by Ziggy and Garry for the Floreat Pica Society
In our customary pre-game discussion, my grandpa (Garry) and I wanted to be optimistic we’d bounce back after a frustrating round 0, but we did have our concerns. After a wasteful and uninspiring show in front of goal against the Giants we struggled to see where goals would come from against a sound Sydney defence. With the Mihocek-Johnson partnership struggling, Schultz still settling in and an out-of-form Elliott, we had doubts about being able to outscore them, agreeing that goals would need to come from the midfield. We were relieved that Howe would be back to hopefully shore up the backline and we were excited to see Macrae given an opportunity (until he was named sub an hour later- with Tom Mitchell not playing- ‘why a sub??’ we asked.)).
Q1 Collingwood 3.1.18 Sydney 2.6.18
Sydney took control of the game from the first bounce, locking the ball in their forward half (I don’t remember us having a single inside 50 in the first 5-10 mins). They boxed us in our half, forcing clangers out of our most experienced players in Howe, Sidebottom and Moore as we failed to retain the ball for more than 5 seconds outside our defensive 50. When they regained possession, the Swans were clean and methodical in their build up as they found marks inside 50 with ease. However, after Sydney failed to capitalize on their early dominance, moments of quality from Daicos and De Goey as well as Bobby pouncing on a defensive error saw us find 3 goals from very little to take an undeserving lead at QT. Just like last week we looked off the pace but with our counter-attacking ball movement looking even more suffocated by Sydney’s setup than GWS, leading to even fewer inside 50s and opportunities.
Q2 Collingwood 5.2.32 Sydney 7.8.50
The game opened up more in the second quarter (unfavourably for us) and Sydney decided to take their chances, earning a three-goal lead at half time which still felt incredibly forgiving. We thought that at the clearances we performed well (better than in many games last year) with Cameron doing well in the ruck and Nick electric as usual. Our backline leaky as last week and ineffective on the rebound. Charlie Dean, despite his best efforts is not AFL level yet, unable to keep up with the tempo and ball watching in marking contests. With Howe uncharacteristically misreading the play and Moore unwilling to elevate his defensive responsibility, it is clear how much we are missing Murphy. As our only pure one-on-one defender (who is also one of the best in the competition), his absence has clearly exposed Darcy’s desire to float and intercept as we desperately needed another defender to play man for man on one of McDonald, Amartey or McClean (Hogan or Brown last week).
Q3 Collingwood 6.5.41 Sydney 12.10.82
The third quarter was more of the same. We weren’t at all optimistic at HT. I didn’t feel we had the players on the pitch to win the game (funny how quickly things can change). Although it feels harsh criticising our forward line as they fed off scraps for large parts of the game, it was hard to see who could stand up and get us back in the game. Mihocek struggled… and the substitution raised two of the most questionable selection calls going into the game. Johnson rightly came off after another poor game for Macrae. Despite his excellent run and jump, for whatever reason Johnson cannot mark a football, and without marking the ball he fails to impact the contest in any way physically, leaving an impossible task for our smalls. On came Macrae, who should have started the game hindsight or not. While many of our players looked lethargic throughout the game, Macrae brought energy and hunger, tackling and winning clearances.
Q4 Collingwood 10.9.69 Sydney 15.12.102
Not much to say about the last quarter as the game was over and even then, it was the same story as the previous three, despite three late consolation goals. Howe was thrown forward in a desperate attempt to create a spark in attack without Johnson. Elliott ended the night our best target inside 50, scoring 2 straight from his two marks inside 50.
There are certainly many questions to be asked in the coming weeks regarding selection. Does McInnes or even Frampton get an opportunity ahead of Johnson ? Will we ever see Murph again? Can we get McStay back before it’s too late? Do the selectors have the courage to drop (or manage) some of the older heads if it gets to it… I’d suggest based on the treatment of Macrae possibly not.
Overall, arguably the poorest four quarter performance since Fly has come in, outplayed from siren to siren. Unforced errors, turnovers in the wrong places, tackles that Swans slipped out of was the story of the day. Poor at both ends of the pitch and overrun by their midfield which was missing Mills, Parker and Adams yet still cut through us in a way we did to teams last year. Heeney, Gulden and Warner superb as they are and Logan McDonald doing what any 6’5 forward can do to our defence at the moment. Grundy celebrates another win over us, though I thought Cameron and Cox did do a job on him, one of the few battles we won on the night.
3 Votes: Nick Daicos – he is unbelievably talented and untiring in his work
2 votes: Brayden Maynard – did not stop trying to rally the troops and apply pressure
1 vote: shared between Darcy Cameron and Finn Macrae for his contribution when he came on.
GO PIES
Ziggy and Garry
==
COLLINGWOOD 3.1 5.2 6.5 10.9 (69)
SYDNEY 2.6 7.8 12.10 15.12 (102)
GOALS
Collingwood: Elliott 2, Schultz 2, J. Daicos, De Goey, N. Daicos, Hill, McCreery, Cameron
Sydney: McDonald 4, Warner 3, Heeney 2, Rowbottom, Papley, Amartey, McLean, Wicks, McInerney
SUBSTITUTES
Collingwood: Fin Macrae replaced Ash Johnson in the third quarter
Sydney: Sam Wicks replaced Joel Amartey in the fourth quarter
Crowd: 78,933 at the MCG
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