Notes from the game: 2016 Round 22 Gold Coast

As expected, Collingwood has a big win against a lowly opponent.

Team            Q1      Q2      Q3      Q4      Final
Collingwood     7.3     12.8    16.13   16.22   118
Gold Coast      0.2     1.6     4.8     6.11    47 

Etihad Stadium, Attendance: 17644

Contemplation

In some games, one team flies out of the blocks (think Collingwood in the Geelong game earlier this year). Usually, though, the first 10 or 15 minutes involve the teams feeling each other out; much of the scoring happens after that. So it was with this game: White scored early; the rest of the goals were scored in the last 13 minutes of the first quarter. None of that quarter's goals went to Gold Coast. That's the third time that Collingwood has kept a team goalless in the first quarter.

The game

The game was over as a contest by quarter time. At half time (80-12), Matty suggested that we could win by 100 points. It was not to be.

In fact, you could say that Collingwood's moment in the sun lasted 1 quarter. Their quarters went +43, +25, +9, -6. Another fact: Collingwood kept itself goalless in the last quarter kicking 0.9! After kicking 7.3 in Q1, they managed 9.19 for the rest of the match.

No matter how you look at it, it was a fall from grace. After kicking the first goal of the match, White added a brace just before the long break. He then managed 2 behinds in each of the last two quarters - his performance a mirror of the team's. This game was quite typical of Collingwood's little girl who had a little curl season.

Positives

Jeremy Howe's 18 marks including a couple of hangers.

Jesse White: 10 marks, 3 goals.

Pendlebury and Sidebottom's sequential wrong-foot goals.

Many others.

Negatives

Darcy Moore broke down again.

Jesse White: 4 behinds.

Adam Treloar: 38 disposals, 1 scintillating goal, 6 tackles.

Josh Smith: 35 disposals, 9 marks, 1 goal.

Collingwood's decline.

The miserable attendance figure.

The wrap

Collingwood's 71-point win will mask the declining performance during the course of the game. I think I've seen suggestions that it takes pressure off Buckley. I can't see why; it certainly shouldn't. Ah, there's so much to be said about that.

Sources, Notes, Footnotes, References

http://www.abc.net.au/news/sport/afl/results/?season=2016&competition=9815&match=98152206
http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_match_statistics?mid=6356
http://www.theage.com.au/match-centre/afl/match-20160142206.html