COLLINGWOOD 0.2.2 2.4.16 3.7.25 9.9.63
ADELAIDE 3.6.24 7.11.53 11.15.81 12.18.90
SCORERS - Collingwood: Blair (3.0), White (2.1), Broomhead (1.1), Fasolo (1.1), Swan (1.1), Cloke (1.0), Crisp (0.2), Langdon (0.1), Pendlebury (0.1)
BEST - Collingwood: Pendlebury, Blair, Oxley, Frost
INJURIES - Collingwood: Ben Sinclair (hamstring)
SUBSTITUTES - Collingwood: Ben Sinclair (hamstring) replaced by Paul Seedsman in the first quarter
REPORTS: Nil
OFFICIAL CROWD: 33,771 at Etihad Stadium
| 1. Phil's path to respect ADELAIDE coach Phil Walsh said during the week it was imperative the Crows won games away from home, so the rest of the "Melbourne-centric" competition took them seriously. Just two games into the season, not only has Walsh shown the 17 other teams that the Crows will be a physically tough team to play against, but he's taken the players to Melobourne and returned with a hearty 27-point win over a traditional Victorian power. There was black and white everywhere you looked at Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening but even the blinding flashes of Magpie "theming" around the LED fencing didn't distract the Crows, as they recorded their second win from as many games. 2. Black and white scoring drought In the first quarter, the Magpies simply didn't have opportunity to make an impact on the scoreboard, with the Crows dominating inside 50s 19 to eight, and racking up nine scoring shots to the Pies' three, which included Travis Varcoe's after-the-siren set shot that fell short. It took nine minutes into the second term for Collingwood's first goal – a set shot by Jarryd Blair – and they were only able to add one more before half-time as the Crows raced to a 37-point lead. The Pies added just one more in the third quarter as the Crows cut them up in open space, before Buckley's men stepped up to at least fight the game out with six goals in the final term. While it was a nice win for the Crows, it could have been by a lot more given their wasted opportunities (18 behinds) and the way they let the Pies have more of a say in the final term, particularly after best-on-ground Brodie Smith was stretchered off following a nasty incident where Taylor Adams swung him head-first into Varcoe's shin.
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3. Sharing is caring As barren as the Pies' scoreline was for three quarters, the Crows' was a healthy representation of a team not reliant on a few players. For the second week running, they shared things around in attack, which was also an indictment on the Pies' defence given the way the visitors were able to flick the ball between multiple options. In the third quarter, Taylor Walker selflessly passed off a goal to Charlie Cameron before Eddie Betts allowed Patrick Dangerfield to get in on the action with a major late in the term. The team-first style is certainly working for the Crows so far and could see them become a contender if they can develop a killer instinct that turns easy wins into landslide results. 4. Convincing Crows? Former Adelaide captain and current board member Mark Ricciuto said this week he believed Patrick Dangerfield was a "50-50" chance of staying a Crow when his contract ended this season. With Geelong circling for Dangerfield's services, given he grew up on the Victorian surf coast, a comparison between the 2015 Crows and Cats is sure to start creeping into the midfielder's mind. The Cats were sorely beaten by Hawthorn last weekend while the Crows are playing an exciting brand of football that will land them in the finals if they keep it up. Could the ledger tip in the Crows' favour and convince Dangerfield to put pen to paper if they continue to rise? 5. Shocker for Sinclair After hamstring problems on both sides restricted his output to five senior games in 2014, 23-year-old Ben Sinclair would have entered this year ready for a change of luck. He'd had a decent summer and had 16 touches against the Brisbane Lions last week, before picking up Patrick Dangerfield when the star Crow drifted forward on Saturday. However, as he chased a loose ball near the interchange bench late in the first quarter, Sinclair pulled up sharply and limped straight off the field – he looked the picture of a man who knew exactly what he'd done to the back of his leg, and resigned to another frustrating spell on the sidelines. |
| THE MEDIA | |
