FLY SETS UP DREAM CHASE
When Fox Footy’s AFL360 played its iconic postgrand final video montage on the Monday night last year, Collingwood coach Craig McRae sat in the guest’s chair basking in the glow of achievement.
As pivotal play after pivotal play was on rotation, with BT bellowing and music pumping, McRae was asked how it was that Collingwood seemed to have the widest player on the ground at a lot of the important plays.
Like, coming long out of their own defence, or a squirt kick wide from halfback, or even stifling the opposition out of their own D50.
Even in the final moments of the preliminary final against the Giants, when Collingwood, clutching a onepoint lead, found Josh Daicos in rare space on the wing.
Was that luck, desperation or smarts?
Without averting his eyes from the TV, McRae said: “It’s how we set up.’’
Footy is about personnel, tactics and attitude and, on any day, any of those three components will be pivotal to winning the game.
The reigning premier has all three.
McRae calls it belief, how his team wins so many games by less than a kick. But it’s way more than that.
No team has had recent success like the Pies with their ability to play surge, breakneck footy and then, a minute later, go into a pattern of keeping the ball pinned in an area the size of a squash court.
Two of the modes are called Rocca (take risks) and Presti (close down), which were evident in the final 10 minutes of the grand
“It’s how we set up Craig McRae On Collingwood’s ability to win critical contests
final, and revealed by McRae in the post-match.
We learn so much after the premiership is won. Some not so subtle, and some, such as “how we set up’’ to have the widest players, are little gems.
For all teams, the summer months are spent assessing what the better teams do and assessing where they can improve themselves.
Some of it is personnel, some of it is attitude, the brighter minds concentrate on assessing defence, ball movement and “how we set up’’.
Who knows which teams will tumble, stumble or pivot north?
What we do know is speed amid the combat is the job description.
Speaking for all coaches, Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley said: “We train incredibly hard to allow us to play a high-octane game, whether it be on offence or whether it be in the contest.
“Everyone now plays like that. I think last year we were ranked No.1 for corridor ball use and I think every team in the competition is chasing that this year.’’
Three years back, there was scarcely a corridor such was the defensive, bogged-down nature of the game.
The stand rule changed that – thankfully.
Indeed, the 2023 season delivered a momentous shift and unless a coach and his cohort has configured a plan to stifle speed for longer periods (unlikely), the game is set for an even more sizzling 2024 season.
What else can we expect? It appears “plus ones’’ at the