Post Match. Pies dumped by Eagles. All comments, please.

[qldmagpie67]

Cold light of day after another mixed performance
Q1 we went well all parts of our game were in harmony
Q2 lost JDG and Howe and we fell apart. When we needed our leaders most they went missing badly. Pendles Sidey Grundy were all horrible in Q2 (and big parts of Q3)
Q3 those 3 goals in 3 minutes to Sheed killed off any chance we had
Q4 we fought it out and if our kicking across 4 quarters had been better we might have got within a couple goals and who knows what happens then

Overall another disappointing night with the exception of the debutants who both showed enough to give us some hope
The break until Anzac Day will help because we have to find 22 players who can compete for 4 quarters

Hard to make many changes no matter how many should be dropped we just won’t have the personnel to do it
No Howe JDG Elliott Adams that’s 4 of our best 10 players gone

For mine Greenwood is to slow to play the modern game. He’s a warrior but outpaced. Pendles looks like Father Time has caught up with him. He seems pressured every time he gets the ball and rushing his decisions for whatever reason. Grundy started on fire then was basically a passenger for the next hour before being ok in last term. Crisp had a night to forget. He’s normally pretty good by foot but last night he just couldn’t hit a target.
Brown tries his guts out but just isn’t up to AFL level. Keene had moments but looked lost at other times. Magden on a wing still isn’t a long term option for mine. Sidey had another night to forget (that’s 3 out of 4 games he’s been well below a acceptable standard for a guy closing in on 250 games) he like Greenwood doesn’t have the pace to play in the midfield. Leave him as a small forward and hope he finds a way to contribute there. Daicos needs to be on a wing and create not played as a small forward.

We need to decide now with Howe likely to miss a extended period whether Moore is a forward or defender
For mine he’s a defender now because we need his aerial skill and intercept marking and direction with a young backline.
We have options forward even though they mightn’t always work but if we get into a shootout we will lose

For next week I would go with the following
Out JDG Howe (both injured) Cameron Brown Mayne/Greenwood omitted
In Cox WHE T Brown Bianco Ruscoe (if any of the other rookies are ready for a run why not give them a go as emergency or on bench)

Play only Cox and checkers as tall forward and rotate the rookies and stalls through
Give all the rookies some time in the midfield (use there enthusiasm) and on a wing

I would even contemplate playing Grundy as FF next to Cox (twin towers) and forget the ruck contests and try and win the ball from there taps (reverse what happens now) might as well use Magden as ruckman really considering we won’t be winning the clearances without JDG Elliott and Adams in the middle
Why not make it hard for them to match up on us ?
The injuries to key players is going to hurt
Defensive general gone our best 2 mid/forwards gone our clearance beast gone

[BazBoy]

Supply of experience now running low.

Cox back in —out Cameron or Keane

Moore back his spot at CHB

Have to bring another kid in. Poulter maybe

[Pies4shaw]

Since Buckley said after the game that he's going to continue with Moore up forward, is there really much merit in speculating about who goes out of the team for him to go back?

Also, assuming that Buckley is not just talking drivel, that is the second time I have heard him say that they believe Keane has the capability to play that role. If they believe that, they need to give him a few games in a row to show where he's at. It's not too fair pitting a green tall defensive player against West Coast with Allen, Kennedy and the Pea Heart all playing in the forward line and then just dumping him again. West Coast isn't much of a team but they do have the best tall forward set up in the competition.

[David]

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

[BazBoy]

Supply of experience now running low.

Cox back in —out Cameron or Keane

Moore back his spot at CHB

Have to bring another kid in. Poulter maybe

[Ronnie McKeowns boots]

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

Firstly a word of caution to Nathan Buckley. Optus oval is one of the hardest grounds to play on. You debuted Keane there last year against Lobb. For his second game you played Keane against Darling last night. If you keep doing this to Keane you’re going to kill him off as an AFL footballer. Secondly I don’t care if you want to say WHE was “managed” last night. When you see the VFL team team sheet with WHE’s name on it facts are he was dropped. I know people have been gunning for WHE all season. However he played well in the second half last week and kicked two goals. Surely he deserved another game last night, particularly when you see someone like Callum Brown out there who plays without any influence. Thirdly why was Sier out there last night. You drop a player. He needs to find form in the VFL, not find some way of getting him back into the side.

Having got that out the way I didn’t mind the effort the boys put in last night. Keane to me is an intercept defender, not a nullifying defender. There’s a lot to work on there. Keep playing him. McCreery looks fantastic. Cheap pickup. Keep playing him. MaCrae is a beautiful kick on either side of his body. We have a 10 year player there. I liked the move of playing Moore on the forward line. 3 Goals is a good effort. Don’t know why stalwarts in Pendlebury and Sidebottom always get blamed when we lose. We don’t have the right mix in the middle. That’s why we keep losing the clearances. We need to bring more leg speed into the middle. If we want to start winning again we need to add players like McInnes and Poulter because they have electrifying leg speed. I’d even look at someone like Rantall who’s not fast off the mark but has the legs to run all day. Sier is a lost cause. Why play him? Greenwood and Mayne are on their last but at least they play their guts out. You can understand why Buckley keeps playing them. Unfortunately Callum Brown keeps being caught because he doesn’t have the leg speed to break tackles. The only answer to me is play him on the half back line where it doesn’t matter as much. Otherwise drop him and bring his brother back into the team. Tyler is both taller and faster and the only way of getting good young players to learn the game of AFL is to play them in the senior side.

[RudeBoy]

I was devastated by the injuries to Howe and JDG, which probably cost us the game. Nevertheless, I thought the whole team played well for most of the game.

I hope we stick with Moore at full forward. It will take a while for he and the team to adjust to a new set up, but he is so much more agile and effective than the slow moving Cox. Time to bring in Kelly next week to play in defence. I'd also play Murphy there and move Quaynor into the midfield, where we are lacking a strong, fast one-grab player.

I remain a critic of Callum Brown, who buzzes around a lot but is rarely effective. I'm also a little disappointed in the output from Daicos. He needs to get his hands on the pill more. Sier did not do much, but we have to persevere with him.

We have a couple of beauties in McCreery and Macrae.

The season is shot, so lets use it to blood a bunch of youngsters, so they can hit the ground running next year.

[Pipes1970]

[matrix10]

[watt price tully]

[Mr Miyagi]

It wasn’t that bad and it wasn’t a flogging. One quarter we got flogged (when Howe and JDG went off) but apart from that it was a fair effort marred by turnovers. Crisp turned it over uncharacteristically. Maynard, Mayne. Just a few brain fades that cost us goals.

[glasseyevfx]

I have another perspective on last nights game.
For those that might remember when Buckley was playing I would jump up and down saying we were too Buckley centric. I see the same thing happening again.
Every time we win the ball in the back or centre it seems our players go looking for the captain. By the time they find him deliver the ball and Pendles finds a target a great almighty wall has been constructed and the ball just bounces back after a couple of possessions.
We need to pick up the pace going forward and invest confidence in players to take the game on.
Pedders, Sidebottom and the rest of the leadership group need to take a good look at themselves.

[pietillidie]