Early signs

Collingwood 111 Fremantle 85

An interesting first round match-up for sure, that showed some good signs and some not so good ones. Firstly, it was great to see Collingwood's fitness to run out the fourth quarter. The legs and fitness were a hallmark of 2007, so it's fantastic to see that has been retained in 08. The first three quarters of the game were a mixed bag, blending great passages with terrible ones. The Pies finally came to life for good in the early stages of the last quarter, spearheaded by Anthony Rocca and Dale Thomas. A few thoughts on the game...

-Nathan Brown is a keeper. He's big, of great strength, and wins the one-on-ones (with Matthew freakin' Pavlich!). I didn't really get a good look at his closing speed, or the timing of his spoils, so that's something I'll have to pay attention next week. He basically looks like a bigger stronger Presti.
-Given the right set-up Anthony Rocca can still dominate games. What I've basically come to expect from Rocca the past few years is that he'll dominate about 4 games per year and kick 5-6 goals in each, he'll be completely shutdown in around about the same amount of games (see: prelim final last year), and the other 10-12 he'll kick his 2-3 goals and do alright. Yesterday he dominated, he had his kicking boot on and led by example. And is it just me or do the Rocca brothers own Fremantle? Rocca kicked 6 today, 5 last year in the same fixture, and remember the game years back where Sav lit them up for 12 goals? Hmmmmmmmm
-Josh Fraser you are a disgrace to the black and white colours. I will never forgive Fraser for chickening out of the West Coast and Geelong finals last year. Yesterday, Fraser was at his worst. Classic Josh Fraser in the ruck - timing his jumps shockingly early so that by the time the ball has reached its apex he's already on the way down. Adding to the annals of Fraser shame yesterday was an incident that occurred at an important stage in the middle of the game. Fraser and Peter Bell were one out in the Freo goal square and Bell out-muscled and out-marked Josh Fraser. Yes Bell, he of the 5'10 height. Bell goaled and the momentum swung. Let us not forget that in Scott Burns' absence yesterday Josh Fraser was the captain. The captain being out-marked by someone about 20cm and 20kg his junior. Disgusting Josh.
-Alan Didak and Paul Medhurst need to become smarter football players. I can appreciate that Didak played well yesterday and bagged a trio of goals, but his showpony attempt at a superman goal in the 2nd half was unforgivable. Paul Medhurst plays hard, but someone has to tell him their is a difference between hard and blatantly reckless.
-Chris Egan should be delisted. He was the worst player on the ground in the first half. He made skill errors, failed to break tackles, and gave away a 50m penalty that led to a Fremantle goal. He made a nice play in the 3rd term, but right now he's first to go when Scotty Burns and Ben Johnson return.
-On a brighter note Cameron Wood showed some good signs. He played well in the ruck and did some good things around the ground. Yes, he missed a goal he should have kicked, but I'm willing to forget that in light of his strong performance.
-Leon Davis take a bow. As good as Rocca was, Davis was the best player on the field for me. He kicked a brace of goals (one a magnificent snap to virtually win the game in the last quarter), won the ball out of the centre and used it superbly. Apologies to Tarkyn Lockeyer, but Leon Davis may very well be the best user of the ball in the team now that Nathan has hung up the boots.

Collingwood played OK, hardly the quality of football they played in last year's finals campaign, but for a first round performance it was passable. The fact that they were able to put together a comprehensive victory despite playing only 30 minutes of genuinely decent football says a lot about the quality of the opponent. This game re-asserted the fact that Fremantle is still a pretender. The back-line struggled, but that was more due to the mediocre play of the midfield than anything. The allegedly 'formidable' forward line looked pretty pedestrian. Pavlich played well, but given the good play of Brown he had to win his 21 disposals mainly on the wing and deep along half-forward. Jeff Farmer had a minor impact, McPharlin came too little too late, and Chris Tarrant... well, yeah.

Many consider Fremantle to have legitimate aspirations for a top four spot. I was among them. But yesterday showed that Fremantle are the same old team (emphasis on old, they have the least youthful list in the league). Great on paper, but too mentally fragile to ever succeed away from home. Sure Freo might win 9 out of the 12 games they play at Subiaco, but they'll drop at least 7 of the ten on the road. Make no mistake, this team is not winning a final any place other than Western Australia.