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Adelaide is announcing itself as the real deal under new coach Phil Walsh, beating Collingwood by 27 points at Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening to make a perfect start to the season. After Walsh told his club to take a cold shower and not get carried away by a big round one win over North Melbourne, the Crows turned up the heat and dominated the Magpies for three quarters to win 12.18 (90) to 9.9 (63). The win didn't come without a cost, however, with the Crows' best player on the day, Brodie Smith, taken from the ground on a stretcher with concussion early in the fourth quarter. Smith, who recovered sufficiently to join his teammates for the song in the rooms after the game, was slung in a tackle and his head crashed into Travis Varcoe's knee before hitting the turf. The All-Australian half-back had been the best player on the ground, racking up 30 possessions, eight inside 50s and a goal, and using the ball with precision by foot. Led by the classy 23-year-old, the Crows built a 56-point lead at the final change and appeared to be cruising to a big win but inaccuracy in front of goal and a late rally from the Magpies prevented a blowout. Walsh had this week spoken about the importance of winning in Melbourne for the Crows to gain respect as a team, and they achieved that mission on Saturday. "Unless you win here, I don't think you get rated," Walsh said post-match. "The competition is very Melbourne-centric and this is where nine of the 18 teams are, this is where the majority of the media are going to report on footy. "I don't think they would have thought it was a great performance but we were tough in the contest and I thought we competed really well." Ricky Henderson (22 possessions and nine inside 50s) gave the Crows their outside class, while Rory Sloane (23 and nine clearances) and Patrick Dangerfield (27 and eight, plus two goals) controlled the stoppages, with Adelaide winning the clearances 45-29. The Crows' tackling pressure around the ground and ability to have numbers at every contest meant they largely had the game on their terms, enjoying a 58-44 advantage in inside 50s. In contrast to Smith's elite kicking, the Magpies largely struggled to hit targets by foot for the first three quarters, but they did manage six of the game's last seven goals. Their tall forwards struggled because of the poor ball use, with Travis Cloke goalless against Daniel Talia, and Jesse White managing just one. "(Adelaide's) intensity and pressure was excellent, especially early, and we didn't handle that particularly well," Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said. "They definitely edged us for wont to go and win that footy and you only have to be off half a step and that's enough. I think that's what we saw. "That's potentially why you're not clean enough when you get your chances and we weren't clean enough. They for the most part were." The Magpies were able to withstand Adelaide's pressure for the first 12 minutes of the match, but it was only a matter of time before the Crows took control. Three goals in 13 minutes – including a gem from the boundary line by Eddie Betts – got the run started in the first quarter, and all with relatively limited output from star forward Taylor Walker, who finished with 2.3. Already on the back foot, the Magpies were forced to substitute Ben Sinclair late in the opening term after he suffered a hamstring injury right next to the interchange bench. A second-quarter push from the Magpies was quickly snuffed out, with four goals in seven minutes from the visitors blowing the margin out to 44 points. Captain Scott Pendlebury (29 possessions) and young half-back Adam Oxley (29 and nine rebound 50s) battled hard, and Jarryd Blair finished with three goals. This game confirmed some of the findings of the pre-season and round one. One is that Adelaide are playing strong and purposeful football under Phil Walsh. The other is that Collingwood is a team with serious skill deficiencies. The upper limits of Adelaide's capacities are unclear, but the limits of Collingwood – certainly the 22 that took the field against Adelaide – are all too clear. The Pies are a team that tries, battles, scraps – choose whatever word describing plucky effort that you wish – but they struggle to move the ball, and therefore, to score. The Pies' mild upset over the Lions was founded upon their longstanding ability to apply pressure and win contests – traits that were paramount at the slippery Gabba. Alas for the deflating Collingwood masses, Adelaide represented a major step in class compared with the lamentable Lions. The Crows were untroubled in putting the Pies away – the game was really done in about 20 minutes, and only Adelaide's wastefulness kept it from an early blow-out. To put the skill disparity in context, consider that at three-quarter-time, Collingwood actually led the Crows in contested ball by 17 and had laid the same number of tackles. Yet, the black and white scrappers trailed by 56 points, in what was an entirely accurate measure of what was happening. Collingwood had lost Steele Sidebottom to a broken thumb for a number of weeks, which means that they entered this match – and will enter the next several – without the players who finished