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My thoughts on how to beat Collingwood

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After watching Collingwood a great deal over the year, these are my thoughts on how you beat them.

1. They don't like tackling pressure on the ball carrier. Rather than let guys like Thomas, Pendlebury and Beams run around on their own, hit them hard every time they go near the ball. It frustrates them and throws them off their game. We are the best tackling team in the comp (72 per game), and if we make 80-90 tackles we are well on our way to winning.

2. They are extremely vulnerable to the outside run. In every loss they've had this year, the runners took them apart. This was especially noticable in their 2 losses to Carlton. Garlett, Walker, Judd, Carrazzo and Yarran made them look very slow, with little pressure coming from the Collingwood half forwards. Shaw, Jack, Jetta etc. will be very dangerous IF they can find enough space.

3. Their back line without Maxwell is a weakness (How many times did Maxwell mark unopposed when we last played?). Ben Reid aside, they don't have a lot there. Tarrant is finished and Brown has injury issues. O'Brien does very little in man on man contests. If he is left alone (just as we did earlier in the season) he'll run off, but if someone like Morton can drag him back to the goal square, he's in a lot of trouble. He HATES being left one out close to goal. O'Brien is not a great overhead mark or spoiler. That's where Morton's got him. You can also roll Goodes or Bolton onto him and burn him off on the lead.

4. The ruck is a place we can really take advantage. Both Pyke and Mumford were ordinary last time, so they have to make him pay. With the likelihood that Dawes won't play, they don't have a second option. Jolly will have to go all night. We have to put body pressure on him at every contest and slowly but surely wear him down. Also, P & M have to drag him deep into defence as often as possible. Jolly is not a great defender and you can expect P & M (who are good for 2/3 goals a game now) to work him over in attack.

5. Don't worry about a tag on Swan. No team bothers with him anymore. Why? His possessions are pretty worthless. He gets a lot of 15-20 metre kicks that don't do a lot, he has a tendency to turn the ball over (ranked 8 in the AFL for clangers) and doesn't kick inside 50 anywhere near as much as Beams. His strength is his ability to go forward and kick goals. And when he does he usually kicks 2 or 3.

6. Shut down Beams. He is by far their most dangerous player. He, and Collingwood in general, get a lot of uncontested ball. If we keep things inside and tight, and play on the burst, it will severely limit his effectiveness.

Anyone have any thoughts?

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Sydney Swans , Seniors , AFL - General

Comments

  1. ShockOfHair's Avatar
    There won't be any tags anyway - it'll be mano e mano. And you're definitely right about Maxwell - they'll miss him because the Swans love to kick it long to the forward line and he's the specialist third man up.

    But I think they'll just be mentally and physically tired and like Geelong in the EF, this'll be a bridge too far for them. They showed great spirit in coming back against the Eagles (and against us) but the Swans' fresh legs and more settled structure will outlast them.
  2. ScottH's Avatar
    Well, I reckon your John Longmire??
    That is pretty much what happened.
  3. Lucky Knickers's Avatar
    I completely miss the blogs these days.
    Can the saucepan take down the Hawks?
  4. ugg's Avatar
    Recent vistors: Henry

    Henry...Playfair?
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