THERE may have been a lot of media attention on Hawthorn’s plan of attack during the week, but that didn’t make it any easier for Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday.
The Pies had studied hard all week to be able to overcome the well-drilled Hawks, but onballer Shane O’Bree lamented some poor decision-making as a key factor in the 65-point loss.
“We knew their game plan, I think everyone knows their game plan, and it was just a matter of combating it,” O’Bree said.
“They stick to their structures, they are a very disciplined team and they do it for four quarters. If you’re off your game even a little bit the scoreboard can blow out.
“It’s not really a man-on-man style, so it comes down to the person who’s got the ball at the time to make the right decision and if you don’t make the right one and turn the ball over, they’ll hurt you most times.
“That was something that we worked on during the week, so it is disappointing. It’s something we’ll continue to work on and it is a bit of a kick in the butt.
“We’ll just get back on the horse and get over it pretty quickly.”
After demolishing Essendon in the Anzac Day encounter, the Magpies reverted to the type of inconsistent football that O’Bree concedes has dogged the side this season.
“We’ve been playing patchy football all year. We’ve only been able to turn it on for 10 or 15-minute patches,” he said.
“We’re a team that needs 22 blokes playing their roles and at the moment we’ve got 10 blokes playing good footy for a 10-minute patch and then the other blokes playing well. It’s a matter of us all playing well at the same time.”
Collingwood’s cause was not helped by the late withdrawal of full-forward Anthony Rocca, while at the other end twin towers Jarryd Roughead and Lance Franklin dominated with six goals each.
“We chipped it around a bit more than we would usually because Peb’s such a target for us down there. You know that you’re going to get a contest,” O’Bree said.
“Roughead sort of sneaks under the radar because Buddy takes a lot of the focus, but he’s such a big man and he’s just as agile as Franklin I think. He stepped up today and I think he’s been stepping up all year, but he just doesn’t get the same publicity.
“I think teams will need to start to focus on stopping Roughead when they play Hawthorn because Buddy’s probably going to get his four or five goals a week regardless.”