Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life: Carlton down, Adelaide next

True Believers, g’day; a good weekend – two from two.  Let’s hope it is the start of a trend, not a one-off. Let’s start ‘believing’?

 

AFL:

Match Report – http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2018/3/carl-v-coll.

 

Bucks – http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/video/2018-04-07/buckley-reviews-friday-nights-win.  Pretty happy for some of the game; acknowledges the need to play for the whole game.

 

The game. For the first 14 minutes of the 1^st Quarter Carlton were clearly in charge – Casboult kicked their 3^rd Goal at 14.18; Hoskin-Elliott got our first at 15.16 (and second a couple of minutes later) (Did you know you can hold your breath for 14 minutes?  I discovered that! Of course, I was pretty relaxed by Half Time).  And in the 2^nd Half we were dead even; in fact Carlton won both Quarters.  The balance of the 1^st Quarter and the 2^nd Quarter, however, was unbelievable – why we watch footy; why we support the Pies?  It was magnificent. It was the performance that we know we can produce.  Rotating midfielders through the Forward Line achieved what I have been ‘suggesting’ (‘screaming about’ works too) – get smalls into the Forward Line to crumb.  They did and they produced – see http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2018-04-07/eyes-look-ahead-for-winning-magpies. I note that the Match Preview picked a win to Carlton, as did a bunch of experts.  I love it when they are totally wrong.

 

Best: Agree; but I would add Varcoe.  He had three critical Goal Assists early on and did some great work applying ‘pressure’.  I’m really impressed with our Back 6 (or 7) – Very calm under pressure and great support to each other. And isn’t young Brown showing maturity beyond his years?  Great performance. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-04-06/pies-say-goodnihgt-to-blundering-blues. Very glad Steele wasn’t dealt with too harshly – yes, it was there, but there was no intent or malice.

 

Numbers:

• Hit outs 37 (Pies)/36 (Blues) also recorded, to the Pies, as +1 (the caution here is to be aware of the total numbers – a plus or minus 5 out of 35 is not a lot, but out of 15 it is) – Equal.
• Clearances 33/36: -3  – Equal.
• Inside 50s  50 / 55: -5 – Equal.
• Marks inside 50  15 / 7: +8. Seriously not equal.  Okay for us.  I would expect Carlton’s coach looking at a nearly 10:1 ratio of entries to marks would not be happy.
• Scoring shots  20 / 21: -1 – Back equal to the Inside 50s. This means that either they were very good or we were pretty ordinary.
• Goals  16 / 11: +5 (is that a lot – yes). Better for us.

 

Lessons.  The numbers, spread over the whole game are a bit meaningless; worth checking by Quarter.  What do they mean?  Well, as you expect, the Hit outs, Clearances and Entry Inside 50 were pretty well matched.  But, for once, what’s not matched is the next steps.  We were twice as effective at Marking inside 50 and then converting that to Goals.  Much better than previous weeks. Also much better: Disposal Efficiency: Scharenberg – 88.9%, Pendles – 81%, Steele – 82.4, Thomas – 80%, Grundy – 76%, and Treloar – 73.1% to highlight a few.  I’d love to see the numbers, by Quarter.

 

Next:

Round 4 – Friday, 13 April; bounce 7.50pm (AEST); in Adelaide.  Go to: http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2018/4/adel-v-coll (when it is there).  Teams – Thursday night. Want to make a Buck?  I note that we are $4.85 to Win compared with Adelaide’s $1.18.  I can’t bring myself to do that and be guilty of ‘putting the mockers on’ the team.

 

Them?  Adelaide are deservedly sitting towards the top of the Ladder.  Leaving aside their ‘training run’ against St Kilda last week, their Grand Final replay demolition of Richmond the week before in Adelaide was very impressive.  What about Round 1, I hear you say? – Week 1 ‘Blues’ losing to Essendon at Etihad.  Who knows.

 

Who to watch for?  Eddie Betts, as always – his opponent needs to be able to turn inside him, and Seedsman, always good to watch ‘family’ (ex-Collingwood) members.  Critically, and it’s very early days, Adelaide players performing include Laird on their Half Forward Line and a few in the Midfield, especially Gibbs (Centre) and Sloane (Ruck Rover).  Their performance against Richmond was a whole team effort, not reliant on individuals.  We can only counter that with a whole-team effort rather than seeking to nullify a couple of individuals.  We have shown we can do that, albeit not for a whole game.  We need to do that.

