Post Match. Pies demolish Dees. All comments.

[Gerry Cooper]

Massive win that was soured by atrocious umpiring which helped Melbourne stay in the game.
Melbourne and Carlton will be found out this finals series for being too reliant on 2-3 stars whose performances dictate the outcome for their respective teams. Gawn, Petracca and Oliver had 9 more disposals each than the next highest possession getter for the Demons and still LOST!

The mighty Pies don’t have that reliance as witnessed tonight with Josh and Billy having very very low output games and Pendlebury not his usual self.

Much to work on but our best is better than anyone else’s.

Prelim!!!!

Pendles always comes back strong after a bad one

"Low output"? - they both had shockers I thought. At least Billy managed a telling mark in defence in the last quarter.

[pietillidie]

^Pendles was essentially playing as a tagger, which worked to a significant extent on Petracca in the first half when Coxy was also nullifying Gawn significantly.

Once Coxy tired, Gawn dominated and Petracca was able to run into space, so its effectiveness declined. But let's not forget, it was our early dominance that won us the game. Coxy's first half was much better than people are recalling.

Next year, that tag has to be McCreery.

It won't make headlines now, but in a few days our tactics will be seen as a masterstroke by older heads. We haven't kicked down the line like that since MM/Bucks. What Melbourne won't know yet is that on a dry day and quick surface, our smalls including the Daicos brothers run over them and leave them in the dust.

For some reason, few people grasp the gap between our wet and dry games. It's massive, which is a weakness, but our fast ball movement is how we're covering being a few big bodies short, so it's the price we pay. Hence I think this was a tactical masterclass.

(Josh's worst game for a very long time; you do wonder if he was either unwell or playing a defensive role of some kind. He never plays two in a row like that.).

[Take_a_Screamer]

I thought the game was tough and tight all the way through.
We played differently as the game did not open up in wet conditions.
Did not see that high risk fast game from half back.
We took a lead early and hung for dear life.
We won a not-so-pretty game, so very happy for the win and no apparent injuries. Though sometime injuries are revealed during the week.

We have a week's rest to recover and take stock.
It will be a pleasure to watch other teams kill each other this weekend.
And give us an opportunity to dissect all oppositions.

Overall, it was a great team effort.
Love Collingwood, the self belief of the coach and players.
Also the camaraderie here in Nick's forum.

[Jezza]

Fly's presser

Tonight was the best example of the resilience of your team?

"In terms of the last quarter in particular, yeah. We knew Melbourne were always going to come. You're not in the top 4 for fluking that stuff. To be able to hang in there and fight against the masses, the wave of ball in their defensive 50. I thought our backs were enormous. Keeping them to 28% of times they score inside 50 is a huge effort from our backs and a collective from our team defence. We're really proud and these don't come around too often to be able to win your first final and then guarantee a home prelim, they don't come around too often so we want to live in this space".

Did the fast start drain you towards the end of the match?

"I probably don't think that. I think the game itself was always going to [have] ebbs and flow. There's moments the opposition have momentum and their best brand is get the ball forward from clearance and then lock it in. They're one of the best teams in the comp with that. We spoke about that as to what we have to manage and our best version of us was a bit of transition, movement, flow and pressure and we score. We had a bit of that too. I thought for major parts we manage to have the game on our terms, showing our best probably longer than they did".

How pleasing was it to match Melbourne on the inside and to be +10 for contested ball at Quarter Time?

"I had to temper my confidence going into the game to be honest. I just felt like we're really building for this game. Training would suggest that. Getting key players back would suggest that. I just had this great belief and when the rain came, I thought 'oh, this is going to suit us' because I thought we were going to come at them. Don't always get it right, but I just had this belief in the group that we were going to hit the ground running tonight. Lucky enough in the first quarter [it] was an example of that".

Have you ever been involved in many games where there's such a discrepancy with inside 50s (69-37) and yet you've won?

"No, but this time it doesn't matter. You can analyse all the stats, but it doesn't matter. You just win. You got to find a way to win. No one cares on Grand Final day if you have 37 inside 50s. Our efficiency forward of the ball was fantastic. We scored when we went inside 50. Melbourne are a very good team. Very good team. They were always going to come. They've got great players. Gawn has influence in the game. You're not always going to get it on your terms. When you don't have it on your terms, that's what we're really proud of. Our backs really stood up".

