[unbalanced zealot]

That Gold Coast/Richmond was an interesting one. Just watched some highlights on-line.

[colliric]

That Gold Coast/Richmond was an interesting one. Just watched some highlights on-line.

Richmond will still make the 8.... Unless they lose next week too.

[Notorious B.i.G.]

Crol
You are right about how much a week makes. i.e. COllingwood from 1st to 4th last week. And the winner of WC v SYD will go to 4th.
It's such a close season in the top 5, and then for 10-7th. A loss you slide big time. What a great season of football it's been (well apart from my team.. )

[colliric]

Crol
You are right about how much a week makes. i.e. COllingwood from 1st to 4th last week. And the winner of WC v SYD will go to 4th.
It's such a close season in the top 5, and then for 10-7th. A loss you slide big time. What a great season of football it's been (well apart from my team.. )

Look at the pecentages... Syd VS WC winner will go to first, Adelaide second, Collingwood will be bumped to third(because of our low percentage), Hawthorn 4th and loser will be fifth.

That's why I was praying for a draw....

Next week's game against Hawthown is a must win for both sides... and they thanfully don't have Franklin(as of yet, he might play)

[Notorious B.i.G.]

Collingwood v Hawks will be a big game. But I think the biggest game for Collingwood this year is now against GWS. Collingwood have the worst % of the top 6, and unless they thump Hawthorn (which I doubt, it will be a very close game), will need to really belt GWS to get the % up. They need the % to get a top 2 berth and a home final.

[colliric]

Collingwood v Hawks will be a big game. But I think the biggest game for Collingwood this year is now against GWS. Collingwood have the worst % of the top 6, and unless they thump Hawthorn (which I doubt, it will be a very close game), will need to really belt GWS to get the % up. They need the % to get a top 2 berth and a home final.

Don't think so, The wins are what counts the most now(because we play Hawks, WC and SYD... 3 wins out of 3 would put us probably right near the top, and maby we could afford to drop 1 or 2 of the other games and still get top of the ladder without having a killer percentage)

Also despite their own win, we will certainly go into the Hawthorn game as favourites.... They're probably playing without Franklin, and even if he does play, he won't be 100%.

While they didn't need him against the Bulldogs, we're not the out of form Bulldogs. We've won 11 of the last 12....

Also our on the road record of the past few years is certainly the best in the competition... This year alone we've beaten Brisbane, West Coast and Adelaide at their respective home grounds(So who knows, they might actually want to be playing us at the 'G instead)!

I also think the last game against Essendon will be pretty important(it usually is anyway), as if they're in a do or die situation they can be real pricks against us(Just like Carlton). Even if they don't make the 8, they could still callously decide to sabotage our finals campaign by dishing out a tough tight one and giving us a few injuries... Essendon is like that.

[Notorious B.i.G.]

Don't think so, The wins are what counts the most now.

Negative. Apart from the fact that most football pundits are pointing out the importance of %, it's exactly how Collingwood went from 1st to 4th last week despite being on equal wins with 1-3. If that was the last round of the season, Collingwood (or any other team with low%) goes from having home final to away final.
% is very very important this year with such a close top 8

[colliric]

Negative. Apart from the fact that most football pundits are pointing out the importance of %, it's exactly how Collingwood went from 1st to 4th last week despite being on equal wins with 1-3. If that was the last round of the season, Collingwood (or any other team with low%) goes from having home final to away final.
% is very very important this year with such a close top 8

Yeah but as I said, our away record is pretty much spotless(has been for a loooonggg time, Malthouse seemed to focus on getting those tough wins at his old haunt in the west and it's continued under Buckley so far), so that ironically could actually play to our advantage so long as we continue to hold up at Skoda, ANZ and Pattersons... which judging on the past few seasons, we probably will.

[Notorious B.i.G.]

Wasn't expecting Collingwood to lose by so much!

[colliric]

Wasn't expecting Collingwood to lose by so much!

