Forget honourable losses, Collingwood must win against Port Adelaide if it wants to play finals
NO MORE honourable losses. Forget structures. Collingwood simply has to win this weekend or fans can start planning their September holidays, writes MATTHEW LLOYD.
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IF Collingwood loses to Port Adelaide, it’s season over.
Collingwood only has itself to blame for having to play mini-finals in June, a scenario no club ever wants but when you don’t bank early wins, you are forever chasing your tail and Nathan Buckley’s men have no margin for error from this point on.
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That is the negative but the positive is that Collingwood are currently playing the best football they have played in the last two years.
Melbourne took the four points away with them on Queen’s Birthday but Collingwood’s first-half performance was of the highest standard due to its midfield dominance and relentless pressure, and the Magpies now look to be playing with more dash and dare than they were earlier in the season.
I walked away from the Anzac Day match against Essendon, when Collingwood had just slumped to a one and four win-loss record and thought, ‘This is a side bereft of confidence and there is no synergy or cohesion between the midfield and forward line’, which was causing major headaches for all concerned.
Collingwood was averaging just 76 points a game, was ranked 18th for goals per inside-50 and was rarely using the corridor out of defence, which was making scoring so difficult when most attacking moves were coming via the boundary.
Five days later against Geelong, Collingwood played an unrecognisable brand of football to the one it played with against Essendon. The Magpies midfield brigade of Taylor Adams, Adam Treloar, Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom played with an energy and freedom that hadn’t been seen the previous five weeks and they blew the unbeaten Cats off the MCG.
Collingwood has had more ups than downs since then and the Magpies now look capable of beating anyone at their best, which couldn’t have been said about them earlier in the season.
The highly touted midfield is absolutely flying and the small to medium defenders in Jeremy Howe, Brayden Maynard and Jack Crisp have started to run, carry and create in a way that is making scoring far easier for Collingwood than it was two months ago.
Gone is the boundary-hugging football and in has come the attack through the central corridor running game and, as a result, the Pies have scored almost four extra goals a game since that loss to Essendon back in Round 5.
Port Adelaide is a side striving to find the consistency required that push for a top-four finish at the end of the home-and-away rounds. Essendon’s midfield embarrassed the Power only a fortnight ago and there were some pretty ordinary defensive efforts from the highly talented Port Adelaide engine room of Chad Wingard, Robbie Gray and Jared Polec.
The Collingwood midfield has the ability and depth to put Port Adelaide to the sword on a venue that the Power hasn’t played at this year, the mighty MCG.
One of the battles worth the admission price will be Brodie Grundy against Patrick Ryder. They are the two in-form ruckmen in the game but play complete contrasting styles.
Ryder will win more hitouts and push forward to hit the scoreboard more than Grundy will, but it’s Grundy’s competitiveness and ability to win so much ball around the ground that sets him apart from other ruckmen. Grundy had 53 hitouts, 19 disposals and laid 10 tackles against Melbourne, which proves just what an impact he is having on his star-studded midfield.
Despite the two-game buffer and respective ladder positions of both Port Adelaide and Collingwood, I believe the Magpies cannot only take it up to Port Adelaide but will actually beat them.
They just have to. This is statement time for all involved in what the black and white army say is the biggest club in the country.
No more honourable losses. Nothing but the four points is good enough today. Anything less and I hate to think of what some of the commentary will be like around coach Nathan Buckley yet again.
That pressure has crippled Collingwood over many years but the Magpies cannot play with a noose around their necks today. The Magpies need to be bold and play with a freedom that allows the likes of Alex Fasolo, Darcy Moore and Jeremy Howe to play exhilarating, instinctive football.
Forget the most hated word in football — “structures” — just play, and the rest should take care of itself.
If it doesn’t, Collingwood can start planning for some September holidays for the fourth year in a row.
Originally published as Forget honourable losses, Collingwood must win against Port Adelaide if it wants to play finals
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