Why C'wood are so good and what we can learn

[SaintTom]

Two things stood out to me that I don't think I've really taken notice of last night, that really impressed me about Collingwood.

Firstly, they know our game plan back to front. When McEvoy takes a mark in the back line, 80% of the time he will hand pass it to a running player. So, instead of defending like all the other teams do, running further up the field and blocking off the next kick, allowing us to hand pass it to a few players before we find an opening, they relentlessly run back and defend behind McEvoy. They do the same thing will people like Dawson. So when he handballs it backward, out players are all covered behind him and we struggle to even get a kick out at that point.

Secondly, and in a way related, they play counter intuitive football, both in defence and attack. Two examples (of many) that I noticed where when I think Armitage had the ball on the back flank near the boundary and Daisy was about to tackle him. Goddard was running off a few metres away, and Pendlebury made a beeline straight for Goddard, instead of doing what most teams do and just go for the ball handler and force an error. He backed Daisy in to force the handball, and he knew the first option would be Goddard. Consequently, as soon as Goddard got the ball he was crunched.

They also do this in attack. In the last quarter, Daisy was running up the wing at full pace until he was about the get caught. So he handballed back over his head to a Collingwood player, and then, rather than stopping and trying to help the Collingwood player who he had just put under pressure, he almost picked up his pace and ran further away from the ball. Of course, even though the Collingwood player he passed it to already had someone on them, the player chasing Daisy turned around as well and they both tried to tackle the one player. All this did was leave an open handball back to the still running Daisy who kept streaming up the wing minus a Saint close at his heels.

Collingwood do things that go against what players intuitively do in football, and I think it really throws off their opponents, and to be honest, is very impressive to watch.

[Dan Warna]

and still we held them to 19 shots at goal of which 3 were outside 50, and 2 were scored from. Any defence would take that against the pies currently.

Yes we made mistakes, but we played well.

[Jacks Back]

That last quarter guy was Clarke. I said it straight away. Keep chasing Thomas as I think Ray was going to tackle the other guy.

Dumb football.

[ralphsmith]

Good post, also worth noting that what collingwood are doing also needs great confidence.

It is risky but they have the confidence and will to pull those plays off so often.

[desertsaint]

your second point is something players need drilled into them. a classic case of whatnot to do was shown by raph (who had a good game i thought).
raph closed on daisy who handballed it backwards. rather than stay with daisy for the obvious return pass, raph peeled off following the ball, despite a team mate chasing the reciver, allowing an easy handball back to a now free daisy.
i see this a lot at all clubs and wonder if we focus on this error.

[desertsaint]

sorry - just read your third paragraph. shoud've finished reading.

[Jacks Back]

How many times I see us have 3 players against 1 playing a zone but not close enough to the 1 guy and they just get it out to their loose player (or lucy as Bruce would say). Can't they see what's going to unfold?

[Winmar]

They also seem to manage to drift into space up the wings a lot. Is it something clever they were doing, or was it our guys being slack?

[Teflon]

Two things stood out to me that I don't think I've really taken notice of last night, that really impressed me about Collingwood.

Firstly, they know our game plan back to front. When McEvoy takes a mark in the back line, 80% of the time he will hand pass it to a running player. So, instead of defending like all the other teams do, running further up the field and blocking off the next kick, allowing us to hand pass it to a few players before we find an opening, they relentlessly run back and defend behind McEvoy. They do the same thing will people like Dawson. So when he handballs it backward, out players are all covered behind him and we struggle to even get a kick out at that point.

Secondly, and in a way related, they play counter intuitive football, both in defence and attack. Two examples (of many) that I noticed where when I think Armitage had the ball on the back flank near the boundary and Daisy was about to tackle him. Goddard was running off a few metres away, and Pendlebury made a beeline straight for Goddard, instead of doing what most teams do and just go for the ball handler and force an error. He backed Daisy in to force the handball, and he knew the first option would be Goddard. Consequently, as soon as Goddard got the ball he was crunched.

They also do this in attack. In the last quarter, Daisy was running up the wing at full pace until he was about the get caught. So he handballed back over his head to a Collingwood player, and then, rather than stopping and trying to help the Collingwood player who he had just put under pressure, he almost picked up his pace and ran further away from the ball. Of course, even though the Collingwood player he passed it to already had someone on them, the player chasing Daisy turned around as well and they both tried to tackle the one player. All this did was leave an open handball back to the still running Daisy who kept streaming up the wing minus a Saint close at his heels.

Collingwood do things that go against what players intuitively do in football, and I think it really throws off their opponents, and to be honest, is very impressive to watch.

Good pick up.

Although in fairness.....we are in the stands..........the old 1-2 handball set ups are easy for us to see.........ground action wpould be tough.

Regardless,you are correct and we need to get better at it.

Its the Pie "rope a dope" we fell for it a few times.

[Junction Oval]

Yep, I saw the Raph/Daisy one at close range. It seemed an obvious thing that would occur. Raph should have followed Daisy, but he went to the ball carrier and left a very tired Fisher to do the chase.

My opinion - I said to a mate that the look on Raph's face said that he was tired and he didn't want to follow up on Daisy and took the soft option of going to the man with the ball. Any seasoned footballer knew what was going to happen. I know that it's a difficult call from outside the fence, but I was close and that's how I saw it.

You are spot on Saint Tom with the McEvoy handball situation. The Pies had clearly done their homework and were on top of it. I just hope that our coaching staff tell Macka to take the best option and that a kick is preferred. Macka is a good kick for goal, so why not back himself on the backline?