Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final Collingwood 8.4 14.6 19.8 22.10 142 Essendon 1.1 2.2 7.4 11.7 73
What a difference a week makes! Collingwood's first half was substantial no matter the opposition. By that time they had equalled their highest final score for the year. The final margin was 69 points.
Changes
Ben Sinclair was out after last week's concussion. Langdon was out injured; White was dropped. Travis Cloke was dropped for one of the few time since debuting in the Anzac Day game of 2005.
The giant American, Mason Cox, came in for his first senior game as did Josh Smith, about whom I know absolutely nothing. Jack Frost returned along with Maynard.
Positives
The team was far more a team, more cohesive.
Sidebottom - again. All class - again. 4 goals. BOG. Anzac medallist.
Fasolo also kicked 4 goals.
Pendlebury, Adams and Treloar all got amongst the possessions.
Cox was impressive on debut without being a world-beater.
Delivery. One example was the play where Fasolo took a good contested mark in the middle of the ground and then sent a low bullet to Moore about 50 out. This was in stark contrast to Collingwood's forward foray's of the past few weeks with the ball being bombed aimlessly into a crowded F50 only to be belted away with opponents launching rebound attacks.
Grundy managed to time his centre jumps better, palming the ball at the top of his leap. Now all he needs is to tap it to advantage (a la Naitanui and Priddis). A work in progress.
Josh Smith - 23 touches on debut is impressive.
Howe finally showed some understanding of his teammates. Further, having chosen to kick, he picked up a couple of goals.
Negatives
The second half. Did the Pies take their feet of the pedal? Or did the Bombers regroup? In the end, the Bombers outscored the Pies in the second half - not by much, but a huge turn-around compared to the first half.
You probably don't want all your players firing at the same time if it means that they also all fail at the same time. In this game there were few passengers but in the previous two games there were very few switched-on players.
Varcoe was strangely quiet.
Howe still needs to improve his understanding of his teammates, eg running along the wing, he turned his back on Pendlebury whose handpass rolled impotently nearby.
The wrap
Collingwood played very watchable and enjoyable football for a half. This year that can not be taken for granted. Perhaps the year is showing promise.
I tried to look up what the odds were for this game. Eventually I found a site that had the line for Collingwood at -24.5. During the game, I had speculated that it would be about 60 points. Apparently, the world thought that Essendon were travelling better and the Pies worse than at the start of the year. Probably a fair call.
I saw Collingwood at $1.42 to Essendon's $2.90. If these figures are even vaguely a reflection of where the two teams stood going into the game, then Collingwood has exceeded par. That may not be much (considering the opposition), but it beats any Collingwood performance this year.
Have the Bombers run the Pies into some form? It's too early to tell, but how we perform against West Coast on the weekend will give us a better idea.
Sources, Notes, Footnotes, References
http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_match_statistics?mid=6216
www.skybet.com
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