Collingwood And Sydney Prepare For All-out Defence

The Age

Friday July 4, 2008

Nick Sheridan

THE past five rounds have delivered some impressive results for Collingwood coach Michael Malthouse and his brood of young Pies, but there is one stat that the veteran coach would be particularly pleased with.

In the games since round nine, Collingwood has become the second-most effective defensive side in the league.

It would surprise nobody to learn that, throughout 2008, Sydney has been the AFL's top defensive side. But according to Champion Data statistics, over the past five rounds, Collingwood has been the prime mover in two key defensive measurements - percentage of times an opposition scored goals from inside 50s, and points against.

Up until round nine, Collingwood was conceding goals from 30.5% of the opposition's entries into its defensive 50, placing it ninth in the league.

Since then, the Magpies have brought that percentage down to 25.3%, ranking them second in the league behind Sydney. Between those two periods, they have also moved from ninth to sixth-lowest in points against, and are now fifth in the league overall.

Of course, they have also managed to thrash premier Geelong and West Coast, and slug out a win against a spirited Melbourne.

The key to this improvement, according to Collingwood assistant coach Brad Scott, has been the Magpies' ability to slow the opposition's ball movement through the centre of the ground, enabling them to get numbers back to lend their defenders support.

Scott said the tactic gave the Magpies the ability to perform well in defence without having to rely on the dominance of one or two key defenders. This has served the Magpies particularly well, given the absence of veteran backman Simon Prestigiacomo, who has not played all year due to a foot injury, but Scott said the Pies would continue to use the tactic even if Prestigiacomo returns to bolster their defence.

"If you start relying on your key talls to repel 60-plus inside 50s (per game), then that's not going to hold up on a consistent basis," Scott said. "We try to play finals-type football every week and that's what we believe wins finals, good defensive principles, so we try to put it into practice every week."

Defence is an aspect of the Magpies' game that, Scott said, head coach Malthouse has always taken very seriously. "We're never happy until we're in the top four of defensive mechanisms," Scott said.

With the Magpies set to face Sydney at ANZ Stadium tomorrow night, Scott said the two sides had more in common than many people might think.

"To be honest, they play a very similar style to us," he said. "Having said that, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a dour struggle - both sides kick goals - but it's always a good game because it's a very similar style."

CASE FOR THE DEFENCE

From round 9-13:

? Collingwood has allowed the opposition to score from 25% of inside 50s, second-lowest in the AFL. From rounds 1-8, it conceded 31%, seventh-lowest strike-rate.

? The Pies average six more goals than the opposition - ranked equal-first.

? Harry O'Brien has won 25 possessions from the opposition - fourth in the AFL and No. 1 of defenders.

? Nick Maxwell is third in AFL spoils with 32.

© 2008 The Age

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