CTV> Cameron Wood speaks to CTV after the game before returning home to Melbourne CTV> Watch Mark Neeld address the media after the 62 point win against West CoastCOLLINGWOOD caretaker coach Mark Neeld nominated the success of a slightly tweaked game plan as the highlight of his side's 62-point NAB Cup hiding of West Coast on Saturday night.
With the Magpies noted in recent seasons for placing extreme pressure on opposition sides and tackling ruthlessly, the tweak Neeld referred to may have just been a slight amplification of those tactics.
While notching 93 more possessions than the home side, the Pies also outdid the Eagles in tackles, 52-39. For Neeld, the impressive margin didn't rate a mention – the game plan, however, was high on his agenda.
"We've tweaked our own game-plan we'd like to think," he said after the match.
"Mick (Malthouse) has been coaching for a very long time as everybody knows and there are certain things that are non-negotiable and they are still in place.
"We were really pleased at some of the things we've been working on over the pre-season the players were able to put into place. So from that point of view, yeah, very pleased with the way things unfolded.
"We've just tweaked it slightly. Our performance last year got us to sixth and we need to try and bridge that gap to get a little bit higher."
The Pies will never know how high they could have finished last season if Heath Shaw and Alan Didak were not suspended by the club for the last four rounds of 2008 and the side's two finals appearances.
But the pair were dominant on Saturday night, with Shaw (26 possessions) playing his familiar rebounding role and Didak (30) sensationally setting up a Ben Johnson goal with an overhead handpass and kicking his own major out of mid-air.
Neeld played down the pair's return to the AFL, but said the coaches were pleased to see them perform so well immediately.
"They're quality footballers, and I think again they showed that," he said. "Those two players have had good pre-seasons, and what we saw from them was an initial start back for season 2009. We were pleased.
"I don't think those two players alone [made the difference], no. But I think those two players adhering to a slightly different game-plan helped us.
"They're experienced footballers who've performed well at an elite level for quite a period of time. So when you've got guys like that in your side I think all goes well."
Neeld said the Pies escaped injury-free and would continue to use the pre-season competition to experiment.
Both sides appeared to have loose players in defensive roles on Saturday night, but Neeld denied the Pies had employed a zone defence, but rather had simply exerted constant pressure.
The Pies' assistant wouldn't be surprised, however, if his side comes up against a similar zone tactic again this pre-season.
"The zone defence, will that change football? I'm not sure," he said. "But often at the start of the next season, what the clubs have done is analysed the two top performers.
"Geelong and Hawthorn play a particular brand of football, in particular the way they play at the back, so I'm sure a couple of clubs will trial it."
