Collingwood vs Brisbane: Early thoughts. Intent and intimidation:

Collingwood vs Brisbane: Early thoughts. Intent and intimidation:
By Luke Mason

The first nine rounds of 2006 have seen Collingwood quash a number of myths and bogeys, in continuing on what may yet prove the road to victory.
First off, we wrote (partially) some of our wrongs of 2005 by flogging the Kangaroos, with Chris Tarrant leading the way. It was Tarrant who scored a behind in the final mad minute against North Melbourne (they really do need to revive their real name) in round four last season, basically severing our season and demoralising confidence.
Not Tazza’s fault, of course, but it was still good to get the foot back on the Roos throats.
That was, of course, prior to when we discovered how poor North are currently playing. They are now in a rut, and perhaps Taz’s demolition job in round three played a hand in it. We shrugged off a persistent Essendon a week later in the return to the MCG. Although the Bombers may be set on the floor of the ladder, they haven’t been playing as poorly as their placing suggests.
Had they kicked straight early on against us and had a little more resolve/Matthew Lloyd, they may well have come home winners.
Thankfully they didn’t, instead we jumped another bogey side and chalked up win number three on the trot.
Then came Port. Now everyone knows that they are our bunnies, even when we are down and they are up, we still tend to frighten them.
We duly gave them a nice old touch up to the tune of 44 points, reopened a few old wounds and with Buckley and Rocca at the helm, cruised home.
Next in line was the old enemy Carlton. So much for rivalry round, we notched up a lazy 72 point victory, and drove their heads into the MCG turf in the second half. Just what you’d expect when a top four side meets a bottom two team.
We dropped our first in six weeks when we lost to the Eagles the following week, over at Subiaco, of course.
It was a brave effort, especially considering the fact that we conceded a four goal deficit early. All good signs, just what any Collingwood fan wants to see.
Some people reckon that losing by 14 points wasn’t a cause for satisfaction. To an extent, they are right, but when you take on the toughest road trip there is, against a powerpacked midfield including names such as Judd, Cousins, Kerr, Fletcher, Braun, Embley...well, you know the drill...
The most positive thing to stem from the loss was the thumping win seven days later over Geelong. 102 points, another onetime bogey side bites the dust.
Last week was a regulation victory over a valiant but ultimately undersized Western Bulldogs outfit, a night on which we rarely slipped out of second or third gear.
Now comes the biggest mental hurdle to date: Brisbane.
The mob from over the boarder has popped our bubble that many times it isn’t funny any more (not that it was at the time, either).
It’s time we took things into our own hands and pummelled them, gave them a right old thumping. After all, it is what they deserve.
A win on Saturday night will not amount to any revenge for those two Grand Final losses in 2002 and 2003, and it will not relieve any pain whatsoever.
But it will prove mighty sweet. We have not beaten the Lions since the Qualifying Final of 2003, and prior to that round eight of 2002, at Colonial Stadium, or the AFL paradise, as it may be dubbed.
And can you remember the last time that we met Brisbane with the following players on the field and not in the grandstands?
Nathan Buckley
Chris Tarrant
Anthony Rocca
Josh Fraser
....?
For those who can’t remember, it was round three of 2004 at the Gabba. We lost, of course, but in the first term Taz limped off with a hamstring injury, and it would prove the evening in which Bucks twinged his hamstring, an issue which would plague him until midway through 2005.
So it was hardly a night that saw all hands on deck.
The final time all four were fit and firing was the 2003 Qualifying Final, and yes, we won. It’s no coincidence that Bucks and Taz starred that night, while Rocca, subdued for much of the night, sealed the game late in the last quarter.
Pebbles, of course, would have played in the Grand Final of that season had he not cocked his elbow in the direction of Brendan Lade’s neck in the Preliminary Final.
But I’m not bitter...well, I hope I’m not! But the fact remains, we were without him and it hurt us.
Following the mental/physical bashings of 2002, 2003 and 2004, the following players, for one reason or another, have been targeted, fairly or otherwise, by the media and club supporters:
· Leon Davis
· Shane Woewodin
· Alan Didak
Richard Cole
Rhyce Shaw
Ben Kinnear
Jason Cloke
Ryan Lonie
Tristan Walker
Matthew Lokan
Damn that is a lot of players who were rightly or wrongly perceived as no shows for the 2002 Grand Final, 2003 Grand Final or both.
I reckon that Dids was wrongly chucked in that group, as he was arguably our best in the 2003 debacle, and has proven himself in many different matches since.
As for the others, well, they have either moved on, fallen away, or taken positive steps forward in their developments as footballers.
Woey, Lokan and Kinnear have all packed their bags and left either Victoria Park of the Lexus Centre, while Cole is now in the Red and Black of...the Bendigo Bombers. He is at the moment an immense talent unfulfilled.
Davis, Shaw and Lonie have all taken some major steps toward becoming the players they were hyped up as when drafted – ie, fast, skilled and line-breaking linkmen. Particularly in the past 24 months (Shaw’s career temporarily derailed by a knee injury).
Clokey has fallen by the wayside, for one reason or another, mainly due to depth, and the form of Nick Maxwell and Harry O'Brien in the senior side.
Lockyer
Prestigiacomo
Wakelin
H.Shaw
Clement
Lonie
Johnson
Buckley
Licuria
Didak
Maxwell
Davis
Swan
Rocca
Caracella
Fraser
Holland
O’Bree
Burns
Morrison
Richards
Pendlebury
Of that squad, the only the bolded players played in the 2003 Grand Final.
In:
Lockyer
H.Shaw
Maxwell
Caracella
Rocca
Swan
Morrison
Richards
Pendlebury
Out:
Walker
Tarrant
Lokan
Scotland
Kinnear
Woewodin
J.Cloke
R.Shaw
Cole
Makes for interesting reading, and only Taz, and perhaps Rhyce Shaw, would be walk-up starts in our current side. Scotland and Jason Cloke, too, if they were at their best.
