Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life – Finals Week 1 and Week 3

True Believers, a pleasure to watch; a great performance against a talented opposition.
 
 
Our season lives on. Onwards and upwards.
 
 
Go Pies
 
 
Week 1 – 1st Qualifying Final – Geelong
 
 
Collingwood 9.7.61 defeated Geelong 7.9.51
 
 
Match Report – https://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2019/24/geel-v-coll#/match-report.
 
 
Ground Reports  – Many thanks to Matt and Wayne for their assessment (particularly Wayne’s at the ground). Others? C’mon, I know you all watched it. Your comments?
 
 
Bucks’ comments – https://www.afl.com.au/video/2019-09-07/full-postmatch-magpies.
 
 
The Game
 
 
Fantastic summaries from Matt and Wayne – see their emails. I agree totally. We were made to work for the Win. Well done to all.
 
 
Simply put, Goals scored by Quarter were:
 

Q1 – 4 (us) / 1 (them). A great start.

Q2 – 3 / 3.

Q3 – 2 / 1.

Q4 – 0 / 2. Hmm?

 
In a low-scoring game like this, the couple of late goals in Q4 attracted a high degree of attention (raising stress levels amongst the already highly-stressed Pies’ supporters), but the Pies really looked to be in control and cruising by then. Bucks described this as some “risk aversion” in Q4. I would have liked a slightly greater margin.
 
 
Some Numbers. My standard concern relating to the conversion of Hit Outs (particularly through Clearances) into Goals:
 

Hit Outs – 48 (us) / 27 (them). Well done, Grundy. But my concern relates to the Hit Outs to advantage, for which I don’t have the numbers. See Clearances, next.

Clearances – 38 / 39 (Centre – 4 / 11; stoppages – 34 / 28). A poor transition from HO to Clearance where we are clearly being ‘sharked’. We have to fix this; now.

Inside 50s – 43 / 50.

Marks inside 50 – 7 / 6. Poor transition.

Scoring Shots – 16 / 16. Reflecting pressure.

Goals – 9 / 7.

 
A couple of other team statistics:
 

Pressure:
 

Contested Possessions – 136 / 157. Critically we were well ahead at Half Time.

Tackles – 97 / 75; and

Total: 223 / 232. No real difference, right? But Tackles inside the 50? 16 / 8. That is a significant difference.

 

Mistakes:
 

Disposal Efficiency (players with DE equal to or greater than 80%) – 6 / 5. An important difference was the general Disposal Efficiency: 71.2% / 65.5% leading to Turnovers: 66 / 74; and

Clangers (players with two or more Clangers) – 14 / 16. Interesting.

 

 
And, of particular interest to some, Frees: 17 / 17.
 
 
Our Best (AFL website – not going to worry about numbers):
 

Pendles. 300 games; a true superstar. Interestingly, amongst the other team Captains when asked to describe Pendles in a word, commonly used the descriptor

Sidebottom.

Adams.

Phillips.

Grundy.

Howe. He and Moore (improving as the game went on) were fantastic in stemming Geelong’s forward movement. Great intercept marking. And what a great goal.

Treloar.

 
You could add a number of others who influenced the game significantly – Elliott, Moore, Mayne and Roughead, but a really great ‘team effort’.
 
 
Week 3 – Preliminary Final – Greater Western Sydney
 
 
Collingwood host GWS at the MCG on Saturday, 21 September; bounce at 4.35pm. Check https://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2019/26/coll-v-gws#/summary.
 
 
What do the gods say?  Thanks to Gen:
 
 

 
 
You can’t argue with the numbers. It’s very clear to me. Go Pies.
 
 

 
 
Them
 
 
GWS are playing their third Prelim in four years. That is pretty impressive, but they weren’t there last year.
 
 
However, since their Round 14 Bye, GWS have managed six losses and five wins with an overall positive score totalling 13 Points (over 11 games that’s pretty inconsequential). Three of their wins were by three points or less. But they are ‘changeable’ – they defeated WB last week by 58 Points; two weeks earlier they Lost to them by 61 Points. Their performance last night, in Brisbane, was ‘gutsy’. Brisbane, even in the last Quarter, dominated the play but failed to exploit this advantage.
 
