Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life: Round 11 review, Round 12 preview

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

True Believers,

 

It is never fun watching or reporting on a poor performance. I thought we looked tired, slow and disinterested. I hope that the guys have watched the replay of the game because there are many lessons to see.

 

We are now sitting third on the ladder. We are well placed but still vulnerable to shifting out of the top four.

 

Round 10 – Fremantle Dockers

 

Collingwood 11.9.75 defeated by Fremantle 11.13.79.

 

Match Report – https://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2019/11/coll-v-fre

 

Ground Reports – Again I thank Janet, Elizabeth and Genevieve for their ground reports the previous week. I loved them, particularly the extraordinary diversity of approach. Any others?

 

Buck’s comments – https://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/video/2019-06-01/press-conference-nathan-buckley.

 

This is worth watching. Bucks very clearly highlights that Freo deserved to win, that we were outplayed by a harder, cleaner and more aggressive team.

 

The Game

 

For three quarters the Pies played like they didn’t want to be there. Bucks described the second term as the worst quarter they’ve played for some time. I agree, but note that the first and third quarter must have been close to the worst.

 

Reflecting Freo’s pressure on us, we were neither quick nor clean. The number of turnovers was extraordinarily high and, as per my comment below about behinds, as soon as possession changed, so did the game. The statistics, below, show that our disposal efficiency, particularly amongst the midfield, was awful. Both sides recorded substantial clangers (delivery direct to an opponent) though we had 17 players who recorded two or more clangers, compared to Freo’s 14. Way too often later in the game entry inside forward 50 was routinely an ‘up and under’ kick, inevitably leading to a turnover.

 

Bucks also very clearly acknowledged that we played their game with the consequences obvious to all.  To win and win well we must gain control and play our game.

 

The game was not a pleasure to watch. Janet, thank you for your companionship. Elizabeth, you didn’t miss a thing.

 

And that ‘touched’ goal? The best response came from Mayne: “Decisions come and go and you just move on to the next moment“. Well said, it’s not an excuse.

 

Numbers

 

My usual criticism relates to the conversion of hit outs to clearances and onto inside 50s and marks inside 50, impacting the flow-on to scoring shots (see my later comment regarding scoring behinds). So?

 

Hit Outs – 54 (us) / 14 (them). Outstanding as usual, courtesy of Grundy.

Clearances – 34 / 35 (centre – 11 / 12; stoppages – 23 / 23). This is about even, but it is not enough – the huge advantage from hit outs has been lost. What is the midfield doing?

Inside 50s – 45 / 56.

Marks inside 50 – 9 / 11.

Scoring shots – 20 / 24.

 

Plus, as a measure of intensity and application, a couple of numbers showed Freo’s dominance of effort over us:

 

Contested Possession – 143 / 160.

Tackles – 51 / 58.

Total: 194 (us) / 218 (them). This is a fair ‘general’ measure of application.

And frees: 16 (us) / 15 (them).

 

Best

 

My other usual criticism relates to individual performance as it is a measure of the contribution individual disposals make to the team. Broadly agree with the listed best from the AFL website, but have a look their efficiency and other contributions:

 

Pendlebury – 29 touches at 62.1%, six clearances, eight tackles and three 1%’ers.

Maynard – 24 touches at 87.5%, one clearance and one 1%’er.

Crisp – 27 possessions at 51.9%, six clearances, 2 tackles and three 1%’ers.

Treloar – 23 disposals at 69.6%, three clearances, four tackles and one 1%’er.

Howe – 21 touches at 90.5% and two 1%’ers

Grundy – 21 disposals at 71.4%, six clearances, three tackles and four 1%’ers plus 47 hit outs.

 

It’s interesting that The Age excluded Treloar and Grundy from their best, but included De Goey, with 16 possessions at 75.0%, one clearance, two tackles and two 1%’ers.

 

In comparison:

 

Fyfe (centre) – 32 touches at 68.8%, six clearances, four tackles and two 1%’ers.

Walters – 24 possessions at 79.2%, four clearances, three tackles and one 1%’er.

