by Shane Cashman for the Floreat Pica Society
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Hello pies fans,
Over the years I have built a lot of respect for the Adelaide Football Club. They are an organisation that aims for culture, competitiveness and an us against them attitude that has served them well. They have won grand finals, produced a Brownlow medallist and played honest football. My respect levels are dropping, I don’t think they hit their core values any more, they are a rabble. Last Saturday afternoon we set them back by outplaying them in all facets of the game.
Collingwood has a good history against Adelaide; it is not yet a rivalry. Rivalries need big wins and big losses for both teams; I reckon as a club we have had their measure when it has counted. We have won 27 of 42 games against them and acquitted ourselves well. In 2002 we nailed them by 28 points in the prelim (J.Cloke vs Edwards). The next season Chris Tarrant put the Pies ahead after the siren to seal the deal. Anthony Rocca identified then that Collingwood were galvanised going interstate. Scott Burns said that night games, with the ball on the deck, helped Collingwood’s frantic style. I reckon that the combination of night games and interstate travel serve Collingwood very well. It was with this in mind that I felt confident going in to Saturday’s game.
I took notes during the game and looking back our midfield was a constant over the course of the match. There was Grundy with pinch hitting from Jordon Roughhead. The on ballers consisted of Pendels, Adams, Treloar, Steele & Wills. There was no Phillips, Josh Thomas or Callum Brown to make up numbers due to injury. Just a great combination of genuine inside ball winners and outside runners who can win contested ball, cut through opposition and set up the team.
I took notes throughout the game. They show what was going through my mind as I watched the game. I will include these snippets within this report.
The 1st quarter was typical, a battle to see who would put their will on the game.
Lowlight – Most of the quarter was played in our backline (61%) as we battled to win ascendency
Highlight – Our midfield had intent, Jack Madgen held his own, Adelaide’s kicking for goal was terrible.
Quarter NOTES:
Our biggest ball winners in the1st quarter were Noble (9), Greenwood (8) & Maynard (8) due to our constant defence from the half back line.
Josh Thomas is finding the footy, he is slowly turning it around.
Scores: Crows 0-5-5 Pies 2-2-14
The 2nd quarter was better from the pies.
Lowlights – Jeremy Howe’s dive in the goal square (already forgiven & saved us a goal), Will Hoskin-Elliott’s fumble in the goal square.
Highlights – Collingwood’s tackle pressure, Maynards long running goal, Taylor Walker having a goal disallowed for the “push” on Howe, Josh Thomas returning from the fog of bad form.
Quarter NOTES:
Too many intercept marks by Adelaide meant not enough ground balls until the last few minutes. Then a goal to Trav Varcoe that started to open up the Crows.
If Jack Madgen’s work wasn’t so deep in defence he would be fun to watch.
Scores: Crows 2-6-18 Pies 6-5-35
The 3rd quarter.
Lowlight – Could not find one.
Highlights – Wills’ tackling. Levi Greenwood backing into a pack in his 150th, very entertaining player who has got the most out of his ability. Jeremy Howe’s speccy, 5 goals for the quarter.
NOTES:
Elliott is running on top of the ground, he is fit and firing. I am worrying he will get hurt again.
Rory Sloane is very quiet – Collingwood takes no risks with head knocks, our players usually miss the next week. Maybe Sloane should not have played.
Scores: Crows 3-8- 26 Pies 11-8-74
The last quarter.
Lowlight – Could not find one which was great news.
Highlights – Matt Sharenberg is nearly back to his best, looked very good putting himself into dangerous positions. I nearly didn’t feel stressed about his knees. Pendles running rings around their onballers
NOTES:
Happy for Eddie Betts to kick his 600th goal, seems like a great guy & is a genuine champion footballer
Grew our lead, fantastic that we built over the course of the game and didn’t drop our intensity.
Scores: Crows 6-12-48 Pies 17-12 -114
GAME NOTES:
Genuine effort by Collingwood with our lads playing into their strengths before the finals, a fantastic win on the road that we can build on into September.
Jamie Elliott kicking 5 goals, a fantastic return for Billy who looked as sharp as ever.
No INJURIES – thank goodness.
Rupert Wills is a very handy player, in a week where Sier had a brain fade it was Wills who used it to his advantage. His presence around the footy mixed with standing Sloan & the Croach brothers was top notch. Rupert was fantastic and played an excellent close quarter match.
Ray Chamberlain is an interesting man, I personally like the way he goes about it, he is honest and is prepared to make the hard call. I sometimes wonder if the 2018 GF result would have been different had he been adjudicating the nonpaid free kick to Brayden Maynard. I don’t even know why I think about things that cause me pain. Let’s hope we can put the Bombers away, let’s get into September where we belong.
Please note- I have a soft spot for Rupert Wills and his tackling, I am sorry if he is overrepresented in this report.
Floreat Pica to all.
Cashy
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ADELAIDE 0.5 2.6 3.8 6.12 (48)
COLLINGWOOD 2.2 5.5 11.8 17.12 (114)
GOALS
Adelaide: Fogarty 3, Douglas, Lynch, Betts
Collingwood: Elliott 5, Thomas 3, Adams 2, Hoskin-Elliott 2, Phillips 2, Varcoe 2, Maynard
INJURIES
Adelaide: Riley Knight (hip soreness) replaced in selected side by Chayce Jones
Collingwood: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Dalgleish, Chamberlain, Ryan
Official crowd: 48,175 at Adelaide Oval
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Worth noting that Adelaide beat us comprehensively in the night grand final of 2003. The 2003 Michael Tuck Medallist was, who could have known, Andrew MacLeod, in his swansong for an individual achievement. Also the Pies went down badly to Adelaide in the night comp in of all places Abu Dhabi, in a year I can’t remember, which shows you how much the night comp means.
But, but, anyone who thinks that night premierships don’t matter, I refer you to the night premiership of 2009. The angry Moggies comprehensively destroyed Collingwood, giving the comp notice that they were after payback for the shock 2008 grand final loss to Hawthorn. And yes they won the premiership later that year.
Belting Adelaide means very little these days. Sticking to the same old game plan for the past 3 to 4 years just hasn’t cut the mustard. Most other teams have worked it out and planned accordingly. Also losing Charlie Cameron to the Lions was extremely costly.
The Crows’ midfield is nothing but a joke. Gibbs’ best is way back in the past. Both the Crouch brothers are over rated – they get plenty of the ball (mainly handballs) but persist on going sideways or backwards (rarely forwards). On the odd occasion when they are in the clear to attack, there is no one in the forward area to kick to – all flooded back in defense.
Sloan and Greenwood are the only mids worth their salt and Pike has dropped Greeny. Quite obviously, a big broom needs to go right through the team – starting from the top. Several players need to retire, some delisted and the Crouches used as trade bait.
From Collingwood’s point of view, they shouldn’t get too carried away with that victory, impressive as it was, West Coast, Richmond, Brisbane and possibly Geelong will be a much more difficult proposition in the coming finals. Richmond are looking ominous. I
This might sound silly (sour grapes even) but I hope Western Bulldogs belt the Crows next week for 2 reasons. The first is to hammer home what needs to be done to resurrect the club and secondly, to keep Port Power out of the eight.