Yeah, dang they were Good. I personally believe Buckley stuffed that game... Chris Tarrant upforward was a mistake in 2002 and it reared it's ugly head again on saturday. I knew it was eventually going to happen again one day(after we resigned him). We'd never win a premiership with Tarrant on the forward line. Especially when Cloke's out of form and needing to pick up a few touches or so, we can't afford to have Tarrant stealing possessions that Cloke would normally get. Personally think someone needs to tell Buckley to pull his head in on Cloke and play some kind of variation on the Pagan's Paddock strategy, Get him out alone at CHF, have Dawes play full foward and get the crumbers working their butt off again. Who gives a shit if he hasn't signed, let him make the decision at the end of the year.... This is about winning fucken premierships, not some preechy "you have to be a team player" bullshit.

Yes, that's what they've pretty much been doing, but throwing Tarrant up forward pretty much screwed the tried and tested, Cloke punching down to a crumber based, game plan that Malthouse spent years developing and that won us a Premiership one year, and a runner up poisition the year later. I know Bucks was trying to pull a surpise, but Tarrant needed to be deep in the backline where he's actually been helping us win games....

I also think Leon Davis would have made a big diffrence on Saturday.... Yes you can't keep players if they want to go back home, but dang, we needed him too(and after all him, Didak and Thomas were the main "Crumbers" used in Malthouse's winning "Cloke/Dawes drops the mark, only to have Didak/Davis/Thomas grab it and kick a goal" game plan). Who gives a shit if Cloke not getting kickes right now, Football is more than just "who gets the most possessions" and we made it a crumbing art form having Didak, Thomas and Davis hanging around waiting for Cloke(and Dawes too, he's a pretty average marker as well) to grab it, control it a little, then drop a sitter on the ground for them to swoop on it and somehow a great Goal!

Frankly I'm going to say it.... stuff Tarrant, if he's pushing to play up forward again, tell him to go back to Perth so we can win another premiership. The Cloke-Dawes-Crumbers strategy will win us another premiership, Tarrant won't(he doesn't fit in that mixture), simple as that.

[Notorious B.i.G.]

Not a fan of Cloke. When the pressure is on, he goes wanting. Then he seems to find form when least needed and gets all the fan-boi’s worked up.

Cloke is not consistent enough to be getting the pay packet he’s asking for. I seriously hope Melbourne don’t go ahead with the $5m package. I think the Pies would be good to drop Cloke from senior squad now and say they won’t budge on his contract. Either, Cloke pulls his head in and toes the line or Cloke takes the money from somewhere else and that team has to deal with the dud of a player, and then Collingwood frees up some major cash to re-sign players like Elliot and Blair to long term contracts.

Anyhow, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Collingwoods % is hurting them. With Essendon and WCE in the last two rounds, all fighting for same points but higher % than Pies, Collingwood need a very big win of GWS on the weekend. (which won’t be hard seeing GWS have lost by 100 points for four weeks in a row).

Other than Hawks V Collingwood, no other upsets this round.
Melbourne were their woeful best as usual. Very serious chance of losing to GC Suns. Thankfully it’s not up in the Gold Coast but at the MCG

[colliric]

Not a fan of Cloke. When the pressure is on, he goes wanting. Then he seems to find form when least needed and gets all the fan-boi’s worked up.

Cloke is not consistent enough to be getting the pay packet he’s asking for. I seriously hope Melbourne don’t go ahead with the $5m package. I think the Pies would be good to drop Cloke from senior squad now and say they won’t budge on his contract. Either, Cloke pulls his head in and toes the line or Cloke takes the money from somewhere else and that team has to deal with the dud of a player, and then Collingwood frees up some major cash to re-sign players like Elliot and Blair to long term contracts.

The problem is as was well put in a book about professional Wrestling I recently read, if the coach thinks a player is overpayed and use him accordingly, he will never be able to actually prove he is worth the pay packet and that coach will end up memorably potentially wrecking that player's career prospects.

Cloke is not consistent enough to be getting the pay packet he’s asking for.

I single this comment out... If that is how Buckley thinks, then next year Cloke will end up elsewhere and never have had the chance to prove again that he is a worthy premiership player at Collingwood.

