Too little too late

Once again the narrative speaks to Collingwood’s late flourish in what was a largely disappointing game. The Pies came to play in the final term, kicking five goals and six behinds to St. Kilda’s two behinds. Unfortunately it was too little, too late and the Pies weren’t able to come back from a 49-point deficit late in the third term.

The momentum stemmed from an increased intensity around the contest, dominating the contested possession count in the final term after suffering badly in that area of the game during the first three quarters.

Taylor Adams sets the tone

Another week, another fantastic effort from Taylor Adams. Collingwood’s star midfielder always brings unquestionable levels of intensity and grit to his game, Sunday afternoon’s match was another example of that.

Adams had 34 disposals, 6 tackles and 4 clearances. He led the match for contested possessions with 17, beating out St Kilda’s Jack Steele (15) and Luke Dunstan (13).

Jordan De Goey in fantastic form

Jordan De Goey has continued his fine form in 2021. Against the Saints, De Goey found the football 32 times and kicked a nice goal to kick start the Pies resurgence. If it wasn’t for wayward kicking, he could’ve had at least two majors to top off a really strong performance.

It’s been a great last 4 games for De Goey, he’s averaging 26 disposals and a goal in what has been a difficult season. His form has improved exponentially with the inclusion of Jamie Elliott, allowing De Goey to spend more time in the midfield and use his time forward as an opportunity to rest the legs.

Question marks over the Cox / Cameron / Mihocek experiment

For the second week in a row the Pies have tried a very tall forward line, with Mason Cox, Darcy Cameron and Brody Mihocek all taking the field. Against Fremantle last week, the trio only managed two goals between them with Mihocek and Cameron kicking one goal each.

This week Mihocek was able to slot two goals and Cox popped up in the final term for a goal, however a total of three goals for the trio might not be enough for the coaches to continue to persist with the tall forward.

Prior to Cox returning to the AFL side, the forward line was functioning quite effectively. Particularly against Melbourne where Cameron had a career-high four goals, complimented perfectly by Mihocek who slotted three himself.

It will be interesting to see if the coaches persist with the tall forward line or resort to a smaller team in the coming weeks.

7 rounds left to make an impact

It’s been a testing season for the Pies, and now with finals seemingly out of the question it will hopefully allow the boys to look to make an impact on the coaching staff as the team looks towards 2022.

In a year where Collingwood has had 7 debutants, perhaps Pies fans might get to witness a few more draftees get a shot on the big stage. There are options such as Jack Ginnivan and Anton Tohill who have been playing well in the VFL lately. Equally, players such as Brayden Sier, Tom Wilson, Mark Keane and Max Lynch continue to string together good performances at the 2nd tier level.