Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life: Round 19 Review / Round 20 Preview

G’day, True Believers.

 

Back to “Stress City” for we poor Pies’ supporters. The much publicised comment is that the Pies have Won 12 of their last 16 games when they trailed at the last change. Impressive? Sure is. Stressful, certainly, but always great to get the Win, every time.

 

No more Challenges, but I’d appreciate some feedback, pls?

 

Round 19

 

Collingwood 13.7.85 defeated Port Adelaide 12.11.83.

 

Goals scored:

 

Q1: 4 (us) / 4 (them);

Q2: 1 / 2;

Q3: 2 / 3. So, they Won Q2 and Q3 giving us  a 17 Point deficit to recover at the last change;

Q4: 6 / 3. And we did;’ and

Total: 13 / 12. And we Won the game.

 

Match Report: www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/4945#match-report

 

Coach’s Report: www.afl.com.au/video/985574/full-post-match-r19-magpies?videoId=985574&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1690032484001&references=AFL_MATCH:4945.

Worth watching. A very pleased McRae talks about the team’s will to Win and ‘managing the moments’ in a great game of football. No disagreement there. Her also highlighted that the team’s objective was to qualify for the Finals, which had been achieved. Now, the team objective is to qualify 1^st or 2^nd on the Ladder. Of course, that preference depends a bit on who is 4^th or 3^rd; still some movement is possible.

 

Numbers:

 

Measure	Statistics	Remarks
Hit Outs	57 / 34	Cameron did well.
Clearances	54 / 46	Good to be leading Clearances though the margin is less than the HO margin. As such, we lost the Midfield battle.
from Centre	15 / 11
from Stoppages	39 / 35
Inside 50s	44 / 57	Not good; a significant shortfall. If you then combine with DE inside 50 you see that Port got the ball into the scoring zone more often and used it more effectively. They should have Won, but didn’t.
Goals scored	13 / 12	Key, as always.
Scoring Shots	20 / 23	Not good. Lucky PA wasted so many ‘easy’ shots.
Disposal Efficiency	64.0% / 69.3%
DE Inside 50	40.9% / 45.6%	Again, not good.
Marks Inside 50	8 / 10	See below. We need to be working on routine transfer of the ball to a better placed kicker. And I don’t count Elliott’s handball to Adams 3m out as qualifying. Nice move for the 200th gamer.
Tackles Inside 50	2 / 15	Don’t understand this.
Players with DE > 80 %	7 / 8
Tackles	64 / 79	Combined, a reflection of the team’s commitment / application. It’s a close result who worked harder based on these numbers. Close.
Contested Possessions	148 / 140
1 %’ers	56 / 58
Free Kicks	14 / 13	Position and timing. How about these: Fend by Powell-Pepper into Moore’s face not seen or actioned. P-P goes on to goal; and Numerous (I think there were 4 or 5 instances) of deliberate boundary crossing. At least one provided a set-shot goal.

 

Best: The AFL website identifies our Best as  Adams, Sidebottom, J.Daicos, Moore, Pendles and Elliott. Wouldn’t argue too strenuously about any of these. I thought that no-one played four Quarters well, and everyone had their moment, for example Quaynor’s intercept, Pendles’ management at the death and, of course, Elliott’s goals.

 

One on One. While not actually one on one, frequently being a team on team situation, it is worthwhile occasionally comparing players. A few pairs (or a trio in one case):

 

Powell-Pepper – 17 Disposals, 7 Tackles, 263 metres Gained @ 70.6% DE plus 2 goals (one of which should never have happened; see above); and

 

Maynard – 12 D, 3 T, 385 mG @ 83.3% DE.

Moore – 20 D, 3 T, 385 mG @ 83.3% DE; and

Dixon – 12 D, 1 T, 141 mG @ 66.7% DE plus 2 goals.

Butters – 31 D, 3 T, 393mG @ 64.5%;

60. Daicos – 25 D, 6 T, 317 mG @ 60.0% DE; and

Drew – 16 D, 16 T (that is what the site says – doubtful), 317mG @ 62.5% DE plus 2 Behinds.

 

Game / Deductions / Lessons. Not a great game of footy. A great battle, just not representative of what we can do. The numbers that concern me are the Contested Possessions, the hallmark of our application, and our Disposal Efficiency inside the 50, a reflection of our use of the ball at a critical time. A couple of comments:

 

• We kicked high ‘up and under’s towards to goal square rather than targeting leading forwards. This resulted in few pack marks however we did crumb around the packs well;
• Kick-in’s were too slow and were frequently intercepted. We badly need to fix this;
• The team need to talk more. On too many occasions players seemed unaware that they were ‘hot’ and suffered accordingly. And there were some silly mistakes – Howe’s handball to Maynard (presumably after Maynard called for it) with Horne-Francis ready to pounce, as he did (and a goal followed);
• Midfield control is essential to add to our drive from the Backline, not just the Centre. De Goey and Nick D had an off day; maybe swap Adams for De Goey might have been an option? Pendles swapping with Mitchell is a good arrangement – brings a high level of experience to the Centre and
• Many of our players (Most? All?) will have the opportunity to improve next week. Some have had a week off. Some have been there without a break. See team suggestions below.

 

Your views?

