Post Match. Pies sink Suns. All comments.

[Rick]

According to McCraes post match our clearances actually increased when Begg was in the centre.

I was surprised they didn’t throw him forward more often.

[Magpietothemax]

I love the way Fly coaches from the bench and interacts with the players so freely and warmly. It is great to see, and reflects a very positive synergy

[Jezza]

"Points for" through our first 7 games.

102, 100, 91, 74, 91, 93, 115.

Last year, we scored 90+ on only three occasions. If higher scores means we're conceding a bit more, then it's a trade off I'm willing to accept.

[Cam]

[quote="Pies2016"]Lipinski still struggling ? Needs a spell ?

[masoncox]

Beggs has a long way to go.
He should make way for Cox next week
Cox was close to best on ground in the VFL.
But you can see what Fly sees in him.
He has a touch of mongrel in him and he is competitive.
He is worth keeping
But he has a way to go.
We got thrashed in the ruck today.
But we did well mopping up

[rambler]

"Points for" through our first 7 games.

102, 100, 91, 74, 91, 93, 115.

Last year, we scored 90+ on only three occasions. If higher scores means we're conceding a bit more, then it's a trade off I'm willing to accept.

I hope i'm right in assuming Fly is focused on establishing an attacking instinct in our game style. Once that instinct becomes ingrained in the group then they will make necessary adjustments to defensive side of our game

[qldmagpie67]

Good effort today
We showed improvement in some facets but defence is still a concern
This new high pressure up defence is vulnerable but so far we’ve been able to still win
Today proved one thing many have been saying for some time
Hit outs is the most useless stat in the game
We lost them 50-17 but onky lost clearances 33-36
So even hit outs to advantage aren’t worth anything when pressure comes from your midfielders who are expecting not to win the clearance
A ruckman on $250k is just as effective as one on $1m
That $750k could be spent on a power forward or elite midfielder
Next week we can’t give Richmond the freedom to move the ball like we did to the Suns today they won’t waste the opportunities
Defence needs to go back to man on man and stay within 5m of them not giving them 10/20m room
4-3 is a good start let’s hope we continue to improve

[Jezza]

Fly's post match presser:

You were able to hold them off at various stages. What did you make of the performance?

"We're really proud of our performance. You don't see what goes on behind the scenes for a week. We've been scrambling all week to try and see what our best team looks like. We've got a lot of illness and injuries obviously to those you know about going out of the team. I'm just proud of our boys in being able to reset ourselves and put our eye on the prize and come here ready to play and kicking 7 goals in the first quarter was a fantastic start".

How many were in doubt with illness or the flu or what went through the club this week?

"Half a dozen and a couple of coaches. There's a lot of coughing and spluttering going on now so by the time we get out of there. With Covid going on at the moment, we test everyday so there's no risk of that, but it's just the 'man flu' can be terminal for some can it".

You had quite a few different avenues to goal. How pleasing is that?

"I say this every week, our forward line looks different every single game. We'd love to get some continuity there, but we're not. We don't have the magnets we'd love to play. We've got a system in place. We kicked 17 goals, had 30 scoring shots. Checkers is pretty important to us. He's the only tall or key for most parts of that. I think the system itself, the players are playing their roles and we've been able to score from that which we've been really pleased with that".

It was your first game without Brodie Grundy. Witts had a big game and Miller was BOG but your ability to score from turnovers early was critical. What did you make of the way the game panned out?

"I've got great respect for Wittsy. We knew what he was going to bring to the table. I was really proud of Darcy [Cameron]. He took the mantle and said 'look, I want to be that guy'. He competed really hard. I think clearances, went down by a couple, but even young Begg comes in and the clearances while Begg was against Witts we won by +4, so maybe we didn't quite win the hit outs but it was the stuff we did around the ball that supported that. It's a work in progress. This isn't 1 week without Brodie [Grundy], we've got 3 months of it so I'm sure it's not going to look the same the whole time, but today I'm really pleased with those two guys".

Do you think you will stick with Begg and Cameron in the ruck in the short term?

"I think based on today, those two guys particularly played their role really well so it will be really hard to change from that. Next week we have Nankervis and Soldo, so every week is a different challenge".

Next week is a big challenge, but you do have some intel from Richmond.

"Yeah, glad Dusty's back, that's awesome [*laughs]. Nah nah, I sit here with great respect for Richmond. I'm not sitting here without my time there. There's a lot of people still there that I love and players included, but we've got a job to do. We know how they play, we know their strengths. They were pretty awesome against West Coast weren't they. We come here in six days time and give it our best shot".

What have you made of Josh Daicos' form this year and today as well?

"Josh is doing a lot right. He's attacking the ball well, he's using the ball well. He's finishing his work. It's a work in progress with our system. There's a couple of things we'd like to do a little bit better in and around those things. It's really pleasing he's getting the best out of himself and playing good footy for the team".

