Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life – Round 2
April 1, 2019 by 2 Comments
True Believers, a fine performance. Collingwood 17.8.110 defeated Richmond 10.6.66 – a 44 point win.
Round 2 – Richmond
Match Report – https://www.afl.com.au/
Ground Reports – Thanks, Matthew for your Ground Report. Thanks Andrew for the Ground Report for the Round 1 game – as a Geelong supporter, you were very restrained.
Bucks’ comments – https://www.collingwoodfc.
The Game
The Pies pursued ‘ownership of the ball; get it and keep it’ and progress its movement when you can. The Efficiency of connecting kicks and hand-passes was absolutely essential to achieve this (compared with last week when we frequently turned over possession). One of my criticisms last week focussed on the failure of Disposals to be influential because of very poor Efficiency. This week our skills were outstanding – Treloar – 82.1% Efficiency, Crisp – 78.1%, Beams – 80.6%, Mayne – 90.9% (what a ‘quiet achiever’ he is), Pendles – 83.9%, Grundy – 91.3% and Moore – 93.3%. That means that their kicks and hand-passes were going where they were directed; no turnovers. Well done to all. Our application lapsed in one three-minute period at the end of Q2 – in which they kicked three goals. We were never in any real danger – always looked in control of the game; it just took us a while to work the scoreboard back to the real margin. Q2 (4 goals (us) / 4 goals (them) including the 3 goals they added in the three-minutes) and Q4 (5 / 1) were both impressive. And pretty good kicking by both sides.
Numbers – My other principal criticism last week related to the conversion of Hit Outs to Clearances and onto Inside 50s and Marks Inside 50. So?
- Hit Outs – 33 (us) / 24 (them). Reflects Grundy’s dominance.
- Clearances – 32 / 30 (Centre: 15 / 13; Stoppages – 17 / 17). This shows we have nearly lost the advantage achieved in the Hit Outs. Better than previous, it is still not good enough.
- Inside 50s – 64 / 45. A much better conversion.
- Marks inside 50 – 19 / 11. A game-winning difference – that means we had nearly twice as many static goal-scoring shots. Well done.
Plus, as a measure of intensity and application, a couple of numbers:
- Contested Possession – 133 / 110.
- Tackles – 60 / 33.
And Frees: 25 / 9. I’m not sure what this shows, whether it reflects well on us or badly on them. I suspect the latter, given Grimes wandering elbow.
Best – Everyone contributed. Happy to add Crisp and Roughead to the list; maybe Moore too. Mihocek also contributed. The Back 6 (or 7) is working towards being the team foundation; not just the Midfield. Watch this space. And how good is Greenwood? His 20 Disposals @ 85.0% Efficiency trumps Dusty Martin’s 19 @ 68.4%
Player Reports – Contrary to the Match Report there were actually three Reports from the game. Grimes for his elbow strike on Elliott (very clear intent, head-high and just lucky he mostly missed; justified punishment – could have been more) and Cox for “rough conduct” (whatever that means; questionable punishment – certainly not as serious as Grimes). Each has been offered a single match off. The third Report was of Treloar’s unintended contact with an umpire. $1000 fine. I just saw a female Goal Umpire knocked over in a game and helped back to her feet by one of the players – Does this constitute “contact with an umpire and will the player be fined?
Round 3 – West Coast
Saturday, 6 April, Collingwood versus West Coast Eagles at the MCG; bounce 7.25pm. G’day John.
Them – Even more than our uninspired Loss to Geelong, the Eagles total and utter capitulation against Brisbane last week was astounding. The Eagles exploded from the blocks and achieved a six goal to one Q1. Then I don’t know what happened. After Quarter time the Eagles scored a further two goals for the entire game; Brisbane got another 14. What can you deduce from that? Not a lot – I have fairly consistently acknowledged Brisbane’s potential in the past (Hi, Linda). And Brisbane beat North in R2 after a very up and down game. But the Eagles are better than that. They could react in one of two ways – 1. Write off the season and start looking at next year – unlikely, especially as there is a long way to go; or 2. Bounce back hard against their next opponent – Highly likely, particularly given their status as current Premiers. And, as they just demonstrated, they took Option 2. They just destroyed the Giants in their R2 game, admittedly in Perth. From midway in Q2 when the sides were level, they scored a further 13 goals restricting the Giants to 4. I’ve been accused of being a bit focussed on the numbers – here Hit Outs and Clearances were close, actually each won by the Giants, as were the Inside 50s (62 (Giants) / 47 (WCE). It was the conversion of these to Marks Inside 50 where the Eagles won the game – 8 (Giants) / 14 (WCE). So the Eagles nearly doubled their opponent’s static kicks for goal from a significant entry disadvantage.
