Stats: NAB Cup Round 3

Collingwood News

Collingwood   0.2.4   0.4.8   0.6.10   0.7.12   (54)
Brisbane        0.2.3   0.4.7   0.9.12   0.12.16   (88)

Notable

• Steele Sidebottom was the Magpies most prolific player with 27 possessions, closely followed by the irrepressible Dayne Beams on 23.
• Ben Kennedy is clearly comfortable in the hurly burly of senior football as evidenced by his 19 possessions (with an even spread of 10 kicks and nine handpasses) and two tackles.
• Quinten Lynch spent less time in the ruck, due in part no doubt to the six-man interchange bench, the lack of substitutes and the presence of both Darren Jolly and Jarrod Witts. He only had the two hitouts for the night but still won 14 possessions and kicked two goals.
• Ex-Frankston centreman Kyle Martin continues to display a knack for winning the ball. He was again a chief accumulator in the midfield earning 17 disposals and holding four marks, putting him behind only Brent Macaffer (and level with Ben Kennedy and Paul Seedsman) who took five.
• Macaffer's team-high five marks hint that he could again fill the high half forward role that he carried out with such assuredness back in 2010. Although he didn't make an impact on the scoreboard, Macaffer still managed to string together 10 possessions in another promising display in the lead up to the home and away season.
• Paul Seedsman's eye-catching form continues. He backed up his 18 possessions in the west last week with another 17 on Saturday night, this time pushing up a little further onto the wing and even deeper on occasions.

Player	K	H	D	M	HO	FF	FA	T	SG	G	B
22. Steele Sidebottom	21	6	27	2	0	1	0	5	0	0	2
17. Dayne Beams	12	11	23	1	0	6	2	1	0	2	1
27. Ben Kennedy	10	9	19	4	0	2	1	2	0	1	0
40. Paul Seedsman	8	9	17	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
37. Kyle Martin	9	8	17	4	0	2	1	2	0	0	1
11. Jarryd Blair	6	9	15	1	0	2	1	2	0	0	1
26. Ben Johnson	5	9	14	3	0	0	1	2	0	0	0
9. Martin Clarke	7	7	14	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
2. Jordan Russell	8	6	14	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	0
21. Quinten Lynch	5	9	14	2	0	1	0	0	0	2	1
41. Sam Dwyer	7	6	13	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
24. Josh Thomas	5	6	11	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0
18. Darren Jolly	3	7	10	3	11	0	4	0	0	0	0
3. Brent Macaffer	3	7	10	5	0	0	2	1	0	0	0
5. Nick Maxwell	8	2	10	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
14. Clinton Young	7	3	10	5	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
43.Adam Oxley	7	1	8	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
6. Tyson Goldsack	5	3	8	3	0	2	0	1	0	1	0
28. Ben Sinclair	1	6	7	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0
48. Caolan Mooney	5	2	7	2	0	0	0	2	0	1	1
46. Marley Williams	5	1	6	2	0	1	1	3	0	0	0
16. Nathan Brown	3	2	5	3	0	2	2	1	0	0	0
45. Jack Frost	2	3	5	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
15. Jarrod Witts	2	2	4	1	13	0	2	0	0	0	1
K-Kicks H-Handballs D-Disposals M-Marks HO-Hitouts FF-Free Kicks For FA-Free Kicks Against T-Tackles SG-Supergoals G-Goals B-Behinds

The Coach's View

Nathan Buckley didn't particularly enjoy the game he watched from the coaches box on Saturday night.
For starters, it wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing match to preside over as Collingwood and Brisbane scrapped their way through the first half before the visitors kicked away in the third quarter.
"A terrible game of footy, wasn't it?" was Buckley's opening musing at his post-match press conference.
"I thought the first half was a really poor standard from both sides and Brisbane were able to stabilise that a lot better in the second half," the coach explained.
"They hunted the ball well, their structures really held up well defensively and they started to hit the scoreboard just through weight of ball going forward so that was too much for our squad to handle tonight."
Nor was it the sort of game where any particular Magpie stood out for the duration, but that's not to say that there weren't those who caught the match committee's eye.
Buckley singled out first gamer Ben Kennedy for his ability to continue to work hard for four quarters despite being out on his feet. Sam Dwyer's intensity received a mention as did the continual improvement of key defender Jack Frost, while Dayne Beams won a pat on the back for plugging away in a midfield that was sans Dane Swan and Scott Pendlebury.
The result comes less than seven days after Collingwood, with a side boasting 10 players with less than 25 games of experience, notched an impressive win over premiership fancy West Coast at Patersons Stadium. So while disappointing, Buckley said that he understood that Saturday night's loss was not an accurate reflection of the improvements made by several of the club's youngsters who have been exposed to senior football during the NAB Cup.
Now the focus turns to fine tuning the team's preparation for the first home and away game against North Melbourne on 31 March. The largest signpost on that path is a practice match against Geelong at Simonds Stadium (nee Kardinia Park) next Friday.
"The side we played tonight was picked three weeks ago bar Harry (O'Brien), who had a bit of gastro yesterday afternoon and this morning. We weren't going to take any risks with him.
"We believe we've managed our players pre-season loads both in training and in games to pretty close to where we want them. We've been really happy with our preparation to date so the opportunity now is to take on a Geelong side that's young and full of running at the moment but obviously got some experience as well.
"They're not in a dissimilar position to where we are list wise so that'll be a good challenge for us next Friday arvo.
"It'll be our last opportunity to get game time into our squad before round one versus North Melbourne.
"The other real big positive is that we'll play three-one (three interchange players and one substitute) with unlimited rotations and well be able to practice and get a feel for what home and away feels like. We've played under three different interchange systems over last three weeks and we're looking forward to getting back to what we know."