Throw me a positive!

[roar]

We beat Carlton twice this year!

And apart from the other players mentioned, Broomhead looks to be the real deal.

[Damien]

[Tannin]

Think?

[Neil Appleby]

Like any passionate Collingwood person, I was gutted yesterday. One of the only chances I could get to a game for the year and I had to witness one of the worst efforts in recent memory.

OK, got that off my chest, now for the positive. After taking the scissors to the list at the end of last year, Collingwood started a mini-rebuild. We lost a huge amount of experience when we said goodbye to Johnson, Didak, Shaw, Thomas and Jolly. We brought in ready made players in Jessie White and a number one draft pick in Taylor Adams. Through smart manoeuvring we scored 2 top ten draft picks in Sharenberg and Freeman. We also picked up Langdon and Marsh. The big picture says we have secured 6 first round draft picks in two years. Grundy was a steal at 18 wasn't he Dave? Broomhead and Kennedy will be regulars next year. Ben Reid can't possibly have another year like this and Freeman and Sharenberg will cement permanent spots.

I'm not going to let our selectors off the hook for Sunday though. We don't know much about what happens internally, but Jack Hill the blind miner could see that Lachie Keeffe should have been left in the team. A bad game against the Sun's? Yep, but plenty of others were worse and held their spots; Blair and Young come to mind. So our selectos took a one big man defence into a game of AFL football. Many of us thought a surprise was in store, but then we watched two of our biggest men run around at Vic Park. Not forgetting the promotion of Jessie White; this was unfathomable after his game against Coburg. So plenty of mistakes by our coaching panel.

Buck's third year is looking worse than his second, but he really has been cruelled by injuries again and after a year from injury hell, we still sit eighth after playing pretty unexciting footy for most of the year. How many replays of our winning games are worthy of another look in the coming off-season? One or two?

It's basically panning out the way many of us predicted. Optimists looked at the list and thought we may hold our ground and finish 6-8. Pessimists thought we'd take a tumble before refiring in 2015. The unrealistic thought we'd make top 4 and and at the half way point that looked possible. Then the inevitable tiring of the kids happened and injury meant they couldn't be rested.

I still think we can stay in the eight and that would be a pretty good result all things considered. Bring Ben Reid into the team as he surely must be after the bye and instantly our structure looks so much better. Add Elliott and Fasolo to the mix and it starts looking like a real attack again. Sinclair would bring badly needed pace as well.

For the purposes of this discussion, I'll assume we make the eight and have picked up some form moving into September. If we could win a final that would be a good outcome. If we lose a final then we have at least held ground with a team of kids in defence.

We are hopelessly out of form and confidence at the moment and some changes must be made for Adelaide. Keeffe, Broomhead and Elliott come back. Young and Blair must go.

At the end of the season we need to move along the following:
Mooney, Clarke, Armstrong, Hudson, Lynch, Yagmoor. I thought Yags might give us something this year and he has been better, but he isn't going to make it.

Trading? We'd get nothing for Blair so he stays, after all, he has played almost every game this year; he's well liked by the coaches.

I'd look at trading Lumumba; we might get something for him. Fasolo? Many here in Nick's love the guy and I know he's been injured for two years, but I don't think he brings enough to the table. Promises much but delivers little.

OK that's about as positive as I can be. I think we'll hold ground which is what I was hoping. We've put games into guns like Langdon and Frost and we have Sharenberg, Freeman and Darcy Moore still to come.