 

Injuries. Not sure.

    .

Your comments?

 

Round 20

 

Friday, 28 July – Collingwood versus Carlton at the MCG; bounce 7.50pm. The olde enemy.

 

This game is between 1^st (us with 16 Wins and 2 Losses) on 136.5% and 9^th (them with 9 Wins and 8 Losses) on 116.1%. A Win for us would go a long way towards keeping Calton out of the Eight, again. A look at the Ladder shows that, this week six teams (WB, St Kilda, GWS, Geelong, Carlton, Richmond and Essendon) placed from 5 to 11 on the Ladder are all likely to move up and down, into and out of the Eight.

 

Them

 

• Carlton have had a pretty ordinary season. They entered it with the clear expectation, particularly amongst their fans, that they were Finals-bound. It hasn’t worked out that way. Following their season-starting Draw with Richmond they had three Wins (notably R2 against Geelong) followed by eight Losses out of nine games, including our earlier meeting in Round 10. Notably their Best against us in that game included Docherty, C. Curnow, Cerra and Walsh. Our Best included Moore, J. Daicos, Mitchell, Mihocek, Noble, De Goey and N. Daicos. One game before their Bye and the four following since, they have put together five Wins. This might be notable except this five includes (working backwards from most recent) WCE, PA, Freo, Hawks and GC. As you might assume the Win over PA was not in Adelaide. In each of these Wins Carlton have scored early then protected their lead. For example, in their 71 Point Win over WCE, the Eagles outscored Carlton eight goals to 6 in the Second Half.
• Carlton have a very long Injury List, somewhat complicated in that Cripps is not listed, though he is identified as Out of the teams because on an Injury on the team sheet. Including him, their Injury List identifies a number of key position players – Cerra -RR, McKay – Forward, Silvani – FP and alternate Ruck and Walsh – Rover. Their usual Ruck, De Koning is also uncertain.
• In Carlton’s more recent Wins they have made especial use of the corridor, targeting C. Curnow and, when available, McKay. Their Midfield is based around Cripps – Centre (?), Docherty – RR / Wing, Cerra – RR (?), De Koning – Ruck (?) and Walsh – Rover. Their Backline is managed by Weitering – BP, supported by Newman – CHB and, sometimes Docherty – CHB. They will seek to win the Midfield battle and deliver direct to their Forward target(s).
• Back to their fans. The behaviour of their fans has been noted – booing or criticising players on the field or even leaving the game before the end. Very poor. I hope never something we would do.

 

Deductions: They are heavily reliant on the Midfield, which is potentially hugely changeable due to injuries. They use the key individuals as targets up Forward and their defence is solid. Their recent form is not significant when looked at in the broader sense. We should Win comprehensively.

 

Players to Watch?

 

• Cripps (if playing) – Centre;
• Docherty – RR / Wing / CHB;
• C. Curnow – FF;
• Weitering – BP;
• De Koning (if playing) – Ruck;
• Walsh (if playing) – Rover; and
• Newman – CHB.

 

Roles?

 

• Note emphasis of their Best in Midfield and very limited Forward targets;
• Need to control their use of the corridor;
• Need to compete for game control through CP / tackles / 1%’ers;
• Close attention / tagging to C. Curnow; 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:

 

As above, Carlton have put together a number of Wins, but, essentially, these have been against bottom teams. We should use this game to prepare for the Finals. A few suggested changes:

 

• Team? Suggest a continuing review including a few changes:

• Krueger replaces Lipinski;
• Ginnivan replaces Hill;
• Macrae replaces McStay; and
• Begg replaces Cameron (managed).
• Alternate inclusion to the above – Carmichael? Others?
• Your choices / ideas?

• Important. Heading towards the Finals (same comment as previous weeks). 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. Importantly, I’d like to see the kick-in progress more smoothly forward – I think speed, planning and preparedness have a lot to do in achieving this. The link between De Goey and Nick D, now almost permanently Midfield, is working well; as is the back stop by Pendlebury or Mitchell – a good sub solution, though I do like Markov as Sub, probably bringing him on a little before 3/4T.

 

My Picks:

 

Win by 31 Points. BOG – De Goey – 38 Disposals, 11 Clearances, 6 Tackles and 452 mG. Mihocek gets another 5; Elliott records 5 GA.

 

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.  Light rain is forecast on the game Day morning, so the ground will be wet and slippery, as will the ball. Get out the boots with stops; no plastic soled boots. Too much slip/sliding around last week.

 

TV:      Kayo or FOXTEL – Best for every game.

 

Free to Air TV coverage on 7mate.

 

Future:

 

• Round 21 – Saturday, 5 August – Hawthorn versus Collingwood at the MCG; bounce at 4.35pm. No FTA coverage. Anyone attending?

• Round 22 – Friday, 11 August – Collingwood versus Geelong at the MCG; bounce at 7.50pm. FTA coverage on 7mate. We are going; anyone else?

• 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. Your thoughts?

 

Other:

 

 

• VFL – The VFL side produced a solid Win over Sandringham last week, by 16 Points. Notable performers included Ginnivan and Carmichael. Their Round 19 game is on Saturday, 29 July against Carlton at Victoria Park; bounce at 1.05pm. Anyone going?
• 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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