- Mar 16, 2014
- 8,524
- 8,666
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
Really solid, grinding victory over the Swans. Take that Papley.
The issue of the day, however, is that we're not actually playing that well. Commentators have pointed to our lack of scores from turnover, one of the major "measures" of premiership contention. Instead we're relying on clearances. It's a flip from how we played all of last year. Now there might be a number of reasons for this. For example, our clearance game has become much better, which means we score more in that way since that's where the game starts. Howe's absence definitely has an influence, both in terms of marking and counter-attack. Howe might play toward the end of the year or may not, so we can't wait for him. Then there's the way other teams prepare for us: Sydney went with the slow chipping game, which allowed for them to keep their defensive structure. And that pretty much worked -- they really should have been further ahead. But working is one thing, beating us is another. We're just a better team, let's face it. I never really saw us losing, but it was a pretty annoying game. The satisfaction came just in the last 15 minutes. The rest was pulling teeth.
The return of Cox made a massive difference. We needed one of our rucks structurally. And it's amazing we've covered both for the last month or so. Structurally we're looking much more solid now. Ginnivan won back his starting place with his last quarter. Which means Hill becomes the sub, or returns to the VFL and another player takes that unenviable vest -- Kelly and Macrae are two possibilities.
The Giant Test
There have been two robberies in Preliminary finals in recent times. The Swans, courtesy of the biggest push in the back ever seen, that folded Darcy Moore over like a playing card in the hands of a 3 year old (I mean Papley is about 3, right?). And then the Giants, back when Brodie Grundy was winning 7 million hit outs to no effect. The Prelim we should never have lost. I can't really blame the Giants for it, because really it was out failure, not their victory. We lost it. They didn't win it. The Giants have become dwarfs in recent times, though. They are Gimli the dwarf of the competition: in the Lord of the Rings films he didn't want to be "tossed." It lacked dignity. But sometimes we have to toss/throw dwarfs, because they are there for our comedic relief. And that's what the Giants will be this week for us -- comedic relief in between the serious parts of our story. It's light moment in the middle of the great battles (with Melbourne, Geelong, Lions).
The Giants have some good players. Greene (who might not play anyway), Himmelberg, Kelly, Whitfield, Tom Green, Coniglio. They're trying to emulate our game plan, to return to the Orange Tsunami. But really, they're too uneven to challenge us. Their bottom five players will be shown up by us again. I don't even know their names. They're faceless youth and b-graders. And that will be the difference. A system breaks at its weakest points. And we're gonna break them.
The Washup
The Pies by 37 points. It's time for a bit of Dwarf tossing! Let's have a laugh! It's time for some comedic relief!
The issue of the day, however, is that we're not actually playing that well. Commentators have pointed to our lack of scores from turnover, one of the major "measures" of premiership contention. Instead we're relying on clearances. It's a flip from how we played all of last year. Now there might be a number of reasons for this. For example, our clearance game has become much better, which means we score more in that way since that's where the game starts. Howe's absence definitely has an influence, both in terms of marking and counter-attack. Howe might play toward the end of the year or may not, so we can't wait for him. Then there's the way other teams prepare for us: Sydney went with the slow chipping game, which allowed for them to keep their defensive structure. And that pretty much worked -- they really should have been further ahead. But working is one thing, beating us is another. We're just a better team, let's face it. I never really saw us losing, but it was a pretty annoying game. The satisfaction came just in the last 15 minutes. The rest was pulling teeth.
The return of Cox made a massive difference. We needed one of our rucks structurally. And it's amazing we've covered both for the last month or so. Structurally we're looking much more solid now. Ginnivan won back his starting place with his last quarter. Which means Hill becomes the sub, or returns to the VFL and another player takes that unenviable vest -- Kelly and Macrae are two possibilities.
The Giant Test
There have been two robberies in Preliminary finals in recent times. The Swans, courtesy of the biggest push in the back ever seen, that folded Darcy Moore over like a playing card in the hands of a 3 year old (I mean Papley is about 3, right?). And then the Giants, back when Brodie Grundy was winning 7 million hit outs to no effect. The Prelim we should never have lost. I can't really blame the Giants for it, because really it was out failure, not their victory. We lost it. They didn't win it. The Giants have become dwarfs in recent times, though. They are Gimli the dwarf of the competition: in the Lord of the Rings films he didn't want to be "tossed." It lacked dignity. But sometimes we have to toss/throw dwarfs, because they are there for our comedic relief. And that's what the Giants will be this week for us -- comedic relief in between the serious parts of our story. It's light moment in the middle of the great battles (with Melbourne, Geelong, Lions).
The Giants have some good players. Greene (who might not play anyway), Himmelberg, Kelly, Whitfield, Tom Green, Coniglio. They're trying to emulate our game plan, to return to the Orange Tsunami. But really, they're too uneven to challenge us. Their bottom five players will be shown up by us again. I don't even know their names. They're faceless youth and b-graders. And that will be the difference. A system breaks at its weakest points. And we're gonna break them.
The Washup
The Pies by 37 points. It's time for a bit of Dwarf tossing! Let's have a laugh! It's time for some comedic relief!
