Interesting Article

[derkd]

I am not always a big Barrett fan...but he does make some good points on why 2015 is big for Collingwood and how our trade 'in's' over the past few years have been below par. I do think he fails to cut some slack on the injury factor.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-09-02/collingwoods-disappearing-act


He is right when he says....you can only pull the 'fan forum' once. Not that i am saying it was wrong to do it...but you can only do it once. If you think about it rationally ...would you be having a meeting of top brass and key stake holders (i.e members) if you were in the top four? ..what is their to discuss if things are flying along all well and good.

[themonk]

It was a shocking year and yes we have lost several superstars since 2010, either retired or traded and furthermore the recruitment of Lynch, White & Young has offered little.

We may not be as good as what we hoped but would we have made the finals if not for our injuries, I suspect we would have. The again, would have could have......2015 is a huge year for Collingwood, in particular Nathan Buckley.

I disagree with his views on our cap though. I'd be surprised we don't have capacity to bring in one if not two big names over the next couple of years.

[slangman]

The article hits the nail on the head.

[derkd]

[Magpietothemax]

Thought this was a really bad article. Really negative and took no account of the crippling injuries we confronted throughout the year. To say the year was a failure was really wrong: we saw a whole new defence emerge, with our youthful defenders Frost, Keeffe, Langdon and Williams announcing themselves as a force in the future. Their contribution this year, the way they stood firm even after the loss of their leader Maxy, was awesome.
We saw the rise of Jarrod Witts, who with Grundy will be a powerful presence in the future.
We saw the emergence of Tim Broomhead as a very talented player going forward. Jamie Elliott has arrived as a fully fledged star.
Taylor Adams has proven to be a really tough and courageous midfielder who gets the ball alot by dint of his tenacity. He has been criticised for his disposal, but this is something he can improve and become a real asset in our midfield.
In our final game, we saw the emergence of a potential tall forward : Corey Gault.
Toovey wasn't at his very best this year, but maybe he needed a year to recuperate from the ACL and the compromised pre season which he would have had while still recovering from it.
Injuries did so much damage this year. We were unable to stabilize our team and find the optimum role for each player, or even decide who was in our best 22, due to the constant merry go round of players leaving and then returning. Players were selected in the hope that they could fill a gap I created by injury, in positions with which they were not necessarily familiar.
I think this year was a baptism of fire for our young team. The judgement of this journalist, that this was a "disastrous year for Collngwood" , is entirely superficial and based purely on the finishing position on the ladder and the low attendance on the final game. This is just nonsense. With the Collingwood team decimated by so many injuries in that final game,it is not surprising that the attendance was much lower than might otherwise have been expected.
I much prefer the article written by Wayne Carey which gives almost the entirely oppostite assessment:

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/making-sense-of-collingwoods-season-in-hell-20140828-109jt4.html

[derkd]

[Big T]

[Magpietothemax]

I agree that the carnage from injuries is a terrible concern which must be resolved. Over the next few weeks/months, we must find the solution to this. And I have no doubt that a solution will be found, because no other club had an injury rate like Collingwood's this year. Therefore, a clear, scientific reason for it must exist and I have faith that the necessary specialists will be called in to ascertain the causes and remedy them.
I think that the terrible rate of injuries was a major driving force behind our disappointing form in the second half of the season. Not just because stars were missing, but because of the consequent instability of our team, the exhaustion of young players forced to take on too much responsibility, and growing lack of confidence which made it more and more difficult to play well. All other clubs can claim to see glimmering of hope from young players, but there was no other team this year that threw so many of their young players into battle for such an extended series of games as Collingwood. Our young players have matured at an accelerated rate compared with other teams due to dire necessity imposed by our injury list.
I think that the decline in ladder position will be arrested just through the process of rectifying our training program.

[watt price tully]

I thought the article was pretty good & accurate in overall terms but as has been mentioned the article didn't place enough weight on the injuries sustained & the inexperience of our team.

[Redlight]

It's written in typical Barrett style, all furrowed brow, fake concern and doom-mongering but offering no insight or analysis.

That entire article to simply say 'Collingwood had a poor year, it would be bad if it happened again'.

Wow, thanks Sherlock.

Also what's this 'so many players fell to injury for a second consecutive year'? We've had three solid years of disastrous injuries, Luke Ball, McCaffer, Krakeour and Keefe all did their knees in 2012 on top of serious soft-tissue injuries to guys like Ben Johnson and Didak (there were plenty of others too).

It's easily the worst THREE years of injuries that I can remember at any club. All of the time that Bucks has been head coach has been cruelled by this incredible run of major injuries, many of them to key players.

[swoop42]

We've played some uninspiring and flawed football a lot of the time the last two seasons since Bucks put his stamp on the game plan and many of the problems of this season were identified last year yet they still remain.

Ken Hinkley has ruined it for all rookie coaches from here on out as he's shown that you can take a club considered a basket case and turn it around in a single season so no more excuses for Buckley in 2015.

We either improve markedly and the future is looking bright once again or we go further backwards and his time is up I'm afraid.

Bucks#noexcuses2015

[Redlight]

[swoop42]

Are you even open to the possibility that Buckley might end up belonging on that list you provided and needs replacing at the end of the next year if we perform worse than this season?

He didn't inherit a basket case like a Neeld or Watters and as we've seen with Port and Fremantle a teams fortunes can be turned around very quickly with the right coach with essentially the same list as the previous incumbent.

[Redlight]

[The Boy Who Cried Wolf]

I'd already read Wayne's article and frankly thought it was rubbish, Barrett's imho is much closer to the mark - he does acknowledge our injuries, but in it he also acknowledge the plain facts which some of our die hard fans fail to either recognise, or accept.