First things first, I don’t like Monday night football and I hope it doesn’t take off. Starting work at 4:00am forced my hand and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I resorted to recording and watching the game after the fact. I made the decision knowing that as a Collingwood supporter it would be impossible to avoid knowing the result once I got to work — especially if the result was an undesirable one.
My prediction held true, as I hadn’t even thawed out from the early morning cold before a co-worker tipped me off about the massacre. To his credit, he was compassionate about it; but then most people are left with pity after such a one-sided result and he is a Richmond supporter.
So instead of watching the grotesque spectacle play out, I steadied my stomach to attend the post-mortem after work today — complete with some comfort food to act as the odour masking menthol.
I wasn’t confident of our chances given that we were missing Leon, Medhurst, Anthony and Didak — virtually rendering our forward line impotent. Truth be told, even if these players were available I still would have entered the game expecting a loss given the current form of both teams. Regardless of the opposition’s quality, it’s still impossible to accept such embarassing losses.
I thought we were competitive in the first term, controlling play and winning most contests for a majority of the quarter. Unfortunately, we were unable to translate this to the scoreboard, which could in some way be attributed to our absences but credit also needs to be given to the St. Kilda defence as well.
From that point on though, it was all St. Kilda in a dominant display that invoked deja vu of the NAB Cup Grand Final. I can’t fault the endeavour of most of our players throughout the game, but we were simply outplayed by a side sporting considerably more class and cohesion than us at the present time.
With both Medhurst and Davis withdrawing from the game (one expected, one surprising) the opportunity arose for Sidebottom and Stanley. Sidebottom made his eagerly anticipated debut at an inopportune time, whilst Stanley was finally rewarded for consistent excellence in the VFL. Both players had little influence on the match, but at the same time neither disgraced themselves.
Danny Stanley has been a continual talking point amongst Collingwood fans, with people divided over his future prospects. I’ve been a fan of Stanley and have longed for him to be given a decent opportunity at senior level, but that’s not to say I’m confident that he will eventually make it. The fact is, we do know that he is a very good VFL player and there is nothing more that we can learn about him at that level. Whether he could be more is still in doubt and given the state of our season, I see no harm in finding out definitively.
Sidebottom had a good debut considering the circumstances. He racked up 22 touches and looked to adjust to the lift in tempo as the match wore on. His work in contested situations was probably the feature, whilst he also displayed clean hands when attacking the ground ball. He’ll definitely retain his spot and hopefully he can provide us with something to smile about in what could potentially be a very long season.
I thought Maxwell was good throughout, whilst Presti also held strong for the most part despite Riewoldt kicking five. Anthony Rocca also got involved a bit more this week, but given his age and with all due respect to Pebbles I would prefer if he wasn’t the player acting as the source for any silver linings.
Jaxson Barham continued to display his determination and I’m happy to persist with him in hope of ironing out some of his rough edges. Shane O’Bree also gave a good account of himself, whilst Pendlebury despite having what could be considered a quiet game collected respectable stats and provided us with some of our most convincing clearances. I was fairly critical of Sharrod Wellingham based on what he was showing in the VFL leading up to his senior selection, but he has performed well at the top level in his two games so far.
The positives dry up right about there…
Heading into this season, I decided that the year could go either way given that I truly believe we’re in a transitional period all over the field and it’s looking more and more likely that this phase will extend off-field. Recent retirements and our obvious lack of experience have caught up with us, whilst the unpredictable development of players has left us exposed.
I can’t think of any other way to describe our side and performances so far this year other than stale. We showed some spirit against Brisbane but followed it up with the ANZAC Day debacle. Our victories over North Melbourne and Melbourne weren’t as convincing as the scoreboard might suggest, given the quality of those respective teams. Most important of all, Geelong and St. Kilda have shown us just how far off the pace we currently are.
To add insult to injury (or should that be injury to insult?) Josh Fraser, Dane Swan, Dale Thomas and Travis Cloke all sustained injuries during last night’s encounter. With a growing injury list which now contains most of our top bracket, the next few weeks could be very interesting. Regardless of how results fall, we might be given the opportunity to find out more about our list over the coming month.
It’s shaping as a gloomy winter for the Collingwood faithful, although the clouds might part and some warmth be found if we can roll the Blues this coming weekend.
Good to see you back in the saddle 10th Letter.
Agree on Stanley. It seems to me that he has been a bit stiff in that he has been introduced to senior football via very difficult matches. My mind goes back to the first game against Carlton last year when the pace was pretty ferocious.
It is time to give Cam Wood another opportunity. Cox also if fit.
Do you know anything of Sean Rusling? He has now been out for nearly 60 weeks.
Thanks Pedro, it’s good to be back, albeit in a limited capacity.
You’re spot on about Stanley being unlucky in the games he gets a shot in. I hope the club decides to persist with him for at least the coming month, we should be able to make a more informed decision about his future after that.
I’m with you in regards to Cam Wood, he was beginning to show something at VFL level during the last two games I watched (against Williamstown and Bendigo). Bear is also another possibility, as personally I think he provides a much better forward target than Leigh Brown.
As for Rusling, his situation has been a mystery but I think he shouldn’t be too far off. He was listed as 2-4 weeks away a fortnight ago, so there is a possibility he might line up in the VFL this weekend. At this point though, I’ve resigned myself to having no expectations on Rus, as I think anything we might get out of him will be a bonus all things considered.
I’ll just be doing a weekly thoughts/readers digest write-up for a week or two yet, but should be back in full swing sooner rather than later.
Hi 10th letter, just noticed your blog from a google search, so I’m not familiar with history of posts. So I’m sure what I say here has been said before. Regardless of injuries – the goal to goal line of the Pies really does not compete with Geelong, Hawthorn and StKilda. What do recruiters do in the off season? Surely money is not a problem. And I don’t like the way Malthouse insists on chipping the ball around the boundary line. It has the impact of concentrating numbers along the boundary line, that in the event of a turnover, offers lots of space for the opposition to run the ball into the corridor. In other words I think it adds potency to opposition sides with strong goal to goal lines on the counterattack. What do you (others) think?
Welcome Coburn,
Sorry about the delay, but I’m currently on a bit of a hiatus due to work.
I pretty much agree with everything you’ve posted and have just recently added my thoughts regarding the current game plan in my most recent post. Whilst we are restricted to the players that we have available, which arguably may pale in comparison to the top teams at the moment, I personally feel the game plan itself has a tendency to hinder the development of our list.
I don’t think our recruiters have done poorly as we do have some quality on the list that was found from 2005 onwards, but I do have my doubts over whether these players can realise their full potential given the current strategy. As far as recruiting goes, there is also an element of luck. For example, if Hawthorn had have received their priority picks in a year other than 2004, how would their current list – specifically their goal to goal line – be rated?
Credit to Hawthorn, they got those choices right and built a premiership list with those two players being pivotal parts.
I think we still have some time before we can judge our recent recruitment and some changes in perspective, game plan and so forth might also promote the development of our younger players.