Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life: Round 5 Review – Round 6 Preview
True believers, greetings.
That was better. Even more so, at the point where there was still 3 minutes to go. Got a bit stressful after that for that very short period.
Round 5
Collingwood 10.10.70 defeated St Kilda 9.10.64. As I noted last week, this was a battle between 4th place on the Ladder (us) and the Ladder leader, St Kilda. I still don’t understand why we were favourites.
Goals scored by Quarter:
- Q1 2 (us) / 2 (them). We were up by 1 Point at the end of Q1;
- Q2 2 / 2. We were equal by HT;
- Q3 2 / 2. At the final change we were 6 Points up;
- Q4 4 / 3; and
- Totals: 10 / 9. And we won
Match Report: www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/4829#match-report.
Coach’s Report: www.afl.com.au/video/907215/full-post-match-r5-magpies?videoId=907215&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1681639783001&references=AFL_MATCH:4829. Interesting statements regarding “finding ways to win”.
Numbers
Some selected statistics with some comments:
- Hit Outs: 31 (us) / 37 (them). Frampton, an ‘amateur’ ruck, performed exceptionally well against Marshall, an acknowledged leading ruck in the competition. Well done. In my view this difference here is of limited significance; it is the next step that is critical.
- Clearances: Total – 31 / 37. The Clearance numbers matching the HO numbers show the equality of the two Midfields. Performance by Adams, Mitchell, Pendles and the others was just superb. But look at the next step, below.
Centre – 10 / 13; and
Stoppage – 21 / 24.
- Inside 50: 64 / 50. A significant difference here disproportionate to the Clearance numbers.
- Disposal Efficiency: Total – 76.0% / 73.3%. Not too different;
Individual players with DE of 80% or over – 8 / 7; and
Inside 50 – 35.9% / 40.0%. Our domination of the Marks inside 50 – 10 / 8 and Tackles inside 50 – 10 / 6 reduce their dominance in this critical statistic. So, we got it there more often but they used it better when they got it there. In balance, the end result was in our favour.
- Contested Possessions: 126 / 147 – Okay, a major deficiency. Remember our CP domination has been fundamental to our Winning of games this Season (and last year). This can be the other part of winning – ‘possession wins matches’ represents the pressure the team is bringing to the game. Not sure where the deficiency came from. Your thoughts?
- 1%: 57 / 41. This was a huge difference. The commentators focussed on the numbers of smothers by Collingwood players – very, very impressive.
- Frees: 15 / 10. I was surprised at this, though the award of Frees (particularly 50m penalties) to St Kilda in a scoring position annoyed me.
Best: The AFL website identifies N.Daicos, Moore, Hill, J.Daicos, Maynard and Mitchell. Again I’d be tempted to include a couple of others based on their contribution (identifying only the significant numbers) – Murphy (10 Intercept Possessions, 6 Contested Possessions, DE – 90.9%) and Sidebottom (547m gained, 25 Disposals, 5 Contested Possessions) plus Pendles and Noble (as usual).
Game. A dour, grinding game for three Quarters, the battle was to score and to prevent the opposition scoring. Hence the first three Quarters. To this point you would have classified it as an Ugly Win. Then, Collingwood cut loose, scoring four unanswered goals, establishing the team as the team every team would be judged against. The last three minutes were an aberration. St Kilda’s three goals in 90 seconds, and especially the potential goal to Draw the match, were far removed from the general standard of the game. As such, they really didn’t represent ‘the game’. Were they an indication of Collingwood taking their foot off the pedal or a huge step up by St Kilda. I don’t know; maybe some of each. Regardless, that final goal didn’t eventuate and we Won. Four Points are always welcome.
Stuck in Wagga and driving home during the 1st Half, I appreciated the updates over the phone from some watching. I also listened to the radio coverage – with commentators Mick Malthouse and Luke Ball – most interesting and not as biased, as I might have expected. Was home just after the 2nd Half started.
As McRae said, the game was played in a very compressed environment – players were very compressed with little room to move the ball. He quoted Leigh Matthews as stating that when it is hard for you to score, you need to make sure it is impossible for your opponents to score. McRae also described the game, given the long, narrow field as a bit like a game of table tennis where the ball rebounds with little lateral movement. There were moments of absolute brilliance amongst the team, truly worthy of our great game, but they were few and far between, until that Last Quarter.
Injuries. This is now serious. De Goey – late change – probably okay for next game; Murphy – concussion – out of the next game; and McStay – finger – wait and see / maybe missing. And Adams – a potential offender.
Deductions / Lessons? General application was terrific. There were, however, way too many turnovers, resulting from simple mis-kicks, but these applied to both sides. What was almost unique was the relative 1% numbers, based on defensive punches and smothers. Interestingly, I would credit some of St Kilda’s success in that final three minutes to our defenders seeking to outmark their opponents, rather than punching defensively as they had done for most of the rest of the game. The lessons relating to the Midfield saw our Mids perform exceptionally well even with a HO deficit. The Forwards provided great variety (Welcome back, Jack) against a very sound defence (You’ve got to feel sorry for any defence facing Billy, Jack and Hill?). An interesting comment from one of the commentators was that the team needs to keep winning even affected by injuries, but only sufficient to be there in August, with formerly injured players re-inserted into the team, hopefully collecting all those needed to be competitive in the Finals. All, well done. Your comments?
