Round 1 – Collingwood v Adelaide: Floreat Pica Society match report

 

First quarter

The Crows started the game strongly, and left us chasing tail for much of the first 15 minutes. We steadied during the remainder of the quarter, but were unable to convert any chances that were presented.

 

Dan McStay had our only early chance, and he took some fine marks on the night. But when he had the ball within or just outside scoring range, he also couldn’t convert or find a teammate, both in that first quarter or throughout the night. The misfortune he has had since joining us seems to be lingering and impacting his eroded confidence, but hopefully if he can continuity this season, he can have some more consistent performances.

 

A controversial 50 against, followed by a mark given – the correct call but confusion and frustration ensued due to two different umpire calls -the Crows had their second goal on the board.

 

The remainder of the first quarter was really quite forgettable, in every way.  I lost count of how many OOF kicks occurred under next to no pressure. At least three by the Crows, all to the members pocket/flank, and at least one by us.

 

Buller had our next chance in front of goals after a very strong tackle was rewarded. Like so many of our shots from talls in the first two rounds, he was close to the 50 metre arc, and sprayed it in the direction that he ran on his approach.

 

The end of the quarter couldn’t come soon enough, but the sarcastic cheers by fans when Lipinski kicked our first point was a little bit distasteful. All in all, the first quarter was a portent for the outcome of the match. We just looked disconnected across the field, and the fans were generally unimpressed.

 

Crows defenders were mopping up at will. Worrell has become the Crows version of Tom Stewart, and he along with Milera were rock solid in defence. This was also aided by the fact that Elliott did not play the first 20 minutes of the night – much like Pendles last week. This was a confusing call given that our forward is at its weakest in a very long time, and to hold back our best forward of last year did not make sense. And it showed. Elliott almost took a mark at his first attempt on the ball, but having been sick during the week was quite sluggish despite kicking two on the night, and setting up at least another. But most of his best work, like the team’s came in that final quarter.

 

Other points from the first:

 

Maynard was doing his utmost as captain to keep us competitive.

 

My hope was that McCreery’s hair cut came with a sharp left foot kick. But right footed bananas are the closest he is getting to his left boot at the moment!

 

Roan Steele’s chase down was only let down by a push. Otherwise a goal was likely.

 

Second quarter

Our first goal came in the first minute, with what I thought was an attempted centring kick. But beggars could not be choosers at that point in time. A strange goal review was called. Perhaps it was to see whether or not the goal umpire had shepherded the Crows defender from touching it. But no, the kick had cleared the line by half a mile before the they had touched it. Surely in that case, the score review people could just say you are wasting your time and stop wasting time! We already have huge waits between goals (at least 45 seconds) and they do not need to be longer!!

 

As mentioned in the commentary, we did dominate possession and territory in the 2nd. But what we again failed to have was system and connection. The Crows, as they did in the first, continued to apply ample pressure and we could not find free targets. But having Elliott on field did make us a more dangerous proposition, even if he was down on full fitness.

 

A surprise move from the Crows was to put Thilthorpe in the midfield at some centre bounces, much in the vein of Luke Jackson at Freo. It worked at a couple of crucial times, including a breakaway that he almost kicked from 60+ but for Q to save the day on the last line of defence.

 

Whilst we were battling hard, and somehow hit the front by late in the quarter,  Maynard’s only major error of the first half by going inboard at half back, led to the Crows regaining the lead after the siren. Perhaps without that goal, the overall result would’ve been a different one. It gave the Crows necessary momentum to dominate the next 30 minutes of play.

 

Third quarter

Not a lot of positivity to report. The Crows came out of the blocks hard again, and we were on the back foot. The main difference was that they converted their opportunities efficiently than us, as they did for most of the night. Our undersized defence was being caught out, as was expected if they started to control the territory battle.

 

We did manage to have our best passage of the night with a little bit of dash and dare from Allan, and a beautiful shot on the run from the handy finisher Steele leading to our only goal amongst 6 for the Crows between the half time siren and before the 20 minute mark of the 3rd. At that point, the game looked over barring a miracle. A glaring part of this was us barely scoring from set shots, whereas the Crows had kicked the vast majority of their goals that way. By the end of the game, we may have kicked 3 to 9 or 10 in that category. It shows that they had the height advantage at both ends, and they were better positioned and better able to hit targets when they were open to them. Not a lot was going right for us.

 

Other points from 3rd:

 

Nick’s torp from the centre was a bizarre choice. I am always concerned (most weeks) when he does things that do not appear to be team-oriented, as he is supposed to be a leader – one of the main three. But he does appear to get a lot of leeway in “backing himself” that other players would not. I would love to see Nick pride himself more on goal assists than three attempts at miraculous goals every week.

 

Schultz beautiful mark on the wing was unfortunately dimmed by Perryman’s miss on the run. But it was the start of us hauling in their lead.

 

Some silly ill discipline from Crisp and McCreery were messy. Further to this though, how Walker can get a 50 for a ball knocked out, but shortly after Sidebottom is not awarded 50 for being held up by Bond, and the reversal free kick is given, and Steele is fined! I have no words.

 

DC misses the final shot of the quarter, leaving us sizeable task to achieve in the final stanza.

 

Fourth quarter

No highlights for me here, because, well, like lots of games since 2022, we left some of our best until last. And for me, just like in last year’s prelim, it is starting to wear thin. Just like in the prelim, it would’ve been an undeserved win even though those types of wins can be the sweetest. Tactically and/or psychologically, this type of attitude needs to be turned around during the McRae era in order for us to keep winning a high percentage of games. Otherwise, with this ageing group of core players, we are going to be losing more than we win. Another sore point about this is we don’t have the forward targets there who are predictable and reliable to play the high risk game style needed to get these wins from behind. Depth of goalkicking is going to be sore point for most of this season unless something drastic changes.

 

I could add more, but I want to allow discussion from the group!

 

I will leave you with my top 6 (no particular order) for the game, although it was difficult and is probably not the actual top 6 for the game:

 

Maynard

Houston

Schultz

Perryman

Steele

Quaynor

 

 

FP!

Cheers

Dirk

 

 

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