Practice Match #2 - Collingwood vs Footscray at Olympic Park

[MagpieBat]

Oxley and Wyatt combine well in traffic, off to Kelly, looping handpass for Aish, who runs onto it, guides the kick inside 50, BEAUTIFULLY placed for Gray in the square, who does his bit and reads it well and marks.

And from point-blank range, kicks the GOAL!

38-87

[MagpieBat]

White rushes a behind, which is probably his most useful contribution since... well, since the game started...

38-88

[MagpieBat]

Could this day get any worse for Jesse White?

Well, yes, yes it could, actually.

He dives on the ball at defensive 50, gets tackled by Roughead, who wins the free... and 50, presumably for some lip from Mr White.

And Roughead converts.

38-94

[MagpieBat]

Crocker and Close combine to salvage a haphazard inside 50 entry, Close hands it off to Alessi, who has had a quiet day, but he snaps around the body and kicks a nice consolation goal.

44-94

[MagpieBat]

Kelly misses a set-shot from 50 DIF...

45-94

[MagpieBat]

Cox reads a deep inside 50 entry best, it comes over the back and he gets a toe to it for his second...

51-94

[MagpieBat]

Cox plucks another contested mark on the wing, this time one-handed.

He's been okay, I reckon...

[MagpieBat]

Hinkley with a set-shot from 50m, 45d... poster.

52-94

[MagpieBat]

Siren.

Pies get pumped.

Okay, gotta run. Scores in a few minutes...

...or you could do the arithmetic yourselves and post them...

[watt price tully]

[MagpieBat]

Full Time.�

Collingwood 8.4.52
Footscray 14.10.94

GOALS - Cox 2, Wyatt 2, Alessi, Gray, Goodyear, Crocker

Over to you...

[stui magpie]

http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2016-03-12/vfl-report-aish-does-the-double

[Cannibal]

Much appreciated the coverage, MagpieBat. Thanks for doing it.

[MagpieBat]

Late again, but have only now had the time to sit down and turn dot points into semi polished prose...

9. Jesse White
Terrible game, playing as a key defender again. Found himself variously minding numbers 27 and 43 for the Dogs, as well as Jordan Roughead when he rested deep. All 3 took marks and kicked goals on him. Throw in White�s general ineptitude with things like having fresh air swings trying to spoil with one open hand while giving away an in the back with the other, or going to ground in a contest which resulted in another goal to the Dogs, and you have a recipe for a complete f-ck up. Even gifted Roughead a goal by diving on the ball, then giving away 50 for some lip, which brought Roughead to the top of the square.

I can identify one good moment of his though: picked an opponent�s pocket across half back, launched a booming kick forward, setting up the chain that ended up creating Cox�s first goal.

But that aside, he was awful. Will cost us games if played as a defender. Which makes for a change from costing us games as a forward, at least�

14. James Aish
Came back from NAB 3 to play the second half of his own volition, which is good to see. Made the barest of contributions, though, and would not have come away with all that many disposals on my rough estimation. Played predominately wing, although he did take a turn or two in the guts. Use of the ball generally tidy, with one somewhat damaging kick that set up Gray�s goal.

Really though, he was here to top up his running minutes, so providing he got through uninjured (which apparently he has), he gets a technical pass mark. Just whether or not starts Round 1 in the seniors is anyone�s guess�

27. Matthew Goodyear
Played as our primary (well, only really) recognised inside midfielder from the AFL ranks. Collected and won a fair bit of the ball, but he was a kid against older, bigger bodies. Kicked a ripper of a goal in the final stanza, hooking it around his body whilst running to the boundary. That it went through was as much down to luck as it was skill, but it goes in his column all the same. One of our better players on the day.

34. Alan Toovey
Played rather well, in settings that he may or may not have to get accustomed to. Ball use generally very good. Yes, he actually his black and white jumpers with his kicks, which is an obvious sign that the world is ending, so it�s been nice knowing you�
Seriously though, he was alright. Took a couple of nice contested marks across half back to boot and, barring one terrible handpass which turned over into a Doggies goal, didn�t really put that much of a foot wrong.
Is this his new home, or was he just here for the conditioning? Again, your guess is as good as mine�

35. Brayden Sier
Probably the one those diehards who turned up would have wanted to see the most (myself included). And I have to say, there wasn�t much of him to see. Played on-ball and spent the majority of the day chasing and being where the ball wasn�t and ended up not getting all that much of it. And those few disposals that he did get were mostly of the quick handball away variety. His one real highlight of the day was a thumping tackle on a Dogs mid that forced a stoppage. Didn�t actually set up an attacking chain, but the hungry man will take crusts when bread isn�t available�
Really though, he�s a project player with quite a lot of work to do, and that�s exactly how his performance ended up playing out.

39. Ben Crocker
Bit of a reality check today after last week�s performance. In fairness, it wasn�t the day to be stationed deep in a forward pocket for Collingwood, because the ball just wasn�t getting down there. He really had to push up to almost CHB to get a look-in at stages, where he was mown down several times and pinged for holding the ball. Did finish some hard work from his team mates for a goal, but otherwise just wasn�t in the game.

41. Tim Golds
Again played as a sweeping rebounder off half back. Serviceable enough game on the whole, when you consider he was under a hurricane level of Bulldogs forward 50 entries. Ball use generally conservative but tidy. No real hurt factor to his rebound. Did have one terrible moment where he put a kick onto Knight�s ankles while trying to exit from defensive 50, which the Dogs promptly sent straight back over his head. But otherwise, acquitted himself reasonably well.

43. Adam Oxley
If the club releases the stats for this outing, I dare say Oxley would be either our leading disposal getter or close to it. Was definitely the day for him to be racking up the stats, and he went about his task of being that loose peel-off intercept defender rather well. Ball use was more often than not that of the short kick forward, medium kick sideways stop/start kind of movement. Didn�t really run and carry the ball himself to generate drive (that was left to Golds and Hore).

He�s good at this level, sometimes very much so. The question is, can his unaccountable one trick style work against the better AFL teams? I have my doubts�

46. Mason Cox
Battled away as our primary ruck, with Jordan Roughead as his main opponent. Certainly won a lot of taps, but he was trying to supply an understrength midfield, so not much reward for his efforts. Took a few nice contested marks around the ground as a target (including one flying grab which almost took a Doggie�s head off with a raised knee) and managed to lose his opponent to sneak forward from the ruck and boot a couple of goals. Decent game, all told.

47. Darrean Wyatt
Tough gig playing as a primary target in a team getting pumped. Looked okay in small patches. Finished with 2 goals, which left him our joint leading goal kicker on a day when we only kicked eight across the whole team, so I guess he can take something away from that.

[thompsoc]

Thanks MB
I could not make it but I did see the main gig at Etihad.
I trust your judgement re players.
Seems like a reality check for us.
Still upbeat on Cox.