I was there but the Pies were not.

[Greg J]

Oh the shame, of being beaten by Freeo over here. People are laughing at us. The Pies were thrashed for most of the first three quarters. At least the endeavour was still evident in the fourth quarter and a little more effective. We are back at square one, not second on the ladder like I hoped.

Last night the credo seemed to be "play on at all costs" (even at the cost of the match). Even Buckley was effected. The problem was we continually gave short disposals to people under increasingly more pressure, until we coughed it up. How bloody frustrating. Did they panic in the first three quarters when they were down? I say yes. All the rushed disposals and running out of position for kicks was the proof of that. What was needed were cool heads to make the most out of the possessions we were winning. If we had 8 or 9 goals by the end of the third quarter instead of 5 we would have won.

We got flogged in the midfield. Our defense was swamped by both their midfielders and their defenders. Pebbles got ran off his feet.

I bet there are a couple of nervous umpires walking around this week. They were shocking and the crowd let them know it. I was tempted to hang around after the final siren went just to boo them off. But the Dockers song is crap (not that I had ever really heard it played at a game before) and we barely made the tunnel before it started belting out.

Geez on the player front I do not know where to start. I really do not. I should talk about some of the Freeo players but I can not. Colonial stadium appeared to run out of Footy records or did not have them in the right spot. So I could not ID all their players as they are not very familiar to me. I can tell you all that they were fast and worked a lot better together than we did. They could have buried us earlier but missed a lot of easy shots (but so did we).

Our players.

Buckley found plenty of the ball. Especially in the last. Was letting his frustration show and that could have effected his and the teams performance.

Orchard. Arrgh. How may errors and cough ups and poor disposals. I wanted him dragged.

Adkins kept getting the ball and taking off and getting caught. He got speared tackled which would have resulted in a send off and a four to six week suspension in Rugby League or even Union, but of course the umpires called play on. But eventually had to halt play as Adkins was stretchered off. Why does he have to play on all the time? What is wrong with taking a look and kicking it effectively?

Licurua and O'Bree. Yeah alright. Especially Licuria. O'Bree found it hard to get the ball in the open. The Freeo players really were effective at the fall of the ball.

Tarkyn and Burns and Presti and Richo. They all seemed to do alright in the one on ones and when the ball was kicked into the definsive 50. Problem was Freeo continually ran it in or kicked it to a midlfieder or defender in their forward 50. Tarkyn finally made a mistake from a kick out. I knew that was a bad sign in the second quarter.

Sav, kicked a goal from the ruck in the first couple of minutes. Leading was a little bit better, but mostly in to the pockets. Missed some grabs, took a couple. Got some shots (including a beauty at the end of the second quarter), missed some shots and even more maddeningly did not take some shots. Why can he not learn from Freeborn? Do not pass when you are within 50. We scored more when he was off injured which is not fair on him, because the midfielders got a bit more of the ball. We might have scored even more if he was not off injured. Was making his physical presense felt just before being injured.

Watson. Drop him. Not hard enough. Expects others to get the ball for him.

Ukovic. His kicking was terrible. He kicked it into the ground! Got some of the ball but his tunrovers resulted in scores (to them). Drop him.

Rupert the Bear. Where was he?

Neon Leon. Should have kicked 5. But hey I like him so his 2 or 3 was more than enough.

Pebbles. Missed a shot he should not have. Was slow to react to his defender running off him. A real presence.

Fraser, beaten in ruck and around ground early, still helped when the ball was loose. McKee, did alright in the ruck but no where else. Was not solid in defense like last week.

Well that is the end of this marathon. I can understand everyones lack of enthusiasm for this wrap up of this game. It was a luke warm Pies at a luke warm venue. Surely they will start red hot against Brisbane next week. Problem is so might they.

[AlfAndrews]

Greg J

You're opening line, "Oh the shame of being beaten by Freo over here ..." probably sums up the reason we lost. Malthouse put it down to a "blockbuster hangover", as if to say that this match was regarded by the younger players as somehow not as important as the ANZAC Day match. The fact is you get 4 premiership points for winning, whether you're playing Essendon or the Manangatang Thirds. Every match is important. And at AFL level every opposition side is a danger.

I believe we were beaten by the 3rd best side in the competition at a ground that suits their style of play. The only thing going against them was the crowd. And they effectively removed the crowd factor by outplaying us for most of the night. By the time Collingwood, and the crowd, woke up the bird had flown. We were like Tulloch in the 1960 Melbourne Cup, flying home when it was all over.

The fact is the AFL has set up Freo to become a strong side because of the fantastic deal they got in the last draft. We finished bottom but somehow they got two of the three gun recruits. Our boy, Fraser, will be a champion, but it's fair to say he's still finding his feet at AFL level. By some twisted perverted quirk of AFL logic, the Dockers got the benefit of Melbourne's transgressions. Hazelby and Pavlich have turned out to be ready made stars. And given the closeness of the AFL competition it doesn't take much to send a cellar-dweller rocketing up the charts.

Believe me, I'm as devastated by this loss as anyone, but it didn't surprise me.

I hope June hasn't come early this year.

------------------
**floreat pica**