Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life: AFL 2023 – Round 9 Review / Round 10 Preview

 

G’day to all. True believers, everyone.

 

Firstly, as is my habit in welcoming new Members to our august body of Pies’ supporters, let me welcome two new arrivals (totalling 72 now):

 

 

• Jenny, happens to be married to a Cats’ supporter, but is a strong Pies’ supporter. She also happens to be my sister-in-law; and

 

• Mark, a Sydney-based fan who happened to be at the G the previous weekend. We’d love to hear your view on that game, Mark, particularly your guess on the divide between the Pies’ and Sydney’ support number.

 

Guys, this is just a bit of fun. We are all ‘family’ so everyone’s views are welcome, especially if they disagree with what I might have put up. There are no right or wrong answers (mostly) so you can be as up-front as you want. We welcome you and look forward to your participation. Hope to hear from you both.

 

 

Round 9

 

Collingwood 18.12.120 defeated GWS Giants 7.13.55.

 

Goals scored by Quarter:

 

• Q1       5 (us) / 2 (them). Giving us a substantial lead at the first change;
• Q2       4 / 1;
• Q3       4 / 3;
• Q4       5 / 1. ; and
• Total:  18 / 7. We Won.

 

Match Report: www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/4865#match-report.

 

AFL – News, Fixtures, Scores & Results – AFL.com.au Australian Football League. All the latest AFL news, video, results and information www.afl.com.au

Coach’s Report: www.afl.com.au/video/927196/full-post-match-r9-magpies?videoId=927196&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1684059129001&references=AFL_MATCH:4865.

 

Full post-match, R9: Magpies Watch Collingwood’s press conference after round nine’s match against GWS www.afl.com.au

?

Numbers: After last week, when I got a bit carried away with the statistics, I’ve gone back to looking at the game as a whole, except in a number of key areas:

 

Statistic	Q1 – QT	Q2 – HT	Q3 – 3/4T	Q4 – FT	TOTAL	Comment
Hit Outs					29 / 27	Don’t rate this too highly.
Clearances	10 / 6	8 / 6	5 / 15	7 / 7	30 / 34	Even when we won the tap we were consistently being ‘sharked’. Needs to tighten up.
Inside 50s	14 / 12	14 / 10	13 / 15	10 / 12	51 / 49	See also disposal Efficiency , generally and inside 50s. Thje combination impacts on scoring.
Goals Scored	5 / 2	4 / 1	4 / 3	5 / 1	18 / 7	The result. of the Inside 50s combined with DE Inside 50s – we had a marginally better number of entries Inside 50s but a substantially better use of the ball when we got there. The match winning combination.
Disposal Efficiency	78.8% / 77.1%	80.5% / 75.9%	80.1% / 76.7%	79.2% / 75.4%	79.2% / 75.4%	The ongoing figure through the game.
DE Inside 50	57.1% / 58.3%	57.1% / 59.1%	58.5% / 43.2%	62.7% / 46.9%	62.7% / 46.9%	A match-winning difference, particularly in the 2nd Half.
Tackles Inside 50					9 / 6	More generally across the game, the level of Tackles was 63 / 29. This is an enormous difference refl;ecting the Pies’ pressure throughout. Tackles and Marks inside 50 just gave an advantage to us impacting on the scoreline.
Marks Inside 50					16 / 11
Contested Possessions					124 / 128
Free Kicks	6 / 2	4 / 8	5 / 3	2 / 1	17 / 14	And our ‘favourite’ Ump was back. Again it was the inconsistency of Frees awarded or not awarded that rankled.

 

Best: The AFL website identifies Cox, De Goey, N.Daicos, Mitchell, Elliott, Noble and J.Daicos. Many others could have been included, including Pendles.

 

Game. A great result; far less stressful on the poor supporters going into a Q4 with such a huge lead.

 

Injuries. Not known.

 

Deductions / Lessons? General application was fantastic; as was the commitment to a result during the whole game. And kicking was pretty good. And kicking to a better placed kicker inside the 50 was also excellent. All, well done. Your comments?

 

 

Round 10

 

Collingwood plays Carlton at the MCG on Sunday, 21 May; bounce at 3.20pm. The olde enemy.

 

This game is between 1^st (us) and 9^th (them) on the Ladder. Betting? We are favourites, not surprisingly, $1.36 c/f $3.19.

 

Them:

 

Firstly, looking at the Ladder is not a good way to view this game, regardless of the huge position difference. With a crowd of 95,000 supporters split between the two sides, and a history going back many years (not missing the significance our ejection of Carlton from the Eight last year) this is always a biggie. And now Adelaide has kicked them out of the Eight today, so we won’t have that luxury.