Malthouse was never that proud OR stupid, and he would turn that into an advantage on his good coaching days. Cloke's having a bad with draging down the marks? right, Davis/Thomas/Didak would be there to read the play and Cloke would end up draging the ball down to them and we'd kick a ton of goals off his "assists" and thrash the opposition. Malthouse used Anthony Rocca in much the same way for most of his career, and he was just as unpredictable as Cloke is... Rocca would torpedo punt goals from the Centre Square near the flanks(usually winning us the game off the confidence of his "miraculous 65 metre goal", and miss the ones 20 meters out directly in front).

Buckley's only idea to fix the problem on Saturday was to send us into a timewarp and remind the fans why they hated Chris Tarrant in the end. It's Buckley who should tow the line. Tarrant was a falure up forward for us(he had his days sometimes, as Malthouse would occassionally manage to get him kicking goals, or use him as a decoy while the crumbers back in the day would kick the real bag of goals), which was the reason he was traded away. If Buckley is playing favourites with some of his old mate here as some I know suspect, then he's making the same critical mistake that Tony Shaw made as the coach(Kept the remaining 1990 players well beyond the years they should have retired).

I'd rather they'd just bloody well pay Cloke what he wants and we don't end up losing another star player just because Eddie Maguire's a stinge(which he frankly is)..... We already lost Leon Davis last year because of that(and frankly Nick Davis all those years ago too).

[Notorious B.i.G.]

So who is going to be top of the ladder this weekend?
Never seems to stay static for more than 1 round at the moment!
Most likely Sydney though as the do play GC this weekend

[unbalanced zealot]

Richmond are not going to make the finals. If Hawthorn beat Geelong big next week and damage their percentage they might also fall out due to their relatively tough run home.

Crows, North, Carlton, Saints and Hawthorn all have Gold Coast/GWS games pending which could boost their percentage.

[colliric]

Richmond are not going to make the finals. If Hawthorn beat Geelong big next week and damage their percentage they might also fall out due to their relatively tough run home.

Crows, North, Carlton, Saints and Hawthorn all have Gold Coast/GWS games pending which could boost their percentage.

Yeah, sad isn't it.... I really thought they'd do it this year, but then they lose 3 games in a row by less than a kick. I was at the last one(work at the MCG) and I was the loudest person yelling during the last quater(work finishes at 3 quater time, so I can watch the last quater mostly)... Must have been strange fo others there that a Pies supporter(was wearing my new "Side by Side" Beanie and Scalf combo) would be yelling the most for Richmond to win. I think Geelong will make it and Essendon will miss out(one of them will drop), I think North might make it, St Kilda's hopes hinge on how well they do against us as a loss by any margin will certainly end their season(or make it the dreaded "Mathematically Possible"). Freo probably have a better chance than St Kilda as I can't remember the last time a side won by more than 10 goals(let alone 20) and then proceeded to lose the next week.

Top of the Ladder is still anyone's game, and I still think my Pies will finish on Top with Swans second. Despite what some believe, a 20 goal win should always be considered impressive no matter who the opposition was. Finally Buckley seemed to wake up and remember that Cloke's best on his own... Next Week should give us a better view of weather or not they've arrested the temporary form slump(that not coinidentally coincided with the very public "play for the team" stupid spat). I'll be there to see the end of it too. St Kilda might have won too, but they're coming up against a side that just had perhaps the biggest win of the year....

Who knows, GWS might have finally hit the bottom, and they surely must improve from there. I will be cheering Sydney next week to finally end Carlton's season too(as should have happened this week).

[unbalanced zealot]

Must have been strange fo others there that a Pies supporter(was wearing my new "Side by Side" Beanie and Scalf combo) would be yelling the most for Richmond to win.

Isn't Sheedy a secret Richmond supporter too.

Working at the MCG would be pretty cool. Is it just in AFL season or cricket season too?

[Notorious B.i.G.]

Working at the MCG would be pretty cool. Is it just in AFL season or cricket season too?

