Rd 1 team 2015

Pies4shaw · pies4shaw Joined: 08 Oct 2007

What will be interesting is to see whether the significant structural changes to the midfield improve Collingwood's ability to put the opposition on the back foot. A severe lack of leg-speed in the centre in 2014 could be rapidly turned around. Freeman is extremely fast, Greenwood looks to be quicker than Beams and Varcoe and Crisp are both capable of hard and repeated running between half back and half forward. Our biggest problem in the midfield in the last 2 years has been that teams have been able to set up and wait for the kick from the stoppage because, despite some great players, Collingwood has struggled to break into space. If the team can do that, it will force the opposition to assume more defensive positions and thus limit their ability to run forward of the ball into scoring positions.

Bigger and faster is the name of the game and I think Collingwood is trying to make the right sorts of moves in those respects. Only time will tell whether the newer, faster midfield can get enough of the ball but I do understand what the recruiters are trying to achieve and I like it.

I might add that if one is building for a finals campaign, Varcoe has kicked multiple goals in finals on 5 occasions, including a bag of 3 in a Grand Final. Beams has never kicked more than 1 goal in a final. One poor performance doesn't make a career but he played in 12 finals for us and scored only 3 goals (none, of course, in a GF), dramatically behind his career average of better than a goal a game. I see a pattern and have wanted the pattern redrawn for some time.

RudeBoy · Joined: 28 Nov 2005

jackcass · Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Location: Bendigo

simon tonna · Joined: 24 Oct 2013 Location: carindale

^^^

Yes that is the key and it's were we need to improve the most.

Also the improvement of ball disposal in congestion that breaks open the game on our terms. From there the confidence will creep back into the players as they see it.

35forever · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 3:40 pm

I think we have the players if all of them played their best and/or improved as much as hoped. Problem is, we had the players in 2014 but for some reason they all wen't soft in mid-June. I think that reason was partly the injuries, regardless of whose fault you think they were. Having so many guys around going through gruelling rehab, which is not far from the worst thing a player can endure, has to have a deleterious effect on morale. Guys are gonna think twice about boring into a pack when the possible consequences of doing so are in your face week-in-week-out. You find yourself looking at your own knee and wondering what it would take for one of those ligaments to go tits-up.
As it is were already gonna have two guys in moon-boots come Round 1. It becomes an issue of what can be done to reassure the players, get their minds off surgery and re-hab. I truly believe that like many coaches Bucks doesn't quite get how big the mental side of the game is. Even so we should have other people at the club who do. Is this anyone's responsibility? I know CFC said they were hiring overseas people to look at the clubs injury woes, but are they serious about it? I certainly haven't heard anything about the work they've done or conclusions they reached.
I personally dislike doing anything America does, but since we copy every other aspect of player management from them, we should be actively looking into our injury rate and trying to identify causes and solutions. The studies conducted by the NFL have recently come to the conclusion that time away from the game has a lot to do with it, although NFL players get a lot more time off than our blokes because of a stupid Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2011 that gives the players... well, everything. Less training, more time off, no fitness regimen during that time off etc etc. The NFL is getting longer injury lists every year, and one conclusion they reached is that the players are becoming bigger and faster, while their soft and connective tissues are the same as they were. Those tissues just can't seem to cope with the increased load.

It seems to me that until we address those issues and find a way to instill more confidence in players, especially older ones, we will continue to be soft and have a long injury list. It's all above the neck!

jackcass · Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Location: Bendigo

RudeBoy · Joined: 28 Nov 2005

I'm incredibly excited at the prospects of seeing our young team really begin to blossom next season. We should all expect natural improvements from our youngsters in Witts, Grundy, Seedsman, Broomhead, Williams, Elliott, Kennedy, Langdon, Frost, Keeffe, Adams, Thomas, Sinclair as well as Marsh and Karnezis. In addition, we should see much better from from players who battled injuries this year, in Reid, Fasolo, Swanny and Cloke.

Of course, we will suffer from the loss of Prince Lumumba and Beams, who were amongst our best players, however, I think getting two hard nosed gut-running midfielders in Greenwood and Crisp as well as the fast/skilful (yet soft) Varcoe will more than compensate for their loss. In addition, we will have Darcy Moore, Freeman, our new pick 5, plus hopefully Scharenberg by seasons end. Considering all that, I can't see how we won't be a considerably improved side next year. All in all, I'm expecting us to bounce back big time next season and be a genuine top 4 contender. Bring it on! Go Pies!

The Boy Who Cried Wolf · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 5:08 pm

HAL · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 5:11 pm

There is no need to apologize. Try asking the Milk Mystic.

Damien · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 6:15 pm

I'm expecting a fit and firing Pat Karnezis to play 22 games next year and kick 35 + goals.

We also need a full season out of Seedsman and for him to start living up to his potential.

If young were to play more than 10 games and White if he continues his 2014 form I'd say were not travelling well.

Steve86 · Joined: 29 May 2006 Location: perth

we are young... but we have young depth. Comp for spots ( granted injury free ) is going to be ferocious.. good for us. Really need a couple players to step up next to pendles and we can have a good year

Monco Matt · Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 12:49 am

We have a strong list of young players, no doubt about that. The pain is going to be the 5 year wait for them to grow hair on their chest. We are lacking class across the ground now and will struggle to compete with the big boys for a while. An injury free season would be nice just to get 20+ games into everyone because we need to learn how to play with synergy as a collective unit and not so much as individuals moving around the ground out of position which will be harder with a lot of new faces coming in. It is a little disappointing to find ourselves in 2015 on the edge of a rebuild and not in the premiership window as we all expected to be. That is a tough pill to swallow.

E · Joined: 05 May 2010