This has been one of the toughest weeks I’ve endured as a football fan in recent memory; as every morning upon waking I’ve been forced to come to the bitter realisation that – as surreal as it was – it wasn’t just a nightmare. Suffice to say the season hasn’t started as we all expected and I’m as bewildered as the next person as to what is happening down at Collingwood, but as fans we must persevere.
We’ve dropped two games that we should have won, the last being downright unforgivable given the circumstances. This week we come up against a North Melbourne outfit, sans Daniel Wells and Brett Harvey. Despite the Kangaroos always troubling us, this is a game that would have been pencilled in by most as yet another predicted victory. With our current position in mind and the absence of Wells and Harvey, if Collingwood don’t win this one then whatever is amiss down at the club could very well become terminal as far as 2009 is concerned.
Josh Fraser became the face of our spectacular failure on ANZAC Day, which was expected if not a little unfair given the general performance of the entire list. Fraser deserved to be put under the microscope, but the extent to which he has been scrutinised – whilst overlooking the entire picture – was in my opinion a little bit much.
It will be interesting to see how Fraser responds, as this week he’ll have his work cut out for him against the likes of McIntosh and Petrie. What was evident on Saturday was that Josh needs more adequate back-up. We’ve sent a message to the likes of Wood and Bryan, but now is probably the time to see if that message has been received by testing one of the two at senior level once more.
Alan Didak is still under an injury cloud, but Nick Maxwell is a certain starter and Heath Shaw could be another inclusion if he gets through training this week. Our back line has lacked balance all year and team selection has been a bit of a puzzle so far. I haven’t been convinced with having Toovey, Goldsack and Cox all within the same team and with the return of Maxwell and hopefully Shaw, we might be able to find equilibrium down back.
Harvey and Wells are fortunate outs as far as Collingwood is concerned, as these two habitually cause us problems. Wells is a player who we tend to disregard and pay the price, whilst Harvey is arguably in the top bracket of talent in the AFL and for good reason.
Whilst you would expect (or maybe hope is more apt) that our shocking loss to Essendon will sting the side into action, it must be remembered that North Melbourne would also be determined to bounce back after falling to Richmond last week — a more surprising outcome than our match, albeit not as dramatic. Further concern stems from our discomfort at the Dome, a ground which we haven’t performed well on in recent years.
I can’t predict how the team is going to line-up this week, although I would expect a minimum of three changes with returning players in the mix. Wood or Bryan could very well constitute another change if Fraser’s performance last week is to be addressed via the line-up.
Much like our back line, our forward line still requires some tweaking. Granted we suffered from the loss of Didak, but faced with that possibility again I think we need to opt for more flexibility up front. I’m a fan of Macaffer and whilst it was good to see him debut, I think it was perhaps a little premature.
The plan to add strings to Macaffer’s bow at VFL level was only in its infancy and I think we would have been better persevering with the original plan a little longer. Macaffer didn’t disgrace himself on ANZAC Day and I was actually content with what I saw; but we can’t carry Rocca, Anthony, Cloke, Leigh Brown and Macaffer at the moment. We need to bring in a player at the expense of Brown or Macaffer that either fills a more important role (i.e. Wood or Bryan as dedicated second string rucks) or has more flexibility, perhaps even an extra set of legs in the midfield.
Friday night isn’t about redemption, as there is no possible way we can redeem ourselves for last week’s disaster. We simply have to win this game and move on to the next job, because given the season so far and our 2-3 standing, any celebrations should we get up on Friday night should be humble if not non-existent — I want to see some resolve and focus from this point forward.
Redemption can be judged come mid-season.