Who to watch for? Their R2 game included contributions from everyone. Based on performance late last year and the two Rounds this year the following are worth watching:
- Midfield – Sheed (Centre), Shuey (Rover) and Yeo (Ruck Rover);
- Forwards – Darling (FF or CHF) and Kennedy (CHF or FF); and
- Backline – McGovern (CHB), Barass (FB) and Sheppard (HB).
The Eagles are also routinely naming two rucks – Vardy and Hickey and watch for Hutchings tagging one of ours. Also watch for Gaff or Cripps to return – in my view pretty unlikely, but possible. And watch for our (ex) boy Smith in his second game for the Eagles.
Therefore? The Eagles have a strong ‘spine’ and can be expected to use the corridor in preference to the boundary. Of course, we can also interrupt this by blocking their ‘spine’ and we have the talent to do that. Their Forward attack is strongly based on the use of Darling and Kennedy as key targets, plus a collection of small Forwards (similar to?). While both targets need to be closely attended the best solution is to ensure the ball doesn’t get to them by stopping it earlier. Hence, following on from last week, control of the ball is key. Our Midfield should dominate theirs, particularly with a dominant Grundy in play. I consider the absence of Naitanui is still a critical shortcoming to them.
Us – Approach? Be in no doubt this is not the GF revisited. Both teams are different. As touched on above and a key point in Buck’s post-game interview, control of the ball was critical to last week’s Win. It will continue to be our focus – get the ball and hang onto it. Tag Shuey (BOG against the Giants) and close marking of Eagles’ key Forwards?
Team? Change to reflect Cox’s absence. Maybe Crocker?
Weather? Who knows, it’s Melbourne. Pretty vague predictions.
My prediction? Pies Win by 19 points. BOG Grundy with 31 Disposals @ 83.0% Efficiency plus Hit Out differential of +31. Elliott and De Goey each get three, plus three GA. Crowd – 59,000.
Attendance? Anyone going? Ground Reports pls?
TV? Get this – a replay of the Grand Final and there is no free to air TV coverage here. I have finally succumbed to pressure to get FOXTEL because of two things:
- The selections of which games to broadcast, with which I regularly disagree (a replay of the Grannie is a case in point); and
- The ordinary coverage during the game where advertisements frequently overlap play.
Other
- Eddie Watch. Okay, Eddie is being criticised for his criticism of peoples’ inability to ‘toss the coin’, in this case Cynthia Banham, Australian legend and Sydney No 1 ticket holder. Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, sometimes….
- Ex – Pies. Seedsman continues to perform at Adelaide (17 Disposals @ 82.4% Efficiency). While Marsh is on St Kilda’s List we haven’t seen him on the paddock yet. Brownie, also at St Kilda is a rock-solid Full Back. Witts rucking at the Gold Coast is producing (last week: 50 Hit Outs against 33; 13 Disposals @ 53.8% Efficiency). And Keefe makes it to 50 games this weekend now with the Giants. I wish them all well except when they come against us. And Smith as above.
Go Pies.
About Almanac Admin
More info on apostate Magpies:
The grandson of Ron Richards, Ed Richards, played a solid game for the Bulldogs v Hawthorn. The grandson of Murray Wiedemann, Sam Wiedemann, is playing with Melbourne, but like his teammates, is not playing well at the moment. Sadly, the son of billy Picken., Liam Picken, has retired.
Dale Thomas played a solid game for Carlton, but unfortunately fell across the ankle of Jack Watts in a tackle. Get well soon, Jack. Heath Shaw had 15 disposals in GWS’s defeat by the Weagles…
Jon Cegler is playing at Hawthorn, like his teammates did not do much in that awful last quarter.
{Free to play: AFL Tribunal overturns American Pie Mason Cox’s one-game ban – Fox Sports News 2.4.19}
What can I say but “Whooee, dangnabbit!”