Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life: Round 1 Review, Round 2 Preview

Greetings to all. Talk about ‘dynamic pessimism’. I like the term. There I was halfway through the third thinking my estimate of a win by 41 points might have been a bit conservative. By the end of the quarter I was mentally working out my responses to the ‘I told you so’ pessimists within our broad family. You know who I’m talking about, don’t you.

 

 

Round 1

 

Collingwood 15.12.102 defeated St Kilda 12.13.85

 

Firstly, some positives. I thought our application throughout the game was terrific. Bucks used to use the measure of tackles and contested possessions as his measure of application: 207 (us)/195 (them). Against as determined (dogged) a team like the Saints, this was an outstanding performance. Keep it up. Pushing Pendles back has also assisted with his leadership. I’m always reminded of Maxy’s leadership role, even when Heater, amongst the backs, never shut up. Well done by both of them. Secondly, the direct delivery of the ball forward was breathtaking, made even more spectacular by the blatant ‘searching inside the 50’ for the best placed player to have the shot. And finally, the ‘players’ collective’. Lipinski fitted in brilliantly; Daicos, the younger, did well but certainly didn’t take anything away from his older brother who was superb. And welcome back backline; looking forward to Maynard joining in in Round 3.

 

Regardless of my stress, confessed above, it was a great result. In fact it was a great game. It’d be hard to identify anyone who didn’t contribute at some stage but that doesn’t mean there aren’t areas for improvement. Can you imagine how far we would have got against Melbourne based on their performance against Footeeescray on Wednesday? More below.

 

Now, I know some of you intended to go to the game. I would welcome some ‘ground reporting’ please? I know that the closeness of the game limited the chant of ‘Collingwooood’, but it was great to hear after the siren, particularly when the team were still on the field (in front of the cheer squad, of course).

 

Match Report: www.afl.com.au/matches/3811

 

Coach’s Comments: www.afl.com.au/video/721476/full-post-match-r1-magpies?videoId=721476&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1647607721001. Very gentle.

 

Media Headings: There are times in listening/watching journalists when they really do miss the truth; sometimes not hiding their allegiances very well. The match report heading from our game was:

 

Flying high: Daicos delivers on debut as Pies hold off Saints’ charge

 

Collingwood has opened the 2022 season with a strong win over St Kilda

 

And the author, Josh Gabelich certainly has a serious, footy surname; though maybe a sub-editor was to blame? I would challenge two key elements. Yes, Nick Daicos did well (with the exception of his first kick) but, then, so did his brother and the rest of the team. Secondly, the heading seems to imply Collingwood had their backs to the wall stalling an inevitable St Kilda dominance. I didn’t see that at all. St Kilda dominated the game from midway through the third to the start of fourth. This followed Collingwood’s domination for the first half of third and the rest of the fourth (plus the entire first half). The lower part of the heading, in smaller print, is the more accurate statement.

 

Statistics & Lessons:

 

 

(Identifying only those numbers where there was a significant difference):

 

Hit Outs: 41 (us – nearly all Grundy)/27 (them). Good. Pretty much as you might expect from an All Australian ruck?

Clearances: 38/36. The next step. This number shows that our dominance from the ruck HO is, largely, lost. We are being ‘sharked’:

Centre: 18/9. OK, this shows that all is well at the centre. Our ruck dominance is accurately reflected in the clearances at the centre; not good, but reasonable.

Stoppages: 20/27. Here is the challenge. We were seriously ‘sharked’ at the stoppages. I don’t recall whether Grundy was staying with the ball or others were filling in. Something to be examined.

Inside 50s: 54/47. Interesting.

Marks: 87/98

Contested: 9/12. How many of those were Howe’s? Plus add one that was not given.

Marks inside 50: 12/9. Good.

 

Disposal Efficiency: My old favourite. You will recall that I have been critical in the past of some players who routinely have huge numbers of possessions but have very poor conversion to useful deliveries. If you have the time, have a look at individual player stats at www.afl.com.au/matches/3811#player-stats under ADVANCED / DEf. I proposed in previous years an arbitrary figure of 80% efficient. Harder for midfield players than backline (usually). Your thoughts?

