Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

[jeemak]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

I thought the midfield struggle was a genuine concern. We comprehensively lost the clearances (43-25), inside fifties (62-44), contested possessions (161-135) and hitouts (50-25), while rotating a group of maybe 12 players through there. In contrast, Collingwood basically kept the same five or so players in their midfield the whole game, and they dominated. Sidebottom, Pendlebury, Treloar, Adams all had a day out. I'm all for the rotating midfield so long as it works to bring more players into the game, but it obviously worked in the opposite way last night, keeping guys like Libba and Bont out of the game for large periods of play.

I'd like to see us balance the midfield contest a little more but to me it seemed like we set a strategy to capitalise on the ordinariness of the broader Collingwood group, given being short in ruck capacity, sacrificing some midfield control in the process.

One of the benefits of rotating a large number of players through the middle is having midfield quality run, carry and ball use in other areas of the ground. I'm not sure how tangible or measurable the benefits of this might be through traditional indicators.

When we start nearing our peak, and playing against sides with an even spread of talent through the ground we'll have to react to it because they'll be able to capitalise on midfield dominance more effectively.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

Got home last night and watched the replay. Cameron Ling said on commentary that he thought it was a mark!!! Incredulous.. I'm tiring of Ling. He must be carrying a hip flask around with him!

Ling said 'he had enough of it' (the ball for a mark). I thought the rule of marking was that the player needs to have all of it and/or control the ball without any opponent touching it. Being that Cordy got his fist to it, hence why it went straight up. I'm not sure what the fuss is and why a 'special comments' numpty seems to not understand a basic rule.

[always right]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

Soft in their pressure? I though the opposite. They were very good in the pressure side of their game.

Agree.....it was their defensive structure and positioning that let them down.

[merantau]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

Ling said 'he had enough of it' (the ball for a mark). I thought the rule of marking was that the player needs to have all of it and/or control the ball without any opponent touching it. Being that Cordy got his fist to it, hence why it went straight up. I'm not sure what the fuss is and why a 'special comments' numpty seems to not understand a basic rule.

Ling is a perfect fit for those Specsavers ads.

[Twodogs]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

Fletcher has gone and turned himself into a really nice kick of the footy too. He's shown glimpses for a while of cementing his place, might be there

Fletch has always shown he is a nice kick. He just needed a bit of confidence in his ability. It was him who kicked that bomb from outside 50 after the siren to get Footscray a home final in 2014. No pressure there at all Fletch but he drilled it.

[chef]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

Thought it was a very good win first up.

Collingwood threw everything at us and we absorbed the pressure well yet again. What a quality side we have become.

Pies seemed to destroy us in the middle so we've got a bit to work on. Its going to take us a little while to hit our straps. Exciting season comibg up.

[1eyedog]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

Fletch has always shown he is a nice kick. He just needed a bit of confidence in his ability. It was him who kicked that bomb from outside 50 after the siren to get Footscray a home final in 2014. No pressure there at all Fletch but he drilled it.

Yeah he's always been a fantastic field kick for a big man.

[Twodogs]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

Yeah he's always been a fantastic field kick for a big man.

Didn't play in the finals because he played in the ones the next week

[Eastdog]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

He needs to solve his set shot kicking problem. And it is a problem.

Jake is very good in open play.

[Eastdog]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

Loved hearing the huge cheers when Bob got the footy last night. It is just great to have him back.

[hujsh]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

Got home last night and watched the replay. Cameron Ling said on commentary that he thought it was a mark!!! Incredulous.. I'm tiring of Ling. He must be carrying a hip flask around with him!

Makes some odd calls. He also thought McDonald-Tipungwuti kicking the ball straight over the boundary line from about 5-10 meters away was him trying to keep it in play.

[SonofScray]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

Makes some odd calls. He also thought McDonald-Tipungwuti kicking the ball straight over the boundary line from about 5-10 meters away was him trying to keep it in play.

Similar call to JJ deliberate last night. Reckon that is a harsh decision when the guy is trying to keep possession and use foot speed to gather.

[jeemak]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

Similar call to JJ deliberate last night. Reckon that is a harsh decision when the guy is trying to keep possession and use foot speed to gather.

Deep down the AFL wants players to hand it to the opposition. It's actually a really weird philosophy.

[1eyedog]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

Inclusions were the highlight for me, how good was it seeing Murph at centre half forward ala 06-08?

I thought we were lucky the Pies were soft with their pressure though. We did enough and that's all

I thought the Pies were excellent and their pressure was very good except for two lapses. One in the first early and one in the third. They smashed us and should have won. They weren't good enough.

[Twodogs]

Re: Game Day Round 1 2017 - Collingwood V Western Bulldogs

I thought the Pies were excellent and their pressure was very good except for two lapses. One in the first early and one in the third. They smashed us and should have won. They weren't good enough.

Exactly. If we'd played badly they would have kicked our arse. But we didn't play badly and we weren't going to lose to anyone on Friday night.