Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life 2025: Round 22 Review / Round 23 Preview

 

G’day to all. Some years back, I worked for a Federal Government Minister – a terrific guy, totally committed to changing things for the better and conserving those things that didn’t need to be changed. But, not everyone’s perfect; he was a Richmond supporter but had the good sense to marry a Pies’ supporter. Occasionally, I would say to him “Now minister, are you having fun?” His response “Fun, fun is a strong word”. Sort of like being a Collingwood supporter on occasions, like on Thursday night.

A briefer note than usual.

 

Round 22

Collingwood 6.10.46 were thrashed by Hawthorn 17.8.110. Scoring shots 16 / 25 are still pretty substantial difference – their kicking was good, noting their willingness to move the ball inside the 50 to a better goal-kicker position; ours poor.

• Match Report – www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/7150.

• Coach’s Report – www.afl.com.au/video/1383429/i-apologise-to-our-magpie-army-thats-a-disappointing-performance-mcrae?videoId=1383429&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1754574235001. This is important and worth watching. McRae acknowledged both a lack of a system and a lack of fight / effort. He highlighted that if you allow an opposing team to play to its strengths, you are going to get hurt. Importantly, he apologised to the Collingwood Army, identifying a disappointing performance.

My personal view is that I’d have liked an apology from the team; maybe Captain Darcy might have a few words to say?

Statistics. I’m only going to talk about a couple of statics:

• Disposals – 332 (us) / 408 (them). They dominated the game. They defined how it was going to be played, far more than us;

• Inside 50s – 44 / 50. Not hugely different. These numbers represent some advantage to them, but not a lot;

• Disposal Efficiency (DE) inside 50s – 38.6% / 58.0%. This, along with the small Inside 50 numbers advantage, represents a huge total advantage getting the ball into a goal-scoring position more frequently than us, and using it (scoring mostly) far more effectively; close to twice as effective. Game-winning cause statistics;

• Marks – 77 / 110. We were dominated in the air, particularly inside 50s – 9 / 18 and contested – 4 / 9; and

• Tackles – 42 / 37, including inside 50s – 3 / 6. In a number we usually pride ourselves on, representing our commitment and application, this was not the desirable level of domination.

It was an awful performance. I would recognise only two of our players:

• Sidey because running on for his 350^th is an achievement, regardless of anything else that happened in the game; and

• Howe, because his presence didn’t provide the opportunity to play badly.

The number of individual ‘stuff-ups’, particularly leading to an immediate opposition goal, was quite incredible. I won’t use this means to identify them (mostly).

I would not pick any others in the Best; maybe you pick them under “Better”, but the standard was very low.

In summary, we appeared to have no motivation, no commitment and no skills. I would be the first to acknowledge Hawthorn played exceptionally well but that doesn’t let our team off. And I accept Coach McRae’s apology to the supporters for the performance.

Best:

The AFL website identifies Collingwood’s Best as:

• Pendles,
• NickD,
• De Goey,
• Sidey, and
• Mihocek.

The Coaches’ Votes not yet out.

I don’t have any comments further to my statement above.

Your thoughts?

 

Crowd: 68,515.

Result: This was awful:

• I think we coordinated between players badly. They were able to take control, establish how the game was to be applied, and then get on with doing that. We appeared to have no ability to even try to wrest back control of the game.
• Their ball-handling was better than ours. Not sure why, but the ball appears slippery even without any rain.
• Their scoring dominance is reflected in their minor advantages in Inside 50s and massive advantage represented in Disposal Effectiveness, particularly measured in Inside 50s.
• 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 – see below.
• High kicks into the 50 to packs, that we seemed to revert to, 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 also allowed defenders to intercept or, at the least disrupt, the passage of the ball.

In summary, we Lost comprehensively.

 

Round 23

Saturday, 16^th August – Adelaide versus Collingwood at the Adelaide Oval; bounce at 7.35pm.

This game is between us in, currently, 3^rd place on the Ladder (though that could change in the next couple of days – remember, stay away from the 4^th place on the Ladder) and them in 1^stplace.

Betting: As at 8^th August – Pies’ Win – $3.09 and Crows’ Win – $1.37. No change today. Watch the AFL website as we approach the day.

Them

Adelaide finished last year outside the Eight in 15^th position on the Ladder based on 8 Wins, 14 Losses and a single Draw. To say they’ve improved would be a massive understatement sitting on the top of the Ladder based on 15 Wins, 5 Losses and a percentage of 144.1%. With the game against the Eagles tomorrow, in spite of it being in Perth, you can reasonable expect their Wins to expand to 16 and their percentage to rise.

