Post Match. Pies down to Hawks - All comments please.

[RudeBoy]

I simply don't agree with the conception that it was Cox who totally screwed us up tonight. Yes, his confidence was shot, but FFS, whenever he brought the ball to ground, there was no Collingwood player at ground level able to take advantage. Under these circumstances, what could have been brilliant deflections of the ball, had we been there, instead looked like errrors as Hawthorn seized the ball. What worried me was the total inability to understand where our players should be to contest for the ball when it fell to ground, and also the lack of energy when we happened to be in the right position. Our midfield, meant to be our strength, was cowed into subservience by the Hawthorn midfield pressure. This meant that Cox was on the back foot from the very beginning. Nor did he have a crumber at ground level to capitalize on the opportunities when he knocked it to ground. This absence of ground level capacity made Cox look ineffectual.
The inability to anticipate where we should be in relation to Cox is a real worry: why haven't we figured this out during the preseason?
I agree with those who have pointed out that Darcy looks like he belongs forward, and Ben Reid looks like he belongs in defence. Since our preseason was based around playing Darcy in defence, this again is a concern.
On the positive side, I was thrilled with Ben Crocker's performance.

We each see it differently I guess. When you see Cox "bring the ball to ground" I see him "dropping his marks"....even when he was uncontested! Seriously, his was the worst performance I've ever seen from an AFL player. It was embarrassing and it must have been emotionally sapping for our team after they busted their guts to get the ball in his hands, only to see him spill EVERY SINGLE mark.

[Tezza23]

What about the crowd - only58,000. I know it was a Hawthorn home match but even during the pathetic late 90's at least 30,000 pies supporters would show up even when we played interstate teams mid season. I reckon only about 20,000 pie supporters turned up.

[MightyMagpie]

[think positive]

[Raw Hammer]

What about the crowd - only58,000. I know it was a Hawthorn home match but even during the pathetic late 90's at least 30,000 pies supporters would show up even when we played interstate teams mid season. I reckon only about 20,000 pie supporters turned up.

Free to air coverage kept me away tonight.

It's all about free to air coverage on big screen TVs.

[princem007]

Buckley gone by round 7 I reckon

[Pies4shaw]

[PyreneesPie]

What worried me was the total inability to understand where our players should be to contest for the ball when it fell to ground, and also the lack of energy when we happened to be in the right position.

Absolutely!! Where were those players, especially the mids and wings? Were they already running forward in anticipation of getting a goal scoring opportunity for themselves? Not willing to put themselves into the ground ball contest? Or worried about guarding the outside Hawthorn players? Folks may disagree, but this is not the way I've seen us play in recent years.

[makri]

looks like cox will be having an enforced break. Elbow to the head didn't look good

[MightyMagpie]

"We weren't able to handle the Hawks' pressure," says Nathan Buckley post-match. "We were fumbly + quick kicked when handball options were on, + around the contest we didn't handle the heat as we have in times gone by."

"Our execution was particularly poor today. We got two hands to the ball but didn't mark, or players were out in space but we didn't hit them. We played an OK structural game, which was why we were still in the contest," - Buckley.

"We had the personnel to be able to get results. We couldn't have played more poorly or had less contributors in larger chunks but still be in the game. It was a comedy of errors," - Buckley.

On Mitchell: "We had Adams, Steele + Crispy on him at various times after quarter time. He's probably one of the cleanest ball handlers in the shoebox at the stoppages. We tried to curb his influence but we weren't to," - Buckley.

On Cox: "He's been gloving them all during a strong pre-season. It is a real test of character, of ours + his, for how he responds. He's getting his hands to it more often than he ever has. I'm pretty confident he will be fine," - Buckley.

"Murray + Stephenson acquitted themselves well for their first games. They should hold their heads high. Jaidyn runs hard + has x-factor, as does Sam. Both had a real crack; we couldn't expect any more. I thought they handled it well," - Buckley.

"Wells played a half in the @VFL. He is still building; he has some training to do to prove his fitness for him. De Goey is a couple of weeks away, Elliott will be a couple, Oxley one or two, Levi a bit longer + Wells between 2-4," - Buckley.

From tonight:
- Josh Smith nicked his hamstring in the final quarter
- Crocker suffered a knock during the final term that is still being reviewed

[think positive]

[masoncox]

I raised our front and centre issues with Derek Hine face to face at the post season members' forum a couple of years ago. Asked whether we were looking at Brandon Matera, Josh Green cheaply, why we didn't try to get Jeff Garlett for a 5th round pick instead of Melbourne. I got the impression from his answers that he (and Bucks) prefer beige 'by the numbers' players inside 50. Staggering.

Raw Hamer you just don't get it!
It is all about model ctizens first and footballers a long last.
It is all about the boys scouts than about kicking the leather thru the big sticks. Boy, get with the new age please. When they leave the Club they would have had years focusing on being the best neighbor, the best husband, the best work buddy.
What a wonderful job we are doing for society.

[Jezza]

Disappointing night.

If tonight is anything to go by for the rest of the year, then nothing has changed. It felt like round 24 2017, rather than round 1 2018. It was a continuation of the painful football that we've endured for years under this coach. Constantly kicking into a congested inside 50, too slow to move the ball and insipid turnovers are killing us. We're known for our good pressure on the ball carrier, but it was lacklustre tonight and really exposed us.

Stephenson and Murray were positives on debut. Both made mistakes at various times but at least they took the game on and tried to take risks. Other players looked in their shells and had no sense of urgency of wanting to take the game on.

Skill level is still as poor as ever, but it's been a problem for a long time and something that won't be fixed overnight. It can only be fixed by recruiting better ball users in the future which will take years to come to fruition sadly. I think the insipid skill level was the key difference in separating the two sides tonight.

It's an indictment on the coaching staff that they didn't bother to tag Tom Mitchell. Mitchell killed us in both games last year and to let him roam around and have 54 disposals was embarrassing. Our midfield was below par tonight.

Cox is useless when he can't mark the ball. His ground level work is non-existant and I thought he was a liability as the game went on. If we're relying on him to score our goals this year then we're in big trouble.

The coaching staff need to decide where to play Moore and keep him there permanently. He looked decent in defence, but he was good up forward in the last quarter and at least looked threatening unlike Cox.

Scoreboard flattered us in the end, but since it's only round 1 I'm not going to jump the gun and declare our season a write off yet. However, tonight doesn't alleviate any of the fears or concerns I had during the off season.

[PyreneesPie]

It was embarrassing and it must have been emotionally sapping for our team after they busted their guts to get the ball in his hands, only to see him spill EVERY SINGLE mark.

Not quite as emotionally sapping as getting the ball into the forward line and seeing forwards miss goals.

[Mugwump]

looks like cox will be having an enforced break. Elbow to the head didn't look good

Not much in it, low impact, no intent, debatable he actually made real impact with head first or shoulder. might get a caution, could get a week.