Finals 2025 Week 1

[Lightning McQueen]

Can't argue any of that. Was men vs boys out there. Finals are a different game and I felt they knew it going in.
There will be a few shrinking in their seats when they watch some footage back. Thilthorpe and Soligo to name two.
Benefit of being minor round bullies is we get another shot at it.

Explain the AFL site best players to me please.

BEST
Adelaide: Thilthorpe, Neal-Bullen, Pedlar, Walker, Worrell
Collingwood: Moore, Elliott, N.Daicos, De Goey, Sidebottom, Cameron, Frampton

It's who the AFL site writer thought was the best players for the night.

[wenchbarwer]

Maynard and Keays post match was a lip readers smorgasboard.

There's no way anyone can lip read Keane...

[Jimmy_041]

What a beautiful morning despite the hangover

[Brodlach]

In the end :

The loss of Rankine was glaringly obvious when the midfield move was to put Laird and Keays in the middle. That was the midfield of 2022 that failed to deliver then.

At the selection table they put Hinge, Peatling, Milera, Laird, Smith, Michalanney and Bond magnets on the board. 7 half back flankers and 3 of them had to masquerade as midfielders. Michalanney has a massive future ahead of him but he looked like a 21 year old who had missed a month of footy. This isn't a knock in him, I'm sure they'd have preferred to give him a run in the SANFL but had to bring him in.

The coaches box showed up that one group were pro's and the other's were new kids on the block. It was 19 points at 3/4 time but Fly went shut down from the opening minutes. Pendlebury and J Daicos played keepies off inside the first 90 seconds and killed nearly a minute on the full back line. Every uncontested mark be it sideways or backwards they took all through the last quarter. A clear direction to stifle any charge Adelaide might mount and the Nicks box didn't have an answer. 66+ uncontested for Collingwood, they simply denied Adelaide the ball at every opportunity.

Cox played his role. Collingwood knew they'd have time in their forward half they just couldn't let Adelaide bounce it back out, Adelaide score on the rebound better than anyone and Cox, who only took 4 marks and 2 of them were on the wing, played his role perfectly. Brought it to ground over and over and locked it inside the forward 50.

N Daicos is a freak. The ability he has in traffic, the poise he has to find team mates when under pressure and the speed at which he makes decisions with the ball in hand is unrivalled in the game at the moment.

I’ve said many times we are a quality midfielder short of having a real crack.

[Dutchy]

A lot of blame being put on the players here, which is fair to a degree, but for me Nicks was significantly out coached which in turn put a huge amount of pressure on his players.

You know Collingwood are going to play a +1 behind the ball, there must be a better strategy in place than to kick a high ball to a 2v1, kick to grass, forward handball to make the +1 press, even kick the ball along the ground....anything but a high ball that Collingwood are all set up and waiting for = intercept mark and they can control the game by going fast or slow.

[MW]

You think Nicks told the players to panic kick from every contest to the Collingwood defenders?
It is 100% on the players last night. They shat the bed on the big stage.

[mots02]

You think Nicks told the players to panic kick from every contest to the Collingwood defenders?
It is 100% on the players last night. They shat the bed on the big stage.

Correct.

Hack kicks out of contest weren’t the coaches instructions…. It was panic by players

[mots02]

In the end :

The loss of Rankine was glaringly obvious when the midfield move was to put Laird and Keays in the middle. That was the midfield of 2022 that failed to deliver then.

At the selection table they put Hinge, Peatling, Milera, Laird, Smith, Michalanney and Bond magnets on the board. 7 half back flankers and 3 of them had to masquerade as midfielders. Michalanney has a massive future ahead of him but he looked like a 21 year old who had missed a month of footy. This isn't a knock in him, I'm sure they'd have preferred to give him a run in the SANFL but had to bring him in.

The coaches box showed up that one group were pro's and the other's were new kids on the block. It was 19 points at 3/4 time but Fly went shut down from the opening minutes. Pendlebury and J Daicos played keepies off inside the first 90 seconds and killed nearly a minute on the full back line. Every uncontested mark be it sideways or backwards they took all through the last quarter. A clear direction to stifle any charge Adelaide might mount and the Nicks box didn't have an answer. 66+ uncontested for Collingwood, they simply denied Adelaide the ball at every opportunity.

