Post Match. Port overpowers Pies. All comments, please.

[Jezza]

[Magpietothemax]

I feel cautiously optimistic about the future because Bux is no longer our coach.
When you look at how Noble has now got N.Melbourne playing, you realise how much we have suffered due to a coaching regime which was incapable of bringing out the strengths of our playing group.

[Jezza]

[Ronnie McKeowns boots]

[JC Hartley]

Salvaging victories in seasons that are beyond repair is tough work. On Friday night, Collingwood competed well throughout their contest against Port Adelaide, aside from an abysmal second term which ultimately resulted in the Magpies conceding defeat to the Power by 28 points. The Woods began the game well with the first 2 goals before allowing Port to pepper the scoreboard constantly without great accuracy, until the Pies reclaimed the lead at the first change after the siren. The second quarter was all Port Adelaide, as Collingwood could not prevent the Power from producing substantial scoreboard pressure, while the Magpies squandered limited opportunities during that quarter to reel in the deficit to an attainable level. Early on in the third term, it was a question of how much Port Adelaide would win by, until Collingwood got the game back on their terms with a flurry of majors until the Power pegged the Woods back with late goals during time on of the quarter to restore the lead they had built. The early running of the final term saw the Pies roar back again with early majors to challenge the Power, before Port Adelaide stabilised the contest with enough goals to run away with the victory and solidified their push for a spot in the top four in the run home to the finals.

Collingwood won their statistical categories from disposals by +15 (379 - 364), kicks were won by +20 (214 - 194), while uncontested possessions had a differential of +25 (241 - 216), +2 from centre clearances (13 - 11), and uncontested marks had an advantage of +25 (87 - 62). They were the only categories that the Magpies won on the night. Port Adelaide gained their power from handballs by +5 (170 - 165), contested possessions were won convincingly by +14 (141 - 127), intercept possessions were claimed by +2 (63 - 61), while hit-outs had a margin of +7 (34 - 27), +7 from clearances (39 - 32), with stoppage clearances up by +9 (28 - 19). Contested Marks had a differential of +4 (11 - 7), with Marks Inside 50 won by +2 (16 - 14), while tackles had a narrow advantage of +1 (55 - 54), and +11 for Tackles Inside 50 (15 - 4). Inside 50s were won in commanding fashion by +19 (58 - 39).

Brodie Grundy (27 disposals @ 56%, 248 metres gained, 14 contested possessions, 13 uncontested possessions, 23 hit-outs, 16 kicks, 11 handballs, 3 marks, 2 tackles, 8 score involvements, 7 clearances, 4 centre clearances, 3 stoppage clearances, 3 Inside 50s & 2 Rebound 50s) followed up his ruck work by winning the ball at ground level constantly which allowed him to win several clearances. Grundy found it challenging to hit targets under pressure which results in his disposal efficiency being much more inferior than normal.

Steele Sidebottom (26 disposals @ 73%, 233 metres gained, 13 contested possessions, 13 uncontested possessions, 7 intercept possessions, 12 kicks, 14 handballs, 5 marks, 3 tackles, 1 goal assist, 10 score involvements, 6 clearances, 3 centre clearances, 3 stoppage clearances & 3 Inside 50s) struggled to impact the game in the first two quarters, before lifting immensely in the second half to win clearances and create scoring opportunities.

Jordan De Goey (25 disposals @ 64%, 336 metres gained, 8 contested possessions, 18 uncontested possessions, 2 intercept possessions, 11 kicks, 14 handballs, 4 marks, 4 tackles, 7 score involvements, 3 clearances, 2 centre clearances, 4 Inside 50s, 2 Rebound 50s & 1 goal) maintained his strong form in the midfield by being involved in scoring chains, while he displayed desire to take a few marks, and applied tackling pressure on what was a solid night at Marvel Stadium for him.

Taylor Adams (24 disposals @ 71%, 266 metres gained, 6 contested possessions, 18 uncontested possessions, 2 intercept possessions, 11 kicks, 13 handballs, 2 marks, 9 tackles, 5 score involvements, 3 clearances, 2 stoppage clearances & 3 Inside 50s) started the game like a house on fire in the first half, before drifting completely out of the action in the last two quarters.

Finlay Macrae (21 disposals @ 43%, 233 metres gained, 9 contested possessions, 12 uncontested possessions, 9 kicks, 12 handballs, 5 marks, 1 goal assist, 2 score involvements, 2 clearances & 4 Inside 50s) displayed the ball-winning ability of his elder brother Jackson (who is an established midfielder for the Western Bulldogs), but did not make his possessions count. Once Finlay finds time and space to kick or handpass the ball effectively, the Magpies will have a mainstay and keeper in their midfield for years to come.

