Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life 2025: Round 1 Review / Round 2 Preview

 

Hi all.

 

What a game? I’ve reinforced a number of times that Port are not ‘easy-beats’; especially at home in Adelaide. But this one was back at the G, thankfully.

 

I loved the AFL website heading for the game Match Report:    “Too old, too slow, too good.”

 

Round 1

 

Collingwood 21.10.136 defeated Port Adelaide 6.9.45.

 

Match Report – www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/6974#match-report

 

Coach’s comments – www.afl.com.au/video/1280505/mcrae-post-match-r1-we-took-a-step-forward-tonight?videoId=1280505&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1742041582001&references=AFL_MATCH:6974

 

Goals scored:

 

Q1                   6 (us) / 3 (them). A great start with Membrey’s three in the quarter;

Q2                   3 / 1. Following on;

Q3                   7 / 1 with Maynard’s pair bringing the house down;

Q4                   5 / 1 finishing – no slowing; no fade-out; and

Totals:             21 / 6.

 

Statistics

 

Some numbers to seek to identify where there was a substantial difference and how this impacted on the game:

 

Statistic	Numbers (us / them)	Comments
Hit Outs (HO)	34 / 37	A pretty irrelevant number, scored on the basis of who touches the ball first; doesn’t matter where it goes, that is HO to advantage, better assessed as Clearances. Close to equal.
Clearances	36 / 39	Centre clearances – 14 / 12; and Stoppage clearances – 22 / 27. To make any sense, the HO differential should be reflected in the Clearances, like here. Their advantage, however, is minimal. These numbers match my perception of the game. My view was thatdrive out of the Centre and at stoppages was pretty equally shared.
Inside 50s	65 / 48	The next step in the heading to Goal, broadly reflecting the Clearances. The gap here is huge, reflecting the success of our Backline defence and the drive forward.
Disposal Efficiency (DE)	75.5% / 70.3%	Pretty much on par. We were better, but not by much.
DE Inside 50	53.8% / 39.6%	The distinction here is the ‘game winner’. Clearly with a nearly 15% advantage, our scoring success would, and did, reflect this.
Player numbers with DE > 80%	9 / 4	Linked with DE throughout the game. The spread of efficient players contributed.
Free Kicks	19 / 18	I thought the umpiring was much improved, compared with last week.Inconsistencies still exist – Sidebottom & Hill both had 3 FA. Wines & Lukosious were the most penalized of PA with 2 FA. Nice to see Maynard not record FA or FF.
Contested Possession (CP)	130 / 123	Combined, the difference in the two aspects reflects the team style of play. Each team, led by our domination of each category, sought to dominate the game, holding onto the ball. There were substantial periods when the ball was locked in our attacking half..
Uncontested Possession (UCP)	247 / 232
Turn-overs (TO)	66 / 79	One they Won, to no effect. I think the willingness to take risks is part of this,
Marks	91 / 84	Not too different.
Marks inside 50	17 / 12	Critical re goal-scoring. Contested marks – 11 / 2. Our ‘talls’ (plus Elliott) dominated. Is Elliott’s successful grab MOTY?
Tackles	68 / 43	Reflected the difference to last week and the difference between the teams. Our team were here to play. The multiple tacklers was impressive.
Tackles inside 50	14 / 6	Critical re goal-scoring.
1%’ers	48 / 38	Spoils and defensive actions. I haven’t gone back to add up the numbers, but this difference is, again, reflecting their domination of effort.

 

Crowd: 63, 282. What percentage were Pies’ supporters? 

 

 

Best:

 

The AFL website identifies Collingwood’s Best as:

 

• Houston,
• Sidebottom,
• Membray,
• McStay,
• NickD,
• Crisp, and
• Long.

 

I don’t disagree with any of those identified or the order (well, not too much, anyway). Your thoughts? Much better commitment throughout the four Quarters.

 

The inclusion of Membray and Houston in the Best, and Perryman could easily have been added, the Club should be happy that their recruiting has been so successful. Add Long from the VFL List last year and McStay and the picture is very positive. What is most critical is that each of the newbies seems to have fitted into the team.

 

Darcy was much improved linking well with Houston.

 

Some Observations?

 

There was not much not to like about this performance. I thought that Port did not give up but tried to play to the end, regardless of how it looked.

 

The tackling was ferocious, with much by multiple tacklers. Further there was great attention to ground balls, coming out of packs or tackles. The blunting of attacks into their Forward line and our drive out of our Backline was terrific. Additionally, the varied delivery into our Forward line provided the basis for outstanding kicking efficiency. And the Midfield? They worked both directions and contributed hugely.

 

We really enjoyed many of the linked ball passages out of the Backline through to scoring. Did anyone not enjoy Maynar5d’s pair of goals and Elliott’s screamers – one successful, one not.