Round 6
Collingwood plays Essendon at the MCG on Tuesday, 25 April (Anzac Day); bounce at 3.20pm (AEST).
Interestingly, for what it’s worth after only five games, this is a battle between 2nd (them) and 3rd place (us) on the Ladder. But the betting makes us the favourite, again, with $1.43 compared with Essendon with $2.86. Go figure?
Them:
Essendon have a new coach; not new to coaching; just new to Essendon. Brad Scott has established major differences, structurally and tactically, in the Essendon team when using their (largely) same list from last year. Experts who know about these things (excluding myself) note that Scott’s fundamental attitude is to identify for the players their specific role and expect these to be followed and met. Essendon are 4:1, having Lost in Round 3 to St Kilda. Their Rounds 1, 2 and 4 against Hawthorn, GC and GWS were all against teams outside the Eight. The notable exception to an assessment of their Wins as against ‘Easy-beats’ was their performance in beating Melbourne last weekend. This was between 3rd and 4th places on the Ladder. Melbourne, even without Gawn, have been touted as a potential Premiership contender. Now Essendon needs to be similarly assessed. Or perhaps think a bit differently about Melbourne, or some of each? Lets address this issue after our game. I suspect Melbourne, even with Grundy are not as good as they think they are.
Game Plan? I haven’t seen an Essendon game, however looking at the reporting, you can see a huge reliance on their Midfield – 6 of the 7 Best across the 5 Rounds are Midfield. Up Forward, monitor Langford, if he plays, and Weideman. Down back, I wish them luck.
Significance / Players to Watch?
- Merrett – RR. Has been reported but the Club is fighting the charge. A key player if he wins; needs tagging if he is there;
- Parish – Rover. Also rates very highly;
- Redman – BP;
- Shiel – Wing / Rover;
- Langford – Wing / swung Forward into attack, as necessary;
- Setterfield – Centre; and
- Phillips / Draper – Ruck.
Also watch :
- Weideman – CHF, if he is playing (out last week because of concussion) because of the family Club connection. Not sure why we didn’t take him under ‘father & son’? Not even sure his father played, unlike his grandfather, who we all know of.
Roles?
- Tag Merrett, if playing?
- Ruck duel – Phillips / Draper versus Frampton. I have faith; and
- Close defence on Langford, if he is moved Forward, and / or Weideman as Forward targets.
Us:
Apart from the injuries, I’m not sure anything else needs to change:
- Team? Minimal change. Ruck – based on Frampton again. Replacements for Murphy and McStay and maybe Adams? For injuries, see www.collingwoodfc.com.au. Who? From Kelly – Defender, 194cm / 96 kg; Macrae – Midfield, 188cm / 80 kg; Carmichael – Medium Forward, 190cm / 88kg and McInnes – Key Forward, 194cm / 90kg? Your choices?
- Application? No change. Application for four full Quarters. Hold the tackles.
- Game Plan? No change to the current plan.
My Picks: Collingwood to Win by 23 Points. BOG – De Goey with 29 Disposals, 8 Clearances, 3 Tackles and 2 Goals. Elliott, Mihocek, Hill & Jack each get two goals.
Ground Reports. Have loved the reports, so far. Those attending / those just watching the game on TV – all views are welcome.
Weather. Weather forecast is mostly cloudy. Little rain is forecast on the day or in the week leading up it. Use the moulded-sole boots..
TV: Kayo or FOXTEL – Best for every game.
Free to air TV at 7mate from 3.00pm.
Future:
- Round 7 – Sunday, 30 April at Adelaide Oval – Adelaide vs Collingwood; bounce at 4.40pm (AEST). No FTA TV coverage;
- Round 8 – Sunday, 7 May at the MCG – Collingwood versus Sydney; bounce at 3.20pm. FTA TV coverage on 7mate; and
- The Ladder. Keep an eye on the Ladder as we approach the midpoint of the Season (yes, still a few weeks off) – for example this coming weekend Carlton takes on St Kilda and Geelong take on Sydney in Geelong. I suspect Carlton and Geelong will Win leading to some big moves on the Ladder. Your thoughts?
Other:
- Football in preference to basketball? And, if you are 212cm tall, the winner might be – www.afl.com.au/news/906803/magpies-win-race-as-212cm-dual-sport-gun-s-preferred-club. Yes / no / maybe?
- VFL – After another not so terrific result last weekend against Hawthorn losing by 59 Points. This week Round 5 is against Essendon at Victoria Park on Sunday, 23 April; bounce at 12.00pm. Any locals who might attend? I’d welcome a view on how Steene is performing? Is Begg on deck yet?
- Remember you can see our past Reports (for a few years) on Footy Almanac at www.footyalmanac.com.au/?s=Hooke. The group emails started a few years before the FA records. Does anyone’s records show when we started?
- Anything that you would like to inform our members of, just Reply to all or send it to me.
Believe always. Go Pies.
Cam
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