Jack Crisp (30 disposals @ 83%, 353 metres gained, 8 contested possessions, 22 uncontested possessions, 10 intercept possessions, 17 kicks, 13 handballs, 13 marks, 6 tackles, 4 score involvements, 2 clearances, 2 stoppage clearances & 6 Rebound 50s) spent most of his evening behind the ball in defence and played another blinder across half-back. Crisp was responsible for Collingwood's ball movement on transition with a number of daring kicks into the corridor, while creating continuous play with handpasses to free up his teammates into better field positions.

Brayden Maynard (26 disposals @ 81%, 413 metres gained, 5 contested possessions, 21 uncontested possessions, 6 intercept possessions, 15 kicks, 11 handballs & 6 Rebound 50s) spent the majority of the night rebounding the footy out of Collingwood's defence, but did not add any other elements to his game.

Jack Madgen (24 disposals @ 88%, 142 metres gained, 9 contested possessions, 15 uncontested possessions, 9 intercept possessions, 10 kicks, 14 handballs, 3 marks, 2 tackles, 2 score involvements & 4 Rebound 50s) had his most composed game of the season, where he won the ball back and chose simple options to maintain possession. In short, Madgen opted not to take any risks as he has done in past weeks where goals have been conceded rather regularly when he has chosen to bite off more than he can chew with his possessions.

Trey Ruscoe (20 disposals @ 70%, 424 metres gained, 4 contested possessions, 16 uncontested possessions, 6 intercept possessions, 17 kicks, 3 handballs, 2 marks, 3 tackles, 1 goal assist, 2 score involvements & 8 Rebound 50s) played his best game ever for the club in a role where he is flourishing. Ruscoe was prepared to open up the whole ground with his kicking game from defence allowing quick ball movement whenever he hit targets from his rebounding dominance.

John Noble (17 disposals @ 71%, 313 metres gained, 3 contested possessions, 14 uncontested possessions, 2 intercept possessions, 13 kicks, 4 handballs, 5 marks, 3 tackles, 2 score involvements & 3 Rebound 50s) produced ball movement by foot to either surge the ball forward or hit targets to keep possession when Collingwood were unable to move the ball on quickly.

Oliver Henry (15 disposals @ 53%, 236 metres gained, 14 uncontested possessions, 9 kicks, 6 handballs, 7 marks, 4 Marks Inside 50, 1 goal assist, 7 score involvements, 2 Inside 50s & 2 goals) has had an impressive fortnight of footy, with his most recent game against the Power being his most eye-catching performance of the season. Ollie needs to remember that he needs to be smarter when his team has possession or a shot at goal. On two occasions, Henry decided to take the advantage and spurned both of those chances by snapping behinds when his team could easily have had a better chance to score goals. Match awareness in this area needs plenty of work for Henry to build on his excellence by becoming a smarter footballer.

Trent Bianco (12 disposals @ 67%, 307 metres gained, 2 contested possessions, 10 uncontested possessions, 11 kicks, 5 marks, 3 tackles, 1 goal assist, 3 score involvements, 2 Inside 50s, 2 Rebound 50s & 1 goal) made the most of his limited opportunities up forward with a mixture of classy ball use across half-forward, before gathering a groundball cleanly to snap an excellent goal that gave the team life and momentum before the flame got extinguished.

Brody Mihocek (11 disposals @ 73%, 342 metres gained, 5 contested possessions, 6 uncontested possessions, 10 kicks, 8 marks, 2 Contested Marks, 6 Marks Inside 50, 2 tackles, 1 goal assist, 8 score involvements, 2 Inside 50s & 3 goals) had a mixed bag against the Power. His work ethic to take marks on the lead was exceptional, but his inability to kick goals in the second term let the team down, before Mihocek made an atonement in the second half to convert his chances. I've been particularly filthy on Mihocek's inability to kick accurately this season. Despite that, he does give the team an avenue to goal and allows the Magpies to have chances to score goals. In the final month of the regular season, I would like Brody to restore the goalkicking accuracy of yesteryear which would give the Magpies a greater chance of having the wood over their remaining opponents.

Collingwood's next game will be against West Coast on July 31 at the MCG. The Magpies will need to convert their chances against an Eagles outfit who have played indifferently in recent times, but have the scoring potency and accuracy whenever they play the game on their terms. It is imperative that the Woods find a way to compete and win their remaining matches without Scott Pendlebury, who now joins Darcy Moore & Josh Daicos on the sidelines for the remainder of the season. This game will not be a picnic, so competing like hell for four quarters and converting chances on the scoreboard will go a long way to ensuring the Magpies can cause a boilover against the Eagles.

