And After The Seventh Game, Collingwood Rested…

It has been an exciting two month period for Collingwood supporters, as we have watched the team put together a winning streak the likes we haven’t seen in some time.  Some would say that our draw for a majority of the last eight weeks has been favourable, but the streak was nonetheless enjoyable and most importantly refreshing considering our trend in recent seasons (including this one) of dropping winnable games.

Prior to the Essendon game, most of us decided that our coming month was going to be the real test.  Matches against Essendon are never clear cut and both sides had a lot to play for, whilst following that game (which resulted in a comfortable victory) we faced the equally in form Western Bulldogs.  For three quarters against the Bulldogs we played some of the best football I have seen us put together in as long as I can remember, before losing the plot in the last and nearly being overrun.

Hanging on by a thread to beat the Bulldogs by a solitary point took a bit of the gloss off of the victory, but regardless we had proven that we could match it against a genuine top four contender.

Also, during our winning streak we managed to topple the Eagles and Swans interstate, which despite their current standing on the ladder still ranks as something of an accomplishment.  Further to this, we were comprehensive winners against the likes of Melbourne, Port Adelaide and Fremantle, finally going for the kill against inferior sides that we historically would have cruised to three or four goal victories against.

Football is a funny game though and whilst we were able to extract countless positives over the last two months, so much of that seems to have been forgotten or rendered irrelevant after a dismal second half showing against Hawthorn.

The Hawks had our measure last year and it seems not much has changed.  Our game plan has again been called into question after failing once more against the zone/cluster defence.  We do have a well publicised preoccupation with the boundary line, although over the last two months we looked to be playing a lot more direct and as a result, found ourselves piecing together some exciting passages through the corridor.  Unfortunately that all unravelled on Saturday night, with Hawthorn’s zone preventing us from spotting up targets; leaving us to flounder against the boundary line.

I’ve expressed my distaste for the boundary line game plan before and Saturday night was a reminder of just how frustrating it is to witness, but I don’t think Saturday’s effort can be entirely attributed to the game plan.  The signs were ominous in the first quarter as Franklin looked threatening and our boys – quite frankly – looked flat.  We play our best football when we pressure the ball-carrier and make the opposition pay when they turn it over, but on Saturday night our pressure was lacking from the get go.  All year our midfielders and even forwards on occasion have worked hard to get back and assist our defenders, but on Saturday night we seemed content to merely flood the defensive fifty without really locking things down or generating any rebound.

Alan Didak was perhaps our barometer, as he was visibly annoyed at being tagged closely and decided to busy himself with pointless pushing and shoving.  Didak has been brilliant for roughly a month, but he had his colours lowered against Hawthorn and hopefully for our sake he can bounce back strongly against Carlton this week.  Brad Dick has found it difficult to influence the match in recent weeks, but I’m not sure whether he requires a spell in the VFL as opportunistic forwards – which he is at this stage – generally shine or go unsighted.

Paul Medhurst is still struggling to find form, whilst our forward line in general hasn’t been as settled as we would like.  We were also reminded on Saturday night that we are yet to find an answer for Franklin, but then we are yet to find an answer for Hawthorn at large.  Their midfield tends to bully ours at this stage, as besides O’Bree and Swan we don’t have enough players with grunt to match the likes of Mitchell, Sewell, Lewis and Hodge.  Compounding this is the fact that our ruck division suffers from the same deficiency in body strength, whilst as laden with grunt as the Hawks midfield might be, they are still very damaging with the ball in hand.

I’m not going to pretend that I haven’t shared some of the qualms other supporters have about our game plan and some of the decisions made at the selection table, but I am still surprised at how fast the knives come out when such losses occur.  The loss was disappointing as we barely gave a yelp after half-time and aside from Heath Shaw and Nathan Brown there weren’t too many positives to take away from the match.  With that said, even after our form over the last seven weeks most logical supporters would have realised that we are not yet amongst the ilk of Geelong or St. Kilda and despite their wayward season, when they have their act together Hawthorn rank alongside those outfits.

It’s not accepting mediocrity, but rather being realistic.  We are still developing the list and have been treated to some promising signs from our younger brigade as well as our maturing players.  We simply lack the seasoned class and perpetual hardness that the upper echelon possesses; which isn’t to say that it’s not on the horizon.

We have passed a few tests over recent weeks, but we failed this one.  It’s easy to get carried away when Collingwood are up and running, even the media are just as susceptible as the average Collingwood supporter when it comes to riding the wave.  Whilst the wave has come crashing down, I like to think that after seven consecutive wins – a rarity from recent Collingwood sides – the watermark has been set a little higher on the shores of our desired destination.