My First Post, Regarding Last Night

[Blahzey]

Firstly, just want to say thank god I found a Collingwood Message Board, it's great to be able to converse with the Magpie army online ...

This is going to be a long post, considering I have a few things to get off my chest regarding last night. Firstly, I must say that despite the fact that we lost (in a quite painful fashion, when it could have very well been a draw) I am extremely proud of our boys after their efforts last night, hold your heads high pies.

A few things I want to note about the game, the ruck contest that saw Josh Fraser go down with what could possibly be cracked ribs needs to be looked at. Whilst I will admit that it wasn't a reportable offence, because it falls within a grey area of football, the AFL still needs to take a look at players raising their knees in such a fashion during rucking contests.

Basically, the incicdent that saw Josh Fraser go down and in turn miss the rest of the match resembled the incident that saw Andrew McLeod get suspended, whilst they were in two different contexts, the outcome and the contact was virtually the same. What's stopping ruckman from doing this more often? It has to be a fair contest in the ruck, and the incident last night was in no way fair.

We looked very flat in the first quarter, we just couldn't really find our touch, however, I think we can take some positives out of the fact that our coaching staff and players showed just how adaptive Collingwood are, effectively, if we had not given Port such a head start in the first quarter, we would have won this game, make no mistake about it. Collingwood in all honesty have to be the most adaptive team at the moment, we handled St. Kilda's super-flood, we handled Brisbane's free flowing finesse football, and last night we handled whatever Port (and the umpires respectively) threw at us.

Also, why is it ok for Port players to try and get into our heads, to get rough, to play mind games off the ball, to rough up our players, yet when we retaliate to show them that we are not a team to be pushed around, we get penalized by the umpires? A lot of teams probablly have some great misconception that because we are comprised of a lot of young players, we are easilly intimidated and thrown off our games, not true at all you bastards, as we've shown time and time again, and Port, you came so very close to paying the ultimate price for that misconception last night.

Oh and I almost forgot, how about that free kick to Dew 20 metres out after the marking contest between McGough, in which McGough clearly did not infringe, he just out muscled his opponent, this resulted in a goal. I'm not going to say that this decision cost us the game, because who knows what the alternative future would have been should he have not been given that free kick. What I will say though is that statistically speaking at the end of the match, that's one goal they didn't deserve, and that's inevitably one goal that lost us the game.

I can't conclude this post without mentioning Cornes' after the siren antics, let him go people. Let him pull shit like that, it's quite funny, notice how when he did it, he was running pretty fast in the opposite direction of Anthony Rocca? quite comical if you ask me. Credit to our players for not doing anything that could cost them a few games.

You can't win them all, but that doesn't mean you can't look like winners at the conclusion of a losing match. Last night, this is exactly how the mighty Magpies came out at the end, whilst Port showed just how important sportsmanship is in South Australia, way to go you pathetic pieces of fecal matter, you're a liability to the football world.

Collingwood just need to take something from this, take something from the anger they would undoubtedly be feeling, as we all are, and project it into their football. Take Sydney to the cleaners next week, dismantle Melbourne the week after, and march on towards September with a rage and passion that only one team could possibly conjure, and as we all know, my friends, that team, is the Mighty Mighty MIIIIIIIIIIIIGHTY MAGPIES!

It's great to be aboard people, I'll be posting more frequently from now on.

Blahzey

P.S. To Macca19 from the below post, a few things diffrent from our match against Brisbane last week, we were never 33 points up, Brisbane weren't playing with a one man interchange, and the umpires weren't atrocious. You're a testament to South Australia, keep proving the rest of the football world right about our perspective on just how intelligent South Australian supporters are.

[magpie joffa]

A beautiful first post..welcome mate.

1892 _ 2002... THE PROUDEST JOURNEY IN FOOTBALL CONTINUES, WITH ARMS LOCKED TOGETHER,WHILST MARCHING SIDE BY SIDE, WE WILL FOREVER STAND AS ONE TO SUPPORT OUR BELOVED COLLINGWOOD FOOTBALL CLUB, it's more than just a club it's a way of life !.............................http://www.mp3.com/joffa

[Cam]

Thats a pretty good assessment Blahz, now that we've cooled off, slept on it, let's examine the big picture in the form of school grades.

