The Ultimate Match Preview: Collingwood v Adelaide | Thebigtip

Collingwood will look to seal the minor premiership on Saturday night when they face an undermanned Adelaide Crows at the MCG in Round 21. The matchup is the first time these 2 sides meet since the heart-stopping Semi-Final battle in 2009 where Collingwood came back from 30 points down to steal victory in the dying minute through a last minute Jack Anthony goal.

Adelaide have been in the headlines this week following the news that Nathan Bock has become the first big name signing for the Gold Coast and will not play for the Crows in either of the last 2 games of the season.

The news has somewhat overshadowed the fact that both Simon Goodwin and Brett Burton have both been ruled out for the season with their respective injuries, meaning neither will get a farewell game. Andrew McLeod, who is fighting to earn a recall before the end of the season is also likely to retire at season’s end. The trio join Tyson Edwards who retired mid-year. Combined with the departure of Nathan Bock, the Crows have lost 5 champions of the football club all in the one year, so it does put into perspective what many regard as a very disappointing season which has seen the Crows plummet out of the top 8.

Nevertheless, after an extremely poor first half of the year, an injection of youth has seen the Crows play some pretty good footy in the second half. They have won 6 of their last 10 games, including a win against the reigning premier Geelong. Most importantly, it has been the younger players who have stood up in the absence of the senior players. The Crows held off Brisbane last week at the Gabba to win by 7 points, despite the fact both Bernie Vince and Chris Knights were off injured.

It is going to be interesting to see how the Crows react to what has been quite a turbulent week off the field. No doubt the focus is now onto 2011 and blooding a lot of younger players to fill the void of those departing. However, they face the in-form and dominant side in the competition, at their home ground in front of a hostile crowd.

Collingwood’s season continues to go from strength to strength. A 98 point thumping of the Bombers in Round 20 highlighted the confidence and hunger of the Magpies side as they approach the finals. Despite participating in the last 4 finals campaigns, this is surely the best position Collingwood will enter September in. The list is healthy and deep. Momentum is flowing and the core group is all at an age where they are physically ready to match Geelong and St.Kilda.

I thought that the Magpies intensity may drop off a bit in the lead up to finals in a bid to prevent injuries, however this has definitely not been the case. They were relentless against both Essendon and Carlton despite skipping away to early leads.

Importantly, the bottom end of the Magpies 22 has really flourished in the last month. Macaffer, Beams and Wellingham in particular have been stand-outs, whilst Jarryd Blair returned to the side last week in what was arguably a best on ground performance. If Collingwood continues to get this level of output from its younger players, then it is going to be hard to stop considering the stars like Swan and Didak continue to play great footy.

An 8 day break between Round 20 and Round 21 has seen the Magpies head down to Sorrento earlier in the week for a bit of a break. The Magpies still trained, however used the change of scenery as a chance to freshen up and set their sights upon the final 6 weeks of the year.

Collingwood’s Depth:

The incredible depth of Collingwood has been the major bragging point at Collingwood all year. However, I do have a minor concern as September approaches. Last week we saw Medhurst and Lockyer return to the side. However both looked out of touch and off the pace. Medhurst was fumbly by hand and was only able to manage 10 disposals with no goals, whilst Lockyer only managed 6 disposals.

My concern is that the depth of Collingwood has been rotting away at VFL level, and if called upon will not be capable of re-adjusting to the speed and intensity of the finals series. It’s for this reason that I suggest Collingwood gives Medhurst another game, and perhaps gives Josh Fraser his 200th game in case he is required in September.

Recent History

As mentioned above, you have to go back to the Semi-Final of 2009 for the last time these 2 sides faced each other. At half time, it looked as though Adelaide would ensure the Magpies went out of the finals series in straight-sets, yet it was a 6 goal to 0 third quarter which turned the game on its head. The last quarter was intense, with a Kurt Tippett inspired Adelaide Crows nearly stealing the game. A controversial free kick to Jack Anthony saved the day for the Magpies with a minute to go.

For Adelaide, it was Goodwin and Vince who really stood tall, whilst Tippett kicked 4 goals. Heath Shaw and Steele Sidebottom were Collingwood’s best on the night.

It will be a much different Adelaide side to take the field this Saturday. Around 10 players who played in the semi-final will be unavailable on Saturday.

At the Selection Table:

Adelaide

The decision to drop Nathan Bock means the Phil Davis will most likely hold his spot in the side to play at Centre Half Back. Bernie Vince and Chris Knights will also miss the rest of the year, leaving the Adelaide midfield looking a bit thin.

Other names out of the Adelaide side include: Burton, Goodwin, Griffen, Mcleod, Otten, Petrenko and Armstrong.

