Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final Bulldogs 3.3 7.6 11.7 14.11 95 Collingwood 2.4 7.5 11.7 14.8 92
The game
Although each team at one stage or another led by 18 points, neither was able to land a knockout. The game was exciting to watch because Collingwood was never out of the contest, but never completely in control.
However the standard was that of teams just outside the 8 - which was appropriate for Collingwood, but will offer little consolation to the Doggies who would like to see themselves as premiership contenders. Not on this performance (though they have suffered many injuries).
Unforced errors
Collingwood took this to a new high (or low). They didn't just shoot themselves in the foot, they took at a machine gun and really peppered both feet. I go through several examples.
These were of varying stupidity and incompetence.
Q1 18:00 Cometti: "Pendlebury, in space, kicks inside the forward 50 ... Wayward kick. Unlike him."
And yet, it seems to me I've heard those sentiments many times this year (maybe longer). In other words, like his team, Pendlebury's best is still very, very good; but he has lapses which are horrid. In this case the kick was pretty much an accurate pass to Picken on his own - when there were two teammates (Oxley, Aish) on their own 5m either side of Picken. For a Pendlebury, that's a serious clanger.
Q1 17:25 Blair marks in the centre of the ground, plays on, kicks to De Goey maybe 30m away - and misses him by about 10m! Taylor utters the understatement of the game so far: "Blair, not so good." The subsequent play results in the Doggies taking a shot. (They miss, but that's hardly the point: potentially it's a 7-point play rather than 12-.)
Q1 15:05 Varcoe from 30m hits the post. He's normally a reliable shot so I don't want to bag him. But it's another unforced error at an important stage in the game. Kick the first goal and it sends a message to both teams: we are not going to be a pushover. We can handle pressure. The miss does not imply the opposite, it's just an opportunity lost. (Recall that the Pies lost by 3 points.)
Q1 12:45 Crisp provides an unnecessary push in the back after the kick - which anyway fell short. From the free, Roughead marked and goaled. One of the basics of football is controlled aggression. The push achieved - not nothing, but less than nothing - a minus.
Q1 9:33 Phillips marks in the centre. Moore is one-out in an otherwise empty F50. Wood provides enough pressure for Moore to spill the mark after he'd got both hands to the ball. Moore probably deserves some culpability for misreading the flight and getting to the drop too soon. He should have slowed down earlier and lunged later; or leant back against his opponent like Cloke might have. But that's not really Moore's style. He likes to jump at the ball. And he might have had a better chance had Phillips's kick been better weighted or better aimed. Not a hanging offence. Buckley might argue that he's getting experience into the kid for next year.
Q1 9:11 Wills intercepts exactly on F50 at least a metre clear with his opponent wrong-footed. Wills turns around, 3m in the clear, and kicks off a step - but misses. Lost opportunity.
Q1 8:51 Maynard receives just outside F50, couple of steps, kick - this is his wheel house - misses. Lost opportunity.
Q1 5:50 The howler of the night. Varcoe out of the middle finds Phillips at 35. Phillips sees Moore leading towards goal 3m ahead of his opponent and tries to pass to him. Perhaps he wants to compensate for his earlier pass. He does not go back and so kicks into the man on the mark.
Q1 5:20 The subsequent play finds Collingwood players out of position and results in a Bulldog goal.
Q1 1:58 Aish receives a free inside the square of the goal he's defending. His outlet kick is marked by a Dog on the 50; pass, mark, goal. For the game, Aish was one of our better players, but in this situation, more poise was needed.
Q1 0:10 White marks about 10m out in line with the behind post. The siren goes, so running around is not an option. He misses to the far side. Lost opportunity.
Q2 16:09 Greenwood receives in the centre circle. Cometti: "Now Collingwood could punish the Dogs for that miscue on the outer side. Greenwood ... well, maybe a miscue of his own." The ball is swept away by the opposition defence. At least an unforced error by Greenwood.
Q2 13:47 This piece of play unfolded right in front of me as I watched from the stands. Clay Smith takes possession 45m out and heads towards goal. Goldsack, who otherwise had a pretty good game, has a clear run at him; he turns his opponent and drags him to ground as he's kicking. Given that Clay has taken several steps and run to about 35m, I wonder why Goldsack chose to attack the player's upper body and not prefer to throw himself across his opponent's boot, especially as he is approaching Smith from Smith's left and Smith is shaping to kick on his left (the side nearer to Goldsack). Watching the replay at quarter speed, it's clear that Smith is dropping the ball as Goldsack approaches. I know that it's easy for me as I play the replay over and over, but has Goldsack never watched a replay of Shaw's run in the second 2010 GF? For goodness sake! He doesn't even have to hit the ball away, he just needs to get a touch.
Q2 13:16 This is not an error, just an observation. Moore and an opponent are running towards Aish's pass. Three things come together: the players, the ball and the boundary. Naturally, the Bulldogs defender spoils. And then two more things come together: Moore and the fence. It's really ugly - but I can see no justification for a free to Moore. He's on an extreme angle; unsurprisingly he misses and justice is served to an extent. He is credited with a behind which might have been interesting had the game been drawn or won by the Pies by a single point.
Q2 4:00 Scores level; Collingwood have worked themselves back into the game. It looked to me like Marsh took possession deep in his defence and tried to fend off a tackler and was stripped of the ball. Perhaps he could have simply punched the ball towards a teammate near the boundary; perhaps he could have delivered a quick handpass; but I find it hard to fault him. I'm inclined to say bad luck.
In the event, Collingwood replied with one of the better passages of the night, Treloar involved twice: early in the sequence and then kicking the goal.
Just two more:
Q4 13:11 Scores level: 85-85. Taylor Adams receives a handpass near the boundary, in the pocket deep in defence. Marsh actually points to Howe coming towards Adams along the boundary in the outbound direction. Maybe Adams didn't see. He runs inboard and handpasses to Treloar. The pass does Treloar no favours but Adams keeps running past Treloar and receives. Brian Taylor: "Decision was good." I guess that should alert anyone to the possibility that it wasn't. Adams shapes another handpass. He's metres in the clear, Treloar on one side riding shotgun, Josh Smith a bit further away on the other side. This play rivals the clanger of the first quarter. Brian Taylor: "The give and go ..." - except that's not what happened. Adams changes his mind. He holds the ball and it spills in the tackle. The Bulldogs fail to exact the full penalty, scoring only a behind.
I am not a fan of heroics in defence. In my view, south of the centre circle, and particularly inside D50, the player's first instinct must be to get the ball safely out of the area. Creative play is best left to the forward half.
Q4 10:43 Scores level: 86-86. Howe gets a free in the middle. He aims for Smith, lateral and slightly forward of Howe's position. His kick is not bad off the boot, but it is not a bullet. Smith is at least 15m clear of opponents but as the ball floats towards him, agonisingly slowly, Hunter makes up ground and spoils the marking attempt. The play results in a goal to the Dogs. At the game I thought it was a clear unforced error; on replay, I'm not so sure.
The wrap
Collingwood has had 3 wins against top-8 teams. It was on track to beat the Bulldogs the first time they met back in round 10, and then lost 4 players to injury. It could so easily have won this game.
We are left to lament what might have been.
Oh, and I think Treloar will win the Copeland.
Sources, Notes, Footnotes, References
http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_match_statistics?mid=6343
No comments:
Post a Comment