Heading into the game against Richmond, I was slightly apprehensive as to how the team would perform. In previous seasons, we have had a tendency to drop such games against inferior opposition, particularly when backing up after an impressive victory. With our top four spot not yet cemented, it was imperative that we took the four points away from our encounter with Richmond, along with some all important percentage.
Come Saturday night, we had achieved both of those objectives in a big way.
After kicking two of the first three goals Richmond were simply insipid, putting on a disgraceful display that was disrespectful to both departing son Joel Bowden and the Richmond faithful. The fireworks aside, the indifference that Richmond displayed when required to at least be competitive made the game something of a comedy, even awkward to watch at times despite the fact that I’m a Collingwood supporter.
The Magpies simply dismantled Richmond and if not for sloppy conversion would have posted one of the more embarrassingly lop-sided scoreboards for the season, with only Fremantle’s effort against Adelaide keeping Richmond away from that shameful achievement. We played well in what was a one-sided contest, but I would hope that the club would try not to extract or spend too much time on any positives from what was an admittedly forgettable game.
That’s not to say that we weren’t impressive in patches, or that there weren’t any notable individual performances. Simply put, any side would have beaten Richmond on Saturday and despite being dominant, I feel that matches such as this one carry a risk of potentially manipulating a side’s form in a negative fashion. The errant kicking for example was a direct result of players becoming a little more relaxed and lazy when executing basic skills; we cannot afford to squander such opportunities against the better teams, particularly during September.
I’m sure the coaches wouldn’t be reading too much into the result aside from the fact that the percentage gained was a most welcome bonus at this time of the year.
The biggest talking point to come out of the game was the melee that ensued during the second quarter, after Jake King struck Alan Didak in an off-the-ball incident while play was stopped. As Didak received a free kick and attempted to play on and run around the mark, he was dispossessed by King, who then found himself in the unenviable position of being in possession of the football whilst surrounded by a contingent of Magpies out for revenge.
Lockyer was the first to meet King, driving him into the ground before Leigh Brown and Dane Swan piled on, leaving King invisible and vulnerable at the bottom of the pack. Players swarmed and spot fires broke out everywhere as the umpires completely lost control of the match. Whilst this is the sort of thing the AFL has attempted to remove from the game, it was good to see a little bit of passion emerge. As a Collingwood supporter, it was great to see the entire team fly the flag whilst at the same time being mindful not to do anything stupid that would leave them at the mercy of the match review panel.
We’ve been thrown many tests over the last three months and we’ve handled all but one of them in flying colours, the melee with Richmond – whilst not a test – was a good exercise to reinforce the team’s solidarity. With finals football just around the corner and the intensity set to rise, a little niggle was perhaps just what the doctor ordered. Because of that, I’m not bitter towards Jake King or even Hislop for that matter, as I think they may have just done us a favour.
But the football is ultimately what is most important and on Saturday we were treated to some very good signs from the likes of Wellingham and Beams in particular. Beams notched up his first 30 possession game, which given the state of play may have come with an asterisk if not for the manner in which he racked up those numbers. Dayne ran hard to provide an option and linked up well, but most notably he was in-and-under at every opportunity putting his head over the ball during a match where Richmond had signalled its intentions early. Not only was Beamer clean at ground level, but he created a lot of opportunities from less than 50-50 contests. Topping off his game, Dayne showed his class by slotting a difficult shot from 40 metres out tucked up against the boundary line.
Sharrod Wellingham made the most of his opportunity against Richmond, showing class, poise and hardness in several contested situations. Wellingham has really come along this year and whilst he had a patch where he ran out of spark, the rest he was given in the seconds looks to have been just the medicine. Wellingham’s work in close has gone up a level this year, at times he has been Pendlebury like in the clenches with his decisive clearance work. The best part is that despite Wellingham’s performances this year already making a good case for his continual selection, there looks to be ample room for improvement. Sharrod finished the game with 19 disposals but most likely would have added to that had he not lost game time after cramping up in the third.
As we await the return of Fraser, Cameron Wood continues to cement his name in the senior side. Whilst not as prominent as last week, Wood put in another good performance against Richmond and continues to work hard around the ground. Brad Dick’s forward pressure was on show once again, highlighting just how important he is to our side. In modern football, most clubs like to use the back half as a springboard for attack and having players such as Dick and Thomas continually harassing within our forward 50 severely hinders the opposition from collecting themselves and setting up play.
John Anthony worked hard all day and is really becoming something more than just a lead-up target. He has shown willingness over the last month to work as far up the field as our defensive 50, whilst still managing to provide a dangerous option up forward. His kicking has admittedly been shaky lately, but we’ve seen how good he can be and Jack is still a pup after all. With a little more maturity and experience, it’s a reasonable expectation for Jack to contribute 50+ goals a season.
Our back line was solid once again, with Heath Shaw back to his best at providing drive from defence. Leigh Brown had a game he would like to forget, but given that Nathan Brown seems to be struggling with a knee complaint I’m not expecting Leroy to face the axe just yet. Chris Dawes was serviceable without standing out and as a result may be vulnerable when Fraser becomes available. Whilst I wouldn’t consider him quite ready yet, I’ve liked what Dawes has shown at senior level as he seems to have improved upon his earlier performances this year, managing to get involved a lot more the past two weeks.
In the end, it was a dominant victory against one of the poorer sides I’ve had the displeasure of watching this year. You know things are bad when despite the agro that was exhibited during the game, I could feel nothing but pity for Richmond and in particular, their fans. As for Collingwood, we continue to march on and if we can put away Sydney for the 100th time in succession this coming weekend, then we could very well have third spot sewn up prior to the final round — a position that could make things interesting at the selection table against the Bulldogs.
