Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life – Round 15 Preview

June 29, 2016 by Leave a Comment

True Believers,greetings to all.  I’m feeling much more confident than I was a week ago; and more confident than I was the week after the Geelong victory.  Why?  In our Geelong win we really only dominated the game in the First Quarter.  We matched Geelong, largely, for the rest of the game but didn’t totally dominate them like in the First Quarter.  Last weekend we played a four-quarter game – the first for a while, certainly this season, at least.  The application, commitment and pursuit was fantastic, and the fact that it continued (almost) without let up for the whole game, reflects exactly what we have all believed was our team’s capacity.  And the team-members’ acknowledgement of each other and the obvious motivation across the board was fantastic.  Great to see.

The Season.  We are sitting 14th; actually one game below five teams on equal 9th.  What does that mean?  It means we have to win this week, and win well, to re-establish our move forward and to re-establish our credibility in the face of all the other supporters (particularly Carlton supporters).

Now lets go on with it.  One week at a time.  Want an Objective?  Let’s seek to lift our Percentage over 95.0%.  Okay, letting Carlton score 100 points, that means we have to score 169 (or if Carlton score 80 points, we have to reach 150).  “There is only one thing worse than not meeting your Objectives; that is, not to have one“.  Let’s make it really simple – win this week against Carlton, then worry about next week.

Belief.  A pertinent starting quote (well, okay, not particularly relevant, but amusing from our very own ‘Tweeter Master’ – Swanny:

  • Dane Swan ?@swandane; – I’ll be live tweeting the pies game tonight over on the @CollingwoodFC Twitter page. Gonna be plenty of insightful footy speak.  5:48 PM – 24 Jun 2016;
  • CollingwoodFC?@CollingwoodFC – Thanks for having me.. I’ve Just arrived back from 10 days in bali. Much happened in footy since I’ve been gone??  7:44 PM – 24 Jun 2016;
  • CollingwoodFC?@CollingwoodFC – I’m also noticing a few slick new haircuts out there tonight. Boys obviously put the bye to good use.  7:55 PM – 24 Jun 2016;
  • CollingwoodFC?@CollingwoodFC – Nice by that young kid to kick his first goal.. I’ll have to meet him Monday.  8:39 PM – 24 Jun 2016; and so it went on.

 

It’s not over till it’s over. Have faith.

The Game:

 

Carlton.  Saturday, 2 July; at the G; bounce: 7.50pm.  There is some confusion about the Bounce time at the Match Centre (7.25pm) and the TV Coverage site (Now fixed).  Keep an eye on this so you don’t miss the First Quarter.

 

13th versus 14th (we’re 14th), percentages: 81.1% (them) vs 88.9% (us).  We are five and eight; they are six and seven; so from the Ladder they should be favourites.  We are coming off a substantial win over Freo, the Bye and two substantial losses (Port and Melbourne) before that. Carlton are coming off a substantial Loss to GWS (last week), the Bye and a Loss to St Kilda and, prior to that, wins against four out of the preceding five matches (Wins: Brisbane, Geelong, Port and us; Loss: North in Round 9) back to including when they beat us in Round 7. The win over Geelong in Round 10 should be noted: 104 to 85 points.  But the Geelong game is now some time past.  Betting is close with us, for some strange reason, favourites. We should win.

 

 

 

Weather in Melbourne on Saturday?  Possible light showers, mainly in the morning; 9 to 15 deg, windy.  Particularly following the rain on Thursday and Friday (and Saturday morning), the surface will be wet and slippery and the ball will become heavy.  Consider long sleeves and ‘stops’ (no moulded soles) again.  Look at ‘basic’ tactics to get the ball forward in these conditions – kick it off the ground rather than expecting to be able to neatly pick it up.

 

TV – Free to Air; 7mate, from 7.20pm (Bounce time fixed).

 

Them?

