Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life: AFL, AFLW and Super Netball

True Believers, g’day to all.

A mixed week, with a disappointing weekend of results. The guys won a practice match during the week; but the girls lost their AFLW match and the opening Super Netball match; but onward and upward, we have a couple of games coming up this weekend – AFLW and Super Netball.

 

AFL

Practice Match against Essendon played on Thursday. Did anyone go? Report pls?

 

I’m not too fussed about practice matches; but there was a bit to like about this one. Of course, as a starting position – scoring shots were equal. But, the things I liked: Firstly “winning is habit forming”; not essential in a practice match environment, but better than the alternative. And ‘waking up’ during a game, ‘putting the foot down’ and coming back from 27 points down (3Q) to win by 10 is terrific. Really good that those people who missed last year for one reason or another (injuries & drugs) got through okay; with only one injury spoiling it – good luck for the op, Ben Sinclair.

 

But a couple of observations (good and not so good) – check the statistics at http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/jlt-community-series/2017/1/coll-v-ess and the quarter by quarter scores (Our 3/2/4/6 goals scored cf their 2/4/6/2). A couple of interest: We had 12 players with disposal efficiency over 80% – pretty good, particularly compared with Essendon’s six. Indicative of both pressure and the game plan execution (and sometimes just pure luck, but not for a whole game). Overall we had 50 inside 50’s, to Essendon’s 37, which should mean…? But the marks inside 50 were very nearly even (13 to 12). This means there is work to do, still, on our entry to the 50. In one of Buck’s interviews he lamented that we had 17 inside 50’s in Q2 for a 2-goal result – that is great effort and an awful result, but puts the other three quarters in a better light. Indeed, he reported being ‘plus 19’ contested possessions in the final quarter – good effort, against Essendon’s control of Q2 and Q3. I’d love to have the numbers quarter by quarter.

 

Of course, the principal shortcoming of a practice match is that it rarely is the ‘full team’ by either side. However, as stated above, some good aspects.

 

Some Match reporting at http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-02-16/match-report-pies-late-show-spoils-returning-dons-night and http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2017-02-16/pies-spoil-dons-night.

 

And what do ‘the experts’ think we are looking for out of the JLT Series? Go to: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-02-14/three-burning-questions-for-the-jlt-community-series. And remember there are a couple of serious rule changes being applied during the Series – deliberate rushed behind (which from reports, Lynden Dunn should have been pinged for), and third man up ruck work. Check the AFL website if you want to understand them.

 

Next? Vs Fremantle on Saturday, 4 March at Mandurah, WA – Anyone going?  More next week.

Late Notice: Jamie Elliott was injured at training yesterday and has has scans on his ankle. No result yet.

 

AFLW

 

A loss to Brisbane that was, oh so close with a huge comeback after half time. A fantastic performance against the ladder leader, promising much for the future.

 

Some feedback on the game: Go to http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2017-02-18/so-near-yet-so-far and / or http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2017-02-18/aflw-brave-magpies-fall-short.

 

This weekend? Round 4 – vs Western Bulldogs at Whitten Oval on Saturday, 25 February; bounce at 7.10pm. Anyone going?  C’mon, where are my Melbourne “experts”?  Team – later in the week. Live TV coverage on Channel 7.

 

Good luck, ladies. We continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with you, even in challenging times. This is where Collingwood thrives “against the odds“; we have all been there before!

 

Netball

 

The Super Netball season started on the weekend. Did anyone go (apart from Bucks and Eddie who were both focussed on in the crowd)? I watched it on TV – a very tough, physical sport – some technically perfect ‘hip and shoulders’. Well done to everyone, though the team suffers from being the overall favourite for the competition – always a difficult sobriquet to bear.

 

Some feedback on the game: http://wwos.nine.com.au/2017/02/18/21/07/collingwood-downed-in-super-netballand http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/netball/netball-melbourne-vixens-beat-collingwood-magpies/news-story/4c539c82368ea91cdadabfbbe283cab1

 

This weekend? Vs Queensland Firebirds in Brisbane on Saturday, 25 February; tip off at 7.45pm (local). Live TV coverage on Channel 9 (tip off at 8.45pm, our time). An explanation of TV coverage is at http://supernetball.com.au/broadcast/.

Go ladies.  We stand shoulder to shoulder with you.

 

VFL.

First practice match vs Geelong on Saturday, 11 March. More in the next few weeks.

 

Other.

• Eddie Watch. Nice to see Eddie at the netball game game. Where will he be this weekend?
• Ex-Pies. ‘Go get em’ Frosty – He will miss Round 1 for the Brisbane Lions following a MRP view of a dangerous tackle.
• Other. For Canberrans, GWS vs North at Manuka – Friday, 10 March; bounce at 5.50pm. Wear your Pies shirt proudly in support of ‘AFL into Canberra’.

Footy Almanac. Remember to ‘wander through’ the FA site – www.footyalmanac.com.au.  Worth it – the contributing authors frequently know more about footy (and other sports) than I will ever know. For Canberrans, don’t miss the 3 March Manning Clark House lecture; bookings at http://www.footyalmanac.com.au/manning-clark-lecture-invitation-to-almanackers/. Link to bookings is there.

 

Go Pies in 2017, especially our Collingwood Magpies Netball team and the AFLW side for their games this coming weekend.

 

Cam