Pre match. Pies v. Cats - All comments please

[Pies4shaw]

There was not enough talent on the list in 2011 outside the first 22. Bearing in mind that 22 included Jolly, Ball, Maxwell, Leigh Brown, Tarrant, Johnson, Krak and Davis, it seems to me obvious that, absent major list renovation, Collingwood could not be competitive more than a year or 2 into the future.

Collingwood knew that at the end of 2010, when it emptied out about 10n or 11 players and tried to recruit replacements - unfortunately, most of the replacements weren't up to it, largely because of the absence of early draft picks. Krak was taken for the attempt to go back to back, Fasolo was taken at our first pick (45) and he slotted almost straight into the senior team but the other guys were all late picks.

I'm not interested in defending the present position but I do think it's important to appreciate that our list was thin and there was virtually no back-up available after the back to back Grand Finals. I think the Club was well aware of that, too - Buckley made 6 changes for the first game of 2012 - some of them were hopeless and never played for Collingwood again - but at least we found out.

The frustrating thing for me last year and this is that the Club's strategy (get more basic talent onto the list) seemed to be correct but much of the talent either hasn't got on the park or has developed more slowly than I had hoped.

All of that said, I still think the strategy was the correct one. The implementation of that recruiting strategy and the coaching of the talent, once here, are separate questions but there was and is no doubt in my mind that Collingwood 2011 was on the edge of the abyss.

[Museman]

As I said, same can be said for any list, do yourself a favour and dissect the hawthorn list for 2011 in the same manor.

Thy worked out what we didn't, still haven't apparently... continuing turnover of list for youth year in year out is a road to nowhere

Completely and utterly disagree with your abyss assessment.

[Pies4shaw]

I understand that you disagree but I'm not sure why (that's not meant to be a smart comment - I'm inviting you to give me a detailed explanation, so that I can understand your argument better). The comparison with Hawthorn intrigues me - apart from a couple of experienced recruits added in, wasn't virtually the entirety of their 2013 and 2014 premiership teams already on their list in 2011?

[RudeBoy]

We must make a few changes to make a statement that yesterday's capitulation was unacceptable.

Ins: Cox, Witts, Karnezis, Kennedy, Brown

Outs: Grundy, Fasolo, Blair, Reid, Cloke

[Museman]

[Dave The Man]

Could be a Dead Rubber for the Cats

[Bob Sugar]

[Pies4shaw]

Yes. That one cost us a premiership.

[piedys]

[ANNODAM]

No chance of a victory next week, we're a laughing stock!

[Dave The Man]

[ANNODAM]

[Dave The Man]

[AN_Inkling]

[Monco Matt]

Two teams now playing for nothing and we know what our attitude is towards games that mean nothing and I would imagine Geelong would see this as an opportunity to humiliate us on prime time tv.

Cats by 86 points.