second (Sidebottom), third (departed Dayne Beams) and fourth (discarded Heritier Lumumba) in the club's best and fairest. Levi Greenwood, who would have compensated with further grunt and at least a seasoned body, also has been grounded. The upshot is that the Crows could – and can – maintain possession of the football. Collingwood couldn't. In today's game, when every team aspires to pressure frenetically, it is the ability to move the ball that differentiates teams. So, while the Crows were shaded in contested ball, this was completely irrelevant against the sloppy Pies, who, whatever is said about them, didn't give up at any stage. They just couldn't string possession chains together. The game had few moments to thrill, and most belonged to the Crows, who also had the game's worst moment, when Brodie Smith was slung in a tackle and his head connected with Travis Varcoe's seldom utilised leg. Smith did not move for a while before he was removed on a stretcher late in the last term. Smith had excelled for the Crows, and while his midfield teammates didn't have massive numbers, it was their superior efficiency and cleanliness that stood out. Adelaide had complete ownership of the first half, at one point leading an impotent Collingwood 7.10 to 1.2, the quarter-time margin of 22 having flattered Collingwood. The first quarter was the game writ small – the contested ball numbers were equal, yet the game had been played almost entirely in Adelaide's forward half – the inside 50m entries, to this point, were 19-8. As the game went on, Collingwood gained more territory, but remained unable to score freely. It was only in junk time – the final quarter – that the Pies found the goals and gave the crowd some small solace for their suffering. Smith was prominent early, Richard Douglas was effective around the ball, along with a fierce Rory Sloane, who was the game's supreme clearance force in the formative period, helping the Crows to clean up in stoppages (46-29). Paddy Dangerfield's high possession rate wasn't matched by efficiency, but he won important balls. Youngster Cam Ellis-Yolmen was productive. Tex Walker, supreme last week, was profligate this time with 2.3. While Collingwood's Brodie Grundy was competitive in the ruck, Sam Jacobs – one of Carlton's most egregious list management errors – was a far greater force in general play. Daniel Talia subdued Travis Cloke, whose task was compounded by his team's garbage disposal. After 12 minutes of unsightly congestion and rugby, another ex-Blue Eddie Betts slotted one of his trademark goals from near the fence to open Adelaide's account. Collingwood, to this point, had been a holding operation, surviving on pressure acts and the sheer mill of players around the ball. Play evened up to some extent in the second quarter; Collingwood had the ball in their half often enough to score, except that it couldn't. Time and again, opportunities were fluffed by errant handballs, wayward kicks and a complete lack of vision. For the Pies, Adam Oxley's workrate was among the few positive findings. Tom Langdon was steady, Tim Broomhead showed glimpses of class. Scott Pendlebury, naturally, found the ball, but his team was incapable of maintaining possession for long enough for him to cause any meaningful damage. Dane Swan's scrappy disposal — not an issue in his Brownlow pomp — is a major concern now, though he fared better as a forward — as his team did — in the game's belated twilight. |
ADELAIDE completely outplayed Collingwood for much of its 27-point win, but that might just be a reflection on the Crows’ quality, according to Pies coach Nathan Buckley. “I was encouraged by our fight, by our want to keep fighting but we were out-structured, outclassed in that first half and outhunted,’’ Buckley said. “They were harder than us.’’ Buckley said it became glaringly obvious during a goal-less first quarter that the Magpies “were off our best, but “how much of that is attributable to them and how much is us I think it’s too early in the season to say.’’ Adelaide got out to a 56-point lead early in the last quarter before the Pies kicked five unanswered goals to make the margin respectable. Buckley conceded that the Pies “weren’t aggressive enough’’. “They definitely edged us for want to go and get that footy and you only need to be off by half a step and that’s enough,’’ he said. Collingwood’s disposal was terrible at times, but Buckley suggested that was largely a function of Adelaide’s pressing style as well as the inability of the Pies forwards to present as targets. “(Adelaide’s) intensity and pressure was excellent, especially early, and we didn’t handle that particularly well,’’ he said. But he conceded the Pies used the ball poorly, and whether it was just an off-day, or a sign of a more deep-rooted problem with the playing list was “the age-old