How do you beat Collingwood?

[Running Bull]

So when he recovers from that broken thumb he should not be included back in the side? He is the Captain, when that thumb recovers he will be back. They can't really tap him on the shoulder and say, 'hey mate, you not getting picked'. Dont think that will happen. He will need to play, and if you drag him back to the square then he will be found out. He has to be accountable for someone, right?

Assuming that Collingwood wins the first week of the finals and Maxwell is out for 4 weeks, then you would be bringing a player who hasn't played in 6 weeks into a prelim final. No Malthouse will not bring him back in and would stick doggedly to his horses for courses selection policy.

Maxwell will cop it on the chin, which is why he is one of the greatest clubmen that has ever played the game. Next season will be the tough choice for the Pies.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Also

6. Don't play a loose man in your defense. Whether it is Maxwell, Reid, OBrien or even Simon Buckley. Collingwood is the best loose man team in the AFL you need to every player accountable.

 

[PCORF]

Geelong in a Grand FInal = Collingwood Loss

That's the only way you beat them.

 

[kevind]

It's quite simple in theory-

1. Win the contested possession count
2. Win the Clearances
3. Hit targets (preferably not with 1000 short passes such as Hawthorn tried)
4. Move the ball quickly inside 50.

Other things that can beat Collingwood. Overconfidence- if the players think in a similar manner to some of our supporters, then it could be a dismal finals series.

Injuries- If Cloke and Jolly are some how missing in any one final, we will struggle.

Geelong and Hawthorn( as much as I hate them for having the world's most disgusting looking sport's outfit) are both bloody good sides and on their day could easily achieve 1,2,3 and 4 above.

 

[PieLebo87]

1) Tag Daisy. He's more susceptible to a tag than Pendles and I'd rather limit Daisy's impact over Swan's.

Fair call, but hes a wingman, not a midfielder, its not as easy to tag a winger, especially one who runs as much and as hard as Daisy.

2) Isolate a big forward on Maxwell. Maxwell is decent when he roams around by himself and plays as a 3rd man to a contest. He becomes a liability when he is caught one out against a competent forward.

Why didn't anyone ever try isolating Tom Harley one out? Ow yeah, because Geelong never allowed it. Maxwell may be our weak link, one out, in the backline, which means he'll never be left one out in the back line, its just common sense that he'd be moved further up field if this tactic was attempted. You'd rather try and isolate Leon Davis on Pods or Mooney if you wanted to do that with a Collingwood defender

3) Less handball and much more long kicking. If you try and handball through their press you'll get swallowed up and they'll smash you.

I think people have this concept that the press is meant to pressure just the ball carrier, and the space within 20-30 metres. Watch what happens when people do try kicking over... Harry, Reid, Heater and Maxwell are generally there to mark, uncontested, when people try kicking long.

4) Have a couple of quick and more skillful players off the back flank and tell them to take the game on with run and long kicking.

Again..... huh? Our greatest strength is our large number of talented small forwards. Fasolo, Blair, Didak, Beams, Sidebottom and co generally punish defenders that don't show enough respect, and these guys provide amazing pressure in the Collingwood forward line with help from the midfield, a skillful player off HB is hardly gonna do the trick.

My responses in bold.

 

[Jezzitizle]

Pies have alot of competition. Cats have shown they are capable, Saints obviously could do it too. Wouldnt be surprised if the Blues got over them, Judd has been known to pretty much single handedly drag his team over the line before. If I were Carlton the prospect of a first week final against the Pies wouldnt be terrible. Hawthorn.. not sure how their game plan will go.

They are very good but they are not unbeatable, just because their competition is also very good.

 

[Chief Ten Beers]

Unless they get hit by injuries, No-one can stop them importunately

That's already kind of happened with these current major outs:

Nathan Brown (Fullback)
Chris Dawes (Full Forward)
Allan Toovey (Half Back Flank/Pocket)

Now Maxwell (Captain) and possibly Sharrod Wellingham (Midfielder)...and Heath Shaw obviously being suspended. That's 6 2010 Premiership players out.