Not as cool as you think. I worked there for a number of years as a uni student, working from as abar tender and working my up to a section manager. The problems are casual hours and you don’t really see much of the game (unless knocking off at 3/4 time). It’s also COLD at the MCG on a game day/night and if it’s a quite game you stand around freezing your hands off trying to warm up near the pie warmers.
Though my biggest gripe was working as a bar manager, and getting these dud Spotless staff from food outlets who never worked a bar before.

[colliric]

Isn't Sheedy a secret Richmond supporter too.

Funny thing, I was watching Collingwood VS Essendon Anzac day bloockbuster, back when he was coach, at Caufield RSL with a fellow Collingwood supporter once. Kevin Sheedy's mum literally came up right behind us and told us how proud she was of her son(as Essendon was doing us right in, I think it was '02 or '03), took us a while to figure out who she was talking about actually as she must have had Kevin when she was quite young, it was totally cool(even though I hate the Bombers).

She's a Richmond Supporter. And yes she was totally "rubbing it in", probably saw two Pies Supporters bawling their eyes out and decided she's give us something to remember.

P.S.
Yes it's cricket too, especially Boxing Day. There's not much work during Cricket season though.

[unbalanced zealot]

Well, round 22 threw up some interesting finals scenarios depending on round 23.

Collingwood being in the 4 is touch and go. If they don't play in Melbourne in their first finals game they will be really pushing it to make the GF.
Adelaide have Gold Coast at home next week.

Edit: Geelong at home to Sydney ... who will need to win to ensure a home final coz Adelaide have GC at home.
If Geelong drop the game and percetage they may have prblems if Freo belt melbourne at home and/or North belt GWS.

[colliric]

Well, round 22 threw up some interesting finals scenarios depending on round 23.

Collingwood being in the 4 is touch and go. If they don't play in Melbourne in their first finals game they will be really pushing it to make the GF.
Adelaide have Gold Coast at home next week.

Edit: Geelong at home to Sydney ... who will need to win to ensure a home final coz Adelaide have GC at home.
If Geelong drop the game and percetage they may have prblems if Freo belt melbourne at home and/or North belt GWS.

That was probably one of those days where Collingwood supporters would have taken solace in Carlton's(and Essendon's) misfortune and said "Well at least those other bastards lost!", meanwhile Carlton(and Essendon) supporters are probably saying the same thing about us(Well Richmond's not that bad, but once again they seem to be making their run 1 game too late)!

Oh well, I guess we're not going to miss out on some finals action at least... and at least we lost to a good side, unlike those other two!

I think Buckley made a few too many mistakes as coach in the last 2 games. Once again he tried Tarrant forward against North Melbourne, and then realised his mistake... Notice how the tide of Goals seemed to stop when Tarrant was put down back in the second half. I certainly did, it's the only game I've payed to see this year(working at MCG means I get to see most games free), had a great seat too(level 1, row A right on the boundary line). Having Cloke buried deep in the forward line didn't help out either. Frankly I would have tried to fuck their Ruck strategy by chucking him in there for a bit(just to see what would happen), and hopefully getting a few bangs would give him more confidence, it use to occassionally work wonders with Anthony Rocca when he was down on confidence, so why doesn't Bucks try it out with Cloke? Jolly was being read like a children's book by North during that entire match. He might have been getting the hit outs, but it's not exactly an advantage if they all go straight to North players.

Then against West Coast he just seem to leave Wood in the ruck on his own for an eternity when it was obvious we needed to switch tactics and go to a "third man" strategy. It was even practically shouted at Bucks by Leigh Matthews had he been listening to Seven's coverage. Cloke played a lot better up foward in that game(when the ball managed to come his way), so I wouldn't have tried him in the ruck for that game.

I just don't think bucks is adept enough at changing the game plan and "throwing a few spanners in their works" when we're losing. When it's obvious they're double teaming Cloke and Jolly's playing too good for our own players to read, shift Cloke to Ruck(let them try and read their own ruckman for a change!) and Jolly to the usual double teamed position.

I have to say, Alan Didak had a pretty good game against WC. I thought he was our best player, or at least the only one who sincerly seemed to be trying to win it for us.