Cam Hooke’s Collingwood life – Round 20: The Year of the Pie

True believers,

What did you get out of that? What a day Buddy had; and Travis Varcoe? And didn’t Moore’s absence hurt?

And looking at the extraordinarily dynamic Ladder, we dropped to sixth place after our Loss?

 

AFL: 

 

Okay, close but no points. And we approach the last three games until the Finals.

 

The Future. Next:

Round 21 – Brisbane, in Melbourne (Hi Linda, welcome your comments?);

22 – Port, in Melbourne; and

23 – Freo in Perth.

 

Sitting sixth (can’t two points make a difference?) we can still finish in the Top 4 and go on to play and Win the Premiership. As I’ve stated from the start: “2018 – the Year of the Pie”. Other;s comments – http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2018-08-06/run-home-whats-in-storeLet’s stay optimistic.

 

Numbers:

  • Frees: 23 (us) to 19 (them). The Free for the rushed Behind just left me speechless.
  • Hit-outs: 63 / 16. Extraordinary. Well done, Brodie.
  • Clearances: 35 / 36. Note that their transition from Hit-Out to Clearance was four times better than ours. Mids?
  • Inside 50’s: 52 / 50. A fair’ish transition from Clearances achieved.
  • Marks inside 50: 6 / 10. Awful transitions by both sides; more awful by us (same comment as in previous weeks). Note that Buddy had six Forward marks – our total.
  • Scoring shots: 21 / 18. Work that out?
  • Goals: 10 / 11. Won them the game.

Competitiveness?

  • Contested Possessions 181 (us) / 150 (them) and Tackles 78 to 77. Great application for most of the game; unfortunately not the whole game.

What I liked:

  • Application. While Q3 was awful, the come back was fantastic. Well done.
  • Brodie – fantastic, but let’s connect with the other Mids and turn the ruck dominance into Clearances.
  • Coaches’ Box influence. I thought this was pretty positive, if not always as timely as I would have liked.
  • Defensive crumbing round packs – better.

What I didn’t like:

  • Action on Buddy. Last week I suggested we ‘double-team’ against Buddy – he had a field day.
  • Decision-making. While a single incident can (should) never be taken as the reason for a Loss – that should be the total performance over the entire game – a single incident can lead to a Win. With two minutes to go, in the lead, possession should have been key, even if the ball needed to go sideways or backwards.
  • Marks inside 50. While Cox was slightly better protected by the umpires, our Marks inside 50, and scoring, was poor.

Lessons: See below. The conversion of Grundy’s dominance into Midfield dominance is critical. Same re the pathway to Goal.

 

Next: Saturday,11 August versus Brisbane at Etihad; bounce 7.25pm.

 

  • Preview: http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2018/21/coll-v-bl. Again, the Ladder positions are not a useful indicator. This game is between 6th and 16th, 12 Wins compared with four, 117.1% and 90.4%. It will be close and hard. We need a full four-quarter effort.
  • Them: As I hope Linda will attest, I have consistently said throughout the season that Brisbane are better than their Ladder position indicates. Since their Round 13 Bye they’ve had three Wins and four Losses, importantly with the Losses against Adelaide and North by less than a goal. So, apart from the thumping by Geelong in Round 19, they are coming off a very positive recent history – their confidence will not be lacking, particularly when the closeness of our last encounter in Round 7 is taken into account. Brisbane have one of the healthiest Lists in the competition with only six Out compared with our 14, noting that of these we have six to Test this week.
    • Who to watch for? Their midfield – Beams, Zorko, Berry and Robinson. Linda?
  • Us: Ins – Howe, De Goey and McLarty? Work on the conversion of Hit-outs to Clearance and Clearances to Marks inside 50. Consider tagging Zorko? Your thoughts?

 

TV? No FTA TV (in Canberra); find a friend with Fox / head to Eastlake.

 

My Picks: Pies by 47 points; BOG – Sidebottom with 37 touches including 11 Clearances; De Goey gets five goals.

 

VFL:

VFLW:

Netball:

 

VWFL

  •  Round 9 – Collingwood 7.12.54 drew with St Kilda 8.6.54.
  • Next – Round 10 – Sunday, 19 August – Collingwood vs Richmond – 11.00am.

 

Other sports, Canberra:

  • GWS at Manuka – Saturday, 11 August; bounce 7.25pm vs Adelaide. See you there – wear your Pie colours.
  • Raiders – Next game Sunday, 12 August home game versus Wests Tigers; kick off 2.00pm.

 

Other:

  • Eddie Watch – quiet.

Go Pies.

For more of Cam Hooke’s Collingwood life, CLICK HERE:

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Comments

  1. Cam, with Buddy off the leash when Moore went off, would Mihocek, a far more experienced defender than the first-gamer, have been a better option to play on him and particularly when the newby was struggling?

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