Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life: Round 17 Review / Round 18 Preview
G’day everyone.
We’re still not in Australia. Greetings from the Bill Bentley Pub, Turtle Village in Phuket. You can Google it.
Firstly, as a certified Pies’ fan, have a look at what our coach has to say about us – www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/1368266/-our-fans-are-incredible-mcrae-in-awe-of-magpie-army
‘Our fans are incredible’: McRae in awe of Magpie Army
Collingwood’s record smashing attendances look like continuing if this week’s training is anything to go by.
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As I indicated last week, we need to think about some of the challenges faced by the Team and come up with solutions. As always, there are no right or wrong answers; just your thoughts. So I would invite you to address the issue, jot down some ideas and Reply to All:
- 1st Challenge. As per yesterday for periods, our opponent gets a run-on out of the Midfield leading to targets in their Forward line. How can we address the Midfield battle – new players in? and / or defending against the Forward targets – one on one defence / the 7th player
Now, c’mon. Many of you know far more about this than I do.
Round 17
Collingwood 13.11.89 defeated Western Bulldogs 11.11.77.
Goals scored:
Q1: 1 (us) / 3 (them). They got off to a great start;
Q2: 4 / 3. Broadly recovered by HT;
Q3: 6 / 1. And then;
Q4: 2 / 4; and
Total: 13 / 11. And we Won,
Match Report: www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/4925
AFL – News, Fixtures, Scores & Results – AFL.com.au
Australian Football League. All the latest AFL news, video, results and information
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Coach’s Report: www.afl.com.au/video/965512/full-post-match-r17-magpies?videoId=965512&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1688737600001. Worth watching particularly regarding the action taken to address the WB Q1 lead.
Full post-match, R17: Magpies
Watch Collingwood’s press conference after round 17’s match against Western Bulldogs
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Numbers:
Measure | Statistics | Remarks |
Hit Outs | 44 (us) / 39 (them) | |
Clearances | 36 / 39 | A poor reflection of Midfield dominance, or lack thereof. |
from Centre | 13 / 12 | |
from Stoppages | 23 / 27 | |
Inside 50s | 45 / 51 | Reflects Clearances. Why the Clearances are so important. |
Goals scored | 13 / 11 | |
Scoring Shots | 24 / 22 | |
Disposal Efficiency | 76.7% / 71.0% | Okay. Next is more important. |
DE Inside 50 | 51.1% / 47.1% | Good. So they got it Inside 50 more often than us, but we used it better. |
Marks Inside 50 | 20 / 14 | Improves the above. |
Tackles Inside 50 | 9 / 10 | The reverse – it detracts from the DE differential. |
Players with DE > 80 % | 11 / 7 | Good. |
Tackles | 65 / 51 | Combined, a reflection of the team’s commitment / application. It’s a close result who worked harder based on these numbers. |
Contested Possessions | 115 / 132 | |
1 %’ers | 36 / 53 | |
Free Kicks | 15 / 12 |
Best: The AFL website identifies our Best as N.Daicos, Elliott, Noble, Crisp, Quaynor, J.Daicos and Johnson. I would only challenge one of these; not going to name him.
Game / Deductions / Lessons. We dominated scoring 11 goals to 2 from mid-Q2 to early Q4. But in the periods to mid Q2 and from mid Q4 to the end we were beaten. The first period set up 20 Point deficit from which to recover, while the Bulldogs attacked our 36 Point lead with the last four goals of the match. I never lost confidence in us winning, but I consider these periods warrant attention. The coach addressed the need to be able to turnaround the Q1 period. While I acknowledge that, I think we need to consider solutions – see the Challenge, above. It was a solid Win against a committed opponent, but we need to be able to dominate the game and play our style.
Deductions. I thought we lost the Midfield battle and their Forwards dominated our defenders – they could hardly drop a mark. Our kick-in’s need some serious work – they are too slow and are being intercepted way too often. Our Forward line worked really well except for the obvious reluctance to pass the ball to a better placed goal-kicker – rate GA more highly than Goals?. We have some homework to do in a number of areas. Your views?
Injuries. Hoskin-Elliott.
Your comments?
Round 18
Saturday, 15 July – Collingwood versus Fremantle at the MCG; bounce at 1.45pm. .