question’’. “We didn’t think we did the basics well enough to give ourselves a chance for our game style to stand up, offensively or defensively,’’ Buckley said. “Some of it was just basics: missing easy targets or missing easy handball options or not handling the ball cleanly at ground level, but for the most part they (the Crows) made it hard for us to get through and we felt that and we weren’t able to get through often enough. “I thought we tried to find extra handballs, especially early when the game was hot, when we should have just trusted our forwards to be in position and gone forward. “And then we did have an yard or two of space that we’d created, the next possession that would have put us out into more space, we just didn’t hit often enough. “I’d like to suggest it’s (just poor disposal) on the day, but if it happens too consistently then it comes back on the basics of the game.’’ The Pies injury woes worsened when they lost Ben Sinclair to a hamstring strain in the first quarter. But Buckley said the unavailability of several starting-22 players was creating opportunities for the club’s younger footballers, and he was excited that several were getting the chance to rotate through the midfield. “But there’s going to be some ups and downs along the way,’’ he said. Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley is hopeful the Magpies' poor ball use on Saturday night will not become a trend that sets in for a second straight season. The Pies had a disposal efficiency of 69 per cent in their 27-point loss to Adelaide, but it was their erratic kicking in particular that took the game out of their grasp in the first half. Buckley's team ranked last in the AFL for kicking efficiency last season (62.6 per cent) and there were repeated examples of the Magpies handing the ball back to their opponents under the Etihad Stadium roof. Asked if Saturday night's performance was an accurate reflection of his players' ability or a one-off, the coach was hopeful it was the latter. "That's the age-old (question) isn't it? I'd like to suggest it's on the day," Buckley said. "But if it happens too consistently, then it comes back on the basics of the game. "As the game wore on we put some good passages together, but early in the game everything was so hard for us." Some of the Magpies' main ball-winners were major culprits on Saturday night, with Dane Swan (56 per cent), Taylor Adams (48 per cent) and Tom Langdon (56 per cent) all using the ball inefficiently. Scott Pendlebury (78 per cent) and Adam Oxley (79 per cent) often fought a lone hand in the midfield. "I thought we tried to find extra handballs, especially early when the game was hot and we should have trusted our forwards to be in position and gone forward," Buckley said. "Then when we did have a yard or two of space that we'd created, the next position that would have put us out into more space we didn't hit often enough. "We don't think we played anywhere near our best, we don't think we did the basics well enough to give ourselves a chance for our game style to stand up." Buckley praised the Crows' disciplined game style under new coach Phil Walsh, with the visitors putting relentless pressure on the Magpies when they were in possession. "For the most part they made it hard for us to get through and we felt that," he said. "They're playing some good footy and we spoke about it up in the box. "We were off our best early, but how much of that is attributed to them and how much is us? I think it's too early in the season to say." With Steele Sidebottom and Levi Greenwood sidelined, the Magpies used Jamie Elliott and Marley Williams through the midfield at times, as well as inclusion Tim Broomhead. Buckley said he would continue to rotate players through the midfield, with Greenwood (ankle) and Sidebottom (thumb) both facing long stints on the sidelines. "It gives us an opportunity to play some of our young players through there that have earned those opportunities through their VFL form and through their preparation," he said. "I'm excited by that possibility and that opportunity, but there's going to be some ups and down along the way." Defender Ben Sinclair faces time on the sidelines after suffering another hamstring injury, which forced him to be substituted in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Collingwood's Ben Sinclair looks set for a stint on the sidelines after injuring his right hamstring during his side's loss to Adelaide on Saturday. The small defender pulled up sore during a sprint to the ball alongside Adelaide's Charlie Cameron with less than three minutes remaining in the first quarter.
"We didn’t think we did the basics well enough to give ourselves a chance for our game style to stand up, offensively or defensively.
Nathan Buckley
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