 

Carlton.  Up to a month ago Carlton’s coach was being hailed as a marvel, turning around a club in record time. Then came the Loss to St Kilda (by 32), a Bye and the Loss to GWS (by 62).  Neither Loss should really have been a surprise, particularly noting St Kilda’s recent form, but they did establish a corner and Carlton went round it.  In each Loss Carlton showed the ability to match their opponent for some of the game but, fairly obviously, not all.  Looking back at our Round 7 Loss, while the Scoring Shots were equal, they beat us substantially on Clearances (29 (us) / 40 (them)), Inside 50s (46 / 57), Marks inside 50s (5 / 16) and Contested Possessions (125 / 143). The principal deduction?  They put us under pressure that we didn’t match.  The lessons for us – we need a four-Quarter effort and our application has to match theirs.  We might need to tag Docherty (see below).

 

Blues players to watch for:

  • Most influential. Watch for Docherty (Mid / HB; made the Team of the Week last week with 30 touches and 7 rebound inside 50’s), Gibbs (Mid); Casboult (CHF), Cripps (Centre) and Kreuzer (Ruck).
  • Potential influencers – In addition to Gibbs (above) against us last time (30 touches, 3 goals), maybe include Everitt and Curnow, both off the Interchange, who had stellar games against us last time; less so since; and
  • ‘Family’ – Daisy – mostly playing off the Half Backline, but can also turn up on the Wing or Centre. He has had a pretty awful experience playing against his old club, but has been included in their Best more recently.  I was at the ground a couple of years ago when he had an absolute ‘shocker’ including a 20 metre kick; and didn’t the crowd let him know.  Anyone else?

 

Us?

 

Published Thursday night.  Will be tempted to minimise change – I think there is scope for some change, but not too much.

 

Injury Outs – Nothing from last week’s games (AFL or VFL) regarding new injuries.  Reporting last week on the progressions of Fas, Adams, Langdon (not any more – heading for an operation) and Darcy largely reflected their progression from Mid-term to Short-term injuries – Darcy, Fas and Broomhead are now at the ‘test’ stage – maybe Darcy and Fas straight back; Broomhead probably through the VFL.

 

Legacy from last week (again): Michael Christian on ‘The Agenda’ – http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/.  Worth watching, particularly Treloar’s ‘Monday Moment’.

 

In’s & Out’s: In’s: Witts (back in – play both Witts and Grundy in the same team.  I know everyone else doesn’t agree with me, but then again none of the ‘experts’ thought we would beat Geelong – I’m not sure that ‘one go’ is sufficient to check it out.  Keep Trav in and bring in Goldsack.  Out’s -White, Crocker and Cox.  Let me reiterate that Mason Cox, while his performance has been interesting (and he takes a leading mark well in front of his body better than many), is not really AFL top-level Full Forward material.  His ground work is very ordinary (compare him with Grundy whose ground work is simply outstanding). Maybe consider resting Cox and giving Gault or Darcy (or Broomhead) a run?  With regards the Back 6, I’d like to see Goldsack in a controlling role.  The Back 6 were so much better last week – not sure whether as a consequence of our effort or their opponents – probably a bit of both? Who to replace – not sure.

 

Game Plan – what do we we have to do to win?  Same as last week, and every week before that, with emphasis on the application and team support of each other; critically the ‘game plan’ that everyone knows and works to.

 

What do you think?

 

 

Game Previews?

 

 

My Picks? Pies by 51; BOG: Trav:  Goals – 5, plus 5 Goal Assists; 8 Marks, 17 Disposals and 6 Tackles.  Crowd: 76,000 – an improvement, but still not great.  Your picks?

 

Other:

 

Reporting?  Anyone going?  Ground Reports pls?

 

The Almanac is seeking to provide content to the MCC website – but it needs to be written by an MCC Member. If any of you are MCC Members and are willing to support this pls respond directly to John Harms.

 

Next. Round 16 – Saturday, 9 July GWS at Spotless Stadium; bounce 1.40pm (enough time for an easy day-trip in daylight, Canberra residents).  Unfortunately I’ll be interstate, but encourage the support; I think we’ll need it.  Don’t read that as me thinking we can’t win – we can.  Of late if you’ve watched GWS play, Essendon were dominant to the middle of Q3, Sydney were very even for the First Half, and in their loss to Geelong (reversing the earlier Canberra game result), GWS showed they are beatable.  More on this next week.

 

Keep the faith. Go Pies.

 

Cam

 

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