Collingwood v West Coast: Promising signs, now time to build:

Promising signs, now time to build:

It sure is a strange feeling listening to Collingwood go to war by radio. You are able to create the game in your mind, and imagine what is going on yourself, almost like a dream, albeit with the results dictated to you by the commentators. I was as far away from Perth as can be last Saturday night, and, huddled around the campfire under the stars, I felt a sense of purpose and steely resolve as the players, my players, did battle with the reigning premiers.

In hindsight, as I predicted at the end of last week’s [preview, it was a game we were always going to have a legitimate chance at winning. Sure, we were less than average against the Kangaroos, yet our last quarter gave us something to build on, something of substance to mentally haul from Melbourne to Perth and unleash on Subiaco Oval on Saturday night.

That was the plan.

I always go into matches expecting to win, one way or another. Even in our pathetic late 1990s guise I harboured hopes of upset wins. 2005 trumped all for disasters and yet even in that guttered season I still conjured up deliriously crazy ideas for winning. I have faith, I have hope, and it takes a lot to evaporate it. It’s withstood the nauseous late 90s and successive Grand Final defeats (although the first loss ramped up and amplified it even further as strange as it seems).

What really killed us (once again) on Saturday night was the conceding of early goals to the Eagles. Home ground advantage, especially in Perth and Brisbane, generally equates to a two to three goal advantage, borne from the fear-factor if nothing else. We committed the same crime on Saturday as we did a year ago at the same ground against the same team. Last time, round seven last year, we let slip four goals to the home side before we scored one ourselves. This time, it was three. On both occasions, we outscored West Coast from thereafter. In other words, arrest the early, well, shellshocks and win the game.

Another point of pain was the form of David Wirrapanda in attack for the Eagles. It isn’t the fact that it was Wirrapanda who burnt us, well, maybe it is, more on that soon, but it’s also the knowledge that we were hurt by another small forward. Nathan Brown, Kris Barlow, Andrew Lovett, Jeff Farmer, Adrian McAdam, Tyson Lane (W’Bulldogs days). You name them, they’ve hurt us. Now add Wirrapanda to the list. What annoys even more is the fact that Wirrapanda is a defender. Sure, he is the sort who possesses that uncanny knack of producing something out of nothing, but he is primarily a defender. To allow him to score four goals in a relatively slow scoring affair stings.

That (from my vantage point of ABC radio in the middle of nowhere) is where the negatives, generally, finish.

Otherwise – all positives have appeared to emanate from the Collingwood camp. Heath Shaw and James Clement both continued their excellence from defence, and are now proving themselves as two of the best at their trade (not to mention in Fantasy Football).

Shaw, in particular, is a real highlight, for, despite his brilliance last season in the backhalf, a failure to fire 12 months on would see many label 2006 a flash in the pan. The past fortnight has seen to that, Heath Shaw is a future captain of the Collingwood Football Club.

I’m about to climb aboard my endlessly flogged hobby horse, and I’m guessing you already know who I’m on about. Yep, Guy Richards. Well, listening to the radio call (again, I reiterate, I have not seen the match with my own eyes just yet) and from gleaning information from the fantastically comprehensive newspaper statistics, Richards took another handy step in his ascension to the role of Collingwood’s number one ruckman. I heard his name regularly throughout the call, not only in rucking duels but around the ground, which is an area many have criticised him for lacking in.

Now some will counter that in Dean Cox’s absence John Worsfold’s second stringer, Mark Seaby, was forced to step up to the plate. True. However, Seaby was snared early in that famous 2001 National Draft, and has pedigree on his side. Big Stretch needs a big year, yes, we know that Luke don’t say it the 1586^th time. I’ll stop now, but I like what I see/hear/read.

We also managed to blood our first, genuine youngster for the year (Paul Medhurst obviously doesn’t exactly fit that category) in Danny Nicholls. Again, without seeing it, he didn’t seem to play all that well – he scored -14 points in Champion Data’s statistical rankings! But that does penalise heavily his four conceded free kicks. What I do like about Nicho is his grunt for a little man and his pace. He reminds me, somewhat, of Tony Francis, for he packs a punch and wins the contested ball. On that alone, I’d hope he receives some more opportunities at senior level. Interestingly, he was the only rookie from last season’s list (Harry O'Brien, Alan Toovey and Shannon Cox being the others) to remain on the rookie list instead of winning promotion. And yet he’s beaten Toovey and Cox to the punch, although the other two were listed as emergencies.

The only reason Nicholls played was Ryan Lonie’s late withdrawal. Reading [i]The Sunday Age[/i] I have discovered that Lones may actually be suffering from Ostitis Pubis (this does require clarifying). If so, it’s the second time from memory that he has been struck down with it, the other arising in the pre-season of 2002 when he began the year underdone and thereafter was unable to reach his full potential until September.

The injury is a concern if true, however coverable – we have Heath Shaw, Rhyce Shaw, Dane Swan and even Ben Johnson, if need be, in place to cover halfback.

On the subject of Johnson, he went into the rooms in the second term suffering from an ankle complaint but returned to battle on in the second half, yet is listed in today’s papers as being in doubt for next week. That is a definite concern if true, for we require Johnson to be at his best for the side to have a genuine chance at success.

Anthony Rocca and Leon Davis combined terrifically well in attack to keep us in the game. Davis always seems to lift when playing in Perth, while Rocca, who was not as bad as many will have you believe last week, shouldered the load manfully upfront to score four goals despite the best efforts of last year’s All-Australian full back, Darren Glass. Together, they contributed seven of the ten goals we scored on the night. Although the game was a dour one, the Eagles were wayward in front of goal. We need more from the likes of Medhurst, who failed to goal all night. Thankfully, Nathan Buckley, Alan Didak and Brodie Holland are not far away from a return.

The midfield fought manfully throughout, Burns and Swan terrific and Licuria solid, although he was forced to “attempt” to shutdown the dynamic Daniel Kerr. If he is not the second best player in the competition (behind Chris Judd) I’ll go he. Together, they pilled on the possessions in such a dominant display that the likes of Rowan Jones, Brett Jones and Matthew Rosa went unnoticed. The midfield depth was the difference and the reason why, for us to be a force in the years to come, we need to build our own massive wall of onballers.

Looking at the midfield as it is in the here and now, we have the top tier in Nathan Buckley, Scott Burns, Paul Licuria and Shane O'Bree, followed by the underlay of Dane Swan, Brodie Holland, Ben Johnson and Tarkyn Lockyer. Handy, gritty, wholesome. But where is the dynamite? That’s why the likes of Dale Thomas, Scott Pendlebury and, now looking into potentials, Danny Stanley, Ryan Cook, Danny Nicholls, Chris Egan (I have hopes that he could possibly develop into an Adam Goodes), Brad Dick and obviously Heath Shaw need to grow into the main players of the coming years. They need to be the Jones’ and Rosa’s of our midfield, supplementing the Thomas/Pendlebury duo, backed by the likes of Didak on the rotations.

But that’s for another week, for now we face Richmond, and, quite frankly, I’m a tad concerned. Why? The Tigers, along with Melbourne, will be the team in the media’s headlight’s this week as both are sitting at 0-2. Terry Wallace, too, is an exceptional media performer, and knows how to twist things his way. Yet we also have Dids lined up for a potential return. It augers well. Now is the time to stamp our authority on the competition and gain a strong head of stream as the boys are separated from the men. Strike while the iron is hot, and keep the faith.