So much of your positive attacking play comes off the back of your defence?

"Yeah, we intercept mark the ball really well early and we rebounded off from that. Darcy [Moore], Howie; Q [Quaynor] had a big game, he's a good player. We played to our strengths early and then you get scoreboard advantage and it's hard to catch up".

How did you measure the impact of Bobby Hill?

"Man, you target players that...Graham Wright's in the room, well done for getting players to make us better. Oleg [Markov] had moments tonight. He's really significant and making us better. Tom Mitchell getting his hands dirty in the third quarter. Kick it forward. Dan McStay, I don't think I'm understating this, but he got a head knock and he's fine. He's been judged to go back on the ground and wasn't playing well. I think everyone could see that and to be able to fight your way out of that, that's a moment for him. That's a moment of growth. Third quarter was significant for us. Those players that we brought in, Bobby Hill included have certainly made us better".

What's your view of the Maynard and Brayshaw incident?

"I've caught it on a phone, one view of it, one angle. It looks like he's in the air. Actually, I'll go back a step, I hope Angus [Brayshaw] is okay. That's my first thought, I hope he's okay. I've met him a couple of times socially, and he's a ripping guy and hopefully it's not too bad for him because he's had multiple concussions. My thoughts go out to him. I hope he's okay. Then the act itself, it didn't look like it had much malice, but I'll leave it up to others to decide if that's worthy of a suspension or not. I don't know".

Maynard played out the rest of the game and composed himself because he could have been easily rattled after the incident?

"We talk about this and I'll take you into the change room for a bit. Here we talk about every moment. I think this group has taught me a lot about managing seconds, not minutes. We're so good at managing seconds and make every one count. The ability to go 'alright, we're not going to get them all right, but just go, alright that wasn't my moment, I'm probably feeling for the kid, but I got to get back to work, no time to sit in it'. I've talked a lot about winners last year, but that's what winners do. They're just able to move things quickly and stay in the moment. Stay present. Just live in this space. We're bloody grateful to be here right now".

How's Brayden Maynard at the moment? Have you spoken to him?

"No, I haven't had a chance to yet".

You made a tough selection call with John Noble. What was the rationale behind it?

"Nobes has played 83 or 84 games in a row. I didn't know that until we dropped him. I was like 'ohh". It's hard. Good players are going out of the team. He's been significant for this moment. Billy Frampton had his best game of the year I thought last week. Fin Macrae did his job. Tough decisions need to be made. It comes with a heavy heart. As I said to him [Noble] after the game, he's a bit emotional. I said 'we need you mate'. There's a chance he might have been a late inclusion tonight so you got to be ready. We had Darcy Cameron a bit ill, and you go 'oh, be ready mate'. We've got a long way to go still. There's still more work to be done. We need everyone so we just made a decision that we thought Will Hoskin-Elliott's flexibility to play half back and wing is important in our team. We needed a third winger and Will's been in great form in the last couple of weeks. I think most people go to the game, you'd see that and he played well again tonight".

What was the inspiration of moving Will Hoskin-Elliott from the wing to defence?

"Somewhat necessity. We had Murphy and Darcy Moore out and Nick [Daicos] is out. Somewhat necessity, but he trained all pre-season in this role and credit to him. I'm not sure if the external world love him as much as we do. We love him a lot because he just does what the team needs every single time and he will just play any role. I dropped him to the VFL one week, I didn't know he's never played VFL and he just says 'yeah, no worries, I'll go back and do my job' and he does and he plays well. He's the sort of player that players love playing with, and I certainly love coaching him".

Coaches can't get enough of role players can they?

"Yeah, they're important. You don't win the big prize without them. You don't get this far without role players".

How well placed are you now with advancing to the Preliminary Final?

"We're the only one waiting. That's reality, but when we play next, there's only four teams left. The significant advantage I think in this game is getting to a prelim final before the others. Time will tell on that. This is a hard game to keep winning week after week. We get to sit back and then see who our opposition is, but again when we get to two weeks time it's game on. Just got to get back to work and there's no advantage now".

