Collingwood vs Adelaide - MCG - Saturday Night
Collingwood 1st - 16-3-1 - 145.79%
Adelaide 11th - 8-12 - 92.58%
Another saturday night assigment comfronts the rampaging Magpies this week who take on an Adelaide side nearing the finish line in a long and trying season.
For the Crows this week has been another emotionally testing one with Nathan Bock becoming the first league player to put his hand up and say he is going to the Gold Coast next year.
Both club and player agreed to part ways immediately and Neil Craig made no secret of his dislike for the culture he believes these new clubs are going to create.
If the Crows were in finals contention, it would be interesting to see if Craig would have cut ties with Bock, I doubt it, but I do understand the decision given where they are at.
Phil Davis will no doubt get a reprieve and continue his development on what has been a very good season personally.
What it means though is that Bock will join Goodwin, Burton, Mcleod, Vince, Knights, Edwards and Otten on the sidelines for the next fortnight which leaves the Crows with a significant experience void.
The positive is it gives them the chance to keep developing kids, but it's hard to expect much in the way of results with these guys out.
Vince and Knights went down last week which makes the win over the Lions a brave one, but the loss particularly of Vince will leave a big hole in a midfield that will take on arguably the competition's best this week.
Part of Adelaide's problem this year has been the pressure teams have put on their outlet player.
What I mean by that is the Crows strength over recent times was dropping a player off the back of a contest almost as a quarterback and using that player as an outlet.
Teams are closing down that option and forcing the Crows to try and run through an opposition zone.
As a result they are using the ball under a lot more pressure and this season they rank 13th for disposal efficiency.
They are also handballing more then recent years which is a sign of pressure as well.
Defensively the Crows remain quite strong, allowing opposition sides to retain posession of the ball just 40% of the times they go Inside fifty, ranked first in the past seven weeks.
Conversely though the Pies have been superb all year at restricting opposition entries and it's hard to see Adelaide managing to restrict the Pies fleet of options, but also punching through their defence with the inconsistent Tippet, and the lively Porplysia, Dangerfield, Henderson, Douglas and Walker (if he plays).
Collingwood continue to march from strength to strength and demolished under rival last week to tune of 98 points.
It is hard not to start thinking about flags if you support the black and white army, and the challenge of keeping everyone's feet on the ground is a very difficult one given the hype this club attracts.
Selection dilemmas aplenty too for Mick Malthouse with four big names in line for a return after missing last week.
The debate over Darren Jolly's fitness might open the door for Josh Fraser, but as the week rolls on it appears unlikely that the 1999 number one draft pick will play his 200th game this week or even this season.
Luke Ball will return, with Goldsack and Reid to boost the squad that has an abundance of riches at present.
Collingwood have taken an incredible 310 marks from opposition kicks this season, ranked number one in the competition and this is a demonstration of the pressure they apply on teams all over the ground.
They are now executing the full ground press that St.Kilda performed so well last year. They have clicked all aspects of their game together and the only query is on whether they can sustain it through a long september campaign.
Collingwood face an Adelaide side that is very good defensively, but are coming off a game where they took 25 marks Inside fifty, and again kicked in excess of 20 goals.
If a team is to punch through this now Bockless defence, it will be the Pies.
Presti will get the job on Kurt Tippett, Toovey will take the Porpoise, or perhaps it will be Heath Shaw whilst Ben Reid might get Henderson or Dangerfield.
At the other end, Rutten is a good match up for Dawes, whilst Scott Stevens will really have his hands full with the in form Travis Cloke and without the support of Bock it could spell trouble.
Johncock, Reilly and co will have to shut down the fleet of runners pushing through the arc for Collingwood and try as they might it will be an avalanche of ball coming down and it's hard to see them stemming the tide.
Collingwood are motoring from strength to strength and with the depth of players out for the Crows, this could once again get ugly.
For Adelaide it looks as if their decline won't be to severe as some of these kids look quite promising, but right now at the end of a long season they are ripe for the plucking.
Collingwood will enjoy another feast in the lead up to a September possibly full of riches.
Collingwood by 57 points
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