Post match v Cows..all comments here

[dillo_09]

AWESOME performance young fella. Hold you head up and be proud.

Ran his guts out all day, competed, showed poise, played smart in the ruck by trying to make play with directed taps (not all came off) and big thumps towards our goal. Not all his hitouts were effective but what I liked was that he thinks about what he is doing and is creative.

Had a red hot dip and thats all we can ask for. If the word is correct and his brother is a better player, those two will be dominating the comp in a few years time.

One of a few positives to come out of todays game.

[dillo_09]

[POMMY]

We cant expect to win a game by only playing 2 quarters of footy and skill error after skill error.Forward line nonexistent.Well done to the backline tried hard all game.We need changes next week too many passengers not playing with any passion.
At least wear the black and white with pride instead of taking it for granted.Very disappointed.

[favourites 2008]

[sq3]

C2 will go to his position as soon as Stretch or Josh gets back - C2 is the FF for the nect 8-10 years.

He has strength, size, skills, guts and a far better conversion rate than Taz.

C3 has the ability, pace and size to be a Riewoldt or even better.

[Seth]

Absolutlely pathetic! These guys have no skils whatsoever. They couldn't hit the side of a barn with their pathetic kicking skills.

I am sick of this rot. Perhaps the whole magpie spirit has gone when we left Vic park. Yes we have great facilites, yes we have a great new stand, yes we have a wonderful gymn and pool. No we have THE WORST list and it doesn't get any better after watching Williamstown yesterday.

We are rabble, we deserve to be where we are and I have finally come to the realisation that our recruiting of the shaws and clokes and woewodins of this world are backwards steps.

How the hell did we make 2 grand finals.

And to all those who will attack me for my cricisms, jam it up where the sun don't shine. I'm sick of it. Time these nancy boys need a good firm swift kick up the backside.

[London Dave]

[sq3]

Seth - the problem lies with the coaching and conditioning staff.

Where is the full time skills coach - not there !!

Are the players in better condition than the start of 2004 - No !!

The coaching staff are meant to be professionals and in all professions you are paid to do your job.

These so called professionals must be held accountable (to the board) and changes MUST be made in the off field staff.

The sooner the changes are made the sooner the results will change.

Same as last year - Pies should run on results NOT excuses.

Fire the duds and hire the required professionals where required.

[favourites 2008]

Least they had a crack second half, again only played 2 qtrs, not good enough. Rowe, Cloke, Clemant, Jonno, Waklin, Lica Cara and Morrison can hold the head high. Jus not enough support. I'm gutted jus can't understand y we didn't man up at the end!!!

[shackleton]

I'm shattered, could be a very very long year... i was expecting a lot from the pies this year and i guess i was wrong. We are slow, disorganised bunch middle of the road players.

Murdered in the midfield by a team, that like us have been tipped to struggle this year, i know its only very early in the season but we have just played two teams that are most probably going to be in the lower rungs of the ladder. Some of our best chances of winning have just gone out the window.

Not being at the game its hard to gauge the effectiveness of some players, for me watching on television it looked like our midfielders Licuria, Woe, Burns, etc etc... all got plenty of the ball but caused about as much damage as a pacifist in a war. Were are the blokes running through the lines and splitting the game open.

Good on Cam Cloke, tried his guts out. Rowe, bright future for this kid, and it looks like we are gonna need a lot more from him this year if we are going to at least compete. Shaw showed some signs he's starting to get some confidence, just gotta work on disposal. Ben Johnson looked the goods and tried hard all day and like shaw just needs to work on disposal and finally in my humble opinion our best player for the day James Clement who held the back half together all day and put on show his great footballing brain.

[Seth]

Its funny sq3 in 02 and 03 I thought our fitness and conditioning staff were red hot due to no injuries etc but this year it is terrible in every department. How can there skills be so bad, it's terrible. they are great at passing around for easy kicks and marks in the back half but when it counts in the forward line it is terrible. I could not believe what i saw today. Surely they must be embarrased with the amount of clangers they kick and that they head the league in this. gee there's something to be proud of.

[spoljar]

We are seriously becoming the Benny Hill side of the competition with our disposal and decision making. At one stage there, I actually found myself laughing particularly in that second quarter when we turned the ball over about 4 times in a row going into our forward 50.

If it wasn't for our defence, we would be absolutely getting a pasting. Our back six can certainly take a bow!

The reality is that I have seriously over estimated our side. I thought we were a genuine top 4 team. I was completely out of my mind. We will be lucky, and I emphasise the word lucky just to make 8th spot. The reality is that we are looking at bottom four again this season.

Players such as Rowe, Cloke, Johnson, Clement and Caracella can take a bow as they contributed and really did their absolute best for the team.

Some serious question though need to be asked of players such as Tarrant. This is a player who rarely ever takes a contested mark, kicks very poorly for goal, is very lazy at ground level and seems again to be looking very disinterested! He has been in the system for 8 seasons now and really needs to pull his finger out because it seems that Tarrant can only take a mark if no one actually lays a finger on him!

[Dale61]

Whilst in the VO today, here's how I worked out our game plan.

Get ball in defence, handpass, handpass, short kick, handpass and short kick to get outside the defensive 50.

Repeat process along wing to get somewhere near the forward 50.

Hold on to ball to allow opposition defense to man up. Kick to target (Taz or Rocca) even if they are double teamed. Turn ball over, allow opposition to run ball out of defense..

Opposition kicks long, marks, short passes into their 50, kicks goal.

Really, could it get any simpler?

[London Dave]

[Seth]