Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life: Round 15 Review, Round 16 Preview

 

G’day to all.

 

True Believers, we are. We have faith. We know that the sun will come up tomorrow even after the worst of days. And last night wasn’t great.

 

Brisbane beat us but it was anything but premiership material. The number of times we actually neatly passed the ball to an opposition player who neatly scored a goal would have been funny if it wasn’t so serious.

 

And our year is still not over. We have a bye, followed by the Gold Coast, followed by Port Adelaide before the finals. We can do this, people! A few years back Collingwood were sitting outside the eight but with enough time (and talent) to take the premiership. I think the betting odds were about 1,000 to 1.  As such, I placed a little wager. We’re getting close to that now. We are still in the hunt!

 

We can win this Premiership. We, simply have to play at our best at the appropriate time. And a bit of luck would be appreciated, God; please. Go Pies. Believe!

 

Round 15: Collingwood versus Brisbane

 

Collingwood 5.4.34 were defeated by Brisbane 6.6.42.

 

Goals scored by Quarter were:

• Q1- 1 (us) / 0 (them). Any reasonable assessment could have seen us kicking four majors. We wasted a huge start
• Q2 – 1 / 5. We continued to waste opportunities for us that made this quarter much worse than it should have been
• Q3 – 1 / 1
• Q4 – 2 / 0. We finished well
• Total: 5 / 6.

 

Match Report. Go to https://www.afl.com.au/matches/2892#match-report

 

Expert Predictions. Okay Caro, Dermie and Mickey McGuane all got it right this week.

 

Buck’s comments. At https://www.afl.com.au/video/496326/buckley-the-execution-was-a-fair-way-off?videoId=496326&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1599226695001. Worth watching.

 

Statistics

The match statistics for the team and individuals are at https://www.afl.com.au/matches/2892#team-stats and https://www.afl.com.au/matches/2892#player-stats. Always worth a browse. Again, the total game numbers don’t give us the quarter by quarter breakdown – I’d love to see the Q2 numbers. Regardless, across the game I was looking for ‘telling statistics’:

 

Passage to Goal:

 

• Hit Outs – 31 (us) / 21 (them). Brodie had a fairly bad day at the office. These numbers flatter his contribution

• Clearances – 29 / 29. Again, any advantage subsequent to a win in HO has been lost

• Disposal Efficiency – 73.6% / 73.8%. Yeah right? But Inside 50 there was a significant difference – 22.0% / 45.5%. Critical? Sure was
• Inside 50s – 41 / 33. Interestingly. Marks inside 50 were also against us (5 / 8). The linking of Inside 50s and the Disposal Efficiency there (Result: 9.02 / 15.02) is where Brisbane won the game. Also, once again, many of our goals were ‘crumbed’ rather than a neat pathway to goal through a marking forward. What was surprising? How close they came to losing
• Scoring Shots – 9 / 12
• Goals – 5 / 6. Okay, they won, but it wasn’t by much

 

Application:

 

• Contested Possession – 135 / 113. Buck’s assessment re CP is that whoever wins, wins the game. Not so
• Contested Marks – 11 / 5. Good domination but marks inside 50, as above, were seriously against us

• Tackles – 57 / 57. And Tackles Inside 50 were 14 / 5 (Not sure what that means; any ideas?)

• Turnovers – 64 / 63. No appreciable difference
• 1%’ers – 34 / 45. I really value this number as a first-order comparison of team effort. Who won? They did, by a country mile

 

And individual performance:

 

• Player numbers with an individual disposal efficiency equal to or over 80% – 9 / 9. Very big improvements in individual disposal efficiency across the paddock. Still some room for improvement.
• I’ve written about this before. ‘Clangers’ used to be reported in the AFL website on Individual Statistics. This number identified how many times a player delivered the ball directly to an opposing player. If I was Bucks I would ask one of my staff to go through the replay and identify just how many times this happened and what eventuated – eg a goal. I can’t be bothered. I just know it was a lot.

 

In summary:

• Pressure. Contrary to the numbers and Buck’s comments, I think we were out-pressured (particularly 1%’ers)
• Disposal Efficiency. Improved individual disposal efficiency but our team disposal efficiency within the 50 destroyed us (22.0% / 45.5%)
• Scoring. Still need to set in place ‘a process’ linking the mids and the forwards – kicking big ‘up and unders’ to a pack really is not working
• Basic Mistakes. Again, still too many, especially delivering possession direct to an opponent.

 

And Free Kicks – 17 / 11. Watching the game, I have difficulty believing these numbers. Again, I think the AFL needs to address the “caught with the ball” and “incorrect disposal” rules. I certainly don’t understand them; obviously neither do the umpires – 3 umpires / 3 interpretations. Also is “Kicking in danger” still an offence? How about tackling a player below the knees? They were pretty big on this a few weeks back.

Best: The AFL website identified Pendles, Noble, Maynard, Crisp, Adams and Daicos as best. I’d probably leave the last two off this list – played okay but not amongst best. Your thoughts?

 

The Future (after our Bye):

• Round 17 – 14 September at the Gabba – Gold Coast; bounce 7.10pm;
• Round 18 – 30 August – Port Adelaide. Detail TBA;
• Finals.

 

Round 15: Collingwood Bye

 

Us

 

Things to do this week:

• Practice linking HO and Clearance amongst the mids involving each of Lynch and Grundy
• Practice passing the ball between players against moving opponents – how many times did we see passes intercepted?
• Set up pack roles back and forward and practice spoiling in the pack and crumbing around it
• Practice variable and concurrent leading forwards for entry into the 50. The ‘up and under’ big kick into the 50 is only one alternative
• Enjoy your footy / Have a day at the beach
• Get Mayne out of hospital to assist team preparations with a game-day Assistant Coaching mandate. I remember one game when Maxy was out injured. He stalked the boundary never letting up on the Back 6. Very positive. A great example of “You don’t have to be the most talented player in a team to be captain; you have to be the best leader”.

 

Other

• Eddie Watch. Perhaps not surprising, quiet-ish. Anyone who listens to his radio show wish to comment?
• Injuries. Worth watching – https://www.afl.com.au/matches/injury-list?nav.
• Footy Almanac. Keep a watch on Footy Almanac at https://www.footyalmanac.com.au/. I have sent John a photo acknowledging Queensland’s hosting of the 2020 GF

 

 

This is our year, people. C’mon, be positive. Let’s hear your views?

 

Go Pies.

 

Cam

 

 

To read more from Cam, click HERE

 

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