This was the mirror image of last week: we were well beaten in the important aspects and a lot of our better players were down. I'm afraid Collingwood did their homework and we didn't appear to.
[1] Rucks and centre clearances:
Last week we dominated in this area. This week we really struggled, even though we won the taps. Moody was brilliant at the taps, but her taps generally didn't go to our advantage. We REALLY have to work on our centre square work before next week.
Ali Downie did OK, but couldn't direct her taps: her ruck style was very similar to Collingwood's Sharni Layton. However, Layton is that bit taller and stronger, so it was hard yakka in the middle.
Prespakis showed just how good she really was: she was tagged heavily and still managed to get the ball and do good things with it. We have to learn to protect her in the centre square so she can get reasonable clearances.
Our other mids worked hard, but just didn't have the system.
[2] Forwards:
Our big name forwards were very ordinary today. Tayla Harris was beaten in a way that we have never seen before. Her opponent was probably Collingwood's best. However, her comments after the game were definitely Inflammatory. If we can get better control of the centre and deliver the ball, we might just be able to get her to eat her words. Tayla isn't a dud, but I really want to see us drive that back down that stupid throat.
Mind you, Tayla didn't look 100%. She moved much better last week.
Darcy Vescio had a shocker. Not enough chasing, not enough pressure on the Collingwood defenders, falling over her own feet and more. Our delivery to her faecal, which didn't help. However, Darcy really needs to produce more than that.
Nik Stevens had a shocker and barely touched the ball. She is another who needs to learn some lessons from this one.
Georgie Gee could have been the match winner, but the number of times she fumbled and dropped simple marks simply cost us opportunities.
[3] Our disposal:
Unlike last week, our disposal and ball handling was terrible this week. We fumbled and dropped marks, while Collingwood's play can smooth and clean. Our main avenue to goal appeared to be kicking over the top and trying to get to the ball first. Not a bad idea, but it simply didn't work on the way. We moved the ball too slowly and kicked the ball not to our advantage.
[4] Pace:
Other than a few speedsters (Walker and Dalton, for example), Collingwood were quicker than us. Especially in the middle. I didn't like that.
