miss surprised Keefe wasn't named as an emergency ahead of Sinclair.

We beat Port in 2002 without Nathan Buckley: we can beat West Coast in 2011 without Ben Reid and Dale Thomas.

Anybody else feel themselves reverting to the "If we're good enough we'll win" philosophy?? It's been so easy this year... and yet we've really had a tough run with injuries and suspensions. And now on the eve of our first final this happens.

Still, for some reason, I still feel we'll be fine - especially at it's going to rain. What height advantage? Plus people forget our backline is actually pretty tall - well it used to be!

As for the fine for bringing in a player not on the emergency list - meh. Does anyone really think Eddie and co give a flying fat rats clacker about a little fine if it's for the good of the side in circumstances that require it???

swoop42 wrote:Didn't Toovey play on Darling last time?

Darling is a first year player standing 191cm/87kg.

Toovey or Goldsack should be able to handle him.

If Reid is a possibility to miss surprised Keefe wasn't named as an emergency ahead of Sinclair.

Good point, I forgot about the U/18 AA FB, Alan Toovey. He could definitely go with Darling who isn't really a monster forward, in terms of height or strength (yet). Toovey's got a great reach as well, wouldn't be worried about him getting done on the lead.

Still leaves us with a bit of an awkward match up for Lynch, but it's manageable.

The thing is with three big blokes on the one line (FP, FF, FP) as well , is team's just have a tendency to bomb in long and rely on the big blokes getting the job done. This obviously results in numbers being drawn back and congestion being created. The big guys don't cover the ground as well, so they don't make effective use of the 50, they just end up clogging each others space. And in a big pack situation a 3-4cm height difference gets nullified by sheer weight of numbers.
Add into that the wet surface and it becomes a pretty tough task.

We need to make sure whoever is opposed to Darling and Lynch get on their bikes when we have possession though. We need to take advantage of Maxy, Toovey and O'Brien being matched up on bigger, slower opponents by exploiting them. Run off at every opportunity and make these big bodies expend their energy chasing tail.

As was said, win the midfield battle and keep the ball in our forward line and we won't have to worry about the outs down back

How much is the fine?
Friggen hell, I'll contribute some $$$ myself if it means we get a required player to cover the loss of Reid (or anyone else for that matter).