Cox played his role. Collingwood knew they'd have time in their forward half they just couldn't let Adelaide bounce it back out, Adelaide score on the rebound better than anyone and Cox, who only took 4 marks and 2 of them were on the wing, played his role perfectly. Brought it to ground over and over and locked it inside the forward 50.

N Daicos is a freak. The ability he has in traffic, the poise he has to find team mates when under pressure and the speed at which he makes decisions with the ball in hand is unrivalled in the game at the moment.

It’s back …

[Dutchy]

You think Nicks told the players to panic kick from every contest to the Collingwood defenders?
It is 100% on the players last night. They shat the bed on the big stage.

You saying the coach can't control that after it happens a couple of times?

[Booney]

I'm with Dutchy, Nicks got a lesson and will be better for it.

McRae said Adelaide were predictable and they knew what they'd be dealing with > Cox selection and stopping the rebound and the uncontested ball.

[mots02]

You think Nicks told the players to panic kick from every contest to the Collingwood defenders?
It is 100% on the players last night. They shat the bed on the big stage.

You saying the coach can't control that after it happens a couple of times?

You saying Nicks didn’t address it with the players? They didn’t execute, all season they’ve given the simple handball or tried to chain out of congestion, last night, all over the ground, they rushed and tried to kick out of congestion - invariably turning it over.

Nicks doesnt control that

[Brodlach]

Agreed, his first final also. He’ll learn.

[Lightning McQueen]

I'm with Dutchy, Nicks got a lesson and will be better for it.

McRae said Adelaide were predictable and they knew what they'd be dealing with > Cox selection and stopping the rebound and the uncontested ball.

Say G'day to him for me.

[Fricky]

Collingwood sledge Rankine.

Rankine slurs Quaynor.

Quaynor gets bood by Adelaide fans.

Right.

I was at the game last night and I was confused when the crowd booed Quaynor - I didn't, why boo the guy who was called a homophobic slur. It was pretty poor by those who did boo him

[Trader]

I haven't watched much of the crows in the back half of the season, but here are a few takeaways I had from the game from my view in the crowd.

I was surprised to see the number one ranked side had Berry in their starting mids.
Also, that Bond bloke looked more like Mr Bean than 007, Michalaney goes ok (when not at the wrong end of the ground), surely you play him down back instead of Temu007.

Keays effort and work rate is undeniable, but surely being able to kick is a pre-requisite to a game called Football.

Cumming struggled to find the footy, and viewers struggled to find Fog.

Peatling was less impressive than I expected. And I expected Dawson to get more of it than he did.

When 8 of your 22 are well down, it's not a big surprise you have your biggest loss of the season.

[Jimmy_041]

I was VERY critical of Fly in the last game against Adelaide
He did nothing to change the way they were just bombing it in to the forward 50
Last night he changed everything to win the game

[Dutchy]

You think Nicks told the players to panic kick from every contest to the Collingwood defenders?
It is 100% on the players last night. They shat the bed on the big stage.

You saying the coach can't control that after it happens a couple of times?

You saying Nicks didn’t address it with the players? They didn’t execute, all season they’ve given the simple handball or tried to chain out of congestion, last night, all over the ground, they rushed and tried to kick out of congestion - invariably turning it over.

Nicks doesnt control that

Thats the art of coaching isn't it, to be able to adapt to what is thrown at you mid game, I would have thought all coaches at this level can achieve this.

One way would be to ask players for some more composure with the footy in traffic, if they get caught holding the ball then they will cop that, that is preferable to giving the ball back to Collingwood with a +1 advantage. This message can be delivered in the breaks, by the runner or on the bench when they have their rotation.

[amber_fluid]

I was watching on and off but I’ve never watched a game where the ball was thrown as much as last night
A few got pinged but plenty were missed

[Jimmy_041]

I was watching on and off but I’ve never watched a game where the ball was thrown as much as last night
A few got pinged but plenty were missed

In the quest for quick football, traditional frees like throwing / push in the back / holding the ball after incorrect disposal no longer exist

AFL House just keeps going downhill

Good that they are looking after social issues though

[Trader]

One way would be to ask players for some more composure with the footy in traffic

If your mids are Berry, Laird and Keays I'm not sure they could execute that even if you asked.