How do we keep winning close games?

[Mr Miyagi]

It’s no mystery — the players literally practice down-by-a-kick-and-2-minutes-to-go scenarios every week. Jake needs to watch us train more often.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/magpie-mystery-how-do-collingwood-win-games-they-shouldn-t-20220825-p5bcp4.html


….

[lazzadesilva]

Practice is only one part of the puzzle, albeit an important one. A huge part is pure luck as in a lucky bounce, a lucky umpiring decision or accurate kicking when it counts under pressure. You could argue that inaccurate kicking under pressure cost Carlscum the game. Staying relatively composed a la Pendles is an essential element as well as taking the right options. Is a combination of stuff that helps win you the really close games. Pies are experts at this process.

[Pies4shaw]

A lot of it is just down to basic skills. Many Collingwood players have been a lot cleaner gathering and using the ball than their opponents at a lot of crucial moments. A winning passage of play from a Daicos to Maynard to Pendlebury to Ginnivan and Elliott is always likely to yield a goal. Hard work gets you a certain way in football, as in the rest of life - but talent is usually the differentiating feature. If Collingwood managed a close win once or twice, you’d say it was a bit lucky but when it happens a dozen times and the outcomes are all one way, luck ceases to be an explanation.

[Skids]

I think our fitness and 'who dares wins' attitude when we're behind are the main factors. The boys just say "let's go for it, we can win this".

[stui magpie]

I read in one article that the belief this team has in themselves is also felt by the opposition and has an impact on their decision making. It's like how inferred pressure forces teams into mistakes

[RudeBoy]

All of the above.

[Deja Vu]

Collingwood is Pi. A mathematical and statistical anomaly. Nothing more, nothing less.

Embrace it I say.

[RudeBoy]

Guts, determination, courage, confidence and team spirit are all unquantifiable. In life, not just football, it's why you should never be too reliant on statistics alone. They only tell part of the story.

Of course you can always find statistics to justify any view you already have. Thus, when I was studying post grad economics, I came across a great quote - "econometrics is a straight line drawn between an unrealistic assumption and a foregone conclusion".

[Jezza]

There's always an element of luck, but experience in close matches certainly helps.

McRae and others have been repetitive in saying that we frequently do scenario based training around this.

[slangman]

We are #1 in the immeasurable statistic:

COMPOSURE!!!

All else is secondary.

[Magpietothemax]

[Magpietothemax]

As Matthew Lloyd points out, there is another reason why we are winning close games, and that is: Scott Pendlebury.
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2022/08/27/hes-as-important-as-hes-ever-been-essendon-great-praises-collingwood-star/

[Jezza]

[Magpietothemax]

Didn't think we lost due to lack of effort. However, perhaps earlier in the game due to lower pressure ratings (recorded in data) they got too far ahead.
I think this game we played at a lower pressure level than most of our recent games. It was also the game in which illness affected several players, so this may have played a significant role in producing a below par pressure game.
So, if we confront them again, we will need to bring our maximum pressure across the entire game.

[Jezza]

Fair points.

We also lost JDG on top of Adams, so the lack of inside mids hurt us as well.