 

It was a game to enjoy and feel part of. My congratulations to those who were there, linked with substantial envy.

 

 

Round 2

 

Friday, 21^st March – Western Bulldogs versus Collingwood at the MCG; bounce at 7.40pm.

 

This is our third game in 12 days, compared with WB’s second in 6. We might have every right to be a trifle weary.  See later comments re selections.

 

Them

 

The Bulldogs finished the H&A season last year in 6^th place on the Ladder. Their Loss to Hawthorn in the FW1 finals saw their elimination.  That said, their last few games of the H&A season saw them beat Sydney, Melbourne and GWS. They defeated Hawthorn in their pre-season in Tasmania and, more importantly beat North in R1 at Marvel with a margin of 16 Points.

 

So, right now they are sitting in 6^th place on the Ladder below our 4^th place. Betting for a Win by them currently sits at $2.17 against our favouritism figure of $1.69.

 

Again, the WB are a quality team, badly damaged by injuries to key players (see below). Their focus on the Midfield and CHB / CHF should lead us to make greater use of the flanks rather than the corridor..

 

Based on performances last year, their most recent games against us and their most recent Community practice match plus Round 1, players to watch are:

 

• Liberatore – Rover;
• English – Ruck;
• Darcy – Ruck;
• Richards – Wing / Rover, noting his family links to Ron and Lou Richards. Might also be injured; and
• Naughton – CHF.

 

The WB are missing a number of key players injured – Bontempelli, Treloar, Jones and Weightman. As such, there may be a number of new faces – watch for Garcia – HF, Davidson – ? and McNeil – ?. And we don’t need to be concerned with Finlay McRae’s brother Jack as he’s moved to St Kilda.

 

Notable is their Best focus on their midfield players, even without Bontempelli and Treloar. The solution, as always, Win the Midfield battle, Win the Game.

 

Us

 

The MCG again; I love it. We have the personnel, the experience and the game plan to beat every other team as we demonstrated yesterday. I hope the Magpie Army turns out in force for the first MCG game.

 

Selections:

 

• Probably no change, though Cox and De Goey would be fine additions. Maybe rest Howe and Schultz; Pendles into the run-on team, with Cox the sub? Your views?

 

Game Plan – adjusted from previous weeks? 

 

• Application. Nothing is more important. Measure application through Tackles and Contested Possessions

 

• Taggers. Tagging role for Sidey; Frampton – hard lock-down role.

 

• Midfield Management. Pendles guidance to the collective Midfield.

 

• Rucks. McStay was a competent 2^nd ruck supporting Cameron. Cox is a terrific Forward target and Cameron made the All-Australian Team (My apologies for my error last week). My view has been that neither are traditional rucks. That said, not too many of the other teams have a traditional ruck. English is a very highly regarded ruck. Need to consider our options for this game.

 

• Passing. Accuracy of passes by foot and hand. Critical – watch the individual DE figures.

 

• Drive. Drive out of the Backline is a key part of our gameplan. Be prepared to cross the field, even to kick backwards to change the direction. A minor point that has brought us undone on occasion, – “yes”, to ‘play on’, but know where your opponents are, particularly in front of goal.

 

• Kicking for Goal. Ball delivery to the best goal-kicking position. Be prepared to acknowledge difficult shots on goal and willing to pass the ball inside the 50 to a better placed teammate. See below- I value GA (goal assists mor highly than actual goals scored. The game against Richmond and last weekend (yesterday) – unbelievable accuracy;

 

• Tackles. A major success against Port. The perennial complaint: “Hold your tackles!”; and

 

• Umpires. Get the umpires to the Club to explain what happened in the GWS game. Did this happen?

 

Our Aim?

 

Be happy. Our team has been noticeably happier than most other teams, though this was not the case in Sydney. They usually smile and laugh when things work and, importantly, when they don’t. They actually look like they’re enjoying the game. We should follow their lead and enjoy the game from our perspective, even when things don’t work.

 

Weather? Forecast for Melbourne is for possible light showers. Let that sway decisions by players to wear traditional boots with stops rather than plastic, moulded sole boots.

 

TV? FTA on 7mate or 7+.

 

Winner’s pick?

 

 

• Pies by 19 Points. BOG – De Goey with 31 Disposals, closely followed by Houston, hugely dominating in the Backline. Important up Forward was Hill with 3 Goal Assists, followed by Mihocek with 3 Goals.

 

Ground Reports? Is anyone going? Reports please? But if you aren’t going to be there, I’d especially like to hear from the armchair warriors watching from afar?  More please.

 

Next?

 

Bye.

 

Other:

 

• Anything?

 

See ya,

 

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

 

Cam

 

 

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