What's your view of the pre-finals bye? By the time you play the Prelim it will be 1 game in 26 or 27 odd days. Is that a potential problem with the record of prelim finals advancing from a qualifying final being 50/50 in that time?

"No, I didn't realise. It's just a number isn't it. We'll just deal with what we can control. What you guys don't see. You see outcomes and you see results. We see process. We live in process and this week at training it gives me confidence and trust because they just prepare so well. I've never seen a group prepare like it. I'm going to repeat myself for you, but you don't fluke getting to this time of the year on chance. We have great trust in our group that it is going to get better during this time. We'll get better. You have to".

How much of last year's finals experience played a part in tonight's performance?

"I got asked this during the week. I think little things. Hunger, maybe for some. I spoke before the game about being really present to this and being grateful for what we have. We're very lucky to be doing this. 10 teams would love to be in our position playing tonight. Live in the moment for that, so I think little things".

How beneficial is the extra week off for Nick Daicos?

"I think it gives Nick an extra week to train and prepare like he would. He probably would come in a bit short next week. He would probably would have played. He's progressing really well, but now he gets another week of training and loading and whatever that looks like. Things going well, he should be available [for the preliminary final]".

Have you spoken to Nick Daicos post-match. How much of an emotional boost does he provide in returning to the team?

"He said it was the worst two hours of his life watching the game. He's a great player, so any time you can welcome back your best players; you saw what happened tonight. We bring Darcy Moore back in and all of a sudden someone else falls in line, and Murphy and Beau McCreery didn't play our last game either. They just fall into line and Nick [Daicos] will certainly be a valuable player when he comes back".

https://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/video/ ... 4095227001

[jatsad]

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.

[Pies4shaw]

Great effort.
On stats the Dee's should have thrashed us
But the backs stood up really really well
Even though max gawn was by far the best I thought Cox and Darcy made sure that gawn did not let their mids get first use most of the time.
I can relax now until the prelim.

Gawn was pulverised when the match was won and lost in the first half. Stupid, stupid Melbourne. The guy has still played in just one victory against Collingwood since 2016 and in 7 losses against Collingwood in his last 8 outings. He wears the shape of an "L" on his forehead.

[LaurieHolden]

Post match summary -

https://youtu.be/9OdI2x6OmFQ?feature=shared

[Brown26]

I reckon Petracca -
Who played a great second half by the way - might have injured himself late in the last quarter. He got the free for someone “sliding” into his legs but actually
He went the kick off the ground, missed the ball and kicked the Collingwood player. Contact made with his shin I think, which hurts, but can be worse than that. Great example of an umpiring decision they have no idea how to adjudicate - if Maynard had’ve kicked someone he would’ve got 6 weeks, Petracca gets a free…

- Ben

[jonmac1954]

Media have Bruzzy in their sights and are busy inciting a lynch mob.

We all know how overreactive the AFL are.

[Pies4shaw]

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.

[Pete 70]

Great analysis Pieillidie. Completely agree. And I love Fly’s comment - you just find a way to win. I suspect we all seen some great Collingwood teams which should have won (2011 and 2018 recent examples) and yet didn’t get over the line. Last night was a professional football team being mindful of its own weaknesses and still finding a way. What a chilled way to start the weekend. Go the Swanies

[pietillidie]

That was a super presser, BTW.

A lot more planning went into that than Fly takes credit for.

[ANNODAM]

Now we sit back & watch the rest play it out,

[What'sinaname]

\
Ok fair enough. So we should have a player that is willing to run out and head butt Petracca’s knee in a qualifying final just in case we meet them in a granny. Not Petracca’s fault but a concussion is a concussion.

Also, Cripps was suspended for 2 games. He got off on a legal technicality which won't happen again.

[58pie]

Gee dees are whingers, their payers and their fans looking for every free kick. Their coach is one too! Quote "Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has given an insight into a “shattered” Angus Brayshaw’s mindset and hinted at whether he expects Brayden Maynard to be suspended." and then "NOTHING " in the elbow
to McStay. Umpired for a dees win and never paid one to us for those cheats hanging on to our arms. Out in two best for you demons. What a great win! GO PIES