Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life 2026: Round 13 Review/ Round 14 Preview

Greetings to one and all.

 

Well, we Lost, again. Now I’ve been accused of being the ultimate optimist (and am very comfortable with that description) but I do recognise we’ll have a difficult path to get to the Finals and then, to do something about it. We’ve got 10 Home & Away games to complete the Season. Currently sitting 11’th on the Ladder we’ll need to Win the majority (actually, 7 Wins should be our target from those below us on the Ladder) plus 1 Win out of the three games against teams above us on the Ladder (GC at PFS, Adelaide at AO and Geelong at the G. The world changes when we hit the Finals. It is a different game – more on that as we head into the Finals.

 

Are we at a crisis point – same question as last week? No, not yet. Well, actually, yes, based on our team – selection challenges, rather than too much regarding our game plan. We clearly relied heavily on our Midfield in the Centre and the performance by our Backs and Forwards, not always too cleanly. Some discussion of this, below. Your thoughts?

 

 

Reporting? Would still like to see reports / views from others, either at the game (were any of you there?) or watching from afar.?

Go Pies

 

 

Round 13 Result:

Collingwood 11. 9.75 were defeated by Melbourne 12.11.83

            Scoring shots – 20 (us) / 23 (them).

 

Goals scored:

• Q1??4(us) / 3 (them). Early lead to Melbourne; fight back by us including NickD’s Goal of the Century. Check the Timeline and scores at afl.com.au/afl/matches/8153#timeline to see the flow of the game. Margin at Quarter time + 4 Points;
• Q2    2 / 2. Up and down. Margin at HT reduced to + 2 Points;
• Q3??3 / 3. Early goals to us took our margin to + 16 Points. Fought back by them. Margin expanded at the final break +5 Points;
• Q4??2 / 4. Key Quarter – After an early goal by us, Melbourne took control and dominated scoring. Final Losingmargin– 8 Points; and
• Total9.75 / 12.11.83. WeLost.

 

Match Report – www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/8153.

 

Coach’s Report – www.afl.com.au/video/1537174/full-post-match-r13-magpies?videoId=1537174&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1780908675001&references=AFL_MATCH:8153. Discusses the “little moments” that contribute to a game emphasising that this Pies’ team is different to the previous premiership- winning Pies’ team. He emphasised the actions he and the team would pursue following the Bye rest noting there is still much of the Season left. Worth watching.

 

Game Statistics

 

Numbers sourced from the AFL website.

 

Statistic	Us / Them	Remarks
Disposals	396 / 371	Includes handball numbers – 188 / 163. Included just to highlight the difference in ball-possession in our favour.
Hit Outs	23 / 52	Not a factual statistic. Needs ‘HO to advantage’, but is indicative of their dominance in the ball-up, which (see Clearances, below) required our Midfield to counter.
Clearances	39 / 35	More important and surprising, given their HO dominance. Includes 12 / 10 Centre clearances and 27 / 25 stoppage clearances. Reflects substantial dominance by our Midfield to turn the significant HO deficiency into this dominance. Well done.
Inside 50s	57 / 60	Should be a logical flow-on from the above but it isn’t. Their dominancehere is a key statistic. Should lead to increased scoring – more goals, as it does.
Goals scored	11 / 12	The end result. Reflects the Inside 50s statistics, above, adjusted by the Disposal Efficiency inside 50’s, below.
Disposal Efficiency	72.5% / 73.3%	Not too different, but not particularly important. Across the entire game.
Individual DE > 80%	6 / 7	Not significantly different.
Individual DE < 60%	3 / 4
Disposal Efficiency Inside 50	47.4% / 50.0%	The other Key statistic. Their domination here of efficiency contributes to their marginal domination in Inside 50 numbers, resulting in the goals scored.
Contested Possessions	137 / 130	UCP – 244 / 230. Reflects a marginal ownership of the CP ball by us across the game.
Possession	47% / 38%	A key statistic. This indicates a significant domination by us, and therefore control of the game, over the whole game. It includes: Q4 – 40% / 44%; and Final 10 minutes of game – 28% / 41%. The numbers, here in Q4, indicates Melbourne’s possession, and control of the game, in this period. To achieve the ‘game balance’ (left column) it must be inferred that we dominated possession in the rest of the game (Q1 – Q3). Clearly, we failed to achieve the results that this possession should lead to.
Marks	82 / 89	Includes Marks inside 50 – 13 / 13.
Tackles	70 / 62	Includes Tackles inside 50 – 14 / 12. Reflects effort and application.
1%’ers	39 / 49	Also reflects effort, particularly by Backline. I thought that they were better at spoiling marks than us – reflected in these numbers.
Individual DE > 80%	6 / 12	Individual numbers of players with DE less than or equal to 80%. Reflects an interesting dominance of their ball control.
Individua DE < 50%	2 / 2	Same as above – Individual DE less than or equal to 50%.
Free Kicks	9 / 8	Added to the ‘caught with the ball’ offence has to be the ‘push in the back’ offence that is illogically applied. Usual issue relating to 50m penalties.