[think better]

Great wrap up JC

I look forward to reading this each week and generally think that you nail it.


it was noticeable I thought that Grundy was at times taking possession in the rucks and off loading scrubber kicks forward. I figure that adds to the lower disposal efficiency and also reduces the hit out stat. Not sure how often he did this but I recall at least 3

[piedys]

[Pies4shaw]

Collingwood scored 10.9 and had 18 scoring possessions (the 19th score was a rushed behind that was not treated as a scoring chain).

I have already posted some "score involvements" stats. The "score launches" (ie, the first possession and disposal in a chain that leads to a score) are now available (they are not one of the stats available during the game). The 18 score launches for Collingwood were as follows:

Grundy 5
Sidebottom 4
Crisp 2
Adams 2
Cox, De Goey, Roughead, Henry and Macrae 1.

Thus, the position is that, between them, Grundy and Sidebottom started half of Collingwood's scoring chains. In Grundy's case, he started 5 scoring chains and (as we know from the score involvements stat) was involved in a further 3 scoring chains. In Sidebottom's case, he started 4 scoring chains and was involved in a further 6 scoring chains.

For comparison, the best season averages in the AFL for score launches and score involvements are:

- Top average score launches - Darcy 4.2, Naitanui 3.7, Pittonet 3.2, Witts 3, Lynch 3 (from, of course, a trivial sample), Liberatore 2.9, Grundy, O'Brien, Gawn and Mumford 2.8. After Grundy on 2.8 at Collingwood, come Adams 1.7, Moore 1.6, Pendlebury 1.3 and Cox and Cameron 1.1. Sidebottom's average is 0.9 per game. So, Grundy launched about twice as many scores as you might expect from him and Sidebottom launched about 4 times as many as you might expect from him.

- Top average score involvements - Toby Greene 8.4, Zorko 8.2, Walker 8, Bontempelli 7.9, Fyfe, Parish and Petracca 7.6, Macrae 7.4, Oliver and Jeremy Cameron 7.3. De Goey has the best Collingwood average - 6.5. He's ranked 25th. For our team, he's followed by Elliott and Mihocek 5.4, Pendlebury 5.3, Sidebottom 5.1 and Grundy 5. So, Sidebottom was involved in about twice as many scoring chains as you might expect from him and Grundy was involved in 60% more than you might expect from him.

On the team comparison - and despite Collingwood having only 18 score launches compared to Port Adelaide's 26, Grundy had more than any Port player and Sidebottom's effort was equalled by just 1 Port player. Perhaps there lies the story of the game. It's certainly how it looked to me watching - Port had many more "avenues to goal": they had 9 players with at least 2 score launches and Collingwood had only 4 (Grundy, Sidebottom, Crisp and Adams). Moreover, Port's best 2 launched about 1 in 4 of their team's scores. Grundy and Sidebottom launched half of Collingwood's.

Too much was left to too few. That's not surprising - the team was full of kids. But a team is never going to win a game of football relying so heavily on just 2 players to start its scoring chains.

[RudeBoy]

Great analysis P4S.

[MJ23]

[David]

^ Yet whatever prurient gossip you've heard doesn't seem to have been a dealbreaker for North, and they now have an enormously skilful, reliable, disciplined, team-oriented player on their hands – which, last time I checked, are usually considered positive qualities for a footballer to have. So is the conclusion that Stephenson is unemployable, or is it that North were better able to manage whatever challenges he presented? Not a very hard question to answer in hindsight.

Perhaps the change of scenery was good for him and he would have struggled at Collingwood if he'd stayed, but those posters insisting that we just had to trade him seemingly have as much foresight as the guys who were in charge of our list management, which is to say … not very much.

[Pies4shaw]

As you say, David, there are various alternatives. It is unlikely that we'll ever know which is correct. What we do know is that we gave up our apparent-star 2017 pick 6 for more or less nothing because, like a bad hairstyle, our then coaching team thought they couldn't do anything with him.

[RudeBoy]

You’ve nailed it David.

Stephenson’s form at North is a damning indictment on the failures of our footy department.

[PyreneesPie]

Really pleased to see Jack Crisp declared the Player of the Week.

I have such huge admiration for the way he goes about his job. Consistent and resilient from one week to the next, always looking to attack from defense, strong and courageous with a total commitment to always do his best.

[Lazza]