Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life 2025: Round 20 Review / Round 21 Preview

G’day True Believers.

 

A funny thing happened on the weekend.

 

Prompted by one of our group, many thanks, I watched the Reserves’ game, Frankston versus the Pies, on Saturday night. There were to be a number of additions including De Goey, Hill, Macrae and Frampton plus Tom McGuane in his debut game for the Pies. What could go wrong? Well, for Q1, the Pies dominated, without exploiting their domination (seen that anywhere else?). After that Frankston cut loose. Let me emphasise, we didn’t play badly, they played magnificently. They imposed a degree of application that I haven’t seen by any team at any level. The Reserve statistics don’t include some important aspects like Disposal Efficiency unfortunately, but their ball-handling in wet, slippery conditions, was clean and impressive; and much better than ours. Broadly speaking, they out-marked us. Their tackling? Unbelievable. I’d like our AFL side to watch the game – some great lessons. Go to www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/1843267/frankston-too-good-for-pies to get an overview of the game or head to www.afl.com.au/vfl/matches/7429, checking Q2 and Q3 in the Timeline. Game highlights at www.afl.com.au/video/1375102/vfl-highlights-frankston-v-collingwood?videoId=1375102&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1753531849001&limit=50&tagNames=ProgramCategory%3AMatch%20Highlights&references=AFL_COMPSEASON%3A77%2CAFL_ROUND%3A1212.

 

It’s common to reflect on players moving from the VFL competition to the AFL that it’s a different game, in particular faster. I think the reverse also applies to those ‘usual’ AFL players included. Macrae did well pretty broadly. Hill kicked some goals. And Tom McGuane kicked his first major off the ground from a distance of about a metre (no bounces involved).

 

Our VFL side is currently placed 7^th on the Ladder. The Top 6 automatically go into the Finals; the teams placed 7^th to 10^th play off for two positions in the Finals. There are three H&A Rounds left, one of which is a Bye for us (good and bad). R19 is against Williamstown, currently placed 10^th; R21 is against Port Melbourne, currently placed 17^th. After this Loss to a team placed two spots below us on the Ladder, I’m not sure what either of these results will be.

 

Good luck, gentlemen. And to access the games on live, FTA TV, go to www.afl.com.au/fixture?Competition=7&Season=77&Round=1213. This site will, eventually, come up with “Watch live?” immediately before the bounce.

 

Go Pies.

 

 

Round 20

 

 

Collingwood 13.15.93 defeated Richmond 8.9.57.

 

Scoring shots: 28 (us) / 17 (them). That broadly reflects average kicking by both sides.

 

Match Report – www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/7131

 

Coach’s comments – www.afl.com.au/video/1376349/full-post-match-r20-magpies?videoId=1376349&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1753602725001 with a focus on team development, even at this late stage of the Season. Worth watching.

 

Goals scored:

Q1       3 (us) / 2 (them). Up and down, a bit. They held the lead late in the Quarter, held until early in Q2. Margin at QT + (positive) 8 Points;

Q2       4 / 2. More of the same, but better for us. Margin at HT + 20 Points;

Q3       5 / 3. Not much change. Margin at the Final break + 35 Points;

Q4       1 / 1. After we scored a pair of goals early in the Quarter giving us a 21 Point margin, they responded with four unanswered goals ultimately giving them the lead that we were unable to reverse; and

 

Total    11 / 12. Winning with a margin of 36 Points.

 

Statistics

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

 

Statistic	Us / Them			Comments
Disposals	423 / 365			Reflecting control of the game. Handball – 190 / 166.
Hit Outs (HO)	30 / 38			A not-useful number decided by whichever ruck touches the ball first. A better assessment is ‘HO to advantage’, which I don’t have. And a much, much better measure is under Clearances, below. Matched my assessment. I thought we were routinely beaten.
Clearances   Centre clearances: Stoppage clearances:	30 / 27     11 / 9   19 / 18			Our marginal dominance of Clearances is evident here. This should have been of some concern, though the next step reflecting Inside 50 numbers, solved any problems. This is a much better measure than the HO and should have indicated a minor advantage to us in the next steps – Inside 50s and, ultimately, our scoring. The subsequent advantage to us, however, reflected in the Inside 50s was pretty substantial.
Inside 50s	56 / 43			This was a huge difference positively reflecting that we had far more entries into goal-scoring positions. See DE below regarding how we used them.
Disposal Efficiency (DE)	74.7% / 72.9%			Across the whole game. Not hugely different. Next is what counts.
DE Inside 50	53.6% / 41.9%			This difference here is huge. This reflects an overall huge advantage to us. Linking Inside 50s and DE inside 50 mean we got the ball into the 50 (broadly, into a scoring position) more frequently, and we used it far more effectively (scored). This represents the summing of the different statistics and the irrelevance of some earlier ones.
Goals scored	13 / 8			The result. And frankly they scored a number of soft goals, including a 50m penalty shot.
Player numbers with game DE of 80%	10 / 11			Not substantially different.
Free Kicks	13 / 19			These numbers didn’t surprise me. I observed to one of our members that the umpires in considering an event requiring an assessed judgement nearly always penalise our players. In addition, it was the offences not identified rather than those that were that rankled. Consistent areas of concern – caught with ball, failure to dispose correctly, in the back in tackles, etc. There were a number of ‘late pushes after a mark’ not penalised; and some that were. Critically, it was the Frees awarded ‘at the death’ or close to our opponent’s goal that were of most concern.
Contested Possession (CP)	139 / 133			Interesting – we marginally dominated CP and dominated UCP by a greater margin. It reflects different styles of play with us happy to work in the midst of players; for them with greater emphasis on getting out of the crush. I like it when the ball is locked in our attacking half, of course, as it seemed to be for extended periods, but without useful scoring.
Uncontested Possession (UCP)	278 / 226
Turnovers	69 / 76			Reflecting a willingness to make a mistake?
Possession	41% / 43%			A small difference.
Marks   Marks inside 50 Contested marks	97 / 93   11 / 12 9 / 10			We were marginally dominant in marking.   The same. Also broadly the same.
Tackles   Tackles inside 50	57 / 39     8 / 5			This is an extraordinary advantage. It highlights our boys’ application. Importantly, the numbers Inside 50s, as above, contribute to scoring.
1%’ers	49 / 54			Spoils and defensive actions. Not too different.