 

The Game

 

Our performance in this game was disappointing insofar as Melbourne did not roll over and play dead when we got a bit ahead. They kept fighting.

 

Some suggested observations:

 

• The kick-in is still not working reliably – plan and execute;
• There were way too many opponents loose leading to very fast ball transition and scoring against the run of the game;
• The execution of both the kick-ins and particularly the Inside 50 attacks are happening too slowly; opponents are being given time to pick-up our players;
• Close-defence tags are generally working but always need to cover all areas around packs to prevent crumbing. We were caught out with them scoring with the ball off the back of a pack;
• Avoid the ‘impossible’ kicks at goal. Be willing to pass to a better position. Really important. Speed will improve access to free players;
• I don’t know what happens at training (whether players are stationary or not), but the number of times the ball being passed seems to ignore the fact that opponents can, and do, move (and intercept the pass) seems extraordinary; and
• My criticism in the past of Defenders spoiling each other in packs was evident again on occasion.

 

Truly, a great game of footy, except for those of us, the True Believers, who would have preferred to see a bit more Pies’ dominance.

 

Crowd. 88,019. Were any of you there?

 

Best: AFL website reporting identified the Best as:

• NickD;
• JoshD;
• Allan;
• De Goey; and
• Lipinski.

 

Coaches’ Votes: Go to www.afl.com.au/news/1536394/coaches-votes-r13-seven-perfect-10s-as-big-names-luke-jackson-and-isaac-heeney-make-a-move. Votes to Pies’ players were:

 

• NickD – 6 votes; and
• McCreery – 1 vote.

I don’t really have any issues with the Best selections though would have placed De Goey higher, and might have included:

 

• Perryman (7 Intercept Possessions, 3 Score Involvement, 6 Contested Possessions and 410 metres Gained);
• Frampton (11 IP, 3 SI, 7 CP and 240 mG); and
• Quaynor (5 IP, 1 SI, 4 CP and 328 mG);

 

for their contributions, particularly to Defence.

 

Injuries? Two serious injuries to a team member and a former team member:

 

• Maynard – shoulder dislocation. Talk is mentioning 4 weeks. I suspect he’s finished for the Season;
• Mihocek – serious neck injury. Really pleased to see the Pies players being supportive, the vast majority of whom were former premiership team-mates (compare with Cripps’ behaviour in the State of Origin when Weitering was hurt). I have some sympathy with Mihocek having suffered a double fracture and subluxation (Google it) in C3/4 in my neck –  a few weeks in hospital, 5 months in a neck brace but no operation because of the delay in the injury and diagnosis. Good luck and our best wishes, Brody; and
• Our best wishes to a number of our Members who are undertaking medical treatment, particularly operations. Could be out for a number of weeks. Good luck.

 

Round 14:

 

Bye.

 

R15 detail next week.

 

Next

 

We’ve got a few serious challenges coming up:

• R15     Saturday, 20 June versus PA, at the MCG
• R16     Saturday, 27 June versus Richmond also at the MCG
• R17     versus the GC at their home ground in Queensland

 

Attendance. Next attendance likely R15 PA. Give me a call?

 

Reporting. Now I know some of you went to the game. Look forward to your reporting? Please? And Reports from TV-watchers are equally welcome? I find it useful to listen to the commentators (prefer Kayo to FTA) who (mostly) know more about the game than we, mortals do.

 

Other.             Ongoing, congratulations to the Carlton coach getting back to back to back to back Wins. Keep it up, Josh. See you in Round 19.

Any feedback? Anything else?

 

 

Never Lose confidence. This is our year. Go Pies.

 

Cam

 

More Round 13 Reports Here

 

 

Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

Do you enjoy the Almanac concept?
And want to ensure it continues in its current form, and better? To help keep things ticking over please consider making your own contribution.

 

Become an Almanac (annual) member – CLICK HERE