 
And, of course, GWS demolished us in Round 18 by 47 Points. Best for them in that game were Cameron (CHF), Taranto (C), Williams (W), Greene (HF / FP), Whitfield (HB) and Shaw (HB / BP). In many ways this (and the week following against Richmond) was the turning point of our season.
 
 
Who to watch for (based on performance since their R14 Bye (except for their R23 game which for some reason is not recorded))?
 

Midfield – Mumford (R), Kelly (r), Williams (W) and Taranto (C). Coniglio(RR) is possible but unlikely due to injury.

Forwards – Cameron (CHF), Himmelberg (FF) and Greene (HF / FP; maybe subject to MRP action (again)).

Backline – Whitfield (CHB; maybe injured), Haynes (HB) and Shaw (HB / BP).

 
Watch for de Boer in a tagging role and Daniels as a fast-mover, particularly late in the game. And, if you are at the game, watch Heater Shaw manage their backline. As in his days with the Pies he never shuts up. For a bit of fun we could tag him for a while.
 
 
What to do about Greene? Hmm; I have my own view of the MRP’s acceptance of his remorse last week. Avoid him. Our game plan demonstrated in the last few weeks emphasised possession and the passage of the ball between individuals rather than into packs. This may remove the opportunities that Greene seems to thrive on (in congested traffic where the umps are unsighted).
 
 
So? We can beat GWS if we apply our game plan and play for four quarters. Work hard to establish control of the game. Win the midfield battle against Williams and Taranto. Speed of ball movement and variety of entry into the 50 and score goals (not behinds).
 
 
Us
 
 
We’ve been here before; last year we played the ‘Match of the Year’ defeating the unbeatable Tigers; remember? https://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2018/26/rich-v-coll#/summary.
 
 
Approach (mostly, the same as last week and the weeks before)?
 

Critical approach – Establish control of the game – play it our way; not theirs. Use handballs. Win the Midfield battle, achieving Clearance dominance. Drive from there and from the HB line.

Scoring Behinds? Avoid; look for the better positioned player to kick from.

Entry to goal. Variety and leads.

Crumb around the packs and watch their ‘smalls’, Forward and Back.

Tackling. We need to hold our tackles; not be brushed off.

 
plus, critically:
 

Play for four Quarters; again.

 
Team? Some changes:
 
Again, I would have great difficulty ‘dropping’ anyone from the team. So:
 

Out – De Goey and Greenwood (see comment below under Other).

In – Wells and Aish.

Coming? Consider Broomhead, Sier and Lynch?

 
Weather? Rain is forecast. Get the boots with ‘stops’ out; consider ‘sleeved’ guernseys.
 
 
TV? Undoubtedly but not yet identified on the AFL website.
 
 
My prediction? Pies Win by 13 Points. BOG – Adams – 31 Disposals @ 82.3% Disposal Efficiency. Elliott, Stephenson and Mihocek each score three goals.
 
 
Attendance?  Anyone going? Ground Reports pls?
 
 
Future. Next Final: Grannie.
 
 
Keep the faith.
 
 
Other:
 

Eddie Watch. Continuing quiet; a great thing.

A fiction: Collingwood legend, Strachany, is charged by the MRP for punching Greene after the game. Should be out of hospital in a few days; Greene was unhurt. Go to www.collingwoodfc.com.au/video/2019-09-06/a-legend-returns

Melbourne have tabled an interest in Elliott. Am I surprised? No. Will it work? Hopefully not.

A FaceBook comment has seen Greenwood training. Not sure what is going on.

And again for those who have ‘arrived’ in our august group more recently, if you wanted to look at a bit of history go to the Footy Almanac site at https://www.footyalmanac.com.au/?s=Hooke. Enjoy.

 
 
Go Pies.