I think Adelaide will look to bring back Taylor Walker who I was very surprised to see get dropped. He is likely to replace Knights up forward. Other names on the selection radar include Brodie Martin, Will Young, Matthew Jaensch and Shaun McKernan.

Trent Hentschel may be recalled for the first time since he injured himself in Round 3. This is perhaps his last chance to re-ignite his career, and a call on him will have to be made post-season. If he cannot return to the side, he may be another to join the list of retirements.

Collingwood

Apparently all of the minor injury complaints from Round 20 are OK, which should see Luke Ball, Tyson Goldsack, Ben Reid and Leon Davis push for selection this round. Collingwood have had the 8 day break leading into Round 21 and everyone on the list should be available for selection apart from Brad Dick.

Darren Jolly finished the game against Essendon on the bench with a lot of ice on his shin after receiving a knock. Jolly has declared himself fit, however if he is feeling any ill effects he will not be risked. This would give Josh Fraser the opportunity to play his 200th.

This is probably the last chance for Malthouse to rest any key players. I think he will look to get his preferred 22 on the park next week as it is the last week before finals. That may mean we see a few shock ‘calf’ or ‘groin’ or ‘hip’ injuries this week.

A look at Adelaide:

The reason why the Crows have been able to play much more competitive football in the second half of the year is because they have got their running game going again. They were flat at stagnant earlier in the year, and were perhaps unprepared for the zoning trend which the majority of sides were beginning to adopt.

Perhaps the injection of youth has allowed the team to play with more flare and risk. Perhaps it was just that a poor pre-season with a number of key injuries meant the Crows were a few weeks behind other sides and took time to gain match fitness.

I have picked 5 younger Adelaide players below to keep an eye on this weekend as I think they are the real future of the club.

Patrick Dangerfield: He’d be the bright note of the 2010 season for Adelaide. He has shown glimpses in his short career, but this season has been his breakout. He’s played 17 games and kicked 26 goals, often targeted by oppositions as the ‘must stop’ player. Wearing the famous number 32, the Crows know they have a real player in Dangerfield. He is gutsy, breaks the lines and has a great goal sense. With so many young players coming through, Dangerfield is perhaps already a leader at the club. Collingwood will be putting its focus onto him this week. He kicked 2 goals in the semi-final last year. I think either Goldsack will return to the side to take this role, or someone like Toovey or Ben Johnson could get the role.

Taylor Walker: Will surely return to the side this week. I really rate Walker and I think he’ll become a genuine star of the competition. He has a lovely kick and is quick on a lead. Craig has been looking to find more consistency and more defensive efforts in Walker, so you would assume that he will return to the side pretty fired up to perform. However, he is likely to get Prestigiacomo as an opponent, although I have a sneaking suspicion he may be rested. In that case he’ll get Nathan Brown.

Richard Douglas: Douglas was perhaps best on ground against Brisbane last round with 31 disposals and 2 goals. His disposal at times can be erratic, but he works really hard and can slip under the radar. He also kicked 2 goals against Richmond 2 weeks ago.

Kurt Tippett: He had a really really slow start to the year, and was at one stage considered one of the bigger disappointments of 2010. However, to his credit he has been impressive in the second half of the year. He has worked his way to 43 goals for the year, and is coming off a 5 goal game against the Lions. His 5 goals ultimately proved the difference. He also had a good run between Rounds 12-16 where he did not kick less than 4 goals in this time. Tippett has often proved a difficult match-up for the undersized Prestigiacomo. Standing at 201cm, Presti has simply been outmarked and unable to spoil against Tippett’s huge reach. Tippett is likely to put 2010 down as a huge learning experience as he is now heavily targeted by opposition coaches and is learning to deal with having to play against multiple opponents.

Phil Davis: He is the big hope for Adelaide moving forward and will be given the rest of the year to continue his development at Centre Half Back. Davis was dropped a few weeks ago by Craig despite some promising form. It was a controversial call, but the Crows would be very happy with Davis’ development this year to play 13 games in a key post at the age of 19. Davis was taken at pick 10 in the 2008 draft, which was the pick before Sidebottom. He’ll form the backbone of the Crows defence for some time, along with Andy Otten who will return from his knee injury next year.

Other youngsters to keep an eye on include Rory Sloane and Ricky Henderson, both whom I’ve been impressed with. They have been given the opportunity to play 10 or more games and have added a bit of spark to the Adelaide side.

Must Stop: Nathan Van Verlo
In the absence of Goodwin, Van Berlo stepped into the side as captain last week and kicked the winning goal. He also had 23 disposals and looked back to his best after what has been a frustrating 2 years of injury niggles. With Vince out of the side, Van Berlo has to step up as a leader this week against the dominant Collingwood midfield. He is likely to get someone like Pendlebury as an opponent, so he’ll have his work cut out.