Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life 2025: Finals Week 3 – Collingwood v Brisbane

 

Then there were four!

 

A side-step. We attended the Canberra Raiders / Brisbane Broncos NRL game yesterday as guests of our son. Many thanks. The Raiders Lost by 1 Point in the Golden Point period, following a period of extra time. It was a great game of League involving a fantastic recovery by the Broncos from a 28 to 12 Points deficit, with 11 men on the field. The game, however, was marred by poor refereeing, particularly of head-butting incidents (the plural is intended). Next weekend? Another home game for the Raiders, this time against Penrith, so there’s a financial benefit for the Club – the ground was full; expect the same next week. Best of luck to the Raiders. An observation: Tempers on and off the field were high as the game progressed. An incident a couple of rows from us involved serious punches by an attacker on a much smaller and, I think, younger opponent sitting in front of him. The Security staff called by the crowd were unwilling to intervene – quite extraordinary watching them congregated below the incident chatting with each other, but without taking any action to intervene. The attacker (and his mates) was ejected only when the Police arrived. I was left wondering what the Security staff are actually paid for, regardless of the highly publicised message about behaviour. Any thoughts?

 

Back to the footy. Who’s left? I expect Geelong to beat Hawthorn, but expect a seriously tough game, leading to a Pies (see below) / Cats GF.

 

Go Pies!

 

FW3 – 1^st Preliminary Final

 

Saturday, 20^th September 2025 Collingwood versus Brisbane at the MCG; bounce 5.15pm.

 

Most recently (R21), Brisbane defeated us at the MCG by 27 Points, fairly represented by a scoring shots deficiency 15 (us) / 22 (them) resulting from the Clearance deficiency 34 / 51, an Inside 50s deficiency 45 / 48 and a huge Disposal Efficiency Inside 50 37.8% / 50.0%. Critically this game included Brisbane’s dominance in Q3 in Clearances 9 / 20 and goals scored 1 / 4. This was their first Win over us at the G since 2014. Coach McRae stated “we were outplayed by a really good team”. Earlier this Season (R6), we “crushed” Brisbane at the Gabba by 52 Points, again fairly represented by the scoring shots, on this occasion to our benefit, 25 / 18. This included our dominance in Clearances – 36 / 26, Inside 50s – 51 / 37 and DE I50 – 56.8% / 52.9%. The desperation in this earlier game was typified by Bobby’s run-down tackle of Zorko.

 

But, no surprise to me, Geelong beat Brisbane in FW1 by 38 Points at the G. What was a surprise to me was Brisbane’s demolition of the Gold Coast by 53 Points. I was looking forward to a Pies / Suns PF when we could all (both side’s supporters) stand and applaud Noble when he ran on. Not to be.

 

Back to our game – Betting? $1.69 (Pies’ Win) / $2.17 (Lions’ Win). We are fairly substantial Favourites in spite of our H&A season.

 

Previous reporting, before and after our games this Season is at www.footyalmanac.com.au/cam-hookes-collingwood-life-2025-side-by-side-gather-round-review-round-6-preview/, www.footyalmanac.com.au/cam-hookes-collingwood-life-2025-round-6-review-round-7-preview/,www.footyalmanac.com.au/cam-hookes-collingwood-life-2025-round-20-review-round-21-preview/ and www.footyalmanac.com.au/cam-hookes-collingwood-life-2025-round-21-review-round-22-preview/.

 

Them

 

In their games against us this season and their recent Finals’ matches, a number of key points come out:

 

• Midfield. Of note is a description of Brisbane’s performance in their most recent game as providing a ‘Midfield master-class’. Their reliance on a dominating Midfield is key. Particular contributors are McLuggage – Centre / Rover, warranting a tag, Dunkley – RR and Neale, who is injured, expected missing;

• Backs. Zorko – BP provides drive forward out of their Backline, and Andrews – CHB managing the Backs; and

• Forwards / Scoring. From Morris at CHF and Rayner, wherever in the Forward line are key to scoring. As above, close defence is required on him.

 

Players to watch? Looking at their games against us this Season and their Finals’ games, the following stand out:

 

• Neale. Injured and unlikely to front, but on questioning admitted use of serious medical attention to resolve the issue. May front;
• McLuggage – Centre / Rover;
• Zorko – BP. Key to drive forward out of the Backline;
• Rayner – FP. Goal-kicker extraordinaire;
• Dunkley – RR;
• W & L. Ashcroft – Wing; and
• Andrews – CHB.

 

Also keep an eye on Charlie Cameron, like Hill also able to bust a game open, and Starcevich, because of his Collingwood family connection.