 

Best: Listed bests were: De Goey, Lipinski, Howe, Nick D, Adams, Mihocek, and Josh D. I would be inclined to add Moore, Crisp, Noble and Pendles as well. Have a look at the ‘metres gained’ by the individual players at www.afl.com.au/matches/3811#player-stats under BASIC, MG. Eye opening?

 

 

Round 2

 

Collingwood v Adelaide

Saturday, 26 March 2022 at the MCG; bounce at 1:45pm.

 

 

Previous: Collingwood and Adelaide have met on three occasions in the last few years with their and our best still at the clubs identified (seeing the repeats?)

 

June 5, 2021: Win to us by five points

Adelaide – Laird, Seedsman, Keays, Walker and O’Brien; and
Us – Elliott (6 goals), Crisp, Pendles, Daicos and Sidebotton

 

August 11, 2020: Win to us by 24 points

Adelaide – Laird, O’Brien, Himmelberg, Crouch and Smith; and
Us – Adams, Crisp, Sidebottom, Cameron, Maynard and Sier

 

August 17, 2019: Win to us by 66 points (interesting progression of the margin)

Adelaide – Smith, Seedsman, Laird and Crouch; and
Us – Elliott, Pendles, Maynard, Crisp and Howe

 

Adelaide:

 

Community Series: Adelaide were defeated by Port by 37 points resulting from a very poor third quarter. Their best – O’Brien (Ruck), Rachele (Wing/Forward), Sloane (Full Forward), Schoenberg (Rover), Keays (Forward Pocket) and Crouch (Interchange/Midfield)

Round 1. Adelaide lost to the Fremantle Dockers by one point in a quite extraordinary game. After a slow start Adelaide put on a big second half, scoring seven goals to none to the 10 minute mark of the last. Then Freo turned over the deficit with three goals to none and held on to their one point advantage for some time. Worth watching at: www.afl.com.au/video/723709/last-two-mins-crazy-goalkeeper-save-denies-crows-in-insane-ending?videoId=723709&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1647763089001. Their best on this occasion – Keayes, Rachele, Crouch, Rowe, Sloane.

 

Injuries: Laird, Seedsman and Walker are all unavailable due to injuries.

 

Deductions? Adelaide’s injuries remove very capable and experienced players, but they also provide the opportunity for players to step up – Rachele, for example. Their Round 1 loss, after such an extended fightback, will motivate them, except insofar as the scoring shot difference favoured Adelaide anyway.

 

Who to watch? O’Brien – Ruck, Rachele – dynamic Wing/scoring Forward, Schoenberg – Rover and Himmelberg – Forward.

 

Us

 

See last week’s email and above.

 

Injuries: While none have been listed, Adams fell very heavily.

 

Team: Hard to change such a winning team. Cox didn’t perform as anticipated but that was mostly the attention he was getting. No change.

 

I have nothing useful to add to the side’s performance last week, except for this week:

 

1. Address the clearances at stoppages around the ground.

 

2. Consider tagging Rachele. Is Sier fit?

 

Result: Collingwood to win by 27 points. BOG – Grundy with 43 HO, 15 clearances and four goal assists. Elliott to get five goals. Your thoughts?

 

TV: Go to www.afl.com.au/broadcast-guide-premiership. This seems to indicate no free-to-air TV coverage. Get Kayo or head to the pub to watch.

 

Weather: Clear and sunny. Moulded-sole boots okay.

 

Round 3

 

Saturday, April 2, 2022 at the MCG; bounce at 7:25pm.

Collingwood v Geelong

 

Not the ‘Auld Enemy’, of course, unless you went to school in Geelong for an extended period (like eight years) then it is the enemy; no question.

 

Other

 

AFLW: Still waiting to hear what is going on regarding our delayed Qualifying Final.

 

Family Connections: An aside – The publicity behind the two Daicos siblings playing in the same club was, justifiably, huge. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that we have three siblings playing in the same club – two Brown brothers playing in the AFL and their sister playing in the AFLW. Well done to both families.

 

Challenges: I issued a couple of challenges last week. I haven’t received any responses, so far. The challenge remains open, people. Get into it. Please?

 

Go Pies

 

Cam

 

 

 

Read more Round 1 reports HERE

 

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