They have only Lost five times this season – R4-Gold Coast by 1 Point, R5-Geelong by 19 Points, R7-Freo by 18 Points, R10-Pies by 10 Points and R14-Hawthorn by 3 Points. Since their R15 Bye, they’ve Won each of the six matches played. The two very close result Losses is matched with a couple of close Wins – R9-Port by 5 Points and R13-Brisbane also by 5 Points. Apart from those, they have produced very healthy Wins.

Players to watch:

• Dawson – Centre;
• Rankine – HF / Rover / RR / FP;
• Soligo – RR / Rover;
• Worrell – BP;
• Keays – HF;
• Thilthorpe – CHF;
• Laird – BP; and
• Peatling – Rover / FP / RR.

Rachele – RR / Rover, one of their key players, is out injured, I think. Categorical description is hard to find.

Note the preponderance of Midfield, plus ‘corridor’ positions. There is some confusion regarding the variety of attacking positions, with HF / FP / FF positions heavily recorded amongst their Best, but with lower regularity and no key positions that can be identified and, potentially, shut down. So, as always, win the Midfield battle, take control of the corridor and dominate the Inside 50 and Disposal Efficiency numbers.

Us:

Context?    We have dropped to 3^rd place on the Ladder. We may fall further as games this Round are completed. As identified elsewhere with Adelaide likely to stay in the top position we need to avoid the 4^th place; but try to stay in the Top 4. And what a change if we were to defeat Adelaide in Adelaide – haven’t considered what that would do to the Ladder, but it would be fun to look at (after the Win).

Changes? We need our best team for this game – no ‘Management’ allocations:

• Outs: Howe ( concussion; I’m not sure – if the concussion protocols go for 10 days, he may be available?), others? Your suggestions?

• Ins:  Cox, McCreery (if available); De Mattia (if there’s a Midfield need); others?

Your thoughts?

Game Plan – No changes of substance from past (except for last week’s), noting a bit of effort (as usual) might help. A couple of points, as usual:

• Application. Nothing is more important. Totally demonstrated in our last game. 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 remains critical.

• Passing. Accuracy of passes by foot and hand critical – not the example Hawthorn’s ball-handling set.Critical.

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

• Kicking for Goal. This is critical as Hawthorn repeatedly demonstrated two days ago – watch the replay if you need. Their movement of the ball inside the 50 to give goal-kickers an easier shot is highlighted. 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 failing last week with multiple 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. 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 two nights ago. Everyone, players and supporters, need to get the smile back. Loved Jordi’s acknowledgement of his new baby following his goal.

Summary? We can Win this. Nobody expects this – betting is currently $3.09 for a Pies’ Win; $1.37 for a Crows’ Win. Of course, if you want to make a killing you’d convince the Eagles to beat the Crows tomorrow – current betting in the at game: $1.02 – Adelaide Win and $15.00 for an Eagles’ Win – scope for a little earner; maybe you’d have to convince Adelaide to Lose. Adelaide are quite correctly on the top of the Ladder however they are not unbeatable. Think back to our previous encounter and our previous game against Brisbane at the Gabba.

Winning Selection. Collingwood to Win by 11 Points. BOG – NickD with 37 touches, including 14 Clearances.  Goal kickers include Mihocek and Elliott – 3 goals each.

TV: No FTA coverage. Who makes these decisions – must be based in Sydney? Go to Kayo or Fox Footy.

Weather: There is a low chance of light rain on the day in Adelaide, but higher early in the week before. Get the boots with stops out.

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 (very soon), includinggetting 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 – One H&A game to go (2 Rounds to go, but the team have a Bye). Next is our final H&A game on Saturday, 16^thAugust against Port Melbourne (17^th versus our 6^thplace – currently, could change as other games are played) at ETU Stadium; bounce at 2.05pm. Good luck, boys.

• VFLW team – Into the Finals from 2^ndplace on the Ladder. Well done, ladies. Next – FW1 – North Melbourne Werribee (placed on top of Ladder) versus Collingwood (placed 2^nd) today on 9^th August at Arden Street Oval; bounce at 2.35pm.- Finals. Good luck.

• Anything else, everyone? 

Next:

• Round 24. Friday, 22^nd August Collingwood versus Melbourne at the MCG; bounce at 7.10pm. Anyone going?

 

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

Cam

 

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