 

Best:

The AFL website identifies Collingwood’s Best as:

 

• NickD;
• JoshD;
• Quaynor;
• Mitchell;
• Long; and
• Maynard.

 

The Coaches’ Votes identified:

 

• NickD – 10 votes;
• JoshD – 3 votes;
• Quaynor – 3 votes;
• Mitchell – 2 votes; and
• Maynard – 1 vote.

 

A good listing. Good to see, in particular, Quaynor and Long identified. Work by Cameron and Perryman in Clearances and Mihocek and Schultz up Forward are also worthy of note.

 

Your thoughts?

 

Crowd: 59,454. I’m disappointed given this was between two of the largest Clubs, both in Melbourne.

 

Result: This was a challenge to watch, more about reflecting the comparative competence of the teams than who would Win:

 

• I was always pretty confident about a Win. It was the degree of domination that I was concerned at. Even allowing for the Q4 wind down, we were reasonably ‘in charge’ throughout. The degree that domination is reflected on the scoreboard, however, needs to be pursued.
• The Winning margin could have been substantially greater.
• The speed with which we launched attacks out of the Midfield and Backline was fantastic – well done. See comments below regarding entry into the 50. But they, against the flow of the game, were able to use the corridor to achieve quick, accurate passes resulting in scores. Need to look at how to halt this.
• Our substantial dominance in Inside 50 numbers should be seen as a substantially greater number of times we were in a position to score. That, linked with our huge Inside 50 Disposal Effectiveness, resulted in our scoring dominance.
• We still badly need to put together a ‘Kick-in’ plan, both as a negative to stop their kick-ins and as a positive to facilitate ours. The kick-in following the scoring of a Behind is a cheap way of transferring ball-possession; the most critical part of using the ball.
• High kicks into the 50 to packs is not the best avenue to the Forwards (or out of our Backline) even with Cox (if playing) or Cameron as targets. Much better avenues are lower, harder kicks to specific targets. The speed of high kicks is also allowing defenders to intercept or, at the least disrupt, the passage of the ball.

 

In summary, we Won pretty comprehensively though they never gave up or stopped trying. Watch Richmond in the future.

 

Round 21

 

Saturday, 2^nd August Collingwood versus Brisbane at the MCG; bounce at 7.35pm.

 

This game is between us in 1^st place with 15 Wins and 4 Losses with a 135.0% percentage and them in 3^rd place with 13 Wins, 5 Losses and 1 Draw with a 110.8% percentage. The major difference is that we Lost two games recently and Brisbane Lost their most recent game by a huge margin. The question is, are these Losses significant:

 

Our Losses of substance:

R18     GC (placed 5^th on the Ladder)            by 6 Points      at PFS, GC; and

R19     Freo (placed 7^th)                                 by 1 Point        at the MCG; and

• Their Loss of substance:

R20     GC (placed 8^th)                                   by 66 Points    at PFS, GC.

 

Betting: As at 27 July – $1.59 (Pies’ Win) / $2.38 (Lions’ Win) adjusted to $1.60 / $2.34 on 28 July. Not sure why.

 

Them

Brisbane are the reigning Premiers, noting that they achieved this after finishing the 2024 H&A season in 5^th place on the Ladder. My view is still, they were lucky we missed out on getting into the Finals.

 

Brisbane started this Season well, achieving five Wins in a row. Then they ran into Collingwood in R6 with a Loss by 52 Points played at the Gabba. Since then they’ve had a variety of Wins, Losses and a Draw. Notable (selected by me based on their opponent’s current Ladder position and/or where the game was played) amongst the Wins are R8 – GC at the Gabba, R11 – Hawthorn at the MCG, R15 – Geelong at Kardinia Park and R19 – WB at the Gabba. Notable Losses include us, as above, Adelaide at AO, GWS at the Gabba and the GC, as above. Their Draw was R9 with North in Hobart. The Match Report from their most recent Loss to the GC at  www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/7132#match-report is worth reading. It highlights the Gold Coast was too physical, too clean and too skilled, with a dominating Midfield. The question for us will be as to whether we can replicate this pressure. My personal belief is that we can.

