Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life – 2018 Round 9: A Win Is a Win Is a Win

 

Well a win is a win is a win. And we’ll always take the points.

 

AFL

 

But it wasn’t impressive. There were times to like (like the start of the 2nd Quarter and most of the 3rd) but other periods of pretty boring, unstructured football. A proposal: ‘The Mercy Rule – https://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-05-20/nine-things-we-learned-from-round-nine

 

Against the list – Where do we go from here?

 

– Round 9 – Saturday, 19 May; 7.20pm – St Kilda ES Win.

 

– 10 – Friday, 25 May; 7.50pm – WB Next; see below.

 

– 11 – Sunday, 3 June; 3.20pm – Dockers

 

– 12 – Monday (QB Holiday) 11 June; 3.20pm – Melbourne

 

– 13 – Bye

 

So, we should expect to go into the second half of the season on 8 Wins (32 Points on the Ladder) from 12 games; a sound basis which should have us in the Eight and heading for the Finals. The final run might be challenging.

 

And we are off and running. Let’s keep it up.

 

Match Reports: https://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2018/9/stk-v-coll and https://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-05-19/five-talking-points-st-kilda-v-collingwood

 

Buck’s comments: http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/video/2018-05-19/raw-buckley-reflects-on-etihad-win

 

Others’ Observations: Well done to Howe, Pendles and De Goey making the Team of the Week – http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-05-22/kane-cornes-team-of-the-week-r9-who-makes-it (pretty awful pictures of each).

 

Numbers:

 

– Frees: 27 (us) to 17 (them). There you go, John – destruction of ‘the myth’.

 

– Hit outs: 44 (us) / 20 (them). Good work by Grundy (as usual), but if he gets the tap and it goes to the opposition that is not useful. See next step.

 

– Clearances: 36 / 33. Given the advantage from the Hit-Outs this loss of the statistical advantage, again, really tells the story of the game – the burden this places on our Backline is significant. Yes, when we get the Clearance, things flow; we need to work on converting Hit Outs to Clearances.

 

– Inside 50s: 55 / 55. About what you’d expect given the Clearances.

 

– Marks inside 50s: 15 / 10. Both sides should see this transition into the 50 to marks as pretty awful; we were slightly less awful.

 

– Scoring shots: 25 / 22.

 

– Goals: 15 / 10. Good kicking.

 

Best: De Goey, Sidebottom, Pendles, Howe, Crisp and Phillips. A pretty fair team effort across the ground.

 

Effort. Our Contested Possessions and Tackles reflected our application (CP: 139 (us) / 140 (them) and T: 59 / 50).

 

Disposal Efficiency? Better across the board: we had 6 players with DE under 70%; them – 7 – less pressure?

 

Lessons:
– Let’s start with a couple of other teams’ games. Did you watch any of the West Coast / Richmond game? Note the delivery into the 50 – low and hard and directed to a receiver. And the 2nd Half of the Brisbane / Hawthorn game – same. I wasn’t surprised by either result. Hawthorn beat Brisbane in Inside 50s (52 to 51) but lost hugely in terms of Scoring Shots (29 to 18) and Goals (20 to 11). There are lessons here. What we have to do is recognise them.

 

– Same as nearly every week, when we got the Clearance from the stoppage we dominated; unfortunately, mostly, so did they. The transition from Hit Out to Clearance is not good enough. If we want to maximise the team’s performance the single improvement that would have the most effect would be to better convert Hit Outs to Clearances.

 

– Cox-free comment zone this week (mostly).

 

– Injuries. Fas? Not sure what is going on.

 

Your thoughts?

 

Next

 

Round 10. Versus the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium (again) on Friday, 25 May; bounce: 7.50pm.

 

Match Preview http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2018/10/coll-v-wb. The betting, there already, has us favourites ($1.42 to $2.90). To follow on from my comments, above about delivery into the 50: “In their most recent clash in round one last year, Collingwood had 39 more disposals, took more marks, doubled the Dogs in hit-outs, had one more scoring shot and 17 more inside 50s, but trailed at every change as the Dogs posted a 14-point win”: Ben Collins. The lesson?