This was after the fact that Allan Didak, Dayne Beams, Brent McCaffer and Darren Jolly missed most of the season when the games mattered.

 

[dan warna]

concur, that geelong is the only team with a 50/50 chance to beat the pies.

btw carlton 11.13 to pies 13.20. It was the pies inaccuracy that flattered your score.

That said carlton are in very good form and have a formidable midfield.

 

[jonbe54]

concur, that geelong is the only team with a 50/50 chance to beat the pies.

btw carlton 11.13 to pies 13.20. It was the pies inaccuracy that flattered your score.

That said carlton are in very good form and have a formidable midfield.

As for a formidable midfield, that depends how deep you look, their top 4 are very good indeed but once you get below that they are exposed by teams like Collingwood and Geelong who run much deeper in the midfield.

 

[Mitchemx]

They're beatable. Scoring shots were similar in the Saints game. St Kilda were ordinary in front of goal and Collingwood were superb.

If they're a little off their game then any of Geelong, Carlton, Hawks or West Coast can beat them. Problem is they don't seem to be off very often.

 

[jonbe54]

They're beatable. Scoring shots were similar in the Saints game. St Kilda were ordinary in front of goal and Collingwood were superb.

If they're a little off their game then any of Geelong, Carlton, Hawks or West Coast can beat them. Problem is they don't seem to be off very often.

Bolded is truth and besides who's to say their opponent isn't going to off their best form at the same time. Ifs and buts don't pay the piper

 

[MadBomberman]

The thing with collingwood is the players are really fit. You need to play for a full 4 quarters. Literally 4 quarters. Even 5 minutes of a lack of concentration and they win the game. The game against carlton earlier in the year saw collingwood beat carlton in 5 minutes in that second quarter. They beat us on ANZAC in 10 minutes. Essendon did pretty well against them for 2 and a half quarters in that second game. 40 minutes later and we lost by 74 points. It is not about what or how you do it. Its about how long you do it for. Of course you have to have a game plan that can beat their press but you need to execute it for the full 4 quarters, which is hard.
Geelong have been good in their last quarters so them and a full strength hawthorn can challenge them. That is it i reckon.

 

[Gaz_Brownlow]

Geelong had a good tactic in the Rnd 8 clash. They won pretty convincingly in general play albeit the scoreboard didn't quite reflect it at the end of the game. The keys were basically winning more contested ball and applying great presence and pressure at every opportunity. Geelong definitely learnt from last year and kicked much longer to down the line targets when under pressure - but if not under pressure would look to effect the switch as much as possible.

St Kilda showed great endeavour last night and at times looked to have the ascendancy in contested play - however they have next to no ability to translate this to scoreboard pressure. You must have multiple targets to ensure that Collingwoods defense can't gang up on your focal points - Geelong and West Coast are probably the most dangerous sides in this regard.....

As great as Collingwood has been this season they are far from unbeatable and anyone of Carlton, Hawthorn, West Coast and Geelong have a chance of victory.

 

[seysearles]

The Pies will have to negotiate 2 knock out games against 2 of either: Geelong, Hawthorn or Carlton in a row. On any given day they could lose either one to any of those 3 opponents. West Coast in Melbourne would be an easier proposition but given that they will likely get them in a QF first up they're less likely to face them in those big games.

This year there are 4 really good teams that can play out of their skins when they turn it on. This season is not 2007, it is by no means a foregone conclusion. I think supporters of all the aforementioned sides give themselves a serious chance, and rightly so.

If they do drop the Prelim or the GF after going 21-1 they will feel sick to their cores. Just ask Geelong supporters how that feels.

