Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life 2026: Great start to the season

 

True Believers, all, g’day. Apologies for the early distribution of an incomplete, part-previous report. My computer is convinced it is smarter than me and takes such decisions on its own. Whatever, delete it.

 

Not a good start. It was a great start to the Season, particularly noting the extraordinary belief in St Kilda amongst the knowledgeable commentators (Kane Corns, etc) and their belief that the Pies were dead in the water. Well done to Damo for not agreeing with them.

 

We went to the last two OR  matches in Sydney, soundly beaten by GWS on each occasion; I preferred watching on TV this year. This was much better.

 

 

The Game

 

Collingwood 11.12.78 defeated St Kilda 9.12.66. Scoring shots – 23 (us) / 21 (them).

 

Goals scored:

Q1       4 (us) / 2 (them). Go to the Timeline at www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/8046#summary. It highlights St Kilda’s dominance to mid Q1 followed by our four, unanswered, goals; to mid Q2 and early in Q4. It also highlights the Pies’ recovery following each of these periods;

 

Q2       1 / 3. As above;

 

Q3       5 / 2. Same;

 

Q4       1 / 2. Tough going; and

 

Total    11 / 9. The end result. While the score was not too dominant, I always felt we were the better side. See my later comments about the umpiring.

 

Match Report: www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/8046

 

Coach’s Interview: www.afl.com.au/video/1474390/full-post-match-or-magpies?videoId=1474390&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1772973081001.

 

Statistics:

 

• Hit Outs (HO) – 21 / 28. Yeah, not that significant;
• Clearances (Cl) – 29 / 31 including 8 / 15 Centre Clearances and 21 / 16 Stoppage clearances. Not too different in sum but their dominance at the Centre was noticeable. This placed pressure on our Backline to intercept their movement of the ball;
• Inside 50s I50) – 40 / 63. Their winning statistic, but it wasn’t applied in the next step- goal scoring;
• Goals scored – 11 / 9. Fortunately for us, this should have seen the application of their Inside50s dominance into scoring. It reflected their awful kicking;
• Disposal Efficiency (DE) – game – 76.3% / 73.1%. A minor advantage over the whole game; not substantially different;
• DE – Inside 50s – 52.5% / 38.1%. This a critical difference in our favour countering their Inside 50s dominance;
• Contested Possessions (CP) – 113 / 128. Not too different;
• Possession – 45% / 40%. As above / not too significant;
• Marks – 147 / 92 including 10 / 6 inside 50 marks. We played ‘kick to mark’ frequently around the boundary; more than I like;
• Tackles – 53 / 57. This surprised me. I thought that we would be ahead on this; and
• 1%’ers – 35 / 47. Not too significant.

 

Free kicks – 16 / 27. This was both notable and didn’t make sense, particularly in key periods and locations. St Kilda scored from four 50m penalties, in addition to the ‘general Frees’.

 

Best:The AFL website identified our Best, in order, as JoshD, NickD, Pendles, Cameron, De Goey and Schultz. The Coaches Association votes were somewhat different identifying NickD (10 Points), DeGoey (4), JoshD (4), Pendles (2), Houston (2) and Quaynor (2). And Perryman – NickD’s choice for BOG? Your decision – who do you like? Impact on

 

Game. It was a game of parts, with periods of inspired genius. Who could watch NickD’s spin through the traffic and passage, resulting in a goal, and call it something else. It was magical. My overall belief was the intensity of the players. It was fantastic. I would have liked to see more use of the corridor but understand how the use of the boundary confounded St Kilda. Special mention needs to be given to Berryman’s achievement. It reminded me of Frampton’s shut down of his opponent a couple of years back. Certainly, the close defence works. There were a few quiet players who need to lift in the future. And we need to seek our performance over four Quarters.

 

Next:

 

Round 1. Saturday, 14 March – Collingwood versus Adelaide at the MCG; ball-up at 7.35pm. We are Favourites, but only just – $1.73 for a Pies’ Win; $2.12 for a Crows’ Win.

 

Them:

 

Recent History. Adelaide had a remarkable 2025 Season progressing from 15^th place on the Ladder at the conclusion of 2024 (99.1% percentage, 8 Wins & 14 Losses) to 1^st place at the conclusion of the 2025 home& away Season (139.3%, 19 Wins & 5 Losses). Notable in this progress was their defence which in the period from R6 to R23 was assessed as the ‘meanest’ in the competition averaging 63 Points scored by their opponents. As might have been expected they Won 14 out of the 17 games in that period. Their progression faltered with the absence of Rankine following that incident during the R23 Collingwood game; which we Lost. Their progress in the Finals saw a defeat at our hands in FW1 by 24 Points and a Loss to Hawthorn by 34 Points. Both Finals were at Adelaide oval. And their Season ended.

 

Now. Adelaide were not part of the OR, so this game will be their first for the Season.

 

Team. Team assessment has identified a continuation of their solid defence and a reasonable Forward line. Questions remain about their ‘ordinary Midfield.

 

Future. Their future also looks challenging with:

 

• R2 – Western Bulldogs at AO; and
• R3 – Geelong at Kardinia Park.

 

Absences. Rankine has one more game to miss as part of his suspension so will not play against Collingwood. Adelaide further has two key players – Curtin and Keane recovering from injury and will be unavailable for this game.

 

Players to watch:

 

• Dawson – Midfield;
• Thilthorpe – Forward;
• Worrell – Back;
• Walker – Forward; and
• Rachelle – Midfield.

 

Therefore? There will be a need for close-defence on Tilthorpe and maybe Walker up Forward and the potential for a tag in the Midfield, unidentified so far.

 

Us?

 

Team. It is always preferable to leave a Winning team unchanged. That said, we are in the early days of the season and should pick the team that best fits our opposition. As such I’d suggest a close look at close defenders for inclusion to meet the Thilthorpe and Walker, particularly with the availability of Moore and Howe. There may be scope for a change up Forward to spread the load and balance the commitment through the Season.

 

• Outs: Frampton, McStay and Lipinski.

• Ins: Moore, Howe and from Cochran and Steene.

 

Game Plan. Same as always: No changes of substance from past. A couple of points:

 

• Application. Nothing is more important. Positives and negatives totally demonstrated in the ‘practice matches’. 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 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.

• 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. It is critical because it is the means of maintaining control of the ball, and the game.

• Kicking for Goal. This has been pretty good but 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 opponents spinning out of tackles or brushing off the tackler. This has been one of our strengths and we need to get it back. Love the multiple tacklers.

 

Our Aim? Be happy. Worth reinforcing – our team, yes, we are part of it, everyone, players and supporters, need to get the smile back.

 

Result? Collingwood to Win by 17 Points. BOG – De Goey with 32 Disposals and 4 Goal Assists. Goalkickers – Schultz and Elliott, each with 4 goals. Thoughts?

 

TV? No FTA – go to Kayo, Binge and Fox Footy.

 

Weather? Dry and clear; no rain forecast; but it is Melbourne. Plastic souled boots okay.

 

Reporting? Please report, even if you are watching from home? And let us know if you are going. Krista and I are attending the R1 game. Hope to see some of you there? We’re sitting in Bay M7. Give me a call at the break?

 

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

 

Cam

 

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