What's going on?

[Harrysz]

I’ve been surprised at my emotional response to the loss to Hawthorn, coming on as it did on the heels of the loss to Carlton.
Carlton players waltzed through our forward and centre lines and set up scoring opportunities. This was bad but I assumed it was a blip. So did David King. So did Kane Cornes.
But exactly the same happened against Hawthorn. Our team learned nothing from the Carlton match.
Maybe I believed some of the hype about Collingwood up until the win against PA. I really thought there was a chance of premiership glory. On current form they’ll be lucky to win another game this year.

I’ve loved what Craig McRay’s done in the last 18 months but I’m critical of him now.
Frankly, I’m sick of hearing him say “It’s a marathon. We’re a work in progress”. We were one point away from a Grand Final last year and we’ve been on top of the ladder for most of this year. We shouldn’t still be a “work in progress”.
Working us out has little to do with it. It’s easy to work out HOW to beat any team. Putting it into practice is the hard part.
You want to know how to beat Melbourne? Stop Petracca. Bump Gawn off his game. Tag Viney. Focus attacks away from May and Lever. Easily said. Now go and do it! That’s the hard part.
Although our whole team is out of form, changes need to be made.
Brodie Miocek should be dropped. I don’t care how good he’s been in the last 5 years. He’s been a non-event for 6 weeks. In that time he’s kicked 2 goals and taken zero contested marks.
Play Will Kelly at full forward. He’s tall, can take a mark and kick a goal.
Frampton was recruited as a tall player for defence. Why isn’t he playing there? He’s not even in the side. He should be full back leaving Moore to charge of from centre half back.
I’m not a big fan of Nathan Murphy. Everyone loves him because of his courage but he loses far too many one-on-one battles. Anyway he’s injured now. Trey Ruscoe or Jakob Ryan should come in.
I’m not a big fan of Jack Ginnivan either. He’s a one trick pony, is slow and doesn’t get to enough contests; and Bobby Hill is a much better footballer than he is and it’s hard to see how both can fit in the side. But Ginnivan did kick 40 goals last year and it’s time for another try.
We’re far too slow in the midfield. Pendles should be half back, not in the middle. Crisp and/or Maynard should be in the midfield.
Cameron was awful against Hawthorn. Cox as a ruckman is not bad when he’s the sole ruckman. We lost centre clearances 18 to 3 against Hawthorn. That’s embarrassing.
We also need De Goey in the midfield…and on the forward line… it’s a mess.
McCreery should be in the midfield but apparently he doesn’t have the stamina.
The loss of Nick Daicos is catastrophic.
Mitchell was great for 10 games. Now he’s completely lost form. Give him a rest, or a holiday or whatever.
Taylor Adams has had a good year but his last 2 games have been very poor.
Even Quaynor and Noble who’ve had great years have had 2 shocking games in a row.
WTF is going on? There’s no pace. There’s no tackling. There’s no confidence. Where has it all gone?
So here’s a challenge for Craig McRae. Can he turn it around?
Can he get them up? Because on current form Geelong with thrash us next Friday night!

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Put simply we are just going through another false dawn we should be used to it
And in 2 years have new coach and regime
It’s catch 22
It’s like it’s 2018 and 2019 all over again
To be honest if sick to death to it

[Mr Miyagi]

Sack the coach! Trade our dud players! Rebuild! We’re frauds!

[Cam]

We shall see who we really are this week I feel.

[Mr Miyagi]

We won a flag in 2010 without Nick Daicos and a team everyone said wasn’t good enough.

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Time for another EGM at Collingwood come on get a petition happening

[Pies2016]

“ What’s going on “ has a very likely and simple explanation to it.
We’ve have either peaked a bit early or the players CURRENTLY aren’t motivated enough to play with the intensity that’s required ( presumably because of ladder position)
Port have lost four of their last five, the lions have lost two of their last five just like we have. What’s going on isn’t unique to Collingwood.
We started the season beating the reigning premiers comfortably and then obliterating Port in round two. We haven’t looked back since then and remained on top of the ladder until 5 months later, when we lost to the Hawks. You can’t play this game at peak intensity forever. The coaches could be accused of having us cherry ripe before the business end of the season but you have to take your wins when you can, not plan to time it that you sneak into the top four in round 23.
We’re still on top of the ladder, so what you don’t do is make big changes just because we lost a game we shouldn’t have. It’s now the coaches who face the biggest challenge, not the players. The players have proven they have been the best team for last 5 months and in their mind, that mountain has been climbed. The coaches challenge is to reset the players mind sets and prepare them for a finals series because finishing with the double chance ( their first goal ) has already been conquered.
Personnel changes have little effect on footy outcomes because it’s almost the ultimate team game. It’s attitude and mind set that will return us to the winners list, not a forced change or two. It starts with the coaches sell to the players and then it translates through to the players performance and effort ( or not ) MacRae is going to learn more about coaching in the next few weeks than what he has learnt in his entire time in footy. He might get it right or he might fluff his lines. One way or the other, we will know soon enough.

Finally, at the start of the season when we were all thinking about the Pies chances once again, did anyone have us being two games clear on top at the end of round 21 ? We might have lost to Hawthorn but that aside, we have done close to zero wrong for the last five months. Let’s just all keep our trust and faith in the coaches and players for a little longer yet.

[Harrysz]

Thanks Pies2016.
I suggested certain changes but I didn't mean they should all be made and all at once.
Still, sometimes a few changes can add some freshness and motivation to a team.

