Notes from the game: 2014 Round 4 Richmond

The Pies score an easy win over the Tiges.

Drawing long bows?

About three minutes into the game, Matty opined that Witts was best on ground so far.

His tongue was probably firmly in his cheek, but it reminded me of the number of articles I have seen recently attempting to draw conclusions about a team's performance this year compared with last year. To me, the most risible part is when they quote averages to 2 decimal places from a population of 3 - as in "They've averaged 3.67 handballs this year". Please!

Nevertheless, Witts went on to play one of the best games I've seen from him (9 games so far). It was interesting that the brains trust went with Witts when it was clear the ground would be greasy. In the event, for 3 quarters until Grundy was subbed out, Collingwood played three talls in their forward line. Perhaps they are finally recognising that if White goes to the ruck, Grundy is no support at all to Cloke. On this day, White's impact was huge.

The tagger

Macaffer was disciplined and irritating (to his opponent) and very effective.

The knock-on effect

Collingwood players may have gone to school on Geelong. Last week I wrote about Geelong players not taking possession. Against Richmond, our boys did a lot more of the same. Jesse White's kick off the ground was not precise: it ricocheted off Grundy but ended up with Pendlebury for a goal.

There were several other examples. It made for a more effective game, the players adapting better to the conditions than in the past (and probably than did their opponents).

Of course it doesn't always come off, but if there's an ugly scrum on one part of the ground and the ball is knocked towards our goal, something has usually been gained. The idea is to play the percentages. It isn't always executed correctly as when Pendlebury was pinged for a throw. Nevertheless like many other elements of the game, it ought to be part of each player's arsenal, like handball and kicking on the non-dominant side; he needs to be able to perform the skill when he needs to.

New neighbours?

We have now sat in our new seats for both our home and away games. Perhaps it's too early to make the call but it struck me that the stupid spectators with the inane comments were absent. In fact, I almost choked on my own tongue when I heard a voice disgustedly make a comment that might have been a direct quote from this blog. "What's the point of kicking short to a contest?!" Could it be I have a doppelganger?

Strange days indeed

The teams kicked a combined 13 goals to three-quarter time (10.10 to 3.10); they kicked 13 goals between them in the last quarter (6 to 7). It reduced our percentage, but it was by far the most entertaining quarter and the best contest.

Before the game, Richmond had honoured Kevin Bartlett who responded by hoping the game would be over by quarter time. In hindsight it was - but not in the way Kevin wanted.

Revenge of the smalls

The trynamic trio (Pendlebury, Beams, Swan) kicked 8 goals between them. Sidebottom, Ball, Blair, Elliot brought the total to 13. Jesse White had a good night kicking 3.2 and taking 7 marks.

Cloke would be disappointed with his 200th.

Swan had 27 disposals, sub-par for him, but the quality was noticeably better. Perhaps he is gradually adjusting to his new wrists.

The Leon Davis role

Fasolo took many kick-ins and delivered well. Mostly. His kick from the pocket was ill-judged and not well executed, gifting Richmond a goal.

... there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

- Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2

With each element of the game, none is either good or bad, but thinking (in the sense of judgement) makes it so. Is handball good? In some circumstances it is outstanding. But it is also possible to over-use the ball. Fasolo started as a forward. He may have been thinking as a forward when he chose to kick to a man on the 50M arc at CHB. Of course he may not have been thinking at all.

When in doubt, the boundary is your friend.

Nevertheless, I hold more hope for Fasolo as the successor to Leon Davis than I do for Clinton Young. Fasolo also managed to rack up some pretty impressive numbers, which suggests that he might have found a niche as a rebounding defender.

Young on the other hand blotted his copybook even further. It looked to me like he avoided contact with opponents. Bruise-free footy?

Fasolo got another big tick. In the last quarter he marked outside our F50. For Collingwood in the last few years, the traditional play has been to bomb it long in the direction of Cloke. Defying tradition, and giving this observer great hope, Fasolo hung on to the ball until Elliott indicate an intention to lead to the flank. Fasolo responded, the mark was duly taken about 40 out on a bit of an angle, but still a reasonabe chance; Elliott slotted it.

Performance

At the last break, the Collingwood players could have been well satisfied with their performance. Perhaps they hadn't kicked quite as many goals as they should have, but clearly their defence had stood firm.

The last quarter might have been a better spectacle but it cost us dearly in percentage and turned a real shellacking into "only" a good win.

However, had I been offered 6 goals going in, I would have taken it laughing all the way to the bank, so perhaps I'm being a bit churlish. As if there aren't enough churls in the world.

I thought Pendlebury was noticeably outstanding (rather than his more usual quiet achiever). Beams, was extremely effective; Ball, Sidebottom, Harry, Maxwell pretty good. They had lots of company.


Sources:

http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_match_statistics?mid=5784
John Lennon
William Shakespeare