 

After their ‘Season-starting’ draw with Richmond in Round 1, Carlton have 3 Wins (against Geelong, GWS and WCE) and 4 Losses (against Adelaide, St Kilda, Brisbane and the WB, last night – I’d intended to watch it but got caught up with something else.); So? Losses against the top teams and Wins against the bottom ones (mostly – I’d find it hard to find someone to pick Carlton against Geelong, now – an aberration, I suspect). Looking at their games their reliance on their Midfield (led by Cripps, Acres and Cerra) and key individuals (C. Curnow and McKay Forward and Docherty at CHB, supported by Saad) rather than a ‘whole-team’ approach. But, as demonstrated against the WB last night, they play to the end. They also have a few Rookies who are impressing, from the Rookie Ladder – Hollands (5th), Cincotta (7th) and Cowan (10th).

 

Game Plan? A couple of informed comments from Jake Michaels, before their WB game, ESPN –

 www.espn.com.au/afl/story/_/id/37148041/afl-2023-six-points-carlton-just-bang-average-football-team-more:

 

• The Blues rank No. 1 in disposals, contested possession differential, ground ball differential and third in clearances in that time. That’s good, right? Not exactly. The problem is Carlton lack outside run and when the game isn’t stoppage-based it looks lethargic and confused as to how to advance the ball. It also doesn’t help their cause that they are carrying too many midfielders who seem afraid to kick theSherrin, which results in endless handballing in circles; and

 

• There are many numbers which indicate the Blues are just a midfield team. Points for? They rank eighth. Points against? Eighth. Scores per inside 50? Eighth. Pressure? Ninth. End-to-end ball movement? Ninth. Average. Carlton sit eighth (but moved to 9^th with Adelaide beating St Kilda, ejecting it from the Eight) on the ladder heading into Round 10, but with games to come against us, Swans (SCG), Demons (MCG) and Bombers (MCG) the season could very easily be hanging by a thread before they reach their Bye in Round 14. Based on current form, it’s hard to see the Blues starting as a favourite in any of those contests.

 

Significance? So we need to win the Midfield battle and hold their key Forwards to account. Simple.

 

 Players to Watch?

 

• Cripps – Centre;
• C. Curnow – FF;
• McKay – FP;
• Docherty – CHB;
• Saad – HB; and
•  Cerra – Rover.

 

Also, as above, watch for Hollands – Wing.

 

Roles?

 

• Very close defence on C. Curnow at FF;
• Tag Cripps; and
• Watch for attempts to tag our players / implement counter-tagging plan.

 

Us:

 

A starting comment: Rohan Connolly: Put aside your footy tribalism and just enjoy what the Pies are doing – They’re an amazing side, Craig McRae’s Pies. They play fast, exciting, at times even breathtaking football. They never give up, whatever the circumstances. And their self-belief just can’t be broken. Love it.

 

No new injuries? I’m not sure anything needs to change:

 

 

• Team? Minimal change. Anyone need resting? Your choices?

 

• Application? No change. Application for four full Quarters. Hold the tackles. Establish and maintain control of the game (possessions).

 

• Game Plan? No change to the current plan. Use varied entry to the 50 and be willing to move the ball to a better-placed goal scorer than delivering to packs. Crumb around packs.

 

My Picks: Collingwood to Win by 19 Points. BOG – Pendles – 26 Disposals, 8 Clearances, 13 Tackles and 4 Goal Assists. Mihocek gets another 5.

 

Ground Reports. Loved the Reports from attendees. Let’s see some reporting, please, from those who couldn’t attend but watched the game on TV – all views are welcome. Do we have any people going? Could you report please?

 

Weather. Weather forecast dry and cloudy with a low chance of light rain both on the match day and leading up to the game. Moulded sole boots okay.

 

TV:     Kayo or FOXTEL – Best for every game.

 

No Free to Air TV. I am surprised.

 

Future:

 

• Round 11 – Sunday, 28 May at Marvel – Collingwood versus North Melbourne; bounce at 3.20pm. No FTA coverage;
• Round 12 – Saturday, 3 June at Optus, WA – Collingwood versus WCE; bounce at 4.35 AEST. No FTA coverage; and
• The Ladder. Keep an eye on the Ladder as we approach the midpoint of the Season (yes, still a couple of weeks off) leading to some big moves on the Ladder. Your thoughts?

 

Other:

 

• VFL – The Pies Lost their Round 8 GWS game by 2 Points, having led by a massive 30 Points well into Q4. I don’t get it. Their next game will be on Sunday, 28 May: Collingwood versus North Melbourne at the AIA Centre. Anyone going?
• Anything that you would like to inform our members of, just Reply to all or send it to me.

 

Believe always. Go Pies.

 

Cam

 

 

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