Ticky009
Moderator
- Jun 2, 2014
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- #1
Can you hear it? That’s the sound of a packed SCG on a Sunday afternoon.
Fair to say Collingwood have had a remarkable season so far, from 17th in 2021 to now sitting #2 on the ladder. Here are some of the things that got them there and what will make them a challenge come Sunday:
Corridor use: 6th Retention Rate: 3rd Turnover Rate: 3rd Points Diff: 3rd
Sydney has a better Points Differential being 2nd, and we love bringing it through the corridor, also 2nd.
Swans & Magpies play the corridor without fear, they understand the risks – and keep doing it anyway, this battle is going to be fascinating.
Swans will be looking to push Collingwood out to the wide wings of the SCG and keep them there. Round 22 and the Magpies have played 4 games out of Vic…hilarious.
Swans have to hold their nerve against Collingwood's pressure and not let it rattle us into a handball game when we want to use our kicking. If we can do that and stand firm we will win.
We can’t stand off the ball and let them dictate play like they’ve been allowed to do. Play our game, trust the system.
Interesting enough our respective clearance games measure poorly against the rest of the competition, yet its clear we’re both doing pretty well despite it. Note how the Magpies use their pressure game to generate intercepts and score from turnover.
What’s clear is both teams have smart players who make good decisions under pressure, which is just as well because that mythical ‘pressure index’ is going to go nuclear on Sunday arvo at the SCG.
Forwards playing out of the middle: Hello Tom Papley and Jordan de Goey - how these two are used by their respective coaches could be match winning.
Swans come out hard in the first half and try to put games beyond dispute while Collingwood’s second halves have been their best. The trick for Sydney is to not take our foot off the pedal because we’re playing a team with real belief they can come from anywhere and win.
Oh, that sounds familiar says the Swans faithful.
I feel these teams have a lot in common, their self-belief that no margin is out of reach. The way each team attacks the corridor and use their attacks from defense to set up their further down the field- its all a bit spooky now much we’re both alike.
Except one plays in Sydney and is awesome while the other once had Eddie who we all still hate with a loathing passion. One is an elegant bird of loyalty and the other is lunatic.
After today’s game against North its clear Swans are still having trouble with centre bounces, if we continue to allow our opponents to waltz out of the middle like that we’re going to in serious trouble.
Selection Questions:
Aside from JPK doing his hamstring which changes our sub selection and whether Ladhams comes in for Hickey the Swans have too many issues. Logan McDonald kicked 2 goals and Amartey kicked 3.2 in VFL. We have options and unless someone has a niggle we don’t know about I’m predicting an unchanged team.
The Buddy Show: Averaging 2.5 goals a game. He’s 5th in Key Forwards score involvements with an average of 7.1 per game. The old fella isn’t doing too bad.
What happens next:
If we can take away their intercept marking by countering their pressure game, we can win this. A home final is on the line here and a home final is precious, especially in a year as close as this one.
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