I bought into so many arguments within the low season about the place Collingwood stood.
I used to be repeatedly assured we have been higher off with out Adam Treloar and Tom Phillips. They have been labelled horrible ball customers, so how might we not enhance with out them within the aspect?
I used to be instructed we might cowl for Jaidyn Stephenson. People threw hypothetical groups at me, citing that gamers reminiscent of Brayden Sier and Nathan Murphy and that any of the swathes of draftees Collingwood picked up would thrive given their alternative.
The membership knew what it was doing. That was flung at me time and again and over.
The membership knew what it was doing. I used to be destructive. I had it fallacious. I used to be being pessimistic.
And right here we’re in Collingwoodland, 2-7.
Do I see any admission that these individuals bought it fallacious? Do I see any recognition that the membership has mucked this up? Do I see any alarm in anyway?
Nope.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Now, it might be one factor if that alarm have been missing as a result of we have been coping with unflappable insightful personalities. But we’re not. We’re coping with individuals who can see no fallacious, who consider solely in the perfect conceivable. I can’t even label them optimists. They’re fatalists. Fatalists who consider Collingwood are apparently infallible. Even after they’re not.
While Treloar and Phillips might sometimes burn the ball, I typically questioned if that wasn’t exaggerated due to Collingwood’s system.
Look at Collingwood’s talent degree now. It’s deplorable. Am I meant to consider that Collingwood has a set of gamers on their checklist who don’t know methods to use the ball? That guys like Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom out of the blue have misplaced all their kicking expertise?
Or are gamers continuously put below stress, leading to panicked disposals? Is there poor structural motion leading to kicking to congestion? Is there an overcomplication in ball motion that has gamers second and even triple-guessing each disposal?
These are all issues I see frequently. Every participant will sometimes burn the ball, and some are worse than others, however I consider Collingwood’s sport plan – and the best way it’s systematically damaged down over the past three years – has exacerbated these figures.
If you observe the stats, each Adam Treloar and Tom Phillips have travelled at about 70 per cent disposal effectivity at their new golf equipment – that’s a far cry from individuals who asserted they burned the ball as a rule. I’d hazard a guess that Treloar is at the moment in All Australian calculations.
Jaidyn Stephenson stays a thriller. Too many individuals have used a poor 2020 because the personification of who he’s. Granted, Stephenson had a horrible 2020. He regarded timid and not sure. Yet he nonetheless ended up second on Collingwood’s aim kicking.
He received the Rising Star in 2018. Yes, not each Rising Star winner goes on to have a superb profession, however up till his suspension Stephenson’s 2019 was monitoring higher than his debut yr. This will not be opinion; it’s within the stats.
Is he a flawless participant? No. Were there issues in 2020? Certainly – however any variety of different gamers additionally struggled with hub life. Was Stephenson irredeemable? Well, for some cause Collingwood appeared to consider so.
If it was purely a wage cap squeeze, there are quite a few older gamers I’d’ve chopped earlier than a possible ten-year prospect. And even when Stephenson was problematic, recognising the upside I’d’ve taken that gamble on persevering with him relatively than getting again just about nothing. If Stephenson wasn’t value of venture, it’s a failure of individuals of the membership to not establish that previous to drafting, and a failure of the individuals in cost who are supposed to nurture and develop him.
Stephenson’s type at North Melbourne has confirmed he can play. I nonetheless learn related complaints about him that have been expressed final yr. These criticisms are unfair given his statistical return in a aspect that’s creating and, up till the final fortnight, was frequently belted.
Ironically, Collingwood lack run and carry, and these three gamers – these gamers they claimed they might cowl – would’ve helped them. Treloar (being performed as Luke Beveridge is taking part in him), Phillips (if he was returned to the wing relatively than performed as a defensive ahead, as occurred in 2020), and Stephenson (if he was promoted into the midfield, which certainly should’ve been the eventual aim) are all gamers eminently certified to hold the ball, break traces and supply linkages.
Nathan Murphy is rated extremely internally. Collingwood valued him equally with Jaidyn Stephenson within the draft, and if Stephenson wasn’t accessible at Pick 6, they might’ve gone with Murphy. Instead Collingwood have been in a position to get him with Pick 39.
Murphy performed a few video games in 2018 after which struggled with accidents for 2 years. This yr he’s regarded succesful, however he’s nonetheless a child who got here into the season with simply two video games below his belt and two seasons since his final AFL look.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Brayden Sier had an exquisite 2018 – a giant midfielder who might get up in tackles and hearth out fantastically weighted handballs. He performed a handful of video games in 2019 and 2020 and regarded for no matter cause a shadow of himself.