Langdon (wing, spitting image of his brother) – 23 disposals at 60.9%, two clearances and two tackles.

 

Conclusion

 

No one individual opponent cut us apart. Freo beat our team, fair and square, with their team. Go back to Buck’s comments if anything is unclear. We have to do better.

 

Round 11 – Melbourne

 

Monday, 10 June at the MCG, bounce 3.20pm. Go to https://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2019/12/coll-v-melb.

 

Betting: we are favourites – $1.34 to $3.20.

 

This game is between third place and 16th place on the ladder with percentages of 124.4% and 77.8%. We are coming off one loss, them three losses.  But don’t be complacent. In their most recent outing against Adelaide, who are eighth on the ladder, Melbourne led them by six goals in third quarter. They still led by four goals well into the last quarter. Melbourne lost by two points when a late set shot by Weideman (now there’s a famous Pies’ name) went astray. but don’t blame an individual – Melbourne scored 1.11 from their last 12 scoring shots of the game. Melbourne are not to be discounted. As last week showed, they are capable of establishing dominance, just not for all four quarters.

 

Them

 

Melbourne started this year as ‘one of the teams to beat’. And nearly everyone has. They have won against Sydney (Round 4), Hawthorn (Round 7, by five points) and the Gold Coast (Round 8, by one point). Their most recent losses and the final margin, in addition to last week’s result, have been against GWS (Round 10, 26 points), West Coast (Round 9, 16 points), Richmond (Round 6, 43 points) and St Kilda (Round 5, 40 points).

 

They come into this game after the narrowest of losses. What’s significant is the turnaround and Melbourne’s obvious inability to stop it – Adelaide kicked eight of the last nine goals. I didn’t see this game, but there would be an obvious need to totally dominate the Midfield for this period. Where was Gawn? And Oliver? And Viney? Melbourne have been the recipients of some very nasty media descriptions. The Queen’s Birthday special is exactly that – special. Expect Melbourne to come out breathing fire.

 

Who to watch for? Repeat performers this year make the following worth watching:

 

Midfield – Gawn (ruck), Oliver (rover) and Brayshaw (off the interchange).

Forwards – Harmes (forward pocket) and Petracca (half-back).

Backline – Salem (half-back), Hibberd (back pocket) and Hore (half-back, but probably out injured).

And watch for Viney (centre, who hasn’t performed recently but is always notable against the Pies) and Weideman (off the interchange bench into the forward line, given his family lineage).

 

Therefore 

 

Play our game. Win the midfield battle and use the corridor. Close defence against breakaway players, particularly near both goals.

 

Us

 

I said last week we are a winning side. That is no longer the case. We are coming off a pretty ordinary performance. We need to establish our control of the game early and take it from there.

 

Approach

 

We should use this game to bring back some players, rest some and ‘blood’ a couple of newbies – see below.

Critical approach – same as previous weeks. Establish control of the game, play it our way, not theirs. And application, application, application for all four quarters.

We must fix the conversion of Grundy’s ruck dominance into clearances. That’s on the midfield.

Behinds. I briefly touched on this last week. I think scoring a behind should be avoided so don’t take the ‘possible’ shots – pass the ball (backwards, if necessary) to get a better shot. A behind automatically gives ‘possession’ to our opponents. As such we should be far more focussed on getting the ball to an easy shot position rather than reconciling ourselves with a minor score.

 

Team

 

From the VFL – Sier and Quaynor. Recovered – Cox.

Outs – Greenwood, Aish and Hoskin-Elliott.

Ins – Cox, Sier and Quaynor.

 

Weather

 

Cloudy and windy but dry. But, then again, it is Melbourne.

 

TV

 

Yes, on Channel 7.

 

My prediction

 

Pies win by 29 points. BOG – Sier, with 37 disposals at 79.9% disposal efficiency and 9 clearances plus 2 goals. Reid and Cox get three each.

 

Attendance

 

Anyone going? Ground Reports please?

 

Future

 

And then there is the bye. Thank goodness; a break.

 

Other

 

Eddie Watch – quiet.

 

Go Pies.

 

Cam

 

 

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.

 

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