Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life 2025: Round 7 Review/ Round 8 Preview

 

G’day True Believers.

 

Finishing the day with a performance like that was a fitting end to a day that started with the Dawn Service. Add to that, a march-out parade at the Army Recruit School and the community Anzac Day Service in Wagga Wagga; they filled the day. Onward and upward. Go Pies.

 

 

Round 7

 

Collingwood 16.11.107 defeated Essendon 10.6.66.

 

Scoring shots – 27 (us) / 16 (them). The 41 Point Winning margin could have been much higher. As mentioned previously, regardless of the Ladder positions, this annual event has usually been ferocious. Here, Essendon got to within a kick midway through Q2 and, in fact, took the lead for a short period early in Q3. Following both periods the team responded, as expected, effectively.

 

Match Report – www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/7032.

 

Coach’s comments – www.afl.com.au/video/1307308/mcrae-post-match-r7-we-give-them-the-keys-they-drive-the-car-really-well?videoId=1307308&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1745573015001. Always worth listening / watching.

 

Goals scored:

Q1                   3 (us) / 1 (them). A solid early start. Margin at QT was + 15 Points;

Q2                   3 / 4. Essendon pushed close with four unanswered goals mid-Quarter. Margin at HT reduced to + 8 Points;

Q3                   5 / 3. Essendon took the lead early, prompting our recovery. Margin at the final break – + 24 Points;

Q4                   5 / 2.  Finishing well, including the last three goals; and

Totals:             16 / 10. Resulting Win by 41 Points.

 

Statistics

 

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

 

Statistic	Numbers (us / them)	Comment
Hit Outs (HO)	39 / 50	A particularly not-useful number decided by whichever ruck touches the ball first. A better assessment is ‘HO to advantage’. And a much better measure is under Clearances, below. This number surprised me. I had thought it was fairly even.
Clearances	48 / 34	Centre clearance – 16 / 13; and Stoppage clearance – 32 / 21. Fortunately, a much better measure indicating we had a substantial advantage in each category. While the HO difference is not reflected in the Clearance differential, we maintained the advantage going the next step. Clearly our Midfield dominated.
Inside 50s	59 / 43	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)	71.5% / 65.3%	A significant advantage overall. Critical, but see next.
DE Inside 50	52.5% / 46.5%	The difference here is absolutely critical but needs to be considered together with the Inside 50 numbers rather than a stand-alone comparison.  In this game our domination of both Inside 50 numbers and DE Inside 50 reflects a game Winning achievement.
Player numbers with DE > 80%	7 / 10	No apparent consequences. I think these numbers also reflect risk-taking in the game, something strongly encouraged by the coaches.
Free Kicks	14 / 19	These numbers surprised me. I didn’t really see us at much of a disadvantage of Frees – certainly no more than usual. Inconsistencies still exist – incorrect disposal, caught with the ball, etc.
Contested Possession (CP)	136 / 131	Combined, the difference in the two measures usually reflects the team style of play. Each team, led by our domination of each category, sought to dominate the game, holding onto the ball but included periods when Essendon controlled the game. There were substantial periods when the ball was locked in our attacking half.
Uncontested Possession (UCP)	233 / 196
Turn-overs (TO)	76 / 75	I think the willingness to take risks is also part of this, as identified above.
Possession	45% / 37%	Across the game.
Disposals	375 / 349	Not usually recorded by me. Included here to give a perspective for the next – our use of handball.
Handballs	154 / 133	A substantial difference identified during the game – fantastic, fast, close, ball movement, frequently by hand. It was breathtaking.
Marks	95 / 79	Marks inside 50 – 16 / 8; and Contested marks – 8 / 15. Our domination of these measures, except the contested mark numbers, appears based on the style of our play – we used short passes direct within the corridor within the context of greater Possession numbers. The contested mark difference surprised me. That was not evident during the game.
Tackles	62 / 49	Tackles inside 50 – 11 / 5. Reflected the difference to previous weeks and the difference between the two teams. Our team were here to play, and worked to that end, particularly reflected in the Inside 50 tackle count. The multiple tacklers were impressive, again.
1%’ers	64 / 48	Spoils and defensive actions. I haven’t gone back to add up the numbers, but this difference is, again, reflecting a substantial domination of our effort.

 

Best:

 

The AFL website identifies Collingwood’s Best as:

 

• Sidey (Anzac Medal);
• JoshD;
• NickD;
• Elliott;
• Pendles; and
• Long.

 

I don’t disagree with any of those identified or the order (well, not too much, anyway – certainly agree the first three, including the order of them).  Your thoughts?

 

Crowd:            92, 044.

 

Result: A fantastic result, the consequence of total commitment over four quarters and fantastically clean ball-handling, noting that there were periods when Essendon did dominate and control the game. Noticeable aspects:

 

• The team-performance, mentioned above. Everyone had some involvement; and

• Clearance and Inside 50 numbers dominated. As above the DE difference was small, the scoring reflected the numbers’ difference.

 

In summary, the Pies Won through advantages in commitment and efficiency. It was a great performance, well done. And NickD did a fine job as Captain.

 

 

 

Round 8

 

3 May 2025 – Collingwood versus Geelong at the MCG; bounce at 7.35pm.

 

Betting:           $1.80 (Pies’ Win) / $2.36 (Cat’s Win) – 26 April 2025.

