Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life – “Oh yes, Ferocity”

 

True Believers, all.

Yes, round 12 was our bye. Now it’s round 13

I think the next four games will decide our season.  Freo, Hawthorn, Port and the Eagles, in successive weeks.  If we can ‘do alright‘ (say: 2 wins from 4) we deserve to stay in the top of the Ladder.  If we do ‘really well‘ (3 from 4) we can start getting excited.  If we ‘do poorly’ (1 or no wins from 4), we can continue to look on 2015 as a “Rebuild Year”.  How are you seeing the season unfolding? Remember we were in a similar Ladder position last year at this time.  ‘All Australian’ halfway through the season. Well done, Pendles & Billy.  In 2010, I recall that we had six ‘All Australians’ by the end of the year – still a way to go, particularly relating to consistency.  We are getting people into the Teams of the Week, but they tend to be different people; which, of course, you can also see as a positive.

This week?  Freo in Perth on Thursday, 25th June.  Bounce at 6.10pm (local) 8.10pm (Eastern).

 

THEM AND US:

Us: Halfway through the season; 1st versus 4th; both of us coming off Byes. Is that useful yet?  Probably not given the sort of season we are having.  Freo are on top of the Ladder, but they were beaten fairly comprehensively (and easily) by Richmond the week before last (actually I really rate Richmond.  Don’t discount them yet).  And Freo have had a few close ones also recently – winning against the Gold Coast: 53 – 46 last week (though seen by some (David Baker (WA Today’s token Pom)) as a good demonstration of “winning ugly” in the rain, good preparation for the Finals) and against Adelaide the week before the Richmond loss 68 – 57.  They set themselves up early in the season by winning well against Port, Geelong, West Coast and Sydney in the first four Rounds; and they’ve had a variety of opponents in the middle who they have also beaten (frequently by a lot) – Melbourne, Essendon, Bulldogs and North. So their performance is not without blemish and I don’t see them as unbeatable.  The Richmond win really showed how to win against them – run like hell for four Quarters. And Richmond didn’t even shut down Sandilands or Fyffe (both amongst Freo’s Best).  They are always much better at home and the biased crowd will have an impact.

I enjoyed this on Buck’s view: “I actually said to the players after the game ‘we’ve done nothing yet’. But for 20 hours that sat on my mind. I stood in front of them (on Monday) and said ‘that (statement) was wrong’,”   What do we need to do?  Ferocity, first and foremost for four Quarters.  We need to broadly match the Midfield battle – Witts and the Mids in the Centre, Grundy (hopefully) around the ground (see the comments below about ‘Third man up rucking’).  Fyfe – tag him – maybe Adams?  Passage to goal?  Maybe consider Trav and Grundy as a CHF line with White (or Karnezis) and the Smalls Forward and crumbing. This would free up an extra into the Backline.   Ins & Outs? Who was the idiot who thought Brownie might like a rest last game?  What a game he played on young Cameron.  Pretty hard to change a successful line up. Finding places when a few are ready to come up from the Two’s is going to be interesting. Who would you drop to bring in Reid – into defence or attack?  Same, same Greenwood (18 touches in a Quarter last week, in playing three Quarters)? What else? Oh yes, ferocity.  Your views?

Them:  I don’t know any Freo supporters. Firstly, Crowley will be missing for most of the rest of the season courtesy of the WADA. As Ladder leader, Freo should be, and are, favourites: $1.25 c/f $3.90. They have a numbers of major achievers – watch for Fyffe (not sure what the betting on Fyffe for the Brownlow is – maybe you’d get a return of $0.51 for a $0.50 bet?), All Australian ruckman Sandilands and Neale (also AA, so far), Mundy, Barlow,  plus a few others, but note my comments above relating to Richmond’s win even with Sandilands and Fyffe amongst Freo’s Best.

 

My picks?  Pies by 11; BOG – Adams; Goals: Trav – 2, Elliott – 4.  10 goal scorers.

 

Weather?  OK, Perth – 7 to 19 deg; mostly sunny (except that it will be dark with lights on, by the Bounce) with light winds.

 

TV?  Check local guides.

 

OTHER:

Eddie Watch:

The Twos: Check the names on the Playing List – Mick’s boy, Ned and Damian’s boy, Ben;

Ruck duel rules.

And while I’m at it, because we were talking about Mick above, go back to 1994 and watch Mighty Mick’s Run (in my humble view, second only to the “smother of the millenium” in the footy moments you can watch over and over and over), because we can.

 

To misquote an Australian icon (who is actually a Saints’ supporter; used to be their Number 1 Ticket Holder): “Do yourself a favour and make a comment“.

 

Go Pies.

Comments

  1. Cam Hooke says

    Thanks, Ed. Actually Thursday would be good in the lead-in comment pls?

    I’ve been reminded that the Pies have a pretty ordinary record regarding post-Bye games over the last few years:

    2014 21point Loss to Crows;
    2013 35 point Loss to Port;
    2012 3 point Win over WC; and
    2011 3 point Loss to Cats .

    Thanks Pat. Go Pies.

Leave a Comment

*