Review Opening Round = GWS 114-82 Collingwood

[FromTheBoundaryLine]

Hard game to get my head around. Couldn’t really figure out what was going on with us watching on Tele. Someone on the commentary said we looked a bit discombobulated which is exactly how I feel post match. Opening games can sometimes be a bit weird though. First quarter I thought we looked ok then to GWS credit they started to test us out coming out of their backline and found some free targets up forward and converted and basically continued on while we just couldn’t get going and blew some gettable shots.
Maybe it’s returning to earth after a euphoric few months, I don’t know, but I’m not going to spend much time analysing this one. Think hearing the Army and playing on the G will be all we need to find our mojo after a bit of a flat opening. Onwards.

 

[jmac70]

In all honesty I’ve never played it and don’t even know where to find it (I’ve never looked).

I don’t care about Wordle.
I was joking.

I do care about Collingwood, and I believe the AFL have used us to promote GWS and the other northern state teams.

 

[Mollythedolly]

so does gws only get big crowds if they play one of Carlton or us or Richmond so the afl can get one up on nrl which is a joke

Their biggest home ground H&A crowd was (and remains) a game against the Swans if I remember correctly from a graphic displayed during the game. They currently hold 3 of the top 4, Doggies the other. Tonights crowd sits at 5th.

 

[live fast pieyoung]

We didnt play so bad
And we didnt lose due to the players or effort
We got outcoached on system
The way they cover the ground and move the ball is ahead of us.... for now
ITs a long season. We have good coaches. Still a lot of tinkering to come.

 

[LuckyLee]

Surprised some are criticising Cameron.

I was at game and thought he was one of very few Pies players who put in a strong four quarter performance. He was miles ahead of Cox and I’m saying that as someone who has generally advocated from Mason as our No1 ruck. I thought Cameron and Maynard were our best two players over the whole match.

WHE, Lippa and DeGoey all good in H1 but much quieter in H2. McCreery and Hill OK too but had big quiet periods. Pendles has two touches in H1. When was last time that happened? Never? He really lifted in Q4 though, like the proud old warrior that he is.

I thought that Schultz showed a lot of very good signs too. Applied lots of pressure but just needs more time learning to play with his new teammates. By contrast, JElliott is in a real slump going back well into last season. Surprised he isn’t attracting more criticism.


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[Mollythedolly]

Potentially, but maybe if we didn’t have the preseason reduced by a week we would have been better prepared too.

Can't all the teams that played this round claim exactly the same thing?

 

[barrackers]

Can't all the teams that played this round claim exactly the same thing?

To an extent, but minimum break requirements for players see clubs return to training based when they finish the season. For example losing prelim finals return 1 week earlier than grand final teams.

 

[Mollythedolly]

Observations from the ground:

• It’s a bit moot whether Cameron or Cox is our better ruck. The point is that both can play ruck, but only one of them seems to be able to play forward at the moment.
• Schultz marches to the beat of a different drum at the moment, but he’ll be OK and will find connection with his teammates in time. Hopefully it happens quickly because our forward line aren’t connecting well. They’re getting each others way a lot, ball being kicked to nobody. I remember Luke Ball early days was having shockers, but Mick said “don’t worry about him, he’ll be fine, give home time. He’s no chance of being dropped”.
• We’re going to be in trouble when Pendles and Sidebottom hang up the boots. They’re still a class above anybody else.
• Charlie Dean baptism of fire playing his debut game on Jessie Hogan. I thought Dean played alright, he’ll be better for the run.
• JFN brought real spark when he came on. Starting 22 next week, but not sure who for.
• DeGoey had an off night, looked listless out there.

Agree with most of that except Noble. Brought enthusiasm but little impact when introduced. What we saw tonight was pretty much what got him dropped last year.

Also think that if you're going to play one of Cox or Cameron forward, they need to start there. Was disappointed Cox started on the pine. I'm not sure how much Cameron actually lined up forward if at all. Watching on TV it seemed his scoreboard impact occurred while he was in the ruck.