                        $1.60 / $2.35 – 28 April 2025, the shift reflecting their Loss to Carlton?

 

This is a game between 1st and 7th, on the Ladder.

Them:

 

Geelong finished 2024 Home & Away season in 3^rd place on the Ladder with 15 Wins and 8 Losses and a 112.2% percentage. They departed the Finals fairly quickly following a Week 1 Win over Port in Adelaide, but a Loss to Brisbane in the Preliminary Final at the MCG. Of course we finished in 9^th place without making the Finals.

 

They are currently sitting in 7^th place on the Ladder with 4 Wins and 3 Losses and a 119.6% percentage. Their Wins and Losses have included a variety of Wins at home at Kardinia Park against the Dockers and Melbourne, Adelaide at Adelaide and Hawthorn at the MCG; but Losses to St Kilda at Marvel, Brisbane at the Gabba and Carlton, yesterday at the MCG. So, they have Lost to Brisbane and Carlton but Won against teams not doing so well. They come into this game following their Loss to Carlton. We come into the game following six Wins against key teams – Brisbane at the Gabba, Sydney in Adelaide, Carlton at the MCG and Footscray at Marvel. Add to those the Win over Essendon at the G on Friday.

 

It is difficult to clearly identify their game plan because of the limited time period, so far, but several of their Wins were based on significant late recoveries from deficits. See the emphasis, below, on their Midfield and several key positions Back and Forward, so Win the Midfield battle, Win the War. It is interesting that the Essendon coach decided not to apply a hard-tag on NickD at least early on; wonder what his brother, coach of Geelong, will decide?

 

Players to Watch. Based on their performance this season suggests the following players of significance:

 

• Dangerfield – FP / Centre;
• Smith – Wing / RR;
• Humphries – BP / HB;
• Cameron – FF / FP;
• Holmes – Centre / RR;
• Atkins – RR / Rover; and
• Mannagh – HF.

 

Keep an eye on Oliver Henry given his status as ex-Collingwood (remember Darcy’s “Hello, Good to see you again”, last year?

 

It’s also notable that De Koning was moved from his ruck role to FB starting in R5. Stanley was moved into the ruck role. Not sure why.

 

Us:

 

Changes?  Minimal changes? Need to replace McStay.

 

Game Plan –No changes of substance from last week. A couple of points:

 

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

• Taggers. Tagging roles might be useful TBD including a hard lock-down role on their FF and / or our Midfield winning the ball early? Carlton tagged Dangerfield successfully last week – consider?

• Midfield Management. Pendles guidance to the collective Midfield. C’mon De Goey, I acknowledge that you had some useful contributions last week, however nothing like the game-break you are capable of; you need to perform (I said that last week too).

• Passing. Accuracy of passes by foot and hand much better – really good last week in challenging circumstances. 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. Kick-ins are an issue. Go to www.afl.com.au/news/1130107/mission-impossible-the-art-and-science-of-kick-ins. If you need help, get ‘Neon Leon Davis to help; in my view the best kicker-in we’ve had.

• Kicking for Goal. Ball delivery to the best goal-kicking position. Be prepared to acknowledge difficult shots on goal and be 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). This needs improvement – the question should be “Why didn’t you pass it rather than seeking to score the ‘impossible goal’?”.And, to get the best from your Forward ‘talls’, get them to lead to different parts of the 50; don’t compress into packs.   Want an example – watch Adelaide’s Forwards leading in their game a couple of weeks ago.

• Tackles. A major success. Love the multiple tacklers. The perennial complaint: “Hold your tackles!” and be aware of who’s beside you before you ‘play-on’; and

• Umpires. Not sure what happened in the last few weeks. Perhaps invite the Umpires to explain.

 

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.

 

Summary? Again, this is our game to Win, if we decide that and implement our Game plan on the game. And it will give me great pleasure if we can do so. Any input from the Geelong supporting addressees?

 

Winning Selection. Collingwood to Win by 23 Points. BOG – JoshD with 31 touches including 10 Clearances. Goal kickers include Mihocek and Hill with four goals each. Well done.

 

TV: No FTA; rely on the usual.

 

Weather: A dry but cloudy day is forecast ion game day however significant rain is forecast earlier in the week leading to the game. Likely to be slippery. Get rid of the plastic-soled boots.

 

Ground Reports? Reports please (after or before)? I’d especially like to hear from the armchair warriors watching from afar?  More please. Note that you could get to all three games on Saturday,

 

Other:

 

• VFL – After a great Win over Essendon last week (my record was incorrect identifying a Win over Brisbane the previous week – in fact we Lost by the single Point), their next is against Footscray at Victoria Park on Saturday, 3 May; bounce at 2.05pm. See the VFLW game detail, next. If you go, Reports please?
• VFLW continues. After a successful Round 1 against the Casey Demons, we Lost the next against Essendon. Their next game is against the Western Bulldogs also on Saturday, 3 May at 10.05am, also at Vic Park. Do yourself a favour, watch both games at Vic Park, then wander over to the G?
• Anything else, people?

 

Next:

 

Thursday, 8 May 2025 – Fremantle versus Collingwood in Perth;  bounce at 8.10pm AEST.

 

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

 

Cam

 

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