By Matthew Slutzkin

My apologies for not writing an article last week, however I had a few personal issues which meant I just didn’t have the heart or the time to write an article. It’s been harder and harder each week to write the same type of article: Collingwood weren’t good enough, we have too many injuries, looking forward to next season, blah, blah, blah. With one match to go, it’s time to get serious.

I know and understand that we have basically got six of our top seven forwards not playing, but the scary thing is that (ruckmen aside) we’ve had our “best” midfield playing most of the year (Burns, Licuria, Holland, O’Bree, Woewodin), and that’s where we’re getting killed. To be facing 11 inside 50s to zero, and a scoreline of 2.7.19 to 0.0.0 just ten minutes into a match is unforgivable, and certainly not the fault of having players out like Tarrant, Rocca, Fraser. Matches are won and lost in the guts, and right now we have none, but physically and personnel-wise.

I read somewhere (or heard it, I can’t remember) someone saying that we must be so short sighted to want to get rid of Malthouse because he took us to two Grand Finals just two years ago. My reply to that is not only do I remember that, but I also remember the way we performed in 2003, and how that game still echoes through many players whose careers are potentially finished as a result of that game. Rhyce Shaw is a notable exception, somehow having the mental strength to overcome not only a terrible grand final, but the enormous burden of having the “Shaw” name, to really grow as a footballer, and play probably better than he did during the 2002-03 seasons before his tragic injury. Ironically, one other player who is starting to show a bit again is Jason Cloke. Again, he was humiliated in the 2003 Grand Final (with Malthouse going as far to say that his ‘performance’ on the 2002 GF was better!), and spent almost 18 months in the wilderness before getting his next chance. Personally, I think he’s been excellent the past month, and deserves to have another shot next year.

Unfortunately that’s just two names, and there are many more who have clearly gone backwards (or shall we say failed to move forwards) in that time. There have been varying reasons for each player, some have had bad form, some have had bad injuries, but the bottom line is this list of players were on our list in 2003 and just have not progressed since that season:
Davis, Leon
Fraser, Josh (just been too injured this season)
Holland, Brodie
Johnson, Ben (although injuries this year have made it tough to gauge him)
Lockyer, Tarkyn
Lokan, Matthew
Lonie, Ryan
O'Bree, Shane
Tarrant, Chris
Walker, Tristan
Williams, Andrew
I’ll add to that the following debutants from 2004 who also haven’t improved for the same reasons:
Davidson, Tom (injuries)
King, David
Nixon, Bo (traded)
Richards, Guy (injuries)

That’s a large list of underachievers. Perhaps much like how Collingwood couldn’t win a flag until the last connection with 1958 was gone (David Cloke, who was born prior to the 1958 flag, was traded at the end of 1989), we again need to clean out all players from the 2002-2003 era before we can win another flag. At the very least, we need to get rid of at least half the list before we can improve, and then hopefully the new players can improve the leftovers of the current list. Inconsistent games are ok from players like C2, C3, Ego, Rowey, Swan, but certainly not from players like Magic, Taz, Cheesy, Dutchie. And in the end, the fault must lie with the head coach, and perhaps it is time for Mick to move on. The only consolation on the weekend was watching Carlton lose by (almost) as much as we did. I was barracking for them early when they kicked the first three, but from there on I was just hoping Essendon would defeat them by as much as we were defeated by. Here’s hoping the Blues forget about their priority pick and win next week!