How did you view that?
How do you get such a great divergence from last week where last week was 19 goals to 18, with it this week being 2 goals to 1 deep in the second quarter?"It was a dour game. A bit of cat and mouse in it. Both defensive structures were pretty strong. I thought they defended the ground really well, and put enough on the pressure on the ball to leave their backs in position, Stewart, Blicavs to be able to impact often enough. We tested that in the last half more so than the first, but we didn't use the ball really well early. Time ran out. What else do you need?"
Feels like every week is a new Collingwood injury story?"I think clearly Geelong have a really strong defensive focus. They're the slowest ball moving side in the comp by design so they don't lose shape when the ball turns over. They're the lowest turnover aggregate team in the competition because they're relatively safe and they're happy to go long down the line. They've got some aerial guys that do a bit of damage; Dangerfield clearly, Ratugolea, Blicavs, Taylor, Crameri dangerous in the air and Menegola, so they've got that aerial advantage so they play the game that way. They were able to enforce that style on us for the most part and we made some adjustments which clearly got things back on our terms, and it was really only those two goals in a minute late in the second quarter that put the gap in the game and we just were not able to bridge that gap, didn't kick straight enough and didn't take our chances".
What about the big picture with these guys? Elliott has a history of this stuff and a couple of setbacks now for Moore, so how much do you go back and analyse the handling of it? Is it a bio-mechanical thing with these guys or have you been able to uncover anything so far?"Don't write about them. Every team has injuries. We've had a few recurrences so clearly Elliott today and Moore today are issues for us. Rest assured us we're not sweeping them under the carpet. We've got to find the answer to it and we want access to our best players more often. It's pretty hard when you're down a couple of rotations so it does have an impact, but the way the game was played today, it's not a high transitional game so it didn't come back to running as such. It was a bit more strategy and contest so if you're going to be down a couple a rotations, a game like that is a game you might get through. Having said that, we need Moore's aerial and I would have liked to have seen what Phillips can do with the running challenge in the last 40 minutes as well".
What's the early prognosis on both of those guys?"It's not long-term, but it's medium term. We're not sitting on our hands not assessing whether we can do things better or what the mechanisms might be. It's slightly different for each player, but it is significant. We have looked at it. We looked at it as a group about three weeks ago and we will have another look now. We're going to keep providing the best opportunity for players, we're going to keep getting our rehab right so we can get our players back and fit and standing up to the competition. Our recent schedule is a challenge. Four teams have that four day break or four and a half day break, whatever you want to see it as. There's three games in eleven or twelve days. We know that's happening, so it's not as if it was sprung on us the week before it happened. Sometimes there's a bit of luck in it as well, but we will look after what we're in control of and leave the rest to the gods".
What's the update on Tom Phillips?"They will both need scans. Walshy will deliver the verdict for you. In the end, that will be the verdict for now. What a lot of people don't realise is that it's a bit of a moving target. We put might put 4 or 5 weeks on both of those boys for instance. If they respond well, they might come a week in, but if we want to be more prudent or we will feel like they need an extra couple of week's training it could go out to 7 or 8. In the end, you make the decisions on what's best for the player and what their signs are telling us. We need to look at that and make some shifts or understand what the mechanisms are so we can improve it".
How close was Pendles [to playing]?"He obviously got the head knock. I think he copped a kick to the head. I haven't seen the incident as such. He was still pretty dusty. We will give him time to recover and do the cog states and see how he comes up over the week".
Is Reid a chance next week?"We made the call on him early yesterday, so he was out from early yesterday".
How's the forward structure going? Have you thought forward on how you will shape up without a couple of your big guys. Is Sam McLarty ready or?"No, I don't think so"
Your not blessed with [big guys]?"We've had a preliminary think about it, but we'll let you know a little bit more during the week".
Could you talk about Scharenberg's development as a player. It was probably his best game at AFL level today. Probably early in the year, he wasn't in the selection mix considering he missed round 1. What has he done to get to the point of being a consistent AFL player?"We're blessed with role players who will come out and do the job. We're not concerned about personnel as such. As I've said, time ran out for us today regardless of our personnel or regardless of who we did and didn't have. We kick a bit straighter and do marginal things better, then you know we could win that game of footy regardless of what's thrown in front of us and that's got to be our attitude and it will continue to be our attitude".
Chris Mayne's performance; is that the sort of performance you were banking on him eventually delivering when he was given the opportunity to step up?"They're his biggest numbers. Intercept marks and intercept possessions as well. Matty had a strong pre-season physically, but his form through the JLT was not great, like practice matches and JLT. He made a significant shift leading into those last couple of weeks and the VFL practice matches that he played. As every player does, he really clarified his thinking on his strengths, namely his aerial and aggressive positioning and then the contest. The other focus on that was to train those; to really have those clear focuses in his mind around his training form. We saw a really sharp spike from that so the credit goes to the player in getting it done. Matty came out of a bit of a funk and is playing as good of football as we've seen. As I said, you create the right environment, but the player still needs to make the decision on how he's going to go about it and he deserves everything that he's getting on field and he will only get better with more exposure".
They went without a ruckman at times today. How did you see the ruck battle?"His game last week was pretty good. He's really stood up in that wing role and we've played him through the wing in the VFL for the last couple of months. His diligence and his application to role has been first class; can't question it. He took the lessons from last year's preparation and changed his prep up himself. He put a little bit more speed work in. He definitely felt the pressure and the focus last year there's no doubt through the middle of the year. I think that wore on him, but he's been able to clear himself of that and break the shackles and really attack this year with a clean slate. Once again, all credit to him. He's been really strong contributor for us".
There's been talk that Grundy has been carrying a groin injury. Is that correct?"I think it was relatively even. Having said that, the aerial aspects of the game were a significant difference in the side, especially for us forward of the ball. We were just not able to match their strong aerial and their ruck was dropping back whether it was Ratugolea or whether it was Smith. We won the hit outs convincingly. Clearances were pretty well square in the end. Grundy's improving his aerial around the ground, there's no doubt, but I think across the board Geelong did that in that part of the game did better than we did".
Should Pendlebury be right to play against St Kilda?"Not that I know of".
http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/video/2 ... ss-to-cats"Yeah we think so".
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