I see you made a late call with bringing in Callum Brown into the team with Reef McInnes as the medical sub. Was that a matchup thing?

"Nah, it was right to the wire with whether Cal was going to play. We sort of moved him out thinking he wasn't going to be right and then all of a sudden we had a word from the doctor that he's going to be available so we thought 'okay, let's get him back in for a number of reasons'. At one stage in the week, I didn't want to answer the phone because it was going to be another text that someone's sick or got an injury, so it was one of those weeks".

Was it illness that Callum Brown was going through at the time?

"Yeah, he did really well to get up. I think 24 hours ago, I wouldn't have thought he was going to play. That was the message we got from the doctors. To be honest, probably about 3 or 4 players got told that they won't play this week or unlikely. They all played and played their roles so that's great spirit and the team benefits from that".

What do you do in the circumstances when a bug goes through the club. Do you isolate the sick players?

"Yeah, we've kept them away. Most of those guys who have been ill have been away from the club. It's sort of watching the clock daily to see how much time we have left and whether we have to declare them 'out' or 'in'. It's just the nature of what the interest is. You look at Melbourne, they had the same stuff going on. We've got protocols in place. It's just the nature of there world we're living in at the minute.

https://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/video/ ... 1387884001

[Pipes1970]

I don't get the hate for the Brown boys. Yeah they aint their dad but they're getting games because the selectors like what they bring. Ty had an equal game high 8 tackles. Not everyone can be a star but everyone can play a role.
.

This!!!!

I like them both. They attack the ball hard. Sure they won’t be top 5 players in the league but neither will a lot of people. And at least they have played at the level which is more than most of the people ripping on them can say.

[pietillidie]

Not one to chase the replay down for by the sounds, but chalking up another win can't hurt.

If you can watch a replay, it's worth doing.

It was a free flowing match with some good highlights.

Okay will do, thanks. It was on here at 4am, so it was right between too late and too early!

[Take_a_Screamer]

Happy with the Win . Both Daicos boys good again . Crisp tough, Ginnivan Cheeky and smart. Begg Showed some promise and seems to has smarts . Cameron lead well and Checkers cracked in. IQ and Moore were good and Magden was honest . Howe needs to tighten up . Scotty lead very well . Maynard laid some important hits and will get better. We miss talls at both ends.

Talking about talls, who knows how Will Kelly is progressing?
Why isn't he being eased back in the side, we need him!

[Piesnchess]

Beggs has a long way to go.
He should make way for Cox next week
Cox was close to best on ground in the VFL.
But you can see what Fly sees in him.
He has a touch of mongrel in him and he is competitive.
He is worth keeping
But he has a way to go.
We got thrashed in the ruck today.
But we did well mopping up

The Tigers have an ingrained fear of Mason, he has kicked a couple of bags of goals against them, he seems to worry them a bit.

[JC Hartley]

In the opening game of the month, Collingwood responded to every challenge that Gold Coast gave them to prevail comfortably by 25 points. The Magpies had to be exceptionally smart with their ball use to hit targets and maintain possession, given that there weren't many tall targets to take marks or take on responsibility in the ruck, after Brodie Grundy was ruled out for 3 months. That led to Darcy Cameron assuming the mantle as the team's top ruckman, while Aiden Begg came in on debut and competed strongly. The ball use on display for most of the afternoon was superb or very good as Collingwood's forwards got plenty of opportunities to take some marks and kicked goals. There would've been emphasis on running the ball forward by hand to reduce the need to kick long to contests, while also ensuring no long bombs by foot were attempted and precise kicks over short distances for most of the day, which allowed the Woods to play with a group of forwards who were not blessed for height and brought about the focus on more precise ball movement to give the forwards greater chances of scoring goals, as kicking long to contests all the time would've been ineffective and disadvantaging Collingwood's plans. As far as the general scheme of the contest was concerned, it was full of momentum swings from the outset where the Suns had the first two goals, before Collingwood piled on 7 goals in the opening term to establish an early lead, before the pendulum swung within the last three quarters, where Gold Coast threatened to draw close to Collingwood's lead, then the Pies would respond with the next 2 or 3 goals to restore control of the game. Extremely pleasing that the Woods were able to respond with goals to stop the Suns in their tracks, and played to the plan of running and carrying the ball from defence and the midfield, especially on transition as that allowed the forwards to continually move without being stagnant. This style of play needs to be reproduced each week for the next couple of months as it will be tailored to the availability of the players that Collingwood currently have to be able to implement the game plan.

