VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 16:04 21/02/25 Fri
Author: Two-Bob Man
Author Host/IP: NoHost / 110.144.17.202
Subject: FWIW I think we got what we needed out of the "round robin" games with one key factor for mine

The main thing I wanted out of the pre-season hitout last night was a clean injury slate from the game.

Period!

While we would like any Collingwood side (regardles of whom the 'top-ups' happen to be) is to see every player be superior to their opposition counterpart and that is never going to happen in these sort of games.

Yes....Brisbane, by sheer virtue of having a delayed pre-season due to playing on the last day in September, would likely have been and showed far less preparedness than the Pies did, but I think there are a number of mitigating circumstances where I think we totally need to discount the games up on the Gold Coast.

For a start, the conditions this time of year are very different between the northern and southern states, and while the Pies did fly up early, there is no doubt that the two sides training up in the hot, but wet, QLD conditions of late were likely more acclimatised to how the ball handling needed to be managed (we had a LOT of players drop silver-service marks from Nick, and I think this may have been a factor).

Unlike both Brisbane and the Gold Coast - who both named squads for the night, the Pies named separate squads for the two games, meaning that in both games probably had less rotations and a greater "make-shift" quality to the on-field teams.

Additionally, because it was in their home state, both Brisbane and Gold Coast could afford to play the guys who represented them in the Indigenous game, such as Ah Chee and Cameron, whereas both first-dibs forward Bobby and Ash missed for us as it would have required additional travel to QLD after the flight from Perth.

I don't think any of our senior cohort made an appearance in BOTH games...reserves-listed Mulvogue and Taylor I believe were the only ones (and not totally sure on Curtis Taylor....but I thought he was out there in the second game)

So our forward line in the first game was missing the likes of Mihocek, Hill and McCreery - essentially 3 of 6 "mainstays" of our forward setup.

Likewise, our backline in the first game lacked mainstays Maynard and Quaynor, whilst we were trying newcomers Reef and Houston as part of that cohort.

The result was never going to be an issue for me, but I always saw this as a "run into the legs" of a few of the players on the list, and I was looking for small moments.

What caught they eye:
- I was imploring for Nick to be taken of and put on ice at about the half-way point of the second stanza. He was just a class above his teammates and matched it with Neale and we can't afford to lose him (and I certainly didn't want this to happen in the game last night)
- Moore seems to have played with an inkling of the confidence we see when he's at his best. I think this can be attributed in part to....
- ...Reef, who is seeming to have found his niche in the backline. Worked well with Moore and
- Howe, who continued to show good distribution of the ball from the back half.
- Houston did a few things, but was not as involved in that game as he could have been (always difficult to command where the ball does and dopesn't end up in a 2-period, limited time game).
- Ryan looked OK to my eyes. Fluffed a few kicks and this is the part of his game that needs the most attention, and until that is resolved, it is probably where he will need to improve if he is to get an opportunity (when one arises). However, he did put himself in good positions to support his defence.
- Hayes had a bit of a forgetful outing, with not much action to be seen (again - probably an element of where the ball wasn't in a very-much shortened game)
- Parker is going to be pressing claims for a call up sooner, if not later, as he demonstrated the smarts that left one wondering last year whether he had an ounce of "beginners luck" with his football.
- Jiath probably needs to involve himself more, but he does show some nice traits and as his body matures, he may be an important part of our side.
- West had a couple of goals, which is great, although he was lucky with the one in which he was held (those aren't always paid to us). Flew for a couple that just didn't stick, but showed "forward craft" in the way he plays (eg. doubling-back into space which resulted in his first goal)
- Allan had a quiet night, I thought, but we know of his upside potential...not bothered by one quiet outing.
- Steene I thought showed a bit, even though he was used quite sparingly in the ruck (the size differential between he and the other rucks seemed distinct)

While I understand the comments by many about having the "main dibs" team playing together to afford the best possible connection, we mustn't forget the fact that we had "bookmarked games" with a faily significant break bewteen period 2 and period 5.

That break was about 90 minutes (not "an hour" as some have claimed) because there is a 15 minute break between stanzas and there were two 25 minutes halfs played between when the Pies left the first game and returned to the second.

The other thing is that McCrae has always been big on "one soldier in to replace another soldier", so it is not surprising to see that the sides were mixed up in the manner that they were. In this regard, it makes sense that cohesion is developed between the WHOLE list and not just the guys we expect to be "best 22".

The fact that the oldies (Pendles, Sidey, Howe, Elliott, WHE and co) are still performing at the level is a double-edged sword - great that they offer that level of both class and experience, but the down side is that they are - perhaps - keeping the younguns on ice for that little bit longer.

TBM

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[ Login ] Create Account Not required to post.
Post a public reply to this message | Go post a new public message
 * HTML allowed in marked fields.
* Message subject (required):

* Name (required):

  E-mail address (optional):

* Type your message here:

Choose Message Icon: [ View Emoticons ]

Notice: Copies of your message may remain on this and other systems on internet. Please be respectful.

Forum timezone: GMT+10
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.