Raw Toast
27-08-2009, 09:25 PM
Cheers to Mantis for organising these and to inviting me to do this one.
Thought I'd go a bit left-field with this one - Didak was done earlier, the Shaw Bros last year and Swan is the obvious choice (he's killing it in almost every midfield category this year but I'm not quite sure how), and I think what happens with Presti will be at the centre of the coaching battle between Eade and Malthouse and go along way to determining which team wins.
The key proviso with all the match-ups and tactics this Sunday arvo is how much each coach leaves in reserve for a possible meeting in the third or fourth week in September. Though winning form is good form, I suspect that we're likely to hold a little back, but it obviously depends a bit on how much we want to play the Cats in the first week.
Most of us thought that Lake had been building towards a great year, but Presti's form as a full-back (or something like that old-fashioned concept) has been really surprising. A 31yr old in his 14th season, Presti is in close to career-best form. While his stats are not nearly as impressive as Lake's or the other main contenders for All Australian Full Back, Presti has consistently shut-down key opposition forwards and plays a super-important role in Collingwood's defense. Only O'Brien and Maxwell spend more time on the ground (of the Pies current team), and he's also up there in terms of 1%ers.
But Presti's form is hard to gauge with stats. Instead I think it's partly about the retirement of Shane Wakelin, obviously a good year with injuries, and two other more game-related factors. The first is that the mid-field zones which most teams do a bit of now, require some good one-on-one defenders for when the opposition breaks through (exhibit A = the Hawks backline issues this year). The second is Collingwood's structure. They want Maxwell to play the Harley role and depend on Presti nullifying a key threat so that everyone else (O'Brien, Shaw, Toovey, Johnson etc), can become an avenue of attack.
And that's where Eade comes in. Malthouse loves his structures, and Eade loves messing with them. It began with us in the first game of 2005 when the very settled Pies defense was made to look way to top heavy by our mosquito forward-line (assisted by Darcy), and Presti and Wakelin spent a fair bit of time on the bench. Since then Malthouse has generally only gone with one tall defender against us.
Presti was good against our dismal entries to the F50 for the first three quarters of our last encounter. And he can match-up well on Minson, and you'd think he'd be ok on Welsh as well. But if Eade can turn him into a liability then the Pies settled defensive structure is in danger and they'll be left with Maxwell who zones off, and a set of attacking defenders who are going to be vulnerable to being isolated one-on-one and to forwards running towards goal (as they did very well last week).
It's a pretty big if, but as I noted earlier, I think this will be a crucial battle. I'd be tempted to start with Welsh down back for this reason, Minson initially on the bench, and to see what havoc we can cause.
Thought I'd go a bit left-field with this one - Didak was done earlier, the Shaw Bros last year and Swan is the obvious choice (he's killing it in almost every midfield category this year but I'm not quite sure how), and I think what happens with Presti will be at the centre of the coaching battle between Eade and Malthouse and go along way to determining which team wins.
The key proviso with all the match-ups and tactics this Sunday arvo is how much each coach leaves in reserve for a possible meeting in the third or fourth week in September. Though winning form is good form, I suspect that we're likely to hold a little back, but it obviously depends a bit on how much we want to play the Cats in the first week.
Most of us thought that Lake had been building towards a great year, but Presti's form as a full-back (or something like that old-fashioned concept) has been really surprising. A 31yr old in his 14th season, Presti is in close to career-best form. While his stats are not nearly as impressive as Lake's or the other main contenders for All Australian Full Back, Presti has consistently shut-down key opposition forwards and plays a super-important role in Collingwood's defense. Only O'Brien and Maxwell spend more time on the ground (of the Pies current team), and he's also up there in terms of 1%ers.
But Presti's form is hard to gauge with stats. Instead I think it's partly about the retirement of Shane Wakelin, obviously a good year with injuries, and two other more game-related factors. The first is that the mid-field zones which most teams do a bit of now, require some good one-on-one defenders for when the opposition breaks through (exhibit A = the Hawks backline issues this year). The second is Collingwood's structure. They want Maxwell to play the Harley role and depend on Presti nullifying a key threat so that everyone else (O'Brien, Shaw, Toovey, Johnson etc), can become an avenue of attack.
And that's where Eade comes in. Malthouse loves his structures, and Eade loves messing with them. It began with us in the first game of 2005 when the very settled Pies defense was made to look way to top heavy by our mosquito forward-line (assisted by Darcy), and Presti and Wakelin spent a fair bit of time on the bench. Since then Malthouse has generally only gone with one tall defender against us.
Presti was good against our dismal entries to the F50 for the first three quarters of our last encounter. And he can match-up well on Minson, and you'd think he'd be ok on Welsh as well. But if Eade can turn him into a liability then the Pies settled defensive structure is in danger and they'll be left with Maxwell who zones off, and a set of attacking defenders who are going to be vulnerable to being isolated one-on-one and to forwards running towards goal (as they did very well last week).
It's a pretty big if, but as I noted earlier, I think this will be a crucial battle. I'd be tempted to start with Welsh down back for this reason, Minson initially on the bench, and to see what havoc we can cause.