[Geek]

I'm with Pies2016. We've got ourselves into a brilliant position through 5 months of quality footy. We've got a bit of a stagger up at the moment but it's too early to say if it's terminal.

The game against Port, even though Port have also had their problems, was epic. We slogged it out at maximum intensity and finished with run in a hostile environment and the wet. Fitness-wise, we are going ok.

It's possible that we didn't recover in time for Carlton. We did look flat and we got beaten up in contested ball. Even with Hawthorn running all over us last weekend and with us getting smacked in the CS, we halved contested ball this time round. We won the overall clearance count. They just picked us apart in the CS and then the uncontested stuff. We didn't adapt to them lowering the eyes pretty much from half back to our D50 and they worked a lot harder into space than we did.

Now was that us not running or was that us just sticking to our patch of grass instead of manning up? Our trick of hanging just within intercepting distance of the kick doesn't work so well when you are talking about a 20 metre dart.

Anyway, regarding our fitness and us being 'cooked'... Wade was on Youtube before coming to us saying that you should train your players to be able to give that extra ounce right when it is needed most. 2 games clear in round 20 playing 16th is not that time. If that's the reason then sure, that's where we've made a mistake as top 2 is not yet in the bag and we allowed ourselves to get ambushed by 16th.

I realise that I am saying the above with the benefit of hindsight. No judgement here.

But if we physically peaked for the year against Port, then that means that S&C missed their target peak date by 9 weeks and while that is certainly possible, I doubt it's the case. Wade knows what he is doing enough to get it a bit more correct than that!

Either a) we are under load and temporarily unable to go like we normally do; b) guilty of a bit of tortoise and hare towards the end of a long H&A campaign, or c) our gameplan and/or squad has weaknesses that we need to rectify.

I lean towards b and c though track watchers say we have been training bloody hard so 'a' might be in play. The league now has its 'blueprint to beat the Pies' and we have a month to counter it before the fun starts. Too early to call time on our season. Even if we don't flag, we've still made top 4, meaning a minimum 2 finals: valuable experience for our inexperienced players and let's face it, our inexperienced coach.

Get behind them, everyone. They respond well with the army at their back. They need us right now.

[Take_a_Screamer]

Some interesting observations here...

‘Drastic’: Pies’ shock slide has exposed four stars. Now they must ask a brutal question
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/collingwood-magpies/afl-2023-collingwood-loss-craig-mcrae-press-conference-video-first-crack-underperforming-players-out-of-form-tom-mitchell/news-story/038d017a50e98d002efced713242f60d

[Take_a_Screamer]

Magpie Midfield Massacre. The stats don't lie...

Player, Attendences, Centre Clearances
Will Day, 24, 5
Jai newcombe, 23, 4
James Worpel, 22, 5
Connor Nash, 21, 4
Jordan De Goey, 22, 1
Scott Pendlebury, 22, 1
Taylor Adams, 10, 0
Nick Daicos, 9, 0
Beau McCreery, 9, 1
Tom Mitchell, 8, 0
Jack Crisp, 8, 0

Source:
https://www.afl.com.au/video/997375/aaa-hard-calls-loom-for-pies-exclusive-vision-of-fan-s-egg-missile?videoId=997375&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1691368332001

[LaurieHolden]

ON current form the Pies look like we're bleeding out, after being overwhelmed by Cartlon and sacked by Hawthorn.
But this is footy.

Every team season to date has had a winning run ;
Every team season to date has had injuries.

Early on the season, Collingwood, Melboune and St.Kilda were early clubhouse leaders.

After dropping their first two matches, Adelaide then went on a 5 week winning spree, where they accounted for 2 of the current top 8 in Port and Carlton.

After being embarrrased by us Round 2 then losing to Adelaide the following week, Port found their mojo winning 9 games straight into the bye.

Now Carlton, GWS, Swans are having theirs.

Brisbane have been the most consistent side at home, but they were embarrased against the Suns. You know the Suns, the side we demolished.

Added to the mix the competition has had the flashes in the pan. Hawks vs Pies and Freo vs Geelong - at the Cattery...go figure.

So yes, the way we've lost against Carlton then Hawthorn is concerning, I'm not of the view we're 'cooked'.

Undoubtledy it's hard to reconcile the team that smashed Port, drilled the Suns, routed GWS and beat a McKay and Curnow fronted Carlton.

We've beaten 5 of the current top 8.
Naicos isn't dead.
Murphy can be repalced.
We're still on top of the ladder after losing 3 games. 3!

No doubt the brains trust will be pouring over footage, then having discussions with our prime movers.
First thing is get back to basics and stop playing globe-trotter football. That's where we need to first evolve before we get back to form.
With 3 great tests to come, I reckon we're still in good shape to win 2 out of 3, retaining top place.
From there it's a week off.
Plenty can and will change between now and then.

Re-set, re-start and re-ignite the faithful.

[Piesnchess]

These sky is falling, we are done, over, woe is me, oh woe, woe, woe. Im so over these Negative Nellie threads, yet these are the dorks who , should we beat Geelong , will gush and be joyful on the post game thread, if we have a stirling victory Friday night. its as certain as night follows day. BTW, dont bother rebuking me, I wont be back on this crummy thread, Im out.

[Damien]

Two games clear on top of all comers, three rounds to go… yep it’s all over for the Pies in 2023. May as well tank to drop a few spots for a better draft pick next year.

[RudeBoy]

We've actually lost 4 games not 3 Laurie, but nevertheless, I generally agree with you.

I guess my only real concern is that our early great form was built on us winning centre clearances, with Mitchell having a great impact. He seems shot right now and we don't seem to have anyone else to replace him.