Pre Match. Pies v. Bulldogs. All comments please.

[58pie]

Toovey 13 disposals 1 lousy tackle. White not much better. Great game? Guess you weren't at the G. Be Brave at Selection if you sitting still you could be going backwards. Go pies

[Jezza]

[E]

I will be watching the game from Baseball Heaven. Can you believe it, there is actually a place on Long Island New York called Baseball Heaven!

[Presti35]

Reasons we could lose:
*The Dogs move the ball quickly and when they don't have the ball, they are a high tackle team.

*The Dogs are very good at keeping opposition to a low score. From 9 games, they have kept their opponents to under ten goals 5 times. They have scored less than ten goals themselves only once.
(Scores against, 36, 38, 49, 61, 67, 82, 93, 98, 103).

*They are a 4-quarter team. In only 3 games so far, they have not won all 4 quarters. We have clearly not been a 4 quarter team yet. So we'll need to be on for the entire match.

*Hunter and Macrae. Everyone knows about The Bont. But you dont hear the hype around these two guys. They are both 21 and are their leading disposal getters.

*Jake Stringer. He must be kept quiet on the scoreboard. If he starts winning disposal and kicking goals we will be in strife.

*Matthew Boyd. The old man is dominating disposal of the half back line. And fresh from a week off after suspension. He's had less than 25 disposals once in 2016.

Reasons we could win:
*The Dogs have had a bad run with injuries so far in '16 and have shown signs of struggling to cover these in recent weeks. Suckling and Adams are still in doubt to return. Although not a superstar, Jong has been suspended.

*The MCG. They havnt beaten us there since that horrible final in 2006. But in saying that, we have only played them at the 'G twice since that match. Thats twice in ten years. They have only played there 6 times since 2013.

*History. Well this will hardly reflect on the game, but the last time the Dogs beat us three times in a row was in 2006-2008. Before that was in 1998-1999. And before that was way back in 1985-1986. Our last two games against them were both competitive. If not for a poor third quarter, we could have taken the last match. The loss before that was 8 points with a late Bulldogs goal sealing the win.

*Grundy/Cox. These guys will have a great opportunity to take on the game and stretch the Bulldogs ruck stocks (Campbell/Roughead).

*Collingwoods confidence is back. After that display against the Lions and then the Cats, there is no reason why Collingwood should not be able to duplicate the performance.

Lets look at the Dogs season so far;
Rd1 - Humiliated Freo. 9 rounds in and thats not really that shocking is it.
Rd2 - Smashed the Saints.
Rd3 - Lost to the Hawks by 3 points. (Should have won).
Rd4 - Beat Carlton by 36 points.
Rd5 - Beat the Lions by 53.
Rd6 - Lost to the Roos by 16 points. A shocking performance.
Rd7 - Beat Crows by 14. Their only game at the MCG so far in 2016 and 6th since 2013.
Rd8 - Beat the Dees by 32.
Rd9 - Beaten by GWS by 25. Were flat all day.

This game could determine the top 8 later in the year. I believe the Dogs have a very tough run coming up and if we are seriously thinking about taking a top 8 spot, then we must beat the Bulldogs. And we get another crack at them later in the year.

We need to find a big goal kicker and aim for 100+ points. Someone needs to stay busy on Stringer and we need to stop the ball getting to those Dogs mids. Grundy/Cox should be able to keep Campbell/Roughead out of the game. We also need to keep Boyd out of the game, this will present an opportunity for someone.

Im looking forward to this match.

Win on Sunday and the Pies are back.

[Culprit]

Dogs on the rebound and the Cats having a bad day followed by all the media Hype will see us lose by 7 Goals +. We have no chance of winning. I have tipped the Dogs as I did the Bears and the Cats. I am sticking to my form

[RudeBoy]

[The Boy Who Cried Wolf]

[Bob Sugar]

Looks like it's going to be wet, which will suit us.

[What'sinaname]

Win this game, and we should be premiership favourites. We are building to peak at the right time of the year.

[thompsoc]

[Pies4shaw]

[simon tonna]

our turn-around in form involves "a little more skin"
in the game and i feel greenwood, crisp, degoey, blair,
and grundy would have had there time in the corner copping
a guilt and reflection session from all concerned. with that out of the
way our midfield match ups and contested ball winning numbers
are crucial and its those mentioned above will help us no-end to
winning if those boys do there job. defensively they are our most
important stoppers on the ground, in the contests were they nullify
the ball movers of the opposition. greenwood and blair doing the hard
tag and degoey/crisp getting some outside ball and guarding and
creating space as well for each other.
i don't think theres a better defensive team in the land than the dogs
and its evident in with the confidence they move it out of defence.
but the way the cats were in sixes and sevens against us means
where doing things right in there and that has us a chance of us spoiling
the party again.

[Albert Parker]

Their leg speed really worries us, but Murphy and Johannisen missing helps.

While their rucks seem a weakness, they are also ours, with 10% less hitouts than any other team.

Cox, Moore and White, who is finally playing 3rd tall, might be able to stretch their relatively short defense. Moore has performed well against them in the past and Cox's confidence should be high.

We'll have to play like we did last week to be any sort of a shot, but I suspect the Dogs might have our measure for now.

Being at the MCG should assist.

[Woods]

Why are people buying into the myth that the Dogs as a team are fast by foot. They're not. They just appear that way because they move the ball quickly. If anything the Dogs are slower by foot this year than last year.

So, how do you negate their fast ball movement? Easy, deny possession - they can't move the ball quickly if they haven't got it. How to you deny them possession? Single most important way is to stop gifting them possession by kicking behinds instead of goals from easy scoring opportunities. A goal missed is effectively a 5 point bonus to the opposition and gives them possession to move the ball through the Pies press to a Dogs scoring opportunity at the other end. So every gettable goal that is missed is potentially 11 points to the opposition.

The game will hinge on that old denier of flags for Collingwood for many a year - scoring accuracy (just ask Cloke). Now that the team is settled somewhat this is the area they need to improve on to maintain the current success, and it will be the deciding issue against the Dogs. Must minimise the lost goals from gettable scoring opportunities.

[Pies4shaw]

^^^^ Think there's a little more to it than that. If, eg, we kick 5.0 from 5 inside 50s we probably don't win.