 

[Mollythedolly]

To an extent, but minimum break requirements for players see clubs return to training based when they finish the season. For example losing prelim finals return 1 week earlier than grand final teams.

I doubt 7 days training over an entire preseason is the difference.

 

[Go Woods]

Full post-match, OR: Magpies

Full post-match, OR: Magpies

Watch Collingwood’s press conference after Opening Round’s match against GWS

www.afl.com.au

 

[Mollythedolly]

If Pendles isn’t fit and carrying something then rest him and bring in Fin

All pre-season my concern for 2024 was how we’d manage the older players. Given we brought in an underdone Pendlebury and Mitchell wound up subbed off, not a great start

Fin and Reef need to come in next week. Reward the pre-season form if you’re gonna be about “selection integrity”

Assumes that's not what we did tonight. I'd be surprised if that was the case. I'll back the coaches assessment of that.

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

Disappointing result. Quite a lot to get our heads around.

The overall theme was being too loose in defence, which gave GWS' forwards plenty of opportunities to score and our accuracy in front of goal was poor and really demoralised the team in the 3rd quarter.

Fly made the important point in his press conference that the game was pretty even up until late in the 2nd quarter when we conceded late goals, which gave GWS a 3-goal lead. We couldn't claw that lead back in the 3rd with inaccurate kicking in our attacking half and them kicking them from everywhere on the other end.

I actually saw enough to think we'll be fine during the course of the season, but there's plenty of improvement required if we want to win the flag again. I actually had GWS as my tip for the flag in the off season, so I can't see us facing any opponent tougher than the one we had tonight. Kingsley has them very well coached.

On the positives, N Daicos was great. Had plenty of impact and kept us going when we were down and out. Cameron was one of the few big men that can his hold his head up high. Maynard did well to keep Greene largely contained and Sidebottom's experience and class shone through.

Forward line was dysfunctional outside Mihocek. Didn't get enough from our mid-sized forwards in Elliott, Schultz and Hill. Johnson had a stinker and should be dropped for McInnes.

Down back, we were far too short. I underestimated how big the absences of Howe and Murphy would prove to be. Frampton is not in the calibre of either player, but I think some size was required and he would have provided that for us.

Not the start we were hoping for, but I'm excited that we'll get to unfurl our flag and be back in front of our home supporters next week.

Best to keep calm and not panic.

 

[Brad Goodman]

Luckily we still haven’t played round one yet.

 

[Mollythedolly]

Disappointing to lose but not as far off as some here suggest. Thought our systems, especially the team defence element, was off. Hopefully that was due to the absence of Howe and Murphy in defence, and Pendles and Mitchell having a slow start, rather than anything more sinister.

Positives.

• Dean showed he has a future. Tough gig minding Hogan with that sort of supply and he stood up for the most part.
• Shultz was prominent but just a little off in his execution. Thought he was hitting some of the same spots as other forwards but you'd expect that sort of thing to take time.
• The Daicos boys didn't miss a beat.
• Cameron had one of his best games in recent memory, probably since pre-knee.
• Sidey was sensational.

Wouldn't expect too many changes going into the Swans game. Howe will come in if fit. The Macrae v Mitchell discussion will be interesting.

 

[domus]

Did you see how s**t we Played?

How long have you been watching footy? Teams often flip form very quickly. New day, different attitude and suddenly the team looks like a contender again. Don't spit the dummy so early. It's a bad look when our last game was a premiership.

 

[HappyRed]

My personal notes on the game. Tough game by the way, Giants deserved it.

#1 It's great to run the fresh faces, but I think Noble should have his spot back next game imo

#2 Lipinski. I hate him (not literally) .. I really don't think he offers us much, and he is indeed my whipping boy again this season.

#3 Johnson, I'm sorry mate back to the magoos. I would rather run anything else, no matter how raw. And do it early whilst we can imo.