 

Of interest, our team members who have performed well at these games were NickD, JoshD, McStay, Pendles, Sidey, Schultz and Elliott. Your thoughts?

 

Crowd: Be nice the have the crowd on our side. While the location has run against Brisbane they have overturned that at our last meeting just as we did to the Gabba game earlier this season. Our last Loss at the G was a surprise.

 

Us:

 

Changes? The status of various injuries seems a bit moveable. The starting context might be to acknowledge there is no tomorrow if we’re not successful. Suggested changes:

 

• Outs: Parker, Lipinski and Membrey.

 

• Ins:  Howe – critical part (indeed, controller) of the Back 6, Hill – critically able to rip a game apart. Obviously, both if fit – and McStay – has performed well against Brisbane.

 

Your thoughts?

 

Game Plan – A couple of points:

 

• Application. Nothing is more important. Positives and negatives totally demonstrated in our last few games, particularly against Adelaide. And Attitude is King.

 

• Taggers. Tagging roles might be useful, particularly a specific tag on McLuggage, and a hard lock-down role on Rayner by Frampton? And protecting our players? That should also be key.

 

• Midfield Management. Pendles guidance / on-field coaching to the collective Midfield remains critical.

 

• Passing. Accuracy of passes by foot and hand is critical. Remember a misdirected pass, resulting in a turnover of the ball, passes possession to our opponent, immediately shifting control of the game to them. See later comment regarding kick-ins.

 

• Drive. Drive out of the Backline is a key part of our game plan. Kick-ins are a continuing issue – we need to have a plan that everyone knows and is able to implement.

 

• Kicking into the 50. High kicks into the 50 to packs, that we seem to revert to on occasion, is not the best avenue to the Forwards (or out of our Backline) even with Cox (if he was playing) or Cameron as targets. Much better avenues are lower, harder kicks to specific targets, moving in different directions to confuse the defenders. The speed of high kicks also allowed defenders to intercept or, at the least disrupt, the passage of the ball.

 

• Kicking for Goal. This has been pretty awful in our last few games. We need to exploit our dominance in Inside 50s by scoring goals. The players need to consider and apply the willingness to pass the ball inside the 50. The key players with the ability to kick the hard goal is laudable, but not always successful. Ball delivery needs to be to the best goal-kicking position. Importantly, scoring a Behind is a waste – for 1 Point, you hand over ball-possession to the opposition. It’s not worth it – get the ball into a better position.

 

• Tackles. Still a failing with some opponents spinning out of tackles or brushing off the tackler. This has been one of our strengths this season; we need to get it back like our Win over Adelaide. Love the multiple tacklers.

 

Our Aim? Be happy. Worth reinforcing – our team, yes, we are part of it, were incredibly dour during the OR game against GWS in Sydney; same against Hawthorn a couple of weeks or so ago; don’t remember what our collective attitude was when we played Brisbane . Everyone, players and supporters, need to get the smile back.

 

Summary? We should Win this game to keep our season going. Seek to Win well and take the pressure off us, long-suffering, Pies’ supporters.

 

Winning Selection. Collingwood to Win by 23 Points; BOG: NickD with 37 Disposals and 13 Clearances; Goal kickers Elliott – 4 goals; Hill & Mihocek – 2 each.

 

TV: Not out yet. Go to www.afl.com.au/broadcast-guide-premiership to follow, but expect FTA on 7 and/or 7mate. Or go to Kayo or Fox Footy depending on your like / dislike of the commentators.

 

Weather: Very high chance of light showers on game day following high chance of light rain the day before. It will be slippery. Go with the boots with ‘stops’.

 

Ground Reports? People going? Reports please? I’d especially like to hear from other armchair warriors watching from afar?

 

Other:

 

• AFLW – Where were we up to? Losses in R3 to Melbourne, by 4 Points, and North by 45 followed. A good Win against Sydney in R5 was our most recent result. Well done, ladies. Next, R6, is against Hawthorn (sitting 5^th on the Ladder against our 13^th place) on Saturday, 20 September at Vic Park; bounce at 12.35pm. Good luck, ladies.

 

• VFLW Grand Final – Collingwood 4.4.28 Lost to NMWerribee 5.4.34; a solitary kick. Ladies, well done; a great effort.

 

• Anything else, everyone? 

 

Next:

 

• Finals:

 

• FW4    Grannie – Collingwood versus Geelong.

 

This is our year; still believe! Always believe; never, ever give up! Go Pies.

 

Cam

 

 

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