2017 Rd 7: pre game protestations Carlton vs Collingwood

[Thryleon]

Pies, effort against Essendon, who we beat with some comfort in the end, was awful and they were just as poor against St.Kilda, with the Saints awful kicking kicking keeping them close. They just beat the Swans by a point, who we beat well last week. They beat Geelong but for some reason, while the Pies have been poor for a few years, they've managed to beat the Cats 6 of the last 8 games. Then again we had a comfortable win over Geelong last year too.

They've been no better than us this year.

They have kicked more behinds than goals in every match they have played this year.

All it will take is a week where they actually take their opportunities properly, and they will look like a pretty good side and the opposition will be the ones ruing their missed opportunities instead.

Whilst I don't think that this is an indicator of anything that will happen this year, I look at it, and realise, that these guys have been competitive if not good during this season. 

12.14 vs Western Bulldogs 15.10
11.14 vs Richmond 14.15
11.14 vs Sydney 11.13
7.13 vs St. Kilda  9.15
11.16 vs Essendon 15.10
15.17 vs Geelong 11.12

Im under no illusions as to where we are at, but it looks as though the Pies have been traveling better than us in terms of hitting the scoreboard regularly.

Our record by contrast:

14.5 vs Richmond 20.12
9.10 vs Melbourne 13.8
7.15 vs Essendon 6.6
12.10 vs GC Suns 17.6
6.11 vs Port 20.17
15.7 vs Sydney 11.12

Purely as a numbers exercise, we are scoring at an average of 20.17 scoring shots per match.  The pies have been averaging 25.86 scoring shots per match.
We have been allowing scoring shots of 24.7 scoring shots to our opposition per match, whilst the Pies have been averaging 25 scoring shots against. 

This has no bearing on the rate in which either of us will hit the scoreboard nor does it take into account scoring efficiency or even junk time scoring where the opposition allows a bit more leeway for teams to hit the scoreboard because the game is done but it does tell a story that they have been traveling better than we have in terms of hitting the scoreboard, and they seem to have been just as frugal as we have in terms of conceding.

So they should, they are a much more mature outfit, and they have been more consistent than us.

At the end of the day, neither of us know what is happening, but I don't live in a fools paradise and know that this will be a tough but winnable match, vs an opponent that hasn't been that good, but has had no real bad games either.