 

Brisbane, currently sitting 3^rd on the Ladder, are facing the following to finish the H&A Season:

 

• R21 – us at the MCG;
• R22 – Sydney at the Gabba;
• R23 – Freo in Perth; and
• R24 – Hawthorn at the Gabba.

 

It would be expected that Brisbane could be expected to perform better at home than away, though any suggestion of a Gabba fortress is well out of date.

 

Players to watch:

 

• Bailey – Centre / Wing;
• Dunkley – RR. May warrant a tag;
• Zorko – BP;
• Berry – Wing;
• L. Ashcroft – FP;
• W. Ashcroft – Wing;
• Neale – Rover;
• Fletcher – HB / Wing / FB;
• McLuggage – Centre / HF; and
• Rayner – FP.

 

Also keep an eye on Cameron – HF, because of his scoring potential, and Starcevich – HB, because of his family connection with the Pies.

 

This collection from their Best listings is indicative of a focus on their Midfield plus some key positions. So, win the Midfield battle and unlike last week against Freo, take control of the corridor.

 

Us:

 

Context?    We are now back to one game clear at the top of the Ladder plus percentage over most teams, but not all. We need to get ready for the Finals plus demonstrate we are the undisputed Premiership favourite. We need to Win each of these last H&A games.

 

Changes?  Watched the very interesting TV discussion a week ago between a couple of commentators I respect, suggesting that NickD, looking a bit slow and jaded and facing action every week, should be rested, plus maybe Elliott too. The source – Hird (spelling corrected from last week) with Cornes’ agreement. Therefore:

 

• Outs: McCreery (injury), NickD and Elliott, each managed, plus Sullivan and Allan.

• Ins: De Mattia, Grey, Frampton, Mitchell and Hill.

• Game Plan. As per the above, McCreery had a great return game. It could be considered pushing him into the Back 6 to add a little ‘grunt’ increasing the Back 6 to 7 rather than pushing one of the current ones out.

 

Your thoughts?

 

Game Plan – No changes of substance from past weeks. A couple of points, as usual:

 

• Application. Nothing is more important. Well demonstrated in our last few games. And Attitude is King.

• Taggers. Tagging roles might be useful, including an occasional hard lock-down role on their Forwards / Midfield? And protecting our players? That should also be key.

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

• Passing. Accuracy of passes by foot and hand critical – see comments above regarding Freo’s clean ball handling. Critical.

• Drive. Drive out of the Backline is a key part of our game plan. Be prepared to cross the field, even to kick backwards to change the direction. Kick-ins are a continuing issue – we need to have a plan that everyone knows.

• Kicking for Goal. This is critical. 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 – be willing to pass within          the 50.

• Tackles. A major success (see last week’s numbers) but still some opponents are spinning out of tackles. Maybe watch Frankston in last week’s Reserves’ game? Love the multiple tacklers.

 

Our Aim? Be happy.

 

Summary? Again, this is our game to Win by a good margin when we decide that and implement our Game plan throughout the four full Quarters. Brisbane are the reigning Premiers but are not the best team in the competition; that is us, potentially challenged by a couple of others that don’t include Brisbane, particularly not away from their home. We need to scare the rest of the competition as we head towards the Finals.

 

Winning Selection. Collingwood to Win by 23 Points. BOG – Pendles with 20 touches, including 10 Clearances. Goal kickers include Mihocek – 5.

 

TV: No FTA again. Go to Kayo or Fox Footy; Binge missing from this one too.

 

Weather: Low chance of light rain on the day following dry days before it. Plastic boots okay.

 

Ground Reports? Reports please (after or before)? I’d especially like to hear from the armchair warriors watching from afar?

 

Other:

• AFLW – Pencil the start date in – Thursday, 14 August, including getting to the competition’s first game: Carlton versus Collingwood at Ikon Park; bounce at 7.15pm. The draw? Go to www.afl.com.au/fixture?Competition=3&Season=84&Round=1301.

• VFL – As above. Next on Saturday, 2^ndAugust against Williamstown (9^thversus our 7^th) at the DSV Stadium; bounce at 2.05pm. Good luck, boys.

• • VFLW team – Sitting 2^nd on the Ladder with one game to go. Next is also on Saturday, 2^nd August against Williamstown (sitting 5^th on the Ladder) at DSV Stadium; bounce at 10.05am. Maybe get to watch the two games? This game is the competitions last H&A game.          Remember the Top 6 go into the Finals. Our team is currently placed 2^nd on the Ladder so are assured of making the Finals. Good luck.

• Anything else, everyone else?

 

Next:

 

• Round 22. Thursday, 7^th August Hawthorn versus Collingwood at the MCG; bounce at 7.30pm.

 

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

 

Cam

 

 

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