Post Match. Pies dump Toast. All comments, please.

[Mr Miyagi]

Yeah I said pre-game we’d see a different team from the humid, short Gabba. Optus is closer to MCG size. And unlike our previous WC game, no major injuries to key players!

[think positive]

WA this morning: “we was robbed! It was a throw! Right in front of me! We was robbed!”

No mention of the absolute crap centre bounces that went their way and they got a goal from

he was tripped before the throw, so he should have got a free!

[think positive]

In the pregame thread..

One could look on the match the Collingwood Football Club is facing in WA with the same ambivalent expectations as one might apply to, say, seeing a once favorite band play in concert. You know how it is - they played the sort of music you love, but the band’s last album was a friggin stinker (make up your own story here - remember Dylan goin’ electric. Farrrk!).

But anyway ,you cough up the entrance price to see the next gig. You kind of hope that they are the same group that you once knew and loved - the same spirit that was there with you at all those secretly important life events all those long years ago. But really you go without any expectations at all, (is hope an expectation?), except perhaps to confirm your deeper fears that they’ve become as shite as what the whole damn world has become. Another loss.

But then, the lights go up and its show time. The guys turn up like its Woodstock, or Sunbury, or Glastonbury. It’s an epiphany, a reawakening of the spirit. And you stand there and watch and listen, living in that moment, and you know that in years to come people will talk about the battle of West Coast and Collingwood in the Covid year of 2020.

And the old men of Collingwood will smile and nod and say this was a clubman’s win. This was a day when Collingwood stood proud.

viewtopic.php?t=87802&postdays=0&postor ... &start=150

If I had to choose I would say Sunbury. Except that when Daddy Cool played the Eagle didn't Rock.

man that post got me teary!!!

i confess i was just apoplectic at the end of the game, just so crazy, i could just see those last fricken 90 sec in 2018. just praying no god not again, i cant take that! man when that siren went!!

[think positive]

[quote="slangman"]This win equal to the 2002 QF victory against Port Power.

I must say I didn’t think we would win but I just wanted the players to give their all.
I know people are saying that bringing in Cameron was a master stroke but tbh it was a no brainer with Grundy’s continued poor form. It was probably more of a safe option really.
There were plenty of players that played exceptionally well lead by Adams. He gives 100% in every game which is a lesson to every young player coming in.
Although we won, there is still much upside to this team namely Grundy in the ruck.
I think the umpires were ok tonight and I really only saw two howlers. The Adams holding the ball when he didn’t even have it and I thought Elliott was extremely lucky to not get done holding the ball in the passage of play where WHE kicked a goal in the third.
We were equal premiership favourites at the beginning of the season for a reason. We have the squad to go all the way and the next 3 weeks will be the best ride of our lives....hopefully

[Donny]

The unwinnable game.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/513612/stay ... by-a-point

[think positive]

Of all the "throws" that happened tonight, my favourite was Thor's Hammer throw of Darling in the last quarter. The roar from my lounge room made it more ROCKdown than LOCKdown. Grundy is superhuman. He did a lot of strong work around the ground in the second half tonight.
I knew something special would happen tonight after seeing the coach and players smiling heaps before the game and during the week. Buckley especially. I think this had a lot to do with the high level of 'daring' we showed all match.
Go Woods!

he was epic. thankyou for pointing this out, so sick of the hammering he gets on the game day thread, the tap isnt the be all end all, what we need is Dane Swans brain, he just knew where the tap would go, no matter who tapped it. i didnt see nitnat doing the low down grunt stuff Grundy did. all hail the king!

[think positive]

The unwinnable game.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/513612/stay ... by-a-point

omg, wow wow wow, Adams saved that, wow wow wow, omg!

[ThePieMind]

[quote="BazBoy"]How good was young Daicos in the heat of cutthroat final

How better will he become

[Pies2016]

Stolen from Bigfooty. Apologies if it is anyone's from Nicks.

Cryin' Ryan.

Very funny. To be fair, when you’ve played a lot of sport, that’s water off a ducks back but that was the action of player who was convinced they were never going to lose. If you thought you were ever a chance to lose, you simply wouldn’t consider doing that with millions watching.
Seems to me there were a few Eagles players who were already thinking about the cats.

[Donny]

[think positive]

awesome Donny Awesome xxx

[Cam]

Gotta say, Darling was tearing Moore a new one when suddenly halfway through the third it was like someone slipped Darcy a dose of Getafix the Druid's elixir from the Gaul village and bam. The tables turned.

[jatsad]

Yep; guilty your honour. I too expected the contest to be dead in water by halftime. For the true believers [and delusionalists alike] kudos to you all!