Collingwood won the vast majority of their statistical categories from sources such as disposals by +29 (356 - 327), +10 for kicks (208 - 198), handballs were won by +19 (148 - 129), while contested possessions were won by +6 (129 - 123), uncontested possessions were up by +22 (221 - 199) and intercept possessions had a margin of +15 (68 - 53). Stoppage clearances were won by +3 (22 - 19), marks had a differential of +3 (92 - 89), Contested Marks had a differential of +6 (15 - 9), while tackles were up by +1 (56 - 55), and +6 for Inside 50s (52 - 46). Gold Coast won their categories from hit-outs by +17 (50 - 17), followed by clearances by +3 (36 - 33), +6 for centre clearances (17 - 11), while Tackles Inside 50 were up by +4 (7 - 3), uncontested marks were won by +3 (80 - 77), and Marks Inside 50 had an advantage of +3 (16 - 13).

Patrick Lipinski (30 disposals @ 77%, 338 metres gained, 7 contested possessions, 23 uncontested possessions, 2 intercept possessions, 13 kicks, 17 handballs, 3 marks, 2 goal assists, 12 score involvements, 2 clearances, 2 centre clearances & 6 Inside 50s) set the game up early with 20 disposals in the first half, and contributed at various stages in the last two quarters. Lipinski was able to link up with hands to teammates in better positions, and contributed substantially to the team's scoring chains.

Jack Crisp (28 disposals @ 68%, 499 metres gained, 7 contested possessions, 21 uncontested possessions, 3 intercept possessions, 18 kicks, 10 handballs, 8 marks, 2 Marks Inside 50, 6 tackles, 9 score involvements, 7 clearances, 2 centre clearances, 5 stoppage clearances, 3 Inside 50s, 2 Rebound 50s & 1 goal) started the game slowly, before accumulating possessions regularly over the last three quarters. Crisp was able to win his own ball, took marks to give the team control and drifted forward to impact the scoreboard.

Taylor Adams (23 disposals @ 65%, 327 metres gained, 6 contested possessions, 17 uncontested possessions, 2 intercept possessions, 14 kicks, 9 handballs, 8 marks, 8 tackles, 1 goal assist, 6 score involvements, 2 clearances & 7 Inside 50s) sacrificed his brand of contested footy to run out into space to provide a marking target which he was able to do successfully and gave his forwards opportunities to mark or compete inside 50, while applying numerous tackles to maintain pressure.

Josh Daicos (20 disposals @ 85%, 430 metres gained, 4 contested possessions, 16 uncontested possessions, 11 kicks, 9 handballs, 2 marks, 1 goal assist, 8 score involvements, 2 clearances, 2 stoppage clearances, 5 Inside 50s, 2 Rebound 50s & 2 goals) played his most damaging game of the season, where he looked to get forward more and stay busy in scoring chains. Lovely to see Josh hit the scoreboard in the second half with two goals that maintained momentum in Collingwood's favour.

Steele Sidebottom (20 disposals @ 80%, 426 metres gained, 3 contested possessions, 17 uncontested possessions, 3 intercept possessions, 12 kicks, 8 handballs, 9 marks, 9 score involvements, 3 Inside 50s & 2 Rebound 50s) played his role well by keeping his width at all times so he could take marks and kept the ball moving in his team's direction by hitting targets or kicking to his team's advantage so scores could occur.

Will Hoskin-Elliott (17 disposals @ 71%, 231 metres gained, 6 contested possessions, 11 uncontested possessions, 4 intercept possessions, 9 kicks, 8 handballs, 4 marks, 1 goal assist, 4 score involvements, 3 clearances, 2 stoppage clearances & 2 Inside 50s) alternated his game time up forward with stints on the wing and continued to accumulate disposals without looking ominous.

Darcy Cameron (16 disposals @ 56%, 155 metres gained, 13 contested possessions, 3 uncontested possessions, 2 intercept possessions, 15 hit-outs, 10 kicks, 6 handballs, 4 marks, 2 Contested Marks, 5 tackles, 6 score involvements, 5 clearances, 4 stoppage clearances & 2 goals) played his most important game for the club by taking the bulk of the ruck contests, where he battled manfully. Cameron was able to win his fair share of ruck contests and was able to have an impact up forward early on.

Aiden Begg (15 disposals @ 87%, 152 metres gained, 8 contested possessions, 7 uncontested possessions, 2 intercept possessions, 2 hit-outs, 5 kicks, 10 handballs, 4 marks, 3 tackles, 1 goal assist, 5 score involvements, 3 clearances, 2 stoppage clearances & 4 Inside 50s) put in an eye-catching debut at AFL level by assuming control in the ruck where he was competitive without winning very many hit-outs, but it was his work around the ground where he was really good. Begg was able to hold a few marks, pump the ball forward and contribute to scoring chains throughout the day.