#4 We need some more fire in the belly, the boys were def a bit flat for my liking, GWS def put us through the wringer.

#5 I think we got a very tough season ahead of us, I feel we gonna face a lot of teams who have gone over our team an awful lot over the off season, I think we gonna be facing some challenges for sure.

And finally, It's just great to have footy back, win or lose.

 

[memoryofmchale]

Elliott will need to start playing much better. He’ll be given plenty more chances. Joey Richards and Harvey Harrison will be chasing down his spot. Richards is rated internally for his clean handling and ball skills.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Shoota FWIW played well. Did more in the midfield than in the FWD line tbf

Problem is he was firing like a bad guy in a John Woo movie.

 

[Dubaimagpie]

It looked like we didn’t get out of 1st gear all night. There was not that dash and take on the opposition that we saw last year.

Hopefully we will be switched on next week.

PS. The Giants ground is a shizen hole. Would love to play them again at the MCG.


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[The Royal Sampler]

It makes you appreciate how sublime and clutch our kicking was when it really counted in the biggest game of the year, the GF.

Round 1, Meh.

Clutch, certainly. Sublime, no. We sprayed a lot of opportunities in the GF. The third quarter especially.

 

[Pleasedontfail11]

good:

Daicos X2
Maynard
Sidebottom
Mihocek (could have kicked 5)
Lipinski

Bad
Moore
Elliott
Cox
Schultz (just his disposal)
DeGoey
Markov (worst game for a while)
Johnson

The rest were okay. We mostly just didn't play our attacking brand and didn't work hard enough to cover lose GWS players. It was the worst kicking for goal in a long time as well. I'm not to worried, we just need to get back to work.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

McCreery looks no more likely now to become a one grab player than when he started his AFL career.

He has half the time of everyone else to react because he’s going so damned fast.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Any chance of us standing the mark on defensive 50-55m when the opposition is kicking into a wind? You know, make them find a target inside 50m rather than kick a goal from the paint of 50m on the run?!

 

[memoryofmchale]

He has half the time of everyone else to react because he’s going so damned fast.

So it’s learning to use his speed wisely. Pendles is slow but he uses that time well.

 

[Kappa]

Review -

Ash Johnson: 1/10. Training cone.

Cox: 2/10. Training cone. I thought he had some nice moments in the ruck though and won us a few clearances with good tapwork or knocking the ball to our advantage.

Dean: 4/10. Hard debut, but im a bit concerned how easily Jessie Hogan burnt him on the lead as Hogan is not a particular quick key forward. Doesnt look strong in wrestles either, not sure who he matches up on unless he bulks up in the gym. He looks to have strong footy IQ which means he has a chance.

Cameron: 5/10. Had a poor 1st half and got outmarked around the ground a few times and turned the ball over. Better in the 2nd half.

Nick Daicos: 9/10. Started pretty fumbly and had some weird kicks but built into the game and was awesome in the 2nd half.

Mihocek: 8/10. Our only forward with any presence, tried hard all game just missed a few chances.

Markov: 3/10. The moment where he ducked his head and dropped an uncontested mark didn't look great. Didn't provide any rebound, had a few kicked on him.

WHE: 4/10. A classic 2022 Will game, just floated through and did a few okay things but not enough.

Mcreery: 4/10. 0 touches in the first quarter, needs to do more. Had a few good moments, but fumbly all game.

Pendlebury/Mitchell: Poor. Both looked so slow on the spread and trailed behind their much faster opponents.

Quaynor: I thought he was a shining light and got us out of a lot of tough situations.

Elliot: GWS coaching staff really did a number on him. I think teams have realized he's lost his speed and leap and are just gonna play a taller opponent on him so he can't do a lot in the air.\

Sidebottom: Didn't have a lot of touches but impacted every contest he was in positively.

Crisp/J.Daicos: Consistent good game but not at their best. Kicking was rusty.

Hill: Looked sharp but got very few opportunities.