These two have proven all of the qualities of real AFL gamers, however I’m not sure why anyone thought Murphy (with two video games below his belt going into 2021) and Sier (with 21 video games going into 2021) might instantly and persistently change Treloar (173 video games), Phillips (89 video games) or Stephenson (54 video games).
That’s simply not how AFL works.
Unless the child is supremely proficient and hits the bottom working – like Chris Judd, Matt Rowell or, dare I say it, Jaidyn Stephenson – they’ll present the occasional spotlight, play the occasional good sport however take two to 4 seasons to essentially discover themselves at this degree.
Collingwood has debuted six gamers this yr in addition to continued to pump video games into guys like Murphy, Mark Keane, Will Kelly, Tyler, Callum Brown, Darcy Cameron, Isaac Quaynor, John Noble et cetera.
Given this checklist profile, I’m not sure how anyone thought all these younger gamers would merely be plug and play and change not solely these gamers who have been traded but additionally those who retired. More than that, some claimed these replacements would enhance Collingwood.
Then we have to take care of the on-field devolution we’re been seeing since 2019. It’s the identical checklist of points: poor expertise, poor decision-making, an absence of connectivity, damaged tackles, indecisive ball motion, vulnerability on the counterattack, horrible ahead entries and too many gamers getting too little of the ball.
And that’s earlier than we take scoring into consideration. On Saturday we noticed Collingwood look amazingly purposeful and kick 4 objectives within the first quarter however then only one extra for the sport. This will not be a brand new downside.
(Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos through Getty Images)
In 2020 they kicked one aim in three quarters in opposition to Geelong within the semi-final. Against Essendon in Round 5 Collingwood kicked three objectives within the third quarter after which didn’t rating a aim for the following two quarters. Against St Kilda, Collingwood kicked ten objectives within the first half and simply two objectives for the second half. In Round 2 in opposition to Richmond they kicked 4 objectives within the first quarter, one within the second and none within the second half.
Go again to 2019 they usually kicked three objectives within the first quarter in opposition to GWS within the preliminary ultimate after which didn’t rating one other aim for the following two quarters. Against Geelong within the qualifying ultimate they didn’t rating a aim within the second half.
This is excluding all of the instances they kicked low returns.
The signs of the on-field breakdown have been there; they have been accessible for everyone to diagnose. But most unconsidered them, like that pack-a-day smoker who’s starting to wheeze and cough however doesn’t admit that possibly, simply possibly, his behavior is guilty.
Instead of acknowledging there have been points to be addressed, many one way or the other anticipated that the individuals who weren’t at the moment in a position to treatment them would one way or the other treatment them. Why? If you have been repeatedly seeing a health care provider for an ailment that they couldn’t repair, you’d go to a unique physician.
Sydney Swans have at all times been a dour, defensive aspect below not solely John Longmire but additionally his predecessor, Paul Roos. This yr they have introduced in Don Pyke to help with their attacking aspect. Melbourne introduced in Mark Williams.
Collingwood caught with the identical individuals and for some cause anticipated they might repair these issues or that one way or the other bringing all these younger gamers into the group would instantly enhance them.
Some may cite accidents. Well, accidents are part of AFL soccer, significantly at Collingwood. For Collingwood to have been aggressive this yr they might’ve successfully wanted their greatest 15 to remain on the park the entire yr – an unrealistic expectation.
All the proof was there that Collingwood would have a poor 2021 – nicely, should you wished to see it.
Some don’t. They nonetheless don’t. And that is the factor that astonishes me: there have been individuals who noticed all this coming, who ranted about it, and but they have been condemned as destructive. Given what they foresaw has come to cross, you have to reassess them. They’re not destructive. They’re reasonable. What they stated would occur is going on. That’s actuality relatively than negativity or pessimism.
And the individuals who thought it might all be fantastic, that there was nothing to see right here, that condemned everyone else as overreacting, have seamlessly modified narrative with none acknowledgement about simply how fallacious they bought it.
Now it’s all about what Collingwood’s lacking, in regards to the rebuild – despite the fact that the membership themselves urged they have been rejuvenating the checklist and anticipated to play finals this yr. It’s about sustaining the established order as a result of – nicely, I don’t know.
If you’re not going to acknowledge issues, should you’re not going to establish the problems after they’re evident at you, should you’re simply going to requalify your stance when that actuality is battering you time and again, then nothing will ever change, as a result of in your world no fact is ever faced.