 

Them. The Dogs are sitting 13th on the Ladder just a little behind us on 10th. They have had four Wins over Essendon (R3), Carlton (R6), Gold Coast (R7) and Brisbane (R8) but have been hammered in many of their Losses to GWS, WCE, Freo and Adelaide (last week); closer Loss to Sydney in R4. Players to watch for: Bontempelli (CHF), Macrae (rover), Hunter (Centre) and Dalhaus (Forward).

 

Us.?
– Team? Consider Sier in place of Fas; Reid, if cleared in place of Cox and consider McLarty in as back-up ruck. Maybe Greenwood onto the Bont?

 

– Game Plan? Emphasise the low, hard passes to a target inside the 50; stop the ‘up and unders’. Like in the Adelaide game, I recall a comment early on “Collingwood hasn’t had a pass over head height”. Do likewise. Convert Hit Outs to Clearances – critical.

 

Picks? Pies by 31 points. BOG – Greenwood with 19 Disposals at 97.3% but restricting the Bont to 11 possessions. Reid and De Goey each get 5 Goals. Your thoughts?

 

TV? Yes. FTA on 7mate from 7.30pm.

 

Reporting? Let’s get into it, please.

 

VFL

 

A terrific Win 10.12.72 over Coburg 7.5.47. Still sitting second on the Ladder behind Richmond on percentage. Well done.

 

Match Report at http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2018-05-19/vfl-pies-outlast-lions and http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2018-05-19/vfl-pies-in-good-shape Who did well? https://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-05-20/around-the-state-leagues-whos-starring-for-your-club

 

Next: Round 8 – Saturday, 26 May versus Footscray at Whitten Oval; bounce 11.00am. Note that the VFLW game follows immediately after at the same location so you could catch two games. Anyone going? Report pls?

 

Magpies Netball

 

“Defending champions Sunshine Coast Lightning survived a furious Collingwood Magpies comeback with a drought-breaking 52-50 Suncorp Super Netball win at Margaret Court Arena. The Lightning led by eight heading into the final term and had won all three previous quarters to have the game in their control. But the Magpies stormed back to within two goals in the last quarter with a 15-9 run.” Well done, ladies; great effort; onward and upward.

 

Match Report: https://supernetball.com.au/2018/05/20/lightning-claim-first-win-in-season-2/ and https://wwos.nine.com.au/2018/05/20/15/52/lightning-off-the-mark-in-super-netball.

 

Next: Sunday, 27 May; tip-off 1.00pm versus NSW Swifts at Quaycentre, Olympic Park, Sydney. Any grandmothers in Sydney visiting family going? Report pls? Good luck, ladies; we’re with you always – ‘Side by Side’. Preview: http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/Show.aspx?sh=SWIFTS0518

 

VFLW

 

Well done, ladies – a great result 9.3.57 over Richmond 2.2.14.

 

Match Report at http://websites.sportstg.com/round_info.cgi?a=MATCH&fixture=124989016&c=1-118-0-478229-0&pool=1 with statistics / teams / game play.

 

Next: Round 4 – Saturday, 26 May; bounce 2.00pm versus Western Bulldogs at Olympic Park Oval – follows the VFL game. Get to both? Report pls?

 

VWFL

 

The Robert Rose Foundation VWFL also started this weekend: For background go to: http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2018-05-04/wheelchair-competition-set-to-commence and http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2018-03-18/it-ignited-the-light.

 

Next: Sunday, 27 May; Pies Bye.

 

Other

 

Eddie Watch. Quiet again.
Other Sports – Canberra:
– GWS – Not until 11 August;

– Raiders – Home vs Manly; 25 May; kick-off 6.00pm; and

– Brumbies – Away; versus Bulls in South Africa.

 

AFLW List Changes? http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2018-05-21/aflw-pair-of-pies-depart-for-arden-street. Interesting.

 

Don’t forget to check The Footy Almanac.

Comments

  1. george smith says

    Is it my imagination or was there no match report in The Age about this game. Either that or it was very hard to find. The Daily Rupert match report was safely behind the paywall, so no luck there either. Eventually i went to the AFL website for analysis. Yes I should have bought the paper, but I’m in Sydney!

    Schrodinger’s Cat watch: still no activity on definitively opening the box, but the Shennys are ready to pounce, replacing our hero with Sheldon, leaving both Leonard and Magpie supporters with a broken heart and a dead cat to bury…

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