Lockyer would have played, no doubt, had he not injured his knee in round three of that season against the Cats. He hasn’t missed a match since his return in round 10 of the following season against North, either.
On Saturday night, they face all their demons. Maroon, Gold and Blue demons, that is.
They need to ensure that they all stand up and make sure they are counted, and will not be pushed around.
Brisbane is a difficult side to assess, now that their golden age has well and truly passed them by, and their aging veterans are past their peak.
Sure, the names still exist, Voss, Black, Power, the little demon Akermanis, Brown and…and…
It gets harder from there to name a player from their glory days who is still a force to be reckoned with.
Chris Johnson, Clark Keating and Justin Leppitsch are all dogged by injuries, while the Scotts, Chris and Brad, are hardly a shade on the intimidators they once were.
I think that Mal Michael is also out of sorts, and has really struggled without Leppitsch as his partner in crime.
We have a chance to grind the new Lions, the baby cubs, into the dirt. Maul them. Make them pay, and make them afraid of us; in other words, get theirs before they get ours.
Of course those veteran Lions will have Heath Shaw, Dane Swan and newcomer Scott Pendlebury in their sights. I don’t know about Pendles (it’s only his first game), but it’s clear the other two won’t be pushed around, tossed about like ragdolls.
Of the three, only Swanny has played against Brisbane in the past, and it is hardly a good memory, a 60 point thrashing at the Gabba on Easter Thursday, 2004. He played well that night, too, Swan, proved he could mix it with the big guns.
The aim for the night should be to race, fly, burst from the blocks and slam on 4-5 goals in the first 15 minutes. Bang bang bang, shock the Lions into damage control, it can’t be hard from there.
Malthouse would have to start Bucks, Burnsy and Licca in the middle, surely. They are our tried and true midfield line-up, and will match it with Black, Voss and Power, easily.
A key will be the ruck. Charman and McDonald aren’t the smallest giants going around the AFL circuit, and it is interesting to note that we’re set to go in without Cameron Cloke, himself a bullocking ruckman who would only be helpful on a night like Saturday.
Intriguingly, we seem to have opted for the beanpole Guy Richards as Fraser’s back-up. Not a bad move, considering Stretch has plenty of talent as a tap ruckman and from all reports was good for Williamstown last week.
He is probably the better ruckman of the two, pound for pound, but on a night like Saturday, predicted to be cold and wet; it may have been worth carrying Cameron as the body-slammer.
Brown is the obvious troublemaker. Stop him, and we’ve quashed Brisbane’s chance. Haha, wouldn’t it be nice?
In another surprise move, Clokey (Jason) was left out of the line up altogether. Not even a place for him as an emergency. It is bemusing, as not only has he been good for Willi, but he has a handy record on Brown, and is of around the same height and weight, and more agile than people tend to assume.
He was a key reason behind our groundbreaking victory over this mob in round 8, 2002, and did a fine job in the ’03 Qualifier.
So why not name him at least as an emergency?
I’d have done so, at the very least as a contingency plan, with Wakes and Presti both coming in under fitness clouds.
You’d have to think Presti will start on Brown. Reliable, gets the job done, no fuss, that’s our Presti.
If he can hold Brown to three goals or less, the game will be as good as won.
In an ominous sign for us, Brown has scored at least seven goals in his last three outings, and is in career best form (or so it seems).
We do have willing and able back up in the form of Wakes and James Clement, but if Brown cuts loose, it could evolve into a shoot-out.
When Brown fires, it drags Bradshaw and Brennan into the game, don’t let it happen.
Should Presti go to Brown, then you’d assume Wakes would take Bradshaw and Clement Brennan.
Wakes would be thankful that Alistair Lynch has retired, anyone remember why our faithful, resolute defender suffered a fractured cheekbone?
No?
Neither did the tribunal.
That seems sorted then; hold Brown, hold Brisbane.
Despite the loss of Tarrant up forward, we should still have enough firepower inside attacking fifty to guide us home.
Rocca is again the key. Coming off a bag of five last week, Pebbles would surely be the man Matthews wants to hold.
Everyone knows his impact on this Collingwood team. It was his suspension, after all, that set us back in the 2003 Grand Final.
To hold a monster you need to play a monster, and so it will prove. With Rocca spending most of his days deep inside our attacking fifty, expect to see his former teammate and sparring partner Michael line up alongside him.
The two have had some great battles over the season, with Rocca winning the one which mattered most, the 2002 Grand Final.
Tazza’s loss cuts a rather large hole inside our fifty, and the non-selection of Travis Cloke muddies that further.
Wouldn’t Travis be the man to automatically step up and replace Tarrant? It is almost a like-for-like, considering the similarities between the two and their styles of play.
Although the door has remained ajar for Travis, named as an emergency alongside Ben Davies and Chris Egan.
Without Tarrant, I expect we’ll see plenty of Josh Fraser up forward, where he has caused headaches for the Lions in the past, while Bucks and Blake Caracella will also need to spend more time as attacking options – especially if Travis does not play.
Brisbane are now lacking in the tall defenders department, ex-Magpie rookie Jason Roe stepping up to fill the breach.
Well done to him, too, he has looked mighty composed in his first few outings at league level.
He would have gone to Tarrant, but without him, he’ll find his way to one of Fraser or Travis, should he play.
I really wish Taz had simply kept his arms to himself last week; it would have caused massive headaches for Matthews and co.
That’s life.
Anyhow, without much time left to do this preview of sorts, I expect a fight, but one we can win. Rocca will be the key.
Pies by 2 points.