The Buck Stops Here: De Goey on the big stage, the Blues journey, why clearance is king and more
Preliminary Final weekend has come and gone and Nathan Buckley has put together his five takeaways in The Buck Stops Here.
Jordan De Goey, Michael Voss and where the Grand Final will be won and lost was all on the Collingwood great’s mind on SEN Breakfast.
Read his thoughts below.
Jordan De Goey and his tackle-breaking ability
“Just two games, but there’s so many places you can go… I’m going to start with Friday night, Jordan De Goey in particular,” Buckley said.
“I thought his performance was exceptional, he’s a finals-type player, he lived up to that billing and his coach was pretty happy with his performance too.
“He is one of the best trainers, absolutely. When we made the shift from doing running in pre-season to just doing most of our working competitive drills, he went to another level again because he loves to play.
“He’s probably the closest thing to Swanny (Dane Swan), he needs to be engaged and stimulated by playing… the one aspect of his game that comes to the fore in finals is the ability to break tackles.
“You can’t tackle him… he would have broken as many tackles as any player has in a game of footy. The other guys that do that, Toby Greene does it well, Dustin Martin obviously, Cam Rayner’s another one… these guys are the guys you need to watch for because what De Goey was able to do is break one tackle, then another guy has to come and pressure, then he was often getting through the second one, so beating two and then the third would come to him and he’d have two players he could put into space and then it creates the overlap.
“That’s where his massive influence came about in the game.”
The heart of the Giants
“Anyone who has witnessed them, watched them go on their journey, (you could see the Giants) were devastated afterward and you know why, because they believed they were going all the way.
“It didn’t really matter what anyone else thought, they thought they were going all the way.
“All-Australian captain Toby Greene gave an emotional interview after the game… a pretty hard interview to do.
“I’d be backing GWS to be a danger in the next couple of the years. They’ve got enough experience there but they’ve got some youth coming through.
“Their back six are what they build their game around. Connor Idun had a massive last quarter, we’ve seen Sam Taylor become more expressive… his competitiveness and will to win just comes to the fore more and more at the pointy end of the season.
“And Jack Buckley was huge as well under pressure. I thought their system was excellent, I think they missed some of the marginal calls that could have gone their way, they set the game up the way they needed to after Collingwood looked like they had their measure in the first quarter.
“Tom Green was probably a little off… Callan Ward had been really good in the back half of the year but was quiet, Toby Bedford was quieter than normal, they had a couple that had down days, that happens in finals but they were able to cover.
“What Adam Kingsley has done has been sensational.”
Brisbane’s back six
“I think ironically, they won the game in the first quarter just by being able to hold up.
“Carlton had 22 inside 50s, had 5.1, but only six scoring shots. To see Harris Andrews stand up, I thought Darcy Gardiner’s role on Charlie Curnow was huge, Brandon Starcevich and Ryan Lester the other two.
“Chris Fagan has been strong on this the whole time about their lessons learnt and the ability to handle that situation and not losing their heads…
“Their back four in particular deserves a lot of credit. Andrews stopped a lot of those scoring threats, Starcevich is an underrated player for mine who gets the job done really well.
“I thought Eric Hipwood’s shot on goal late in that first quarter when it needed to be kicked… that’s one of those moments that Fages is talking about.
“He’s not a young player anymore but he’s been through the ringer, he’s had plenty of circumstances, he just needed to kick that goal for a bit of composure going into the quarter time huddle.
“Then you talk about Darcy Wilmot, Keidean Coleman, Conor McKenna, they started getting into the game when Brisbane’s midfield started stepping up and they can play the game the way they want to.”
Vossy takes the Blues on a journey
“I just think Carlton ran out of legs. They were so brave, to start that game and go up to the Gabba to a challenge no one thought they would be able to step up to, to start the way they did... even Jordan Boyd, his selection, his first 10 minutes was unbelievable.
“I just thought the coaches or players could not have done any better to put themselves in winning positions. Their second half was huge, but having said that they’ve just lost a prelim and fallen two short of what they’ve all dreamed of and the coach felt it as much as anyone.
“The numbers that suggest to me that they just ran out of steam: Their pressure was 201 in the first quarter and then they went 161, 159, 168 and that was the lowest pressure rating they’d had since the Gold Coast game when they started their run.
“Contest and defence was Vossy’s mantra even when they were doing poorly… and pressure on ball was the first aspect of their good defence. I thought they were game, they’ve been proud, they’ve taken their supporters on a journey and I think they were bested by a side that was refreshed and ready to go. And, as Fages has said, had those lessons of the past that held them in good stead.”
Clearance is king
“Both of the winning sides were able to dominate in that part of the ground.
“Brisbane were 36-20 after quarter time and Collingwood were +18 over the game. It has a tremendous impact on the way your backline or forward line operates.
“When you win clearance, your backs can get up and aggressive, set up and defend really well… and if you’re on the opposite end of that, you are on the ropes and GWS found themselves on the ropes for a large part of that game and they stood up extremely well.
“But it takes a toll… they’ve been on the ropes and copping a pounding at different stages over the first three quarters. Jack Buckley was spent, halfway through the third he was spent, he didn’t give up or give away, but he was just trying to find a way to survive because every moment the ball came into his area he was under pressure and it happened because of Collingwood’s clearance dominance.
“Clearance and contest is going to be where it’s at (in the Grand Final) and it will set the game up for the victor.”