Three Things I've Learned - NAB 3 vs Collingwood

[Hotdog60]

1: Grant and Dickson's work rate was excellent
2: Nice to have a forward line that will be hard to contain with a vast array of options to keep the opposition coaches guessing.
3: Nathan Buckley maybe sacked before the season end.

[Greystache]

1. We went from all outside, to all inside, based on last night we may be finally getting the mix right.

2. With the way Redpath is playing our forward line looks a really dangerous set up.

1. The sky's the limit for Bonti.

[Go_Dogs]

1. Pressure is such a measure of how well a side is going. When at our best under Eade, we looked good and fast, but it was our manic pressure which won us a lot of games, particularly in his early days. Last night was the best team defence I've seen from us for a long time - if we can do that week in week out, we'll be a very tough side to play.

2. We look quicker, even though we're taller. I'm not exactly sure how that works, maybe it's just smarter running, better ball use - but with Minson, Cordy, Roughead, Redpath, Boyd, Talia and Hamling it'd be one of the taller sides I've seen us play. Jong helps our leg speed, along with Dahl and Grant, but even Honeychurch, Bontempelli, Dickson, Goodes look to be moving the best they have for us.

3. Coast to coast goals - I'd forgotten about them, but boy they look good. Went coast to coast last night and got out the back of the Pies defence on each kick on the coast to coast transition - it was a thing of beauty.

[Templeton31]

1. J Grant on the wing and in last quarter at CHF played like a good centre forward in soccer. Didn't kick th goals but get it to him and he'll hold it up and distribute to guys streaming past.

2. Our run forward and disposal forward and handballs forward were terrific.

3. T Boyd, Redpath and Cordy did a very good job at contesting, bringing the ball to ground and at least halving the contest. they might not have got too many stats (although Redpath might have!) but they were doing a really good job for the team.

[F'scary]

1. Beveridge has changed the game style as he said he would. Wasn't sure before last night, in the match against Richmond it looked the same as last year with similar faults and problems. Melbourne was our second 18 so it was hard to gauge.

2. Tom Boyd is playing a useful role and contributed significantly to the fact we were not persistently out-marked in the forward line as we were every game virtually for the past 4 years. His 13 possessions were good and showed he has great skills on the ground for such a big unit.

3. Joel Hamling really adds something to the backline, he looks very adaptable to playing on a number of different types of forwards.

[westdog54]

1. The club made a fantastic call in retaining Jack Redpath.

2. Jarrad Grant might finally be getting it.

3. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Shocktober might have been a tonic.

[Mofra]

1. Boyd, Redpath, Hamlong, Roughead - not really an intimidating list but they can do the job for us at times this year and in a few years we may have something resembling a spine

2. Bevo has done everything he said he would and we are a better team for it, even with a younger and arguably poorer list (incl. Libba out)

3. Since going full time Dalrymple has done very well, mostly by picking footballers instead of athletes. e.g.
- Everyone passed on Caleb Daniel because he was short, forgetting that he can actually play.
- Bonti was in the bottom 10% for acceleration at draft camp, a weird size and looked gangly and heavily favours his left foot. Lucky he's a star and a freak.
- Macrae simply finds the football, innate ability that can't be taught.
- Honeychurch played very well at u18 champs but was largely overlooked because he was short and not really an elite athlete.

[Bulldog4life]

1. Very happy with the form of Goodsey. The Bevo way of playing seems to suit him. Looks fitter each year too.

2. Loved those strong marks of Big Jack. Credit to the Club for initially recruiting him then having the patience with him.

3. Ayce I liked your game. I like the fact that Jack, Tom, Will & Ayce can all play in the same team with success.

[boydogs]

3. Ayce I liked your game. I like the fact that Jack, Tom, Will & Ayce can all play in the same team with success.

Only in a 26 a side NAB cup game

[Bulldog4life]

Only in a 26 a side NAB cup game

Nothing to say it can't be replicated in a team of 22. Depends who we are playing a consideration.

[LostDoggy]

Learnt that Bonty is only signed until end of 2017. Someone needs to make this close to end of 2027.

[1eyedog]

1. These kids will give us a premiership at last
2. These kids may well give us 3 or 4 premierships
3. This will be the dynasty that revolutionizes our club and elevates us from perennial almosts to the envy of the competition for years to come. There's something special brewing out west.

[LostDoggy]

1. These kids will give us a premiership at last
2. These kids may well give us 3 or 4 premierships
3. This will be the dynasty that revolutionizes our club and elevates us from perennial almosts to the envy of the competition for years to come. There's something special brewing out west.

60 years without success, but can they kill our optimism?...............HELL NO!

[whythelongface]

1. These kids will give us a premiership at last
2. These kids may well give us 3 or 4 premierships
3. This will be the dynasty that revolutionizes our club and elevates us from perennial almosts to the envy of the competition for years to come. There's something special brewing out west.

Too right 1eye. There is something special about our current mob.

[Jeanette54]

Things I learned were:

1. Our much maligned backline is actually pretty good, when the players further up the field do not allow the opposition unpressured entry into their forward line. But not all clubs use a single avenue of attack as do Collingwood with Cloke.
2. Liam Picken has far better skills than he has ever been credited with, or allowed to exploit.
3. Expect Bob Murphy to become the first backline player to be assigned a hard tag. Of course that will mean that ultimately there will be one less tagger available for our speedy young guns; but it will make it more difficult to springboard our attacks from half-back. Increased roles for Eastern Wood, Joel Hamlin and Jason Johanissen will be needed. Great games from Roughie and Dale Morris too, whilst I am on the subject of the backline.