Sure, that earlier 66 point loss against Weasels was totally demoralising, despite them only having 6 more scoring shots.
But after that 2019 match in Perth, the omen was there all along:

Round: 17 Venue: Perth Stadium Date: Fri, 12-Jul-2019 6:10 PM (8:10 PM) Attendance: 56251 →
West Coast 6.3.39 10.4.64 12.4.76 12.5.77
Collingwood 6.1.37 8.3.51 9.6.60 11.12.78
margin CW by 1

And last night:

Collingwood 12.4.76
The Sooks 11.9.75

Just something about WCE vs Collingwood finals, isn't there?

Great team effort. No passengers tonight.
Bring on the cats.

Go woods!!!!

Amazing what happens when all players selected actually buy-in to the task and perform. And very minimal backwards shit last night, which was super critical. Every player deserves to keep their spot for next week.

Hack the ball forward seems to be the modus operandi of all successful clubs remaining in 2020 finals; it might not be ideal nor pretty, but it is a successful strategy.

Going through a range of emotions. One of shock, relaxation and elation all simultaneously. It was odd, but I felt relaxed throughout the game and had no anxiety about the final result.
I was already happy the team surpassed expectations, but to see them hold on in the end was very satisfying. I'm also shocked we didn't lose our nerve and let West Coast run all over us.

I didn't give us a chance tonight. I thought there were too many obstacles in our way to overcome West Coast. We had to contend with a few factors:

- Being stuck in quarantine.
- Playing an opponent who was unbeaten at home for the entire season up until now.
- Big question marks has to whether we could kick a winning score. Our highest score for the year is 81 points.
- West Coast being bolstered by some major inclusions, excluding Yeo.

Great to see my man Checkers step up in a big finals match. Took the game by the scruff of the neck, particularly in the second half.

Cox transforming into god mode at the start was reminiscent of his performance two years ago in the Preliminary Final. It ironically made the difference in the final result.

It should be abundantly clear that centre clearances are a big concern for the team. We need to find a way to address it and have it rectified by next year.
Grundy's had an unusually down year, but I think we have to excuse it considering the high standard he's produced for us over several years.

Geelong is very beatable. They have a poor record in finals under Chris Scott, and we'll have the confidence of knowing we can beat them. We did it earlier this year in the season, and beat them in a Qualifying Final last year.

Nice to survive the season for another week. It's been a unique challenge, but Bucks summed it up after the game. We've developed a lot of "resilience" as a club out of this whole experience.

Woohooh! All this, and more Jezza!

What a victory, one for the ages. I'm so pumped right now, when's the replay on??

Go Pies, I 'luv 'ya to death, even though you do piss me off sometimes but not tonight. Now go and eat some pussy!

Oh, it has been a most trying year. What a superb ambush!

JT did alright. He was non-awarded a clear mark in front of goal and dished off the handball, under extreme pressure, to Brody Mihocek who kicked that superb left foot goal in the last quarter.

For sure; he didn't hit the scoreboard, but his and Stepho's multiple efforts in the chain resulted in many goals. And that is what's important.

Of all the "throws" that happened tonight, my favourite was Thor's Hammer throw of Darling in the last quarter. The roar from my lounge room made it more ROCKdown than LOCKdown.
Grundy is superhuman. He did a lot of strong work around the ground in the second half tonight.

Go Woods!

Wasn't that a statement! One brute rag-dolling another in a hard tackle.
And I think the entire neighbourhood heard my free kick request at the top of my vocal range: BALL! PAY IT YOU MAGGOT!!!

Sure Grundy didn't have a great game [again], but those clutch marks both he and Cameron took in the final term were just super critical to retaining possession and repelling WCE attacks. Cameron really earned his stripes hardcore last night.

Weasels badly missed Elliott Yeo; he is their barometer, and as crucial to their structures, as JDG is to ours. If he had played, things may very well have gone in their favour. But he didn't - so suck a bag of arse eagles!
I will never ever get over 2018; so any pain we can inflict on you until the end of time as we know it, helps warm whatever remains of my soul....

They may not have had Yeo, but we didn't have Howe and Sidey. I think we were worse off.

[Pies2016]

While we’re handing out the well deserved accolades, what about a bit of love for Noble and Madgen.
It’s not easy to do your job when you’re an average footballer and still continue to get it done against good teams in cutthroat finals.
Their individual improvements have been further pluses in a tough year.
They have been part of a defence that is close to the best defence in the comp and they have grown with every game they have played.

The key to Noble is to find him a match up that suits him, not a match up that destroys him. He will probably get someone like Atkins or Close or another nobody and that’s when he shines.
Madgen is similar, as long as Moore and Roughead are on top of their opponents, he can be left to a lesser opponent and break even at worse.
They are both good stories in a very tough season.

[tbaker]