Round 8 – Gold Coast v Collingwood: Cam Hooke’s Collingwood Life

That was good; not great, but good.

Match reports at http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2015/8/gcfc-v-coll and http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-match-report/suns-easy-pickings-as-magpies-find-form-20150523-gh88mt.html

Did anyone attend?  Reports pls?

 

Best.  The various reports identify Pendles, Sidebottom, Elliott, Varcoe, Goldsack and Swanny.  I’ve been a little (actually, a lot) critical of White the last few weeks, actually much of last year and most of this year.  Let me be fair – he did what was asked of him on Saturday – 12 Disposals at 83.3% Disposal Efficiency for 4 Goals, 1 Behind.  Well done.  I’ll get off his case for a while.  I would also add Fasolo and Williams to the Best – http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/age-footballer-of-the-year-round-8-votes-20150524-gh8mw9.html.  Your views?

The Game – some comparisons.  How good was the win?  Firstly, did we do well or were the Suns pretty ordinary?  In a weekend of major results (6 of the 9 matches were ‘thrashings’) our result didn’t stand out.  We were out-tackled (57:50) and got more Frees against us (so what’s new I hear you say?).  Better at clearances (44:32) but still a bit concerning at the Centre (16:14) and Hit Outs (42:36).  Around the ground, however, at Stoppages we “rocked” winning (28:18).  Much better.  I know I harp on about individual statistics but have a look at FULL-TIME STATISTICS / ADVANCED STATISTICS at the Match Centre site – We had 12 players with Disposal Efficiency (DE) of over 80% – Goldsack (24 Disposals) and Varcoe (29 Disposals) had 100% DE; Pendles had 35 Disposals at 80% DE and even Swanny, with 36 Disposals, had a DE of 63.9%.  Outstanding work by each of them.  But did our high DE reflect their lack of pressure or better application by us?  Your views, particularly from anyone who watched the game?  The interesting statistics were Inside 50 – we won the relatively close Inside 50 (58:44) but slaughtered them in the Marks Inside 50 (19:9) – there were some speckies.

What was the difference to last year’s game:  “An easy kill for the Magpies?” Go to http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-match-report/suns-easy-pickings-as-magpies-find-form-20150523-gh88mt.html – “Rewind. In hindsight, the last encounter between the Suns and the Magpies cruelled both clubs’ 2014 campaigns. Gold Coast won an epic match with no fit players on the bench and Gary Ablett, who had been on his way to a third Brownlow Medal, was left with a wrecked shoulder. Collingwood kicked themselves out of the match. The wheels fell off after that: both injury-hit teams won just three matches between them for the remainder of 2014, the Suns ditching their coach after their push for a debut finals berth ended in disarray.”

Well, I think we did better than that and, certainly this result has not ‘cruelled’ our campaign – quite the reverse, we needed a solid win, and that’s what we got. I had some concerns towards the end of the 2nd Quarter, as I’m sure we all did.  Bucks addressed the team’s reaction to this period as a key positive when the senior players needed to, and did, stand up to halt the Suns’ momentum; and the Quarter result was, in the end, 5 goals each.  Followed by a faultless 3rd Quarter – 5 goals to none – the critical Quarter. See http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2015-05-23/buckley-full-of-praise-for-milestone-man-pendlebury.

Pendles 200th?  What can you say?  Simply outstanding – http://www.afl.com.au/video/2015-05-24/the-10-round-eights-best-moments – Number 8 (plus have a look at Number 6, just to show I can appreciate something by another Club).

I didn’t get to watch the game but got to follow it from the end of the 1st Quarter via the Match Day website and 3AW.  You get an interesting perspective listening to the ‘call’ of the game.  Why was I late?  Watching Canberra Grammar’s show Barnum (and running into three others of our members there, as well.  Nice to catch up, guys.  At least I was dressed correctly in Club colours.)

Keeffe / Thomas. Channel Seven reported on Friday night that the pair had been told their B samples had confirmed they had ingested the banned substance, clenbuterol:  http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/positive-b-sample-reported-for-collingwood-pair-josh-thomas-and-lachie-keeffe-20150522-gh7v1n.html. Anyone know what happens now?

Next week – Sunday, 31 May 2015?  North.  They are better than 12th on the Ladder would have you believe (a couple of places behind Geelong; remember three weeks ago?).  More on this later in the week.

Go Pies.

 

Cam