"Gut Feelings V"

Some deep thoughts from deep in the nest!

• Everything about the Sandgate clash had a feeling of 'upset' written all over it.  Home side coming off a morale boosting win, unfamiliar night game, sprinkle of rain...but the Pies sure put that to bed with a ferocious opening half and were as dominant as anyone has seen for many a year.
• The Pies won virtually every position, with miserly defence, a strong midfield and a busy forward line
• There were 5 multiple goalkickers, with a Ryan Harwood masterclass nabbing 6 goals, Jake De Winter and Tom Ielasi 5 each and Kale Reed and Anthony Corrie 3 each.
• Harwood suggested in pre-season it may take 5 or 6 rounds to adjust, turns out it was only the 3-4 as his past 2 outings have been superb, polling the maximum 10 votes in the Syd Guilford medal voting, taking him to 4th place.
• Jake De Winter was spotted dishing off a few handballs on Saturday, and even at one stage in the third quarter he was looking to pass when 35m out - sanity prevailed and he went back, line up and slotted it straight through the middle.  He now has 20 goals to his name in 4 games and sits 2nd on the QAFL leaderboard.
• The Senior side played an exciting and free brand of footy, with plenty of handball form congestion and run through the middle.  The players certainly look to be enjoying their footy and its starting to show in the results.
• Certainly kudos must go to Coach Morgan in keeping the group up, as while they appear to be playing free flowing footy - there is hours of training and preparation to create that illusion, as every player is adhering to clear structures and roles.
• The Pies will be looking to continue the momentum this week when they head to Stafford to take on Wilston-Grange.  Two close losses to the Gorillas in 2017 cost the Pies a finals berth, so we certainly owe them one!
• On that theme, interestingly the Pies will come up against a recent team-mate and club junior Luca Mason who opted for an 'in-season switch' of allegiance.  Should be an interesting day for the youngster.
• The only dampener on the big Sandgate win was injury to Dylan Adkins who will likely miss this week, at least its an injury and not a poorly timed birthday shindig!  With the bye only a week away, if he does miss, hopefully its just a week.
• SAVE THE BUMP - Jack Goodall was involved in 2 massive collisions early in the match, he won the first battle but the 2nd caught him off guard as he was 'ironed out' with a good old fashioned bump.  He's made of stern stuff though, and was back to his feet laying a tackle within seconds and continued his good form and battled manfully throughout the 2nd half in the ruck against a couple of big units!
• The Reserves and Woodies also had good wins over the weekend, with the Reserves boosting their %  by 36 to 114 to lift them into 5th place (the Seniors lifted by 33% to 138%) and the Woodies re-claiming top spot with a big win over UQ.
• Tommy Ielasi once again showed his class with another polished display. Arguably the best kick at the club off either foot, and his ability to pinpoint targets off one step is a great asset.
• Forwards Kale Reed and Anthony Corrie were also rewarded for several weeks of effort with 3 goals each.  Reed's forward pressure was a highlight, and he also hit up the ground and brought his teammates into the game.  Corrie provides great direction and a target up forward that demands respect, his forward 50 ruckwork is also underrated just quietly!
• Zach Collison played his first match for the Pies in the Reserves and was joined by younger brother Finn.  Both are what can be described as having tall, lithe builds but both throw themselves at the contest and cannot be missed with their mops of hair.
• The Reserves had a few small livewire forwards on fire on Saturday with Max Webber, Sam Parker and Colts player Chris Jenkins in his first match in the reserves.  Jenkins has good ball skills and knows where the goals are, he should be pushing himself to greater heights this year.
• Good to see Harry Marshall sneak forward for a goal in the Reserves to join regular defender Sean Mewing amongst the goals.  We think this would have to be Harry's first goal for the Pies, Sean McEvoy could have joined them but another shanked attempt cost him.  Might be time for Lasho to give up and leave him in D50 where he belongs!
• The Magpie Colts sure have a stop start year, with their schedule reading bye, match, bye, match, bye - makes you wonder why other clubs didn't support an extended Colts season to make up for Sandgates withdrawal.
• Despite having no opportunity to build momentum, they sit 3rd on % and take on the 2nd placed Wislton Grange this week in a big match, cooincidentally the Gorillas are also coming off a bye in a quirk of fixturing - should be a cracker!
• Bit of chat about the AFL introducing zones, one can only hope this is a joke. The local U/10 side can't wait to get out of their zones! Like many of us - they might just give it away if they don't leave the bloody game alone!
• Bit of temptation at lower levels of footy to always play your best players on the ball, the Woodies have recently switched Matt Hockley to CHF after flogging him unchanged in the midfield for 12 months.  The reward?  Hauls of 6,6,3 and 7 goals in the most recent 4 week stretch!
• Will be good to see Logan Murray back this week, he'll be itching to go after a long pre-season and a carry-over suspension from 2017.
• It looked like it could be the end of the road for the Club President in the Woodsmen on Friday night, ironed out early and sporting a cracking shiner - he was then unceremoniously dominated in the ruck to the point where he didn't bother competing at some centre bounces.  At the end of the game, he vigorously enquired as to the identity of his conqueror and was told it was a recently arrived US College Baskeballer who has a decent vertical leap.  Old Thommo was said to have felt much better upon that news!
• Speaking of old dogs, 2017 B&F Winner Gareth Crawford has been drinking from the fountain of youth, how good has his recent form been?  #evergreen
• The Woodsmen won on Friday night 14.15-99 to 3.4-22.  When team manager Craig Nipperess asked those who kicked goals to let him know, the final tally came to 22 - seems honesty isn't always the best policy.  (usual suspect Chris Mihalopoulous was correctly awarded just the 1 after claiming 5, but there was still a phantom goal in the end as Brenton Hocking was robbed of his debut goal in the books)
• Couple of 150 game milestones this week, more on that elsewhere - but the Magpies will be looking to celebrate some big ones this year.