Ask The Coach – Collingwood

Written by Schwarzwalder on February 27 2019

(Written & Created By Natopotato88)

Video: Ask The Coach: Collingwood

 

Remember, these videos are a week or two old, so many things could have happened since the time this has been written. So today we have Buckley and his Pies and hopefully Buckley throws up some good information about his midfield plans and his upcoming rookies.

Can Bucks and his Pies back up their amazing 2018 season?

 

 “How are you going to manage the selection of the talented small forwards?”

These are the likes of Stephenson, Thomas, De Goey and WHE to name a few. Buckley didn’t really answer the question too well and he gave the generic answer of, it comes down to how well they train and form. He also stated they gelled quite well and they know they have a certain role to play.

Looking at all these players, there really isn’t many that are worth a spot in our SuperCoach teams except De Goey.  However De Goey has just gone down in training and is uncertain for Rd 1, yet he is still sitting in 13% of teams.

Looking at the scoring of these forwards from just last year, I counted the amount of times a player scored 90+ and of these, none of them scored more than 6. De Goey was the best with 6/17, but seeing the rounds everyone scored them in, there was no more than 2 90’s from the 4 players named in the same game.

Stephenson, Thomas and WHE all played the 22 games and they had 3, 6, and 5 scores above 90. Then I counted the scores of 65 and under. De Goey had 5, Thomas with 7 and WHE with 9. When correlating the scores 7/14 games had a player score 90+ and another under 65. This was not including Stephenson and his bad games. If included, it would add another 3 more.

This is telling me that it is almost a lottery on who is going to do well in the forward line each week, With Jamie Elliott coming back this season after not playing at all last year, will that remove Stephenson but then have a better quality small forward in the lottery? This has not included any of the potential resting midfielders either.

So with that, do you think De Goey will overcome his issue with the high number of poor games, then be the leader of these forwards (scoring-wise), while always being the one scoring the tonnes and not having to sit aside and watching his teammate do what he should be doing?  Seems unlikely……

 

“Is Isaac Quaynor pushing for a Rd 1 debut?”

First thing Bucks said was “Ah yeah, Isaac is training really well.” So this shows promising signs and then it was followed up by Bucks, saying he was ready made in many ways. No negative comments or anything that made him look questionable about Isaac.

Bucks continued to say that Isaac has settled into the small back roles and is looking to may be seen “early in the JLT or early in the season.” Quaynor is priced at 153k which is at the higher end of the rookies, which is likely to scare many coaches off and since Buckley has said he has settled into the small back roles, will that mean he may not get the best chances for scoring? Comments from Quaynor himself last year are quite important, as this one could really crucial for his scoring.

 

I think that’s one thing that comes naturally to me – being able to shut down an opponent and sacrifice my game a little bit for the good of the team. I like to pride myself on making sure I’m defending my man and taking him out of the game, regardless of whether I have 10 touches or 20 touches myself. That’s my role in the team,” – Isaac Quaynor, taccup.com.au, October 2018.

 

This comment was in October, so before him being selected for Collingwood. Buckley may have a completely different role for him as there has been other comments about him being similar to Johannisen on a half-back role. From their recent simulation match Quaynor impressed and could take over Crisp’s spot due to Crisp still yet to train fully.

Quaynor needs to be watched closely in JLT to see how he is played. If he is named in Rd 1 be wary of his role as he could be a slow-burner or an absolute gun.

Possible Rd1 debut, Quaynoor………

 

“What role do you expect Roughead will fill this season? More down back or ruck/forward?”

This is massive for how he will impact Grundy and to start off Buckley states he has been trained as a key back. However, he continues with, “he has also done a fair bit of work through the ruck and forward for us.” This may be because Collingwood only have the 3 players listed with a ruck status and he needs to be the backup in case Grundy goes down.

After Buckley names his strengths, one being his “body work in ruck contests.” He says a very daunting statement being, “we feel like he can play either of those roles.” So, at the stage of this interview Roughead is in a state where he can play the ruck for the Pies. The question coming from this is whether he is treated more like backman and giving Grundy little breaks during the match or he is treated more as a ruck and they play the 2 during the match.

Reading other articles, with one from the Age, they state “He expects to primarily play as a key defender, but knows he may be deployed for stints in the ruck.” This was from early December and then just recently from their simulation match, “Roughead was a solid key backman.” This leaves promising signs for Coaches and how Roughead should not leave much of an impact on Grundy’s scoring output.

Recruited for what purpose exactly?  Ruck?  CHB?

 

“What is Beams going to add to our team, considering we already have a strong midfield?”

The fact that Collingwood already have such a strong midfield with the likes of Treloar, Pendles, Adams and Sidebottom, adding Beams probably adds more problems for us Coaches.

Bucks admits there will be some questions on Beams addition to the team. The first question is, “Do we send a midfielder forward, more often?” This could have more of an impact on the likes of De Goey and the midfielder sent forward. Restricting their scoring if they don’t get much sight of the ball up forward, however likely increasing their time on ground. Buckley also questions whether they rotate the midfielders so they can stay fresh throughout the season.

They won’t find out about this until they get into the season, so it appears it will be a lot of mixing and testing during the first half of the season, to see what works best. This tells me if I want a Pies midfielder it is best to get them after the bye after we can tell what the plan is for each midfielder and who will score the best.

 

Sadly, there wasn’t as much as I hoped for in this interview, unless any of you were wanting to know how Buckley keeps in shape or if he can fold a fitted sheet.

**Nato on Twitter: @natopotato88**

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