 

For us?  Regardless of my comments over the past few weeks regarding getting ‘smalls’ into the Forward Line, we achieved that last week effectively through the Midfield rotation.  The only player I thought who warrants replacement is Cox, though I’m always aware that it is unfair to base it on one game.  But, excluding his week off, I don’t think he has performed this year.  We need more. Otherwise, no change.

 

My pick:  Okay, Adelaide in Adelaide.  Pies to Win by 29 points.  Elliott back, gets 6; Reid gets 4.  BOG: Elliott.  Your pick, noting that my pick of a Pies’ win by 47 points wasn’t too far off the mark; especially at Three Quarter time?

 

TV – FTA on 7mate.  From 7.30pm.

 

Other games?  What happened in Perth?  At the Final Break I was lamenting the turn-around after Half Time, suggesting you could describe the Third Quarter as one for the history books.  And this got worse a few minutes into the Final Quarter.  Then the Eagles piled on six goals in quick succession to take the points.  In the Half a total of 13 goals were scored at one end of the ground against 3 at the other.  Others – Brisbane went close; GWS went down to Sydney, (I was surprised) and Adelaide demolished St Kilda – hopefully that will lead them to be over-confident next week (maybe?).

 

VFL:

 

Collingwood 31.15.201 defeated Northern Blues 11.5.71.  http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2018-04-07/vfl-selfless-pies-crush-blues

 

Blair, Mayne and De Goey amongst the Best; Elliott and Fasolo also both performed.

 

Next: Round 2 – Saturday, 14 April; bounce: 2.00pm; Port Melbourne vs Collingwood, North Port Oval.  Anyone going?

 

AFLW:

 

Chloe Molloy won both the Best First Year Player and Best and Fairest awards, closely followed by Garner and Bernardi. Well done to all, but especially Chloe.

 

Netball:

 

Okay the season hasn’t stated yet.  But to impress your friends with your encyclopedic sporting knowledge, the following Commonwealth Games update on Netball is offered:

 

• Australia is in Pool A with Wins over Northern Ireland and South Africa, both reasonably comfortably, so far.  Today’s game will be against Fiji with the game against Jamaica, likely to be closest, on Wednesday. It’s good having a TV in your office – Fiji game on now – progress score: Australia 93 / Fiji 18 going into the Final Quarter;  with just a little ‘body contact’ between the players. I suspect we might win. You don’t get a perspective watching on TV – the players are actually very large; and who suggested it was a non-contact sport – very exciting.
• How is the likely opposition travelling?  Well, England beat Uganda 54 to 52 and the much vaunted New Zealand Silver Ferns Lost to Malawi 53 to 57.Whatever?

 

The rest?  Go to: http://www.bbc.com/sport/commonwealth-games/results/sports/netball/netball-women.  Go girls.  Do you have a favourite Commonwealth Games moment yet?

 

VFLW: No change. 5 May start.

 

Wheelchair Footy: No change. Go to http://www.sports.org.au/wcaussierules/.

 

Other:

 

• Eddie Watch.  Caught some of his commentary on other games – very excitable is our Eddie.
• Spelling?  Yep; just a trifle embarrassing. Nice words about Steele’s performance, but still embarrassing.  Go to  http://www.footyalmanac.com.au/round-3-carlton-v-collingwood-the-man-of-steele/.
• Footy Almanac.  Go to: http://www.footyalmanac.com.au/.
• Other Canberra Sport?

–        GWS: Saturday, 14 April; bounce: 1.45pm vs Fremantle Dockers at Manuka.  Be there and let the AFL ‘masters’ know that Canberra supports footy.  Wear your Pies’ shirt;

–        Brumbies away; and

–        Raiders: Saturday, 14 April; kick-off 7.35pm vs Parramatta.

 

Reporting?  Thanks to those who have given us feedback.  Much appreciated.  C’mon, let’s get into it.

 

Go Pies,

Cam