Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life: Round 10 Review and Round 11 Preview

G’day to all.

 

A bad result, but with positives. It’s always disappointing to Lose however the positives noting Collingwood sitting 15th on the Ladder were playing an opposition in 5th place. A positive result for us was always going to be an upset. But, I consider, we were the better team on the day and should have taken home the points.

 

I included last week, a website of thoughts about Collingwood’s future Board. Quite simply, because I have so little information, I’m reluctant to suggest any Club solutions. That said, because I find the media, particularly self-opinionated football media, I’d suggest a simple short-term solution – extend Bucks for another 12 months, now.

 

Can someone do the sums for me? Is it still mathematically possible for us to make the Finals?

 

Round 10

 

Port Adelaide 8.11.59 defeated Collingwood 8.10 58.

 

A good game that I was disappointed we didn’t establish and maintain a much larger lead, building on Q1. The numbers, below reflect a winning team that somehow failed to do so.

 

Match Report: https://www.afl.com.au/matches/3052

 

AFL – News, Fixtures, Scores & Results – AFL.com.au AFL Live Pass is required to view AFL.TV & Match Replays. From 2019, fans will no longer be able to subscribe to AFL Live Pass through the AFL website. However, you can still subscribe via the Apple App Store or the Google Play. www.afl.com.au

 

Buck’s comments Here 

 

Interesting comments worth listening to. Bucks states very clearly that they should have won. The numbers, below, support that. He also highlighted that the effort and intent were much higher. As an example he noted the ‘fight back’ from 13 Points down with 2 minutes left; the team fought it out. He noted that winning is habit-forming; something that is currently missing but he reinforced that Collingwood is not happy ‘being close’. In response to a question about ‘Club issues’ he reminded the journalist that he and the players are focussed on what they control.

 

Extraordinary things we saw, by our players:

 

• The Back 6, especially Roughead’s juggling mark, his 15 Marks including 10 Intercepts, and Moore’s 15 Marks including 8 Intercept.

 

• Grundy’s pair – he had a great game both in the middle and around the ground. See below, I could see real value in putting him Forward more often, but neither Cameron nor Cox are Rucks;

 

• Adams’ leadership, and management of the Umpires giving time for the team to restructure; and

 

• Poulter’s first; many more to come. Do you recall anything?

 

Some statistics and comments:

 

• Hit Outs – Ignoring this number as irrelevant.

 

• Clearances – 35 (us) / 29 (them). Well, we Won this.

 

• Inside 50s – 51 / 48. Hmm? And that too.

 

• Disposal Efficiency – 75.4% / 71.1%. And that.

 

• Individual Disposal Efficiency – 6 / 8 players with a DE equal to or over 80% and 0 / 2 with an individual DE equal to or under 50%. These numbers are close enough not to be significant. They represent a measure of how clean the ball is moved between players. Both sides did okay.

 

• Inside 50: Disposal Efficiency – 41.2% / 43.8% and Marks – 7 / 10. Inside 50 they did better. Of significance was Aliir who took 7 intercept marks, He stopped our attack dead on these occasions, wasting our build-up and attack.

 

• Contested possessions – 137 / 127.

 

• Tackles – 49 / 56.

 

• Scoring Shots – 18 / 19.

 

• Losing margin – 1 Point.

 

So we Won the Clearances and Inside 50s and the Contested Possessions but Lost the scoring shots and goals, and the game.

 

And for the ‘new’ game, we Won the Disposals 418 / 343, Uncontested Possessions 282 / 206 and Marks 138 / 99. So, as demonstrated by these numbers, we achieved possession and kept it; not turning over possession. Then there was Aliir. We need to work on going around such key defenders.

 

Best: Adams, Grundy, Quaynor, Moore, Roughead and Crisp. Pretty fair; no-one jumped out at me as not committing.

 

Lessons:

• Application. Big improvement for four quarters.

 

• Back 6 – Moore back restarted Collingwood’s defensive DNA. Good to have Roughead back.

 

• Ball Handling. Improved.

 

• Delivery to the Forwards, broke down too often losing the momentum and scoring opportunity. The fundamental challenge for the team is to deliver the ball to the Forwards in good scoring positions. Aliir stopped, potentially, seven goals. The addition of those would have provided a fair reflection of the game; and a Win.

 

• Tackling and one-on-one. Improved but still not perfect.

 

• Midfield success? Well done, Midfield; a great performance.

 

Plus?

 

Experts – Everyone expected a Port Win. Go to http://whotippedwhat.com/round/afl-2021-round-10/.

 

AFL 2021 Round 10 – Who Tipped What – Who Tipped What Round 10: AFL 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Home Away Print Less Stats The Verdict View Round Summary 92% 97% 94% 94% 94% 58% 78% 97% 94% All… Blogger Commentator Computer … whotippedwhat.com

 

Round 11

 

Collingwood Magpies versus Geelong.

