Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final Collingwood 3.1 4.7 6.8 7.11 53 Bulldogs 3.0 4.2 6.5 11.8 74
Changes
None.
The game in brief
The Dogs kicked the first goal. Collingwood then held the ascendancy until the final quarter, but at every change both teams had kicked the same number of goals.
Collingwood started the final quarter with one fit player on the bench and soon lost Moore (broken clavicle) to join Toovey (concussion), Fasolo (shoulder) and Adams (hammy). And the winner is ... Cloke - or so it seems.
The Pies ran out of legs, the Bulldogs kicking 5 to 1 in the final quarter.
Positives
The Bulldogs are expected to go deep into September. Collingwood proved to be their match. With slightly better luck, the Pies might have won.
At least we're not getting the insipid performances of earlier in the season. This is now the third week in a row the Pies have been credible.
Jeremy Howe. I dread the day that Langdon returns. Apart from playing really well in defence, judging when to mark and when to punch, picking the times to press forward, Howe is doing a superb job kicking in. I particularly like the way he sometimes goes straight down the guts. He won't get it right every time, but we have seen it pay huge dividends on occasion. It didn't hurt that he racked up a shipload of possessions.
Although perhaps not quite as influential as last week, Jesse White still managed to be involved. For a forward, his stats weren't too bad.
Negatives
The injury list just got substantially longer.
Despite playing a pretty good game, on a couple of occasions, Pendlebury's kicking was very ordinary.
The last quarter.
Toovey must have been injured early. He registered a single touch and a tackle.
Speculation
This game provided an interesting comparison with last week's. To me, it looked like last week the Pies played with more abandon. Last week, they went in as complete underdogs. Despite their win over Brisbane, no one really expected anything from the Pies. They still went in as underdogs this week, but the supporters had reason to hope. It might have proved the undoing of Collingwood. In those first 3 quarters, although they maintained a lead, it looked like the Pies were playing a little cautiously.
Perhaps a good analogy is this. If the player is taking a shot from 55m, he just runs in and kicks it - and sometimes it's sweet. (This is particularly true of Cloke.) When the player tries to shoot from 30m, often he tries to guide the ball through - and comes unstuck. (Again Cloke.)
Last week the players took risks, perhaps threw caution to the wind. This week, they might have been a bit tighter. As a result, they probably failed to make the most of their opportunities. They should have led by more at the last change. It might have made the difference.
The wrap
During this game, we saw the scores from Geelong. That Carlton beat the Cats took some of the shine off last week's win by the Pies.
Clearly Collingwood is playing many levels better than earlier in the season. Let's hope they can field teams sufficiently strong to continue to build confidence and improved performances.
Sources, Notes, Footnotes, References
http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_match_statistics?mid=6260
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