Scott Pendlebury (25 disposals @ 72%, 416 metres gained, 9 contested possessions, 16 uncontested possessions, 7 intercept possessions, 18 kicks, 7 handballs, 6 marks, 6 tackles, 1 goal assist, 4 score involvements, 3 Inside 50s & 2 Rebound 50s) was sublime with his ball use behind the ball to give the team control against the flow and threats that the Suns had posed, before being inserted to the midfield in the last quarter to even up the clearances and contests against a midfield line-up of Jarrod Witts, Touk Miller, Matt Rowell & Noah Anderson who gave the Magpies plenty of headaches.

John Noble (21 disposals @ 86%, 405 metres gained, 3 contested possessions, 18 uncontested possessions, 5 intercept possessions, 14 kicks, 7 handballs, 3 tackles, 1 goal assist, 6 score involvements, 2 clearances, 2 stoppage clearances & 4 Inside 50s) made every post a winner with his ball use, decision making and constant dash off the last line of defence without wasting a single target. This was comfortably Noble's best performance of the season, and may there be more to come.

Nick Daicos (19 disposals @ 95%, 270 metres gained, 4 contested possessions, 15 uncontested possessions, 2 intercept possessions, 9 kicks, 10 handballs, 6 marks, 7 score involvements, 3 Inside 50s & 3 Rebound 50s) had a moderate impact on the contest where he spent time alternating between periods up forward and behind the ball in defence. Nick made an effort to ensure a large portion of his possessions ended in scores, especially when he was up forward.

Isaac Quaynor (14 disposals @ 79%, 309 metres gained, 8 contested possessions, 6 uncontested possessions, 7 intercept possessions, 8 kicks, 6 handballs, 3 marks, 4 tackles, 3 score involvements & 3 Rebound 50s) complimented John Noble nicely to form synergy behind the ball to then go forward in waves of constant movement and run off half-back.

Darcy Moore (13 disposals @ 85%, 280 metres gained, 6 contested possessions, 7 uncontested possessions, 8 intercept possessions, 10 kicks, 3 handballs, 7 marks, 3 Contested Marks, 2 score involvements & 4 Rebound 50s) gave Collingwood great drive from defence with accurate kicks on the way out, and took some impressive marks to prevent goals being conceded.

Brody Mihocek (13 disposals @ 77%, 232 metres gained, 6 contested possessions, 7 uncontested possessions, 10 kicks, 3 handballs, 7 marks, 3 Contested Marks, 4 Marks Inside 50, 8 score involvements, 2 Inside 50s & 4 goals) stood up with some excellent pack marks up forward as the only noted key forward in a division filled with small forwards, and converted much of his hard work to reward his team. Mihocek has now kicked 4 goals in a game on 10 occasions. He is yet to kick 5 goals in a game. Hopefully that comes next weekend.

Jordan De Goey (11 disposals @ 46%, 194 metres gained, 8 contested possessions, 3 uncontested possessions, 6 kicks, 5 handballs, 2 marks, 4 tackles, 3 score involvements, 2 clearances, 2 centre clearances, 2 Inside 50s & 1 goal) was unable to reach lofty heights throughout the match. Aside from a nice goal in the opening term, there's not much to write about.

Jack Ginnivan (11 disposals @ 82%, 186 metres gained, 4 contested possessions, 7 uncontested possessions, 2 intercept possessions, 8 kicks, 3 handballs, 4 marks, 2 tackles, 7 score involvements, 2 Rebound 50s & 3 goals) made the most of his limited opportunities, and produced the goal of the day with daring run from the Shane Warne Stand pocket to evade multiple opponents and had the audacity to finish off his left foot at the top of the goalsquare. Here's to many great moments over the next 10 years, Jack!

Collingwood's next game will be against Richmond on May 7 at the MCG. This particular contest will be season-defining in many ways and will feel like a final. The Magpies will need to replicate their method up forward with precise ball use to maintain possession and find marking targets inside 50 to convert goals. Alternatively, if that style of play gets cut off or heavily reduced, then scoring goals up forward from stoppages could be the next best ploy. Additionally, both teams will look to cash in from turnovers, so it is important for Woods to have the wood over the Tigers by scoring as many goals from this scoring source as possible when Saturday afternoon calls for action.

[Big T]

Not one to chase the replay down for by the sounds, but chalking up another win can't hurt.

If you can watch a replay, it's worth doing.

It was a free flowing match with some good highlights.

Agree Jezza, it was actually a great game to watch. Big marks, cracking goals, open game.

[Big T]

Happy with the Win . Both Daicos boys good again . Crisp tough, Ginnivan Cheeky and smart. Begg Showed some promise and seems to has smarts . Cameron lead well and Checkers cracked in. IQ and Moore were good and Magden was honest . Howe needs to tighten up . Scotty lead very well . Maynard laid some important hits and will get better. We miss talls at both ends.

Talking about talls, who knows how Will Kelly is progressing?
Why isn't he being eased back in the side, we need him!

Watching the vfl, his form doesn't warrant inclusion.