 

[edgie]

Pray for colliwobbles. Also, from the TV there seemed to be a lot of corridor space up field that could be exploited when kicking from an inevitable collingwood behind. Teams should look to exploit this and be ruthless against collingwood from kick-ins, rather than stuff around and fall apart under their press

 

[dan warna]

Pray for colliwobbles. Also, from the TV there seemed to be a lot of corridor space up field that could be exploited when kicking from an inevitable collingwood behind. Teams should look to exploit this and be ruthless against collingwood from kick-ins, rather than stuff around and fall apart under their press

season 2010 and 2011 suggests that they are over the collywobbles.

 

[jonbe54]

The Pies will have to negotiate 2 knock out games against 2 of either: Geelong, Hawthorn or Carlton in a row. On any given day they could lose either one to any of those 3 opponents. West Coast in Melbourne would be an easier proposition but given that they will likely get them in a QF first up they're less likely to face them in those big games.

This year there are 4 really good teams that can play out of their skins when they turn it on. This season is not 2007, it is by no means a foregone conclusion. I think supporters of all the aforementioned sides give themselves a serious chance, and rightly so.

If they do drop the Prelim or the GF after going 21-1 they will feel sick to their cores. Just ask Geelong supporters how that feels.

Really in a row?? Jeeze it must mean its finals eh??

Seriously we did it last year and have improved so although its no shoe in its certainly no harder than last year.

I really love this talk of on any given day a team could lose to another - when has this not been so? The same goes for the other contenders, seriously the Pies can be beat but no one apart from Geelong has even looked like it. Sure Franklin could go insane and kick 8 - or Cloke and Dawes could monster them and kick 10 between them. Ifs and buts don't pay the piper boys, Pies and Cats have the runs on the board and the rest need to run just as fast as they can just to keep us in sight at the moment.

 

[Gazza_11]

Still think that Hawthorn's best is better than anyone else's in the competition.

 

[thecatattack]

Still think that Hawthorn's best is better than anyone else's in the competition.

Collingwoods best is waaay better than anyone else's in the league.

 

[wce4premiership]

Geelongs bodies match up well on collingwood.

The pies can be beaten. I think geelong can and I would never write the hawks off. A team with cyril and buddy in it could do anything. Not that they would be favourites but just on their day...which is all you need.

 

[jonbe54]

Geelongs bodies match up well on collingwood.

The pies can be beaten. I think geelong can and I would never write the hawks off. A team with cyril and buddy in it could do anything. Not that they would be favourites but just on their day...which is all you need.

Cats are the only contenders capable. As for yet another "on their day' daydreamer - buddy and cyril aren't the only ones that can have monster days - what if Cloke and Dawes have a big day out in front of goals? What if Didak has one of his shimmy days and bags a handful? Give me a break! All things being equal - on exposed form (which is the only ADULT way of appraising chances) Collingwood and Geelong are well in front. But of course if you want to check the tea leaves in the bottom of your cup for portents and visions who am I to stop you

 

[wce4premiership]

Obviously the "on their day" comments would require other players not to have a day out, otherwise it would just be status quo.

Don't start thinking your team is invincible. You can be beaten. Any of the top 4 could beat them.

Not that collingwood is port adelaide, but that's an example of the best team being beaten consistently circa 02/03 etc.

 

[jonbe54]

Obviously the "on their day" comments would require other players not to have a day out, otherwise it would just be status quo.

Don't start thinking your team is invincible. You can be beaten. Any of the top 4 could beat them.

Not that collingwood is port adelaide, but that's an example of the best team being beaten consistently circa 02/03 etc.

No team is invincible but if you have gotten to hoping that opposition teams 'have a day out' then you are conceding that in the general run of things Collingwood are a superior unit. Geelong will give us a good run for our money and as we all know anything can happen in the big dance. However I'd much rather be in Malthouse's shoes than any other coaches shoes at the moment.

 

[wce4premiership]

Yes I know they're the yardstick. They will more often than not beat any opponent they come up against.

Geelongs list is capable of beating them more often than other teams, but other teams are capable as well.

 

[dan warna]

2008 geelong didn't give hawthorn enough respect till it was too late.

I can't imagine mm making that mistake, but some of the players might.