 

Saturday, 29 May at the MCG; bounce at 1.45. Right now, I’m going to this with a seat in the Members’. That is, of course, unless Victoria shuts down again. Many thanks to my brother, David, for organising. Of concern, as I’ve mentioned previously, my siblings are all Geelong supporters.

 

Them

 

Geelong are running, quietly, under the horizon solidly in the Top 4. They are sitting 3rd on the Ladder with a percentage of 131.4% (compared with our 16th place and modest 86.0%) based on their 7 Wins (compared with our 2).

 

Their season has included a couple of surprises, including their three Losses and their two Wins by less than a kick (theoretically after Round 4 they could have been 0 / 4):

 

• Round 1 – Loss to Adelaide by 12 Points (in Adelaide);
• Round 2 – Win over Brisbane by 1;
• Round 3 – Win over Hawthorn by 5;
• Round 4 – Loss to Melbourne by 25;
• Round 5 – Win over North by 30;
• Round 6 – Win over WCE by 97;
• Round 7 – Loss to Sydney by 2;
• Round 8 – Win over Richmond by 63;
• Round 9 – Win over St Kilda by 21; and
• Round 10 – Win over the GC by 34..

 

But they have stabilised. Geelong’s Forward line is impressive, with Jeremy Cameron joining Hawkins and their smalls. Their Midfield is driven by Selwood and Guthrie. Geelong are far more impressive at home at Kardinia Park than elsewhere and they have a history of underperforming away from home.

 

Based on their games this year, so far 18 players have made their Best lists. Players to watch:

 

• Guthrie – Centre;
• Selwood – Rover. Greenwood has successfully shut down Selwood in past encounters;
• Duncan – Ruck Rover. Pendles?
• Stewart – CHB;
• Cameron – CHF. Moore and Roughead to take on Cameron and Hawkins; and
• Henry – BP.

 

And, while not consistently making their Best lists, watch for:

 

• Stanley – Ruck; and
• Menegola – into the Forward line off the Interchange.

 

Us:

 

Team & Tasks. A couple of changes:

 

Ins:

 

• Lynch – Ruck, alternating with Grundy (FF) setting up a much taller Forward line; and
• Greenwood – tagging Selwood.

 

Outs:

 

• Thomas
• a Brown brother. Your thoughts?

 

Game Plan. We need to focus on (same as nearly every week):

 

• Application. High intensity commitment for four Quarters – bring the same energy as last week. Watch the Contested Possession and Tackle numbers. The chase and tackle must be maintained for four Quarters, and when we tackle, we have to hold on;

 

• A different approach. As suggested above, replace Grundy with Lynch as the principal ruck; move Grundy forward into the FF role supported by Cameron and Mihocek and De Goey and the other smalls;

 

• Winning the Clearances. Dominate Inside 50s and look for a better placed goal-kicker (like last week); and

 

• We can Win this if we get possession and keep it.

 

Conclusion. We can Win this, but there’s a few things we have to get right building on last week. We must control possession.

 

 

My picks. Collingwood to Win by 17 Points. BOG – Greenwood – 17 Disposals @ 80.9% DE and nine Tackles; Grundy, De Goey, Cameron and Mihocek each get two goals. Your thoughts?

 

 

Experts. Go to http://whotippedwhat.com/round/afl-2021-round-11/. Check it out later in the week.

 

AFL 2021 Round 11 – Who Tipped What – Who Tipped What Round 11: AFL 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Home Away Print Less Stats The Verdict View Round Summary All… Blogger Commentator Computer Predictions Ex-Coach Ex-Player … whotippedwhat.com

 

Weather. Rain is forecast this week, but not on Saturday. Expect a slippery ground and ball. Strongly suggest leaving the moulded sole boots in the cupboard and wearing boots with stops.

 

TV. FTA coverage – don’t know. Check later in the week. Routine for FOXTEL and Kayo.

 

Other:

• Injuries. Go to https://www.afl.com.au/matches/injury-list.

 

• Footy Almanac. Go to https://www.footyalmanac.com.au/. Check out others’ comments under this – always interesting. John, might you have some comments on this one? Are you going to be there?

 

 

Go Pies.

 

Cam

 

The Tigers (Covid) Almanac 2020 will be published in the coming weeks. It will have all the usual features – a game by game account of the Tigers season – and will also include some of the best Almanac writing from the Covid winter.  Pre-order right now HERE

 

 

To return to the www.footyalmanac.com.au  home page click 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
One-off financial contribution – CLICK HERE
Regular financial contribution (monthly EFT) – CLICK HERE