This game is between 1st (us with 14 Wins and 2 Losses) on 137.1% against 12th (them with 7 Wins and 8 Losses) on 95.2%. Of course, this email predates the Freo / Carlton game tomorrow which may shift their position on the Ladder quite a bit.
Them
Freo has had an ordinary season but they have surprised us. From Round 8 to their Bye in Round 12 they put together a series of Wins, including Sydney in Sydney, Geelong in Perth and Melbourne at the MCG. More recently, they’ve Lost to Richmond, GWS and WB. This game is hugely significant if they have any hope of making the Finals. Their run home includes five Top Eight teams, though they do seem to have large number of Perth games.
Injuries. They have a short Injury List though Fyfe doesn’t get a mention.
Game Plan. WB are heavily reliant upon their Midfield, as seen below. Watch for their talls, including Jackson and Darcy, working their Forward line.
Players to Watch?
- Serong – Rover;
- Darcy – Ruck;
- Brayshaw – RR;
- Jackson – CHF; and
- O’Meara – FP.
Also keep an eye out for Aish, interestingly playing Wing / Centre / HB on occasion (though he may be injured, still), for Collingwood ‘family’ reasons. The above also presumes Fyfe is unavailable. If he plays, he gets added to the list.
Roles?
- Note emphasis of their Best on Midfield, particularly the Ruck;
- Need to use corridor over the Midfield rather than through it;
- Need to compete for game control through CP / tackles / 1%’ers;
- Close attention to Jackson at CHF; and
- Watch for attempts to tag our players / implement counter-tagging plan, accepting the logic that this, generally, removes an additional effective opponent from the opposition.
Us:
A few suggested changes:
- Team? Suggest an ongoing review including a few changes:
- Hoskin-Elliott – out. Rest Frampton and Johnson, others?
- In from the VFL side – Kreuger, Begg and Kelly plus others;
- McStay return?
- Mihocek back. Your choices / ideas?
- Important. Heading towards the Finals (same comment as last week). There will be a need to establish and maintain the selection pool for Finals’ games. Working towards this requires the players, potentially to be called upon, to be appropriately ‘blooded’. The next few Rounds provide a good opportunity to do so without endangering a Top 4 finish. Who am I talking about? Begg, Kreuger and Kelly, for example. Views?
- Application? No change – Application for four full Quarters. Hold the tackles. Establish and maintain control of the game (Contested Possessions).
- Game Plan? No change to the current plan – Drive out of the Backline as well as the Midfield. Use varied entry to the 50 and be willing to move the ball to a better-placed goal scorer than delivering to packs. Crumb around packs. I’d like to see the kick-in progress more smoothly forward – I think speed and preparedness by all have a lot to do in achieving this.
My Picks:
Win by 37 Points. BOG – De Goey – 36 Disposals, 11 Clearances, 5 Tackles and 484 mG. Mihocek, Jack, Bobby & Billy each get two.
Ground Reports. Loved the Reports from attendees. Let’s see some reporting, please, from those who couldn’t attend but watched the game on TV – all views are welcome. Do we have any people going?Could you report please? And always Reply to All please?
Weather. Isolated storms and light rain. Get out the boots with stops; no plastic soled boots.
TV: Kayo or FOXTEL – Best for every game.
No Free to Air TV coverage.
Future:
- Round 19 – Saturday, 22 July – Port Adelaide versus Collingwood at Adelaide Oval; bounce at 7.40pm (AEST). No FTA TV coverage. Do we have anyone from over there?
- Round 20 – Friday, 28 July – Collingwood versus Carlton at the MCG; bounce 7.50pm. FTA coverage on 7mate. Who’s going?
and
- The Ladder. Keep an eye on the Ladder as we approach the midpoint of the Season (yes, still a couple of weeks off) leading to some big moves on the Ladder. Have a look at recent results and moves – Watch Richmond, Adelaide, Geelong and GWS? Your thoughts?
Other:
- VFL – The VFL side lost to Footscray Bulldogs by 20 Points, with them scoring the last four, unanswered, goals. I think they have another Bye the coming week.
- Anything that you would like to inform our members of, just to all or send it to me.
Believe always. Go Pies.
Cam
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