McKee - i cannot understand why this guy was not in the collingwood bests in some of the media. Did they not watch the game? Solid all match and gave us a chance in the last. Grade: A - Underrated

Pies - needed a good, tough performance in a hostile arena to show how geniune they are. Losses happen, but we were right in this and left our physical stamp on the game. Missed some sitters and didn't quite finish off. Grade: A- - Good but not quite there

Leon - he continues to mature and has Farmer-like ability without the attitude. Please Daics spend more time with him. Grade: B+ - Getting better all the time

Carr / Francou / Primus - give these guys their due. Probably the reason they won. Grade: B+ - Quality players under stress

Port - should have won by more in their home-ground asylum (ok the pie supporters had day passes ) Had the chip run game going but wilted when things got tough. Stumbled across the line in the end courtesy of our misses and some dubious frees 20m out from goal. Let's be honest here macca. If the pies had won - even by a point, Mark Williams would have ripped the shit out of his team for being soft. Grade: C - should have done more

Umpires - ok they had been instructed to pay 50s for grabbing guys after marks - but why give away goals (to both teams) to make your point. Yeah if its there its there but still a bit grey especially the first one they give - Why not set the precedent with an infringement on the wing or in the backline. Need to study up on what is strength and what is a push. Grade: D- - Just passed because they were bad to both teams.

Kane Cornes - as Richie Benaud would say... "Oh dear." Grade: F - warm the bench for 90% of the game and then act like that... Even your dad will have winced.

Hard at it. The Collingwood way.

[This message has been edited by Cam (edited 25 May 2002).]

[foxy]

well said mate, welcome aboard!

by the way, the free kick to dew was paid after a contest between him and clement, not mcgough. there was no free kick there. clement beat him for strength, and that bloody umpire thought it was a push in the back! ugh.

[Blahzey]

oh that's right, it was Clement, my mistake. Good points also Cam, couldn't agree more.

Blahzey

[clokeforever34]

if ever i felt like killing someone, it was that little balled white fagget.He single handedly gave port 2 or 3 goals.also welcome BLAHZ great post.

[PeterWH]

First off Blahzey,WELCOME to the PIES BB.You are amongst friends here.
secondly I agree with your post....There were a couple of UMPIRE decisions which were to say the least SCREWY....and not only the players,but the crowd was a bit ?????on.
Secondly,I feel Rocca missed on purpose,as a draw is no bloody good,A win or none at all.Just think if there were 2 points on the table that may have been enought to stuff up our finals campaign.
I recon that a loss wont be that severe,it will just give the guys more incentite to win the next 10 games and STILL end up winning the flag.
I would love to see the PIES play PORT in the G.F. and give em a bath.
Port played the same way that the Broncos do......they cheat to win????and I have no oppologies in saying that.
Any way there is now dramas on the loss,it had to happen,its just that it could have been another team except for a pack of 'pussies'


PeterWH
PIES FOR PREMIERS 2002

[London Dave]

Peter, Rocca missed on purpose?????????

Oh deary me, what are they putting into the water in Sin City these days!

[Mike]

Excellent post Blahzey, welcome to the online family. I agree that the display by Port was a disgusting example of poor sportsmanship, but it wasn't only the players.

I listened to the match on the ABC last night. That is I listened to what I could hear because, in an effort to make the crowd seem bigger and more excited, the local ABC team had mics amongst the Port supporters turned up so that the crowd drowned out the commentary whenever they raised their voices. It didn't work though, the crowd still sounded like a bunch of Port supporters - all it did was stop us hearing a commentary that wasn't worth listening to.

That was the most lop-sided, one-eyed commentary I've ever heard - and I usually listen to the ABC commentary by choice. It was a disgrace, and given that there are many more followers of footy outside SA than there are in SA, it must have done considerable damage to the credibility of the ABC. I never expect to hear anybody from the ABC criticise Eddie for being biased ever again.

[Dr Alf Andrews]

"Rocca missed on purpose" ! ! !

You could be sued for that, Peter. Better take your medication, mate.

And they say us Mexicans are crazy !

floreat pica
**************
My Ph.D. thesis, "Football: the People's Game?" is now available for viewing and/or downloading at http://alf.magpies.net

[London Dave]

It's a similar thing with George Grylisych (and I know I spelt that wrong) in WA. Its petty parochialism Mike....though I found SA a lot worse than WA in this regard. Crow eaters must have a bigger chip on their shoulders!

[ed healey]

Oh come on Mike.
The first friday without drew morphett and you reckon it was worse!
At least with the adelaide crew you know they are calling it for SA,but at least they do call the play.
Agree with the background noise being lousy but they broadcast with the window open to help them see ,so its inevitable.
match report is in match forum.

[Clemo]

Great post Blahzey...you make plenty of sense. Welcome to the family.

_____________________
Collingwood Forever !
clemo@magpies.net
http://dodo.net.au/~clemo/u/~clemo

[stik35]

Hi Blahzey you have come to the right place.
Great post. Welcome to Nick's.

[paulie]

Well said mate and welcome aboard the good ship Nicks BB.