The expectations for season 2009 have changed so many times throughout the year it is hard to gauge how we should be feeling after yesterday’s disappointing effort against St. Kilda. Disappointment is definitely an appropriate response, but as has been required several times this year – both in the good and bad times – perspective must be called upon.
Collingwood let itself down against the Saints, but I don’t think too many people considered the outcome to be all that surprising given the line-up of each side and the respective seasons that we have had. St. Kilda lost only two games during the home-and-away season, both coming against significantly inferior opposition during a time when motivation was dwindling as finals approached. Collingwood, whilst having an excellent run in the second half of the year, still finished 5 games adrift from St. Kilda and yesterday that gap was on display.
Our boys definitely didn’t put in their best effort and this lends us some hope heading into our match against Adelaide. Whilst quite a few of our players underperformed, I don’t know how much solace we can take from this line of thinking given that St. Kilda’s dominance did play a part in the output of our players. Another concern is that we were once again exposed – seemingly with no backup plan – to a well structured zone defence. This was evident against Hawthorn (for the third time in recent history) during the season, whilst the Saints also put us to the sword in this fashion in our home-and-away encounter.
Admittedly, we were missing a significant portion of our top end talent the first time we faced the Saints this year; but we were also beaten in a similarly systematic fashion by the Saints in last year’s finals series. Whilst blame needs to be attributed to our strategy and perhaps our team selection, players also need to be held accountable for what was a lacklustre effort after quarter time.
One of the major problems that was evident from the middle of the second quarter onwards, was our lack of pressure on the ball carrier. For whatever reason, we didn’t apply the sort of pressure that finals football requires and in many ways played right into St. Kilda’s hands. It’s all well and good to get back and attempt to block up space, but with the Saints possessing players who use the ball well and an elite key forward in Riewoldt; conceding the ball, time and the middle of the ground is fraught with danger. We were also reminded that we simply don’t have a defender who can go with the likes of Riewoldt or Franklin, no disrespect to Presti who was done no favours and has otherwise been stellar this year.
We weren’t helped by the early loss of Pendlebury, who has become increasingly important to Collingwood’s midfield and our rotations in particular. As a consequence, too much was expected from the likes of Beams, Sidebottom and McCarthy; an expectation that was compounded by the poor performances of seasoned players in Fraser, O’Bree, Lockyer, Johnson and Didak. All things considered, I thought that our young brigade gave a good account of themselves, but they’re understandably not ready to be the driving force behind a premiership tilt.
The selection of McCarthy over a better prepared Wellingham was a little bit perplexing. McCarthy is going to be a very good player with a full pre-season and match fitness behind him, but he simply didn’t have the required preparation to be called upon in finals football. The omission of Wood was another move that was surprising given that St. Kilda went into the match with two genuine rucks in King and Gardiner. A lot will be made of the inclusion of Rocca, but personally I feel that it was inconsequential given the way the game played out. Rocca gave as good an account of himself as was realistically possible in a match that looks to have been his last for the black and white. With that said, Brad Dick would have been extremely handy up forward with or without Rocca in the team, as our forward pressure was virtually nonexistent.
If he hadn’t won every doubtful Collingwood supporter over already, Nick Maxwell definitively proved why he was made captain. In a game where we were smashed out of the middle, Maxwell played a flawless game down back and looked to be one of only a few players who realised the finals had arrived and wanted to be accountable for our fortunes. As a whole, I feel our backline performed admirably given what they were up against.
Despite a low possession game, I found some comfort in Dale Thomas’ performance. He managed to kick two goals and did all the things that many uninformed observers claim are foreign to him. Despite a few mistakes (that are somewhat characteristic) Heath Shaw also played with some purpose and like Thomas showed a readiness to put his body on the line. Cloke worked hard up the ground, but struggled to provide us with the target and presence that we required forward of the centre. I rate Cloke, but his importance looks to be a structural one as we search for match winners elsewhere – I’m not confident that he will become the potent KPF that we once envisioned.
We can pick over the bones of this defeat, but the reality is that St. Kilda are simply further ahead of us on the premiership clock. We enter every year with expectations of a premiership – as we should – but it’s also important to be realistic and rational when weighing up our prospects. Most would admit that a premiership this year would have been ahead of schedule given the state of our list, which clearly has deficiencies that we are hoping to address with the maturation of our existing youth.
With that said, our finals hopes are still alive despite coming up against an impressive Adelaide outfit. We’re going to have to do things the hard way, for if we do get over the Crows then we will face an even more imposing Geelong in the preliminary final – a task made even harder due to the absence of Pendlebury. We do match up well on Geelong and anything is possible in September, so whilst Sunday’s result has dented the confidence of most Collingwood supporters and acted as a catalyst for pondering beyond this year, let’s just see how the lads respond.