This week's 'Stat Attack' features the history of the Harry O'Brien versus Stephen Milne match up, the loss of Travis Cloke and a player feature on Darren Jolly.
Harry v Milne??
A look at the previous contests between Collingwood and St Kilda suggests that on Saturday afternoon, Harry O’Brien will walk directly to Stephen Milne and look to emulate his recent form against the goal sneak.??
The Magpie defender has held Milne, who has kicked 414 goals for his career and has averaged 2.5 goals per game in 2010, to just one goal in their last two contests. The two have lined up for 175 minutes over the last two matches with Milne booting one goal while O’Brien has had two more total possessions.??
Prior to the recent success, O’Brien has had difficulty negating the 30-year-old’s impact on the scoreboard. Milne has kicked 10 goals on O’Brien in four matchups including bags of four and three majors.??
A look at the table below shows the recent match ups between the two players.??
It is interesting to note O’Brien’s first match up against the Saints saw him hold Nick Riewoldt goalless in the round 14 encounter in 2007.???
| Game | Minutes | Goals allowed | Disposal differential |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010: Round 3 | 102 | 1 | +2 |
| 2009: Qualifying final | 73 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009: Round 7 | 97 | 4 | +5 |
| 2008: Semi final | 84 | 3 | -4 |
| 2008: Round 19 | 89 | 2 | +5 |
| 2008: Round 8 | 110 | 1 | -3 |
| 2007: Round 14 (on Riewoldt) | 98 | 0 | -3 |
The loss of Travis
Collingwood will be forced to play its next two matches without key forward Travis Cloke, who accepted a two-match ban with an early plea for striking Port Adelaide’s Travis Boak in last week’s win.
The 23-year-old has been a key to his side’s success this year and is posting similar numbers to his 2007 Copeland Trophy season.???
| Year | K | H | D | D% | CP | M | CM | G | Acc% | In50 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 11.4 | 3.6 | 15.0 | 68.0 | 7.3 | 6.7 | 2.5 | 1.4 | 52.5 | 4.7 | 2.1 |
| 2007 (Copeland) | 11.8 | 2.7 | 14.5 | 64.4 | 5.5 | 7.4 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 50.0 | 4.8 | 2.0 |
Player feature: Darren Jolly??
Darren Jolly is playing some of his best footy in his 10th season at the highest level.??
The 200-centimetre giant is averaging career highs in disposals (12.4), contested possessions (5.3), marks (5.2), goals (0.9) and inside 50s (2.3).
Jolly enjoyed a career high game against West Coast booting four goals while taking 13 marks. ??
He is the second most accurate Magpie kicking for goal at 77.8% (14.4) and is second on the ruckmen goal kicking leaderboard (one behind Essendon’s Patrick Ryder).
