Last night was effectively crunch-time for Collingwood. A loss last night coupled with the impending loss next week against Geelong and the Pies would be 3-6, and the season would be just about over. Fortunately, we don't have to deal with that scenario though. To me, right now Collingwood are 4-5 with a winnable game up next against West Coast. Let's be serious, because Collingwood are not beating Geelong. It's just not happening. With so many key guys out of form and Geelong looking so firm, the Pies just can't pull that one out. But anyway, for now, lets just forget about that one. Lets focus on last night, a win. The first win in three weeks believe it or not.
Common sense says that St. Kilda are a good team. Common sense says that to pull out a win despite being so badly out of form last night was an impressive victory. The fact is that last night Collingwood did almost everything they could to lose, it's just that St. Kilda wanted the loss a little bit more. This season I have lost so much respect for the Saints. The Saints are a team built on a foundation of excuses. Last night they figure that Collingwood are a team that were a kick away from a grand final last year, and hey we're missing our Captain and best player, so there's no expectation for us to win. So lets not win. Seriously, ask yourself when is the last time St. Kilda won a match they weren't supposed to. It simply doesn't happen. There's the Adelaide final in 2005, and that's about it. And even then, Adelaide suffered the same inability to win a final, and the Saints seemingly won that game because they felt that after all that failure they were EXPECTED to take a final. The Saints beat teams simply on the basis of their extraordinary depth of talent. I've said it before, but c'mon, how does a team with Riewoldt, Hayes, Dal Santo, Ball, Harvey, Montagna, Fisher, Koschitzke, Gram, the Clarke brothers, and (for a while at least) a useful Fraser Gehrig not at least make ONE grand final? You can say injuries, but that's just another excuse. This team has the depth to overcome injuries. The fact is that these Saints have zero heart, and zero soul.
I've drifted way off topic, but I think my Saint Hate needs to be re-iterated. Last night's game wasn't a great spectacle (although it wasn't THAT bad), but it's kind of disappointing that the Pies didn't really put away a team as pathetic as St. Kilda. Despite all their talent St. Kilda insist on playing an ultra defensive style of game. They flood, and flood hard, but they run the rebound terribly. They get to about the 65 metre mark and then look up and no one is in front of them. I lost count of how many times Jason Gram or Sam Fisher or another Saints player would get to burst out to the edge of the centre square, then screech to a halt, look behind and then handball backwards 15 metres. It's borderline tragic how much of a waste these Saints have been. Anyway, screw it, they're not my team.
My team pretty much allowed themselves to be sucked into the Saints style of game, which is pretty much how you have to play them unless you're Geelong or Hawthorn (or the Bulldogs). I was actually impressed with how the Pies were able to break down the St. Kilda wall. They switched the play well, and often were able to hit a target in the pocket. What was the most impressive about the Pies last night though was their attack of the footy, their intensity and their tackling pressure. Harry O'Brien's rundown in the last quarter summed up the night really (by the way how good was his goal in the first quarter!? I was out of my seat in shocked jubilation). It just seemed as though the Pies won every single 50/50 contest (except the ones Travis Cloke was involved in, more on that later). The Pies just seemed to want the ball more. Harry's goal aside, the highlight of my night was watching Dane Swan start 10 metres behind Adam Scheider in the defensive 50, and sprint 90 metres out to the wing, gain front position, and receive a 20m kick and take a strong mark. It was a testament to the persistence of Dane Swan, and Collingwood on the night.
Just a quickie on the 'Dead weight' part of the heading. Anthony Rocca and Fraser Gehrig should simply quit football now, while they both have a semblance of dignity left. Both have lost their contested marking ability, and one on one skills. Both are now practically useless at ground level as well. Watching Gehrig when the ball went to ground last night was as much a farce as it was a tragedy. Anthony Rocca still could find some way to be useful. He has a bigger range than Gehrig, and hopefully can find a way to kick 40-odd goals this year. Gehrig on the other hand is stuck in a place where mediocrity is the higher power. I would not be surprised if I witnessed his last game last night.
With the diminishing usefulness and dependability of Anthony Rocca (not that I'm implying he was ever dependable), Travis Cloke has a much bigger role this year. So far he has failed astonishingly. He's a shadow of the borderline star he was last year. 11 goals from any Centre Half Forward after 8 rounds is not acceptable in any circumstances. While yes, I can appreciate that Travis Cloke has been more of a Riewoldt type, in taking his possessions further up the ground. I have two concerns with Travis Cloke on that matter - a) with Rocca's soon-to-be carcass floating around, the Pies have no real go to forward. Travis is the obvious candidate to fill that void. He should be staying closer to goal in the first place. b) If Cloke is going to play the lead up role along the wing, he needs quite a number of disposals to justify it. Last year he averaged close to 15 a game, this year he's racking up less than 12 touches a game. That just won't cut it. It's hard to imagine that just three matches ago he played magnificently on Anzac Day and kicked a bag of 5 goals. The Anzac performance seems to an anomaly, because the four games either side of it have seen Travis register one scoring shot and not once take 5 marks in an individual game. Take a while to breathe that in, it's phenomenal in its ineptness. I have little confidence in Collingwood returning to as deep in September as they were last year. If they are to prove me wrong, Travis Cloke has to step up. He's the most important player on this team, and they key to the future. Superstars step up when their teams need them, and right now he just isn't getting the job done.
I'd like to finish on a note of leadership. Leadership has been a pretty important theme this year in the AFL I think. From the stability Sam Mitchell is providing as skipper of the Hawks, to the muddled start to the season at Collingwood with Scott Burns' absence, to the complete and utter disaster that is the West Coast Eagles without Ben Cousins or Chris Judd, leadership has been a talking point. You can pin it on the clutch kicking of Collingwood forwards, or the wonderful pinpoint passing of Leon Davis (who needs God when we've got Leon?), but last night came down to four kicks, all off the boot of a captain, two from each respective team. With the match tight in the second quarter, Lenny Hayes had a set shot from about 40 out on a slight angle. The kick stayed skinny but ultimately drifted wide right. It was a telling miss. At the other end, with the balance beginning to slide away from Collingwood, Scott Burns kicked a momentum-shifting goal from 50 out on the run. The lady behind me yelled out 'good captain's goal Burnsy!', echoing my also-expressed thoughts. In the final term Lenny Hayes under pressure had tried to curl in a checkside shot from the left pocket on a simple angle about 20 metres out. He put too much angle on the ball and missed the shot. Had he kicked the goal the margin would have been cut to single digits. In contrast, Scott Burns kept his composure to mark 30 out from goal on a slight angle with under ten minutes to go after a clever chip pass (albeit one that had a fair bit too much wait on it) from Dane Swan. Burnsy went back and calmly slotted it right through the middle to seal the match.
You can say what you want about Scott Burns, but you can't deny the fact that he cares more about this club than any other player on the ground. He's always been a fan's player, never been high on skill or finesse, but always up there with heart and character. Burns is the only real constant left at Collingwood along with Anthony Rocca since my childhood days. I have many memories of Scotty Burns, good and bad. I'll never forget his goal in the rain against Essendon on Anzac Day 2003, or his goal to open the Preliminary final against the Cats last year. I'll also never forget his shocker against Port Adelaide in the final rounds of 2006. Last night though was perhaps the pinnacle of my Burnsy Love. The papers might say Alan Didak was best on ground, but last night Scott Burns was Collingwood's MVP. His influence, his desire, and his clutch play make it a no brainer. When his career is over Scott Burns will be remembered as nothing more than a good solid player. Last night though he wasn't anything close to that. Last night, he was a champion.
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