Hot And Cold Magpies Seek Intensity

The Age

Saturday July 26, 2008

Rohan Connolly

An inconsistent Collingwood will actually face lowly Essendon today with a sense of trepidation.

COLLINGWOOD'S 86-point demolition of Geelong that memorable Friday night back in May has become the proverbial beacon of hope for any opponent about to take on the intimidating might of the Cats.

The Magpies were magnificent that evening; committed, aggressive, relentless and, in the end, triumphant. Geelong felt the heat right from the start, its normally sublime midfield strangled for time and space as Collingwood laid crunching tackle after tackle, finishing the game with an astonishing count of 85.

It was six goals to two at quarter-time, 11 to three at the long break, and 20 to seven at the end, an embarrassing couple of hours for the premier on the big Friday night stage.

It is a performance Geelong's 14 other rivals would no doubt have studied intently, and one that would give the Cats some serious think-music come September. The only problem is, Geelong might not even have Collingwood to worry about.

The Magpies go into today's MCG clash with Essendon on a precipice. A loss and a Sydney win over Adelaide this evening will put them 21/2 games outside the top four with only five left to play. And as far as premiership hopes go, given that only two of 32 preliminary finalists since the revamping of the final eight have made it from outside the top four, that will be that.

Against an injury-plagued Essendon, today should be a soda for the Magpies, going in very warm favourites. But in 2008, it's exactly the type of assignment that has proved Collingwood's undoing. The Pies have lost seven games, two each to Carlton and North Melbourne, another to the Brisbane Lions. Only two defeats, to Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs, have come against opponents higher on the ladder.

Collingwood pushed the Doggies every inch of the way in that round-13 clash. It made a mess of Geelong, and had a very authoritative five-goal win over top-four rival Sydney the following round.

But the intensity of effort that marked those performances and, indeed, was consistently a calling card of the Magpies' outstanding 2007, hasn't been nearly as reliable this year. And when the Pies don't have that intensity, they suffer more than most.

Former Magpie captain Nathan Buckley wrote about it in these pages just over a month ago. And five games and three more losses on, that view has only been strengthened.

Collingwood relies far more heavily than its top-order rivals on forcing opposition turnovers with pressure, particularly in the midfield, where it stacks numbers. When it has to create attack from defence, it struggles.

"I think they're very good counterattackers and counterpunchers in that three or four seconds when they cause the turnover, before the opposition knows it's defending," Buckley says. "If the opposition knows Collingwood will have the ball out of, say, defence, and it's a slow play, they're a lot easier to defend against because they kick a lot and they're predictable. You know what they prefer, which is uncontested targets, so you just deny them that."

Champion Data figures back up Buckley's argument. Only Geelong starts more scoring launches (unbroken chains of possession leading to a score) in the forward 50 than Collingwood. In midfield, the Magpies are ranked fifth.

But when it comes to scoring chains launched from defence, the Magpies are equal-second-last alongside West Coast, with only Port Adelaide faring worse. Consider the Power and Eagles ladder positions of 13th and 15th, and you have an idea of the size of the anomaly.

Opposition strategists and coaches consider Collingwood's defence its weakest link, but its tactic of flooding the midfield with numbers and pressure can still make penetrating it difficult.

"They concentrate on defence between the arcs," says one coach. "They'll let you chip the ball around your back 50, but they don't allow you easy access to your forward line. The way to beat that is simply to move it quickly. Sydney has trouble with Collingwood because it doesn't move the ball quickly enough."

And perhaps, on a more psychological level, because of its renowned appetite for the contest, Sydney is always an opponent that necessitates a committed, hard-bitten approach.

The Collingwood of 2007 was routinely portrayed as the ultimate "blue-collar" team, which in truth probably sold short its level of skill. The paradox is that this season, as the individual talents of the likes of Dale Thomas, Paul Medhurst, Alan Didak and Leon Davis have been given more kudos, and the Pies have increased their skill level even further, reflected by increases in kicking and disposal efficiency, that less spectacular, gritty intensity, which helped get them within a kick of a grand final appearance in the first place has fallen away a little.

Hot and cold is the story of Collingwood's season, the cold delivered all too often when the Pies, relative to their opposition, should be at their hottest. Geelong, certainly, will be very pleased should that trend continue this afternoon and the top four slip beyond Collingwood's reach.

And silly as it seems, the Magpies have every right to be every bit as concerned about a seemingly innocuous clash with a side 12th on the AFL ladder as about any potential future clash with a rampant premier.

© 2008 The Age

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